Hinged Wearable Electronic Devices

Abstract

An electronic device may have rigid members such as links in a strap that are joined by rotating joints. The joints may include friction hinges. In a head mounted device, straps may be folded for storage within an interior region in the housing of the head mounted device. A strap coupled to a wristwatch may have portions that fold to hide components mounted on the strap. A strap with two parallel strap portions may be configured to serve as a support for a cellular telephone or other device with a display. A strap can also be configured to tilt a display that is coupled to the strap to a desired viewing angle relative to a user's wrist. An electronic device may have multiple support structures that are joined by a friction hinge. The support structures may be used to clamp the device on a user's finger.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An electronic device, comprising:
 a housing;   a display coupled to the housing;   a strap that is coupled to the housing and that is formed from multiple rigid members coupled to each other by joints; and   an electrical component in one of the rigid members.   
     
     
         2 . The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein:
 the strap is configured to be worn on a user's body; 
 the electrical component comprises a haptic output device; and 
 the joints include a friction hinge. 
 
     
     
         3 . The electronic device defined in  claim 2  wherein the joints include a spring-loaded hinge, wherein the electronic device includes a touch sensor that overlaps the haptic output device. 
     
     
         4 . The electronic device defined in  claim 2  wherein the joints include a torsion spring hinge. 
     
     
         5 . The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the rigid members form links in the strap and wherein electrical component comprises a rotary encoder configured to measure relative rotational orientation between an adjacent pair of the rigid members. 
     
     
         6 . The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the joints include friction hinges and wherein the strap is configured to form a support for an external electronic device. 
     
     
         7 . The electronic device defined in  claim 6  wherein the external electronic device has an external device display, wherein the strap includes first and second parallel strap portions, and wherein the first strap portion is configured to from the support for the external electronic device. 
     
     
         8 . The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the strap is configured to be worn on a user's wrist, wherein the joints include friction hinges, wherein the electrical component comprises a touch screen display, and wherein the strap is configured to hold the display at a tilt relative to the user's wrist. 
     
     
         9 . The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the electrical component comprises a touch screen display and wherein the rigid member with the touch screen display is configured to fold against another of the rigid members to hide the touch screen display. 
     
     
         10 . The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein one of the rigid members is characterized by a length and includes an extendable member configured to adjust the length. 
     
     
         11 . The electronic device defined in  claim 1  further comprising a haptic output device in each of the rigid members. 
     
     
         12 . The electronic device defined in  claim 1  further comprising a rotatable crown coupled to the housing that is configured to receive user input. 
     
     
         13 . An electronic device, comprising:
 a housing;   a display coupled to the housing;   optical components through which the display is viewable; and   a strap that is coupled to the housing and that is configured to mount the housing to a user's head, wherein the strap includes multiple rigid members rotatably coupled by joints.   
     
     
         14 . The electronic device defined in  claim 13  wherein the housing has walls defining an interior region and wherein the strap is configured to fold into the interior region. 
     
     
         15 . The electronic device defined in  claim 14  wherein the housing has first and second housing portions joined by a hinge. 
     
     
         16 . The electronic device defined in  claim 13  wherein the display includes a first display portion in the first housing portion and a second display portion in the second housing portion and wherein the optical components comprise lenses. 
     
     
         17 . An electronic device, comprising:
 a first support structure;   a second support structure;   a friction hinge that joins the first and second support structures, wherein the first and second support structures are configured to clamp onto a portion of a user's body while being held in place by the friction hinge;   a sensor coupled to the first support structure; and   control circuitry configured to gather input with the sensor.   
     
     
         18 . The electronic device defined in  claim 17  further comprising:
 a haptic output device, wherein the control circuitry is configured to use the haptic output device to provide haptic output. 
 
     
     
         19 . The electronic device defined in  claim 18  further comprising wireless communications circuitry coupled to the control circuitry, wherein the control circuitry is configured to provide the haptic output with the haptic output device in response to detection of at least one of: (i) user input gathered with the sensor and (ii) information received with the wireless communications circuitry. 
     
     
         20 . The electronic device defined in  claim 17  further comprising a display coupled to the first support structure.