Wrist carried wireless instrument.

The invention relates to a wrist carried wireless instrument and, more particularly, to the construction of the antenna circuit of such an instrument.

In the prior art, wrist watch type AM radios, wrist watch type FM radios and FM transceivers as a miniature type transceiver and a pocket bell as a miniature type carried receiver are known. With AM radios, a ferrite antenna is provided in the case of the radio. For FM radios, an ear­phone also serving as a wire antenna is plugged into the case only during receiving. FM transceivers use a rod an­tenna which is drawn from the case carried on the wrist only during a transmission.

The antenna of a pocket bell is a small-sized loop antenna with an area of several square centimeters to about 10 square centimeters. The frequency is changeable by means of a capacitor.

With the above prior art, if a ferrite antenna is used in a high frequency band such as the VHF band, a large-sized ferrite antenna would have to be provided making it diffi­cult to be carried on the wrist. Therefore, ferrite anten­nas are used for the AM frequency band only. The wire an­tenna and the rod antenna when carried on the wrist, may be an obstacle because of their large size. It may thus be difficult to have a wire antenna or a rod antenna in the receiving and transmitting condition, respectively, for a longer time.

On the other hand, as far as the loop antenna for a pocket bell is concerned, its receiving sensitivity may become be­come inferior when the loop area of the loop antenna is re­duced. Therefore, when the loop antenna is made small enough to be inserted into the case of a wrist carried de­vice, the sensitivity may be insufficient, at least in the VHF range having a comparatively long wavelength.

When the wrist carried device is carried on the wrist, a loop antenna may be provided outside of the case. In this case, to obtain a good sensitivity, it is necessary to have as large a loop area as possible, and on the other hand it is necessary for the antenna to have a shape suitable and convenient to be carried on the wrist. As examples of such antennas there are for instance a loop antenna in a form surrounding the wrist as shown in Fig. 1(a) or a loop an­tenna surrounding the case of the device.

The antenna resonance circuit of the prior art loop antenna has a construction as shown in Figs. 2(a) and 2(c), respec­tively. The corresponding equivalent circuits are shown in Figs. 2(b) and 2(d), respectively.

The prior art wrist carried wireless instrument using such an antenna resonance circuit suffers from the disadvantage that, when the instrument is carried on the wrist, if the antenna comes into contact with the wrist or arm, the con­tacted portion of the human body acts as a load for the tuned loop antenna so that the quality factor Q and the sensiti­vity are substantially reduced, making this loop an­tenna unsuitable for a practical use. When the loop antenna 1 (Figs. 7(a) and 7(b)) does not surround the wrist but the case 4 adjacent to the band 9, the quality factor Q and the sensitivity may also be reduced as the loop antenna approa­ches or contacts the wrist.

The object of the present invention is to remedy the above mentioned drawbacks of the prior art and to provide a wrist carried wireless instrument wherein the quality factor of the antenna resonance circuit is substantially not affected by the wrist or arm carrying the instrument.

This object is achieved with a wrist carried wireless in­strument as claimed.

Ways of carrying out the invention are described in detail below with reference to drawings which illustrate only spe­cific embodiments and in which: <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none"><li>Fig. 1(a) is a diagrammatic circuit diagram of one embodiment of the invention,</li><li>Fig. 1(b) is the equivalent circuit of the antenna resonance circuit of Fig. 1(a),</li><li>Fig. 2(a) and 2(c) are circuit diagrams corresponding to Fig. 1(a) of the prior art,</li><li>Fig. 2(b) and 2(d) are the equivalent circuits to Fig. 2(a) and 2(c), respectively,</li><li>Fig. 3(a) to 3(c) are sectional views showing different relative positions between the prior art loop antenna and the wrist when the wireless instrument is carried on the wrist,</li><li>Fig. 4(a) and 4(b) are sectional views showing relative positions between the loop antenna and the wrist when the wrist carried wireless instrument according to the present invention is carried on the wrist,</li><li>Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of a circuit of another embodiment of the present invention,</li><li>Fig. 6 is the corresponding equivalent circuit, and</li><li>Fig. 7(a) and 7(b) show other embodiments of a loop antenna.</li></ul>

Fig. 1(a) is a circuit diagram of the antenna circuit ac­cording to one embodiment of the wrist carried wireless in­strument of the present invention. The antenna has a form to surround a wrist like the band of a wrist watch. In Fig. 1(a) only an RF amplifier of the receiver is shown for rea­sons of convenience. Namely, the connecting capacitors of the resonance circuit and the RF amplifier are omitted. The portion of the circuit provided in the case of the instru­ment is surrounded by dotted lines in Fig. 1(a). Reference numeral 1 designates a loop antenna and reference numeral 2 an RF amplifier. C₁ and C₂ are capacitors. The antenna re­sonance circuit is formed by the capacitors C₁ and C₂ and the loop antenna 1. Capacitors C₁ and C₂ have substantially the same capacitance and the connecting point A between both capacitors is connected to the ground electric poten­tial of the circuit. In other words, the intermediate point or substantially intermediate point of the impedance com­prising the capacitors C₁ and C₂ is grounded.

Fig. 1(b) shows the equivalent circuit of the antenna reso­nance circuit of Fig. 1(a). Reference numeral 3 designates the equivalent inductor of the antenna. In Fig. 1(b), since the connecting point A of the capacitors C₁ and C₂ is grounded, the portion of the equivalent inductor 3 near to the intermediate point B has substantially the same poten­tial as said connecting point A, namely ground electric poten­tial.

For a better understanding of the embodiments of the pre­sent invention the prior art antenna resonance circuit will be explained below. Fig. 2(a) shows the prior art antenna resonance circuit comprised of the loop antenna 1 and a re­sonance capacitor C₃ connected to the ends of the loop an­tenna. One end of the loop antenna is grounded. The other end, i.e. the hot side of the resonance capacitor C₃ is connected to the input of an RF amplifier 2. In the equiva­lent circuit of Fig. 2(b), the portion of the equivalent inductor 3 near to the intermediate point C has a higher elec­tric potential than the ground electric potential. In Fig. 2(c) the resonance capacitor C₃ is divided into two capaci­tors C₄ and C₅ to reduce the impedance of the groun­ded point. When the impedance of the RF amplifier is low, the impedance of the connecting point between capacitors C₄ and C₅ is matched with the impedance of the RF amplifier. One end of the loop antenna 1 is grounded as it is in Fig. 1(a). In Fig. 2(d) the equivalent inductor 3 of the loop antenna 1 has at its intermediate point D an electric po­tential higher than the ground electric potential.

The difference of the properties between the resonance cir­cuit according to the present invention, where the connec­ting point between capacitors C₁ and C₂ is grounded and the resonance circuit of the prior art, where one end of the loop antenna is grounded will be explained next.

Figs. 3(a), 3(b) and 3(c) are sectional views of the prior art instrument carried on the wrist. Reference numeral 1 designates the loop antenna, reference numeral 5 the wrist and reference numeral 4 a case of the wrist carried wire­less instrument. Reference numeral 6 designates a resonance capacitor. Fig. 3(a), 3(b) and 3(c) show different condi­tions of the relative position between the loop antenna 1 and the wrist. In each case the hatched portion of the loop an­tenna 1 is the portion in contact with or nearest to the wrist.

With the prior art construction of the resonance circuit shown in Figs. 3(a) to (c), the antenna resonance circuit is largely affected by the relative position between the wrist 5 and the loop antenna 1. In Fig. 3(a), since the contact portion between the wrist 5 and the loop antenna 1 is close to the grounded end of the loop antenna 1, the quality factor Q of the antenna resonance circuit is not much reduced so that the sensitivity does not become infe­rior. In Fig. 3(b) however, the contact portion between the wrist 5 and the loop antenna 1 is in the intermediate por­tion of the loop antenna 1, so that the quality factor Q of the antenna resonance circuit is fairly reduced. Further, in Fig. 3(c), since the higher electric potential side of the loop antenna 1 is brought into contact with the wrist 5, the quality factor Q is substantially reduced to an ex­tent making a practical use impossible.

Therefore, when the prior art antenna resonance circuit is used, the receiving sensitivity greatly depends on the con­dition of how the instrument is carried on the wrist. In the worst case, the antenna resonance circuit cannot fulfil its function.

On the other hand, Figs. 4(a) and 4(b) show sectional views of the wireless instrument according to an embodiment of the present invention carried on the wrist in different po­sitions. In this case, the intermediate portion of the an­tenna resonance circuit is grounded. Fig. 4(a) shows the usual carried condition and Fig. 4(b) shows the condition where the loop antenna 1 is shifted in one direction rela­tive to the wrist. As apparent from Fig. 4(a), it is sub­stantially the intermediate portion of the loop antenna 1 which is brought into contact with or is close to the loop antenna 1. In this case the quality factor Q of the reso­nance circuit is substantially unaffected. Since the rela­tive position shown in Fig. 4(a) can be regarded as the normal position, it can be said that if the loop antenna 1 of the present invention is used, there is almost no dete­rioration of the sensitivity. This applies in the same way to loop antenna constructions as shown in Figs. 7(a) and 7(b).

Further, as shown in Fig. 4(b), in case the wrist 5 is brought into contact with one side of the loop antenna 1 in an inclined manner, the other side of the antenna still operates effectively, so that the quality factor Q is nearly not reduced and there is no problem for practical use.

On the other hand, in the prior art circuit construction shown in Figs. 2(a) to 2(d) and Figs. 3(a) to 3(c), the hot side of the resonance circuit is likely to be affected by the load. Even if the loop antenna is insulated by an outer cover, the quality factor Q is reduced in the same way. Furthermore, if the antenna is provided outside of the case, even if the conductive member of the antenna is pro­vided in the band, the wrist is not fully surrounded by the antenna as shown in Figs. 7(a) and 7(b). In case the loop antenna is surrounded by the wrist, the above description concerning the affects of the wrist also applies to the construction of Figs. 2(a) to 2(d) and Figs. 7(a) to 7(c).

Fig. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention, where an amplifying circuit having balanced input terminals as a front-end RF amplifier (for example a differential am­plifier) is used.

The voltage induced in the loop antenna 1 is drawn from both ends of the antenna and is applied to the balanced in­put terminals of the amplifier. The connecting point bet­ween the resonance capacitors C₁ and C₂ is grounded, and with respect to the RF amplifier, the loop antenna 1 can be re­garded as a power source delivering a balanced output sig­nal. Therefore, the specific feature of the embodiment of Fig. 5 is that a front-end circuit is formed by the loop antenna 1 which acts as a power source of a balanced output signal and an amplifying circuit having balanced input ter­minals.

Fig. 6 is the equivalent circuit of the balanced circuit of Fig. 5. Reference numeral 3 designates the antenna equiva­lent inductor. 8 is an equivalent load resistor formed by the human body.

In Fig. 6 the load resistor 8 is connected between the ground of the circuit and the equivalent inductor because the largest contacting portion between the human body and the circuit is regarded as the ground of the circuit and the human body can be regarded as a load between the an­tenna and the ground, namely the operation of the antenna is af­fected by the human body, when the human body ap­proaches a portion of the antenna or when the instrument is carried on the wrist.

In this case, when the instrument is carried on the wrist, it is advantageous that the antenna and the input side of the amplifying circuit are operated in a balanced manner relative to the approach of the antenna to the human body, so that the signal current flowing from the antenna to the amplifying circuit does not flow into the equivalent load resistor 8. In fact, it is difficult to indicate the entire load of the human body by only one equivalent resistor 8. But this resistor can be regarded as the main load of the human body to the antenna circuit. In Fig. 5 the portion of the antenna which is normally brought into contact with the wrist substantially has the ground electric potential, so that there is little influence from the human body to the antenna only and at the same time, with respect to an ap­proach of other parts of the human body to the antenna, it is possible to reduce the load applied to the antenna by the balanced driving of the antenna 1 and the RE amplifier 7. Figs. 5 and 6 show one embodiment of the present inven­tion wherein the intermediate electric potential of the re­sonance capacitors C₁ and C₂ is equal to the ground elec­tric potential. However, since the antenna and the RF am­plifier are balanced circuits, even if the intermediate electric potential is not equal to the ground electric po­tential, the loop antenna is not likely to be affected by the entire human body load as shown in Fig. 6. Therefore, if the intermediate electric potential of the resonance ca­pacitors C₁ and C₂ is not equal to the ground electric po­tential, it is also possible to provide a wrist carried wireless instrument which prevents deterioration of qua­lity.

As mentioned above, in the wrist carried wireless instru­ment, the effect of the load exerted by the wrist depends on whether the electric potential of the intermediate por­ tion of the loop antenna near to or contacted by the wrist is high or low. When the electric potential of the contac­ted portion is high, the quality factor Q of the antenna resonance circuit is greatly reduced. This reduction of the quality factor Q is caused by a reduction of the gain of the antenna and results in a reduced sensitivity. On the other hand, the present invention has the advantage that since the portion of the loop antenna normally contacted by or nearest to the wrist has the ground electric potential of the circuit, the antenna resonance circuit is not affec­ted by the wrist. Further, even if the antenna resonance cir­cuit is attached to or brought into contact with another portion of the human body, it is not affected in the same way.

At the present time, it is generally said that the gain of the resonance type small loop antenna used for a pocket bell or the like is approximately that of a half wave di­pole reduced by 30 dB. With a loop antenna carried on the wrist, if the antenna is formed outside of the case, the opening area of the antenna is larger than that of the pocket-in type antenna. Therefore, when the wrist carried device is not in its carried condition, an excellent sensi­tivity is likely to be obtained. However, in the prior art system where the electric potential of one end of the loop antenna is equal to the ground electric potential at the time of carrying the device on the wrist, the gain is redu­ced by 10dB or more and the output impedance of the antenna resonance cir­cuit is reduced greater than that of the pre­sent invention. Furthermore, it may be difficult to match the antenna reso­nance circuit with the RF amplifier. When a part of the hu­man body other than the wrist carrying the device approa­ches the antenna or the circuit, the same de­terioration of the properties is likely to occur.

On the other hand, according to the present invention, the wrist carried wireless instrument may be driven in a balan­ced manner in a simple circuit construction, and as a re­sult, it is possible to reduce the deterioration of the properties which may by caused by parts of the human body other than the wrist.

Heretofore it was impossible to obtain with an antenna ha­ving a convenient form a gain in practical use of for examp­le approximately 30 dB less than that of a half wave dipole and, thus, it was difficult to pro­vide a wrist car­ried wireless instrument suitable for prac­tical use. According to the present invention it is possible to great­ly reduce the influence of the wrist by a simple circuit con­struction and to provide a construction for reducing the influence of parts of the human body other than the wrist. As a result, the loop antenna exhibits a gain of a practi­cal level, thereby making it possible to obtain a wrist carried wireless instrument of a high sensitivity.