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公开(公告)号：US10254160B2
公开(公告)日：2019-04-09
申请号：US15465409
申请日：2017-03-21
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor： Dong Zheng
Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with a display mounted in a housing. The display may have an array of pixels that form an active area and may have an inactive area that runs along an edge of the active area. A color ambient light sensor may gather ambient light measurements through a window in an opaque masking layer in the inactive area. The color ambient light sensor may have photodiodes with different spectral sensitivities and may have a dark current photodiode that is insensitive to light. A set of analog-to-digital converters may be used to digitize photodiode signals from the photodiodes. A switch array may be used to distribute signals from the photodiodes to each of the analog-to-digital converters. This allows the output of each photodiode to be averaged over multiple analog-to-digital converters to remove any impact of variations in performance between converters.
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公开(公告)号：US20170294173A1
公开(公告)日：2017-10-12
申请号：US15461302
申请日：2017-03-16
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor： Tianbo Sun , Brian R. Land , Dong Zheng , Serhan O. Isikman , Venkata Siva Sunil Kumar Reddy Bommu , Zhang Jia
Abstract: An electronic device may have a housing in which a display is mounted. The display may have an active area in which images are displayed by an array of pixels and an inactive area that is free of pixels. A color ambient light sensor may make color and luminance measurements on ambient light received through an ambient light sensor window in the inactive area of the display or elsewhere in the electronic device. The color ambient light sensor may have color ambient light sensor elements of different colors. The ambient light sensor elements may extend in a row along an edge of the display or may have other configurations. Analog-to-digital converter circuitry and switching circuitry may gather color ambient light sensor measurements and measurements indicative of whether or not the color ambient light sensor has been obscured by an external object from the light sensor elements.
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公开(公告)号：US09778727B2
公开(公告)日：2017-10-03
申请号：US14849147
申请日：2015-09-09
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor： Brian R. Land , Dong Zheng , Venkata Siva Sunil Kumar Reddy Bommu
CPC classification number: G06F1/3265 , G01J1/4204 , G01J1/44 , G06F1/1684 , G06F1/3287 , G09G5/006 , G09G5/10 , G09G2320/0626 , G09G2330/021 , G09G2360/144
Abstract: An ambient light sensor that is operable in high gain mode and low gain mode is provided. The high gain mode may help provide satisfactory sensitivity at low light levels but may generate saturated output levels in bright ambient lighting conditions. Low gain mode may therefore be switched into use when bright ambient lighting conditions are detected. The ambient light sensor may be placed in high gain mode by default. An auto-gain switch controller may detect whether the ambient light reading is saturated during as given period of time. In response to determining that the ambient light reading is saturated for a programmable number of consecutive time periods, the auto-gain switch controller may reset and switch the ambient light sensor to the low gain mode. The gain state may optionally be embedded into the ambient light sensor output.
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公开(公告)号：US20170084251A1
公开(公告)日：2017-03-23
申请号：US15259303
申请日：2016-09-08
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor： Dong Zheng
CPC classification number: G09G5/10 , G01J1/4204 , G01J1/44 , G09G2310/066 , G09G2320/0626 , G09G2360/144 , H03M1/38
Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with an ambient light sensor. An analog-to-digital converter may be used to digitize ambient light measurements made with the ambient light sensor. Control circuitry in the electronic device may be used to adjust the brightness of a display and take other actions in the electronic device based on the digitized ambient light measurements. The analog-to-digital converter may be a hybrid analog-to-digital converter having a most-significant-bit analog-to-digital converter circuit branch based on an integrating analog-to-digital converter and a least-significant-bit analog-to-digital converter circuit branch based on a successive-approximation-register analog-to-digital converter. The most-significant-bit branch may produce an output based a reset count for an integrator that is reset a number of times during a measurement period. The least-significant-bit branch may produce an output by digitizing an output from the integrator upon termination of the measurement period.
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公开(公告)号：US20250072134A1
公开(公告)日：2025-02-27
申请号：US18767001
申请日：2024-07-09
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor： Dong Zheng , Kenneth J. Vampola , Seshasayee Gaddamraja , Emma C. Thomson
IPC: H01L27/146
Abstract: Ambient light sensor modules may be formed using a wafer-level process in which a filter and a diffuser are stacked on a silicon substrate or a combination substrate that includes multiple photosensors. The stack may be diced, filled with opaque material, and diced again to form multiple ambient light sensor modules. The resulting modules may include a silicon substrate with a photosensor and through-silicon vias, a filter on the silicon substrate, and a diffuser coupled to the filter. There may be an air gap between a portion of the diffuser and the photosensor. The air gap may be formed from a recess in the diffuser or from spacers between the filter and the diffuser. Alternatively, the diffuser may be applied as a coating on the filter. By forming the ambient light sensor modules at the wafer level, the modules may have smaller footprints and/or volumes.
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Patent Agency Ranking
公开(公告)号：US12218481B2
公开(公告)日：2025-02-04
申请号：US17211761
申请日：2021-03-24
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor： Stephen N. Sweet , Dong Zheng
Abstract: A method of operating a laser includes generating a first signal having a first frequency, and generating a second signal having a second frequency. The first frequency varies in accord with an amplitude of a drive current provided to a laser. The method further includes incrementing or decrementing a count responsive to a relationship between the first frequency and the second frequency; determining the count satisfies a threshold count; and modifying operation of the laser when the count satisfies the threshold count.
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公开(公告)号：US20230011498A1
公开(公告)日：2023-01-12
申请号：US17373533
申请日：2021-07-12
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor： Dong Zheng , James M. Hollabaugh , Jihyun Cho , Narendra S. Mehta
IPC: G01S17/04 , H04B10/516 , H04B10/60 , G01S7/4861
Abstract: An electronic device may include a proximity sensor for detecting whether an external object is in the vicinity of the device. The proximity sensor may have a light detector and a light source that can be reused for data communications. The light detector may be coupled to optical receiver circuitry, whereas the light source may be coupled to optical transmitter circuitry. The optical transmitter circuitry may include encoding circuits configured to convert electrical signals to optical signals. The optical receiver circuitry may include decoding circuits configured to convert optical signals to electrical signals. The optical signals can be encoded and decoded using pulse width modulation schemes or amplitude modulation schemes.
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公开(公告)号：US11150332B1
公开(公告)日：2021-10-19
申请号：US16917891
申请日：2020-06-30
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor： Tong Chen , Dong Zheng , Mark T. Winkler , Stephen N. Sweet , Tsu-Hui Lin , Wenrui Cai
Abstract: An optical sensing system includes a transmitter side and a receiver side, and is configured to be positioned below a display of an electronic device. The transmitter side includes a light emitter, a temperature sensor, and a photodiode. The receiver side includes a photodiode and a temperature sensor. The optical sensing system includes an application-specific integrated circuit that leverages the temperature sensors, the photodiodes, and one or more signal filters such as a high-pass filter to perform multiple field calibrations of the optical sensing system, thereby improving accuracy and precision thereof.
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公开(公告)号：US10984732B2
公开(公告)日：2021-04-20
申请号：US16580150
申请日：2019-09-24
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor： Dong Zheng , Ali Motamed , Anand K. Chamakura
Abstract: An electronic device may have a display with an array of pixels configured to display images for a user. The electronic device may have an ambient light sensor for gathering ambient light information. The ambient light sensor may be at least partially covered by the display. The ambient light sensor may be switched into use during blanking periods when a portion of the display overlapping with the display is temporarily turned off. The ambient light sensor may include a photodetector, a first stage with an amplifier, first and second capacitors selectively coupled across the amplifier, and a second accumulation stage. During blanking time, the first capacitor may integrate photodetector current. During non-blanking, the charge stored in the first capacitor may be transferred to the second accumulation stage while the second capacitor applies an offset voltage to the photodetector to prevent undesired charge injection into the photodetector.
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公开(公告)号：US20210090509A1
公开(公告)日：2021-03-25
申请号：US16580150
申请日：2019-09-24
Applicant: Apple Inc.
Inventor： Dong Zheng , Ali Motamed , Anand K. Chamakura
Abstract: An electronic device may have a display with an array of pixels configured to display images for a user. The electronic device may have an ambient light sensor for gathering ambient light information. The ambient light sensor may be at least partially covered by the display. The ambient light sensor may be switched into use during blanking periods when a portion of the display overlapping with the display is temporarily turned off. The ambient light sensor may include a photodetector, a first stage with an amplifier, first and second capacitors selectively coupled across the amplifier, and a second accumulation stage. During blanking time, the first capacitor may integrate photodetector current. During non-blanking, the charge stored in the first capacitor may be transferred to the second accumulation stage while the second capacitor applies an offset voltage to the photodetector to prevent undesired charge injection into the photodetector.
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