Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 59 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. In this particular report we briefly cover a patent relating to a Barometric Vent for Apple Watch that Improves Underwater Performance. And 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 this week.

Barometric Vent Stack-up Design To Improve Water Performance

Portable electronic devices can utilize electronic components having one or more membranes, such as, speakers, microphones, barometric vents, etc. For example, a barometric vent can include a porous membrane which enables pressure within a housing of the portable electronic device to equalize to a pressure outside of the housing (e.g., the pressure of an ambient environment in which the portable electronic device is exposed). Environmental attributes, such as, temperature, humidity, air-born contaminants, elevation, and/or atmospheric pressure resultant of submersion within a liquid can vary the pressure exerted onto the device. Fluctuations in relative pressure can degrade the membrane or otherwise cause the device to perform poorly. For example, when exposed to a load or force, the membrane can stretch or otherwise undergo an inelastic or plastic deformation.

Apple's granted patent relates to examples of venting modules that maintain sufficient fluid flow when the portable electronic device is utilized within high pressure environments (e.g., underwater, at elevation, etc.).

In examples, the venting module can have a fluid permeable member or porous member which, together with a fluid permeable layer or membrane, defines a fluid path extending a width and/or a length of the porous member and placing an internal volume of a device housing in fluid communication with an ambient environment adjacent the housing. In other words, a top surface of the porous member can define a surface area (e.g., formed by a width and length of the porous member) through which fluid can flow.

For example, a portable electronic device can include a housing which defines an internal volume and the portable electronic device can include a venting module, such as, a barometric vent or audio component/vent hybrid (e.g., a speaker assembly having a barometric vent built into the speaker assembly as the diaphragm). The venting module can include a fluid permeable membrane and a porous member disposed parallel to the membrane. The membrane and the porous member can define a fluid path extending a width and/or a length (e.g., surface area) of the porous member and placing the internal volume of the housing in fluid communication with an ambient environment adjacent the housing. The venting module can include a support structure coupled to the porous member.

For more on this, review granted patent 11956611.

This Week's Remaining Granted Patents