Relatively recently, a new market segment in the form of computerized wearables has been experiencing sizeable growth. For example, “smart” watches are gaining popularity, particularly among smart phone users. Typically, the aforementioned smart watches are equipped with short-range transceivers (e.g. BLUETOOTH, Wi-Fi, etc.) for providing communication between the smart watch and the smart phone. Some of these smart watches also have global positioning system (GPS) connectivity, as well.
Thus, while such smart watches are equipped with the necessary infrastructure (e.g. circuitry, antennas, etc.) to accommodate such short-range communication, there has been a lack of long-range communication support. An example of such long-range communication includes cellular communication, for instance. While there are many challenges in incorporating cellular user equipment (UE) infrastructure into a smart watch, incorporation of a sufficient antenna poses a particular challenge. This is particularly the case when the aforementioned UE infrastructure is expected to support protocols, wireless standards, etc. that require multiple antennas that are properly isolated.
For example, it is very challenging to have cellular signals resonate at multiple bands when placed in an all-metal housing, that are typical of traditional watches. Even in non-metallic smart watch environments, other challenges (e.g. size constraints, etc.) also exist. Further, any attempt to incorporate multiple properly-isolated antennas in a wearable such as a smart watch would be even more frustrated by the aforementioned issues.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds