Attaching electronic components to interactive textiles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10155274-B2
Application number	US-201715586174-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 3, 2017
Priority date	May 27, 2015
Publication date	Dec 18, 2018
Grant date	Dec 18, 2018

Abstract

This document describes techniques and apparatuses for attaching electronic components to interactive textiles. In various implementations, an interactive textile that includes conductive thread woven into the interactive textile is received. The conductive thread includes a conductive wire (e.g., a copper wire) that that is twisted, braided, or wrapped with one or more flexible threads (e.g., polyester or cotton threads). A fabric stripping process is applied to the interactive textile to strip away fabric of the interactive textile and the flexible threads to expose the conductive wire in a window of the interactive textile. After exposing the conductive wires in the window of the interactive textile, an electronic component (e.g., a flexible circuit board) is attached to the exposed conductive wire of the conductive thread in the window of the interactive textile.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for attaching an electronic component to an interactive textile, the method comprising:
receiving an interactive textile comprising conductive threads interwoven with a fabric of the interactive textile, each conductive thread comprising one or more flexible threads and a conductive wire;
stripping away a portion of both the fabric of the interactive textile and the flexible threads of the conductive threads of the interactive textile to open up a window in the interactive textile in which the conductive wires are exposed; and
attaching an electronic component to the exposed conductive wires of the conductive thread in the window of the interactive textile.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stripping away the fabric of the interactive textile and the flexible threads of the conductive threads comprises applying a laser beam to the interactive textile to ablate the fabric of the interactive textile and the flexible threads to open up the window in the interactive textile.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein an absorption of the laser is low to cause the laser beam to ablate the fabric of the interactive textile and the flexible threads without ablating the conductive wires.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the stripping away the fabric of the interactive textile and the flexible threads of the conductive threads comprises applying a heating element to the interactive textile to burn or melt the fabric of the interactive textile and the flexible threads to open up the window in the interactive textile.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein a temperature of the heating element is configured to melt or burn the fabric of the interactive textile and the flexible thread without melting or burning the conductive wire.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the heating element comprises a hot bar.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the attaching the electronic component further comprises:
aligning electronic plates of the electronic component with the exposed conductive wire; and
applying heat to cause the electronic plates of the electronic component to connect to the exposed conductive wire.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the electronic plates of the electronic component are prepped with solder, and wherein the applying heat causes the solder to melt and connect to the exposed conductive wires.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
connecting connection tape to the exposed conductive wires in the window of the interactive textile, the connection tape configured with electrical pads pre-tinned with solder and with a heat-activated adhesive; and
wherein the applying heat causes the solder to melt and connect to the exposed conductive wire and causes the heat-activated adhesive to form a mechanical connection between the exposed conductive wires and the electronic component.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electronic component comprises a flexible circuit board.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the conductive wire comprises a copper wire.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flexible thread comprises polyester thread, cotton thread, or silk thread.

13. The method of claim 2 , wherein the laser beam is computer controlled.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heating element is computer controlled.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the interactive textile is configured to provide a touch-input.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the touch input is communicated to a remote computing device via the electronic component.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the interactive textile is part of an article of clothing or clothing accessory.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flexible threads encapsulate the conductive wires.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the exposed conductive wires are parallel within the window.

20. A method for exposing conductive threads of an interactive textile for electrical connection, the method comprising:
receiving an interactive textile that includes conductive threads interwoven with non-conductive threads, each conductive thread comprising one or more flexible threads and a conductive wire; and
removing a portion of both the non-conductive threads and the flexible threads of the conductive threads within a portion of the interactive textile via a computer-controlled laser or heating element, the removal effective to open up a window in the interactive textile in which only the conductive wires remain, the exposed conductive wires enabling an electronic component to be electrically coupled thereto.

Assignees

• Google Inc
• Google Llc

Inventors

• Robinson Karen Elizabeth
• Gong Nan-Wei
• Karagozler Mustafa Emre
• Poupyrev Ivan

Classifications

• B23K1/0016

  Soldering of electronic components · CPC title

• G06F3/044 Primary

  by capacitive means · CPC title

• D10B2331/04

  polyesters, e.g. polyethylene terephthalate [PET] · CPC title

• B23K2103/50

  Inorganic materials other than metals or composite materials · CPC title

• D10B2101/20

  Metallic fibres · CPC title