Earlier this morning, Patently Apple posted a folding device report titled "Apple invents a unique lighting system for Foldable Devices that implements separate brightness controls for the 2 Display Halves." Today on Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent relating to self-healing folding device displays that could hide minor scratches and dents.

The display cover layer may include a layer of elastomer in the flexible region of the display cover layer for increased flexibility. Self-healing may be initiated or expedited by externally applied heat, light, electric current, or other type of external stimulus.

Apple notes that this possible future electronic device may have a hinge that allows the device to be flexed about a bend axis. A display may span the bend axis. To facilitate bending about the bend axis without damage, the display may include a display cover layer with a flexible portion. The flexible portion of the display cover layer may be interposed between first and second rigid portions of the display cover layer in one example.

During operation of an electronic device, the display cover layer for the electronic device may be scratched or dented. To improve the aesthetics of the electronic device, it may be desirable for the presence of scratches and dents to be minimized. To help mitigate the number of dents, scratches, or other imperfections in a display cover layer, the display cover layer may include a layer of self-healing material.

The layer of self-healing material may be formed across the entire display cover layer or may be formed only in the flexible region of the display cover layer. The display cover layer may include a layer of elastomer in the flexible region of the display cover layer for increased flexibility. The layer of self-healing material may cover the layer of elastomer in the flexible region.

Self-healing may occur in the layer of self-healing material without prompting (e.g., when the self-healing coating is dented, the material of the coating may fill the dent even without external intervention). Alternatively, the self-healing may be initiated or expedited by externally applied heat, light, electric current, or other type of external stimulus.

When heat is used as a stimulus for the self-healing process, the display cover layer may include transparent conductors that form a heating layer in the display cover layer. The heating layer may be used to generate heat to stimulate self-healing. The heating layer may be used to generate heat in response to user input, according to a predetermined schedule, or when the electronic device is charging.

To promote flexibility in the display cover layer, the display cover layer may include a transparent dielectric layer with slits. The slits may be filled with an index-matching material.

Apple's patent FIG. 1 below is general graphic representing a device that appears like a foldable iPhone, though Apple states that it could be an iPad or a MacBook; FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional side view of a display that includes a display cover layer with a layer of self-healing material; FIG. 18 is a top view of an illustrative transparent dielectric layer including slits.

Apple adds that the transparent dielectric layer (#62-2) may have a plurality of slits #82 (which may sometimes be referred to as holes, recesses, grooves, openings, etc.) in flexible portion #24B to increase the flexibility of the display cover layer. Because transparent dielectric layer has a pattern of slits in the flexible portion of the display cover glass, the transparent dielectric layer may sometimes be referred to as a patterned transparent dielectric layer or a patterned glass layer.

Today, the U.S. Patent Office published Apple update to this invention that adds 20 new patent claims that better protects their invention from competitors and patent trolls by focusing on aspects of the invention that Apple considers to be key.

In this particular patent, Apple focuses their 20 new claims on protecting the make-up of the display layers and its heating feature that delivers self-healing of the display as follows:

• An electronic device, comprising: a housing that bends about a bend axis; and a display in the housing that bends about the bend axis, wherein the display comprises a display cover layer having first and second rigid portions and a flexible portion interposed between the first and second rigid portions, wherein the first and second rigid portions comprise first and second respective transparent dielectric layers, wherein the flexible portion comprises a layer of elastomer that is interposed between the first and second transparent dielectric layers, and wherein the display cover layer includes a polymer layer that is formed over the layer of elastomer and the first and second transparent dielectric layers.
• ... wherein the polymer layer is a self-healing polymer layer and wherein the display cover layer further comprises an adhesive layer that attaches the first and second transparent dielectric layers and the layer of elastomer to a third transparent dielectric layer.
• ... wherein the adhesive layer is an optically clear adhesive layer.
• ... wherein the display cover layer further comprises a transparent conductor layer used to generate heat to promote self-healing in the self-healing polymer layer.
• ... wherein the transparent conductor layer is interposed between the adhesive layer and the third transparent dielectric layer.
• ... wherein the transparent conductor layer is interposed between the first and second transparent dielectric layers and the self-healing polymer layer and wherein the transparent conductor layer is interposed between the layer of elastomer and the self-healing polymer layer.
• ... wherein the polymer layer extends across an entire exterior surface of the display cover layer.
• ... wherein the elastomer has a lower Young's modulus than the polymer layer.
• An electronic device, comprising: a housing; a flexible display in the housing having a bending region that bends about a bend axis, wherein the flexible display includes a display cover layer that comprises a transparent layer at an external surface of the display cover layer and a heat-generating layer; and control circuitry in the housing, wherein the control circuitry is configured to generate heat using the heat-generating layer to promote self-healing in the transparent layer.
• ... wherein the display cover layer further comprises a transparent dielectric layer and wherein the transparent dielectric layer is interposed between the transparent layer and the heat-generating layer.
• ... wherein the heat-generating layer comprises conductive traces.
• ... wherein the conductive traces are formed from indium tin oxide.
• ... wherein the conductive traces are formed from silver nanowire.
• The electronic device further comprises: a first index-matching layer that is interposed between the heat-generating layer and the transparent layer; and a second index-matching layer, wherein the heat-generating layer is interposed between the first and second index-matching layers.
• An electronic device further comprises: a housing; and a flexible display in the housing having a bending region that bends about a bend axis, wherein the flexible display includes display layers configured to emit light and a display cover layer, wherein the display cover layer covers the display layers, and wherein the display cover layer comprises: a first transparent dielectric layer having a plurality of slits in the bending region; and a second transparent dielectric layer that covers the first transparent dielectric layer.
• The electronic device further comprises: an adhesive layer that is interposed between the first transparent dielectric layer and the second transparent dielectric layer.
• ... wherein the first transparent dielectric layer and the second transparent dielectric layer are attached by a plurality of welds.
• The electronic device further comprises: an index-matching layer that fills the plurality of slits.
• ... wherein a first portion of the index-matching layer fills the plurality of slits and wherein the index-matching layer has a second portion that is interposed between the first transparent dielectric layer and the display layers.
• ... wherein the display cover layer further comprising: a third transparent dielectric layer that has an opening that is overlapped by the plurality of slits.

For more details, review Apple's patent application Number US 20220376203 A1.

Apple Inventors

Hoon Kim: Product Design / New Technology (Special Project Group)

Paul Drzaic: Director, Display Investigations

Afsar; Yasmin F.: Hardware Engineer, Emerging Display Technology

Young Cheol Yang: Principal Researcher (relating to displays, optical simulation, optical components for mixed reality displays and more)

Leiming Wang: Sr. Panel Optical Engineer