Exposed glass article with inner recessed area for portable electronic device housing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9946302-B2
Application number	US-201313843426-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2013
Priority date	Sep 19, 2012
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

Transparent articles for use as outer surfaces of electronic devices and methods therefor are disclosed. A transparent cover can be provided over a display of portable electronic device to provide a protective outer cover over the display. The transparent cover can include material to mark, mask or color a portion of the transparent cover, such portion thereupon becoming opaque. The material can be provided in a recessed portion of an inner surface of the transparent cover, such portion being a portion of the transparent cover that is not over a usable portion of the display. The electronic device can, for example, be a portable electronic device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for producing a glass article having an opaque border region, the method comprising:
obtaining a glass article for use as a cover for a portable electronic device;
removing glass from a backside of the glass article to form a peripheral mounting interface including at least one peripheral mounting region having a thickness less than a thickness of a central region;
following the removal of the glass, applying at least one layer of material to the peripheral mounting region to form a surface that is flush with or recessed relative to a surface of the central region, thereby forming an attachment surface defined by the at least one layer of material;
affixing the central region and at least a portion of the attachment surface to a front surface of a touch screen display assembly, thereby securing the glass article to the touch screen display assembly; and
assembling the touch screen display assembly and the glass article with a housing such that a front side of the glass article opposite the backside faces away from the housing and is completely exposed.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein;
the glass article is a cover glass for the touch screen display assembly of the portable electronic device; and
an entirety of the front surface of the touch screen display assembly is attached to the glass article.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the glass article is substantially transparent; and
the at least one layer of material at the peripheral mounting region of the backside of the glass sheet renders the peripheral mounting region of the glass sheet opaque.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein:
the glass article is clear; and
the at least one layer of material applied at the peripheral mounting region of the backside of the glass sheet renders the peripheral mounting region of the backside of the glass sheet colored.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the at least one layer of material comprises at least one layer of colored ink or paint.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the applying of the at least one layer of material to the peripheral mounting region of the backside of the glass article comprises:
applying a plurality of layers of material to the peripheral mounting region of the backside of the glass article to form a layered stack of material.

7. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the layered stack of material includes at least one layer of a first material, and at least one layer of second material.

8. The method as recited in claim 6 , wherein the layered stack of material includes at least one layer of a first material having a first color, and at least one layer of a second material having a second color different from the first color.

9. A method for forming a plurality of glass articles for portable electronic devices, each of the glass articles being configured to serve as a portion of an outer surface of a housing for the corresponding portable electronic device, the method comprising:
obtaining a glass sheet;
singulating the glass sheet to form individual instances of the glass articles;
for a glass article of the individual instances:
forming a recessed boundary region into a peripheral mounting interface on a back side of the glass article instances of the glass articles, the recessed boundary region being recessed relative to a center region of the glass article;
subsequent to forming the recessed boundary, chemically strengthening the glass article;
applying ink to the recessed boundary region of the glass article, such that a surface of the ink within the recessed boundary region is flush with or recessed relative to a surface of the center region; and
adhering the center region of the glass article and at least part of the ink directly to a front surface of a touch screen display assembly such that the back side of the glass article faces the touch screen display assembly and a front side of the glass article opposite and substantially parallel to the back side is completely exposed.

10. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises:
polishing, subsequent to the chemical strengthening, the glass article.

11. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises:
applying, subsequent to the chemical strengthening, a translucent protective coating to the front side of the glass article.

12. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the applying of the ink to the recessed boundary region substantially fills the recessed boundary region with the ink.

13. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein, the adhering comprises adhering the center region and the ink to the front surface of the touch screen display assembly with a clear adhesive, such that the clear adhesive is the only component between the back side of the glass article and the front surface of the touch screen display assembly.

14. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the applying of the ink to the recessed boundary region comprises:
applying ink to the recessed boundary region but not the center region or an edge surface of the glass article.

15. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the applying of the ink to the recessed boundary region comprises:
applying ink to the recessed boundary region and to the center region of the glass article; and
removing the ink that has been applied to the center region.

16. The method as recited in claim 9 , wherein the applying of the ink to the recessed boundary region comprises:
applying a film on the center region but not the recessed boundary region of the glass article;
applying the ink to the recessed boundary region and to the center region of the glass article, the ink being applied to the center region is applied to the film; and
subsequent to applying the ink, removing the film from the center region, thereby removing the ink that has been applied to the center region.

17. A method for producing a transparent article having an opaque border region, the method comprising:
obtaining an article for use as a cover defining an outer surface for a portable electronic device, the article including at least a center region and a peripheral mounting interface on a back side of the article and at least partially surrounding the center region;
removing glass from the peripheral mounting interface of the article;
applying at least one layer of material to a portion of the peripheral mounting interface where the glass was removed such that a thickness of article at the portion of the peripheral mounting interface with the at least one layer of material is equal to or less than a thickness of the article at the center region;
applying an adhesive directly to the at least one layer of material and the center region;
affixing the back side of the article to a front surface of a touch screen display assembly; and
assembling the article and the touch screen display assembly with a housing of the portable electronic device such that the entire front side of the cover parallel to the back side is completely exposed and defines a front surface of the electronic device.

18. The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein the at least one layer of material comprises at least one layer of colored ink or paint.

19. A method for forming a plurality of glass articles for portable electronic devices, each of the glass articles being configured to serve as a portion of an outer surface of a housing for the corresponding portable electronic device, the meth

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Franklin Jeremy C
• Leong Ming
• Babiarz Kristina A
• Qian Amy
• Gibbs Kevin David
• Cheung Eugene C

Classifications

• G06F1/1643 Primary

  the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads (details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615) · CPC title

• C03C21/002 Primary

  to perform ion-exchange between alkali ions (C03C21/005 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B32B2307/41

  Opaque · CPC title

• C03C17/002

  for flat glass, e.g. float glass · CPC title

• C03C17/00 Primary

  Surface treatment of glass, not in the form of fibres or filaments, by coating (optical coatings of optical elements G02B1/10) · CPC title