You seem to not understand the differences between optical glass and windshields for cars. It's a pretty basic difference. No auto maker would claim their windshields are of anything close to optical quality. Perhaps you should read up on what optical quality means.
Lots of curved glass on eyeglasses, those are optical.
I completely understand the difference in optical quality.
However, the individual formed glass layers in windshield are of very high optical quality. (Probably good enough for a smart phone) The majority of the distortion that you see in a windshield is cause by the plastic layer(s) in the glass lamination and the fact that they are curved more that what a display on the phone would typically be curved...
No, they are not. Optical quality glass, or plastic, is able to form a high quality magnified image through an optical system. Windshield glass is not.
It's obvious that not only have you failed to read the patent, but you didn't even read the article you're responding to.
Obviously, the use of molds to form curved glass has been around for a long time. What is novel about Apple's invention is the use of an alignment system which moves and changes geometry as the part is being made. So who has done that previously?
He doesn't seem to understand that high quality optical glass is ground and then polished. Newer systems for moulding and forming high quality optical glass is sophisticated and expensive to manage. Some allow thin optical glass to be made without polishing, such as that for monitors. it took years for manufacturers to get it right in their multi billion dollar state of the art factories. Even the glass is different. The strain in a windshield is often obvious.
You're asking the wrong question. There has been high quality curved glass for many years - but that's not what Apple is patenting. Apple is patenting one new process for making the curved glass - involving an alignment system that moves as the glass forms. I've never seen a system like that.
It's what he claimed. I'm just looking for proof. Well, not really proof because I know it doesn't exist but what he thinks is proof so I have an idea of what he means by his claim.
Lots of curved glass on eyeglasses, those are optical.
Those are ground and polish. They are not sheets that are bent into curved shapes. They are optical in quality because the material used — glass, polycarbonate, CR-39 (aka plastic) — have known refractive properties. Therefore a known value of the front and back curves can be used to figure out how the light will refract through the lens which is paired against ones prescription.
A display lens needs to be a different kind of optical quality insofar that there are no visual distortions, but eyeglasses are designed specifically to distort the image so the eyes can function more accurately as it redirects light to the proper part of the retina. Basically it's an external lens to correct the faulty internal lens. This is not something that would be used for any computer display.
Lots of curved glass on eyeglasses, those are optical.
The point is? You do realize that lenses for glasses are made of special PLASTIC these days, mostly polycarbonate? But now, and before, when they were made of glass, they consist of optical quality materials that are precision made with optical surfaced moulds, and then often ground and polished to final form. Cheap reading glasses are just moulded, but as many of us who have used them can attest, the quality of the lenses isn't the best. Even so, they cost far more than do mundane things around the house, or even a car windshield, when accounting for size.
It seems as though a couple of you guys don't seem to want to think that there is anything difficult about making precision products.
The point is? You do realize that lenses for glasses are made of special PLASTIC these days, mostly polycarbonate? But now, and before, when they were made of glass, they consist of optical quality materials that are precision made with optical surfaced moulds, and then often ground and polished to final form. Cheap reading glasses are just moulded, but as many of us who have used them can attest, the quality of the lenses isn't the best. Even so, they cost far more than do mundane things around the house, or even a car windshield, when accounting for size.
It seems as though a couple of you guys don't seem to want to think that there is anything difficult about making precision products.
They were made out of curved glass much longer than they've been made out of polycarbonate.
They were made out of curved glass much longer than they've been made out of polycarbonate.
Yes, and as I said, they were ground and polished. You aren't adding anything useful to this conversation. You aren't giving any real information. Simply restating the obvious isn't proving your point, whatever that may be.
Strange, Samsung/ HTC/ LG/ Google Nexus all already have high-quality curved glass smartphones which are large, vivid and nice to use.
If you bothered to fully read the article, you would have noticed that curved glass for phones is being made. Apple's patent is for making this glass easier, and more cheaply. No one is denying that Samsung is using curved glass now. Though, I don't see any advantage to curved glass, only disadvantages, as I mentioned earlier.
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Lots of curved glass on eyeglasses, those are optical.
No, they are not. Optical quality glass, or plastic, is able to form a high quality magnified image through an optical system. Windshield glass is not.
He doesn't seem to understand that high quality optical glass is ground and then polished. Newer systems for moulding and forming high quality optical glass is sophisticated and expensive to manage. Some allow thin optical glass to be made without polishing, such as that for monitors. it took years for manufacturers to get it right in their multi billion dollar state of the art factories. Even the glass is different. The strain in a windshield is often obvious.
It's what he claimed. I'm just looking for proof. Well, not really proof because I know it doesn't exist but what he thinks is proof so I have an idea of what he means by his claim.
Those are ground and polish. They are not sheets that are bent into curved shapes. They are optical in quality because the material used — glass, polycarbonate, CR-39 (aka plastic) — have known refractive properties. Therefore a known value of the front and back curves can be used to figure out how the light will refract through the lens which is paired against ones prescription.
A display lens needs to be a different kind of optical quality insofar that there are no visual distortions, but eyeglasses are designed specifically to distort the image so the eyes can function more accurately as it redirects light to the proper part of the retina. Basically it's an external lens to correct the faulty internal lens. This is not something that would be used for any computer display.
The point is? You do realize that lenses for glasses are made of special PLASTIC these days, mostly polycarbonate? But now, and before, when they were made of glass, they consist of optical quality materials that are precision made with optical surfaced moulds, and then often ground and polished to final form. Cheap reading glasses are just moulded, but as many of us who have used them can attest, the quality of the lenses isn't the best. Even so, they cost far more than do mundane things around the house, or even a car windshield, when accounting for size.
It seems as though a couple of you guys don't seem to want to think that there is anything difficult about making precision products.
They were made out of curved glass much longer than they've been made out of polycarbonate.
Yes, and as I said, they were ground and polished. You aren't adding anything useful to this conversation. You aren't giving any real information. Simply restating the obvious isn't proving your point, whatever that may be.
If you bothered to fully read the article, you would have noticed that curved glass for phones is being made. Apple's patent is for making this glass easier, and more cheaply. No one is denying that Samsung is using curved glass now. Though, I don't see any advantage to curved glass, only disadvantages, as I mentioned earlier.
You don't actually understand other people's posts, do you?
It would be interesting to see Apple winning again the 1st place for cutting edge devices, by launching these display in the post iPhone era.