PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-10931802-B2
Application Number: US-201815863729-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Electronic devices with concave displays

Abstract:
Electronic devices may be provided with concave displays that reduce the risk of damage in the event of a drop while maximizing the internal volume of the device. Concave displays may be formed from one or more flexible layers including a flexible display layer. The flexible display layer may be mounted to a rigid support structure or a rigid cover layer. Flexible display layers that conform to the curved shape of a rigid cover structure provide additional internal volume in which internal components of the device may be positioned.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic device, comprising:
 a housing; 
 a flexible display layer mounted to the housing, wherein the flexible display layer has a pixel array with first and second portions and wherein the flexible display layer is operable in a bent configuration in which the first portion bends toward the second portion; 
 a rigid transparent cover layer through which the first and second portions of the pixel array display images, wherein the rigid transparent cover layer has an inner surface with a bend and wherein the flexible display layer is adhered to the inner surface and conforms to the bend; 
 a metal support structure having an upper surface that supports the flexible display layer and having an opposing lower surface, wherein the metal support structure has first and second rigid portions, wherein the first rigid portion bends toward the second rigid portion when the flexible display layer is in the bent configuration; and 
 electrical components mounted behind the lower surface of the metal support structure. 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  further comprising:
 a flexible touch-sensitive layer having first and second touch-sensitive regions, wherein the first touch-sensitive region bends toward the second touch-sensitive region when the flexible display layer is in the bent configuration. 
 
     
     
       3. The electronic device defined in  claim 2  wherein the flexible touch-sensitive layer comprises an array of capacitive touch sensor electrodes. 
     
     
       4. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein at least part of the housing is curved. 
     
     
       5. The electronic device defined in  claim 4  wherein the flexible display layer has a curvature when the flexible display layer is in the bent configuration, and wherein the housing has a curvature that matches the curvature of the flexible display layer. 
     
     
       6. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  further comprising an opaque masking layer on an inner surface of the rigid transparent cover layer. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  further comprising an input component, wherein the input component receives user input through local deformations of the flexible display layer. 
     
     
       8. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  further comprising a force sensor that detects pressing on the flexible display layer. 
     
     
       9. A display operable in a bent configuration, comprising:
 a rear housing wall; 
 a support layer; 
 a display layer having first and second display regions, wherein the first display region bends relative to the second display region and the display layer flexes in localized regions; 
 a touch-sensitive layer comprising an array of capacitive touch sensor electrodes; 
 a rigid transparent cover layer through which the first and second display regions display images, wherein the display layer and the touch-sensitive layer are interposed between the support layer and the rigid transparent cover layer, and wherein when the display is in the bent configuration, the support layer, the display layer, the array of capacitive touch sensor electrodes, and the rigid transparent cover layer flex about a single common axis; and 
 electrical components mounted between the rear housing wall and the support layer. 
 
     
     
       10. The display defined in  claim 9  wherein the display layer locally deforms in response to user input. 
     
     
       11. The display defined in  claim 9  wherein the touch-sensitive layer comprises a force sensor. 
     
     
       12. The electronic device defined in  claim 9  wherein the support layer comprises metal. 
     
     
       13. An electronic device, comprising:
 a flexible display layer having first and second display regions and a flexible capacitive touch-sensitive layer that are operable in a bent state in which the first display region bends toward the second display region, wherein the flexible display layer and the flexible capacitive touch-sensitive layer locally deform in response to user input; 
 a rigid transparent cover layer through which the first and second display regions display images; 
 a support structure, wherein the flexible display layer is interposed between the rigid transparent cover layer and the support structure and wherein the support structure has first and second rigid portions that bend toward one another when the flexible display layer is in the bent state; 
 a rear housing wall; and 
 electrical components between the rear housing wall and the support structure. 
 
     
     
       14. The electronic device defined in  claim 13  wherein the flexible display layer comprises an array of organic light-emitting diode pixels. 
     
     
       15. The electronic device defined in  claim 13  further comprising an input component that receives the user input through the flexible display layer. 
     
     
       16. The electronic device defined in  claim 13  wherein the transparent cover layer comprises plastic. 
     
     
       17. The electronic device defined in  claim 13  wherein the transparent cover layer comprises glass. 
     
     
       18. The electronic device defined in  claim 13  wherein the support structure comprises metal.

Description:
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/108,256, filed May 16, 2011, which claims the benefit of provisional patent application No. 61/454,936, filed Mar. 21, 2011, both of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     This relates generally to displays, and more particularly, to electronic devices with displays. 
     Electronic devices such as portable computers and cellular telephones are often provided with displays. For example, a liquid crystal display (LCD) may be formed from a stack of display structures such as an thin-film transistor layer with display pixels for providing visual information to a user, a color filter layer for providing the display pixels with color, a touch screen panel for gathering touch input from a user, and a cover glass layer for protecting the display and internal components. 
     Devices with planar cover glass layers may be prone to scratches and damage when dropped on a surface. Users can minimize scratches and damage from drop events using a protective case. Protective cases may not, however, be convenient or aesthetically appealing for many users. 
     It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved displays for electronic devices. 
     SUMMARY 
     Electronic devices may be provided with concave displays. Peripheral edge portions of a concave display may be raised relative to depressed central portions of the concave display. This helps reduce scratches and other damage due to contact with the central portion of the display. 
     Concave displays may include one or more flexible display layers and may be mounted on top of or under a cover layer. For example, a flexible display layer may be mounted on top of a rigid support member or may be mounted on the underside of a rigid cover layer. 
     Concave displays may also include touch-sensitive capabilities by stacking a touch sensor array layer on top of or under flexible display layers. Rigid concave displays may be formed from a flexible display layer, a touch-sensitive layer, and a rigid cover layer or rigid support structure. 
     Devices having concave displays formed from curved flexible display layers may help maximize the use of the internal volume of an electronic device. 
     Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device with a concave display and internal components in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a diagram of an illustrative set of display layers that make up a concave display in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device with a concave display and a bezel in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronic device having a concave display with a flexible display layer that conforms to the concave shape of a support structure in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional side view of a portion of an illustrative electronic device having a cover layer and a flexible display layer joined by an adhesive layer in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional side view of a portion of an illustrative electronic device having a flexible display layer, a flexible touch-sensitive layer, and a cover layer joined by adhesive layers in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronic device having a concave display with a radius of curvature chosen to protect the device from a drop surface in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     An electronic device may be provided with a concave display. The concave display may include a flexible display layer that has been bent to curve the display. 
     Concave displays may be formed from flexible layers such as a flexible display layer (e.g., a flexible organic light-emitting diode array), a flexible touch-sensitive layer (e.g., a sheet of polymer with an array of transparent capacitor electrodes for a capacitive touch sensor), a flexible substrate layer, etc. These flexible layers may, if desired, be covered by a flexible or rigid cover layer (sometimes referred to as a cover glass) or may be supported by a support structure (e.g., a rigid support structure on the underside of the flexible layers). In electronic devices with concave displays that are covered by rigid cover layers, the cover layers may be provided with openings that provide access to the flexible layers of the display. For example, a cover glass layer may have an opening that allows a button member to move relative to the cover glass layer. As the button member moves within the opening, underlying portions of the flexible display may be deformed (e.g., to allow actuation of an associated switch). 
     Electronic devices may also be provided with user interface components (input-output components) such as buttons, microphones, speakers, piezoelectric actuators or (for receiving electrical input from a user or tactile feedback to users), other actuators such as vibrators, pressure sensors, and other components. These components may be mounted under portions of a flexible display. 
     User interface components may be mounted under the flexible display or may be integrated into the flexible display. The deformable nature of the flexible display may allow a user to interact with the user interface components (input-output components) by moving the display into contact with the user interface components or by otherwise allowing the display to locally flex (e.g., to allow sound to pass through the flexible display or to allow barometric pressure measurements of the exterior environment to be made by an internal pressure sensor). If desired, a portion of the flexible display may form a membrane portion of an electrical component. Components that may be provided with a membrane that is formed from a portion of a flexible display include microphones, laser microphones, pressure sensors, speakers, etc. 
     Concave displays formed from flexible and rigid layers that all have concave shapes (i.e., displays formed from a collection of layers in which no layer of the display is planar) may provide reduced vulnerability to damage during a drop event in which an electronic device strikes the ground or other external objects while maximizing the internal volume of the device that is available to hold electrical and mechanical device components. 
     An illustrative electronic device of the type that may be provided with a concave display is shown in  FIG. 1 . Electronic device  10  may be a portable electronic device or other suitable electronic device. For example, electronic device  10  may be a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a somewhat smaller device such as a wrist-watch device, pendant device, or other wearable or miniature device, a cellular telephone, a media player, etc. 
     Device  10  may include a housing such as housing  12 . Housing  12 , which may sometimes be referred to as a case, may be formed of plastic, glass, ceramics, fiber composites, metal (e.g., stainless steel, aluminum, etc.), other suitable materials, or a combination of these materials. In some situations, parts of housing  12  may be formed from dielectric or other low-conductivity material. In other situations, housing  12  or at least some of the structures that make up housing  12  may be formed from metal elements. 
     Device  10  may have a concave display such as concave display  14 . Concave display  14  may be formed from multiple layers of material. These layers may include a touch sensor layer such as a layer on which a pattern of indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes or other suitable transparent electrodes have been deposited to form a capacitive touch sensor array or a touch sensor layer formed using other touch technologies (e.g., resistive touch, acoustic touch, optical touch, etc.). These layers may also include a layer that contains an array of display pixels. The touch sensor layer and the display layer may be formed using flexible sheets of polymer or other substrates having thicknesses of 10 microns to 0.5 mm or other suitable thicknesses (as an example). 
     The display pixel array may be, for example, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) array containing rows and columns of OLED display pixels. Other types of flexible display pixel arrays may also be formed (e.g., electronic ink displays, etc.). The use of OLED technology to form flexible display  14  is sometimes described herein as an example. This is, however, merely illustrative. Flexible display  14  may be formed using any suitable flexible display technology. The use of flexible displays that are based on OLED technology is merely illustrative. 
     In addition to these functional display layers (i.e., the OLED array and the optional touch sensor array), display  14  may include one or more structural layers. For example, display  14  may be covered with a flexible or rigid cover layer and/or may be mounted on a support structure (e.g., a rigid support). Layers of adhesive may be used in attaching flexible display layers to each other and may be used in mounting flexible display layers to rigid and flexible structural layers. 
     In configurations for display  14  in which the cover layer for display  14  is flexible, input-output components that rely on the presence of flexible layers may be mounted at any suitable location under the display (e.g., along peripheral portions of the display, in a central portion of the display, etc.). In configurations for display  14  in which the flexible layers are covered by a rigid cover glass layer or other rigid cover layer, the rigid layer may be provided with one or more openings and the electronic components may be mounted under the openings. For example, a rigid cover layer may have openings such as a circular opening  16  for button  17  and a speaker port opening such as speaker port opening  18  (e.g., for an ear speaker for a user). Device  10  may also have other openings (e.g., openings in display  14  and/or housing  12  for accommodating volume buttons, ringer buttons, sleep buttons, and other buttons, openings for an audio jack, data port connectors, removable media slots, etc.). 
     In some embodiments, portions of concave display  14  such as peripheral regions  201  may be inactive and portions of display  14  such as rectangular central portion  20 A (bounded by dashed line  20 ) may correspond to the active part of display  14 . In active display region  20 A, an array of image pixels may be used to present text and images to a user of device  10 . In active region  20 A, display  14  may include touch sensitive components for input and interaction with a user of device  10 . If desired, regions such as regions  201  and  20 A in  FIG. 1  may both be provided with display pixels (i.e., all or substantially all of the entire front planar surface of a device such as device  10  may be covered with display pixels). 
     Device  10  may, if desired, have internal user interface components such as buttons  17  or speaker component  19  that occupy openings such as openings  16  and  18  respectively in an optional rigid cover layer of concave display  14 . Buttons  17  may be based on dome switches or other switch circuitry. Buttons  17  may include button members that form push buttons (e.g., momentary buttons), slider switches, rocker switches, etc. Device  10  may include internal structural components such as structural component  22  that add a raised structure to a portion of concave display  14 . Device  10  may include components such as interface components  24  and  26  that may be fully internal to device  10 , but that receive input from the user or from the surrounding environment through physical interaction with concave display  14 . Interface components  22 ,  24 , and  26  may be positioned in active region  20 A or inactive region  201  of concave display  14 . Interface components  22 ,  24 , and  26  may be positioned separately from one another or may be commonly located to form a combined component with structural and internal features. Interface components  24  and  26  may be positioned underneath concave display  14  so that concave display  14  must be deformed in order to contact components  24  or  26  or, if desired may be positioned to remain in constant contact with concave display  14 . 
     An exploded perspective view of an illustrative display is shown in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , concave display  14  may be formed by stacking multiple layers including flexible display layer  14 A, touch-sensitive layer  14 B, and cover layer  14 C. Display  14  may also include other layers of material such as adhesive layers, optical films, or other suitable layers. Flexible display layer  14  may include image pixels formed form light-emitting diodes (LEDs), organic LEDs (OLEDs), plasma cells, electronic ink elements, liquid crystal display (LCD) components, or other suitable image pixel structures compatible with flexible displays. 
     Touch-sensitive layer  14 B may incorporate capacitive touch electrodes such as horizontal transparent electrodes  32  and vertical transparent electrodes  34 . Touch-sensitive layer  14 B may, in general, be configured to detect the location of one or more touches or near touches on touch-sensitive layer  14 B based on capacitive sensors, resistive sensors, optical sensors, acoustic sensors, inductive sensors, or force sensors. 
     Software and/or hardware may be used to process the measurements of the detected touches to identify and track one or more gestures. A gesture may correspond to stationary or non-stationary, single or multiple, touches or near touches on touch-sensitive layer  14 B. A gesture may be performed by moving one or more fingers or other objects in a particular manner on touch-sensitive layer  14 B such as tapping, pressing, rocking, scrubbing, twisting, changing orientation, pressing with varying pressure and the like at essentially the same time, contiguously, or consecutively. A gesture may be characterized by, but is not limited to a pinching, sliding, swiping, rotating, flexing, dragging, or tapping motion between or with any other finger or fingers. A single gesture may be performed with one or more hands, by one or more users, or any combination thereof. 
     Cover layer  14 C may be formed from plastic or glass (sometimes referred to as display cover glass) and may be flexible or rigid. If desired, the interior surface of peripheral inactive portions  201  of cover layer  14 C may be provided with an opaque masking layer on such as black ink. 
     Touch-sensitive flexible display section  14 AB may be formed from display pixel array layer  14 A and optional touch sensor layer  14 B. 
       FIG. 3  is perspective view of an illustrative embodiment of device  10  with concave display  14  in which device  10  is provided with a bezel such as bezel  200  surrounding the periphery of concave display  14 . In the illustrative embodiment shown in  FIG. 3 , housing  12  of device  10  has an opening  204  that may provide access to a data port. The surface of bezel  200  may be formed in-plane with the surface of display  14  (i.e., so that bezel  200  and display  14  form a single smooth surface) or may be formed at a right angle to the walls of housing  12  (as examples). Bezel  200  may be a separate bezel member or may be formed as a portion of housing  12 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , top and bottom portions  202  of bezel  200  may have a concave (curved) shape that matches the cross-sectional curved shape of concave display  14 . 
       FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative embodiment of device  10  in which concave display  14  is formed by mounting flexible display layer  14 A to a concave support structure such as support structure  210  (e.g., a rigid support structure having at least a concave external surface such as a metal, glass, or plastic support structure) using a layer of adhesive material such as adhesive layer  212 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , the internal volume of device  10 , defined by housing  12 , bezel  202  and concave display  14  may include volume  216  above a plane (indicated by dashed line  214 ) defined by the deepest point in the curvature of display  14 . This is because the inner surface of support structure  210  is convex (in the  FIG. 4  example). Volume  216  provides space in addition to rectangular volume  218  in which internal components such as component  220  (e.g., printed circuit boards, antennas or other components) may be positioned. The ability to bend flexible display  14  into the concave shape of  FIG. 4  may therefore help maximize the interior space that is available within device  10  to mount device components. 
       FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional side view of a portion of device  10 . In the illustrative embodiment of  FIG. 5 , concave display  14  is formed from flexible display layer  14 A, adhesive layer  212 , and rigid cover layer  14 C (e.g., a layer of rigid plastic or a layer of rigid cover glass having a concave external surface and a convex inner surface to which flexible display layer  14 A conforms). Concave display  14  may be formed adjacent to bezel portion  200  of housing  12  or may be joined to housing  12  by an additional mounting member. The concave shape of cover layer  14 C of display  14  may provide reduced susceptibility to damage if device  10  is dropped. Forming flexible display layer  14 A in a shape that matches the concave shape of cover layer  14 C (i.e., so that layer  14 A conforms to the convex inner surface of layer  14 C) may provide additional internal volume  216  to device  10 . 
       FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional side view of a portion of another embodiment of device  10 . In the illustrative embodiment of  FIG. 6 , concave display  14  is formed from flexible display layer  14 A attached to optional touch-sensitive layer  14 B by adhesive layer  212 . Touch-sensitive layer  14 B may further be attached to rigid cover layer  14 C (e.g., a glass or plastic layer) using adhesive layer  230  such that all layers ( 212 ,  14 B,  230 , and  14 C) of display  14  conform to the concave shape of cover layer  14 C. Concave display  14  may be directly adjacent to bezel portion  200  of housing  12  or may be joined to housing  212  by an additional mounting member. The concave shape of all layers ( 14 A,  212 ,  14 B,  230 , and  14 C) of display  14  may provide reduced susceptibility to damage in the event that device  10  is dropped and may provide additional internal volume  216 . 
       FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional side view of device  10  and a common drop surface such as drop surface  240  (e.g., sidewalk concrete, asphalt, tile, or any other surface) on which device  10  may be dropped. Drop surface  240  may have a surface roughness due to surface features such as surface features  242 . Surface features  242  may have a characteristic height such as height  244  (e.g., 1-2 mm for a concrete surface). As shown in  FIG. 7 , device  10  may be provided with concave display  14 . Concave display  14  may be provided with a curvature defined by maximum depth  248  defined by the distance from the outermost surface of device  10 , indicated by dashed line  246  and the deepest point in the curvature of display  14  (indicated by dashed line  214 ). The outermost surface of device  10  may be defined by bezel  200 , or, in the absence of bezel  200 , may be defined by juncture point  250  at which the peripheral edges of display  14  meet housing  12 . 
     Maximum depth  248  may be chosen to be larger than characteristic size  244  of surface features  242  of common drop surface  240 . Providing device  10  with a concave display having curvature chosen to provide a maximum depth (depth  248 ) that is larger than characteristic height  244  may significantly reduce the risk of damage (e.g., scratches or other damage) to device  10  during a drop event. 
     Providing concave display  14  with flexible display layer  14 A capable of conforming to the shape of cover layer  14 C allows all layers of display  14  to be conformed to same concave shape. Providing device  10  with concave display  14  in which all layers of concave display  14  conform to the same concave shape may reduce the susceptibility of device  10  to damage when dropped on common drop surface  240  while providing additional internal volume  216  in which internal components may be positioned. 
     The foregoing is merely illustrative of the principles of this invention and various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20180105
Publication Date: 20210223
Grant Date: 20210223
Priority Date: 20110321
Inventors: MYERS, SCOTT A.
RAPPOPORT, BENJAMIN M.
LYNCH, STEPHEN BRIAN
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H04M1/0269", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04M1/0266", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1637", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1637", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04M1/0266", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04M1/0268", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1637", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04M1/0266", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04M1/0269", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 46876928