GB2577244A

GB2577244A - Covers and cases

Info

Publication number: GB2577244A
Application number: GB1814235.6A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Lazareff Susan
Original assignee: Reso Ltd
Current assignee: RESO LIMITED
Priority date: 2018-08-31
Filing date: 2018-08-31
Publication date: 2020-03-25
Also published as: GB201814235D0

Abstract

A cover (1, Figure 1) for a phone having a phone body with a front display glass and an edge. The cover (1, Figure 1) comprising a frame 22, 55 to fit around an edge of the phone body, defining a front opening to expose the front display glass of the phone, and a transparent front pane 21 fixed to a pane-locating support formation 25 extending around the front opening. The pane 21 may be formed from glass and the frame 22, 55 may have an inwardly-directed form shape in order to engage the phone. The frame may be metal and may comprise front and back portions 22 & 55 and said back portion may comprise a back opening and transparent back pane (31, Figure 2). The frame 22, 55 may comprise internal contact cushioning means in the form of foam strips 6. Front and back portions 22 & 55 may be connectable to one another with magnets 5. The pane locating support 25 for the front frame opening may take the form of a forward-facing ledge which extends continuously around the frame 22 whereby the front pane 21 may be fixed into the opening with adhesive.

Description

COVERS AND CASES

This invention has to do with covers and cases for mobile telephones. Specifically, it is to do with cases or covers for hand-held electronic devices of the type known as smartphones and which generally feature - a relatively thin flat body form; - usually, a rectangular outline of the major faces (front and back); -a glass display screen on a front side, occupying most or all of the front face area; - openings for electrical connectors e.g. for charging, audio output or data transfer; - hand-actuated controls in the nature of buttons or is sliders (as distinct from those touch-actuated on the display screen itself) which are often on the side edges of the body e.g. volume controls, power on/power off button.

Further typical features include - an opening for a camera lens, usually at least on the 23 back face and sometimes on the front face too; - a microphone opening and/or a loudspeaker opening.

BACKGROUND

Usually the body of the smartphone has a shell of metal 25 or plastics material providing the side (edge) walls and a back wall of the device, while the front display glass essentially constitutes the front face. In earlier models the glass plate of the front display has a generally square edge and the casing shell extends up around it for protection. In more recent models such as iPhone X® there is a concern to maximise the active area of the display, both for display and for user actuation. The front glass plate extends right out to the edge of the device and has a convexly-curved taper to blend with the side wall of the casing which is also convexly curved. Some recent designs also feature a glass plate on the back of the device, primarily for appearance although in future these might be also used for actuation and/or display.

For simplicity, the following description uses the term "phone" to refer to devices of the kind described. Because of their high value -both as sophisticated expensive devices and as means of access to personal information -users often s use cases or covers to protect their phones. These include resiliently deformable cases or edge bumpers into which the phone is fitted to reduce shocks, and cases which entirely cover the back face as well as the edge of the phone. Some also cover the front, either with a window or with a flap.

is To protect the crucial front glass it is also well-known to apply a "screen protector". Originally these were a clear flexible plastics rectangle with an adhesive face, to be stuck carefully over the display glass to protect it from scratches and the like. More recently flexible tempered glass screen protectors have become available, which similarly have an adhesive layer on the reverse with a peelable release cover. Care is needed to achieve full overall adhesion and correct position of the screen protector, without trapping bubbles, dust or hairs. With the advent of phones with front display glass curved down at the extreme edges, some screen protectors fail to cover the edge region -or else are liable to peeling there. Others, particularly tempered glass ones, are available with complementarily down-curved edges to fit. It becomes increasingly expensive to provide this functional protection, and fitting it requires skill.

THE INVENTION

We propose a cover for a phone, the cover comprising a frame to fit around the edge of the phone body, the frame defining a front opening to expose the front display glass of the phone, and having a pane-locating support formation defined and extending around the front opening, and a transparent pane, especially a glass pane and especially a pane of tempered glass, fixedly mounted in the front opening of the frame in engagement with the locating support so that is in use the transparent pane will overlie the display glass of the phone.

The inwardly-directed form of the frame is shaped to conform to and positively engage the body of the phone, especially around the edge thereof, so as to fix the is alignment of the frame relative to the body of the phone and thereby hold the front pane in the front opening at a predetermined position and alignment in front of the phone's display glass, and preferably in parallel contact or substantially parallel contact with it.

The frame is conveniently formed of a front portion (including the front opening) and a back portion which can be joined together to hold the phone between them when the cover is fitted. The back portion of the frame may consist of a frame part only, with an opening leaving the back of the phone exposed, or it may comprise a back wall which covers or partly covers the back of the phone so that the cover takes the form of a case. In a preferred version the back portion of the frame defines a back opening and a transparent pane, such as a glass pane and especially a tempered glass pane, is fixed in the back opening so that the back of the phone can be seen through it. This feature is particularly desirable where the back of the phone is visually attractive e.g. when it features a decorative design or logo and/or itself has an attractive finish such as a metallic finish or a glass plate. The transparent pane on the back may have the same general size and/or shape, and manner of mounting and fixing, as that on the front.

To maintain alignment of the front pane the frame should be rigid or substantially rigid, especially if alignment is to be maintained without direct engagement of the frame on the front face of the display screen (e.g. in the case where this is "live" all the way out to the edge so is that it needs to be exposed). For this purpose a metal frame, or a frame including a metal sub-frame, is strongly preferred. Desirably the frame includes internal contact cushioning means, such as one or more foam strips, which may establish a positive pressure of engagement between frame and is phone body. By balancing forces around the body the cushioning can assure precise location without hard contact or transmitting shocks.

Front and back frame portions may connect together by any convenient means e.g. fasteners, snap fittings and the like. However the connection is desirably easily releasable, and to this end a magnetic connection is preferred.

Desirably plural magnets are distributed around one or both of the frame portions, engageable with corresponding attracting elements such as other magnets on the other portion to hold them together.

The frame preferably has one or more openings for access to control elements, connectors, switches, sockets and the like on the edge of the phone body. The frame may comprise one or more push-button members mounted moveably in the frame, to act on corresponding push-buttons of the phone inside, i.e. acting as extenders for the phone's pushbuttons. This is known.

The pane-locating support for the front frame opening desirably takes the form of a forward-facing (outward-facing) ledge extending around the frame. The ledge can be continuous or discontinuous, preferably continuous. A continuous ledge is convenient for fixing the transparent pane into the opening using adhesive. The positioning of the locating support is carefully determined in relation to the inwardly-directed engagement forms of the frame to ensure, as mentioned, that the inner surface of the of the pane is accurately takes the desired position in parallel contact against the phone display glass. We find that surprisingly, a transparent non-adhered pane can be positioned in this way without causing undesired interference phenomena for the user -because adequately close contact can be achieved simply by s accurate positioning of the pane -and that manual actuation such as swiping remains effective across the full area of the underlying display screen and the inconvenience of adhesive fixing of the screen protector is completely avoided.

The pane may have an opaque band or border printed over a peripheral adhesion region where it is bonded to the frame to improve the appearance, e.g. a silk-printed black border or colour band.

Adhesive acting between the glass and frame should be applied to uniform thickness for good alignment, e.g. in film 25 form applied around the edge of the pane.

The front pane may have an opening for functional components at the front of the display, such as a microphone or the like. Similarly the rear cover if there is one, such as a rear pane, can have an opening for e.g. a camera.

The present proposals are particularly suited with phones where the front display glass extends right out to the edge and/or where the front display glass has a downwardly convexly-curved edge portion. Conventional screen protectors have difficulties sticking onto these and/or with preserving operability of the "live" region all the way out to the edge. With the present proposal using a frame it is easier to enlarge the front pane to a size suitable to ensure full viewing and contactability over the entire area of the phone's display glass. The edges of the pane can be held and housed by the frame of the cover and are thereby safe and protected. If wished the frame or cover can be supplemented with a resilient outer shock protection.

13 Preferably the frame has an upstanding surround portion, projecting forwardly (outwardly) around the front opening immediately adjacent the edge of the front pane to cover or substantially cover (e.g. more than 50'S or more than 70% depth) its edges. The front pane may be a simple flat is pane, without needing downwardly-curved edges as in some adhesive screen protectors. In a known manner it can be provided with an oleophobic finish on the exterior surface, and may incorporate an anti-shatter layer (again, this is known).

The combination the cover and smartphone fitting in it in the defined relationship is a further aspect of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EXAMPLE

An example is now described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows front and rear separated portions of a case embodying the invention; Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 show the assembled case respectively 30 from the back and from the front, and Fig. 4 shows the components of the case in exploded form.

The illustrated cover embodying the invention is a case for a smartphone (of the type presently available as iPhone K® or similar, not shown) having a front display glass that extends right to the edge of the phone, with a downwardly-convex edge, and also a glass-covered back. The case 1 has a front part and a back part 3. The front part has a glass front pane 21 in a front frame portion 22 and the back part has a glass back pane 31 in a back frame portion 32. Each frame portion has elongate side edge members and shorter (top is and bottom) end edge members, to conform with the generally rectangular format of the smartphone. The front and back frame portions are machined from aluminium alloy for strength and rigidity. The front frame portion 22 defines a front opening occupied entirely by the front pane 21 which covers is essentially the whole area of the smartphone contained in it. The front and back frame portions each incorporate a set of magnets 5 distributed around and glued in place in recesses 55 in the thickness of the respective frame portions (see Fig. 4) so that the portions can be connected securely together just by bringing them into proximity to attract. The glass panes 21,31 are of tempered glass, such as 9H tempered glass, which is known for corresponding uses. The preferred glass at least for the front pane and preferably for both panes has a protective anti-scratch layer on the front of the tempered glass substrate, and an oleophobic coating on the anti-scratch layer. An anti-shatter layer is laminated on the back (inside) of the glass substrate. The inside surface of the glass does not carry adhesive except where it joins to the frame.

Each of the front and back frame portions 22,32 has a narrow ledge 25 extending right around its opening and constituting a locating support for the respective pane 21, 31. A surround wall 26 projects up around the support ledge 25. The ledge 25 and the surround wall 26 define an exact positional location, while the wall 26 also covers the edge of the glass. The glass is glued in place on the ledge with a suitable adhesive; the adhesive type is not critical but it should be used economically and uniformly to ensure close location against the location formations of the frame. In a convenient method it is applied as a film around the edge of the pane before joining the parts.

The frame portions define side openings for the well-o known connections etc of the phone, and on the side edges, include button extenders 7 which can be pressed to depress the underlying buttons of the phone itself. These button extenders 7 are carried on glued foam strips 6 which extend along the insides of the frame to assure a close cushioned is fit against the phone inside, without play. Tab enlargements 61 of the phone strip 6 carry the button extenders 7. The main lengths 66 of the foam strips extend along the main edges of the case to ensure close fitting onto the phone. Supplementary foam corner pieces 67 occupy the corner angles of the frame to provide cushioning in the top-to-bottom direction. The foam strips carry glue on the outer face for easy assembly. Since the periphery of the phone is convex (in front-to-rear cross-section) and the inward contour of the joined frame portions is correspondingly concave in cross-section, with the aid of the foam strips the phone naturally takes up an accurately centered position but without play, and with cushioning provided by the strips to reduce transmission of shock through the frame.

In this position, by predetermination of the frame 33 dimensions in relation to the intended phone the front glass pane lies exactly against and parallel with the front face of the display glass of the phone within. The skilled reader will understand that each cover and its frame are designed to conform with a specific model of smartphone, so that this close aligned contact of the glass pane to the display glass can be easily assured: this is necessary for touch operation of the phone. Surprisingly, we find that this is achievable in mass-production methods, and that the glass pane allows full operation of the phone over the full extent of its screen, without inconvenient optical interference affects, despite there being no bonded contact between the glass pane and the phone display glass.

is The glass back pane 31 shown is secured in the back frame portion 32 in the same way as the front pane is secured in the front frame portion. The back pane is desirable for a smartphone having a decorative or attractive back face, but it may be dispensed with if the smartphone has a blank back is face. A plain (opaque) back wall may be used instead, or the back opening may be left empty.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A cover for a phone having a phone body with a front display glass and an edge, the cover comprising a frame to fit around the edge of the phone body, the frame defining a front opening to expose the front display glass of the phone, and having a pane-locating support formation defined and extending around the front opening, and a transparent front pane fixedly mounted in the front 13 opening of the frame in engagement with the locating support formation so that in use the transparent pane will overlie the display glass of the phone.
2. Cover according to claim 1 in which the transparent 15 front pane is a glass pane.
W 3. Cover according to claim 1 or 2 in which the frame has an inwardly-directed form shaped to conform to and positively engage the body of the phone around the edge thereof, to fix CY) 20 the alignment of the frame relative to the body of the phone and thereby hold the front pane in the front opening at a predetermined position and alignment and contact with the phone's display glass.
4. Cover according to any one of the preceding claims in which the frame comprises a front portion including the front opening and a back portion which can be joined together to hold the phone between them when the cover is fitted.
3O 5. Cover according to claim 4 in which the back portion of the frame consists of a frame part, with an opening leaving the back of the phone exposed, or comprises a back wall to cover or partly cover the back of the phone.
6. Cover according to claim 4 in which the back portion of the frame defines a back opening and a transparent back pane, such as a glass pane and preferably a tempered glass pane, is s fixed in the back opening so that the back of the phone can be seen through it.
7. Cover according to any one of the preceding claims in which the frame is of metal or includes a metal sub-frame.
8. Cover according to any one of the preceding claims in which the frame includes internal contact cushioning means, to establish a positive pressure of engagement between frame and phone body.
9. Cover according to claim 8 in which said cushioning C) means is provided by one or more foam strips.CD
(:) 10. Cover according to any one of claims 4 to 9 in which CY) 20 the front and back frame portions are connectable to one another by a releasable magnetic connection, with plural magnets distributed around one or both of the frame portions, engageable with corresponding attracting elements such as other magnets on the other portion.
11. Cover according to any one of the preceding claims in which the frame has one or more openings for access to control elements, connectors, switches or sockets on the edge of the phone body.
12. Cover according to any one of the preceding claims in which the frame comprises one or more push-button members mounted moveably in the frame, to act in use on corresponding push-buttons of a phone inside.
13. Cover according to any one of the preceding claims in s which the pane-locating support for the front frame opening takes the form of a forward-facing (outward-facing) ledge extending around the frame.
14. Cover according to claim 13 in which the ledge extends 13 continuously round the frame whereby the transparent front pane is fixed into the opening using adhesive.
15. Cover according to any one of the preceding claims in which the front pane has an opening for functional components is at the front of the display of a said phone.
W 16. Cover according to any one of the preceding claims in which the frame has an upstanding surround portion, projecting forwardly (outwardly) around the front opening CY) 20 immediately adjacent the edge of the front pane to cover or substantially cover that edge.
17. The combination of a cover according to any one of claims 1 to 16 and a smartphone fitted into its frame with 25 the front pane lying in parallel contact with the display glass of the smartphone.
18. The combination of claim 17 in which the front display glass of the smartphone extends right out to the edge of the 33 phone body and/or in which the front display glass has a downwardly convexly-curved edge portion.
19. The combination of claim 18 in which the front display glass of the smartphone has a downwardly convexly-curved edge portion but the front pane of the cover is a flat pane.s
20. The use of a cover according to any one of claims 1 to 16 to cover a smartphone, optionally in accordance with claim 18 or 19.