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AppleGranted patentNetworks & wirelessInterest 4/10

Apple patents circuit to keep phone antennas working as they age

Apple describes a circuit that automatically adjusts the electrical connection of a phone's antennas to maintain signal strength. The system uses adjustable parts to compensate for changes caused by the device's age or environment.

Why it mattersThis helps ensure phones maintain a stable connection without needing manual adjustments or complex recalibration.

In the filing’s own words

In electronic devices used in radio-frequency communications, impedance matching may result in desirable operating conditions. However, impedance of the antenna may change over time (e.g., due to frequency of signals being transmitted or received, due to ambient conditions, due to age of antenna or related components). Accordingly, it may be desirable to employ antenna tracking circuitry that may operate as an impedance matching network to dynamically match the antenna impedance. To dynamically match the antenna impedance, the matching network may include tunable components. To provide fast, dynamic, and effective impedance matching, antenna tracking circuitry having an architecture with analytically determinable impedance (e.g., determinable via one or more equations) may be implemented. The antenna tracking circuitry may include a variable resistor and three variable impedances. The three variable impedances may include components capable of tuning capacitor ranges of the three variable impedances, among other characteristics of the antenna tracking circuitry.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. An electronic device, comprising: a plurality of antennas; a transmitter; a receiver; and duplexing circuitry coupled to the transmitter, the receiver, and the plurality of antennas, the duplexing circuitry comprising a resistance device, a first impedance device coupled in parallel to the resistance device, a second impedance device coupled to the first impedance device and the resistance device at a first node, and a third impedance device coupled to the second impedance device at a second node, and coupled to the first impedance device, the resistance device, and a ground at a third node, wherein the first impedance device, the second impedance device, the third impedance device, and the resistance device are configurable to match an impedance associated with the plurality of antennas, and the first impedance device, the second impedance device, and the third impedance device each comprise at least one capacitor coupled in parallel to at least one inductor.

Facts

Company
Apple (Apple Inc.)
Official title
Systems and methods for impedance tuning
Patent number
US12744516B2
Application number
17946629
Filed
Sep 16, 2022
Granted
Sep 22, 2026
Inventors
6
Claims
20

Classified under

H03J 3/20 Electricity & electronicsH04B 1/18 Electricity & electronicsH03J 2200/06 Electricity & electronics
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.