Directional Light Sensors

• US 20140085265A1
• Filed: 09/27/2012
• Published: 03/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Yin, Ye
• Granted Patent: US 9,582,083 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/175
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/06 Restricting the angle of incident light
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/4204 with determination of ambient light solar light G01J2001/4266
• CPC Class Codes: G01J 1/4228 arrangements with two or more detectors, e.g. for sensitivity compensation
• 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 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/0693 Calibration of display systems
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/144 the light being ambient light
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/145 the light originating from the display screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/147 the originated light output being determined for each pixel

Abstract

A directional light sensor may be provided having an array of beam steering elements and an array of corresponding light sensors. Each beam steering element may be configured to direct light from a given angle onto a particular light sensor so that the angular distribution of light may be mapped onto a planar grid of light sensors. Each beam steering element may be formed using holographic, refractive, diffusive or other structures for redirecting a beam of light. An electronic device may be provided having a directional light sensor. The directional light sensor in the electronic device may provide ambient light data or user input data to the electronic device. A test system may be provided having a directional light sensor for gathering ambient light data during testing and manufacturing of an electronic device.

Claims

1. A directional light sensor, comprising:

an array of light sensitive elements; and

a corresponding array of beam steering elements, wherein each beam steering element redirects light from a particular incidence angle onto an associated one of the light sensitive elements.

2. The directional light sensor defined in claim 1, further comprising:

processing circuitry coupled to the array of light sensitive elements that operates the light sensitive elements to gather directional light data.

3. The directional light sensor defined in claim 1 wherein each beam steering element comprises holographic structures that redirect the light.

4. The directional light sensor defined in claim 1 wherein each beam steering element comprises refractive structures that redirect the light.

5. The directional light sensor defined in claim 1 wherein each beam steering element comprises diffusive structures that redirect the light.

6. The directional light sensor defined in claim 5 wherein each beam steering element further comprises lensing structures that redirect the light.

7. The directional light sensor defined in claim 1 wherein a first portion of the array of light sensitive elements includes light sensitive elements that are sensitive to light of a first color and wherein a second portion of the array of light sensitive elements includes light sensitive elements that are sensitive to light of a second color.

8. An electronic device, comprising:

a display;

a directional light sensor, wherein the directional light sensor is configured to gather directional ambient light data that includes information about the intensity of light that is incident on the directional light sensor from a plurality of angles; and

processing circuitry coupled to the display and the directional light sensor, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to modify an intensity of display light from at least a portion of the display based on the directional ambient light data.

9. The electronic device defined in claim 8 wherein the display includes a transparent outer layer and wherein the directional light sensor is mounted adjacent to the transparent outer layer.

10. The electronic device defined in claim 8 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine a position of an external light source based on the directional ambient light data and to modify the intensity of display light from at least the portion of the display based on the determined position of the external light source.

11. The electronic device defined in claim 10 wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine a position of a user of the electronic device based on the directional ambient light data and to modify the intensity of display light from at least the portion of the display based on the determined position of the external light source and the determined position of the user.

12. The electronic device defined in claim 8 wherein the directional light sensor comprises an array of beam steering elements and an array of light sensitive elements.

13. The electronic device defined in claim 8 wherein the display comprises a transflective display having transmissive structures and reflective structures and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to adjust an intensity of light produced by the transmissive structures based on the directional ambient light data.

14. An electronic device, comprising:

a touch-free user input component configured to gather user input data based on directional changes in ambient light conditions due to user gestures in the vicinity of the electronic device; and

processing circuitry coupled to the touch-free user input component, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to modify an operational state of the electronic device based on the gathered user input data.

15. The electronic device defined in claim 14 wherein the touch-free user input component comprises a beam steering array.

16. The electronic device defined in claim 15 wherein the touch-free user input component further comprises a light sensor array, wherein the beam steering array is configured to redirect portions of the ambient light from various angles of incidence onto corresponding portions of the light sensor array.

17. The electronic device defined in claim 15 wherein the beam steering array comprises a plurality of beam steering elements formed from structures selected from the group consisting of:

holographic structures, refractive structures, diffusive structures, and combined diffusing and lensing structures.

18. The electronic device defined in claim 14, further comprising a display for displaying visual content to the user, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to modify the operational state of the electronic device by modifying the visual content that is displayed on the display.

19. The electronic device defined in claim 14, further comprising a display, wherein the user gestures comprise user hand gestures.

20. The electronic device defined in claim 14 wherein the processing circuitry includes filtering circuitry that filters the gathered user input data to remove directional changes in light conditions that occur on time scales that are faster than a predetermined threshold from the gathered user input data.

21. A method of testing displays for electronic devices using a test system having a directional light sensor, additional light sensors, and computing equipment, the method comprising:

placing the directional light sensor at a location in the test system;

with the directional light sensor, gathering ambient light data;

replacing the directional light sensor with the electronic device at the location;

with the additional light sensors, gathering display test data; and

with the computing equipment, processing the display test data using the ambient light data.

22. The method defined in claim 21 wherein processing the display test data using the ambient light data comprises:

generating standard display values using the ambient light data; and

comparing the display test data to the standard values.

23. The method defined in claim 21 wherein the directional light sensor comprises a beam steering array and an associated light sensor array and wherein gathering the ambient light data comprises redirecting light from various angles onto the light sensor array using the beam steering array.

24. A method of testing a display for an electronic device using a test system having a directional light sensor and computing equipment, the method comprising:

placing the electronic device into the test system;

operating the display;

with the directional light sensors, while operating the display, gathering directional display test data; and

with the computing equipment, comparing the gathered directional display test data with reference data.

25. The method defined in claim 24 wherein comparing the gathered directional display test data with the reference data comprises:

extracting performance characteristics of the display from the gathered directional display data.

26. The method defined in claim 25 wherein extracting the performance characteristics of the display from the gathered directional display data comprises:

extracting information related to a property of the display selected from the group consisting of;

display uniformity properties, display color performance properties, and display reflectivity properties.