Design of Project Ara smartphone patented

Project Ara is a modular smartphone from Google that is made of a central module board with which individual modules that can be connected. The phone will include a structural frame that holds modules of the owner’s choice, such as a display, camera or an extra battery.

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The owner’s can choose location of various modules on the structural frame. However, the patented design shows a particular placement of these modules. This indicates that Google might be planning to sell a base phone with pre-packaged modules as shown in the design patent. Thereafter, the owner’s may replace individual modules if they malfunction or when an upgrade is required.

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The phone will provide longer lifetime cycles for the handset, and potentially reducing electronic waste.

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Patent Information
Publication number: US D757724
Patent Title: Portion of a handheld device
Publication date: May 31, 2016
Filing date: Jul 01, 2014
Inventors: Gadi Amit; Daniel J. Clifton; Paul Eremenko; Inbal Etgar; Susan Elizabeth McKinney;
Original Assignee: Google Inc.

USD757724