Ambient light sensor windows for electronic devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11290677-B2
Application number	US-201916428635-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2019
Priority date	May 31, 2019
Publication date	Mar 29, 2022
Grant date	Mar 29, 2022

Abstract

An electronic device has pixels that form an active area of a display for displaying images for a user. A layer of black ink or other opaque material may be formed on an inner surface of a display cover layer in an inactive area of the display that does not overlap pixels. The housing may have sidewalls such as a rear housing wall that faces away from the display. Ambient light sensor windows may be formed from tapered holes or other holes. The tapered holes may be formed in the opaque material on the display cover layer, may be formed in a rear housing wall or other hosing structure, or may be formed in other portions of the electronic device. Non-tapered holes may also form windows. Tapered holes may have sidewalls with portions that run parallel to their longitudinal axes and portions that are angled relative to their longitudinal axes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device that has an interior region and that is surrounded by an exterior region, comprising:
a display having a brightness;
an opaque layer interposed between the interior region and the exterior region, wherein the opaque layer has holes forming an optical component window, and wherein each of the holes has tapered and non-tapered portions;
a first ambient light sensor in the interior region that is aligned with the optical component window, that receives light through the holes, and that produces a first ambient light measurement that is used to adjust the brightness of the display;
a rear housing wall facing outwardly from the interior region away from the display, wherein the rear housing wall has an opening;
a second ambient light sensor that is aligned with the opening in the rear housing wall and that produces a second ambient light measurement that is used to adjust the brightness of the display;
at least one diffuser layer between the opening in the rear housing wall and the second ambient light sensor; and
at least one infrared-light-blocking-and-ultraviolet-light-blocking filter between the opening in the rear housing wall and the second ambient light sensor.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the opaque layer comprises a layer of opaque ink, wherein the holes are formed in the opaque ink and have outwardly facing openings and inwardly facing openings that are larger than the outwardly facing openings.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising:
a display cover layer overlapping an array of pixels in the display, wherein the layer of opaque ink is formed on an inner surface of the display cover layer.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3 wherein the first ambient light sensor comprises a color ambient light sensor.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 4 , wherein at least one of the first and second ambient light measurements is used to adjust.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising:
a housing in which the display is mounted; and
a stand supporting the housing.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 6 wherein the display has a display cover layer and wherein the opaque layer is coupled to the display cover.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein:
the display has a display cover layer;
the opaque layer comprises an opaque coating on a portion of the display cover layer; and
the holes are formed in the opaque coating.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 8 further comprising an optical member in the opening having a coating of ink configured to pass ambient light to the second ambient light sensor.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising clear material in the holes.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 1 wherein the opaque layer comprises a black ink coating, the electronic device further comprising clear polymer in the holes.

12. An electronic device, comprising:
a housing;
a display coupled to the housing, wherein the display has an array of pixels covered with a display cover layer and an opaque layer on a portion of the display cover layer, wherein the opaque layer has an ambient light sensor window formed from an array of openings in the opaque layer, and wherein the openings have tapered and non-tapered portions;
an ambient light sensor that is aligned with the ambient light sensor window and that is configured to produce an ambient light reading, wherein the ambient light sensor is mounted in an ambient light sensor assembly that is overlapped by the array of openings;
an additional ambient light sensor window in a rear wall of the housing;
an additional ambient light sensor that is aligned with the additional ambient light sensor window and that is configured to produce an additional ambient light reading; and
control circuitry configured to use the ambient light reading and the additional ambient light reading to adjust the display.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 12 wherein the opaque layer comprises a coating of black ink on an inner surface of the display cover layer.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 13 further comprising clear polymer in the openings.

15. An electronic device, comprising:
an opaque structure having an outer surface and an inner surface and holes that have non-tapered portions that extend from the outer surface and that have tapered portions that extend from the non-tapered portions to the inner surface, wherein the opaque structure has a thickness extending from the outer surface to the inner surface, and wherein the non-tapered portions extend a height that is 5-15% of the thickness;
a light sensor in alignment with the holes;
a diffuser between the holes and the light sensor;
an infrared-light-blocking-and-ultraviolet-light-blocking filter between the diffuser and the light sensor.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 15 wherein the holes have outer openings with diameters of less than 30 microns.

17. The electronic device defined in claim 15 wherein the holes have outer openings with diameters of 100-400 microns.

18. The electronic device defined in claim 15 wherein each of the holes is characterized by a longitudinal axis and has sidewalls oriented at an angle of at least 10° with respect to the longitudinal axis.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Lu Dawei
• Vampola Kenneth J
• Jeziorek Peter

Classifications

• G06F2203/04103

  Manufacturing, i.e. details related to manufacturing processes specially suited for touch sensitive devices · CPC title

• G09G3/20

  for presentation of an assembly of a number of characters, e.g. a page, by composing the assembly by combination of individual elements arranged in a matrix {no fixed position being assigned to or needed to be assigned to the individual characters or partial characters} · CPC title

• G06F2200/1631

  Panel PC, e.g. single housing hosting PC and display panel · CPC title

• G06F1/1637 Primary

  Details related to the display arrangement, including those related to the mounting of the display in the housing · CPC title

• G02F1/133512

  Light shielding layers, e.g. black matrix (G02F1/136209 takes precedence) · CPC title