Apple looks to protect dropped iPhones by shifting their orientation mid-flight
An Apple invention discovered on Thursday describes a system that could potentially save the most fragile components of an iPhone, such as the glass screen, by detecting when a device is falling and shifting the handset's center of mass to control its landing.
Source: USPTO
Published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple's "Protective Mechanism for an Electronic Device" patent filing looks to alleviate some or all of the damage when a device is accidentally dropped. While the invention can be applied to any electronic device with a processor, from a tablet to a laptop, it is most well-suited for those portables that users carry with them on a daily basis. For example, Apple's iPhone is specifically mentioned in the patent language.
In order to work, the system needs a sensor or sensor array that can detect when a device is in freefall and how it is positioned relative to the ground. These can be simple gyroscopes, accelerometers or position sensors, but the patent also notes more advanced components like GPS and imaging sensors may be employed. Coupled to the sensor is a processor that can help determine a freefall state, including how fast a device is falling, how far away it is from the ground and time to impact, among other metrics. Statistics of various fall heights, speeds and other data can be stored on system memory to aid the processor in making a decision on how best to land the device.
Illustration of mass motor drive with attached mass.
Finally, the system requires a mechanism to either reorientate the device while in flight, or otherwise protect certain sensitive device components in the event of a fall. Here, the patent calls for a number of solutions, including the movement of a weighted mass within the device, a means to "grip a plug" to prevent a freefall, lift foils that can be extended out from the surface of a device, and a thrust mechanism such as a can of gas, among other countermeasures.
Headphone plug clamp system.
Basically, the sensor send signals to the processor, which determines if a device is in a freefall state. If such a determination is made, the protective mechanism is deployed. Many of the embodiments focus on repositioning the device while in flight to have it impact a non-vital area or portion of the unit. In order to lessen the blow, or avoid it entirely, the protective mechanism can substantially change the angular velocity, device positioning or device rotation.
From the patent overview:
Lift members can be extended from the device chassis to provide aerodynamic lift during freefall.
Such a complex system is unlikely to be integrated into an iPhone anytime soon, especially given the handset's increasing trend toward a thin-and-light design, but future iterations or products may see a similar method employed as component miniaturization technologies advance.
Apple's protective mechanism application was filed in September 2011, and credits Nicholas V. King and Fletcher Rothkopf; Fletcher as its inventors.
Source: USPTO
Published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Apple's "Protective Mechanism for an Electronic Device" patent filing looks to alleviate some or all of the damage when a device is accidentally dropped. While the invention can be applied to any electronic device with a processor, from a tablet to a laptop, it is most well-suited for those portables that users carry with them on a daily basis. For example, Apple's iPhone is specifically mentioned in the patent language.
In order to work, the system needs a sensor or sensor array that can detect when a device is in freefall and how it is positioned relative to the ground. These can be simple gyroscopes, accelerometers or position sensors, but the patent also notes more advanced components like GPS and imaging sensors may be employed. Coupled to the sensor is a processor that can help determine a freefall state, including how fast a device is falling, how far away it is from the ground and time to impact, among other metrics. Statistics of various fall heights, speeds and other data can be stored on system memory to aid the processor in making a decision on how best to land the device.
Illustration of mass motor drive with attached mass.
Finally, the system requires a mechanism to either reorientate the device while in flight, or otherwise protect certain sensitive device components in the event of a fall. Here, the patent calls for a number of solutions, including the movement of a weighted mass within the device, a means to "grip a plug" to prevent a freefall, lift foils that can be extended out from the surface of a device, and a thrust mechanism such as a can of gas, among other countermeasures.
Headphone plug clamp system.
Basically, the sensor send signals to the processor, which determines if a device is in a freefall state. If such a determination is made, the protective mechanism is deployed. Many of the embodiments focus on repositioning the device while in flight to have it impact a non-vital area or portion of the unit. In order to lessen the blow, or avoid it entirely, the protective mechanism can substantially change the angular velocity, device positioning or device rotation.
From the patent overview:
Alternative embodiments focus on using internal motors used to grasp onto inserted cables to break a fall, extend air foils or aerodynamic lift members, and retract vital parts like switches. In addition, other options call for mechanisms that forcefully jettison cables which may be pulling a device off a table or weighty power supplies. In one example, a gas canister is used as thrust to counter gravitational acceleration.In one example, the protective mechanism is configured to alter the device orientation as the device is falling. This may allow a less vulnerable portion of the device to impact the surface at the end of a freefall. For example, the protective mechanism may be activated to rotate the device so that it may impact a surface on its edge, rather than on a screen portion.
Lift members can be extended from the device chassis to provide aerodynamic lift during freefall.
Such a complex system is unlikely to be integrated into an iPhone anytime soon, especially given the handset's increasing trend toward a thin-and-light design, but future iterations or products may see a similar method employed as component miniaturization technologies advance.
Apple's protective mechanism application was filed in September 2011, and credits Nicholas V. King and Fletcher Rothkopf; Fletcher as its inventors.
Comments
...and the pundits want us to believe that there is no difference?
Go Apple.
Ha. This is pretty amusing.
It's like the phone equivalent of a cat, throw it in the air and it lands on it's legs every time.
This is the sort of innovation I expect from Apple, sure it might not come out for a few years but the idea is a smart one.
Or by making them physically tougher?
Or both. Liquidmetal, where are you?
My instinct suggests that the curved back of the original iPhone would tend to make it fall on its back or side. The symetrical front and back of the iPhone 5 combined with a lighter aluminum back and a heavier glass front would tend to make it fall on its face.
Also, a lighter and thinner device (i.e. iPhone 5) will fall slower. The iPhone 4 had glass on both sides and fell like a stone.
Just spread some butter over the side opposite to the fragile one
I guess it was good for them to file it, maybe the technology to make this practical will be available before the patent expires.
My exact thought. The solution of course is a tail needs to pop out as it falls.
Of course it is probably a trick to see how long it takes Scamsung to start work on a parachute for their giant phones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
Or both. Liquidmetal, where are you?
Agreed...I am all for thinking outside the box and providing different solutions. But the most obvious solution would be stronger materials and balanced so it lands on a specific point all of the time. Then make the specific point not breakable......this is engineering 101....
Quote:
Originally Posted by digitalclips
My exact thought. The solution of course is a tail needs to pop out as it falls.
Of course it is probably a trick to see how long it takes Scamsung to start work on a parachute for their giant phones.
or smartphone air bags!
Not needed really, I always spread butter on the back of my iphone, job done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jonshf
Also, a lighter and thinner device (i.e. iPhone 5) will fall slower. The iPhone 4 had glass on both sides and fell like a stone.
Galileo would like to disagree...
Quote:
Originally Posted by jonshf
[...] Also, a lighter and thinner device (i.e. iPhone 5) will fall slower. The iPhone 4 had glass on both sides and fell like a stone.
The weight of a device does not affect the speed at which it falls. Remember Galileo's experiment dropping balls from a tower?
The fall may be affected by aerodynamics, aka air resistance, but that means a thinner device might actually fall faster.
Well a lighter and thinner device will drop slower as it will be influenced more by wind or gets a higher resistance from the air particles. A feather is not dropping straight to the floor but swirls. The feather drops at the same speed as a brick in a vacuum environment.
But why is there a need to change mass in the phone? Why not put the mass there at all times? It might be that it then feels a bit ackward to keep in your hand?
But as said, adding weight and thickness is so unlike Apple.