Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Self-mixing optical proximity sensors for electronic devices
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Application No.: US16351843Application Date: 2019-03-13
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Publication No.: US11029442B2Publication Date: 2021-06-08
- Inventor: Mehmet Mutlu , Mark T. Winkler , Tong Chen , Wenrui Cai
- Applicant: Apple Inc.
- Applicant Address: US CA Cupertino
- Assignee: Apple Inc.
- Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
- Current Assignee Address: US CA Cupertino
- Agency: Treyz Law Group, P.C.
- Agent G. Victor Treyz; Joseph F. Guihan
- Main IPC: G01V8/10
- IPC: G01V8/10 ; G01V8/12 ; H04R1/02 ; H04R29/00 ; G06F3/041

Abstract:
An electronic device may have optical sensors. Control circuitry may use sensor measurements in controlling adjustable components and taking other actions. The optical sensors may be self-mixing sensors such as incoherent self-mixing sensors. One or more sensors may be used in gathering sensor measurements. In configurations in which an electronic device contain multiple self-mixing sensors, multi-wavelength measurements can be gathered using incoherent light sources in the sensors that operate a set of different wavelengths. The light source of each incoherent self-mixing sensor may be a superluminescent light-emitting diode, a resonant cavity light-emitting diode, or other amplified or non-amplified spontaneous emission source. Optical systems such as lenses in a housing for an electronic device may be aligned with the self-mixing sensors. Self-mixing sensors may serve as proximity sensors, sensors for detecting touch input, sensors for measuring spectrums associated with targets of unknown materials, displacement sensors, or other sensors.
Public/Granted literature
- US20190331828A1 Self-Mixing Optical Proximity Sensors for Electronic Devices Public/Granted day:2019-10-31
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