Light isolating protective cover for small form factor electronic device
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsChong Yip Chow, Hongqin Zhang, Shizhe Shen, Michael DiVincent
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A portable device has a rear facing camera assembly and a front facing display assembly that includes at least a protective cover layer, a display stack that includes a plurality of display components arranged in a plurality of interconnected layers, the display stack providing an imaging service, and a flat support chassis arranged to provide support for the display stack. In the described embodiment, a protective cover can wrap around and protect at least the rear portion of the portable device without adversely affecting an image capture process carried out by the rear facing camera assembly.
Claims21
A protective cover for a small form factor electronic device, the small form factor electronic device having at least a rear facing camera assembly, the camera assembly having a lens assembly and a light source in close proximity to the lens assembly, the light source arranged to emit light used to illuminate a subject, the lens assembly arranged to capture at least some of the light reflected from the subject wherein a portion of the light reflected from the subject is provided by the light source, the protective cover comprising:
- a housing, the housing having a shape in accordance with the small form factor electronic device, the shape being suitable for enclosing at least some of the rear portion of the small form factor electronic device, the housing comprising:
- an opening suitably sized and positioned relative to the camera assembly that allows light from the light source to illuminate the subject that is then reflected back to the lens assembly for image capture;
- and
- a light blocking mechanism that prevents light emitted by the light source and reflected by anything other than the subject being illuminated from reaching the lens assembly.
A method for forming a protective cover for protecting a small form factor electronic device, the small form factor electronic device having at least a rear facing camera assembly, the camera assembly having a lens assembly and a light source in close proximity to the lens assembly, the method comprising:
- receiving a housing, the housing shaped in accordance with the small form factor electronic device;
- providing an opening in the housing, the opening suitably sized and positioned relative to the camera assembly such that when the protective cover is appropriately placed on the small form factor electronic device, the opening allows light from the light source to illuminate an object in such a way that at least some of the light from the light source is reflected back and captured by the lens assembly for image capture;
- and
- providing a light blocking mechanism that prevents light emitted by the light source and reflected by anything other than the object being illuminated from reaching the lens assembly.
A system, comprising;
- a small form factor electronic device having at least a rear facing camera assembly, the camera assembly having a lens assembly and a light source in close proximity to the lens assembly, the light source arranged to emit light used to illuminate a subject, the lens assembly arranged to capture at least some of the light reflected from the subject wherein a portion of the light reflected from the subject is provided by the light source;
- and
- a protective cover attached to the small form factor electronic device, the protective cover comprising:
- a housing, the housing having a shape in accordance with the small form factor electronic device, the shape being suitable for enclosing at least some of the rear portion of the small form factor electronic device, the housing comprising:
- an opening suitably sized and positioned relative to the camera assembly that allows light from the light source to illuminate the subject that is then reflected back to the lens assembly for image capture, and
- a light blocking mechanism that prevents light emitted by the light source and reflected by anything other than the subject being illuminated from reaching the lens assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.