Source: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8665045.html
Timestamp: 2020-02-19 20:56:43
Document Index: 128021788

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 201110076270', 'Application No. 201110076452', 'Application No. 10', 'Application No. 201107265', 'application No. 29', 'Application No. 61']

Accessory device with magnetic attachment - Apple Inc.
United States Patent 8665045
Ternus, John P. (Redwood, CA, US)
13/784267
H01F7/00; B65D5/52; B65D25/24; H01F1/00; H01F7/02
Download PDF 8665045 PDF help
Chinese Application No. 201110076270.7—Notification of a Second Office Action—mailed Jun. 5, 2013.
Chinese Application No. 201110076452.4—Notification of a Second Office Action—mailed Jun. 4, 2013.
Great Britain Application GB1115958.9—Examination Report mailed Apr. 19, 2013.
Korean Application No. 10-2011-7008577—Last Preliminary Rejection mailed Jun. 28, 2013.
Mexico Application No. MX/a/2011/003646—Office Action mailed Mar. 19, 2013.
Singapore Application No. 201107265-9—Written Opinion and Search Report mailed May 30, 2013.
This U.S. patent application is a continuation application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/564,457, filed Aug. 1, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,390,413, entitled “ACCESSORY DEVICE WITH MAGNETIC ATTACHMENT”, by Lauder et al, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/971,624, filed Dec. 17, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,264,310, entitled “ACCESSORY DEVICE WITH MAGNETIC ATTACHMENT”, by Lauder et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/971,624 is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Design patent application No. 29/375,197, filed Sep. 17, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. D658,186, entitled “COVER”, by Akana et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/971,624 also claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/384,179, filed Sep. 17, 2010, entitled “APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MAGNETIC ATTACHMENT”, by Lauder et al. All of these applications are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.
1. An accessory unit, comprising: a foldable flap arranged to fold into any one of a plurality of folded states and configured to pivotally attach to an electronic device at a housing comprising a front portion having an opening, a display for presenting visual content and an outer protective layer overlaying the display and disposed within the opening and having a front surface and a back surface, a magnetic element beneath the back surface and configured to form a magnetic surface at the front surface, and a sensor disposed within the housing and configured to detect through the outer protective layer the folded state of the flap with respect to the electronic device and causing the electronic device to alter a current operation.
2. The accessory unit as recited in claim 1, the foldable flap comprising an electronic circuit.
3. The accessory device as recited in claim 2, the electronic circuit comprising a display element disposed at a surface of the foldable flap.
4. The accessory unit as recited in claim 3, the display element configured to present visual content in cooperation with the visual content provided by the display.
5. The accessory unit as recited in claim 2, the electronic circuit comprising an input device.
6. The accessory unit as recited in claim 5, the input device is a keyboard assembly.
7. The accessory unit as recited in claim 2, wherein the electronic device is in wireless communication with the electronic circuit.
8. The accessory unit as recited in claim 2, wherein the electronic device is in wired communication with the electronic circuit.
9. The accessory unit as recited in claim 1, a first folded state comprising a first portion of the flap folded back away from the outer protective layer exposing a first portion of the display.
10. The accessory unit as recited in claim 9, the sensor detecting the first folded state causes the electronic device to present visual content by the display in accordance with the first portion.
11. The accessory unit as recited in claim 10, a second folded state comprising a second portion of the flap that includes the first portion folded back away from the outer protective layer exposing a second portion of the display the includes the first portion.
12. The accessory unit as recited in claim 11, the sensor detecting the second folded state causes the electronic device to present visual content by the display in accordance with the second portion.
13. The accessory unit as recited in claim 12, a closed folded state comprising the flap folded on top of and covering substantially all of the outer protective layer.
14. The accessory unit as recited in claim 13, the sensor detecting the closed folded state causes the electronic device to prevent the display from presenting visual content.
An accessory unit includes at least an accessory body and a magnetic assembly pivotally connected to the accessory body. The magnetic assembly includes at least a first plurality of magnetic elements arranged adjacent one another in a first relative size order along a first line and arranged according to a first polarity pattern of alternating magnetic polarities, and a second plurality of magnetic elements arranged adjacent to one another in a second relative size order along the first line and according to a second polarity pattern of alternating magnetic polarities.
A magnetic attachment method suitable for use with an accessory unit can be carried out by providing a magnetic assembly where the magnetic assembly includes at least a first plurality of magnetic elements arranged adjacent one another in a first relative size order along a first line and arranged according to a first polarity pattern of alternating magnetic polarities and a second plurality of magnetic elements arranged adjacent to one another in a second relative size order along the first line and according to a second polarity pattern of alternating magnetic polarities, wherein the first and second plurality of magnetic elements cooperate to form a first magnetic sequence. In the described embodiment, the method can be carried out by placing the sequenced magnetic assembly in proximity to a host unit, causing the creation of a first magnetic surface by the host unit, the first magnetic surface being suitable for magnetic attachment, and magnetically attaching the accessory unit and the host unit at an engagement surface corresponding to the magnetic surface.
B112(x=xo+t)>Bthreshold, Eq. (4)in active state.
Magnetic assembly 702 can each include individual magnets. In the described embodiment, the individual magnets can be arranged in a structure in which the polarities of the magnets can be oriented to form a coded magnetic structure. The coded magnetic structure can be formed of a sequence of magnetic polarities and in some cases magnetic strength. In other words, the sequence of magnetic polarities can be represented, for example, as {+1, +1, −1, +1, −1, +1, −1, −1}. For this particular example, “+1” indicates the direction and strength of the magnet. Hence, a positive sign “+” can indicate that the corresponding magnet is aligned having a magnetic
vector in a particular direction, a negative sign “−” can indicate a magnetic vector in an opposite direction and “1” indicates a strength of one unit magnet.
FIG. 15 shows a top view of magnetic array configured as two dimensional coded magnetic sequence 1004 in accordance with the described embodiments. Two dimensional coded magnetic sequence 1004 can be used to extend the combined magnetic field over an area that extends in both the x and y directions. This extended area can result in an overall increase in the area available to propagate magnetic field lines that can result in an increase in magnetic flux and a commensurate increase in net magnetic attractive force. In addition to providing an improved magnetic attachment, two dimensional coded magnetic sequence 1004 can approximate non-integer values of magnetic properties, such as magnetic strength. For example, with magnetic arrangement 1004, the magnetic fields of the various components can combine to approximate the coded magnetic sequence {+1.5,−1.5,+1.5,−1.5,+1.5,−1.5}. Furthermore, two dimensional coded magnetic sequence 1004 can assist in providing a vertical alignment in addition to a horizontal alignment.
The remainder of this discussion will describe particular embodiments of devices that can use the magnetic attachment system. In particular, FIG. 16A and FIG. 16B show electronic device 100 presented in terms of tablet device 1100 and accessory device 200 is shown as cover assembly 1200 each in perspective top views. These elements may generally correspond to any of those previously mentioned. In particular, FIGS. 16A and 16B shows two perspective views of tablet device 1100 and cover assembly 1200 in the open configuration. For example, FIG. 16A shows device attachment feature 108 included in tablet device 1100 and its relationship to tablet device 1100. FIG. 16B, on the other hand, is the view presented in FIG. 16A rotated about 180° to provide a second view of attachment feature 202 and its relationship with cover assembly 1200.
FIG. 39 is a block diagram of an arrangement 3000 of functional modules utilized by an electronic device. The electronic device can, for example, be tablet device 1100. The arrangement 3000 includes an electronic device 3002 that is able to output media for a user of the portable media device but also store and retrieve data with respect to data storage 3004. The arrangement 3000 also includes a graphical user interface (GUI) manager 3006. The GUI manager 3006 operates to control information being provided to and displayed on a display device. The arrangement 3000 also includes a communication module 3008 that facilitates communication between the portable media device and an accessory device. Still further, the arrangement 3000 includes an accessory manager 3010 that operates to authenticate and acquire data from an accessory device that can be coupled to the portable media device.
FIG. 40 is a block diagram of an electronic device 3050 suitable for use with the described embodiments. The electronic device 3050 illustrates circuitry of a representative computing device. The electronic device 3050 includes a processor 3052 that pertains to a microprocessor or controller for controlling the overall operation of the electronic device 3050. The electronic device 3050 stores media data pertaining to media items in a file system 3054 and a cache 3056. The file system 3054 is, typically, a storage disk or a plurality of disks. The file system 3054 typically provides high capacity storage capability for the electronic device 3050. However, since the access time to the file system 3054 is relatively slow, the electronic device 3050 can also include a cache 3056. The cache 3056 is, for example, Random-Access Memory (RAM) provided by semiconductor memory. The relative access time to the cache 3056 is substantially shorter than for the file system 3054. However, the cache 3056 does not have the large storage capacity of the file system 3054. Further, the file system 3054, when active, consumes more power than does the cache 3056. The power consumption is often a concern when the electronic device 3050 is a portable media device that is powered by a battery 3074. The electronic device 3050 can also include a RAM 3070 and a Read-Only Memory (ROM) 3072. The ROM 3072 can store programs, utilities or processes to be executed in a non-volatile manner. The RAM 3070 provides volatile data storage, such as for the cache 3056.
The electronic device 3050 also includes a user input device 3058 that allows a user of the electronic device 3050 to interact with the electronic device 3050. For example, the user input device 3058 can take a variety of forms, such as a button, keypad, dial, touch screen, audio input interface, visual/image capture input interface, input in the form of sensor data, etc. Still further, the electronic device 3050 includes a display 3060 (screen display) that can be controlled by the processor 3052 to display information to the user. A data bus 3066 can facilitate data transfer between at least the file system 3054, the cache 3056, the processor 3052, and the CODEC 3063.
In one embodiment, the electronic device 3050 serves to store a plurality of media items (e.g., songs, podcasts, etc.) in the file system 3054. When a user desires to have the electronic device play a particular media item, a list of available media items is displayed on the display 3060. Then, using the user input device 3058, a user can select one of the available media items. The processor 3052, upon receiving a selection of a particular media item, supplies the media data (e.g., audio file) for the particular media item to a coder/decoder (CODEC) 3063. The CODEC 3063 then produces analog output signals for a speaker 3064. The speaker 3064 can be a speaker internal to the electronic device 3050 or external to the electronic device 3050. For example, headphones or earphones that connect to the electronic device 3050 would be considered an external speaker.
The electronic device 3050 also includes a network/bus interface 3061 that couples to a data link 3062. The data link 3062 allows the electronic device 3050 to couple to a host computer or to accessory devices. The data link 3062 can be provided over a wired connection or a wireless connection. In the case of a wireless connection, the network/bus interface 3061 can include a wireless transceiver. The media items (media assets) can pertain to one or more different types of media content. In one embodiment, the media items are audio tracks (e.g., songs, audio books, and podcasts). In another embodiment, the media items are images (e.g., photos). However, in other embodiments, the media items can be any combination of audio, graphical or visual content. Sensor 3076 can take the form of circuitry for detecting any number of stimuli. For example, sensor 3076 can include a Hall Effect sensor responsive to external magnetic field, an audio sensor, a light sensor such as a photometer, and so on.
<- Previous Patent (Cover for an electro...) | Next Patent (Electromagnet and el...) ->