Electronic device with seamless protective cover glass input

• US 9,465,476 B1
• Filed: 09/26/2014
• Issued: 10/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Malek, Shayan, Jones, Warren Z., Shah, Dhaval N.
• Primary Examiner(s): DANIELSEN, NATHAN ANDREW
• Application Number:
  US14/498,933
• Time in Patent Office: 746 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• 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 1/1656 Details related to functional adaptations of the enclosure, e.g. to provide protection against EMI, shock, water, or to host detachable peripherals like a mouse or removable expansions units like PCMCIA cards, or to provide access to internal components for maintenance or to removable storage supports like CDs or DVDs, or to mechanically mount accessories mounting of accessories to a computer display G06F1/1607; display hoods G06F1/1603; cooling arrangements for portable computers G06F1/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1658 related to the mounting of internal components, e.g. disc drive or any other functional module
• 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 2203/04105 Pressure sensors for measuring the pressure or force exerted on the touch surface without providing the touch position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0202 Constructional details or processes of manufacture of the input device

Abstract

An electronic device with seamless protective cover glass is disclosed. In the described embodiments, the cover glass is coupled to the housing such that the cover glass or portions of the cover glass move with respect to the housing. This movement can be used as an interface for receiving user inputs that can be used to provide control signals to the electronic device.

Claims

1. A portable electronic device comprising:

a housing with a front opening;

a seamless protective cover glass disposed within the front opening of the housing, wherein the cover glass forms the entire upper surface of the portable electronic device;

a coupling mechanism configured to movably couple the housing to the cover glass such that the entire cover glass pivots as a single piece with respect to the housing in response to a force applied to the cover glass;

a cover glass movement detector disposed within the housing, the cover glass movement detector configured to detect a pivot of the cover glass with respect to the housing and generate a detection signal in response to the pivot of the cover glass; and

a processor disposed within the housing and in communication with the cover glass movement detector, the processor configured to receive the detection signal and generate a control signal when the detection signal is received, wherein the control signal is used to control an operation of the portable electronic device.

2. The portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the coupling mechanism comprises a hinge coupled to the cover glass and a first edge of the housing that allows the cover glass to pivot with respect to the first edge of the housing such that a first end of the cover glass remains at the hinge and does not translate while a second edge of the cover glass opposite the first end translates downward with respect to the housing.

3. The portable electronic device of claim 2 wherein the cover glass movement detector is a dome switch comprising a flexible dome member and a switch wherein the pivot of the cover glass causes the flexible dome member to contact the switch that generates the detection signal.

4. The portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the coupling mechanism comprises a compliant material disposed between and coupled to the cover glass and the housing such that the cover glass can rotate with respect to one or more axes, translate with respect to one or more axes, or a combination thereof.

5. The portable electronic device of claim 4 wherein the coupling mechanism comprises a plurality of elastic connectors.

6. The portable electronic device of claim 4 wherein:

the processor is configured to determine the location of the force applied to the cover glass; and

the processor is configured to generate a control signal in accordance with an interpretation of the location of the force applied to the cover glass.

7. The portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the processor being configured to generate the control signal only when the detection signal and the capacitive touch event signal are both received prevents generating the control signal due to incidental or accidental pivot of the cover glass.

8. The portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the housing includes walls having upper edges and the cover glass extends to the upper edges of all of the walls.

9. A method for controlling the operation of a portable electronic device having a housing that carries an operational component and a front side opening having an edge that carries a cover glass, comprising:

receiving a detection signal indicating a pivot of the cover glass with respect to the housing, wherein the cover glass forms the entire upper surface of the portable electronic device and the entire cover glass pivots as a single piece with respect to the housing; and

generating a control signal in response to receiving the detection signal to control operation of the portable electronic device in accordance with a pre-determined interpretation of the detection signal.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the pivot of the cover glass comprises:

uniform movement of substantially all of the cover glass with respect to the edge.

11. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the cover glass is fixed to the edge and the pivot of the cover glass comprises:

deflection of a portion of the cover glass away from the edge.

12. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein at least a portion of the cover glass is fixed to a corresponding portion of the edge and wherein a remaining portion of the cover glass pivots with respect to the edge in response to the applied force.

13. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the pivot of the cover glass is detected by a capacitive sensor carried by the housing and in communication with a processor.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium for storing computer code executable by a processor used to control an operation of an electronic device having a housing that carries an operational component and a front side opening having an edge that carries a cover glass, comprising:

computer code for receiving at the processor a detection signal indicating a pivot of the cover glass with respect to the housing, wherein the cover glass forms the entire upper surface of the portable electronic device and the entire cover glass pivots as a single piece with respect to the housing; and

computer code for generating at the processor a control signal in response to receiving the detection signal to control operation of the portable electronic device in accordance with a pre-determined interpretation of the detection signal.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14 wherein the sensor is a dome switch comprising a flexible dome member and a switch wherein the pivot of the cover glass causes the flexible dome member to contact the switch that generates the detection signal.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 14, wherein the sensor is a capacitive sensor carried by the housing and in communication with the processor.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 14, wherein the pivot of the cover glass comprises:

uniform movement of substantially all of the cover glass with respect to the edge.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in claim 14, wherein the cover glass is fixed to the edge and the pivot of the cover glass comprises:

deflection of a portion of the cover glass away from the edge.

19. An electronic device comprising:

a housing with a front opening;

a cover glass disposed at the front opening of the housing, wherein the cover glass forms the entire upper surface of the electronic device;

a coupling mechanism configured to couple the housing to the cover glass such that the cover glass pivots with respect to the housing in response to a force applied to the cover glass;

a cover glass movement detector configured to detect a pivot of the cover glass with respect to the housing and to generate a detection signal in response to the pivot of the cover glass; and

a processor in communication with the cover glass movement detector, wherein the processor is configured to receive the detection signal and to respond to the detection signal by generating a control signal that controls an operation of the electronic device.

20. The electronic device of claim 19 wherein the cover glass pivots such that a first end of the cover glass remains at a first wall of the housing and does not translate while a second edge of the cover glass opposite the first end translates downward with respect to a second wall of the housing opposite the first wall.