Patent Grant
11573603
This relates generally to electronic devices, and more particularly, to electronic devices with displays.
Electronic devices often include displays. For example, cellular telephones and portable computers often include displays for presenting information to a user. An electronic device may have a housing such as a housing formed from plastic or metal. Components for the electronic device such as display components may be mounted in the housing.
It can be challenging to incorporate a display into the housing of an electronic device. Size and weight are often important considerations in designing electronic devices. If care is not taken, displays may be bulky or may be surrounded by overly large borders. The housing of an electronic device can be adjusted to accommodate a bulky display with large borders, but this can lead to undesirable enlargement of the size and weight of the housing and unappealing device aesthetics.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved displays for electronic devices.
A display in an electronic device may have an array of display pixels that provide image light to a user. The display may be mounted within a housing for the electronic device.
The array of display pixels in the display may form an active display structure with a rectangular shape. The rectangular active display structure may be surrounded by an inactive display structure border region. Optical structures such as upper and lower optical structures may be configured to bend light from the display pixels that are located along the periphery of the active display structure so as to enlarge the effective size of the display.
The optical structures may include upper optical structures such as a sheet of glass or other optical member having curved edge surfaces for bending light from the display pixels. The optical structures may also include lower optical structures such as strips of glass with curved surfaces that surround an opening or other optical structures having curved surfaces. The lower optical structures may bend light from the display pixels located long the periphery of the active display pixels. The upper optical structures may then bend the light that has passed through the lower optical structures.
Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.
Electronic devices may include displays. The displays may be used to display images to a user. Illustrative electronic devices that may be provided with displays are shown in
The illustrative configurations for device 10 that are shown in
Housing 12 of device 10, which is sometimes referred to as a case, may be formed of materials such as plastic, glass, ceramics, carbon-fiber composites and other fiber-based composites, metal (e.g., machined aluminum, stainless steel, or other metals), other materials, or a combination of these materials. Device 10 may be formed using a unibody construction in which most or all of housing 12 is formed from a single structural element (e.g., a piece of machined metal or a piece of molded plastic) or may be formed from multiple housing structures (e.g., outer housing structures that have been mounted to internal frame elements or other internal housing structures).
Display 14 may be a touch sensitive display that includes a touch sensor or may be insensitive to touch. Touch sensors for display 14 may be formed from an array of capacitive touch sensor electrodes, a resistive touch array, touch sensor structures based on acoustic touch, optical touch, or force-based touch technologies, or other suitable touch sensor components.
Displays for device 10 may, in general, include image pixels formed from light-emitting diodes (LEDs), organic LEDs (OLEDs), plasma cells, electrowetting pixels, electrophoretic pixels, liquid crystal display (LCD) components, or other suitable image pixel structures. In some situations, it may be desirable to use LCD components to form display 14, so configurations for display 14 in which display 14 is a liquid crystal display are sometimes described herein as an example. It may also be desirable to provide displays such as display 14 with backlight structures, so configurations for display 14 that include a backlight unit may sometimes be described herein as an example. Other types of display technology may be used in device 10 if desired. The use of liquid crystal display structures and backlight structures in device 10 is merely illustrative.
A display cover layer may cover the surface of display 14 or a display layer such as a color filter layer or other portion of a display may be used as the outermost (or nearly outermost) layer in display 14. A display cover layer or other outer display layer may be formed from a transparent glass sheet, a clear plastic layer, or other transparent structures.
Touch sensor components such as an array of capacitive touch sensor electrodes formed from transparent materials such as indium tin oxide may be formed on the underside of a display cover layer, may be formed on a separate display layer such as a glass or polymer touch sensor substrate, or may be integrated into other display layers (e.g., substrate layers such as a thin-film transistor layer).
A schematic diagram of an illustrative configuration that may be used for electronic device 10 is shown in
Control circuitry 29 may be used to run software on device 10, such as operating system software and application software. Using this software, control circuitry 29 may present information to a user of electronic device 10 on display 14. Display 14 may contain an array of display pixels (e.g., liquid crystal display pixels) that are organized in rows and columns. Control circuitry 29 may be used to display content for a user of device 10 on the array of display pixels in display 14.
Input-output circuitry 30 may be used to allow data to be supplied to device 10 and to allow data to be provided from device 10 to external devices. Input-output circuitry 30 may include communications circuitry 32. Communications circuitry 32 may include wired communications circuitry for supporting communications using data ports in device 10. Communications circuitry 32 may also include wireless communications circuits (e.g., circuitry for transmitting and receiving wireless radio-frequency signals using antennas).
Input-output circuitry 30 may also include input-output devices 34. A user can control the operation of device 10 by supplying commands through input-output devices 34 and may receive status information and other output from device 10 using the output resources of input-output devices 34.
Input-output devices 34 may include sensors and status indicators 36 such as an ambient light sensor, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a magnetic sensor, an accelerometer, and light-emitting diodes and other components for gathering information about the environment in which device 10 is operating and providing information to a user of device 10 about the status of device 10.
Audio components 38 may include speakers and tone generators for presenting sound to a user of device 10 and microphones for gathering user audio input.
Display 14 (e.g., the array of display pixels in display 14) may be used to present images for a user such as text, video, and still images. Sensors 36 may include a touch sensor array that is formed as one of the layers in display 14.
User input may be gathered using buttons and other input-output components 40 such as touch pad sensors, buttons, joysticks, click wheels, scrolling wheels, touch sensors such as sensors 36 in display 14, key pads, keyboards, vibrators, cameras, and other input-output components.
A cross-sectional side view of an illustrative configuration that may be used for display 14 of device 10 (e.g., for display 14 of the devices of
Display 14 may, if desired, have one or more optical structures that are located above display layers 46. For example, display 14 may have a display cover layer such as display cover layer 84. Display cover layer 84 may be formed from a layer of clear glass, a transparent sheet of plastic, or other transparent structure. Display cover layer 84 may be mounted in housing 12 (e.g., using housing sidewalls). During operation, light 44 may pass through the array of display pixels formed from display layers 46 and display cover layer 84 for viewing by user 48.
Display layers 46 may be mounted in chassis structures such as a plastic chassis structure and/or a metal chassis structure to form a display module for mounting in housing 12 or display layers 46 may be mounted directly in housing 12 (e.g., by stacking display layers 46 into a recessed portion in housing 12). Display layers 46 may form a liquid crystal display or may be used in forming displays of other types. Display layers 46 may sometimes be referred to as a display module, a display, or an array of display pixels. The image light (light 44) that passes through the array of display pixels is used in displaying content on display 14 for user 48.
In a configuration in which display layers 46 are used in forming a liquid crystal display, display layers 46 may include a liquid crystal layer such a liquid crystal layer 52. Liquid crystal layer 52 may be sandwiched between display layers such as display layers 58 and 56. Layers 56 and 58 may be interposed between lower polarizer layer 60 and upper polarizer layer 54.
Layers 58 and 56 may be formed from transparent substrate layers such as clear layers of glass or plastic. Layers 56 and 58 may be layers such as a thin-film transistor layer and/or a color filter layer. Conductive traces, color filter elements, transistors, and other circuits and structures may be formed on the substrates of layers 58 and 56 (e.g., to form a thin-film transistor layer and/or a color filter layer). Touch sensor electrodes may also be incorporated into layers such as layers 58 and 56 and/or touch sensor electrodes may be formed on other substrates.
With one illustrative configuration, layer 58 may be a thin-film transistor layer that includes an array of thin-film transistors and associated electrodes (display pixel electrodes) for applying electric fields to liquid crystal layer 52 and thereby displaying images on display 14. Layer 56 may be a color filter layer that includes an array of color filter elements for providing display 14 with the ability to display color images. If desired, layer 58 may be a color filter layer and layer 56 may be a thin-film transistor layer.
During operation of display 14 in device 10, control circuitry 29 (e.g., one or more integrated circuits such as components 68 on printed circuit 66 of
Display driver integrated circuit 62 may be mounted on thin-film-transistor layer driver ledge 82 or elsewhere in device 10. During operation of display 14, display driver circuitry 62 and/or other display control circuitry such as gate driver circuitry formed on substrate 58 or coupled to substrate 58 may be used in controlling the array of display pixels in layers 46 (e.g., using a grid of vertical data lines and horizontal gate lines).
A flexible printed circuit cable such as flexible printed circuit 64 may be used in routing signals between printed circuit 66 and thin-film-transistor layer 58. If desired, display driver integrated circuit 62 may be mounted on printed circuit 66 or flexible printed circuit 64. Printed circuit 66 may be formed from a rigid printed circuit board (e.g., a layer of fiberglass-filled epoxy) or a flexible printed circuit (e.g., a flexible sheet of polyimide or other flexible polymer layer).
Backlight structures 42 may include a light guide plate such as light guide plate 78. Light guide plate 78 may be formed from a transparent material such as clear glass or plastic. During operation of backlight structures 42, a light source such as light source 72 may generate light 74. Light source 72 may be, for example, an array of light-emitting diodes.
Light 74 from light source 72 may be coupled into edge surface 76 of light guide plate 78 and may be distributed in dimensions X and Y throughout light guide plate 78 due to the principal of total internal reflection. Light guide plate 78 may include light-scattering features such as pits or bumps. The light-scattering features may be located on an upper surface and/or on an opposing lower surface of light guide plate 78.
Light 74 that scatters upwards in direction Z from light guide plate 78 may serve as backlight 44 for display 14. Light 74 that scatters downwards may be reflected back in the upwards direction by reflector 80. Reflector 80 may be formed from a reflective material such as a layer of white plastic or other shiny materials.
To enhance backlight performance for backlight structures 42, backlight structures 42 may include optical films 70. Optical films 70 may include diffuser layers for helping to homogenize backlight 44 and thereby reduce hotspots, compensation films for enhancing off-axis viewing, and brightness enhancement films (also sometimes referred to as turning films) for collimating backlight 44. Optical films 70 may overlap the other structures in backlight unit 42 such as light guide plate 78 and reflector 80. For example, if light guide plate 78 has a rectangular footprint in the X-Y plane of
As shown in
Lines 90 may be coupled to the gates of the thin-film transistors and may sometimes be referred to as gate lines. Lines 88 may be coupled to the sources of the thin-film transistors and may sometimes be referred to as source lines or data lines. Gate driver circuitry (e.g., thin-film transistor gate driver circuitry) may be coupled to gate lines 90. Display driver circuitry that produces data signals for lines 88 (e.g., a display driver integrated circuit) may be coupled to data lines 88.
Gate driver circuitry, one or more display driver integrated circuits, traces for distributing gate and data signals and other display control signals, and other display control circuitry may be formed in inactive region 461 of display 14 and display structures 46. As an example, a display driver integrated circuit may be mounted along the upper segment of inactive region 461, whereas gate driver thin-film circuitry may be formed along the left and right segments of inactive region 461. During operation of display 14, display pixels 86 may display images for a user, so the portion of display structures 46 containing display pixels 86 may sometimes be referred to as active display structures or the active area of display 14. The metal traces and other display control circuit structures in inactive region 461 do not display any images, so this portion of structures 46 may sometimes be referred to as inactive display structures.
Inactive region 461 may form a border that surrounds some or all of active area 46A. For example, inactive region 461 may have a rectangular ring shape of the type shown in
The optical structures that are used to enhance the apparent size of display 14 may be formed from transparent materials such as clear glass or plastic structures. As an example, the optical structures may be formed from sheets of clear glass or plastic material or from glass, plastic, or other transparent material of other shapes. Optical structures with curved and angled surfaces for bending light may be formed using molding equipment, slumping equipment, machining equipment, or other tools for shaping clear material.
As shown in the illustrative configuration of
By providing optical structures in display 14 with curved edges or other curved or angled surfaces, the optical structures may bend light that is emitted from display pixels 86 in a way that allows the light to extend laterally outward over the otherwise inactive portions of the display. As a result, it will appear to a user of the display as if the display is borderless or nearly borderless.
To provide satisfactory light bending within tight spaces in device 10, it may be desirable to use multiple layers of light-bending structures. For example, optical structures for bending light for display 14 may include a first set of structures (e.g., an optical member or other optical structures formed from glass, plastic, or ceramic) that are located lower in display 14 (i.e., closer to display structures 46) and a second set of structures (e.g., an optical member or other optical structures formed from glass, plastic, or ceramic) that is located higher in display 14 (i.e., farther from display structures 46 and closer to viewer 48).
An illustrative display of the type that may use curved optical structures to achieve a borderless or near borderless appearance to a viewer is shown in
Active area display structures 46A may contain a rectangular array of display pixels such as display pixels 86 with a rectangular peripheral edge. Light rays 44 associated with display pixels 86 may be produced by a backlight unit (e.g., a backlight unit in a display such as a backlit liquid crystal display), may be produced by light reflected off of a reflector such as reflector 80 of
Optical structures 134 (e.g., optical structures of the type formed using the equipment of
Optical structures 134T and 134B of
Curved surfaces may be located on the upper and/or lower sides of optical structures 134T and 134B. For example, in a rectangular display having top, bottom, left, and right edges, curved surfaces such as surfaces 138T and/or 138B may be formed along the right and left edges or may run around the entire periphery of the display (e.g., along the right, left, top, and bottom edges when viewed in direction 50 by viewer 48).
Curved and angled surfaces in optical structures 134B and 134T may allow optical structures 134B and 134T to serve as light bending structures to bend light 44 from active display structures 46A so that the entire lateral expanse of display 14 appears to be filled with active image content. Display 14 may, for example, appear to have no left and right borders (when viewed in direction 50) and/or may additionally have no upper and lower borders (when viewed in direction 50). The lateral dimensions (in X and Y) for active display structures 46A are less than the respective lateral dimensions X and Y of upper optical structures 134T, so the area of structures 134T is greater than the area of active display structures 46A and the apparent image size for display 14 is enlarged. By enlarging the apparent size of the display, the display may be made to appear borderless or nearly borderless, even if active display structures 46A are surrounded by a border of inactive structures such as structures 46B.
Rays of light from active display structures 46A such as light ray 44M are produced by display pixels 86 that are near to the center of display 14. In this portion of display 14, light may travel vertically upwards to viewer 48 without significant bending. Light 44 in the center of display 14 may, for example, travel through a central opening in optical structures 134B and may travel through planar or nearly planar portions of optical structures 134T. Near to the peripheral edges of active display structures 46A, however, light rays such as light rays 44E are emitted that are bent by the curved (angled) nature of the edges of optical structures 134B and 134T (e.g., surfaces 138B and 138T).
As shown by the bent trajectory of light rays 44E, light rays 44E that are emitted by display pixels 86 along the edges of active display structures 46A may, upon passing through optical structures 134B and being bent by optical structures 134B and upon passing through optical structures 134T and being further bent by optical structures 134T, appear to viewer 48 as if they were emitted by display pixels located in inactive border region IA. The lateral extent (e.g., width W in
The use of multiple layers of optical structures in display 14 such as lower structures 134B and upper structures 134T (and if desired one or more additional layers of light bending optical structures 134) allows structures 134 to efficiently and accurately guide light 44. Lower structures 134B perform some light bending and, following passage through a gap such as air gap G or a gap filled with a clear material such as a polymer that allows rays 44E to spread out from each other, upper structures 134T may perform additional light bending. Using the light bending capabilities of structures 134B and 134T in this way, surface 136 can be entirely covered with active display pixel content (e.g., graphics, text, video, etc.), providing display 14 with a borderless or nearly borderless appearance, despite the presence of display control circuitry and other inactive structures in inactive region 461 of display structures 46 (
As shown in the illustrative example of
If desired, optical structures such as optical structures 134B and 134T may include Fresnel lenses. As shown in
In the configuration of
Optical structures 134B may be mounted against active display structures 46A or may be mounted so that an air gap or a gap filled with materials other than air such as solidified liquid polymer is formed between optical structures 134B and active display structures 46A. An air gap or a gap filled with materials other than air such as solidified liquid polymer may also be formed between the lower surface of upper optical structures 134T and the upper surface of lower optical structures 134B.
Polymer material 144 may be formed from a cured optical adhesive (e.g., optically clear adhesive). Optical structures 134B may be attached to display structures 46A using adhesive (as an example). Polymer 144 (e.g., uncured liquid polymer) may be placed on top of display structures 46A and 134B by dripping, screen printing, spraying, or other suitable techniques. Optical structures 134T may then be placed on top of the liquid polymer. Ultraviolet light curing or thermal curing techniques may then be used to cure the polymer material to form solid polymer support structures such as structures 144 of
If desired, device 10 may be provided with touch sensor functionality. A touch sensor for device 10 may be implemented using an array of capacitive touch sensor electrodes (e.g., transparent conductive electrodes such as indium tin oxide electrodes), may use resistive touch technology, light-based touch sensors, acoustic touch sensor technology, or other touch sensor technology. As an example, a capacitive touch sensor for device 10 may be implemented using a one-sided or two-sided array of indium tin oxide electrodes. The electrodes may be formed on a touch sensor substrate such as a layer of glass or plastic that is separate from other layers in display 14 (e.g., a touch sensor substrate that is mounted within display 14 using adhesive) or may be formed on the surface of optical structures 134T, a display cover layer that is located above structures 134T, optical structures 134B, display structures 46, or other structures in display 14.
In the illustrative configuration of
As shown in
Layers 142 may be formed from dielectrics such as sputtered oxides, from clear materials deposited using physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, or other deposition techniques (e.g., coatings of glass, polymer, ceramic, or other materials), or may be formed from other transparent coating layers on optical structures 134. There may be one or more layers 142, two or more layers 142, three or more layers 142, or four or more layers 142. Layers 142 may include layers such as antireflection layers (e.g., dielectric stacks with alternating high-index-of-refraction and low-index-of-refraction layers), antismudge layers, antiscratch layers, or other layers to modify the properties of the upper and/or lower surface of optical structures 134. An air gap or a gap filled with polymer 144 may separate the lower surface (coated or uncoated with layers 142) of upper optical structures 134T from the upper surface (coated or uncoated with layers 142) of lower optical structures 134B and touch sensor 146 of
In the illustrative configuration of
Lower structures 134B may have curved or angled edge surfaces 138B that lie in planes that are not coplanar with upper surface 136 to allow the edges of optical structures 134B to bend light from display structures 46A. Light may also be bent by the curved or angled surfaces of display structures 134T such as surfaces 138T. Air gaps or gaps filled with polymer 144 may separate display cover layer 140, optical structures 134T, optical structures 134B, and/or display structures 46A of
The foregoing is merely illustrative of the principles of this invention and various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.
This application is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 16/774,180, filed Jan. 28, 2020, which is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 16/006,714, filed Jun. 12, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,551,874, which is a continuation of patent application Ser. No. 13/631,141, filed Sep. 28, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,067,535. This application claims the benefit of and claims priority to patent application Ser. No. 16/774,180, filed Jan. 28, 2020, Patent application Ser. No. 16/006,714, filed Jun. 12, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,551,874, and patent application Ser. No. 13/631,141, filed Sep. 28, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,067,535.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4904049 | Hegg | Feb 1990 | A |
| 6927908 | Stark | Aug 2005 | B2 |
| 7551372 | Xun et al. | Jun 2009 | B2 |
| 7663715 | Jin et al. | Feb 2010 | B2 |
| 7856161 | Tabor | Dec 2010 | B2 |
| 8085216 | Miller | Dec 2011 | B2 |
| 8368729 | Watanabe | Feb 2013 | B2 |
| 8472114 | Watanabe | Jun 2013 | B2 |
| 8541934 | Watanabe et al. | Sep 2013 | B2 |
| 8690414 | Tomotoshi et al. | Apr 2014 | B2 |
| 8692737 | Watanabe et al. | Apr 2014 | B2 |
| 8907863 | Li | Dec 2014 | B2 |
| 20010046365 | Bohle et al. | Nov 2001 | A1 |
| 20020000967 | Huston et al. | Jan 2002 | A1 |
| 20040100796 | Ward | May 2004 | A1 |
| 20040223049 | Taniguchi | Nov 2004 | A1 |
| 20060007369 | Jin et al. | Jan 2006 | A1 |
| 20060077544 | Stark | Apr 2006 | A1 |
| 20080167014 | Novick et al. | Jul 2008 | A1 |
| 20080261057 | Slobodin | Oct 2008 | A1 |
| 20080309633 | Hotelling et al. | Dec 2008 | A1 |
| 20090059366 | Imai | Mar 2009 | A1 |
| 20090103191 | Xun et al. | Apr 2009 | A1 |
| 20090257207 | Wang et al. | Oct 2009 | A1 |
| 20100253591 | Hwu et al. | Oct 2010 | A1 |
| 20100254001 | Jang | Oct 2010 | A1 |
| 20110003619 | Fujii | Jan 2011 | A1 |
| 20110025594 | Watanabe | Feb 2011 | A1 |
| 20110026090 | Minor et al. | Feb 2011 | A1 |
| 20110080723 | Kaluzhny | Apr 2011 | A1 |
| 20110102302 | Watanabe | May 2011 | A1 |
| 20110109535 | Watanabe et al. | May 2011 | A1 |
| 20110109622 | Son et al. | May 2011 | A1 |
| 20110242686 | Watanabe | Oct 2011 | A1 |
| 20110254790 | Suzuki | Oct 2011 | A1 |
| 20110255301 | Watanabe | Oct 2011 | A1 |
| 20110285934 | Watanabe | Nov 2011 | A1 |
| 20120008340 | Tomotoshi et al. | Jan 2012 | A1 |
| 20120049718 | Watanabe et al. | Mar 2012 | A1 |
| 20120300304 | Gollier et al. | Nov 2012 | A1 |
| 20130083080 | Rappoport et al. | Apr 2013 | A1 |
| 20130235561 | Etienne | Sep 2013 | A1 |
| 20130258213 | Ek | Oct 2013 | A1 |
| 20130279177 | Moriwaki et al. | Oct 2013 | A1 |
| 20130307826 | Ma et al. | Nov 2013 | A1 |
| 20140009838 | Weber et al. | Jan 2014 | A1 |
| 20140092346 | Fang et al. | Apr 2014 | A1 |
| 20140176827 | Gollier et al. | Jun 2014 | A1 |
| 20140234553 | O'Hare et al. | Aug 2014 | A1 |
| 20180143669 | Bok | May 2018 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2306437 | Jun 2011 | EP |
| 2423906 | Feb 2012 | EP |
| 2439582 | Nov 2012 | EP |
| 60227232 | Nov 1985 | JP |
| 2006139058 | Jun 2006 | JP |
| 20000020849 | Apr 2000 | KR |
| 200242838 | May 2002 | WO |
| 2009122691 | Oct 2009 | WO |
| 2010055671 | May 2010 | WO |
| 2010070871 | Jun 2010 | WO |
| 2010122781 | Oct 2010 | WO |
| 2011093243 | Aug 2011 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20210365071 A1 | Nov 2021 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16774180 | Jan 2020 | US |
| Child | 17397716 | US | |
| Parent | 16006714 | Jun 2018 | US |
| Child | 16774180 | US | |
| Parent | 13631141 | Sep 2012 | US |
| Child | 16006714 | US |
