On Thursday the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that relates to selectively strengthening cover glass such as the edges of the cover glass to enhance the protection of the glass. This is a subject and project that Apple has been working on for years as covered in patent reports noted here: 01, 02, 03 and 04.  The iPhone 11 is proof of their patented technology in the market place today. Yet there's a second side to Apple's invention regarding the use of apertures in cover glass that could be used in future Apple devices for delivering audio which we cover in today's report. This has yet to come to market and it holds potential value to future devices.

A quick overview of the first part of this invention starts with Apple's patent FIG. 1B presented below  wherein they note that the cover glass #104 may extend across the entire top surface of the housing (#102). In such a case, the edges of the cover glass may be aligned, or substantially aligned, with the sides of the housing. Given that the thickness of the cover glass may be rather thin (i.e., less than a few millimeters), the glass material for the cover glass can be selected from available glass that is stronger. For example, alumino silicate glass (e.g., DVTS from Corning) is one suitable choice for the glass material for the cover glass.

Apple's patent FIG. 2 below diagrammatically illustrates a chemical treatment process of submerging the cover glass in a heated potassium bath (#203 - for example a molten KNO3 bath), for selective chemically strengthening the cover glass.

More importantly, Apple has already applied their glass technology to iPhones like the iPhone 11 that used an Ion based processed and promoted in Apple's iPhone 11 Pro promotion page as presented below.

(Click on image below)

Where this patent holds further potential in the future is in the fact that Apple discusses the ability to purposely produce openings (apertures) made in the cover glass. This concept has been granted three patents since 2011. Besides this current patent which has earned them two granted patents alone, they were also granted another patent in 2018.

Our cover graphic is from another such patent covering this feature that we posted back in January 2017. In fact, in that  particular report we presented our readers with a video showing how Sony was using this kind of technology to form speakers in their television cover glass that they called "Acoustic Surface." You could view the introduction of this below. This would be very cool on a new iMac. 

The apertures could be used to allow audio to pass through the cover glass either as an added speaker or as it's only speaker to make a device like an iPhone more waterproof.

Secondly, it could technically be used in a future iPhone design to hide their face cameras. This is what Apple's Chinese competitor Xiaomi is proposing in-part to introduce next year along with a fingerprint scanner under the display.

The video below shows their branded dot smartphone with a small visible camera vs their 2021 smartphone where the camera will be hidden beneath the glass. The last scene in the video shows a user taking a selfie with the hidden face camera. Some commentary I've read states that if you look closely enough, you'll see where the glass hole cutout is – though for the most part it's invisible to the user.

Apple has the patented technology to produce such a display with a hidden camera hole and so it's just a matter of whether Apple feels that this technology is ready for prime time or not.

Lastly, this week's continuation patent application regarding cover glass strengthening is technically a "continuation patent" which means that Apple has added new patent claims towards their original invention. In this continuation patent, Apple has added 20 new claims as presented below.

The 20 patent claims listed in their June 2020 granted patent focused on one thing: "The Electronic Device." In this week's continuation patent, the claims cover two main themes: (1) ten claims relate to "A consumer electronic product", and (2) ten claims relate to "A method for assembling an electronic product.

All of the new claims are presented below with emphasis placed on certain features by patently Apple either in bold print or yellow highlighter.

A Consumer Electronic Product

1. A consumer electronic product, comprising: a housing; electrical components disposed at least partially internal to said housing; and a cover glass coupled with the housing, wherein the cover glass comprises a selectively chemically strengthened surface region.

2. The consumer electronic product as recited in claim 1 wherein: the cover glass further comprises another chemically strengthened surface region; and the selectively chemically strengthened surface region of the cover glass has enhanced strengthening that is greater than strengthening of the other chemically strengthened surface region.

3. The consumer electronic product as recited in claim 1 wherein: the cover glass further comprises another surface region that is chemically strengthened with a compressive stress; and the selectively chemically strengthened surface region of the cover glass has enhanced strengthening with an enhanced compressive stress that is greater than the compressive stress of the other chemically strengthened surface region.

4. The consumer electronic product as recited in claim 1 wherein: the cover glass further comprises another surface region that is chemically strengthened with a depth of compressive layer; and the selectively chemically strengthened surface region of the cover glass has enhanced strengthening with an enhanced depth of compressive layer that is deeper than the depth of compressive layer of the other chemically strengthened surface region.

5. The consumer electronic product as recited in claim 1 wherein: the cover glass further comprises another surface region that is chemically strengthened with a central tension; and the selectively chemically strengthened surface region of the cover glass has enhanced strengthening with an enhanced central tension that is greater than the central tension of the other chemically strengthened surface region.

6. The consumer electronic product as recited in claim 1 wherein the selectively chemically strengthened surface region of the cover glass is patterned.

7. The consumer electronic product as recited in claim 1 wherein the selectively chemically strengthened surface region of the cover glass is formed with a photolithographic pattern provided on the cover glass.

8. The consumer electronic product as recited in claim 1 wherein the selectively chemically strengthened surface region comprises an edge extremity of the cover glass.

9. The consumer electronic product as recited in claim 1 wherein: the cover glass has at least one aperture extending through the cover glass, and an aperture edge region adjacent to the aperture; and the selectively chemically strengthened surface region comprises the aperture edge region of the cover glass.

10. The consumer electronic product as recited in claim 1 wherein: the cover glass further has a first major surface region that is chemically strengthened; and the selectively chemically strengthened region of the cover glass comprises an opposing major surface of the cover glass that has enhanced strengthening, which is greater than strengthening of the first major surface of the cover glass.

A Method for Assembling an Electronic Product

11. A method for assembling an electronic product comprising: obtaining cover glass; selectively chemically strengthening one surface region of the cover glass differently than chemically strengthening another surface region of the cover glass; and subsequently attaching the cover glass to a housing for the electronic product.
12. The method as recited in claim 11 wherein the selectively chemically strengthening comprises enhanced strengthening of the one surface region that is greater than strengthening of the other surface region.

13. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the enhanced strengthening of the one surface region comprises electric field assisted ion exchange strengthening.

14. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the strengthening of the other surface region comprises disposing the other surface region in a heated solution for a period of time, so as to allow at least one component of the heated solution to diffuse into the other surface region.

15. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the enhanced strengthening of the one surface region comprises both: a) electric field assisted ion exchange strengthening of the one surface region and b) disposing the one surface region in a heated solution for a period of time, so as to allow at least one component of the heated solution to diffuse into the one surface region.

16. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein the enhanced strengthening of the one surface region comprises both: a) disposing the one surface region in a first heated solution for a first period of time, so as to allow at least one component of the first heated solution to diffuse into the one surface region b) disposing the one surface region in a second heated solution for a second period of time, so as to allow at least one component of the second heated solution to diffuse into the one surface region.

17. The method as recited in claim 12 wherein: the one surface region comprises a peripheral edge region; and the enhanced strengthening of the one surface region comprises enhanced strengthening of the peripheral edge region.

18. A method for assembling an electronic product comprising: obtaining cover glass; shielding a portion of the cover glass, the shielding providing the cover glass with at least one shielded portion and at least one unshielded portion; chemically strengthening the at least one unshielded portion of the cover glass; and subsequently attaching the cover glass to a housing for the electronic product.

19. The method as recited in claim 18 wherein strengthening comprises patterning the at least one shielded portion of the cover glass.

20. The method as recited in claim 18 wherein strengthening comprises photolithographically patterning the at least one shielded portion of the cover glass.

Apple's continuation patent application 20200277224 that was published on Thursday by the U.S. Patent Office was filed back May 2020. The first aspect of the patent that covers strengthened glass for cover glass in general has been fulfilled with at least the iPhone 11. The timing to market for the portion of this invention relating to strengthened cover glass with apertures to support new features is unknown at this time.