Apple Inc.

David M Kindlon

Daniel D Sunshine

Daniel A Podhajny

Kathryn P Crews

Benjamin J Grena

Andrew L Rosenberg

Paul Stephen Drzaic

Hoon Sik Kim

Yung-Yu Hsu

Steven J Keating

Didio V Gomes

Lan H Hoang

Christopher Schultz

Manoj Vadeentavida

Kishore N Renjan

Bilal Mohamed Ibrahim Kani

Kyusang Kim

Chang Liu

Michael B Nussbaum

Maurice Philip May

Mark J Beesley

Andrew Sterian

Breton M Saunders

Peter W Mash

David A Bolt

Storrs Townsend Hoen

Jerzy S Guterman

Peter F Coxeter

Jessica J Lu

Joseph Benjamin Walker

Yue Chen

Ali N Ergun

Linda D Benavente-Notaro

Pierpaolo Lupo

Yiwei Tao

Shantanu R Ranade

Christopher I Edwards

Jahan C Minoo

Ryan David Shelby

Jonathan Robert Peterson

Yohji Hamada

Miikka Olavi Tikander

Joshua A Hoover

Seul Bi Kim

Sinan Alousi

Terry C Shyu

Lia Mieko Uesato

Michael Baumann

Franck Robin

Felix Binder

Kyle L Chatham

Bertram Wendisch

Martin Latta

Ulrich Schläpfer

Helen Wächter Fischer

Kevin T Pham

Robert J Rose

Benjamin Guild

Ulrich SCHLÄPFER

Joseph M Walker

One or more electrical components may be incorporated into a piece of fabric. The electrical component may include an internal portion that is located inside of the fabric, an external portion that is located on an exterior surface of the fabric, and protrusions that extend through the fabric to electrically and/or mechanically couple the internal and external portions of the electrical component. The internal portion of the component may be inserted into the fabric during formation of the fabric. The external portion of the component may be coupled to the internal portion after the fabric is formed by inserting the protrusions on the internal portion into recesses in the external portion. The external portion of the component may contain skin-facing and/or viewer-facing input-output devices, while the internal portion may contain circuitry that electrically communicates with the input-output devices in the external portion.

Fabric with electrical components

An electronic device such as a wrist band may include a strip of fabric that wraps around a longitudinal axis. A one-dimensional array of light sources may be embedded in the strip of fabric and may emit light parallel to the longitudinal axis to produce edge illumination along an edge of the strip of fabric. Optical structures such as light-diffusing strands, light-diffusing polymer structures, and/or light guides may be located between the light sources and the edge of the strip of fabric to help diffuse light and/or guide light to the edge of the strip of fabric. Light-reflecting layers may be formed on inner surfaces of the fabric. Control circuitry may control the light sources to produce the edge illumination in response to an event occurring on an external electronic device such as a notification on an external display.

Electronic devices with edge illuminators

A watch band for a smart watch can secure the smart watch to the user's wrist. The watch band can include a continuous loop of woven material to conform around the user's wrist. The watch band can further include an encasement formed from a rigid material to receive the smart watch. The encasement can protect the smart watch during activities. The watch band can include a retention portion formed from a transparent material to receive the smart watch. The watch band can also include light emitted diodes to increase visibility.

Watch band for a smart watch

Electronic modules and methods of fabrication are described. In an embodiment, an electronic module includes a molded system-in-package, and a flexible circuit mounted on a side surface of a molding compound layer such that the flexible circuit is in electrical contact with a lateral interconnect exposed along the side surface of the molding compound layer.

Sidewall connections and button interconnects for molded SiPs

A fabric-based item may be provided with a stretchable band. The stretchable band may be formed from a ring-shaped strip of stretchable fabric having an opening configured to fit around a body part of a user. Circuitry may be coupled to strands of material in the stretchable band. The circuitry may include sensor circuitry for making measurements on the body part such as electrocardiogram measurements, blood pressure measurements, and respiration rate measurements. Wireless communications circuitry in the fabric-based item may be used to communicate wirelessly with external electronic equipment. A wireless power transmitting device may transmit wireless power. A coil formed from conductive strands in the fabric-based item may be used by wireless power receiving circuitry in the fabric-based item to receive the wireless power. The coil may have one or more turns that run around the ring-shaped strip of stretchable fabric.

Fabric-based items with stretchable bands

Fabric may include one or more conductive strands. An insertion tool may insert an electrical component into the fabric during formation of the fabric. The electrical component may include an electrical device mounted to a substrate and encapsulated by a protective structure. An interconnect structure such as a metal via or printed circuit layers may pass through an opening in the protective structure and may be used to couple a conductive strand to a contact pad on the substrate. The protective structure may be transparent or may include an opening so that light can be detected by or emitted from an optical device on the substrate. The protective structure may be formed using a molding tool that provides the protective structure with grooves or may be molded around a hollow conductive structure to create grooves. An electrical component mounted to the fabric may be embedded within printed circuit layers.

Fabric-mounted components

Weaving equipment may include warp strand positioning equipment that positions warp strands and weft strand positioning equipment that inserts weft strands among the warp strands to form fabric. The fabric may include insulating strands and conductive strands. The conductive strands may be coupled to electrical components. The warp strand positioning equipment may position the warp strands to form a shed. Component insertion equipment may be used to insert electrical components into the shed. The weaving equipment may have a reed. The reed may be used to help position an electrical component in the fabric. The weaving equipment may have take-down equipment and individually controllable warp fiber positioning and tensioning devices.

Robotic weaving equipment

Systems of the present disclosure can provide a watch band that provide a marker pattern to a computer-generated reality device. The watch band can include structures or features that provide an identifiable marker pattern to the computer-generated reality device. The structures or features that provide the marker pattern can be invisible or imperceptible to the user. Structures or features of the watch band can include infrared reflective thread, visually obscured markers, or lenticular lens assemblies.

Watch band with markers

A fabric-based item may include fabric layers and other layers of material. An array of electrical components may be mounted in the fabric-based item. The electrical components may be mounted to a support structure such as a flexible printed circuit. The flexible printed circuit may have a mesh shape formed from an array of openings. Serpentine flexible printed circuit segments may extend between the openings. The electrical components may be light-emitting diodes or other electrical devices. Polymer with light-scattering particles or other materials may cover the electrical components. The flexible printed circuit may be laminated between fabric layers or other layers of material in the fabric-based item.

Fabric-based items with electrical component arrays

Interlacing equipment may be used to form fabric and to create a gap in the fabric. The fabric may include one or more conductive strands. An insertion tool may be used to align an electrical component with the conductive strands during interlacing operations. A soldering tool may be used to remove insulation from the conductive strands to expose conductive segments on the conductive strands. The soldering tool may be used to solder the conductive segments to the electrical component. The solder connections may be located in grooves in the electrical component. An encapsulation tool may dispense encapsulation material in the grooves to encapsulate the solder connections. After the electrical component is electrically connected to the conductive strands, the insertion tool may position and release the electrical component in the gap. A component retention tool may temporarily be used to retain the electrical component in the gap as interlacing operations continue.

A stretchable fabric signal path may include a conductive strand located between first and second outer fabric layers. The outer fabric layers may be formed from intertwined strands of elastic material. The conductive strand may have a wavy shape to accommodate stretching of the stretchable fabric signal path. First and second inner fabric layers may be located between the outer stretchable fabric layers. The inner fabric layers may be formed from intertwined strands of non-elastic material. The inner fabric layers may have strands that are intertwined with the outer fabric layers to serve as anchor points for maintaining the shape of the conductive strand as the stretchable fabric signal path expands and contracts. The outer fabric layers and inner fabric layers may be woven. The conductive strand may convey electrical signals such as audio signals, power signals, data signals, or other suitable signals.

Stretchable signal path structures for electronic devices

Right angle sidewall and button interconnects for molded SiPs

A fabric-based item may include fabric formed from intertwined strands of material. The fabric may include first and second fabric layers that at least partially surround a pocket. Initially, the pocket may be completely enclosed by the first and second layers of fabric. A shim may be placed in the pocket before the pocket is closed. An opening may be formed in the first layer of fabric to expose a conductive strand in the pocket. The shim may prevent the cutting tool from cutting all the way through to the second layer of fabric. After cutting the hole in the first layer of fabric, the shim may be removed and an electrical component may be soldered to the conductive strand in the pocket. A polymer material may be injected into the pocket to encapsulate the electrical component. The polymer material may interlock with the surrounding pocket walls.

Fabric items with electrical components

Growing community of inventors

Felton, CA, United States of America

David M Kindlon