Apple has received a new patent for a fabric Apple Watch bracelet with an electrochromic function. This allows users to adjust the color scheme and design in three separate areas of the band to give the watch band a unique look that can be customized for the wearer. Users can set three different colors on the strap, and the color can be selected and adjusted without removing or changing the strap.

Apple states that users may want to customize their watch straps to express variety and style, and this new technology offers a solution to this problem. Traditional watches require users to have a separate strap for each color or color combination they want, and the wearer must remove and replace watch straps whenever a different color or color combination is desired.

This new technology offers adjustable color control, allowing various colors and color combinations to be displayed in a single strip. The user or the control system can control, select and/or set one or more watch band colors for visual indication. Accordingly, different colors can be displayed at different times without the need for different watchbands for each color or color combination.

The patent states that color-adjustable watch straps can also be used to convey information to the user. For example, the color-tuned elements of a watch band can be positioned and independently controlled, allowing the system to display certain icons, shapes, and/or text by highlighting certain elements in a certain way. This technology can be used as a visual information output from the watch to the user.

The watch strap is made of a fabric with a series of threads that make up the fabric. Some or all of the filaments may contain electrochromic properties. Electrochromism is a reversible color change in a material caused by an applied electric field or current. As electrochromic materials, ion implantation materials can be used which are mixed conductors (ie, both electronic and ionic) into which ions can enter rapidly and reversibly.

The watchband conductor may optionally include a shape memory alloy that deforms when voltage is applied to the conductor. This applied voltage may be the same as the applied voltage to achieve a color change in the electrochromic layer. This shape change can provide haptic feedback to the user, along with the visual indication provided by the color change. This technology provides a customized and innovative solution to traditional watch bands.