Airbags for iPhones? Don't laugh—Apple's brain trust is apparently working furiously on just such a solution to reduce the incidence of cracked glass on mobile devices like the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
In a new patent filing described by Patently Apple on Thursday, Apple describes several methods for protecting brittle glass display covers from shattering when dropped or otherwise met with violent force of some kind—including the use of a "micro-inflatable bladder" between the glass cover and the rest of the device that would fill up with a liquid when an impact is imminent.
A couple of the collision-proofing methods in Apple's patent utilize a mechanism for sensing a drop event, coupled with a means for protecting the glass in the split-second between the drop being sensed and the ground rising up to slam into the device. In addition to the "airbag solution" described above, Apple boffins are cooking up a retractable glass cover solution that would partially pull the glass into a protective housing when Joe Butterfingers has a case of the dropsies with his iPhone.
Simpler glass-protecting methods described in the patent filing include "strengthening the glass" and placing a shock mount between the glass and the rest of the device—the latter being an appealing solution mainly to those optimists who expect butter-side-up results in life.
Apple has good reason to figure out better ways to cut down on glass-shattering incidents involving its devices. The company is the subject of a class-action lawsuit filed earlier this year that alleges that Apple's claims about the strength of the glass covers for its iPhone 4 smartphones are deceptive.
"Contrary to Apple's representations that the Engineered Glass panels on every iPhone 4 are 'ultra-durable and more scratch-resistant than ever,' the iPhone 4 is defective because normal and reasonable use of the product, including the use advertised by Apple, results in the breaking of the glass panels on the device," according to the complaint, filed in California Superior Court in January by Donald LeBuhn.
Apple might have some competition, though. Amazon chief Jeff Bezos also filed for a patent that would add an airbag to a mobile device. Alongside co-inventor Greg Hart, an Amazon vice president, Bezos filed a patent for a portable device protection system that's made up of two key parts. Sensors would first record and analyze a measurement from a device's gyroscope, camera, or an infrared beam (to name a few possibilities). And if this information allows the device to calculate that it's in a free-fall and the potential damage exceeds a predetermined threshold, then the device's countermeasures would kick in.
Via: pcmag
0 comments:
Post a Comment