According to the list recently published by the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office, Apple has obtained a patent for a related technology for folding screens, introducing a method of chemical treatment to prevent glass cracking when manufacturing flexible textured glass.
The patent granted by Apple describes an electronic device that can be equipped with a foldable case that allows the device to be folded and unfolded around a curved axis. Flexible displays can be mounted in foldable enclosures and have arrays of pixels that form the display panel. The display panel can be bent along a curved axis when the device is folded. The display panel displays the image through a transparent overlay, which is formed by a layer of glass. Creates elongated grooves or other recesses in the glass layer, allowing the overlay to bend. The recess is a locally thinned part that allows the overlay to bend when the folding device is opened and closed. Polymers are placed in the recesses to help flatten the inner side of the revealing overlay. To enhance the wetting and adhesion of the polymer, as well as to reduce reflections, a rough texture can be set on the inner surface of the thinned part of the display cover. The thinned section has a variable thickness section with a thickness that transitions between the minimum thinning section thickness and the maximum display layer thickness. Apple's patent diagram is shown below. Figure 1 below illustrates the devices to which the patent can be applied, including cellular phones, tablets, laptops, etc., and Figure 2 illustrates the perspective view of an electronic device, where the device is a portable electronic device with a foldable display on its own. Placing the device in a foldable structure in this way can help make the device more compact so that it can be stored efficiently.
When the user needs to view an image on a monitor, the device can be unfolded around an axis to place the device in the various devices shown in Figure 1. This allows the display to lie flat, enabling the user to view a flat image on the display. Folding the display to itself allows the device to exhibit the ability to fold inward. A flexible enough display can allow the device to be folded outward or inward.Editor's Comment Although there are no folding screen products in Apple's current product lineup, Apple's move is undoubtedly paving the way for the future under the current situation that the folding screen market is hot and competitors such as Samsung and Huawei have successively launched folding screen products. Regardless of whether Apple decides to launch a folding product, preparing for patents in advance is a positive response.
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