Electronic devices with shape-transforming displays

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11886246-B2
Application number	US-202217900266-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 31, 2022
Priority date	Sep 25, 2019
Publication date	Jan 30, 2024
Grant date	Jan 30, 2024

Abstract

An electronic device may have a housing with a display. The display may be overlapped by an image transport layer such as a coherent fiber bundle or layer of Anderson localization material. The image transport layer may have an input surface that receives an image from the display and a corresponding output surface to which the image is transported. The input surface and output surface may have different shapes. A wristwatch device may, as an example, have a rectangular or hexagonal input surface and may have an output surface such as a rectangular output surface with rounded corners or a circular output surface. A region of the output surface may have compound curvature. A portion of the image transport layer may protrude laterally over an inactive portion of the display.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
an image transport layer configured to receive light at an input surface having a first shape and to transport the light from the input surface to an output surface having a second shape; and
an optical sensor configured to receive the light from the output surface of the image transport layer.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the optical sensor comprises a semiconductor die.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 2 , wherein the semiconductor die has a rectangular shape and the second shape of the output surface of the image transport layer is the rectangular shape.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3 , wherein the first shape of the input surface of the image transport layer is a circular shape.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 1 further comprising:
a housing having a window region, wherein the image transport layer is mounted in the window region.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 5 , wherein the input surface of the image transport layer faces an exterior of the electronic device.

7. The electronic device defined in claim 6 , wherein the light received at the input surface of the image transport layer comprises ambient light.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the optical sensor comprises a proximity sensor.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the optical sensor comprises an optical touch sensor.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the optical sensor comprises an ambient light sensor.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the optical sensor has a shape that is the same as the second shape of the output surface of the image transport layer.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the optical sensor has an active photodetector area, and the active photodetector area has a shape that is the same as the second shape of the output surface of the image transport layer.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the image transport layer comprises a coherent fiber bundle.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the image transport layer comprises Anderson localization material.

15. An electronic device comprising:
a housing having an opening; and
a button mounted in the opening of the housing, the button including:
an image transport layer having an input surface and an output surface, the input surface of the image transport layer facing an interior of the electronic device and having a first shape, and the output surface of the image transport layer facing an exterior of the electronic device and having a second shape; and
a light source configured to provide light to the input surface of the image transport layer.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 15 , wherein the image transport layer and the light source form a button member of the button, and the button comprises a switch configured to be compressed by the button member to detect a press input.

17. The electronic device defined in claim 15 , wherein the button comprises a diffuser layer between the light source and the image transport layer.

18. The electronic device defined in claim 17 , wherein at least one of the diffuser layer or the light source has a shape that matches the first shape of the input surface of the image transport layer.

19. The electronic device defined in claim 17 , wherein the light source is an electrically adjustable light source, and the diffuser layer has a masking pattern configured to pattern the light provided to the input surface of the image transport layer.

20. An electronic device comprising:
a semiconductor die with a rectangular shape at least partly forming a photodetector; and
an image transport layer configured to receive light at an input surface having a non-rectangular shape and to transport the light from the input surface to an output surface having a shape that matches the rectangular shape of the semiconductor die, wherein the photodetector is configured to receive the light from the output surface of the image transport layer.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Kakuda Tyler R
• Glazowski Christopher E
• Porter Elizabeth C
• Dong Hao
• Guillou Jean-Pierre S
• Rieutort-Louis Warren S

Classifications

• G06F1/163 Primary

  Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt · CPC title

• G02B6/04

  formed by bundles of fibres (G02B6/24 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G04G17/045

  Mounting of the display · CPC title

• G06F1/1637

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

• G04G9/0023 Primary

  by light valves in general (G04G9/06, G04G9/12 takes precedence; electro-, magneto- or acousto-optic devices in general G02F1/00) · CPC title