The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 59 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In this particular report we cover fabric device housings and bendable displays via laser formed slits. Apple also was granted a series of design patents covering AirPower and more. We wrap up this week's granted patent report with our traditional listing of the remaining granted patents that were issued to Apple today.

Granted Patent: Fabric Device Housings

Apple's newly granted patent covers their invention relating to An electronic device such as a cover for a portable device or other electronic equipment may have circuitry mounted in as housing. The housing may be formed from layers of material such as fabric and polymer layers. The fabric may be formed from woven polymer yarn. The fabric may be treated with chemicals to improve stain resistance and wear resistance, may be provided with a polymer backing layer, and may receive molded plastic structures. The fabric may be embossed to create local raised and lowered areas.

Apple's patent FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative tube of fabric being used to enclose circuitry for an electronic device in accordance with an embodiment.

Apple clearly spells out the scope of this invention beyond the Smart Keyboard. Apple notes that the invention covers "electronic devices with structures such as housing structures that are formed using fabric such as a tablet computer, laptop computer, a desktop computer, a display, a cellular telephone, a media player, a wristwatch device or other wearable electronic equipment and headphones."

Patently Apple covered this as a patent application back on March 4, 2017. Review the report for more details. The history of the invention dates back to September 2015.

In November 2015 iFixit reported on the iPad Pro's Smart Keyboard. Under step #4 iFixit noted "In order to make the Smart Keyboard water and stain-resistant, Apple encapsulated the entire accessory inside some high tech fabric." This was the first product using fabrics as this granted patent reveals.

Apple's granted patent 10,056,205 was originally filed in Q1 2017 and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Granted Patent: Bendable iPhone with Laser-Formed Slits in the Display

Apple's newly granted patent covers their invention relating to an electronic device may have a flexible portion that allows the device to be folded. The housing and the flexible display may have edge portions that are joined along a flexible middle portion. The flexible middle portion may overlap a bend axis. To accommodate folding, laser slits are made in the bendable part of the display.

Apple's granted patent 10,056,443 was originally filed in Q and published today by the US Patent and Trademark Office. Patently Apple covered this as a patent application back in October 2017 in a report titled "Apple Invents a Laser that cuts Micro Slots in OLED or Micro-LED Displays to Create Foldable Displays."

Apple's Key Granted Design Patents for 8/21/2018

The Remaining Patents granted to Apple Today

Patently Apple presents only a brief summary of granted patents with associated graphics for journalistic news purposes as each Granted Patent is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any Granted Patent should be read in its entirety for full details. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Those using abusive language or behavior will result in being blacklisted on Disqus.