Apple Won 46 Patents Today covering Glass Device Housings, a Smart Watch Band & 4 iDevice Design Patents
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple 46 newly granted patents today. In this report we cover two granted utility patents and four design patents covering two iPhone designs and two iPad designs, with one that was never manufactured. The utility patents cover Apple's fifth granted patent relating to iDevices with unitary glass housings while the second covers strain gauges embedded into a future Apple Watch band that could tighten the band on the user's wrist when taking specific health tests. As always, we wrap up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple today.
Glass Device Housings
Apple was granted patent 10,512,176 today for "Glass device housings." It's Apple's fifth granted patent for this invention. In today's version, new patent claims have been added that cover the following:
Patent Claim 2 adds information about a speaker: "the first housing structure includes a speaker port that includes an opening defined within the front portion of the first housing structure; the speaker port includes a raised rib that at least partially surrounds the opening; and the portable electronic device further comprises a speaker positioned below the speaker port."
Patent Claim 3 adds information about a raised rib: "the second housing structure includes a raised rib that extends into the interior volume; and the raised rib is formed from the glass material."
Patent Claim 6 adds glass housing chemically strengthened: "The portable electronic device of claim 5, wherein: the glass sheet member and the glass housing member define a curved contour; and the glass sheet member and the glass housing member are chemically strengthened along the curved contour.
Patent Claim 7 adds "unitary glass housing" 13 times throughout the claims starting with claim 7 as follows: "a unitary glass housing structure defining at least four exterior sides of the electronic device, the unitary glass housing structure having a width dimension and a length dimension greater than the width dimension and defining an opening extending along the length dimension; a glass sidewall structure bonded to the unitary glass housing structure along the length dimension of the unitary glass housing structure to cover the opening; and a display positioned within the electronic device and visible through at least one of the at least four exterior sides."
Patent Claim 15 adds "audio component and audio port as follows; "The electronic device of claim 7, wherein: the unitary glass housing structure defines an audio port along a front exterior side of the at least four exterior sides; and the electronic device further comprises an audio component positioned within the electronic device and aligned with the audio port.
Patent Claim 20 adds electrical ports and connector as follows: "The portable electronic device of claim 16, wherein the glass sidewall structure defines one or more electrical ports for receiving an electrical connector."
Patently Apple covered Apple's second granted patent back in September 2015 that offers more patent figures to view here. Today Apple was granted patent 10,512,176 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Apple's patent FIG. 23 presented below is a diagram showing how glass housing structures formed from a five-sided box of fused glass members may be provided with internal components.
Our cover graphic covers Patent FIG. 1 which is what FIG. 23 is but in a finished format and the second figure covers an all-glass iPhone.
You have to wonder if a future iMac could come with with a glass back so as to support future 5G connectivity.
A Smart Apple Watch Band Supporting Health Sensors
Patently Apple posted a patent application report in May of this year titled "Apple advances Apple Watch Band Invention to Include an Embedded Strain Gauge to Record Accurate Health Data."
Apple's granted patent relates to a future advanced Apple Watch band that will have embed strain gauge sensors so as to be able to secure the watch to the user's skin so that it could take more accurate health readings.
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published Apple's granted patent today under number 10,506,978. You could read our May report in full here with more details and graphics.
Apple's 4 Key Design Patents Granted Today
The four key design patents issued to Apple today include two iPhone designs covering the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 4 as presented below.
The other two design patents cover iPad designs with the '102 design presented below covering a unique design with a second 30-Pin side connector for landscape mode in Apple's basic iPad Keyboard Dock shown further below.
The idea was great but it never came to market until Apple redesigned the concept and launched it as the iPad Pro with a side 'Smart Connector.'
The '101 design above patent covers the original iPad that launched in 2010.
The Remaining Patents granted to Apple Today
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