VEHICLE DOOR HANDLE

Abstract

A vehicle door handle for a motor vehicle is described, which includes an integrated transmitting and/or receiving device which comprises an LF antenna and a separately formed NFC antenna. The NFC antenna has a plurality of windings provided on a circuit board. The LF antenna has a plurality of coils wound around a core material formed separately from the circuit board. The NFC antenna encompasses a projection of the LF antenna on the circuit board.

Claims

1. A vehicle door handle for a motor vehicle, the vehicle door handle including an integrated transmitting and/or receiving device which comprises an LF antenna and a separately formed NFC antenna, the NFC antenna having a plurality of windings provided on a circuit board, the LF antenna having a plurality of coils wound around a core material formed separately from the circuit board, the NFC antenna encompassing a projection of the LF antenna on the circuit board.

2. The vehicle door handle according to claim 1, wherein the LF antenna and the NFC antenna are arranged one above the other with respect to the printed circuit board.

3. The vehicle door handle according to claim 1, wherein the LF antenna and the NFC antenna are stacked on top of each other.

4. The vehicle door handle according to claim 1, wherein the NFC antenna and the circuit board together form a module formed in one-piece.

5. The vehicle door handle according to claim 1, wherein the LF antenna is placed on the separately formed NFC antenna.

6. The vehicle door handle according to claim 4, wherein the LF antenna is placed on the separately formed module.

7. The vehicle door handle according to claim 1, wherein the LF antenna is assigned to a center of the NFC antenna.

8. The vehicle door handle according to claim 7, wherein the LF antenna is assigned to a center axis of the windings of the NFC antenna.

9. The vehicle door handle according to claim 1, wherein the LF antenna and the NFC antenna are arranged perpendicular to each other.

10. The vehicle door handle according to claim 1, wherein field lines of a LF field associated with the LF antenna and field lines of a NFC field associated with the NFC antenna intersect each other perpendicularly.

11. The vehicle door handle according to claim 1, wherein the NFC antenna provides a NFC field that covers an area that is associated with the dimensions of the vehicle door handle.

12. The vehicle door handle according to claim 11, wherein the LF antenna is located in the NFC field of the NFC antenna, wherein the field lines associated with the NFC field bend over the LF antenna.

13. The vehicle door handle according to claim 12, wherein a strength of the NFC field is reduced by the LF antenna in a minimal manner.

14. The vehicle door handle according to claim 11, wherein the NFC field has a substantially homogenous strength distribution along a length side of the vehicle door handle.

15. The vehicle door handle according to claim 1, wherein the NFC antenna extends over the entire circuit board.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] The foregoing aspects and many of the attended advantages of the claimed subject matter will become more readily appreciated as the same become better understood by reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. In the drawings,

[0032] FIG. 1 schematically shows a vehicle door handle according to the present disclosure,

[0033] FIG. 2 schematically shows the vehicle door handle of FIG. 1 in operation,

[0034] FIG. 3 shows a vehicle door handle according to the prior art,

[0035] FIG. 4 shows the vehicle door handle of FIG. 3 in operation, and

[0036] FIG. 5 shows an overview illustrating different NFC antenna arrangements and the respective coverage of the NFC antenna

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0037] The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings, where like numerals reference like elements, is intended as a description of various embodiments of the disclosed subject matter and is not intended to represent the only embodiments. Each embodiment described in this disclosure is provided merely as an example or illustration and should not be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The illustrative examples provided herein are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the claimed subject matter to the precise forms disclosed. For the purposes of the present disclosure, the phrase “at least one of A, B, and C”, for example, means (A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B, and C), including all further possible permutations when greater than three elements are listed. In other words, the term “at least one of A and B” generally means “A and/or B”, namely “A” alone, “B” alone or “A and B”.

[0038] In FIG. 1, a vehicle door handle 10 is shown that is used in a motor vehicle.

[0039] The vehicle door handle 10 includes an integrated transmitting and/or receiving device 12 that comprises a low frequency (LF) antenna 14, a separately formed near field communication (NFC) antenna 16 as well as a circuit board 18.

[0040] The NFC antenna 16 has a plurality of windings 20 that are provided on the circuit board 18, particularly a main plane of the circuit board 18 facing towards the LF antenna 14. In fact, the NFC antenna 16 is printed on the circuit board 18. Since the NFC antenna at the circuit board 18 are formed integrally with each other, they together form a module 21 formed in one-piece.

[0041] In addition, the LF antenna 14 has a plurality of coils 22 that are wound around a coil material 24 that is formed separately from the circuit board 18, for instance by air or a ferrite.

[0042] Accordingly, the LF antenna 14 is separately formed with respect to the NFC antenna 16 since they do not share a common support material. In fact, the antennas 14, 16 are only located in proximity of each other, thereby providing an antenna arrangement 26.

[0043] In fact, the LF antenna 14 and the NFC antenna 16 are separately formed with respect to each other, but the antennas 14, 16 are arranged one above the other with respect to the printed circuit board 18, thereby establishing a stacked antenna arrangement 26 (antenna stack) since the LF antenna 14 is placed on top of the NFC antenna 16, particularly the module 21.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 1, the LF antenna 14 is assigned to a center C of the NFC antenna 16, particularly a center axis of the windings 20 of the NFC antenna 16, which is perpendicular to the main plane of the circuit board 18.

[0045] Accordingly, the edges of the NFC antenna 16 are not covered by the LF antenna 14 that is located on top of the center C of the NFC antenna 16, thereby ensuring that the operation coverage of the NFC antenna 16 is large. Particularly, the NFC operation coverage corresponds to the dimensions of the vehicle door handle 10.

[0046] In other words, the NFC antenna 16 encompasses a projection of the LF antenna 14 on the circuit board 18 since the edges of the NFC antenna 16 surround a projection of the LF antenna 14 on the circuit board 18 laterally. Accordingly, the LF antenna 14 is encompassed by the NFC antenna 16, particularly its edges, in a top view on the circuit board 18. Hence, the NFC antenna 16 is longer and wider than the separately formed LF antenna 14.

[0047] The respective antennas 14, 16 are arranged perpendicular to each other as shown in FIG. 2 in which the operation of the integrated transmitting and/or receiving device 12 is illustrated.

[0048] In fact, field lines associated with the respective antennas 14, 16 intersect each other perpendicularly since the respective antennas 14, 16 are orientated in a perpendicular manner with respect to each other.

[0049] However, FIG. 2 also shows that the LF antenna 14 is located in the NFC field of the NFC antenna 16, wherein the field lines associated with the NFC field bend over the LF antenna 14. Hence, the LF antenna 14 is located in the NFC field of the NFC antenna 16, but the LF antenna 14 is associated with the center C of the NFC antenna 16, resulting in a minimal disturbance or rather blocking of the NFC field provided by the NFC antenna 16.

[0050] Hence, the strength of the NFC field is reduced by the LF antenna 14 only in a minimal manner, thereby ensuring that the NFC field has a substantially homogenous strength distribution along a length side of the vehicle door handle 10 that corresponds to the long side of the NFC antenna 16.

[0051] Generally, the NFC antenna 16 provides a NFC field that covers an area that is associated with the dimensions of the vehicle door handle 10, thereby maximizing the performance of the NFC antenna 16.

[0052] The operative area of the NFC antenna 16 is maximized since the NFC antenna 16 extends over the entire circuit board 18.

[0053] Hence, a NFC tag 28 is enabled to interact with the NFC antenna 16 along the entire size of the vehicle door handle 10 as illustrated in FIG. 2.

[0054] In FIGS. 3 and 4, a vehicle door handle according to the state of the art is shown in which the NFC antenna is placed side-by-side with respect to the LF antenna, thereby causing a relative small NFC communication coverage compared to the NFC communication coverage provided by the vehicle door handle 10 according to the present disclosure as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0055] In FIG. 5, another overview is provided that shows the NFC communication coverage for different designs of the antenna arrangement.

[0056] In FIG. 5, “a)” labels a transmitting and/or receiving device 12 that only has a NFC antenna without any LF antenna. Accordingly, the antenna arrangement solely consists of the NFC antenna, thereby providing best NFC coverage as no LF antenna is provided that may disturb the NFC field.

[0057] Further, “b)” labels the antenna arrangement 26 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, namely the stacked antenna arrangement 26 in which the LF antenna 14 is located on top of the NFC antenna 16, particularly its center C, such that the edges of the NFC antenna 16 are not covered. As discussed above, the field lines of the NFC field bend over the LF antenna 14, thereby closing the NFC field in proximity of the LF antenna 14 even though the LF antenna 14 is located on the NFC antenna 16. In fact, the field strength is minimally reduced by the separately formed LF antenna 14, but a homogenous strength distribution along the length side of the vehicle door handle 10 is ensured.

[0058] Moreover, “c)” labels the antenna arrangement known in the state of the art, namely according to a side-by-side arrangement of the antennas as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4.

[0059] Obviously, the antenna arrangement 26 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, which is labelled by “b)”, provides better NFC communication coverage compared to the one known in the state of the art that is labelled by “c)” since the NFC communication coverage extends along the entire length of the vehicle door handle 10.

[0060] Moreover, the antenna arrangement 26 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, which is labelled by “b)”, provides more functionality compared to the one labelled with “a)”, as it simultaneously ensures both communication functionalities, namely LF communication techniques as well as NFC communication techniques since the antenna arrangement 26 comprises the LF antenna 14 as well as the NFC antenna 16.

[0061] The overview of FIG. 5 illustrates that the entire field strength of the antenna arrangement 26 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is only minimally reduced compared to the one labelled with “a)” even though the additional LF antenna 14 is provided that is placed on the NFC antenna 16. Moreover, FIG. 5 shows that the NFC field has a substantially homogenous strength distribution along the length side of the vehicle door handle 10 since the strength of the middle or rather center portion of the NFC field is minimally reduced rather than the outer areas, resulting in a more homogenous strength distribution compared to a typical radiation pattern of a single antenna as shown in the arrangement labelled with “a)”.

[0062] Accordingly, the vehicle door handle 10 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 provides two separate antennas 14, 16 for two different communication functionalities, namely access tool functionality and passive entry functionality. Both antennas 14, 16 are located with respect to each other within the vehicle door handle 10 such that they ensure best performance and largest coverage, thereby improving the characteristics of the entire antenna arrangement 26.