WEARABLE ELECTRONIC DEVICE

• US 20160378069A1
• Filed: 09/10/2016
• Published: 12/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Rothkopf, Fletcher R.
• Granted Patent: US 10,620,591 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/01 Measuring temperature of body parts ; Diagnostic temperature sensing, e.g. for malignant or inflamed tissue clinical contact thermometers G01K13/20
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0205 Simultaneously evaluating both cardiovascular conditions and different types of body conditions, e.g. heart and respiratory condition
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02416 using photoplethysmograph signals, e.g. generated by infrared radiation A61B5/14552 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02427 Details of sensor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02438 with portable devices, e.g. worn by the patient
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0245 by using sensing means generating electric signals, i.e. ECG signals
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0261 using optical means, e.g. infrared light
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0295 using plethysmography, i.e. measuring the variations in the volume of a body part as modified by the circulation of blood therethrough, e.g. impedance plethysmography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0816 Measuring devices for examining respiratory frequency measuring frequency of electric signals G01R23/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14551 for measuring blood gases
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/14552 Details of sensors specially adapted therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/681 Wristwatch-type devices
• CPC Class Codes: G04B 3/04 Rigidly-mounted keys, knobs or crowns jointed winding-stem G04B37/06
• CPC Class Codes: G04B 39/02 Sealing crystals or glasses sealing the case and the winding stem G04B37/08
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 13/00 Producing acoustic time signals
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 17/02 Component assemblies
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 21/025 for measuring physiological data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/169 the I/O peripheral being an integrated pointing device, e.g. trackball in the palm rest area, mini-joystick integrated between keyboard keys, touch pads or touch stripes G06F1/1643 takes precedence; constructional details of pointing devices G06F3/033
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/015 : Input arrangements based on nervous system activity detection, e.g. brain waves [EEG] detection, electromyograms [EMG] detection, electrodermal response detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/016 : Input arrangements with force or tactile feedback as computer generated output to the user

Abstract

A consumer product that is a portable and, in some cases, a wearable electronic device. The wearable electronic device may have functionalities including: keeping time; monitoring a user'"'"'s physiological signals and providing health-related information based on those signals; communicating with other electronic devices or services; visually depicting data on a display; gather data form one or more sensors that may be used to initiate, control, or modify operations of the device; determine a location of a touch on a surface of the device and/or an amount of force exerted on the device, and use either or both as input.

Claims

1. A wearable electronic device, comprising:

a housing comprising;

a flat bottom portion;

a top portion defining a cavity; and

a curved side portion that extends from the bottom portion to the top portion;

a band attached to the housing and configured to secure the wearable electronic device to a user;

a display at least partially disposed within the cavity and having a viewable area; and

a cover disposed above the display and comprising;

a flat middle portion larger than the viewable area of the display; and

a curved edge portion surrounding the flat middle portion and coinciding with the curved side portion along a perimeter of the cavity to form a continuous contoured surface.

2. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein:

the continuous contoured surface is tangent with the flat bottom portion of the housing at a first end of the contour; and

the continuous contoured surface is tangent with the flat middle portion of the cover at a second end of the contour.

3. The wearable electronic device of claim 2, wherein the continuous contoured surface has a constant radius.

4. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, wherein

the cavity has a rectangular shape;

the curved edge portion of the housing has four sides that surround the cavity;

each side is orthogonal to two adjacent sides; and

each side is connected to an adjacent side by a rounded corner.

5. The wearable electronic device of claim 4, wherein:

the rounded corners have a curvature that corresponds to a curvature of the continuous contoured surface formed by the curved edge portion of the cover and the curved side portion of the housing.

6. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

a crown module positioned at least partially within an aperture formed within the curved side portion of the housing;

wherein;

the crown module comprises an outer surface configured to receive a rotary user input.

7. The wearable electronic device of claim 6, wherein:

the crown module is offset with respect to a centerline of the housing between the top portion and the flat bottom portion; and

the offset is toward the top portion of the housing; and

the crown module includes a dial having a portion that is higher than an interface between the cover and the housing.

8. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

a port formed in the curved side portion of the housing;

an acoustic module disposed within the housing and configured to produce an audio output through the port, the acoustic module comprising;

an acoustic element; and

an acoustic cavity that acoustically couples the acoustic element to the port;

wherein;

the port includes an orifice that is offset with respect to the acoustic cavity to prevent the direct ingress of liquid into the acoustic module.

9. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

a gasket positioned between the housing and the cover; and

a ledge formed along a perimeter of the cavity, wherein;

the gasket is positioned along the ledge that is formed along the perimeter of the cavity; and

the gasket, the cover, and the housing are configured to cooperate to form a substantially water-proof seal.

10. The wearable electronic device of claim 1, further comprising:

a biosensor module disposed in an opening formed in the flat bottom portion of the housing, the biosensor module comprising;

a chassis positioned in the opening of the housing and defining an array of windows;

an array of light sources attached to the chassis and configured to emit light into the user through the array of windows; and

an optically transparent rear cover disposed over the chassis and over the array of windows and operative to pass light emitted from the array of light sources into the user.

11. The wearable electronic device of claim 10, wherein the rear cover has a convex outer contour.

12. An electronic device, comprising:

a housing comprising a bottom portion defining an opening;

a band attached to the housing and configured to secure the electronic device to a user;

a biosensor module disposed within the opening;

a rear cover disposed over the biosensor module and comprising

an edge protruding outwardly from the bottom portion of the housing; and

an outer surface having a convex curved contour.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein:

the outer surface of the rear cover defines one or more windows that provide operational access to one or more optical components of the biosensor module; and

the one or more windows have a curvature that matches the convex curved contour of the outer surface.

14. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the biosensor module comprises:

an array of light sources configured to emit light into a body of the user; and

a photodetector configured to receive light produced by a light source of the array of light sources that is reflected from the body and produce a sensor signal.

15. The electronic device of claim 14, further comprising:

a processing unit configured to compute a health metric associated with the user based on the sensor signal; and

a display disposed within the housing and configured to display the health metric

16. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the biosensor module is removably coupled to the housing.

17. A wearable electronic device, comprising:

a housing comprising;

a top portion;

a cavity formed within the top portion; and

a curved side portion that surrounds the cavity; and

a transparent cover disposed over the cavity of the housing and comprising;

a flat middle portion at a center of the transparent cover;

a curved outer portion that emanates from and surrounds the flat middle portion and extends outwardly to an edge of the transparent cover; and

a mask positioned relative to an internal surface of the transparent cover, wherein the mask has an outer boundary located proximate to the edge of the transparent cover and an inner boundary located within the curved outer portion of the transparent cover.

18. The wearable electronic device of claim 17, further comprising:

a display disposed below the transparent cover, wherein a perimeter portion of a viewable area of the display is disposed below the mask.

19. The wearable electronic device of claim 17, wherein the device further comprises:

an antenna having a shape that corresponds to a shape of the cavity formed within the housing, wherein;

the antenna is disposed in a groove formed in the internal surface of the transparent cover; and

the groove is formed between the outer boundary and the inner boundary of the mask.

20. The wearable electronic device of claim 19, wherein:

the cover is formed from a sapphire material; and

the antenna is configured to facilitate wireless communication between the wearable electronic device and an external device.

21-34. -34. (canceled)