Laser-marked fabric

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016168779-A1
Application number	US-201514933355-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 5, 2015
Priority date	Dec 15, 2014
Publication date	Jun 16, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and techniques for laser-marking a fabric material. Some implementations may be directed to a fabric component having a surface dyed a first color using a pigment. The surface may be irradiated using a laser to form a lightened region. In some cases, the lightened region has a second color that is lighter than the first color. In some cases, the lightened region has fibers of the nylon fabric component that are fused to form a partially specular surface due to the laser irradiation. In some cases, the lightened region has fibers of the fabric component that are fused to form a partially specular surface. The fabric material may form a fabric component of a device or product. In some cases, the fabric forms a component of a keyboard or user-input device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of laser-marking a fabric material, the method comprising:
providing a fabric component having a surface that is dyed a first color using a pigment; irradiating the surface using a laser to form a lightened region, wherein the lightened region has a second color that is lighter than the first color.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the lightened region has a reduced concentration of pigment due to the laser irradiation.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating the surface using the laser causes an increase in a surface concentration of TiO 2 with respect a non-irradiated region of the surface.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the increase in surface concentration of TiO 2 is less than 100 nanometers from the surface of a fiber of the fabric component.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the fabric component is formed from a nylon fabric material having a TiO 2 additive.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating the surface using the laser causes an increase in a surface concentration of CaCO 3 with respect a non-irradiated region of the surface.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating the surface using the laser causes evaporation of at least part of the pigment within an irradiated region.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating the surface using the laser causes evaporation of substantially all of the pigment within an irradiated region.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating the surface using the laser causes fibers of the fabric component to fuse to form a partially specular surface.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating the surface includes producing a series of pulses of ultraviolet light incident on the surface.

11 . A fabric component comprising,
a colored region dyed a first color using a pigment; and a lightened region formed by irradiating the colored region using a laser, wherein
the lightened region has a second color that is lighter than the first color due to the laser irradiation, and
the lightened region has a concentration of pigment that is reduced due to the laser irradiation.

12 . The fabric of claim 11 , wherein the lightened region includes fibers of the fabric component that are at least partially fused to form a partially specular surface due to the laser irradiation.

13 . The fabric of claim 11 , wherein the lightened region has an increased surface concentration of TiO 2 caused by the laser irradiation.

14 . The fabric of claim 11 , wherein the lightened region has an increased surface concentration of CaCO 3 caused by the laser irradiation.

15 . The fabric of claim 11 , wherein the lightened region is substantially white.

16 . A method for forming a glyph on a key of a fabric keyboard, the method comprising:
providing a fabric membrane for forming an upper exterior surface of the fabric keyboard, wherein the fabric membrane includes an embossed key region having a dyed color; positioning the embossed key region relative to a laser; irradiating the embossed key region using the laser to form the glyph associated with the key of the keyboard, wherein an irradiated region formed by the laser has a color that is lighter than the dyed color of the embossed key region.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein forming the glyph using the laser includes increasing a surface concentration of TiO 2 for a laser-irradiated portion of the fabric membrane with respect to a non-irradiated portion of the fabric membrane.

18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein forming the glyph using the laser includes increasing a surface concentration of CaCO 3 for a laser-irradiated portion of the fabric membrane with respect to a non-irradiated portion of the fabric membrane.

19 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the dyed color includes a pigment and wherein forming the glyph using the laser includes reducing a concentration of pigment for a laser-irradiated portion of the fabric membrane with respect to a non-irradiated portion of the fabric membrane.

20 . The method of claim 16 , wherein forming the glyph using the laser includes at least partially fusing the fibers of the fabric membrane to create a partially specular surface.

21 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
bonding a lower surface of the embossed key region to a keycap of the fabric keyboard; and bonding a non-embossed region to a frame of the fabric keyboard.

22 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the laser irradiates a region associated with the glyph to form a lightened glyph surrounded by a colored region.

23 . The method of claim 22 , wherein the colored region is grey and the lightened glyph is substantially white.

24 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the laser irradiates a region surrounding the glyph to form a lightened region surrounding by a colored glyph.

25 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the fabric membrane is formed from a nylon material having a titanium oxide additive.

26 . A fabric keyboard comprising:
a set of keycaps configured to actuate a corresponding set of key switches; a fabric component disposed over the set of keycaps, wherein the fabric component includes a colored region and at least one glyph that has been formed in the colored region using laser irradiation process, and wherein laser irradiation process lightens at least a portion of the colored region.

27 . The fabric keyboard of claim 26 , wherein the glyph has an increased surface concentration of TiO 2 created by the laser irradiation process.

28 . The fabric keyboard of claim 26 , wherein the glyph includes at least partially fused fibers formed by the laser irradiation process.

29 . The fabric keyboard of claim 26 , wherein the fabric component includes a pigment in the colored region and wherein the glyph includes a substantially reduced concentration of pigment due to the laser irradiation.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Russell-Clarke Peter N
• Nashner Michael S
• Murphy Robert S

Classifications

• H01H2229/02

  Laser · CPC title

• D06B11/0096 Primary

  to get a faded look · CPC title

• H01H11/00 Primary

  Apparatus or processes specially adapted for the manufacture of electric switches (processes specially adapted for manufacture of rectilinearly movable switches having a plurality of operating members associated with different sets of contacts, e.g. keyboards, H01H13/88) · CPC title

• H01H2219/028

  Printed information · CPC title

• D06L4/50

  by irradiation or ozonisation · CPC title