The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 07, 2021
Filed:
Sep. 12, 2019
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Mehmet Mutlu, Stanford, CA (US);
Michael K. Brown, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Wesley S. Smith, Mountain View, CA (US);
Orit A. Shamir, San Francisco, CA (US);
Richard T. Chen, San Jose, CA (US);
Mark T. Winkler, San Jose, CA (US);
Miaolei Yan, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Richard Yeh, Los Altos, CA (US);
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Abstract
Aspects of the subject technology relate to an apparatus for self-mixing particulate-matter sensing using a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) with extrinsic photodiodes. The apparatus includes a dual-emitting light source disposed on a first chip and to generate a first light beam and a second light beam. The first light beam illuminates a particulate matter (PM), and a light detector extrinsic to the first chip measures the second light beam and variations of the second light beam and generates a self-mixing signal. The variations of the second light beam are caused by a back-scattered light resulting from back-scattering of the first light beam from the PM. The light detector is coupled to the dual-emitting light source. The direction of the second light beam is opposite to the direction of the first light beam, and the second light beam is directed to a sensitive area of the light detector.