Smartphone case with rear-facing viewfinder display
View Patent ↗The present invention relates to a production-ready smartphone cases designed to enhance video content creation by utilizing advanced rear-camera technologies available in modern smartphones. The invention integrates a finalized, manufacturable electronics core comprising a precisely defined four-layer FR-4 printed circuit board (PCB) ready for high-volume production, a custom USB-C cable assembly supporting DisplayPort Alternate Mode, and an off-the-shelf 1.77-inch IPS LCD display module offering high brightness, contrast, and wide viewing angles. This integrated system provides a high-definition, low-latency live feed from the smartphone's superior rear camera, enabling optimal self-recording, vlogging, and live-streaming. Additionally, the modular design allows the same electronics core to seamlessly fit into multiple injection-molded smartphone-specific shells, thereby significantly enhancing manufacturability, reducing tooling complexity, and offering substantial practical improvements over existing solutions.
1 . A protective case for a smartphone comprising: a housing adapted to encase the smartphone, the smartphone having at least one rear-facing camera and a Universal Serial Bus (USB) Type-C port that configured for DisplayPort Alternate Mode; a secondary display fixed within a recessed pocket on an exterior rear face of the housing adjacent to a camera opening of the housing; and an electronics sub-assembly disposed within the housing and operatively coupled between the USB Type-C port and the secondary display to convey live video from the rear-facing camera to the secondary display as a real-time viewfinder; the electronics sub-assembly including a protocol bridge that converts DisplayPort Alternate Mode video from the smartphone to Mobile Industry Processor Interface-Display Serial Interface (MIPI-DSI) signaling for the secondary display; wherein the electronics sub-assembly is dimensionally and electrically standardized for use across a plurality of smartphone-specific housings, and each of the smartphone-specific housings shares identical internal mounting interfaces that receive the electronics sub-assembly while differing only in external geometry to accommodate respective smartphone models; and wherein the housing lacks any second body or rotatable cover that carries the secondary display and is rotatably coupled to the housing.
2 . The protective case of claim 1 , wherein the recessed pocket is bounded by an exterior protective rim surrounding the secondary display such that a viewing surface of the secondary display is flush with or below an upper edge of the rim.
3 . The protective case of claim 1 , a wherein the protocol bridge forms part of a signal-processing circuit configured to convert DisplayPort Alternate Mode signals into MIPI-DSI signals and to sufficiently low end-to-end latency to serve as a real-time viewfinder image for the smartphone's rear-facing camera.
4 . The protective case of claim 1 , wherein the secondary display is configured to automatically activate in response to, detection of DisplayPort Alternate Mode signals, and to enter a low-power standby state when DisplayPort Alternate Mode is not active.
5 . The protective case of claim 1 , wherein the housing further includes an internal rechargeable battery and a power-management subsystem selectively supply power to the secondary display from smartphone-provided USB Type-C Voltage Bus (VBUS) when present, and from battery when smartphone-provided VBUS is absent.
6 . The protective case of claim 1 , wherein the housing includes standardized receptacle features for receiving and securely retaining the electronics sub-assembly as a removable electronics module.