Camera lens structures and display structures for electronic devices

• US 9,143,668 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2010
• Issued: 09/22/2015
• 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, Thomas W. Jr., Garelli, Adam T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Kumar
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahn, Sejoon
• Application Number:
  US12/916,475
• Publication Number:
  US 20120105400A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,789 Days
• Field of Search: 345173-175, 348/333.01
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 color filter layer and a thin-film-transistor layer, wherein the color filter layer and the thin-film-transistor layer each have an opening;

an insert layer mounted over the opening, wherein the insert layer comprises a layer of glass having a camera window, and wherein the camera window comprises an opening in the insert layer; and

a camera having lens structures that are aligned with the camera window, wherein the color filter layer and the thin-film-transistor layer have respective edges, wherein the edge of the color filter layer is recessed with respect to the edge of the thin-film-transistor layer to form a ledge on which the insert layer is mounted wherein the display further comprises a polarizer layer mounted to the color filter layer that overlaps the lens structures and an opaque masking layer mounted on the polarizer layer, and wherein the opaque masking layer has an opaque masking layer opening that is aligned with the camera lens structures.

2. The electronic device defined in claim 1, wherein the polarizer layer has a depolarized window region that is aligned with the opaque masking layer opening and the lens structures.

3. An electronic device, comprising:

a display that includes a polarizer with an opening, a thin-film-transistor layer and a color filter layer;

a sleeve that passes through the opening;

a camera having lens structures that are at least partly contained within the sleeve;

a layer of glass that is attached to the display, wherein the layer of glass has an opening through which the lens structures and the sleeve pass;

wherein the color filter layer and the thin-film-transistor layer have respective edges and wherein the edge of the color filter layer is recessed with respect to the edge of the thin-film-transistor layer to form a ledge on which the layer of glass is mounted, wherein the color filter layer and the thin-film-transistor layer have a notch along which the ledge runs, and wherein the layer of glass forms an insert that is mounted on the ledge.

4. The electronic device defined in claim 3, wherein the layer of glass has an elongated strip shape, and wherein the ledge is straight.