In January Patently Apple posted a report titled "Apple may Add Textured Glass to the Back Side of Next-Gen iPhones with Possible Graphical Patterns." Then in May we posted a report about this invention being granted by the U.S. Patent Office. Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a continuation patent application from Apple on this very invention with new patent claims and details.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 below is a perspective view of an iPhone; FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative glass layer with an embedded textured region.

A continuation patent is always about updating and advancing information about an original patent filing. As Apple engineers work on the project / invention, they advance and refine details. In other instances it's Apple Legal updating the patent claims on a patent to ensure that the unique aspects of a given invention are properly protected by law. Patent Claims are what Apple's legal team could use in court to defend a patent.

Today's continuation patent adds a lot of new information to its patent claims as presented below. All yellow highlights that point to interesting feature notes are made by Patently Apple and are not part of the original text.  

1. An electronic device having opposing front and rear faces and an interior, the electronic device comprising: a display on the front face; a first glass layer that forms a housing wall on the rear face, wherein the first glass layer has an inner surface facing the interior and an opposing outer surface; and a second glass layer that is thinner than the first glass layer, wherein the second glass layer has a an outer surface and an opposing inner surface that faces the outer surface of the first glass layer and wherein the second glass layer has first and second regions with different appearances.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the first region is a laser-damaged region that is embedded within the second glass layer and wherein the second region is free from laser damage.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising: a polymer layer coupled to the inner surface of the first glass layer, wherein the polymer layer has particles embedded in a polymer binder.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3 wherein the particles have a first refractive index and wherein the polymer binder has a second refractive index that is different from the first refractive index.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the first region is a smooth region and wherein the second region is a textured region having a larger surface roughness than the first region.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 5 wherein the textured region is formed on the outer surface of the second glass layer.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 5 wherein the textured region is formed on the inner surface of the second glass layer.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising: a thin-film interference filter coating comprising a stack of dielectric layers on the second glass layer.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 8 wherein the thin-film interference filter coating overlaps the first region and the second region of the second glass layer.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 8 wherein the thin-film interference filter coating overlaps the first region of the second glass layer and does not overlap the second region of the second glass layer.

11. An electronic device having opposing front and rear surfaces and an interior, the electronic device comprising: a display on the front face; a glass layer that forms a housing wall on the rear face, wherein the glass layer has an inner surface facing the interior and an opposing outer surface and wherein the glass layer has a smooth region and a textured region; and a coating on the inner surface of the glass layer.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the coating is a polymer coating comprising particles with a first refractive index embedded in a polymer binder with a second refractive index that is different from the first refractive index.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the coating is a thin-film interference filter coating formed from a stack of dielectric layers.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 11 further comprising: an additional glass layer having an outer surface that faces the inner surface of the glass layer and an opposing inner surface, wherein the glass layer is thinner than the additional glass layer.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the textured region is a laser damaged region embedded within the glass layer and wherein the smooth region is free from laser damage.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 11 wherein the smooth and textured regions are formed on a surface of the glass layer.

17. An electronic device having opposing front and rear surfaces and an interior, the electronic device comprising: a display on the front face; and a layer that forms a housing wall on the rear face, wherein the layer has an inner surface facing the interior and an opposing outer surface and wherein the layer has a surface with a smooth region and a textured region.

18. The electronic device defined in claim 17 wherein the smooth and textured regions are formed from respective smooth and textured surfaces on the outer surface.

19. The electronic device defined in claim 17 wherein the smooth and textured regions are formed from respective smooth and textured surfaces on the inner surface.

20. The electronic device defined in claim 17 wherein the layer is formed from a material selected from the group consisting of: glass, sapphire, ceramic, and polymer.

Apple's continuation patent filing #20190239348 that was published today by the U.S. Patent Office was originally filed back in April 2019 or a little over a month prior to Apple receiving its first granted patent for this invention. Considering that this is a patent application, the timing of such a product to market is unknown at this time.

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