Apple Inc.

Christopher T Lebedeff

Paul Xiaopeng Wang

Joel N Ruscher

Melody L Kuna

Sean Murphy

Zheng Gao

Craig C Leong

Zhengyu Li

Siddhartha Hegde

Kenneth M Silz

Whitney D Mattson

James C Whitley

An electronic device such as a cover for a portable device or other electronic equipment may have circuitry mounted in a housing. The housing may be formed from layers of material such as fabric and polymer layers. The circuitry of the electronic device may include components mounted on a printed circuit. The components may include movable components such as keys in a keyboard. A fabric layer may overlap the keys. Border regions of the fabric layer that surround each key may be characterized by a stiffness. To ensure that the keys or other movable components in the device exhibit satisfactory stiffness levels, the keys can be tested and selected border regions or other fabric layer portions may be laser ablated or otherwise processed to locally reduce fabric layer stiffness.

Laser processing of fabric for electronic devices

An item such as a leather-based item may have a layer of leather with one or more transparent portions that are illuminated by a light source. The transparent portions of the leather may be formed by a single continuous opening in the leather or may be formed by an array of smaller openings. A flexible light guide may be attached to a lower surface of the leather. The light guide may be used to add structure and heft to a thinned portion of the leather while still allowing the leather to remain flexible and soft. The light guide may be attached to a lower surface of the leather and may diffuse and guide light from a light source towards the leather. The light guide may be formed from one or more waveguide 'pipes' or may be formed form a plate-light light guide layer that extends continuously under the leather.

Illumination systems for items with leather

An electronic device may have a layer of material with transparent portions. The layer of material may be fabric layer, a layer of leather, or other layer of material. The transparent portions may be formed from openings in the layer of material. The transparent portions may overlap electrical components. The electrical components may include a sensor, light-emitting components, and haptic output components. The light-emitting components may include light-emitting diodes, edge-lit light guides, displays having arrays of pixels, or other light-emitting devices. The openings in the layer of material may be patterned to form icon shapes and other shapes. The layer of material may be used in forming a strap for a wristwatch, a case for a cellular telephone or other portable device, or other electronic device.

Electronic devices with input-output devices

An item such as a fabric-based item may have a layer of fabric with openings that are illuminated by a light source. The openings may form symbols or other shapes and may serve as labels for keyboard keys or other components. The fabric may be formed from transparent strands of material that are coated with opaque material or may be formed from opaque strands of material in which openings are formed by laser drilling. The openings may be covered with a transparent coating layer such as a translucent polymer coating. Translucent material on the fabric may be patterned to form parts of the labels or other shapes created by the illuminated openings.

Illumination systems within fabric-based devices

Growing community of inventors

Santa Clara, CA, United States of America

Christopher T Lebedeff