Apple Inc.

3m Innovative Properties Company

Paul C Kelley

Jean-Pierre Simon Guillou

Tyler Robin Kakuda

Michael J Brown

Ying-Chih Wang

Yi Qiao

Michael Benjamin Wittenberg

Marwan Rammah

Rasamy Phouthavong

Thomas P Klun

Richard John Pokorny

Mark J Pellerite

Robert J Fleming

William D Coggio

Marc Dudley Radcliffe

Christopher Bland Walker, Jr

Lan Hong Liu

Chuntao Cao

Hao Dong

Salman Karbasi

Shaorui Yang

Shawn Robert Gettemy

Shubhaditya Majumdar

Elizabeth C Porter

James P Landry

Ian T Clark

Paul Stephen Drzaic

Wei Hsin Yao

Ming Xu

Chaohao Wang

Wei Lin

Warren S Rieutort-Louis

Richard Hung Dinh

Zhen Zhang

David Andrew Doyle

Yifan Zhang

Yingying Tang

Christopher Edward Glazowski

Di Liu

Yue Cui

Shenglin Ye

Salman Karbasivalashani

An electronic device may have a display with pixels configured to display an image. The pixels may be overlapped by a cover layer. The display may have peripheral edges with curved cross-sectional profiles. An inactive area in the display may be formed along a peripheral edge of the display or may be surrounded by the pixels. Electrical components such as optical components may be located in the inactive area. An image transport layer may be formed from a coherent fiber bundle or Anderson localization material. The image transport layer may overlap the pixels, may have an opening that overlaps portions of the inactive area, may have an output surface that overlap portions of the inactive area, and/or may convey light associated with optical components in the electronic device.

Electronic devices having image transport layers and electrical components

An electronic device may have pixels that form an active area for a flexible display layer. An inactive area that is free of pixels may surround the active area. One or more edges of the flexible display layer may be bent around respective bend axes. The display layer may also have one or more unbent edges in which the inactive area and active area of the display have a planar shape. An image transport layer may have an input surface that receives the image and an output surface to which the image is transported. The image transport layer may be formed from a coherent fiber bundle or a layer of Anderson localization material. The coherent fiber bundle may have straight fibers that run parallel to each other in a vertical direction that is parallel to a surface normal of a central portion of the display layer.

Electronic devices having vertical image transport layers

An electronic device may have a display overlapped by an image transport layer such as a coherent fiber bundle or layer of Anderson localization material. The image transport layer may have an input surface that receives an image from the display and a corresponding output surface to which the image is transported. The input surface and output surface may have different shapes. During fabrication of the image transport layer, molding techniques, grinding and polishing techniques, and other processes may be used to deform the image transport layer and the shape of the output surface. To help reduce ambient light reflections and stray light, light-absorbing structures may be incorporated into the image transport layer and other structures overlapping the display.

Electronic devices with reduced stray light and ambient light reflections

An electronic device may have pixels. The pixels may form one or more displays. The displays may be flexible organic light-emitting diode displays or other displays. The electronic device may have first and second display layers that face away from each other and display images in different directions. Image transport layers may overlap the display layers and may have curved edges that overlap a sidewall portion of the electronic device. Image transport layers receive images at input surfaces and transport the received images to corresponding output surfaces. Image transport layers may be provided with hemispherical shapes and other shapes having output surfaces of compound curvature. A folding device may have first and second displays that are overlapped by respective first and second image transport layers that join over a hinge to block the hinge from view. A wristwatch device may have links or other structures with an image transport layer.

Electronic devices having housings with image transport layers

An electronic device may have a display layer for displaying images. An optical coupling layer having an input surface that receives light from the display panel may convey the light from the input surface to an output surface. The output surface may have different dimensions than the display layer and may have any desired shape. To account for the displacement of light between the active area and the outer surface of the optical coupling layer and to ensure the output image is perceived with the desired distortion, image data may be rendered for the output surface then modified to account for the distortion and displacement that will occur later when the image is transported by the optical coupling layer from the display active area to the output surface of the optical coupling layer. Image distortion control circuitry may modify the rendered image data based on a distortion map.

Distortion control in displays with optical coupling layers

An electronic device may have a display overlapped by an image transport layer such as a coherent fiber bundle or layer of Anderson localization material. The image transport layer may have an input surface that receives an image from the display and a corresponding output surface to which the image is transported. The input surface and output surface may have different shapes. During fabrication of the image transport layer, molding techniques, grinding and polishing techniques, and other processes may be used to deform the image transport layer and the shape of the output surface. To accommodate differences in material deformation and other factors that vary as a function of position across the image transport layer, the image transport layer may be formed from canes of fibers or other material with one or more properties that vary as a function of position.

Electronic devices with inhomogeneous image transport layers

An electronic device may have a display that displays an image. The image may be viewed through a display cover layer that overlaps the display. The display cover layer may include an optical coupling layer such as a coherent fiber bundle. A pixel expansion layer such as a diffractive layer may be incorporated between the optical coupling layer and a protective layer. The diffractive layer may create duplicate pixels to occupy otherwise non-light-emitting areas on the output surface of the display cover layer. The diffractive layer may also create duplicate pixels that overlap adjacent pixels to allow for brightness averaging. An adhesive layer or the protective layer may be used to form diffractive elements for the diffractive layer. An adhesive layer having a high index of refraction may be interposed between the optical coupling layer and the display panel to mitigate undesired reflections of ambient light.

Electronic device with an optical coupling layer and diffractive layer

An electronic device may have a display with pixels configured to display an image. An image transport layer may be formed from a coherent fiber bundle or Anderson localization material. The image transport layer may overlap the pixels and may have an input surface that receives the image from the pixels and a corresponding output surface on which the received image is viewable. The image transport layer may form an exterior surface of the electronic device or may be overlapped by a transparent cover layer. Various methods such as swelling, piping, and slumping may be used to process fibers and form image transport layers. A fiber bundle that is used to form an image transport layer may include fibers that have varying properties.

Methods for forming image transport layers

An electronic device may have a display with pixels configured to display an image. The pixels may be overlapped by a cover layer. An image transport layer may be formed from a coherent fiber bundle or Anderson localization material. The image transport layer may overlap the pixels and may have an input surface that receives the image from the pixels and a corresponding output surface on which the received image is viewable through the cover layer. Circuitry may be embedded within the image transport layer. The circuitry that is embedded within the image transport layer may include capacitive touch sensor circuitry, antenna resonating element structures, input-output components, signal lines, and other circuitry.

Electronic devices having image transport layers with embedded circuitry

An electronic device may have a housing with a display. The display may be overlapped by an image transport layer such as a coherent fiber bundle or layer of Anderson localization material. The image transport layer may have an input surface that receives an image from the display and a corresponding output surface to which the image is transported. The input surface and output surface may have different shapes. During fabrication of the image transport layer, molding techniques, grinding and polishing techniques, and other processes are used to deform the image transport layer and the shape of the output surface. The area of peripheral portions of the output surface may expand relative to central portions. Optical uniformity across the output surface can be enhanced by maintaining uniformity in fiber core diameters and other attributes of the image transport layer across deformed and undeformed portions of the output surface.

Electronic devices having displays with enhanced optical uniformity

An electronic device may have a housing with a display. A protective display cover layer for the display may have an image transport layer such as a fiber optic plate. The fiber optic plate may be formed from a bundle of fibers. The fibers may be formed using fiber extruding equipment. Each fiber may have a core covered with a cladding, a stray light absorbing layer, and binder material. The fibers may be deformed in a heated chamber by pressing inwardly with a die that has a recess, causing the fibers to bulge into the recess. A cutter can be used to cut off a layer of the deformed fibers. This layer may be machined and polished to form the fiber optic plate.

Methods of manufacturing fiber optic plates for electronic devices

An electronic device may have a hinge that allows the device to be flexed about a bend axis. A display may span the bend axis. To protect display elements such as pixel circuitry from excessive mechanical stress, the display may include one or more structural protective layers. A structural layer may be incorporated into the display stack as a supportive backing behind the pixel circuitry and/or as a protective cover over the pixel circuitry. The structural layer may include rigid portions and flexible portions. The flexible portions may contain flexible material that separates and adjoins adjacent rigid structures or that fills grooves between adjacent rigid portions. The rigid portions may be formed from thin sheets of glass or other transparent materials. The flexible material in the structural layer may be an elastomeric material having a refractive index that matches that of the glass sheets in the structural layer.

Electronic devices with robust flexible displays

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Paul C Kelley