Apple Inc.

Scott J Krahn

Bradley Joseph Hamel

Aidan N Zimmerman

Kevin M Robinson

Brett W Degner

Dinesh C Mathew

Keith J Hendren

Ryan P Brooks

Arthur Stanley Brigham

Thomas R Matzinger

Chien-Tsun Chen

Arka P Roy

Fletcher R Rothkopf

Paul Xiaopeng Wang

Hoon Sik Kim

Adam T Garelli

Houtan R Farahani

Robert Y Cao

Alex Joseph Lehmann

John C DiFonzo

Tatsuya Sano

Terry C Lam

Nicholas L Qu

Navpreet S Kaloty

A foldable display device may have housing portions coupled by a hinge. The hinge may have a series of interconnected links. The links may be formed from interdigitated fingers in a friction clutch. The fingers or other portions of the links may be provided with crescent-shaped slots that receive pins. During folding of the device, the pins may slide along the crescent-shaped slots, thereby ensuring that adjacent links rotate relative to each other about a rotation axis that lies outside of the hinge and within a flexible display panel. Links may also be formed from link members with curved mating bearing surfaces that slide relative to each other as adjacent links are rotated relative to each other. A housing rotation synchronization mechanism may be formed using a set of gears that extends between the first and second housing portions.

Hinges for folding display devices

An input device includes a touch plate having a central axis and a top surface with three outer points evenly spaced away from the central axis. A touch sensor is used to detect a user touch on the top surface at the first outer point, and a support mechanism supports the touch plate and is configured to translate the touch plate at the second and third outer points upon application of the user touch and translation of the touch plate at the first outer point. Translation of the three outer points is substantially equal along the central axis.

Parallel motion trackpad

A system may include a finger device that is worn on a user's finger. The finger device may serve as a controller for a head-mounted device or other devices in the system. The finger device may have a foldable housing with hinge structures that allow portions of the housing to fold with respect to each other. Magnets or other bistability structures may be used to provide the folding housing with folding bistability. This allows the housing to be placed in a stable unfolded state that releases the finger or a stable folded state in which the housing snaps over the finger and holds the finger device in place. A base may be used to store the finger device for charging. The base may have deployment structures that help place the finger device on the user's finger for use.

Deployment systems for computer system finger devices

A hinge assembly includes a first and a second set of friction elements engaged each other by an applied force perpendicular to the friction elements. The first and the second set of friction elements are capable of rotational movement about a cylindrical element that passes through each of the friction elements. Also, the first set of friction elements is capable of movement relative to the second set of friction elements. However, the first set friction elements can remain in a fixed position based upon the applied force, until an external force overcomes the applied. During rotation of the first set of friction elements about the cylindrical element, the frictional engagement that controls the position of the first set of friction elements is based primarily on engagement between the friction elements, as opposed to engagement, if any, between the friction elements and the cylindrical element.

Accessory device with hinge assembly having layered friction elements

Hinge assembly with layered friction elements

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Los Gatos, CA, United States of America

Scott J Krahn