Patents by Inventor Daniel D. Sunshine
Daniel D. Sunshine has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 11484264Abstract: A fabric-based item may be provide with a stretchable band. The stretchable band may be formed from a ring-shaped strip of stretchable fabric having an opening configured to fit around a body part of a user. Circuitry may be coupled to strands of material in the stretchable band. The circuitry may include sensor circuitry for making measurements on the body part such as electrocardiogram measurements, blood pressure measurements, and respiration rate measurements. Wireless communications circuitry in the fabric-based item may be used to communicate wirelessly with external electronic equipment. A wireless power transmitting device may transmit wireless power. A coil formed from conductive strands in the fabric-based item may be used by wireless power receiving circuitry in the fabric-based item to receive the wireless power. The coil may have one or more turns that run around the ring-shaped strip of stretchable fabric.Type: GrantFiled: November 3, 2020Date of Patent: November 1, 2022Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Steven J. Keating, Daniel D. Sunshine, Benjamin J. Grena, Daniel A. Podhajny, Jerzy S. Guterman, Jessica J. Lu, David M. Kindlon
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Publication number: 20220346228Abstract: An item may include fabric having insulating and conductive yarns or other strands of material. The conductive strands may form signal paths. Electrical components can be mounted to the fabric. Each electrical component may have an electrical device such as a semiconductor die that is mounted on an interposer substrate. The interposer may have contacts that are soldered to the conductive strands. A protective cover may encapsulate portions of the electrical component. To create a robust connection between the electrical component and the fabric, the conductive strands may be threaded through recesses in the electrical component. The recesses may be formed in the interposer or may be formed in a protective cover on the interposer. Conductive material in the recess may be used to electrically and/or mechanically connect the conductive strand to a bond pad in the recess. Thermoplastic material may be used to seal the solder joint.Type: ApplicationFiled: July 8, 2022Publication date: October 27, 2022Inventors: Daniel D. Sunshine, David M. Kindlon, Michael B. Nussbaum, Andrew L. Rosenberg, Andrew Sterian, Breton M. Saunders, Christopher A. Schultz, David A. Bolt, Mark J. Beesley, Peter W. Mash, Steven Keating, Chang Liu, Lan Hoang
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Patent number: 11388817Abstract: An item may include fabric having insulating and conductive yarns or other strands of material. The conductive strands may form signal paths. Electrical components can be mounted to the fabric. Each electrical component may have an electrical device such as a semiconductor die that is mounted on an interposer substrate. The interposer may have contacts that are soldered to the conductive strands. A protective cover may encapsulate portions of the electrical component. To create a robust connection between the electrical component and the fabric, the conductive strands may be threaded through recesses in the electrical component. The recesses may be formed in the interposer or may be formed in a protective cover on the interposer. Conductive material in the recess may be used to electrically and/or mechanically connect the conductive strand to a bond pad in the recess. Thermoplastic material may be used to seal the solder joint.Type: GrantFiled: February 25, 2021Date of Patent: July 12, 2022Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Daniel D. Sunshine, David M. Kindlon, Michael B. Nussbaum, Andrew L. Rosenberg, Andrew Sterian, Breton M. Saunders, Christopher A. Schultz, David A. Bolt, Mark J. Beesley, Peter W. Mash, Steven Keating, Chang Liu, Lan Hoang
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Publication number: 20220164036Abstract: A keyboard may be provided that has keys overlapped by a touch sensor. The keyboard may have key sensor circuitry for monitoring switching in the keys for key press input. The keyboard may also have touch sensor circuitry such as capacitive touch sensor circuitry that monitors capacitive electrodes in the touch sensor for touch sensor input such as multitouch gesture input. The keyboard may include an outer layer of fabric that overlaps the keys. The fabric may have openings that are arranged to form alphanumeric characters. Light sources may emit light that passes through the openings and illuminates the alphanumeric characters. The touch sensor may have signal lines that are not visible through the openings. The signal lines may be transparent, may be covered by a diffuser, or may circumvent the openings so that they do not overlap.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 11, 2022Publication date: May 26, 2022Inventors: Paul Xiaopeng Wang, Chia Chi Wu, Qiliang Xu, Zheng Gao, Daniel D. Sunshine, Aidan N. Zimmerman
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Publication number: 20220127761Abstract: A fabric-based item may include a housing that is covered in fabric. Areas of the fabric may overlap input circuitry such as button switches, touch sensors, force sensors, proximity sensors, and other sensing circuitry and may overlap other components such as light-emitting components and haptic output devices. The fabric-based item may include control circuitry that gathers user input from the input circuitry and wireless communications circuitry that the control circuitry uses to transmit remote control commands and other wireless signals in response information from the input circuitry. The fabric-based item may have a weight that is located in the housing to orient the housing in a desired direction when the housing rests on a surface. A movable weight may tilt the housing in response to proximity sensor signals or other input. Portions of the fabric may overlap light-emitting components and optical fiber configured to emit light.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 6, 2022Publication date: April 28, 2022Inventors: Daniel A. Podhajny, Daniel D. Sunshine, Kathryn P. Crews
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Patent number: 11315880Abstract: A fabric-based item may include fabric such as woven fabric having insulating and conductive yarns or other strands of material. The conductive yarns may form signal paths. Electrical components can be embedded within pockets in the fabric. Each electrical component may have an electrical device such as a semiconductor die that is mounted on an interposer substrate. The electrical device may be a light-emitting diode, a sensor, an actuator, or other electrical device. The electrical device may have contacts that are soldered to contacts on the interposer. The interposer may have additional contacts that are soldered to the signal paths. The fabric may have portions that form transparent windows overlapping the electrical components or that have other desired attributes.Type: GrantFiled: December 10, 2020Date of Patent: April 26, 2022Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Daniel D. Sunshine, Paul S. Drzaic, Daniel A. Podhajny, David M. Kindlon, Hoon Sik Kim, Kathryn P. Crews, Yung-Yu Hsu
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Publication number: 20220107695Abstract: A touch-sensitive textile device that is configured to detect the occurrence of a touch, the location of a touch, and/or the force of a touch on the touch-sensitive textile device. In some embodiments, the touch-sensitive textile device includes a first set of conductive threads oriented along a first direction, and a second set of conductive threads interwoven with the first set of conductive threads and oriented along a second direction. The device may also include a sensing circuit that is operatively coupled to the first and second set of conductive threads. The sensing circuit may be configured to apply a drive signal to the first and second set of conductive threads. The sensing circuit may also be configured to detect a touch or near touch based on a variation in an electrical measurement using the first or second set of conductive threads.Type: ApplicationFiled: December 17, 2021Publication date: April 7, 2022Inventors: Daniel A. Podhajny, Kathryn P. Crews, Daniel D. Sunshine
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Patent number: 11281305Abstract: A keyboard may be provided that has keys overlapped by a touch sensor. The keyboard may have key sensor circuitry for monitoring switching in the keys for key press input. The keyboard may also have touch sensor circuitry such as capacitive touch sensor circuitry that monitors capacitive electrodes in the touch sensor for touch sensor input such as multitouch gesture input. The keyboard may include an outer layer of fabric that overlaps the keys. The fabric may have openings that are arranged to form alphanumeric characters. Light sources may emit light that passes through the openings and illuminates the alphanumeric characters. The touch sensor may have signal lines that are not visible through the openings. The signal lines may be transparent, may be covered by a diffuser, or may circumvent the openings so that they do not overlap.Type: GrantFiled: December 19, 2019Date of Patent: March 22, 2022Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Paul X. Wang, Chia Chi Wu, Qiliang Xu, Zheng Gao, Daniel D. Sunshine, Aidan N. Zimmerman
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Patent number: 11255028Abstract: A fabric-based item may include a housing that is covered in fabric. Areas of the fabric may overlap input circuitry such as button switches, touch sensors, force sensors, proximity sensors, and other sensing circuitry and may overlap other components such as light-emitting components and haptic output devices. The fabric-based item may include control circuitry that gathers user input from the input circuitry and wireless communications circuitry that the control circuitry uses to transmit remote control commands and other wireless signals in response information from the input circuitry. The fabric-based item may have a weight that is located in the housing to orient the housing in a desired direction when the housing rests on a surface. A movable weight may tilt the housing in response to proximity sensor signals or other input. Portions of the fabric may overlap light-emitting components and optical fiber configured to emit light.Type: GrantFiled: December 4, 2020Date of Patent: February 22, 2022Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Daniel A. Podhajny, Daniel D. Sunshine, Kathryn P. Crews
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Patent number: 11233012Abstract: A fabric-based item may include fabric formed from intertwined strands of material with embedded circuitry. The strands of material may be formed from dielectric materials such as polymers. The strands of material may be formed from joined segments of polymer strand material or other material. Each joined segment may contain a potentially distinct circuit. Some joined segments may include one or more conductive lines. The conductive lines may run parallel to each other along the length of the joined segments to form circuit interconnects. Conductive lines may be joined to contact pads on integrated circuits and other embedded components formed from semiconductor dies. Control circuitry formed from the integrated circuits embedded in strands of material in the fabric and other control circuitry may be used to control the circuitry embedded in the fabric.Type: GrantFiled: September 18, 2018Date of Patent: January 25, 2022Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Steven J. Keating, Daniel D. Sunshine, Benjamin J. Grena
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Publication number: 20220007095Abstract: An electronic device such as a voice-controlled speaker device may have a housing characterized by a vertical longitudinal axis. A flexible substrate such as a flexible mesh substrate with component support regions coupled by flexible segments may be wrapped around the housing and the vertical axis. The housing may have surface regions with compound curvature. The flexible substrate may conform to the regions with compound curvature. A fabric spacer layer may be interposed between the flexible substrate and the housing. Electrical components such as input-output devices may be mounted to the component support regions. A display may be formed from an array of light-emitting devices that are mounted on respective component support regions. Light from the light-emitting devices may pass through the fabric spacer layer toward the housing and back out away from the housing. An outer fabric layer may cover the mesh.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 14, 2021Publication date: January 6, 2022Inventors: Daniel D. Sunshine, Kathryn P. Crews, Tirshathah A. Hunter, Kathleen A. Bergeron, Mingjing Ha, Shubham A. Gandhi, Paul S. Drzaic, Yung-Yu Hsu, David W. Lum
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Publication number: 20210407917Abstract: A fabric-based item may include fabric layers and other layers of material. An array of electrical components may be mounted in the fabric-based item. The electrical components may be mounted to a support structure such as a flexible printed circuit. The flexible printed circuit may have a mesh shape formed from an array of openings. Serpentine flexible printed circuit segments may extend between the openings. The electrical components may be light-emitting diodes or other electrical devices. Polymer with light-scattering particles or other materials may cover the electrical components. The flexible printed circuit may be laminated between fabric layers or other layers of material in the fabric-based item.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 10, 2021Publication date: December 30, 2021Inventors: Daniel D. Sunshine, Paul S. Drzaic, Daniel A. Podhajny, David M. Kindlon, Hoon Sik Kim, Kathryn P. Crews, Yung-Yu Hsu
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Patent number: 11204656Abstract: A touch-sensitive textile device that is configured to detect the occurrence of a touch, the location of a touch, and/or the force of a touch on the touch-sensitive textile device. In some embodiments, the touch-sensitive textile device includes a first set of conductive threads oriented along a first direction, and a second set of conductive threads interwoven with the first set of conductive threads and oriented along a second direction. The device may also include a sensing circuit that is operatively coupled to the first and second set of conductive threads. The sensing circuit may be configured to apply a drive signal to the first and second set of conductive threads. The sensing circuit may also be configured to detect a touch or near touch based on a variation in an electrical measurement using the first or second set of conductive threads.Type: GrantFiled: July 10, 2020Date of Patent: December 21, 2021Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Daniel A. Podhajny, Kathryn P. Crews, Daniel D. Sunshine
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Patent number: 11180871Abstract: A fabric-based item may include fabric formed from intertwined strands of material such as intertwined strands of tubing. The strands of material may include electrophoretic ink formed from charged nanoparticles of different colors in fluid. The electrophoretic ink may be contained within strands of tubing or may be enclosed within encapsulation structures such as encapsulation spheres. Encapsulation spheres or other encapsulation structures may be embedded in clear polymer binder within tubing or other strands. Electroluminescent particles may be included in the clear polymer binder. Electric fields can be applied to the electrophoretic ink in a given area of the fabric using conductive strands that overlap the area, using conductive electrodes such as transparent conductive electrodes on strands of tubing, using coaxial electrodes, or using other electrode structures.Type: GrantFiled: March 30, 2018Date of Patent: November 23, 2021Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Steven J. Keating, Daniel D. Sunshine, Kathryn P. Crews, Daniel A. Podhajny, Nicholas G. L. Merz
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Patent number: 11183459Abstract: A fabric-based item may include fabric layers and other layers of material. An array of electrical components may be mounted in the fabric-based item. The electrical components may be mounted to a support structure such as a flexible printed circuit. The flexible printed circuit may have a mesh shape formed from an array of openings. Serpentine flexible printed circuit segments may extend between the openings. The electrical components may be light-emitting diodes or other electrical devices. Polymer with light-scattering particles or other materials may cover the electrical components. The flexible printed circuit may be laminated between fabric layers or other layers of material in the fabric-based item.Type: GrantFiled: July 21, 2020Date of Patent: November 23, 2021Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Daniel D. Sunshine, Paul S. Drzaic, Daniel A. Podhajny, David M. Kindlon, Hoon Sik Kim, Kathryn P. Crews, Yung-Yu Hsu
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Patent number: 11146871Abstract: An electronic device such as a voice-controlled speaker device may have a housing characterized by a vertical longitudinal axis. A flexible substrate such as a flexible mesh substrate with component support regions coupled by flexible segments may be wrapped around the housing and the vertical axis. The housing may have surface regions with compound curvature. The flexible substrate may conform to the regions with compound curvature. A fabric spacer layer may be interposed between the flexible substrate and the housing. Electrical components such as input-output devices may be mounted to the component support regions. A display may be formed from an array of light-emitting devices that are mounted on respective component support regions. Light from the light-emitting devices may pass through the fabric spacer layer toward the housing and back out away from the housing. An outer fabric layer may cover the mesh.Type: GrantFiled: September 24, 2018Date of Patent: October 12, 2021Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Daniel D. Sunshine, Kathryn P. Crews, Tirshathah A. Hunter, Kathleen A. Bergeron, Mingjing Ha, Shubham A. Gandhi, Paul S. Drzaic, Yung-Yu Hsu, David W. Lum
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Patent number: 11124904Abstract: Weaving equipment may include strand positioning equipment that positions warp strands and that inserts weft strands among the warp strands to form fabric. The weaving equipment may include one or more guide arms that pushes warp strands in the weft direction during weaving. Fabrics having warp strands that extend in both the warp direction and the weft direction may be used in forming circuitry in fabrics such as touch sensor circuitry. For example, a touch sensor in a fabric may be formed using first conductive warp strands that form first touch sensor electrodes and second conductive warp strands that form second touch sensor electrodes that overlap with the first touch sensor electrodes. The second conductive warp strands may each have a first portion that extends in the warp direction and a second portion that extends in the weft direction across the first touch sensor electrodes.Type: GrantFiled: December 18, 2019Date of Patent: September 21, 2021Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Daniel A. Podhajny, Yohji Hamada, Kathryn P. Crews, Joseph B. Walker, Daniel D. Sunshine
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Publication number: 20210185808Abstract: An item may include fabric having insulating and conductive yarns or other strands of material. The conductive strands may form signal paths. Electrical components can be mounted to the fabric. Each electrical component may have an electrical device such as a semiconductor die that is mounted on an interposer substrate. The interposer may have contacts that are soldered to the conductive strands. A protective cover may encapsulate portions of the electrical component. To create a robust connection between the electrical component and the fabric, the conductive strands may be threaded through recesses in the electrical component. The recesses may be formed in the interposer or may be formed in a protective cover on the interposer. Conductive material in the recess may be used to electrically and/or mechanically connect the conductive strand to a bond pad in the recess. Thermoplastic material may be used to seal the solder joint.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 25, 2021Publication date: June 17, 2021Inventors: Daniel D. Sunshine, David M. Kindlon, Michael B. Nussbaum, Andrew L. Rosenberg, Andrew Sterian, Breton M. Saunders, Christopher A. Schultz, David A. Bolt, Mark J. Beesley, Peter W. Mash, Steven Keating, Chang Liu, Lan Hoang
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Patent number: 10995433Abstract: A fabric case for an electronic device may include a back panel having a periphery and a side wall that extends around the periphery. The back panel may include a knit image of a user-selected digital photograph or other design. The design of the back panel may be customized according to the user's tastes. The case may be formed using computing equipment and knitting equipment. The computing equipment may receive a digital image from the user and may reduce the resolution and the number of colors in the digital image according to the specifications of the textile machine. Fabric pattern design software may convert the digital image into knitting instructions. The knitting instructions may be executed by knitting equipment to produce a custom back panel having a knit image of the digital photograph. The back panel may be attached to a peripheral side wall to form the fabric case.Type: GrantFiled: January 19, 2018Date of Patent: May 4, 2021Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Kathleen A. Bergeron, Jessica J. Lu, Daniel A. Podhajny, Daniel D. Sunshine
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Patent number: 10983650Abstract: A dynamic input surface for an electronic device and a method of reconfiguring the same is disclosed. The input surface has a partially-flexible metal contact portion defining an input area, and a group of indicators. The indicators may be group of holes extending through the contact portion. The group of holes may be selectively illuminated based on a gesture performed on the contact portion. A size of the input area may be dynamically varied based on the gesture. Additionally, the group of indicators indicates a boundary of the input area.Type: GrantFiled: April 30, 2020Date of Patent: April 20, 2021Assignee: Apple Inc.Inventors: Brett W. Degner, Daniel D. Sunshine, Ron A. Hopkinson, Christiaan A. Ligtenberg, William F. Leggett, Patrick Kessler