On March 26, 2015, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals methods of thinning down iDevices with a new display assembly method. The invention also covers a ceramic or sapphire surface glass having an electrically energized component embedded within it that could eventually lead to new iPhone form factors down the road.

Apple's Patent Background

Electronic devices are ubiquitous in modern society. Examples include phones, tablet computing devices, personal computers, watches, glasses, fitness meters, earpieces, and so on. One thing is generally true of all electronic devices: each generation adds more functionality (and thus circuitry) than the last. As circuitry increases, available space decreases.

Eventually, even with the ongoing miniaturization in circuitry, a limit on physical space can be reached such that no more space is available to add any more electronic components. Likewise, even if space is available, cross-talk, interference and the like between closely-packed electronic components may cause erratic operation of overall failure.

Some electronic devices include a cover glass or other relatively hard, transparent element that covers a display. The cover glass typically is not used for anything other than protection of the display and to form part of the housing, or to be affixed to the housing. Thus, the space occupied by the cover glass may be considered wasted space from the point of view of attempting to maximize electronic circuitry within a given volume for an electronic device.

Further, some electronic devices use sapphire or other hard but brittle ceramics as a cover glass. Such cover glasses may be very resistant to scratches and damage, but may be difficult to cut, polish, grind, drill or otherwise shape or process due to their very hardness. Thus, an improved ceramic material having an electronic component embedded therein may be useful.

Apple's Invention: Electronic Component Embedded in Ceramic Material

Apple's invention generally relates to ceramic materials having an electronic component embedded therein, and more particularly to electrically active components embedded in a ceramic surface defining a portion of an outer surface of an electronic device.

One embodiment described in this invention may take the form of an electronic device, including: a housing; a cover glass affixed to the housing; an electronic component embedded within the cover glass; an electronic circuit positioned below the cover glass; and a sensor positioned below the electronic circuit.. The electronic device may also have a trench defined within the cover glass; the electronic component located within the trench; and a retention element occupying a remainder of the trench, thereby embedding the electronic component with the cover glass.

Another embodiment may take the form of an electronic device, comprising: a housing; a ceramic element affixed to the housing, the ceramic element defining a void; an electronic component affixed within the void; at least one electronic circuit within the housing and in electrical communication with the electronic component; and at least one sensor positioned below the at least one electronic circuit.

According to Apple, the electronic circuitry may further include a display stack that is viewable through the cover glass #105. For example, the display stack may be an LCD display stack, and LED display stack, an OLED display stack, and so on. The display stack may include a number of discrete elements or layers, including color filters, polarizers, lighting elements (such as back lights and/or edge lights), a pixel layer, TFT circuitry for driving pixels, and the like.

In some embodiments, the display stack may also include touch-sensitive circuitry configured to recognize a touch on the cover glass or elsewhere on the housing of the device. One example of such circuitry is a capacitive touch sensor array. In yet other embodiments, a biometric sensor (such as a capacitive fingerprint sensor) may be incorporated into the electronic circuitry, as may one or more force-sensitive sensors.

Apple's invention in many ways seems to be describing the new process of thinning the display for the iPad 2, though it goes much further in that they describe the addition of "force sensitive sensors" which only debuted in the new MacBook trackpad earlier this month and have yet to advance to the iPad or iPhone.

The Ultimate Example

Beyond creating a thinner device, like the iPad 2, the invention advances another idea.

According to Apple, a ceramic material having an electronic component embedded therein, and more particularly to a sapphire surface having an electrically energized component embedded within.

In some embodiments, the sapphire surface may take the form of a portion of a housing for an electronic device. Since sapphire may be substantially transparent, it may form a cover glass for a display within or forming part of the electronic device, as one example.

Such a device was first covered in our 2013 patent report titled "Killer Patent: Apple Reveals Sapphire Flexible Transparent Display Devices Created with Liquid-Metal." An example of the futuristic iPhone that was found in that patent application is presented below.

Apple's invention covers a lot of interesting little twists that are hard to convey in simplistic ways. For those wishing to delve into the details of this invention, click here.

Patent Credits

Apple credits Dale Memering, Erik de Jong, Samuel Weiss and Fletcher Rothkopf as the inventors of patent application 20150085432 which was filed in Q4 2014 with references back to 2013. Considering that this is a patent application, the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time.

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