Camera lens structures and display structures for electronic devices

• US 10,009,525 B2
• Filed: 09/18/2015
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Mathew, Dinesh C., Hendren, Keith J., Wilson, Jr., Thomas W., Garelli, Adam T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hogue, Dennis
• Application Number:
  US14/858,695
• Publication Number:
  US 20160212311A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,012 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133528 Polarisers
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 2201/58 Arrangements comprising a monitoring photodetector
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1605 Multimedia displays, e.g. with integrated or attached speakers, cameras, microphones
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1637 Details related to the display arrangement, including those related to the mounting of the display in the housing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1686 the I/O peripheral being an integrated camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/54 Mounting of pick-up tubes, electronic image sensors, deviation or focusing coils
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/57 Mechanical or electrical details of cameras or camera modules specially adapted for being embedded in other devices

Abstract

A camera may be mounted under a display in an electronic device. The display may include a polarizer layer, a color filter layer, and a thin-film-transistor layer. A layer of material such as a glass insert may be attached to an edge of the display. Openings may be formed in the layers of the display and the insert to accommodate the camera. A sleeve structure may be mounted within an opening. The camera may include lens structures formed from a stack of lens elements. One or more layers of the display may be interposed within the lens structures. The glass insert may be mounted within a notch in the color filter layer and thin-film transistor layer or along a straight edge of the color filter layer and thin-film transistor layer. The edge of the color filter layer may be recessed with respect to form a mounting shelf for the insert.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a display having a plurality of layers comprising at least one thin-film transistor layer; and

a camera comprising lens structures and an image sensor that receives light through the lens structures, wherein at least part of the camera extends partially through the at least one thin-film transistor layer, wherein the camera is below at least one of the plurality of layers, wherein at least one of the plurality of layers comprises a polarizer layer having a window, wherein the polarizer layer is formed from a first material and processed in a manner to have a polarizing property, and wherein the window is formed from the first material and processed in a manner to remove the polarizing property.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, further comprising traces on the at least one thin-film-transistor layer that are electrically connected to the camera and that run along a plurality of edges of the at least one thin-film-transistor layer.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the camera is mounted within the display with an adhesive fastener.

4. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein at least part of the camera extends entirely through the at least one thin-film transistor layer.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the lens structures comprise a lens train.

6. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the camera is mounted along an edge of the at least one thin-film transistor layer.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of layers comprises a color filter layer.

8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein at least part of the camera extends partially through the color filter layer.

9. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the camera is not in direct contact with the color filter layer.

10. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein at least a portion of the color filter layer is devoid of colored filter elements.

11. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the polarizer layer is on top of the color filter layer, and wherein the color filter layer is on top of the at least one thin-film transistor layer.

12. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the camera is aligned coaxially with the window.