Patents by Inventor Christopher M. Dodson

Christopher M. Dodson 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).

  • Patent number: 11798460
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display. The display may have light-emitting diode pixels or other pixels. Due to aging-induced degradation of the pixels, the output intensity and color of the pixels may vary over the lifetime of the display. Control circuitry in the device may use an ambient light sensor to measure ambient light and stray display light. The display light measurements may be used in monitoring aging effects so that the control circuitry can compensate for aging-induced pixel degradation. Display light measurements may be made over a sequence of image frames. The image frames in the sequence of frames may include white and black frames or frames of different colors interleaved with black frames. Different frame intensities may be used during measurements of stray display light to gather gamma curves for the display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Zhuoran Dai, Shen Ren, Christopher M. Dodson, Kenneth J. Vampola, Mahdi Nezamabadi, Ates C. Dumlupinar
  • Patent number: 11740465
    Abstract: A head-mounted electronic device may include a display with an optical combiner. The combiner may include a waveguide with first and second output couplers. The first output coupler may couple a first portion of image light at visible wavelengths out of the waveguide and towards an eye box. The second output coupler may couple a second portion of the image light at near-infrared wavelengths out of the waveguide and towards the surrounding environment. The second portion of the image light may include an authentication code that is used by a secondary device to authenticate the head-mounted device and/or may include a pattern that serves to prevent camera equipment in the surrounding environment from capturing accurate facial recognition information from a user while wearing the head-mounted device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2021
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher M. Dodson, Jonathan B. Pfeiffer
  • Patent number: 11740723
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display with an array of pixels configured to display images for a user. The electronic device may have an ambient light sensor for gathering ambient light information. A set of the pixels may overlap the ambient light sensor so that ambient light measurements may be made on ambient light passing through the set of pixels. Control circuitry in the electronic device may control light transmission through the set of pixels so that different light transmission levels can be used in different ambient light conditions. Directional light measurements may be made by moving transparent pixels dynamically across the surface of the display overlapping the light sensor and/or by using pixelated light modulators to vary the angle of light rays measured by the ambient light sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Kenneth J. Vampola, Joshua A. Spechler, Weili Chen, Christopher M. Dodson, Mahdi Nezamabadi
  • Publication number: 20230225695
    Abstract: Audio signals, collected with equipment commonly available to individuals (e.g., a mobile device), can be used to analyze a patient’s breathing. An audio signal associated with the patient’s breathing for a time period can be detected with the mobile device and used to approximate the patient’s respiratory flow for the time period. For example, the audio signal can be analyzed by determining a representation of an audio frequency of the audio signal, splitting the audio frequency of the audio signal into distinct time steps, determining points comprising a weighted mean frequency at each time step, applying a frequency-to-flow rate linear transformation at each time step to approximate the respiratory flow versus time, and plotting a graphical representation of the respiratory flow versus time. The respiratory flow for the time period can be tagged with a factor related to the patient and saved in a database for future analysis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 20, 2023
    Publication date: July 20, 2023
    Inventors: Christopher M. Dodson, Rashid Zia, Christopher Rose
  • Patent number: 11536605
    Abstract: An electronic device such as a portable electronic device may include a single-shot alignment-free spectrometer with no moving parts. The spectrometer may include a diffractive member, such as a grating, an aperture, and an image sensor that generates data in response to incident light. The diffractive member may diffract the incident light based on its wavelength and angle of incidence, and the aperture may further encode the light. The data generated by the image sensor may be used by control circuitry in combination with correlations between spectrometer measurements and known light profiles to determine the wavelength and angle of incidence of the light. These correlations may be determined using a deep neural network. Control circuitry may adjust one or more settings of the electronic device based on the wavelength and angle of incidence, or may use the wavelength and angle of incidence to determine information regarding an external object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Sixian You, Sheng Liu, Christopher M. Dodson, Guocheng Shao, Mahdi Nezamabadi
  • Publication number: 20220090964
    Abstract: An electronic device such as a portable electronic device may include a single-shot alignment-free spectrometer with no moving parts. The spectrometer may include a diffractive member, such as a grating, an aperture, and an image sensor that generates data in response to incident light. The diffractive member may diffract the incident light based on its wavelength and angle of incidence, and the aperture may further encode the light. The data generated by the image sensor may be used by control circuitry in combination with correlations between spectrometer measurements and known light profiles to determine the wavelength and angle of incidence of the light. These correlations may be determined using a deep neural network. Control circuitry may adjust one or more settings of the electronic device based on the wavelength and angle of incidence, or may use the wavelength and angle of incidence to determine information regarding an external object.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 18, 2020
    Publication date: March 24, 2022
    Inventors: Sixian You, Sheng Liu, Christopher M. Dodson, Guocheng Shao, Mahdi Nezamabadi
  • Publication number: 20210303081
    Abstract: An electronic device is disclosed. In some examples, the electronic device comprises a rotatable mechanical input mechanism. In some examples, the electronic device comprises sense electrode positioned proximate to the mechanical input mechanism. In some examples, the electronic device comprises a capacitive sense circuit comprising drive circuitry operatively coupled to the mechanical input mechanism and configured for driving a drive signal onto the mechanical input mechanism. In some examples, the electronic device comprises a capacitive sense circuit comprising sense circuitry operatively coupled to the sense electrode and configured to measure an amount of coupling between the rotatable mechanical input mechanism and the sense electrode. In some examples, the electronic device comprises a housing, wherein the sense electrode is included in a gasket for connecting a display to the housing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 14, 2021
    Publication date: September 30, 2021
    Inventors: Yuta KUBOYAMA, Christopher M. DODSON, Prashanth HOLENARSIPUR, Serhan O. ISIKMAN, Brian R. LAND, Anant RAI
  • Publication number: 20210303851
    Abstract: A head-mounted electronic device may include a display with an optical combiner. The combiner may include a waveguide with first and second output couplers. The first output coupler may couple a first portion of image light at visible wavelengths out of the waveguide and towards an eye box. The second output coupler may couple a second portion of the image light at near-infrared wavelengths out of the waveguide and towards the surrounding environment. The second portion of the image light may include an authentication code that is used by a secondary device to authenticate the head-mounted device and/or may include a pattern that serves to prevent camera equipment in the surrounding environment from capturing accurate facial recognition information from a user while wearing the head-mounted device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2021
    Publication date: September 30, 2021
    Inventors: Christopher M. Dodson, Jonathan B. Pfeiffer
  • Publication number: 20210043130
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display. The display may have light-emitting diode pixels or other pixels. Due to aging-induced degradation of the pixels, the output intensity and color of the pixels may vary over the lifetime of the display. Control circuitry in the device may use an ambient light sensor to measure ambient light and stray display light. The display light measurements may be used in monitoring aging effects so that the control circuitry can compensate for aging-induced pixel degradation. Display light measurements may be made over a sequence of image frames. The image frames in the sequence of frames may include white and black frames or frames of different colors interleaved with black frames. Different frame intensities may be used during measurements of stray display light to gather gamma curves for the display.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 8, 2019
    Publication date: February 11, 2021
    Inventors: Zhuoran Dai, Shen Ren, Christopher M. Dodson, Kenneth J. Vampola, Mahdi Nezamabadi, Ates C. Dumlupinar
  • Publication number: 20210004053
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display with an array of pixels that display images for a user. The electronic device may have an ambient light sensor for gathering ambient light information. A subset of the pixels in the array of pixels may overlap the ambient light sensor so that ambient light passing through the subset of pixels may be measured. Each pixel may have an emission enable transistor coupled in series with a light-emitting diode. Control circuitry in the electronic device may disable the subset of pixels to reduce stray light during ambient light measurements while enabling remaining pixels in the array of pixels to display an image. Ambient light sensor circuitry may gather ambient light sensor measurements over one or more periods by using transfer transistors to transfer change from the photodetectors to charge storage capacitors formed from floating diffusions in a common substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2020
    Publication date: January 7, 2021
    Inventors: Guocheng Shao, Dong Zheng, Christopher M. Dodson, Kenneth J. Vampola, Koorosh Aflatooni
  • Patent number: 10847071
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with a display mounted in a housing. The display may have an array of pixels configured to display images. A display cover layer may overlap the array of pixels. A light sensor such as a color ambient light sensor may be mounted in the electronic device and may receive ambient light through an ambient light sensor window region in the display cover layer or other portion of the electronic device. A diffuser may be located between the display cover layer and the ambient light sensor. The diffuser may have a substrate such as a glass substrate. A lens layer may be supported by the substrate. The lens layer may be formed from a layer of ultraviolet-light-curable polymer in which an array of lenses has been formed. An infrared-light-blocking-and-visible-light-transmitting filter may be used to reduce infrared light reaching the ambient light sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher M. Dodson, Prashanth S. Holenarsipur, Serhan O. Isikman
  • Publication number: 20200348790
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display with an array of pixels configured to display images for a user. The electronic device may have an ambient light sensor for gathering ambient light information. A set of the pixels may overlap the ambient light sensor so that ambient light measurements may be made on ambient light passing through the set of pixels. Control circuitry in the electronic device may control light transmission through the set of pixels so that different light transmission levels can be used in different ambient light conditions. Directional light measurements may be made by moving transparent pixels dynamically across the surface of the display overlapping the light sensor and/or by using pixelated light modulators to vary the angle of light rays measured by the ambient light sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 2, 2019
    Publication date: November 5, 2020
    Inventors: Kenneth J. Vampola, Joshua A. Spechler, Weili Chen, Christopher M. Dodson, Mahdi Nezamabadi
  • Publication number: 20200341512
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display with an array of pixels that display images for a user. The electronic device may have an ambient light sensor for gathering ambient light information. A subset of the pixels in the array of pixels may overlap the ambient light sensor so that ambient light passing through the subset of pixels may be measured. Each pixel may have an emission enable transistor coupled in series with a light-emitting diode. Control circuitry in the electronic device may disable the subset of pixels to reduce stray light during ambient light measurements while enabling remaining pixels in the array of pixels to display an image. Ambient light sensor circuitry may gather ambient light sensor measurements over one or more periods by using transfer transistors to transfer change from the photodetectors to charge storage capacitors formed from floating diffusions in a common substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 29, 2019
    Publication date: October 29, 2020
    Inventors: Guocheng Shao, Dong Zheng, Christopher M. Dodson, Kenneth J. Vampola, Koorosh Aflatooni
  • Patent number: 10817018
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display with an array of pixels that display images for a user. The electronic device may have an ambient light sensor for gathering ambient light information. A subset of the pixels in the array of pixels may overlap the ambient light sensor so that ambient light passing through the subset of pixels may be measured. Each pixel may have an emission enable transistor coupled in series with a light-emitting diode. Control circuitry in the electronic device may disable the subset of pixels to reduce stray light during ambient light measurements while enabling remaining pixels in the array of pixels to display an image. Ambient light sensor circuitry may gather ambient light sensor measurements over one or more periods by using transfer transistors to transfer change from the photodetectors to charge storage capacitors formed from floating diffusions in a common substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Guocheng Shao, Dong Zheng, Christopher M. Dodson, Kenneth J. Vampola, Koorosh Aflatooni
  • Patent number: 10614752
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with an ambient light sensor. The ambient light sensor may be a color ambient light sensor or a monochrome ambient light sensor. The electronic device may have a light-emitting component such as a display. During operation of the display, the display emits light. To reduce noise due to the emitted light while measuring ambient light, the ambient light sensor may have optical structures such as wave plates and polarizers. Theses optical structures may overlap light detectors. The optical structures may be configured to prevent ambient light from reaching a first of the light detectors while allowing ambient light to reach a second of the light detectors. The ambient light sensor may be configured to receive ambient light that has passed thorough an inactive area of a display or that has passed through a pixel array in an active area of a display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 7, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher M. Dodson, Aleksandr N. Polyakov, Guocheng Shao, Meng-Huan Ho, Niva A. Ran, Serhan O. Isikman, Volodymyr Borshch
  • Publication number: 20200105183
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with an ambient light sensor. The ambient light sensor may be a color ambient light sensor or a monochrome ambient light sensor. The electronic device may have a light-emitting component such as a display. During operation of the display, the display emits light. To reduce noise due to the emitted light while measuring ambient light, the ambient light sensor may have optical structures such as wave plates and polarizers. Theses optical structures may overlap light detectors. The optical structures may be configured to prevent ambient light from reaching a first of the light detectors while allowing ambient light to reach a second of the light detectors. The ambient light sensor may be configured to receive ambient light that has passed thorough an inactive area of a display or that has passed through a pixel array in an active area of a display.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 27, 2018
    Publication date: April 2, 2020
    Inventors: Christopher M. Dodson, Aleksandr N. Polyakov, Guocheng Shao, Meng-Huan Ho, Niva A. Ran, Serhan O. Isikman, Volodymyr Borshch
  • Publication number: 20190333431
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with a display mounted in a housing. The display may have an array of pixels configured to display images. A display cover layer may overlap the array of pixels. A light sensor such as a color ambient light sensor may be mounted in the electronic device and may receive ambient light through an ambient light sensor window region in the display cover layer or other portion of the electronic device. A diffuser may be located between the display cover layer and the ambient light sensor. The diffuser may have a substrate such as a glass substrate. A lens layer may be supported by the substrate. The lens layer may be formed from a layer of ultraviolet-light-curable polymer in which an array of lenses has been formed. An infrared-light-blocking-and-visible-light-transmitting filter may be used to reduce infrared light reaching the ambient light sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2018
    Publication date: October 31, 2019
    Inventors: Christopher M. Dodson, Prashanth S. Holenarsipur, Serhan O. Isikman
  • Patent number: 10395620
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with a display. The display may have an array of pixels that form an active area and may have an inactive area that runs along an edge of the active area. An opaque layer may be formed on an inner surface of a display cover layer in the inactive area of the display or may be formed on another transparent layer in the electronic device. An ambient light sensor window may be formed from the opening and may be aligned with color ambient light sensor. The ambient light sensor may have an integrated circuit with photodetectors. Ambient light passing through the ambient light sensor window may be diffused by a light diffuser having one or more light-diffusing layers. Diffused ambient light may be collimated using a light collimator having one or more light-collimating layers such as layers with inwardly facing protrusions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ove Lyngnes, Tingjun Xu, Avery P. Yuen, Christopher M. Dodson, Tianbo Sun, Xianwei Zhao, Xingxing Cai, Sunggu Kang
  • Publication number: 20190096364
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with a display. The display may have an array of pixels that form an active area and may have an inactive area that runs along an edge of the active area. An opaque layer may be formed on an inner surface of a display cover layer in the inactive area of the display or may be formed on another transparent layer in the electronic device. An ambient light sensor window may be formed from the opening and may be aligned with color ambient light sensor. The ambient light sensor may have an integrated circuit with photodetectors. Ambient light passing through the ambient light sensor window may be diffused by a light diffuser having one or more light-diffusing layers. Diffused ambient light may be collimated using a light collimator having one or more light-collimating layers such as layers with inwardly facing protrusions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 22, 2017
    Publication date: March 28, 2019
    Inventors: Ove Lyngnes, Tingjun Xu, Avery P. Yuen, Christopher M. Dodson, Tianbo Sun, Xianwei Zhao, Xingxing Cai, Sunggu Kang
  • Publication number: 20170090599
    Abstract: An electronic device is disclosed. In some examples, the electronic device comprises a rotatable mechanical input mechanism. In some examples, the electronic device comprises sense electrode positioned proximate to the mechanical input mechanism. In some examples, the electronic device comprises a capacitive sense circuit comprising drive circuity operatively coupled to the mechanical input mechanism and configured for driving a drive signal onto the mechanical input mechanism. In some examples, the electronic device comprises a capacitive sense circuit comprising sense circuitry operatively coupled to the sense electrode and configured to measure an amount of coupling between the rotatable mechanical input mechanism and the sense electrode. In some examples, the electronic device comprises a housing, wherein the sense electrode is included in a gasket for connecting a display to the housing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Publication date: March 30, 2017
    Inventors: Yuta KUBOYAMA, Louis W. BOKMA, Erik DE JONG, Christopher M. DODSON, Colin M. ELY, Prashanth HOLENARSIPUR, Mengshu HUANG, Serhan O. ISIKMAN, Brian R. LAND, Anant RAI, Albert WANG, Michael B. WITTENBERG