The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 45 granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we on Apple's granted patent for a flexible display. The original patent was filed back in 2013. In Apple's second granted patent for this invention we note that they've added 12 major additions to their invention with the vast majority of the changes covering a fabric housing for a possible future flexible iPhone. One example is found in patent claim #12: "The electronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the fabric housing member comprises metal elements." Another is found in patent claim #15 wherein Apple notes that "The electronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the fabric housing member forms a flexible hinge that allows the flexible display to be folded.

Granted Patent: Flexible Devices

Apple's newly granted patent covers their invention relating to flexible electronic devices. Patently Apple first covered Apple's patent application for this invention back in 2013 in a report titled "Apple Patent Reveals Advanced iDevice Flex Display Features." Folding mobile devices have been gathering steam behind the scenes from Samsung, Microsoft, Lenovo and Apple. Last week we posted a new patent application report on folding iPhones titled "Apple's Third Major Folding iPhone Invention has come to Light Illustrating a Dual Fold-Out/Fold-In Form Factor." Review our Original 2013 report for an in-depth look at the attributes of Apple's invention.

Apple's patent FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative flexible electronic device in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative flexible main logic board formed from a flexible printed circuit substrate with electrical components

This is Apple's second granted patent for this invention. The first was granted to Apple in April 2015. So what was added to Apple's patent? As always, Apple doesn't change the foundation of the invention but rather the claims to further protect various aspects of the invention or to add new features.

Major Additions Found in Apple's Patent Claims

The following are the additions made to Apple's Flexible Device Invention with emphasis made on a fabric housing:

Claim #1: An electronic device, comprising: a flexible display that is movable between a folded position and an unfolded position; a sensor that detects whether the flexible display is in the folded position or the unfolded position; and processing circuitry that automatically turns on the flexible display when the flexible display moves from the folded position to the unfolded position and that automatically turns off the flexible display when the flexible display moves from the unfolded position to the folded position.

Claim #6: The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the sensor comprises a proximity sensor.

Claim #7: The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the flexible display comprises first and second portions that face each other when the flexible display is in the folded position.

Claim #9: The electronic device defined in claim 8 wherein the housing comprises fabric.

Claim #11: An electronic device, comprising: a flexible display; a fabric housing member that supports the flexible display; a sensor that detects bending of the flexible display; and processing circuitry that gathers sensor signals from the sensor and that controls operation of the flexible display based on the sensor signals.

Claim #12: The electronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the fabric housing member comprises metal elements.

Claim #13: The electronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the fabric housing member bends with the flexible display.

Claim #14: The electronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the flexible display comprises a touch-sensitive flexible display having an array of capacitive touch sensor electrodes.

Claim #15: The electronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the fabric housing member forms a flexible hinge that allows the flexible display to be folded.

Claim #16: An electronic device, comprising: a fabric-based housing structure; an array of light-emitting diodes mounted to the fabric-based housing structure; a sensor that detects flexing of the fabric-based housing structure; and processing circuitry that gathers sensor signals from the sensor and that controls the array of light-emitting diodes based on the sensor signals.

Claim #17: The electronic device defined in claim 16 wherein the fabric-based housing structure comprises a rigid portion and a flexible portion.

Claim #19: The electronic device defined in claim 16 wherein the fabric-based housing structure forms a flexible hinge that allows the array of light-emitting diodes to be folded.

Claim #20: The electronic device defined in claim 16 wherein the fabric-based housing structure comprises a layer of fabric on a rigid support structure.

Patently Apple presents only a brief summary of granted patents with associated graphics for journalistic news purposes as each Granted Patent is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any Granted Patent should be read in its entirety for full details. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments.