Magnetic closure system for a device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12352076-B2
Application number	US-202117922497-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 12, 2021
Priority date	May 14, 2020
Publication date	Jul 8, 2025
Grant date	Jul 8, 2025

Abstract

An improved method and system for providing a magnetic closure system for an electronic device ( 100 ) may include a first portion ( 130 ), a second portion ( 150 ), a connecting element ( 145 ) pivotally connecting the first portion to the second portion and configured to enable the electronic device to fold between a closed position and an open position, and a magnetic element ( 160, 165 ) for providing a closure force to bias the electronic device in the closed position. The magnetic element may include a first magnet pair and a second magnet pair, each of the first magnet pair and second magnet pair including a first magnet housed within the first portion and a second magnet housed within the second portion. The first magnet pair may provide an attractive magnetic force that biases the electronic device in the closed position, while the second magnet pair may provide a repelling magnetic force that partially counteracts the biasing from the attractive magnetic force as a gap between the first portion and the second portion decreases, and a pole size of the second magnet pair is smaller than a pole size of the first magnet pair.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a first portion;
a second portion;
a connecting element pivotally connecting the first portion to the second portion and configured to enable the electronic device to fold between a closed position and an open position; and
a magnetic element for providing a closure force to bias the electronic device in the closed position,

wherein:
the magnetic element includes a first magnet pair and a second magnet pair, each of the first magnet pair and the second magnet pair including a first magnet housed within the first portion and a second magnet housed within the second portion,
the first magnet pair provides an attractive magnetic force that biases the electronic device in the closed position,
the second magnet pair provides a repelling magnetic force that partially counteracts the biasing from the attractive magnetic force as a gap between the first portion and the second portion decreases,
the first portion includes a first magnet array and a second magnet array, the first magnet array including a first set of magnetic elements that form the first magnet of the first magnet pair, and the second magnet array including a second set of magnetic elements that form the first magnet of the second magnet pair;
a pole size of a set of magnetic elements is the distance from the middle point of a magnetic element in the set having one polarity to the middle point of the next magnetic element in the set having an alternate polarity; and
a pole size of the second set of magnetic elements is smaller than a pole size of the first set of magnetic elements.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first set of magnetic elements and second set of magnetic elements form a magnet array.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the first set of magnetic elements or the second set of magnetic elements have alternating patterns of north polarities and south polarities.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the pole size of the second set of magnetic elements magnet is between 0.5 times and 1.5 times a gap size between the first and second magnet in the second magnet pair while the electronic device is in the closed position.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the electronic device has a closure force between 2 Newtons and 10 Newtons while in the closed position, and the closure force comprises the attractive magnetic force of the first pair of magnets and the repelling magnetic force of the second pair of magnets.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising a screen guard removably connectable to a display portion of the first portion, the screen guard being configured so that it is positionable between the first portion and the second portion when the electronic device is in the closed position.

7. The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein a closure force of the electronic device while in the closed position with the screen guard between the first portion and the second portion is within 1 Newton of a closure force of the electronic device while in the closed position without the screen guard between the first portion and the second portion.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first magnet pair and the second magnet pair are configured so that a closure force may be overcome and the electronic device folded into the open position by use of one finger.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first portion includes a display element and the second portion includes a keyboard.

10. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first portion includes a first display element and the second portion includes a second display element.

11. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first portion is a first portion of a foldable display and the second portion is a second portion of the foldable display.

12. A method of manufacturing a magnetic closure system for an electronic device comprising:
providing a magnetic material;
forming a first magnet array from the magnetic material; and
forming a second magnet array from the magnetic material;

wherein:
each of the first magnet array and the second magnet array include a first set of magnetic elements and a second set of magnetic elements,
the first set of magnetic elements of the first magnet array and the first set of magnetic elements of the second magnet array are configured to provide an attractive magnetic force that biases the electronic device in the closed position,
the second set of magnetic elements of the first magnet array and the second set of magnetic elements of the second magnet array are configured to provide a repelling magnetic force that partially counteracts the biasing from the attractive magnetic force as a gap between a first portion and a second portion of the electronic device decreases,
a pole size of a set of magnetic elements is the distance from the middle point of a magnetic element in the set having one polarity to the middle point of the next magnetic element in the set having an alternating polarity, and
for the first or second magnet array, a pole size of the second set of magnetic elements are selected such that the pole size is smaller than a pole size of the first magnetic elements.

13. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , further comprising:
positioning the first magnet array in the first portion of the electronic device; and
positioning the second magnet array in the second portion of the electronic device.

14. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , wherein, for the first or second magnet array, the first or second set of magnetic elements includes an array of magnets having alternating patterns of north polarities and south polarities.

15. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , wherein the pole size of the second set of magnetic elements is selected such that the pole size of the second set of magnetic elements is between 0.5 times and 1.5 times a gap size between a first and second magnet in the second magnet array while the electronic device is in the closed position.

16. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , further comprising removably connecting a screen guard to a display portion of the first portion, the screen guard being configured so that it is positionable between the first portion and the second portion when the electronic device is in the closed position.

17. The method of manufacturing of claim 16 , wherein a closure force of the electronic device while in the closed position with the screen guard between the first portion and the second portion is within 1 Newton of a closure force of the electronic device while in the closed position without the screen guard between the first portion and the second portion.

18. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , wherein the first portion includes a display element and the second portion includes a keyboard.

19. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , wherein the first portion includes a first display element and the second portion includes a second display element.

20. The method of manufacturing of claim 12 , wherein the first portion is a first portion of a foldable display and the second portion is a second portion of the foldable display.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Singla Aseem
• Gault Joseph Benjamin

Classifications

• H01F7/0263

  Closures, bags, bands, engagement devices with male and female parts · CPC title

• G06F1/1679 Primary

  for locking or maintaining the movable parts of the enclosure in a fixed position, e.g. latching mechanism at the edge of the display in a laptop or for the screen protective cover of a PDA (G06F1/1681 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F1/1616

  with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position · CPC title

• E05B47/0038 Primary

  using permanent magnets · CPC title

• H04M1/0214

  Foldable telephones, i.e. with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position (combined with translation movement H04M1/0235) · CPC title