Patent Application
20230131070
Examples set forth in the present disclosure relate to portable electronic devices, including wearable electronic devices such as eyeglasses. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, the present disclosure describes an electronic eyewear device comprising a thermal management device.
Many electronic devices available today include wearable consumer electronic devices. Wearable consumer electronic devices may generate excess heat.
Features of the various implementations disclosed will be readily understood from the following detailed description, in which reference is made to the appending drawing figures. A reference numeral is used with each element in the description and throughout the several views of the drawing. When a plurality of similar elements is present, a single reference numeral may be assigned to like elements, with an added lower-case letter referring to a specific element.
The various elements shown in the figures are not drawn to scale unless otherwise indicated. The dimensions of the various elements may be enlarged or reduced in the interest of clarity. The several figures depict one or more implementations and are presented by way of example only and should not be construed as limiting. Included in the drawing are the following figures:
An electronic eyewear device having a thermal management device including a vapor chamber in the temples. The temples may have a sheet metal portion thermally connected to heat generating electronics, wherein the vapor chamber is thermally coupled to the sheet metal along a length thereof to disperse heat generated by the electronics. The sheet metal and the vapor chamber may be encompassed by a non-thermally conducting material, such as being over molded by a silicone material, to prevent user contact with the heated sheet metal and vapor chamber. The sheet metal and the vapor chamber are generally planar and lightweight, and they are bent to bias the temples against a user's head when worn to provide preloading.
The following detailed description includes systems, methods, techniques, instruction sequences, and computing machine program products illustrative of examples set forth in the disclosure. Numerous details and examples are included for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of the disclosed subject matter and its relevant teachings. Those skilled in the relevant art, however, may understand how to apply the relevant teachings without such details. Aspects of the disclosed subject matter are not limited to the specific devices, systems, and method described because the relevant teachings can be applied or practice in a variety of ways. The terminology and nomenclature used herein is for the purpose of describing particular aspects only and is not intended to be limiting. In general, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, and techniques are not necessarily shown in detail.
The term “connect”, “connected”, “couple” and “coupled” as used herein refers to any logical, optical, physical, or electrical connection, including a link or the like by which the electrical or magnetic signals produced or supplied by one system element are imparted to another coupled or connected system element. Unless described otherwise, coupled or connected elements or devices are not necessarily directly connected to one another and may be separated by intermediate components, elements, or communication media, one or more of which may modify, manipulate, or carry the electrical signals. The term “on” means directly supported by an element or indirectly supported by the element through another element integrated into or supported by the element.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the examples will be set forth in part in the following description, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following and the accompanying drawings or may be learned by production or operation of the examples. The objects and advantages of the present subject matter may be realized and attained by means of the methodologies, instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
Reference now is made in detail to the examples illustrated in the accompanying drawings and discussed below.
Wearable devices available today generate excessive heat that may impair device function. A wearable device that includes a thermal management device is disclosed. The wearable device includes a body that holds one or more optical elements. It also includes onboard electronic components and a heat source that radiates heat during operation of the components. The device also includes a heat sink at another area of the eyewear body and a thermal coupling disposed within the eyewear body thermally coupled to the heat source and the heat sink to increase heat dissipation of the electronic components.
The sheet metal 142 and the vapor chamber 144 are encompassed by a non-thermally conductive material 148, such as by over molding them in silicone, which forms a part of the thermal management device 140 and helps reduce transmission of heat from the vapor chamber to a user of the eyewear.
In another example, the thickness of the walls of the vapor chamber 144 can have increased thickness to eliminate the need for the sheet metal 142.
Referring to
At block 502, the battery 136 is coupled to the temple as shown in
At block 504, the assembled sheet metal 142 and vapor chamber 144 are encompassed by the non-thermally conductive material 148, as shown in
The low-power circuitry 920 includes a low-power processor 922 and low-power wireless circuitry 924. The low-power wireless circuitry 924 and the high-speed wireless circuitry 936 of the electronic eyewear device 100 can include short range transceivers (Bluetooth™) and wireless wide, local, or wide-area network transceivers (e.g., cellular or WiFi). Mobile device 990, including the transceivers communicating via the low-power wireless connection 925 and the high-speed wireless connection 937, may be implemented using details of the architecture of the electronic eyewear device 100, as can other elements of the network 995.
Memory 934 includes any storage device capable of storing various data and applications, including, among other things, camera data generated by camera(s), the image processor 912, and images generated for display by image display driver 942 on the image display of optical assemblies. Although the memory 934 is shown as integrated with high-speed circuitry 930, the memory 934 in other examples may be an independent, standalone element of the electronic eyewear device 100. In certain such examples, electrical routing lines may provide a connection through a chip that includes the high-speed processor 932 from the image processor 912 or low-power processor 922 to the memory 934. In other examples, the high-speed processor 932 may manage addressing of memory 934 such that the low-power processor 922 will boot the high-speed processor 932 any time that a read or write operation involving memory 934 is needed.
As shown, the high-speed processor 932 of the electronic eyewear device 100 can be coupled to the camera system, the image display driver 942, the user input device 991, and the memory 934.
The output components of the electronic eyewear device 100 include visual elements, such as the left and right image displays associated with each lens or optical assembly (not shown), a plasma display panel (PDP), a light emitting diode (LED) display, a projector, or a waveguide. The eyewear device 100 may include a user-facing indicator (e.g., an LED or a vibrating actuator), and/or an outward-facing signal (e.g., an LED). The image displays 980 of each optical assembly are driven by the image display driver 942. In some example configurations, the output components of the electronic eyewear device 100 further include additional indicators such as tactile components (e.g., an actuator such as a vibratory motor to generate haptic feedback), and other signal generators. The user-facing set of indicators are configured to be seen or otherwise sensed by the user of the device 100. For example, the device 100 may include an LED display positioned so the user can see it, a loudspeaker positioned to generate a sound the user can hear, or an actuator to provide haptic feedback the user can feel. The outward-facing set of signals are configured to be seen or otherwise sensed by an observer near the device 100. Similarly, the device 100 may include an LED, a loudspeaker, or an actuator that is configured and positioned to be sensed by an observer.
The input components of the eyewear device 100 may include alphanumeric input components (e.g., a touch screen or touchpad configured to receive alphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumeric-configured elements), pointer-based input components (e.g., a mouse, a touchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or other pointing instruments), tactile input components (e.g., a button switch, a touch screen or touchpad that senses the location and/or force of touches or touch gestures, or other tactile-configured elements), and audio input components (e.g., a microphone), and the like. The mobile device 990 and the server system 998 may include alphanumeric, pointer-based, tactile, audio, and other input components.
Except as stated immediately above, nothing that has been stated or illustrated is intended or should be interpreted to cause a dedication of any component, step, feature, object, benefit, advantage, or equivalent to the public, regardless of whether it is or is not recited in the claims.
It will be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions with respect to their corresponding respective areas of inquiry and study except where specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein. Relational terms such as first and second and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises or includes a list of elements or steps does not include only those elements or steps but may include other elements or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element preceded by “a” or “an” does not, without further constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises the element.
Unless otherwise stated, any and all measurements, values, ratings, positions, magnitudes, sizes, and other specifications that are set forth in this specification, including in the claims that follow, are approximate, not exact. Such amounts are intended to have a reasonable range that is consistent with the functions to which they relate and with what is customary in the art to which they pertain. For example, unless expressly stated otherwise, a parameter value or the like may vary by as much as ±10% from the stated amount.
In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in various examples for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed examples require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, the subject matter to be protected lies in less than all features of any single disclosed example. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.
While the foregoing has described what are considered to be the best mode and other examples, it is understood that various modifications may be made therein and that the subject matter disclosed herein may be implemented in various forms and examples, and that they may be applied in numerous applications, only some of which have been described herein. It is intended by the following claims to claim any and all modifications and variations that fall within the true scope of the present concepts.
