Let the Apple Car rumors roll on. Apple has been granted a patent (number 10,978,777) for “systems having windows with patterned coatings.”
As the company notes, windows such as vehicle windows are formed from glass. To provide desired functions such as defogging and wireless communications, conductive structures such as metal wires and films are sometimes incorporated into windows.
However, Apple says these structures can be “unsightly or can block radio-frequency signals associated with wireless devices being operated in the interior of a vehicle.” The company’s solution? Windows with patterned coatings.
Here’s the summary of the patent: “A system such as a vehicle may have windows. A window may have a structural window layer formed from one or more glass layers. A conductive coating such as an infrared-light blocking coating or other optical filter layer may be formed on the window. The conductive coating may include one or more silver layers or other conductive material. Unpatterned portions of the conductive coating are conductive along orthogonal dimensions.
“A region of the conductive coating may have parallel line-shaped openings that render the coating conductive in only a single dimension while enhancing radio transparency. Another region of the conductive coating may have a two-dimensional pattern of openings such as a mesh-shaped opening formed from intersecting straight and/or curved lines. In this region, the coating is locally rendered insulating and radio-frequency transparent. Antennas and ohmic heating elements may be formed in the coating.”
