Metallic back cover, such as for phones and tablets

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11449106-B1
Application number	US-201916521706-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 25, 2019
Priority date	Jul 31, 2018
Publication date	Sep 20, 2022
Grant date	Sep 20, 2022

Abstract

A cellular phone or tablet computer device includes a front face having a display screen, a back cover opposite the front face, and componentry between the front face and back cover. The back cover is metallic and includes pieces of metal separated from one another by electrical insulation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A cellular phone or tablet computer device, comprising:
a front face having a display screen;
a back cover opposite the front face; and
componentry between the front face and back cover, wherein the componentry comprises a coil for receiving power through induction,
wherein the back cover comprises pieces of metal coupled to a substrate, wherein the pieces of metal are separated from one another by electrical insulation,
wherein the pieces of metal comprise front and back major surfaces joined by side edges, and are oriented such that the front major surfaces face the componentry and the back major surfaces face away from the componentry, wherein the substrate and the pieces of metal separated from one another by electrical insulation obstruct eddy currents within each one of the pieces of metal when the coil receives power through induction, and
wherein the back major surfaces of the pieces of metal each have an area of less than 4 cm 2 .

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the pieces of metal are thin such that a thickness of each of the pieces of metal is less than 2 mm, where the thickness is a distance between respective major surfaces.

3. The device of claim 2 , wherein the thickness of each of the pieces of metal is less than 750 μm.

4. The device of claim 2 , wherein the back cover of the device comprises at least ten of the pieces of metal.

5. A cellular phone or tablet computer device, comprising:
a front face having a display screen;
a back cover opposite the front face; and
componentry between the front face and back cover, wherein the componentry comprises a coil for receiving power through induction, and wherein the coil is less than 3 mm from the back major surface of at least one of pieces of metal,
wherein the back cover is metallic,
wherein the back cover comprises pieces of metal coupled to a substrate, the pieces of metal having front and back major surfaces joined by side edges,
wherein the pieces of metal are oriented such that the front major surfaces face the componentry and the back major surfaces face away from the componentry,
wherein perimeters of each of the back major surfaces of the pieces of metal are fully surrounded by electrical insulation,
wherein the substrate and the pieces of metal surrounded by the electrical insulation obstruct eddy currents within each one of the pieces of metal when the coil receives power through induction,
wherein a thickness of each of the pieces of metal is less than 2 mm, where the thickness is a distance between respective major surfaces, and
wherein the back major surfaces of the pieces of metal each have a cross-sectional dimension less than 3 cm and another cross-sectional dimension at least 2 mm.

6. The device of claim 5 , wherein the back cover comprises at least ten of the pieces of metal.

7. The device of claim 6 , wherein the thickness of each of the pieces of metal is less than 750 μm.

8. The device of claim 5 , wherein the pieces of metal overlay most of the back cover.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein the pieces of metal overlay at least 80% of the back cover.

10. The device of claim 5 , wherein metal of the pieces of metal is not ferromagnetic.

11. The device of claim 5 , wherein at least some of the pieces of metal are coupled to the componentry and form an antenna array.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the back cover further comprises a metal frame surrounding the pieces of metal.

13. The device of claim 5 , wherein resistivity of the electrical insulation is at least an order of magnitude greater than resistivity of metal of the pieces of metal.

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the metal has resistivity greater than 500×10 −9 Ωm.

15. The device of claim 13 , wherein resistivity of the metal is at least an order of magnitude greater than resistivity of pure, single-crystal aluminum.

16. A cellular phone or tablet computer device, comprising:
a front face having a display screen; a back cover opposite the front face, wherein the back cover comprises five or more pieces of metal coupled to a substrate, the five or more pieces of metal each having front and back major surfaces joined by side edges, wherein the pieces of metal overlay at least 80% of the back cover, and wherein the pieces of metal each do not directly contact any of the other pieces of metal; and
componentry between the front face and back cover, wherein the componentry comprises a coil for receiving power through induction, wherein the substrate and the five or more pieces of metal obstruct eddy currents within each one of the pieces of metal when the coil receives power through induction.

17. The device of claim 16 , wherein the pieces of metal are oriented such that the front major surfaces face the componentry and the back major surfaces face away from the componentry, and wherein the coil is less than 3 mm from the back major surface of at least one of pieces of metal.

18. The device of claim 17 , wherein metal of the pieces of metal has resistivity greater than 50×10 −9 Ωm.

19. The device of claim 18 , wherein the back major surfaces of each of the pieces of metal have an area of less than 4 cm 2 .

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Daly Colin Brendan
• Owen Geraint
• Thelen Dean Michael

Classifications

• H02J50/10

  using inductive coupling · CPC title

• H01F38/14

  Inductive couplings {(for wireless supply or distribution of electric power using inductive coupling H02J50/10)} · CPC title

• H01F27/02

  Casings · CPC title

• H02J7/70

  characterised by the mechanical construction · CPC title

• H04M1/0283

  for providing a decorative aspect, e.g. customization of casings, exchangeable faceplate · CPC title