無線通信技術日趨成熟，尤其在普及性及移動性的突破使得上網不再侷限在室內或靜止狀態，也使得無線規格成為筆記型電腦最重要的規格之一。以科技產業產值占大部分的台灣為全球筆記型電腦最重要的代工重鎮，雖然毛利一直下降，但筆記型電腦的產值及銷售量卻仍高度成長。 天線，作為無線通信的窗口，扮演接受及發射訊號的角色，在筆記型電腦中為不可或缺且具技術需求的關鍵零組件。除了因應不同技術頻段需求而提高的設計難度外，因筆記型電腦外型輕薄短小的趨勢，天線的外觀尺寸也必須跟著受限。這使得筆記型電腦天線的技術難度更形增加。 因應筆記型電腦未來的高度成長性，作為不可或缺的關鍵零組件－天線的供應商，未來的技術發展方向影響其在激烈的IT產業供應鏈中的競爭力。本研究探討目前應用在筆記型電腦天線技術PIFA/IFA的技術曲線，以美國專利局已通過的專利為研究資料，利用S型生命週期理論找出PIFA/IFA技術目前所處的階段以作為設計廠商為來技術發展的參考。 本研究經過專家訪談法定義PIFA/IFA天線的國際分類號及關鍵字群，搜尋出利用Logistic數學模型分析，結果顯示從1985年至2007年共有PIFA/IFA天線相關專利共730篇，其中從2000年開始快速增加，經Logistic Curve分析後發現目前仍未真正進入成長期階段，未來仍有極大的技術發展空間。因應NB未來輕薄短小的需求及無線規格在頻段上的日益多樣化，IFA/PIFA天線技術未來的發展值得期待。 ;Technology of Wireless communication has been well developed recently, especially in the aspect of mobility and the limitation of space. Which makes wireless communication as the most important specification on Laptop PC and lead to high growth of Laptop PC market. Though the gross profit is getting few for the ODM of Notebook in Taiwan, in which IT industry takes quite a large part. Antenna, the window of wireless communication, is a critical component for transmitting and receiving the signal. In addition to the variety of Wireless Spec – WLAN, Wimax, WWAN… , it’s also a challenge for the dimension to meet the trend of getting compact in the design of Laptop PC. To catch the soaring of the demand in NB market, it’s necessary to make a clear direction for antenna’s development in the future. The competition of antenna suppliers for NB depends on the technology strategy of antenna developed in NB application. In this research, we collect the information from the database of USPTO (United States Patent and Trademark Office) about the antennas of type IFA/PIFA and fit to S-curve of life cycle to find out what life stage IFA/PIFA type antenna is. The result could be useful for antenna supplier to make the strategy of technology in antenna development. According to the advice from experts of antenna designers, we define the key words and find a suitable IPC code to search the number of patents with it we can fit the S-curve. We found there are totally 730 patents related to IFA/PIFA antenna in USPTO during 1985 and 2007. The number of patents highly increases after 2000 when the demand of Laptop PC shoots up in the market. We analyze the data with Logistic model and found that it’s still in the initial stage of the technical life cycle. Thus, the antenna suppliers should invest more of R&D resource in the development of IFA/PIFA antenna for their ODM and brand customers in the Notebook industry to catch the higher demand of Laptop PC in the market.
