# US 12,009,607 B2 · User equipment with an integrated antenna system for radiating and sensing millimeter-waves > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,009,607 B2 - Document ID: US12009607B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/636,888 - Filed: 2019-12-18 - Published: 2022-10-27 - Granted: 2024-06-11 - Earliest claimed: 2019-12-18 - Assignees: Google Inc. - Applicants: Google LLC - Inventors: Jiang Zhu; Maryam Tabesh - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12009607B2 ## CPC - H01Q 7/00: Loop antennas with a substantially uniform current distribution around the loop and having a directional radiation pattern in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the loop - H01Q 1/243: {with built-in antennas} - H01Q 1/38: formed by a conductive layer on an insulating support {(patch antennas H01Q9/0407; microstrip dipole antennas H01Q9/065; microstrip slot antennas H01Q13/106; transmission line microstrip antennas H01Q13/206; manufacturing reflecting surfaces using insulating material for supporting the reflecting surface H01Q15/142)} - H01Q 21/08: the units being spaced along or adjacent to a rectilinear path {(waveguide fed H01Q21/0037)} - H01Q: ANTENNAS, i.e. RADIO AERIALS (radiators or antennas for microwave heating H05B6/72) ## Abstract The present disclosure describes systems and manufacturing techniques directed to a user equipment (UE) that can be bezel-less and has a loop antenna system for radiating and sensing millimeter-waves. The UE includes a housing and a display within the housing. The display is disposed within a display layer across a primary plane defining a front surface of the user equipment. The loop antenna system is within the housing and is configured to radiate a field of millimeter-waves within the spatial region and sense a reflection of the millimeter-waves by an object within the spatial region. Described manufacturing techniques include multi-layer fabrication techniques that are applicable to printed circuit boards and/or integrated circuit (IC) devices. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A user equipment comprising: a housing; a display within the housing, the display disposed within a display layer across a primary plane, the display layer across the primary plane defining a front surface of the user equipment and over which a spatial region resides; and a loop antenna system within the housing, the loop antenna system configured to sense a reflection of millimeter-waves by an object within the spatial region, the loop antenna system comprising a multi-layer loop antenna carried in the housing and disposed below the display layer across the primary plane, the multi-layer loop antenna having layers separated by a dielectric material and comprising: a bottom layer including a first planar electrically-conductive structure in a first horizontal plane, the first planar electrically-conductive structure having a first edge region and a second edge region that is opposite the first edge region; an intermediate layer including second and third planar electrically-conductive structures sharing a second horizontal plane, the second and third planar electrically-conductive structures separated by a first gap in the second horizontal plane; and a top layer including fourth and fifth planar electrically-conductive structures sharing a third horizontal plane, the fourth and fifth planar electrically-conductive structures separated by a second gap in the third horizontal plane, the second gap configured to act as a loading capacitor of the multi-layer loop antenna. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The user equipment as recited in claim 1, wherein the multi-layer loop antenna of the loop antenna system is oriented along an elongate axis of the user equipment, the elongate axis: proximate to an underside of the display, the underside of the display opposite an outward-facing surface of the display and opposite the front surface of the user equipment. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The user equipment as recited in claim 2, wherein the elongate axis is parallel to the display layer across the primary plane. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The user equipment as recited in claim 1, wherein the multi-layer loop antenna is carried on a side of the housing. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The user equipment as recited in claim 4, wherein the multi-layer loop antenna comprises a first multi-layer loop antenna carried on a first side of the housing, the user equipment further comprises a second multi-layer loop antenna that is carried on a second side of the housing. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The user equipment as recited in claim 1, wherein a non-viewing perimeter region of the display around a viewing region of the display is smaller in width than the multi-layer loop antenna. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The user equipment as recited in claim 1, wherein the multi-layer loop antenna further comprises: a first set of vertical interconnect access structures that are perpendicular to the first horizontal plane, the second horizontal plane, and the third horizontal plane, the first set of vertical interconnect access structures electrically connecting the first edge region of the first planar electrically-conductive structure to the second planar electrically-conductive structure and to the fourth planar electrically-conductive structure; and a second set of vertical interconnect access structures that are perpendicular to the first horizontal plane, the second horizontal plane, and the third horizontal plane, the second set of vertical interconnect access structures electrically connecting the second edge region of the first planar electrically-conductive structure to the third planar electrically-conductive structure and to the fifth planar electrically-conductive structure. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The user equipment as recited in claim 7, wherein the layers and the dielectric material of the multi-layer loop antenna comprise layers of a printed circuit board. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The user equipment as recited in claim 7, wherein the layers and the dielectric material of the multi-layer loop antenna comprise layers of an integrated circuit device. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The user equipment as recited in claim 9, wherein the integrated circuit device includes radar circuitry, the radar circuitry comprising one or more of: transceiver circuitry; logic circuitry; and power management circuitry. ### Claim 11 (depends on 7) The user equipment as recited in claim 7, wherein the multi-layer loop antenna is attached to a ground plane that isolates the multi-layer loop antenna from high-frequency circuitry of the user equipment. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The user equipment as recited in claim 11, wherein the multi-layer loop antenna couples to millimeter-wave circuitry of the user equipment using a direct-feed probe. ### Claim 13 (depends on 7) The user equipment as recited in claim 7, wherein the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth planar electrically-conductive structures of the multi-layer loop antenna are perpendicular to the primary plane. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The user equipment as recited in claim 1, further including millimeter-wave cellular communication circuitry coupled to the multi-layer loop antenna of the loop antenna system. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The user equipment as recited in claim 1, wherein the user equipment is a smartphone or a smartwatch. ### Claim 16 A method performed by a user equipment, the user equipment including a housing, millimeter-wave circuitry, a display disposed within a display layer across a primary plane defining a front surface of the user equipment, and one or more multi-layer loop antennas disposed behind the display layer across the primary plane, at least one of the multi-layer loop antennas having layers separated by a dielectric material and comprising a bottom layer including a first planar electrically-conductive structure in a first horizontal plane, the first planar electrically-conductive structure having a first edge region and a second edge region that is opposite the first edge region, an intermediate layer including second and third planar electrically-conductive structures sharing a second horizontal plane, the second and third planar electrically-conductive structures separated by a first gap in the second horizontal plane, and a top layer including fourth and fifth planar electrically-conductive structures sharing a third horizontal plane, the fourth and fifth planar electrically-conductive structures separated by a second gap in the third horizontal plane, the second gap configured to act as a loading capacitor of the multi-layer loop antenna, the method comprising: activating millimeter-wave circuitry to cause one of the one or more multi-layer loop antennas to radiate millimeter-waves within a spatial region over the display; sensing, through another one of the one or more multi-layer loop antennas, a reflection of the millimeter-waves; detecting, using the sensed reflection of the millimeter-waves, a reflection of an object within the spatial region, the detected reflection of the object representing a gesture performed by the object within the spatial region; determining, using the detected reflection of the object within the spatial region, the gesture performed by the object within the spatial region; and providing, to an application, the determined gesture. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method as recited in claim 16, wherein activating the millimeter-wave circuitry of the user equipment activates radar frequency emissions via the one or more multi-layer loop antennas. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The method as recited in claim 16, wherein activating the millimeter-wave circuitry of the user equipment activates millimeter-wave cellular communication circuitry and the method further comprises selectively emitting millimeter-wave cellular communication signals via the one or more multi-layer loop antennas.