CN113406836A

CN113406836A - Electronic device, case assembly, and film material

Info

Publication number: CN113406836A
Application number: CN202110703371.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 叶万俊
Original assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2021-06-24
Filing date: 2021-06-24
Publication date: 2021-09-17

Abstract

The application provides an electronic device, a housing assembly and a film material; the membrane material comprises appearance membranes and electrochromic modules which are arranged in a laminated mode; the electrochromic module comprises a first substrate, a first conducting layer, an electronic ink layer, a second conducting layer and a second substrate which are sequentially stacked; the appearance membrane is attached to the surface, away from the first conducting layer, of the first substrate; the appearance membrane comprises a bearing plate and at least one of an ink layer and an optical coating layer arranged on the bearing plate. The membrane material with electrochromic effect that this application embodiment provided through utilizing the lamination cooperation structure of outward appearance diaphragm and electrochromic module based on electronic ink, can realize the multiple color changing effect of membrane material, can greatly improve the outward appearance expressive force and the user of product and use experience.

Description

Electronic device, case assembly, and film material

Technical Field

The invention relates to the technical field of electronic equipment with a color changing function, in particular to electronic equipment, a shell assembly and a film material.

Background

With the development of communication technology, mobile terminals such as mobile phones and tablet computers have become indispensable tools for people. When a consumer faces a mobile terminal product with full-purpose of enamel, not only needs to consider whether the functions of the product meet the requirements of the consumer, but also the appearance of the product is one of the important factors for judging whether the consumer purchases the product. However, as the mobile terminal is iterated, the appearance of each brand of mobile terminal gradually becomes homogeneous, the appearance identification is poor, and after the mobile terminal leaves the factory, the color and the pattern of the mobile terminal are usually fixed and are easy to generate aesthetic fatigue for a long time.

With the development of product diversity of electronic devices, users have made higher demands on the appearance of electronic devices. How to improve the appearance of electronic devices is a research direction of general attention in the industry.

Disclosure of Invention

The first aspect of the embodiment of the application provides a film material, which comprises appearance membranes and an electrochromic module, wherein the appearance membranes and the electrochromic module are arranged in a stacked mode;

the electrochromic module comprises a first substrate, a first conducting layer, an electronic ink layer, a second conducting layer and a second substrate which are sequentially stacked;

the appearance membrane is attached to the surface, away from the first conducting layer, of the first substrate;

the appearance membrane comprises a bearing plate and at least one of an ink layer and an optical coating layer arranged on the bearing plate.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a housing assembly, including: a transparent shell and the film material of any of the above embodiments; the transparent shell, the appearance membrane and the electrochromic module are sequentially stacked.

In addition, this application embodiment provides an electronic equipment again, electronic equipment includes control circuit board and any one of the above-mentioned embodiment the casing subassembly, control circuit board with the electrochromic module electricity of casing subassembly is connected, control circuit board is used for controlling electrochromic module discolours.

The membrane material with electrochromic effect that this application embodiment provided through utilizing the lamination cooperation structure of outward appearance diaphragm and electrochromic module based on electronic ink, can realize the multiple color changing effect of membrane material, can greatly improve the outward appearance expressive force and the user of product and use experience.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without creative efforts.

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a film for a housing assembly of an electronic device according to the present application;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged schematic view of a part of the laminated structure of the electrochromic module in the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of another state of the electronic ink layer in the embodiment of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a laminated structure of an embodiment of an appearance membrane of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a laminate structure of another embodiment of an appearance membrane of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a laminated structure of yet another embodiment of an appearance membrane of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a film for a housing assembly of an electronic device according to the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a first substrate and a first conductive layer of yet another embodiment of an electrochromic module;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a second substrate and a second conductive layer of yet another embodiment of an electrochromic module;

FIG. 10 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the housing assembly of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the housing assembly of the present application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a further embodiment of the housing assembly of the present application;

FIG. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of an electronic device of the present application;

FIG. 14 is a schematic sectional view of the electronic device at A-A in the embodiment of FIG. 13;

fig. 15 is a block diagram illustrating a structural composition of an embodiment of an electronic device according to the present application.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and examples. It is to be noted that the following examples are only illustrative of the present invention, and do not limit the scope of the present invention. Likewise, the following examples are only some but not all examples of the present invention, and all other examples obtained by those skilled in the art without any inventive step are within the scope of the present invention.

Reference herein to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. It is explicitly and implicitly understood by one skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein can be combined with other embodiments.

As used herein, an "electronic device" (or simply "terminal") includes, but is not limited to, an apparatus that is configured to receive/transmit communication signals via a wireline connection, such as via a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), a digital cable, a direct cable connection, and/or another data connection/network, and/or via a wireless interface (e.g., for a cellular network, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), a digital television network such as a DVB-H network, a satellite network, an AM-FM broadcast transmitter, and/or another communication terminal). A communication terminal arranged to communicate over a wireless interface may be referred to as a "wireless communication terminal", "wireless terminal" or "mobile terminal". Examples of mobile terminals include, but are not limited to, satellite or cellular telephones; a Personal Communications System (PCS) terminal that may combine a cellular radiotelephone with data processing, facsimile and data communications capabilities; PDAs that may include radiotelephones, pagers, internet/intranet access, Web browsers, notepads, calendars, and/or Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers; and conventional laptop and/or palmtop receivers or other electronic devices that include a radiotelephone transceiver. A cellular phone is an electronic device equipped with a cellular communication module.

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a structure of an embodiment of a film for a housing assembly of an electronic device according to the present disclosure; it should be noted that the housing assembly in the present application may be used in an electronic device, and the electronic device may include a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a wearable device, and the like. The membrane material comprises but is not limited to the following structural components: electrochromic module 100 and appearance membrane 200. It should be noted that the terms "comprises" and "comprising," and any variations thereof, in the embodiments of the present application, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those steps or elements listed, but may alternatively include other steps or elements not listed, or may alternatively include other steps or elements inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

Specifically, the electrochromic module 100 includes a first substrate 110, a first conductive layer 120, an electronic ink layer 130, a second conductive layer 140, and a second substrate 150, which are sequentially stacked. Optionally, in this embodiment, the material of the first substrate 110 and the second substrate 150 may be a flexible transparent resin material, so that the entire structure of the electrochromic module 100 is a flexible and bendable structural form. The first substrate 110 and the second substrate 150 function to support and protect internal structures. In some embodiments, the first substrate 110 and the second substrate 150 may be made of PET (Polyethylene terephthalate, PET or PEIT, polyester resin, or a condensation polymer of terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol), PMMA (poly (methyl methacrylate), PMMA (PMMA), or acryl, Acrylic, or organic glass), PC (Polycarbonate, PC) is a polymer containing carbonate in a molecular chain, PI (Polyimide), and the like. Further material types for the first substrate 110 and the second substrate 150 are not listed and detailed herein within the understanding of those skilled in the art. The forming method of the first conductive layer 120 and the second conductive layer 140 may be Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD), specifically including vacuum evaporation, sputtering, ion plating (hollow cathode ion plating, hot cathode ion plating, arc ion plating, reactive ion plating, radio frequency ion plating, direct current discharge ion plating), and the like.

The thicknesses of the first conductive layer 120 and the second conductive layer 140 may be between 100nm and 300nm, and specifically, may be 100nm, 120nm, 150nm, 200nm, 280nm, 300nm, and the like. The first conductive layer 120 and the second conductive layer 140 are made of transparent conductive materials. The transparent conductive material can be Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), zinc aluminum oxide (AZO), tin oxide doped with Fluorine (FTO), graphene film or the like. It should be noted that the terms "first", "second" and "third" in the embodiments of the present application are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first," "second," or "third" may explicitly or implicitly include at least one of the feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means at least two, e.g., two, three, etc., unless specifically limited otherwise.

Optionally, referring to fig. 2 and fig. 3 together, fig. 2 is an enlarged schematic view of a part of a stacked structure of the electrochromic module in the embodiment of fig. 1; FIG. 3 is a schematic view of another state of the electronic ink layer in the embodiment of FIG. 2; the electronic ink layer 130 may be a microcapsule structure including a plurality of microcapsules that may change an internal structure under an electric field. In this embodiment, a capsule structure is taken as an example for explanation; the microcapsule structure comprises a shell 131, charged particles 132 and an electrophoretic liquid 133, wherein the shell 131 is a sealed structure, and the charged particles 132 and the electrophoretic liquid 133 are arranged inside the shell 131. The charged particles 132 in turn comprise a plurality of positively charged particles 1321 and a plurality of negatively charged particles 1322.

Alternatively, the positively charged particles 1321 may be metal or non-metal oxide particles; such as titanium oxide (specifically, titanium dioxide), aluminum oxide (aluminum oxide), silicon oxide (silicon dioxide), etc. The electronegative particles 1322 can be elemental non-metal particles or metal oxides; such as carbon powder, ferric oxide (ferrous oxide, ferroferric oxide, etc.). The two different charged particles are mainly for making the microcapsule structure to cause the color of the electronic ink layer 130 to change due to the position change of the charged particles under the action of the electric field. The following description will be given taking, as an example, the white positively charged particles 1321 as titanium oxide particles and the black negatively charged particles 1322 as carbon particles.

When the first conductive layer 120 is positively charged and the second conductive layer 140 is negatively charged or the first conductive layer 120 is not conductive and the second conductive layer 140 is more strongly negatively charged, the positively charged particles 1321 in the microcapsules are gathered towards the lower layer, the negatively charged particles 1322 are gathered upwards, and the front surface of the energized region (i.e. one side of the first conductive layer 120) shows black color, as shown in fig. 2; when the first conductive layer 120 is negatively charged and the second conductive layer 140 is positively charged or the first conductive layer 120 is not conductive and the second conductive layer 140 is more positively charged, the positive particles 1321 in the microcapsule are gathered to the upper layer and the negative particles 1322 are gathered to the lower layer, the front surface (the side of the first conductive layer 120) of the energized region shows a white color, as shown in fig. 3, and in the case of different voltages or different energizing times, the gray scale of the front surface color is also different, and the color of different gray scales can be obtained by controlling different voltages or charging times.

Optionally, with reference to fig. 1, the appearance membrane 200 in this embodiment is attached to a surface of the first substrate 110 of the electrochromic module 100, which is away from the first conductive layer 120; the appearance membrane 200 may include a carrier plate and at least one of an ink layer and an optical coating layer disposed on the carrier plate.

Specifically, please refer to fig. 4, wherein fig. 4 is a schematic view of a laminated structure of an embodiment of an appearance film according to the present application. The appearance membrane 200 in this embodiment includes a carrier 210, an optical coating layer 220, and an ink layer 230. The carrier 210 may also be made of glass or a transparent resin material with a certain hardness, such as PET, PI, etc. The optical coating layer 220 may be one or more antireflection film layers with optical antireflection function, UV pattern transfer layers for forming specific optical textures, film layers with protective function, NCVM layers with insulating function, functional film layers for increasing the layer-to-layer connection performance, and the like formed by pvd.

Alternatively, the optical coating layer 220 may be a plurality of layers of metal and/or non-metal oxides arranged in a stack. Referring to fig. 5 and fig. 6 together, fig. 5 is a schematic view of a laminated structure of another embodiment of the appearance membrane of the present application, and fig. 6 is a schematic view of a laminated structure of another embodiment of the appearance membrane of the present application; in the embodiments shown in fig. 5 and 6, the optical coating layer 220 and the ink layer 230 are respectively disposed on two sides of the carrier 210. Wherein, the optical coating layer 220 belongs to a multi-layer colorful optical coating. Specifically, two materials, Nb2Ox and SiO2, may be selected as raw materials for coating, and the coating raw materials are repeatedly and sequentially coated on the carrier 210 by a sputtering coating process or an evaporation coating process (the reference numeral 221 represents an Nb2Ox layer, and the reference numeral 222 represents an SiO2 layer), so as to finally form a dazzling optical coating (for adhesion of the coating, a ZrO2 layer 223 may be coated on the carrier 210 for priming). Because the film layers with different thicknesses and different materials have different reflection and transmission effects on light with different wavelengths, so that the transmission rate and the reflection rate of each wave band have different differences, different colors can be realized by controlling the thickness design of each film layer. Alternatively, the ink layer 230 may be formed by spraying or dyeing. The ink layer 230 may be white, black, or colored.

The overall color effect of the appearance membrane is also related to the color of the color layer 230, when the color layer 230 is white, the incident light R will be completely reflected by the color layer 230 after passing through the optical coating layer, and the final emergent light C is the light reflected by the color layer 230 and the reflected light of each film layer of the optical coating layer, which are mutually superposed to form the final color effect, such as the light path structure shown by the arrow in fig. 5; when the color layer 230 is black, the incident light is completely absorbed by the color layer 230 after passing through the optical coating layer, and the final emergent light is only the reflected light of each film layer of the optical coating layer and is mutually overlapped to form the final color, as shown by the light path structure shown by the arrow in fig. 6. Of course, in some other embodiments, the color layer 230 may also be colored, and may present a rich color effect in combination with optical coatings of different thicknesses and laminated structures. Since the colors of different optical coatings on the black matrix, the white matrix and the color matrix are different, a person skilled in the art can adjust the optical coatings according to the desired color design requirements, and the optical coatings are not limited herein.

Optionally, with reference to fig. 1, the electrochromic module 100 in this embodiment further includes a rubber frame 160, and the rubber frame 160 is disposed around the electronic ink layer 130. The water vapor transmission rate of the rubber frame 160 is not more than 10 g/square meter/day. In the embodiment of the present application, the water vapor permeation direction of the rubber frame 160 is a physical characteristic that the water vapor permeates through the rubber frame 160 in the thickness direction from the outer side surface of the rubber frame 160 to the side surface adjacent to the electronic ink layer 130. Alternatively, the adhesive frame 160 may be formed by curing an epoxy-based adhesive or an acrylic-based adhesive.

In order to ensure the reliability and effectiveness of the waterproof function, the thickness of the rubber frame 160 in this embodiment may be greater than 1 mm. Specifically, the thickness may be 1.1mm, 1.2mm, 1.5mm, 2mm, 3mm, etc., and the specific numerical values are not particularly limited and are not listed here. It should be noted that the thickness of the rubber frame 160 is not larger than 1mm, and is not necessarily larger, and it is better to consider the problem of the whole black edge (width of the non-variable color region) of the electrochromic module after the requirement of the water vapor barrier performance is satisfied, and generally, the thickness of the rubber frame 160 is controlled within 10 mm.

The rubber frame in this embodiment requires: the electronic ink is ensured by limiting the water vapor permeability of the frame 160 to 1 to 10 g/m/day under the conditions that the ambient temperature is 40 ℃ and the Relative Humidity is 90% (which means the percentage of the water vapor pressure in the air to the saturated water vapor pressure at the same temperature or the ratio of the absolute Humidity of the humid air to the maximum absolute Humidity that can be achieved at the same temperature or the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapor in the humid air to the saturated water pressure at the same temperature, and the Relative Humidity (Relative Humidity) is expressed by RH (which means the ratio of the absolute Humidity in the air to the saturated absolute Humidity at the same temperature and pressure, and the quotient is a percentage) The water layer 130 is not polluted, so that the color change performance of the electrochromic module is stabilized, and the service life is prolonged.

Optionally, the bonding interface between the rubber frame 160 and other structural layers may be processed, for example, the bonding interface is the contact surface between the two opposite ends of the rubber frame 160 and the second conductive layer 140 and the first conductive layer 120 respectively in the embodiment of fig. 1. Specific treatment methods of the bonding interface include plasma treatment, roughening, printing of an ink layer, and the like, in order to improve the bonding strength between the rubber frame 160 and other structural layers, and the water vapor mainly enters from the body of the rubber frame 160, not from the bonding interface. The two ends of the rubber frame 160 can be firmly bonded. It should be noted that all the directional indicators (such as upper, lower, left, right, front and rear … …) in the embodiment of the present application are only used to explain the relative position relationship between the components, the motion situation, etc. in a specific posture (as shown in the drawings), and if the specific posture is changed, the directional indicator is changed accordingly.

Optionally, the glue frame 160 may further be doped with a water vapor blocking agent, which may be added in the glue during the formation of the glue frame 160. The mass fraction of the water vapor barrier agent in the rubber frame 160 is 1-10%. Specifically, the amount of the water vapor barrier agent may be 1%, 3%, 5%, 8%, 10%, or the like, and the mass fraction ratio of the water vapor barrier agent may be increased appropriately without affecting the strength of the rubber frame 160. Specifically, some spacers can be added into the glue, and the mass fraction of the spacers is about 1-10% for blocking the path of water vapor; or a certain amount of molecular sieve is added for absorbing water vapor and delaying the service life. Wherein, the main components of the Spacer are SiO2 and micron SiO2 micron spheres. Molecular sieves are a common concept in chemistry, and the specific components are hydrated aluminosilicate (zeolite) or natural zeolite and the like. The Spacer is SiO2 micron ball, so it can block water vapor, and the molecular sieve can absorb water vapor. The two can be added separately or together.

The film material packaging method in this embodiment may be: the electronic ink layer 130 is first coated on the PET film plated with ITO (indium tin oxide), and then is attached to another PET film plated with ITO (indium tin oxide), and the attached edge is encapsulated with a waterproof adhesive (forming the adhesive frame 160).

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view illustrating a structure of an embodiment of a film for a housing assembly of an electronic device according to the present disclosure; wherein, the membrane material in this embodiment then includes electrochromic module 100, outward appearance diaphragm 200 and waterproof optical cement 300, outward appearance diaphragm 200 with pass through between the first base plate 110 of electrochromic module 100 waterproof optical cement 300 bonds, chooses for use waterproof optical cement 300 under the prerequisite of guaranteeing the bonding reliability, can improve electrochromic module 100's first base plate 110 and outward appearance diaphragm 200's water oxygen barrier property. For detailed structural features of the electrochromic module 100 and the appearance film 200, reference may be made to the related description of the foregoing embodiments, and further description is omitted here.

The film material provided by the embodiment of the application can be used on the shell of the electronic equipment, and based on the combination of an electronic ink technology and an optical coating technology, the active dynamic change of the color and the pattern of the shell of the electronic equipment can be realized, the aesthetic fatigue of a user is reduced, and the appearance expressive force of a product is improved; the color and pattern dynamic change can be intelligently controlled through AI under different user scenes through the combination of software and hardware, so that the interaction channel between a user and a terminal is increased, and the user experience of a consumer is improved; the conduction mode and the structure stacking are relatively simple, the thickness can be thinner, and the light weight design requirement of the electronic equipment is met; the microcapsule electrophoresis technology (electronic ink structure) needs small electric energy, has high response speed and good user experience.

Referring to fig. 8 and 9 together, fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a first substrate and a first conductive layer of another embodiment of an electrochromic module, and fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a second substrate and a second conductive layer of another embodiment of an electrochromic module; referring to fig. 1, the structure in fig. 8 is aligned with the structure in fig. 9, and an electronic ink layer 130 is disposed between the first conductive layer 120 and the second conductive layer 140. The first conductive layer 120 in this embodiment is provided with at least two independently controlled patterned color-changing regions, wherein two patterned color-changing regions (121, 122) are taken as an example in this embodiment for description. In the present embodiment, the area surrounded by hexagons is the first patterned color-changing area 121, and the other areas are the second patterned color-changing areas 122. It should be noted that, in other embodiments, other arbitrary pattern structures may also be adopted, such as hearts, flowers, customized personalized patterns, and the like, which are not listed here.

Optionally, the first conductive layer in each patterned color-changing region is separately connected with a first metal trace 181, wherein the first metal trace 181 may be disposed along an edge of the first conductive layer 120. The first metal trace 181 may be etched together with the patterned discolored region. Firstly, a reasonable connection position between the first metal trace 181 and the patterned color-changing region needs to be designed according to a pre-designed pattern, and a pre-designed circuit is etched on the entire ITO film through an etching process, wherein a schematic diagram of the etched ITO film on one side of the first conductive layer 120 is shown in fig. 8. The dark areas indicate areas where ITO is present, and the white areas indicate areas where ITO is etched away (the ITO lines shown in fig. 8 are only schematic, and the actual line design must be designed according to the pattern effect of the ID design). The specific flow of the etching process is as follows: firstly, a dry film is pressed on a complete ITO surface, then exposure and development processes are carried out, and finally, the designed ITO circuit is etched. In order to display the pattern, a laser etching technology is also adopted, namely, a part of ITO on the PET film is removed by laser etching, but the PET substrate is not damaged, and a gap 1201 is formed between the first patterned color-changing area 121 and the second patterned color-changing area 122; the first patterned color-changing region 121 and the second patterned color-changing region 122 cannot be conducted, and the first patterned color-changing region 121 can only be conducted through the etched line (i.e., the first metal trace 181).

The electrochromic module 100 further includes a second metal trace 182, and the second metal trace 182 is connected to the second conductive layer 140. The first metal trace 181 and the second metal trace 182 may be connected to a control circuit (not shown) through a flexible circuit board via connection terminals.

The membrane material in the embodiment of the application has at least two working modes: firstly, when the same voltage is applied to the first patterned color-changing region 121 and the second patterned color-changing region 122 of the first conductive layer 120, the color of the whole film material can be in the same state, and after the positive and negative poles of the voltage are changed, the color of the whole film material can be changed integrally, that is, the whole color-changing effect is realized. In the process, the first patterned color-changing area 121 and the second patterned color-changing area 122 change color synchronously, and the colors are the same, so that the overall uniformity of color change of the film material is reflected; secondly, when voltages with different polarities or different values are applied to the first patterned color-changing region 121 and the second patterned color-changing region 122 of the first conductive layer 120, at this time, the first patterned color-changing region 121 and the second patterned color-changing region 122 of the film material show different colors, that is, a pre-designed pattern effect is exhibited, when the polarity or magnitude of the voltage is changed, both the first patterned color-changing region 121 and the second patterned color-changing region 122 are changed, wherein, the first patterned color-changing region 121 and the second patterned color-changing region 122 can be controlled individually, such as the first patterned color-changing region 121 and the second patterned color-changing region 122 are respectively applied with voltages of different values or voltages of different directions, on the basis of matching with the appearance membrane 200, the change of various color effects can be presented, and the appearance expressive force of the product and the use experience of a user can be greatly improved.

The film material in this embodiment is based on an electronic ink technology and an optical coating technology, and is prepared by first fabricating an ITO film having a designed circuit on a whole surface of the ITO film through a yellow etching process, and then laser etching a pre-designed pattern on the ITO film through a laser etching technology, so that an ITO area (a first patterned color-changing area 121) in a pattern area is disconnected from an ITO area (a second patterned color-changing area 122) in a large surface area. When the voltage with the same polarity and value is applied to the pattern area (the first patterned color-changing area 121) and the non-pattern area (the second patterned color-changing area 122), the overall color change of the film material can be realized; when voltages with different polarities or different values are applied to the pattern area and the non-pattern area, the patterns can be displayed, dynamic change of the patterns and colors of the patterns is achieved, and the method has great significance for improving product appearance expressive force and user experience and interaction experience.

In addition, a housing assembly is further provided in the embodiment of the present application, please refer to fig. 10, fig. 10 is a schematic structural cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the housing assembly of the present application; it should be noted that the housing assembly in the present application may be used in an electronic device, and the electronic device may include a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a wearable device, and the like. The housing assembly 10 in this embodiment includes a transparent housing 400 and the film material in the previous embodiments. The transparent shell 400, the appearance membrane 200 of the membrane material and the electrochromic module 100 are sequentially stacked. The present embodiment is illustrated by taking the electrochromic module 100 with only one structure as an example.

The transparent case 400 may be bonded to the exterior film 200 of the film material by an optical adhesive 401. The material of the transparent case 400 may be glass, transparent resin, or the like. Optionally, the water vapor transmittance of the selected optical adhesive 401 is required to be not more than 10 g/square meter/day, and may specifically be epoxy glue or acrylic glue.

Optionally, referring to fig. 11, fig. 11 is a schematic cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the housing assembly of the present application; the housing assembly 10 in this embodiment includes a transparent housing 400, a film material, and a water oxygen barrier unit 500. The water and oxygen blocking unit is disposed on a surface of the second substrate 150 of the electrochromic module 100, which is away from the second conductive layer 140, and the transparent casing 400 is bonded to the appearance membrane 200 of the membrane. In the case assembly in this embodiment, the two sides of the film material are sealed by the water-oxygen barrier through the transparent case 400 and the water-oxygen barrier unit 500, so as to ensure the reliability and chemical stability of the electronic ink layer, and further prolong the service life of the film material. For detailed structural features of the film, please refer to the description of the foregoing embodiments, which are not repeated herein.

Alternatively, the water and oxygen barrier unit 500 may be bonded to the second substrate 150 through an optical Clear resin (ocr) layer 501 or an optical Clear adhesive (oca). Specifically, the second substrate 150 and the water oxygen barrier unit 500 may be encapsulated by UV or other liquid glue. Alternatively, the water and oxygen barrier unit 500 may include a substrate 510 and at least one water and oxygen barrier layer plated on at least one side surface of the substrate 510 (in this embodiment, a water and oxygen barrier layer 520 is plated on the substrate 510 as an example, and in some other embodiments, the water and oxygen barrier unit 500 may also have other structures, which are not listed and described in detail herein). The base material 510 may be made of a flexible transparent resin material, including polyethylene terephthalate PET, polycarbonate PC, polyimide PI, and the like. The water oxygen barrier layer 520 may be a dense metal oxide layer or an inorganic non-metallic layer or a composite layer having a material stacked with an inorganic material. Such as aluminum oxide, silicon oxide, or a laminated composite structure of multiple materials, etc. The water oxygen barrier unit 500 in this embodiment is a flexible substrate coated with a water oxygen barrier layer 520, and has a water vapor transmission rate WVTR <10 g/m/day. In the embodiment of the present application, the water vapor permeation direction of the water oxygen barrier unit 500 is a physical characteristic that the water oxygen barrier unit 500 permeates from one side surface of the water oxygen barrier unit 500 in the thickness direction to the opposite side surface (the test environment may be an ambient temperature of 40 ℃, and a relative humidity of 90%).

Optionally, referring to fig. 12, fig. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a housing assembly according to another embodiment of the present application; unlike the previous embodiments, in the present embodiment, the water oxygen barrier unit 500 may be a dense metal oxide layer or an inorganic non-metal layer directly plated on the surface of the second substrate 150 or a composite layer formed by stacking materials and inorganic materials. That is, the water oxygen barrier unit 500 may not necessarily have a structure of a substrate.

Further, an electronic device is provided in an embodiment of the present application, please refer to fig. 13 and 14 together, fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of the electronic device of the present application, and fig. 14 is a schematic structural sectional view of the electronic device at a position a-a in the embodiment of fig. 13, where the electronic device in the embodiment may include a display module 30, a housing assembly 10, and a control circuit board 20. The housing assembly 10 may include a film, a transparent housing 400, and a middle frame 600. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the electronic device is only described in a structure that the electronic device includes the middle frame, and in other embodiments, the electronic device may not include the middle frame structure, that is, a structure that a rear cover plate (the transparent casing 400) of the casing assembly directly cooperates with the display screen module 30, which is not limited herein.

Optionally, the display screen module 30, the electrochromic module 100 of the housing assembly 10, and the transparent housing 200 are respectively disposed on two opposite sides of the middle frame 600. The display screen module 30 and the transparent shell 400 are matched to form an accommodating space 1000, the control circuit board 20 and the film are arranged in the accommodating space 1000, and the film is attached to the inner surface of the transparent shell 400. The control circuit board 20 is electrically connected to the electrochromic module 100, and the control circuit board 20 is used for controlling the electrochromic module 100 to change color. The detailed technical features of other parts of the electronic device are within the understanding of those skilled in the art, and are not described herein.

Referring to fig. 15, fig. 15 is a block diagram illustrating a structural composition of an embodiment of an electronic device according to the present application, where the electronic device may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a wearable device, and the like, and the embodiment illustrates a mobile phone as an example. The electronic device may include an RF circuit 910, a memory 920, an input unit 930, a display unit 940 (i.e., the display module 30 in the above embodiment), a sensor 950, an audio circuit 960, a wifi module 970, a processor 980 (which may be the control circuit board 20 in the above embodiment), a power supply 990, and the like. Wherein the RF circuit 910, the memory 920, the input unit 930, the display unit 940, the sensor 950, the audio circuit 960, and the wifi module 970 are respectively connected with the processor 980; power supply 990 is used to provide power to the entire electronic device.

Specifically, the RF circuit 910 is used for transmitting and receiving signals; the memory 920 is used for storing data instruction information; the input unit 930 is used for inputting information, and may specifically include a touch panel 931 and other input devices 932 such as operation keys; the display unit 940 may include a display panel 941; the sensor 950 includes an infrared sensor, a laser sensor, etc. for detecting a user approach signal, a distance signal, etc.; a speaker 961 and a microphone 962 are connected to the processor 980 through the audio circuit 960 for emitting and receiving sound signals; the wifi module 970 is used for receiving and transmitting wifi signals, and the processor 980 is used for processing data information of the electronic device. For specific structural features of the electronic device, please refer to the related description of the above embodiments, and detailed descriptions thereof will not be provided herein.

The electronic device in this embodiment has an appearance effect of variable color. The membrane material of the shell assembly has the advantages that the appearance membrane and the lamination matching structure of the electrochromic module based on the electronic ink are utilized, various color changing effects of the membrane material can be achieved, and the appearance expressive force of the product and the user experience can be greatly improved.

The above description is only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, and all equivalent devices or equivalent processes performed by the present invention through the contents of the specification and the drawings, or directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields, are included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. The membrane material is characterized by comprising appearance membranes and electrochromic modules which are arranged in a laminated mode;

2. The film of claim 1, wherein the appearance film comprises a color layer, a carrier plate and an optical coating layer, which are sequentially stacked.

3. The film of claim 2, wherein the optical coating layer comprises a plurality of layers of metal and/or non-metal oxides disposed in a stack.

4. The film of claim 1, wherein the electronic ink layer comprises a plurality of micro-capsule structures that are capable of undergoing internal structural changes in response to an electric field.

5. The film of claim 4, wherein the microcapsule structure comprises a shell, a charged particle and an electrophoretic fluid, the shell is a sealed structure, and the charged particle and the electrophoretic fluid are disposed inside the shell.

6. The membrane of claim 5, wherein the charged particles comprise a plurality of positively charged particles and a plurality of negatively charged particles.

7. The film of claim 6, wherein the positively charged particles are metal or non-metal oxide particles; the negative electricity particles are non-metal simple substance particles or metal oxides.

8. The membrane material of claim 7, wherein the electropositive particles are selected from any one of titanium oxide, aluminum oxide, and silicon oxide; the negative electricity particles are selected from any one of carbon powder and iron oxide.

9. The film according to claim 1, wherein the first conductive layer is provided with at least two independently controlled patterned color-changing regions, and the first conductive layer in each patterned color-changing region is separately connected with a first metal trace; the electrochromic module further comprises a second metal wire, and the second metal wire is connected with the second conductive layer.

10. A housing assembly, comprising: a transparent shell and a film according to any one of claims 1 to 9; the transparent shell, the appearance membrane and the electrochromic module are sequentially stacked.

11. An electronic device, comprising a control circuit board and the housing assembly of claim 10, wherein the control circuit board is electrically connected to the electrochromic module of the housing assembly, and the control circuit board is configured to control the electrochromic module to change color.