Light-folded projector

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12177602-B2
Application number	US-202217677882-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 22, 2022
Priority date	Feb 23, 2021
Publication date	Dec 24, 2024
Grant date	Dec 24, 2024

Abstract

A device may include a light-folded projector that may include an infrared (IR) light emitter and a light folding element. The light folding element may receive IR light emitted from the IR light emitter and fold the IR light one or more times to guide the IR light passing through the light folding element to exit the device to an environment. The device may also include a detector that may detect and/or recognize an object in the environment using the IR light from the light-folded projector, and a front-facing camera to capture images of the environment in front of the device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device, comprising:
a camera; and
a projector comprising:
an infrared (IR) light emitter configured to emit IR light; and
a light folding element configured to receive the IR light and reflect the IR light one or more times to guide the IR light passing through the light folding element to an environment, wherein at least a portion of the light folding element is positioned between a portion of the camera and a cover glass of the device.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the light folding element comprises a prism that is configured to:
transmit the IR light through a first surface of prism in to the prism;
reflect, at a second surface of the prism, at least some of the IR light passing through the first surface of the prism;
reflect, at the first surface of the prism, at least some of the IR light reflected from the second surface of the prism;
reflect, at a third surface of the prism, at least some of the IR light reflected from the first surface of the prism; and
reflect, at a fourth surface of the prism, at least some of the IR light reflected from the third surface of the prism to pass through the third surface out of the prism.

3. The device of claim 2 , wherein the prism is a parallelogrammatic prism, and wherein an angle between the first surface and second surface of the prism is in a range between 25 and 35 degrees.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the light folding element further comprises a portion attached to a surface of the light folding element facing the environment, and wherein the portion is configured to have optical power.

5. The device of claim 4 , wherein the light folding element further comprises coating at the surface of the light folding element facing the environment, and wherein the coating is configured to increase at least one of the transmission or reflection of the IR light at the surface of the light folding element.

6. The device of claim 1 , further comprising at least one lens that is positioned outside the light folding element and proximate a surface of the light folding element facing the environment.

7. The device of claim 1 , further comprising one or more lenses positioned optically between the IR light emitter and the light folding element such that the one or more lenses pass through the IR light emitted from the IR light emitter to the light folding element.

8. The device of claim 7 , wherein the one or more lenses include at least one wafer scale lens that includes one or more plastic portions attached to a glass substrate of the at least one wafer scale lens.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein the light folding element further comprises coating at a surface of the light folding element facing the one or more lenses, and wherein the coating is configured to increase at least one of the transmission or reflection of the IR light at the surface of the light folding element.

10. The device of claim 7 , wherein the one or more lenses include at least one lens made of plastics.

11. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a detector configured to detect or recognize an object in the environment using the IR light from the projector.

12. The device of claim 1 , wherein the camera is positioned facing the environment to which the IR light is projected.

13. A device, comprising:
a camera;
a projector comprising:
an infrared (IR) light emitter configured to emit IR light; and
a light folding element configured to receive the IR light and reflect the IR light one or more times to guide the IR light passing through the light folding element to an environment, wherein at least a portion of the light folding element is positioned between a portion of the camera and a cover glass of the device; and

a detector configured to detect or recognize an object in the environment using the IR light from the projector.

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the light folding element comprises a prism that is configured to:
transmit the IR light through a first surface of prism in to the prism;
reflect, at a second surface of the prism, at least some of the IR light passing through the first surface of the prism;
reflect, at the first surface of the prism, at least some of the IR light reflected from the second surface of the prism;
reflect, at a third surface of the prism, at least some of the IR light reflected from the first surface of the prism; and
reflect, at a fourth surface of the prism, at least some of the IR light reflected from the third surface of the prism to pass through the third surface out of the prism.

15. The device of claim 13 , wherein the light folding element further comprises a portion attached to a surface of the light folding element facing the environment, and wherein the portion is configured to have optical power.

16. The device of claim 15 , wherein the light folding element further comprises coating at the surface of the light folding element facing the environment, and wherein the coating is configured to increase at least one of the transmission or reflection of the IR light at the surface of the light folding element.

17. The device of claim 13 , further comprising at least one wafer scale lens that includes one or more plastic portions attached to a glass substrate of the at least one wafer scale lens.

18. The device of claim 17 , wherein the light folding element further comprises coating at a surface of the light folding element facing the at least one wafer scale lens, and wherein the coating is configured to increase at least one of the transmission or reflection of the IR light at the surface of the light folding element.

19. The device of claim 13 , wherein the camera is positioned facing the environment to which the IR light is projected.

20. A device, comprising:
a camera facing an environment in front of a device;
a projector comprising:
an infrared (IR) light emitter configured to emit IR light; and
a light folding element configured to receive the IR light and reflect the IR light one or more times to guide the IR light passing through the light folding element to project the IR light to the environment; and

a detector configured to detect or recognize an object in the environment using the IR light from the projector,
wherein the IR light emitter is displaced from the camera and detector to at least partially overlap with the detector.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Shinohara Yoshikazu
• Saiga Takeyoshi
• Wang Ligang

Classifications

• H04N5/33 Primary

  Transforming infrared radiation (cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from infrared radiation H04N23/20; circuitry of SSIS for transforming infrared radiation into image signals H04N25/20) · CPC title

• H04N23/20

  for generating image signals from infrared radiation only · CPC title

• G03B21/28

  Reflectors in projection beam {(in illumination beam G03B21/2066)} · CPC title

• G03B17/54

  with projector · CPC title

• G06F1/1686

  the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera · CPC title