An Apple patent (number 20120148225) for a light isolating protective cover for a small form factor electronic device has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

A portable device has a rear facing camera assembly and a front facing display assembly that includes at least a protective cover layer, a display stack that includes a plurality of display components arranged in a plurality of interconnected layers, the display stack providing an imaging service, and a flat support chassis arranged to provide support for the display stack.

In the described embodiment, a protective cover can wrap around and protect at least the rear portion of the portable device without adversely affecting an image capture process carried out by the rear facing camera assembly. The inventors are Chong Yip Chow. Hongqin Zhang, Shizhe Shen and Michael DiVincent.

Also concerning cameras and mobile devices is new patent number 20120147193, which involves a back panel for a portable electronic device with a different camera lens option. It's for a portable electronic device includes a digital imaging subsystem with a lens having an optical axis.

A case encloses and supports the digital imaging subsystem in a first defined positional relationship to the case. A removable panel is coupled to the case and held in a second defined positional relationship to the case that covers the digital imaging subsystem without the removable panel being directly connected to the digital imaging subsystem.

An optical component is supported by the removable panel such that the optical component is aligned with the optical axis and alters optical characteristics of the digital imaging subsystem. The device may include a power supply and an electronic control system coupled to the digital imaging subsystem and the power supply enclosed in and supported by the case.

Electrical connectors may couple the power supply and the electronic control system to an electrical component on the removable panel. Richard Tsai is the inventor.