Textured Glass Layers in Electronic Devices

Abstract

An electronic device may have a housing surrounding an interior in which electrical components are mounted. A display may be mounted to housing structures in the device. The housing may have a rear wall. The display cover layer and rear wall of the housing may be formed from transparent glass layers. Coatings may be formed on inwardly facing surfaces of the transparent glass layers. A coating on a transparent glass layer may be formed from a thin-film interference filter having a stack of dielectric layers. The coating may include an ink layer on the thin-film interference filter. The transparent glass layers may have one or more textured surfaces that allow light at high angles to enter the transparent layers and reflect off the coatings at high angles, thereby adjusting optical properties of the coatings.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An electronic device, comprising:
 a transparent layer having a textured surface; and   a coating on the textured surface, wherein the coating comprises a thin-film interference filter, and the coating reflects a neutral color at on-axis viewing angles and non-neutral and reflects a non-neutral color at off-axis viewing angles.   
     
     
         2 . The electronic device defined in  claim 1 , wherein the coating has a normal axis, the on-axis viewing angles are less than 45° from the normal axis, and the off-axis viewing angles are greater than 45° from the normal axis. 
     
     
         3 . The electronic device defined in  claim 1 , wherein the coating further comprises an ink layer on the thin-film interference filter. 
     
     
         4 . The electronic device defined in  claim 3 , wherein the thin-film interference filter is a band stop filter. 
     
     
         5 . The electronic device defined in  claim 4 , wherein the ink exhibits a reflectivity peak that is aligned with a stop band of the band stop filter at viewing angles less than 45°. 
     
     
         6 . The electronic device defined in  claim 3 , wherein the thin-film interference filter is a band pass filter. 
     
     
         7 . The electronic device defined in  claim 6 , wherein the ink exhibits a reflectivity peak that is aligned with a pass band of the band pass filter at viewing angles less than 45°. 
     
     
         8 . The electronic device defined in  claim 7 , wherein the coating further comprises a buffer layer on the textured surface, and the buffer layer is interposed between the textured surface and the thin-film interference filter. 
     
     
         9 . The electronic device defined in  claim 1 , wherein the coating exhibits a first reflectivity across visible wavelengths at viewing angles less than 45° and exhibits a second reflectivity that is lower than the first reflectivity across visible wavelengths at viewing angles greater than 45°. 
     
     
         10 . The electronic device defined in  claim 1 , wherein the textured surface comprises protrusions selected from the group consisting of: semi-spherical bumps and semi-cylindrical bumps. 
     
     
         11 . The electronic device defined in  claim 1 , wherein the textured surface comprises randomly distributed protrusions and recesses. 
     
     
         12 . The electronic device defined in  claim 1 , wherein the transparent layer forms a housing wall, and the textured surface is on an interior of the housing wall. 
     
     
         13 . The electronic device defined in  claim 1 , wherein the transparent layer is a glass layer. 
     
     
         14 . An electronic device, comprising:
 a transparent layer having a surface with surface texture; and   a coating on the surface comprising a thin-film interference filter and a layer of ink, wherein the coating is neutral at on-axis viewing angles and non-neutral at off-axis viewing angles.   
     
     
         15 . The electronic device defined in  claim 14 , wherein the thin-film interference filter is interposed between the surface of the transparent layer and the layer of ink. 
     
     
         16 . The electronic device defined in  claim 14 , wherein the coating has a normal axis, the on-axis viewing angles are less than 45° from the normal axis, and the off-axis viewing angles are greater than 45° from the normal axis. 
     
     
         17 . The electronic device defined in  claim 14 , wherein the coating further comprises a buffer layer on the surface of the transparent layer, and the thin-film interference filter is on the buffer layer. 
     
     
         18 . The electronic device defined in  claim 14 , wherein the thin-film interference filter is formed on a polymer film and attached to the transparent layer. 
     
     
         19 . An electronic device, comprising:
 a glass layer having a surface; and   a coating on the surface, wherein the coating comprises a thin-film interference filter, and the coating is neutral when viewed on-axis and non-neutral when viewed off-axis.   
     
     
         20 . The electronic device defined in  claim 19 , wherein the surface has a surface texture, and the coating further comprises an ink layer on the thin-film interference filter.