Methods and configurations for improving the performance of sensors under a display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12201004-B2
Application number	US-202017440429-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2020
Priority date	Apr 23, 2019
Publication date	Jan 14, 2025
Grant date	Jan 14, 2025

Abstract

An electronic device may include a display and a sensor under the display. The display may include an array of subpixels for displaying an image to a user of the electronic device. At least a portion of the array of subpixels may be selectively removed in a pixel removal region to improve optical transmittance to the sensor through the display. The pixel removal region may include a plurality of pixel free regions that are devoid of thin-film transistor structures, that are devoid of power supply lines, that have continuous open areas due to rerouted row/column lines, that are partially devoid of touch circuitry, that optionally include dummy contacts, and/or have selectively patterned display layers.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device, comprising:
a display having first pixels of a first pixel density formed in an active area, wherein the first pixels comprise diodes of a first size; and
a sensor under the display, wherein the display comprises a sensing region that at least partially overlaps with the sensor, wherein the sensing region has second pixels of a second pixel density less than the first pixel density, and wherein the second pixels comprise diodes of a second size different than the first size.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the sensing region comprises a plurality of pixel free regions each of which is devoid of thin-film transistors, and wherein the plurality of pixel free regions is configured to increase signal transmittance through the display to the sensor.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein each of the plurality of pixel free regions is further devoid of power supply lines.

4. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein horizontal and vertical control lines in the plurality of pixel free regions are rerouted to provide continuous open areas that reduce an amount of diffraction for light traveling through the display to the sensor.

5. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein each of the plurality of pixel free regions comprise rows of continuous open areas within the sensing region.

6. The electronic device of claim 2 , further comprising:
an opaque mask with openings aligned to the plurality of pixel free regions.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the second pixel density is half of the first pixel density.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the second pixel density is less than half of the first pixel density.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the display comprises an additional sensing region that is physically separated from the sensing region.

10. The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the additional sensing region has a different size than the sensing region.

11. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the sensing region overlaps an entire edge of the display.

12. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the sensing region overlaps a corner of the display.

13. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the sensing region overlaps a curved edge of the display.

14. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the sensing region overlaps a recessed notch area in the display.

15. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the sensing region overlaps an entire surface of the display.

16. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the second pixels in the sensing region comprise first subpixels of a first color and second subpixels of a second color, and wherein the density of the first subpixels is different than the density of the second subpixels in the sensing region.

17. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the second pixels in the sensing region comprise blue subpixels and red subpixels, and wherein the density of the blue subpixels is lower than the density of the red subpixels in the sensing region.

18. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the second pixels in the sensing region comprise green subpixels, blue subpixels, and red subpixels, and wherein the density of the blue subpixels is equal to the density of the blue subpixels and is equal to the density of the red subpixels in the sensing region.

19. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the diodes of the second size are larger than the diodes of the first size.

20. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a conductive touch sensor mesh formed over the display, wherein the conductive touch sensor overlaps with the sensing region.

21. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a conductive touch sensor mesh formed over the display, wherein the conductive touch sensor mesh does not overlap with the sensing region.

22. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the sensing region comprises a plurality of pixel free regions each of which lacks dummy contacts.

23. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the sensing region comprises a plurality of pixel free regions each of which includes dummy contacts configured to provide emission current uniformity in the sensing region.

24. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the display comprises a blanket layer that is selectively patterned in the sensing region to increase a transmittance of light through the display to the sensor, and wherein the blanket layer is a display layer selected from the group consisting of: a substrate protection layer, a gate dielectric layer, an inorganic passivation layer, and an organic pixel definition layer.

25. The electronic device of claim 19 , wherein the second pixels in the sensing region comprise blue subpixels of a first size and green subpixels of a second size that is smaller than the first size.

26. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the second pixels of the sensing region comprise green subpixels of a first subpixel density and blue subpixels of a second subpixel density that is equal to the first subpixel density.

27. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the display comprises a cathode layer that is selectively patterned in the sensing region to increase the transmittance of light through the display to the sensor.

28. A display, comprising:
first pixels of a first pixel density formed in an active area of the display, wherein the first pixels comprise green subpixels of a first subpixel density and blue subpixels of a second subpixel density different than the first subpixel density; and
second pixels of a second pixel density, less than the first pixel density, formed in a given region within the active area, wherein the second pixels comprise green subpixels of a third subpixel density and blue subpixels of a fourth subpixel density equal to the third subpixel density.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Rieutort-Louis Warren S
• Jung Woo Shik
• Jamshidi Roudbari Abbas
• Yeh Shin-Hung
• Glazowski Christopher E
• Guillou Jean-Pierre S
• Che Yuchi

Classifications

• G09G2300/0426

  Layout of electrodes and connections · 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

• H10K71/831

  Aging · CPC title

• H10K59/30 Primary

  Devices specially adapted for multicolour light emission · CPC title

• H10K59/65 Primary

  OLEDs integrated with inorganic image sensors · CPC title