The patent describes a foldable iPhone that includes a display coating layer with self-healing properties.
Today, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has officially published a series of 51 new patents granted to Apple Inc. Among these, a particularly interesting patent concerns a future foldable device, probably an iPhone. In particular, the display coating layer could include a layer with self-healing properties. This layer of self-healing material could be formed across the entire display coating layer or just in the flexible region of the coating. As always, we conclude this week’s patents granted report with a traditional list of the remaining patents granted to Apple.
Regenerable coating layers
The patent explains how the display coating layer of this possible foldable iPhone could become damaged and scratched during use of the device. To improve it, both aesthetically and functionally, it is therefore necessary minimize the presence of scratches and dentssomething that Apple seems to want to solve with a layer of self-healing material.
The layer of self-healing material could be placed over the entire covering layer of the display or only in the flexible region of the liner. This coating could even make the area where the device bends flexible and more elastic, effectively giving it more longevity.
How this self-healing zone will work
At the moment it is difficult to understand if there is already a tested and working prototype, but according to the patent it would seem that to help regeneration there may be the need to apply an external heat source. Being a patent, obviously Apple has tried to protect itself in all possible casestherefore also covering any automatic self-regeneration or that aided by transparent conductors capable of heating the display to start the process.
Obviously these they are research and development projects probably still under study: the patents successfully filed by Apple do not stop only at these technologies however. Among others, we find traffic aggregators, new identity verification systems, techniques to preserve the relationship between file clones, and even new message interfaces.
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