Active electro-mechanical materials for protecting portable electronic devices
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorShravan Bharadwaj
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This application relates to a case for a portable electronic device. The case includes a housing having walls that define a cavity, where the walls are capable of carrying the portable electronic device within the cavity. The walls carry operational components that include a processor capable of providing instructions, a magnetic circuit capable of generating a magnetic field in response to receiving the instructions from the processor, and a magnetosensitive layer that includes (i) a matrix, and (ii) magnetic particles interspersed within the matrix according to a first distribution, where when the magnetosensitive layer is exposed to the magnetic field, the magnetic particles are rearranged according to a second distribution.
Claims19
A case for a portable electronic device, the case comprising:
- a housing with walls that define a cavity and having a fixed size and shape, the walls carrying:
- (i) the portable electronic device within the cavity, and (ii) operational components including:
- a processor capable of providing instructions,
- a sensor, in communication with the processor, configured to:
- (i) generate a drop event signal during a drop event, and (ii) forwarding the drop event signal to the processor that responds by generating a drop event instruction,
- a magnetic circuit, in communication with the processor, provides a drop event magnetic field in response to receipt of the drop event instruction from the processor, and
- a magneto-sensitive layer includes a distribution of magnetic particles responsive to the drop event magnetic field, wherein the distribution of magnetic particles is an ordered distribution in accordance with the drop event magnetic field, such that the housing maintains the fixed size and shape, otherwise, the distribution of magnetic particles is a disordered distribution.
A system comprising:
- a portable electronic device comprising:
- a controller configured to (i) determine when the portable electronic device is exposed to a drop event, and (ii) generate a signal that corresponds to the drop event, and
- a transmitter configured to transmit the signal;
- and
- a case including walls having a fixed size and shape that define a cavity, wherein the portable electronic device is configured to being carried within the cavity, the case comprising:
- a processor configured to (i) receive the signal from the portable electronic device, and (ii) in response, generate instructions corresponding to the signal,
- a conductive circuit configured to generate an electrical field in response to receiving the instructions from the processor, and
- an electro-active polymer layer, wherein when the electro-active polymer is stimulated by the electrical field, the electrical field alters a stiffness characteristic of the electro-active polymer layer while maintaining the size and shape of the housing such as to protect the portable electronic device during the drop event.
A portable electronic device, comprising:
- a housing having a fixed size and shape and having walls, the walls configured to carry operational components that include:
- an electronic component;
- a processor capable of providing instructions;
- a sensor configured to (i) determine when the portable electronic device is exposed to a drop event, and (ii) generate a signal in accordance with the drop event;
- and
- a seal that is disposed between at least one of the walls and the electronic component, wherein the seal includes:
- a magnetic circuit configured to (i) receive the signal from the sensor, and (ii) in response, generate a magnetic field, and
- a magneto-sensitive core that includes magnetic particles distributed throughout a matrix, wherein when the magneto-sensitive core is exposed to the magnetic field, the magnetic field alters the distribution of the magnetic particles within the matrix such as to alter a stiffness of the seal and maintain the fixed size and shape of the housing so as to cause a load associated with the drop event to be redirected away from the electronic component.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.