Devices with displays having transparent openings and shorted pixels

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12426445-B1
Application number	US-202217674481-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Feb 17, 2022
Priority date	Apr 1, 2021
Publication date	Sep 23, 2025
Grant date	Sep 23, 2025

Abstract

An electronic device may include a display and an optical sensor formed underneath the display. The display may have both a full pixel density region and a high-transmittance region that overlaps the optical sensor. To increase the transmittance of light through the high-transmittance region of the display, emissive sub-pixels in the high-transmittance region may be shorted together. Each emissive sub-pixel may be shorted to an emissive sub-pixel of the same color. The emissive sub-pixels in the high-transmittance region of the display may have the same layout but smaller sizes relative to the full pixel density region of the display. The thin-film transistor sub-pixels in the high-transmittance region may be consolidated horizontally and/or vertically to produce larger continuous high-transmittance areas.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device, comprising:
an input-output component; and
a display having a plurality of emissive sub-pixels of first, second, and third colors arranged in an array and a plurality of thin-film transistor sub-pixels that control the emissive sub-pixels, wherein the display comprises:
a first portion in which there is one emissive sub-pixel for each thin-film transistor sub-pixel; and
a second portion that overlaps the input-output component, wherein, in the second portion:
for the first color, there is a first number of emissive sub-pixels and there is one emissive sub-pixel for each thin-film transistor sub-pixel;
for the second color, there is a second number of emissive sub-pixels and there are two emissive sub-pixels for each thin-film transistor sub-pixel; and
for the third color, there is a third number of emissive sub-pixels, the first number is less than the second or third numbers, and there are two emissive sub-pixels for each thin-film transistor sub-pixel.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the first color is blue.

3. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the first color is green.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3 , wherein rows of the green emissive sub-pixels in the second portion are shifted relative to corresponding rows of the green emissive sub-pixels in the first portion.

5. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein the thin-film transistor sub-pixels for the second portion are evenly distributed across the second portion.

6. The electronic device defined in claim 1 , wherein, in the second portion, pairs of emissive sub-pixels of the second color are shorted together and pairs of emissive sub-pixels of the third color are shorted together.

7. An electronic device, comprising:
an input-output component; and
a display having an array of pixels, wherein the display has a first portion having a first pixel density and a second portion having a second pixel density that is lower than the first pixel density, wherein the second portion overlaps the input-output component, wherein the second portion of the display includes emissive sub-pixels that emit light and thin-film transistor sub-pixels that control the emissive sub-pixels, wherein each thin-film transistor sub-pixel in the second portion of the display controls two respective emissive sub-pixels, wherein the emissive sub-pixels are arranged in an array of rows and columns, wherein, in the second portion of the display, a first emissive sub-pixel of a first color in a first row and a first column is shorted to a second emissive sub-pixel of the first color in the first row and a second column, wherein the second emissive sub-pixel is adjacent to the first emissive sub-pixel in a first direction, wherein, in the second portion of the display, a third emissive sub-pixel of the first color in a second row and the first column is shorted to a fourth emissive sub-pixel of the first color in the second row and a third column, wherein the fourth emissive sub-pixel is adjacent to the third emissive sub-pixel in a second direction, wherein the second row is adjacent to the first row, and wherein the second direction is opposite the first direction.

8. The electronic device defined in claim 7 , wherein the second column is subsequent to the first column and the third column precedes the first column.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 7 , wherein the first color is blue or red.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 7 , wherein, in the second portion of the display, a fifth emissive sub-pixel of a second color in the first row and a fourth column is shorted to a sixth emissive sub-pixel of the second color in the first row that is adjacent to the fifth emissive sub-pixel in the first direction and wherein, in the second portion of the display, a seventh emissive sub-pixel of the second color in the second row and the fourth column is shorted to an eighth emissive sub-pixel of the second color in the second row that is adjacent to the seventh emissive sub-pixel in the second direction.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 10 , wherein the first color is blue and the second color is red.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 7 , wherein, in the second portion of the display, a fifth emissive sub-pixel of a second color in the first row and a fourth column is shorted to a sixth emissive sub-pixel of the second color in the first row that is adjacent to the fifth emissive sub-pixel in the first direction and wherein, in the second portion of the display, a seventh emissive sub-pixel of the second color in the second row and the fourth column is shorted to an eighth emissive sub-pixel of the second color in the fourth row that is adjacent to the seventh emissive sub-pixel in the first direction.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 12 , wherein the first color is blue or red and the second color is green.

14. The electronic device defined in claim 7 , wherein the second direction is parallel to the first direction.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 7 , wherein the thin-film transistor sub-pixels are evenly distributed across the second portion.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Cui Yue
• Peterson Ricardo A
• Che Yuchi
• Yang Shyuan
• Rieutort-Louis Warren S
• Tsai Tsung-Ting
• Qiao Yi
• Guillou Jean-Pierre S
• Jamshidi Roudbari Abbas

Classifications

• H10D86/60

  wherein the TFTs are in active matrices · CPC title

• H10K59/352

  the areas of the RGB subpixels being different · CPC title

• H10K59/121

  characterised by the geometry or disposition of pixel elements · CPC title

• H10K59/65

  OLEDs integrated with inorganic image sensors · CPC title

• H10K59/1213 Primary

  the pixel elements being TFTs · CPC title