Systems for securing protective films to surfaces of substrates
AssigneeZAGG Inc
InventorsJim A. Colby, Gregory E. Booth
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and films for protecting surfaces of various substrates, including electronic devices, such as portable electronic devices, include a liner with a strip liner and a main liner. The strip liner, which covers a small strip of adhesive on the back side of a protective film, is configured to be removed before the main liner. With the small strip of adhesive exposed, the protective film may be aligned with a substrate and, if necessary, removed from the substrates and repositioned thereon. Thereafter, the main liner may be removed to enable complete application of the protective film to the substrate. Methods for securing protective films to substrates are also disclosed.
Claims20
A system for applying a protective film to an electronic device, comprising:
- a protective film with a configuration that corresponds to a configuration of a surface of an electronic device on which the protective film is to be secured, the protective film including a lower surface that carries adhesive material and an upper surface opposite from the lower surface;
- a release layer over the upper surface of the protective film, the release layer including an upper surface facing away from the protective film;
- a cap shield over the upper surface of the release layer;
- and
- a liner secured to the adhesive material on the lower surface of the protective film, the liner including a liner strip and a main liner, the liner including a breakable boundary between the liner strip and the main liner, the breakable boundary enabling the liner strip to be fractured from the main liner and to be removed from the adhesive material without removing the main liner from the adhesive material.
A system for applying a protective film to an electronic device, comprising:
- a protective film with a configuration that corresponds to a configuration of a surface of an electronic device on which the protective film is to be secured, the protective film including an adherent surface that carries adhesive material and an outer surface opposite from the adherent surface;
- a liner secured to the adhesive material on the adherent surface of the protective film, the liner including:
- a liner strip positioned at a first end of the protective film, the liner strip covering a strip of the adhesive material on the adherent surface of the protective film at the first end of the protective film, the liner strip including a first tab protruding beyond an edge of the liner strip and a corresponding edge of the protective film so as to enable removal of the liner strip from the strip of the adhesive material;
- and
- a main liner covering a remainder of the adhesive material on the adherent surface of the protective film, between the strip of the adhesive material and a second end of the protective film, the main liner including a second tab protruding beyond an edge of the main liner and a corresponding edge of the protective film;
- a cap shield over the outer surface of the protective film, the cap shield capable of preventing damage to the outer surface of the protective film as pressure is applied to an upper surface of the cap shield to secure the adherent surface of the protective film to the surface of the electronic device;
- and
- a release layer positioned between the outer surface of the protective film and a lower surface of the cap shield, the release layer capable of enabling removal of the cap shield from the outer surface of the protective film without overcoming adhesion of the adherent surface of the protective film to the surface of the electronic device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.