Apple has filed for a patent (number 20200136234) for iPhone and iPads with millimeter wave antennas. Dubbed “Electronic Devices Having Antennas that Radiate Through a Display,” it could involves features in the upcoming 2020 iPhones.
Millimeter wave, which is also known as extremely high frequency (EHF) or very high frequency (VHF) by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), can be used for high-speed wireless broadband communications. Millimeter wave is an undeveloped band of spectrum that can be used in a broad range of products and services like high speed, point-to-point wireless local area networks (WLANs) and broadband access. In telecommunications, millimeter wave is used for a variety of services on mobile and wireless networks, as it allows for higher data rates up to 10 Gbps.
In the patent filing, Apple says it would be “desirable” to support wireless communications in millimeter wave and centimeter wave communications bands. Millimeter wave communications, which are sometimes referred to as extremely high frequency (EHF) communications, and centimeter wave communications involve communications at frequencies of about 10-300 GHz. Operation at these frequencies may support high bandwidths, but may raise significant challenges.
For example, millimeter wave communications signals generated by antennas can be characterized by substantial attenuation and/or distortion during signal propagation through various mediums. In addition, if care isn’t taken, conductive structures within the electronic device such as conductive structures in a display may block millimeter wave communications in certain directions.
Apple’s goal is to provide iPhones and iPads with improved wireless communications capabilities for supporting communications at frequencies greater than 10 GHz.
Here’s the summary of the patent filing: “An electronic device may be provided with a display and a phased array antenna that transmits radio-frequency signals at frequencies greater than 10 GHz. The display may include a conductive layer that is used to form pixel circuitry and/or touch sensor electrodes. A filter may be formed from conductive structures within the conductive layer. The conductive structures may include an array of conductive patches separated by slots or may include conductive paths that define an array of slots.
“The filter may include an additional array of conductive patches stacked under the array of conductive patches to allow the slots to be narrower than would be resolvable to the unaided human eye. The periodicity of the conductive structures and the slots in the filter may be selected to tune a cutoff frequency of the filter to be greater than frequencies handled by the phased antenna array.”
