US 12,352,076 B2
Magnetic closure system for a device
Aseem Singla, Seattle, WA (US); and Joseph Benjamin Gault, Seattle, WA (US)
Assigned to Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Appl. No. 17/922,497
Filed by Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
PCT Filed May 12, 2021, PCT No. PCT/US2021/032023
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Oct. 31, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/231593, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 18, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 2025586 (NL), filed on May 14, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0193659 A1, Jun. 22, 2023
Int. Cl. E05B 47/00 (2006.01); G06F 1/16 (2006.01); H01F 7/02 (2006.01)
CPC E05B 47/0038 (2013.01) [G06F 1/1616 (2013.01); G06F 1/1679 (2013.01); H01F 7/0263 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An electronic device comprising:
a first portion;
a second portion;
a connecting element pivotally connecting the first portion to the second portion and configured to enable the electronic device to fold between a closed position and an open position; and
a magnetic element for providing a closure force to bias the electronic device in the closed position,
wherein:
the magnetic element includes a first magnet pair and a second magnet pair, each of the first magnet pair and the second magnet pair including a first magnet housed within the first portion and a second magnet housed within the second portion,
the first magnet pair provides an attractive magnetic force that biases the electronic device in the closed position,
the second magnet pair provides a repelling magnetic force that partially counteracts the biasing from the attractive magnetic force as a gap between the first portion and the second portion decreases,
the first portion includes a first magnet array and a second magnet array, the first magnet array including a first set of magnetic elements that form the first magnet of the first magnet pair, and the second magnet array including a second set of magnetic elements that form the first magnet of the second magnet pair;
a pole size of a set of magnetic elements is the distance from the middle point of a magnetic element in the set having one polarity to the middle point of the next magnetic element in the set having an alternate polarity; and
a pole size of the second set of magnetic elements is smaller than a pole size of the first set of magnetic elements.