Curved devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12181740-B1
Application number	US-202318323906-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	May 25, 2023
Priority date	Jun 29, 2022
Publication date	Dec 31, 2024
Grant date	Dec 31, 2024

Abstract

A transparent structure may have layers with curved cross-sectional profiles. The transparent structure may have inner and outer layers with curved portions formed by bending the layers. A display may be applied to one or more of the inner and outer layers. To reduce the strain applied to the display while being bent into a desired curvature, a carrier film may be used during bending operations. The carrier film may be modified with a patch or openings distribute the strain evenly across the display. Additionally or alternatively, a convex mold may be used to further decrease the strain on the display while being formed into the desired curvature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A window, comprising:
a curved window layer; and
a display on the curved window layer, wherein the display is configured to operate in a first state and in a second state, the display transmits more visible light in the first state than in the second state, and the display has a maximum strain of 10% and a minimum strain of 0.5% across an entirety of the display.

2. The window defined in claim 1 , wherein the curved window layer has a compound curvature and wherein the display comprises a liquid crystal device having a liquid crystal layer, the window further comprising:
control circuitry that is configured to switch the liquid crystal layer from a transparent mode to a non-transparent mode to switch the display from the first state to the second state.

3. The window defined in claim 2 , wherein the display has a maximum strain of 7% and a minimum strain of 1.5% across the entirety of the display.

4. The window defined in claim 3 , wherein the display has a thickness of 200 microns or less across a surface of the curved window layer.

5. The window defined in claim 1 , wherein the display has a maximum strain of 5% or less across the entirety of the display.

6. The window defined in claim 1 , wherein the display is a liquid crystal device comprising a liquid crystal layer that is configured to be modulated to switch the display between the first state and the second state.

7. The window defined in claim 1 , wherein the display comprises a display device selected from the group consisting of: an organic light-emitting diode display and a microLED display.

8. A method of forming a curved display, comprising:
applying display layers to a carrier;
bending the carrier and the display layers in a convex mold;
modifying a region of the carrier to increase strain uniformity across the display layers; and
removing the display layers from the carrier.

9. The method defined in claim 8 , wherein applying the display layers comprises applying the display layers to the carrier having a thickness of at least 125 microns.

10. The method defined in claim 9 , wherein applying the display layers further comprises applying the display layers with a thickness of 200 microns or less.

11. The method defined in claim 8 , wherein modifying the region of the carrier comprises applying a patch to the region of the carrier.

12. The method defined in claim 11 , wherein applying the patch comprises applying the patch with a thickness of at least 75 microns.

13. The method defined in claim 8 , wherein modifying the region of the carrier comprises forming openings in the carrier within the region.

14. The method defined in claim 8 , wherein bending the carrier and the display layers in the convex mold comprises bending the carrier and the display layers on rounded edges of the convex mold.

15. The method defined in claim 8 , further comprising:
applying the display layers to a liner, wherein applying the display layers to the carrier comprises applying the display layers and the liner to the carrier.

16. A display, comprising:
a curved display substrate having a first curvature; and
a display layer on the curved display substrate, wherein the display layer is curved with a second curvature that matches the first curvature, and the display layer has a maximum strain of 10% across an entirety of the display layer.

17. The display defined in claim 16 , wherein the display layer has a minimum strain of 1.5% across the entirety of the display layer.

18. The display defined in claim 17 , wherein the display layer has a thickness of at least 200 microns.

19. The display defined in claim 16 , wherein the display layer is a layer selected from the group consisting of: an organic light-emitting diode display layer, a liquid crystal display layer, and a microLED display layer.

20. The display defined in claim 19 , wherein the first curvature and the second curvature are compound curvatures.

21. The display defined in claim 16 , wherein the display layer has a maximum strain of 5% across the entirety of the display layer.

22. The display defined in claim 16 , wherein the display layer has a strain uniformity of at least 90%.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Lv Peng
• Tosun Mahmut
• Lee Ho Hyung
• Tsao Paul W
• Yu Da
• Vosgueritchian Michael
• Jacob Francois R

Classifications

• G02F1/1333

  Constructional arrangements; {Manufacturing methods}(G02F1/135, G02F1/136 take precedence) · CPC title

• G02F1/133305

  Flexible substrates, e.g. plastics, organic film · CPC title

• G02F1/133331 Primary

  Cover glasses · CPC title