Patents by Inventor Chun-hao Tung

Chun-hao Tung 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: 12321559
    Abstract: A touch sensor panel can include a first touch electrode of a first type associated with a first touch node on the touch sensor panel, the first touch electrode electrically connected to a first trace configured to couple the first touch electrode to first touch circuitry, and a second touch electrode of a second type associated with the first touch node on the touch sensor panel, the second touch electrode electrically connected to a second trace configured to couple the second touch electrode to second touch circuitry. The first touch electrode can be formed by a solid and transparent conductive material in the touch sensor panel, the solid and transparent conductive material configured to provide shielding with respect to circuitry external to the touch sensor panel. The second touch electrode can be formed by a first metal mesh material in the touch sensor panel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2023
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2025
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Isaac W. Chan, Chun-Hao Tung, Sunggu Kang, John Z. Zhong
  • Publication number: 20250021194
    Abstract: In some examples, a touch and force sensitive device includes integrated circuitry configured to attenuate noise in a first period of operation, and sense force of an object contacting the device in a second period of operation. In some examples, a touch and force sensitive device includes integrated circuitry formed from a same material layer, the material layer configured to detect a force of an object contacting the device in first one or more regions of the material layer, and configured to couple touch detection circuitry in second one or more regions of the material layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 11, 2024
    Publication date: January 16, 2025
    Inventors: Wenqing DAI, Isaac W. CHAN, Chun Hao TUNG, Nikhil DOLE, Vyom SHARMA, Szhsiao CHEN, Sunggu KANG
  • Patent number: 12197684
    Abstract: Touch screens with ultra-thin stack-ups can provide for a lower profile device, can improve the optical image on the display by reducing the display to cover glass distance, and can reduce the weight of the device. In some examples, the thickness of the touch screen stack-up can be reduced and/or the border region reduced, by removing the flex circuit connection from the stack-up. A flexible substrate can be used to enable routing of touch electrodes to touch circuitry. In some examples including a shield layer, the thickness of the touch screen stack-up can be reduced by routing the shield layer to a shield electrode on the touch sensor panel. The shield layer can then be routed to touch sensing circuitry via the flexible substrate. In some examples, the touch sensor panel or a portion of thereof can be integrated with the polarizer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2023
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2025
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey M. Weisse, Chun-Hao Tung, Ji Hun Choi, Wenqing Dai
  • Publication number: 20240310942
    Abstract: Display layers and touch sensor layers may be overlapped by enclosure walls in an electronic device. The electronic device may have a front wall and opposing rear wall and curved sidewalls. The front wall and the curved sidewalls may be formed from a glass layer or other transparent member. A touch sensor layer and display layer may extend under the glass layer with curved sidewalls. A touch sensor layer may also extend under the opposing rear wall. A foldable electronic device may have a flexible transparent wall portion that joins planar transparent walls. Components may be interposed between the transparent planar walls and opaque walls. Display and touch layers may be overlapped by the transparent walls and the transparent flexible wall portion. Touch sensor structures may also be overlapped by the opaque walls.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2024
    Publication date: September 19, 2024
    Inventors: Isaac W. Chan, Chun-Hao Tung, Fletcher R. Rothkopf, Sunggu Kang, John Z. Zhong
  • Publication number: 20240143103
    Abstract: Display layers and touch sensor layers may be overlapped by enclosure walls in an electronic device. The electronic device may have a front wall and opposing rear wall and curved sidewalls. The front wall and the curved sidewalls may be formed from a glass layer or other transparent member. A touch sensor layer and display layer may extend under the glass layer with curved sidewalls. A touch sensor layer may also extend under the opposing rear wall. A foldable electronic device may have a flexible transparent wall portion that joins planar transparent walls. Components may be interposed between the transparent planar walls and opaque walls. Display and touch layers may be overlapped by the transparent walls and the transparent flexible wall portion. Touch sensor structures may also be overlapped by the opaque walls.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2024
    Publication date: May 2, 2024
    Inventors: Isaac W. Chan, Chun-Hao Tung, Fletcher R. Rothkopf, Sunggu Kang, John Z. Zhong
  • Publication number: 20240134485
    Abstract: Touch screens with ultra-thin stack-ups can provide for a lower profile device, can improve the optical image on the display by reducing the display to cover glass distance, and can reduce the weight of the device. In some examples, the thickness of the touch screen stack-up can be reduced and/or the border region reduced, by removing the flex circuit connection from the stack-up. A flexible substrate can be used to enable routing of touch electrodes to touch circuitry. In some examples including a shield layer, the thickness of the touch screen stack-up can be reduced by routing the shield layer to a shield electrode on the touch sensor panel. The shield layer can then be routed to touch sensing circuitry via the flexible substrate. In some examples, the touch sensor panel or a portion of thereof can be integrated with the polarizer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2023
    Publication date: April 25, 2024
    Inventors: Jeffrey M. WEISSE, Chun-Hao TUNG, Ji Hun CHOI, Wenqing DAI
  • Publication number: 20240134479
    Abstract: Touch sensor panel configurations for reducing wobble error for a stylus translating on a surface over and between electrodes of the touch sensor panel are disclosed. In some examples, electrodes with more linear signal profiles are correlated with lower wobble error. In some examples, diffusing elements formed of floating segments of conductive materials can diffuse signal from a stylus to a plurality of electrodes, thus, making the signal profiles associated with the electrodes more linear. In addition, diffusing elements can be configured to improve the optical uniformity of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, the diffusing elements can be formed on the same layer as floating dummy pixels and resemble a plurality of merged floating dummy pixels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2023
    Publication date: April 25, 2024
    Inventors: Isaac CHAN, Prathit BUGNAIT, Albert LIN, Chun-Hao TUNG, Sunggu KANG, John Z. ZHONG
  • Patent number: 11907465
    Abstract: Display layers and touch sensor layers may be overlapped by enclosure walls in an electronic device. The electronic device may have a front wall and opposing rear wall and curved sidewalls. The front wall and the curved sidewalls may be formed from a glass layer or other transparent member. A touch sensor layer and display layer may extend under the glass layer with curved sidewalls. A touch sensor layer may also extend under the opposing rear wall. A foldable electronic device may have a flexible transparent wall portion that joins planar transparent walls. Components may be interposed between the transparent planar walls and opaque walls. Display and touch layers may be overlapped by the transparent walls and the transparent flexible wall portion. Touch sensor structures may also be overlapped by the opaque walls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2022
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Isaac W. Chan, Chun-Hao Tung, Fletcher R. Rothkopf, Sunggu Kang, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 11893183
    Abstract: Touch sensor panel configurations for reducing wobble error for a stylus translating on a surface over and between electrodes of the touch sensor panel are disclosed. In some examples, electrodes with more linear signal profiles are correlated with lower wobble error. In some examples, diffusing elements formed of floating segments of conductive materials can diffuse signal from a stylus to a plurality of electrodes, thus, making the signal profiles associated with the electrodes more linear. In addition, diffusing elements can be configured to improve the optical uniformity of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, the diffusing elements can be formed on the same layer as floating dummy pixels and resemble a plurality of merged floating dummy pixels.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Isaac Chan, Prathit Bugnait, Albert Lin, Chun-Hao Tung, Sunggu Kang, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 11853515
    Abstract: Touch screens with ultra-thin stack-ups can provide for a lower profile device, can improve the optical image on the display by reducing the display to cover glass distance, and can reduce the weight of the device. In some examples, the thickness of the touch screen stack-up can be reduced and/or the border region reduced, by removing the flex circuit connection from the stack-up. A flexible substrate can be used to enable routing of touch electrodes to touch circuitry. In some examples including a shield layer, the thickness of the touch screen stack-up can be reduced by routing the shield layer to a shield electrode on the touch sensor panel. The shield layer can then be routed to touch sensing circuitry via the flexible substrate. In some examples, the touch sensor panel or a portion of thereof can be integrated with the polarizer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 26, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey M. Weisse, Chun-Hao Tung, Ji Hun Choi, Wenqing Dai
  • Patent number: 11803276
    Abstract: An electronic device with a force sensing device is disclosed. The electronic device comprises a user input surface defining an exterior surface of the electronic device, a first capacitive sensing element, and a second capacitive sensing element capacitively coupled to the first capacitive sensing element. The electronic device also comprises a first spacing layer between the first and second capacitive sensing elements, and a second spacing layer between the first and second capacitive sensing elements. The first and second spacing layers have different compositions. The electronic device also comprises sensing circuitry coupled to the first and second capacitive sensing elements configured to determine an amount of applied force on the user input surface. The first spacing layer is configured to collapse if the applied force is below a force threshold, and the second spacing layer is configured to collapse if the applied force is above the force threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Dhaval C. Patel, Eugene C. Cheung, Pey-Jiun Ko, Po-Jui Chen, Robert W. Rumford, Steve L. Terry, Wei Lin, Xiaofan Niu, Xiaoqi Zhou, Yi Gu, Yindar Chuo, Rasmi R. Das, Steven M. Scardato, Se Hyun Ahn, Victor H. Yin, Wookyung Bae, Christopher L. Boitnott, Chun-Hao Tung, Mookyung Son, Sunggu Kang, Nathan K. Gupta, John Z. Zhong
  • Publication number: 20230136768
    Abstract: Display layers and touch sensor layers may be overlapped by enclosure walls in an electronic device. The electronic device may have a front wall and opposing rear wall and curved sidewalls. The front wall and the curved sidewalls may be formed from a glass layer or other transparent member. A touch sensor layer and display layer may extend under the glass layer with curved sidewalls. A touch sensor layer may also extend under the opposing rear wall. A foldable electronic device may have a flexible transparent wall portion that joins planar transparent walls. Components may be interposed between the transparent planar walls and opaque walls. Display and touch layers may be overlapped by the transparent walls and the transparent flexible wall portion. Touch sensor structures may also be overlapped by the opaque walls.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2022
    Publication date: May 4, 2023
    Inventors: Isaac W. Chan, Chun-Hao Tung, Fletcher R. Rothkopf, Sunggu Kang, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 11579722
    Abstract: Display layers and touch sensor layers may be overlapped by enclosure walls in an electronic device. The electronic device may have a front wall and opposing rear wall and curved sidewalls. The front wall and the curved sidewalls may be formed from a glass layer or other transparent member. A touch sensor layer and display layer may extend under the glass layer with curved sidewalls. A touch sensor layer may also extend under the opposing rear wall. A foldable electronic device may have a flexible transparent wall portion that joins planar transparent walls. Components may be interposed between the transparent planar walls and opaque walls. Display and touch layers may be overlapped by the transparent walls and the transparent flexible wall portion. Touch sensor structures may also be overlapped by the opaque walls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2021
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Isaac W. Chan, Chun-Hao Tung, Fletcher R. Rothkopf, Sunggu Kang, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 11099703
    Abstract: A touch sensor panel can include a silver nanowire touch electrodes formed in a silver nanowire layer on the substrate. In some examples, the touch sensor panel can include one or more anticorrosion layers to protect silver nanowire layer from ionization. In some examples, the silver nanowires include electrochemically stable outer shells that protect the silver nanowires from ionization. Additionally or alternatively, the touch sensor panel can including one or more anti-static layers to protect against electrostatic discharge (ESD). Additionally or alternatively, one or more anticorrosion layers and/or one or more antistatic layers can be formed with a passivation layer therebetween. The passivation layer, one or more anticorrosion layers and/or one or more antistatic layers can then be laminated to the silver nanowire layer to prevent corrosion and/or ESD events in the silver nanowire layer during the fabrication of the touch sensor panel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 24, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Isaac Wing-Tak Chan, Chun-Hao Tung, Sz-Hsiao Chen, Wenqing Dai
  • Publication number: 20210223904
    Abstract: Display layers and touch sensor layers may be overlapped by enclosure walls in an electronic device. The electronic device may have a front wall and opposing rear wall and curved sidewalls. The front wall and the curved sidewalls may be formed from a glass layer or other transparent member. A touch sensor layer and display layer may extend under the glass layer with curved sidewalls. A touch sensor layer may also extend under the opposing rear wall. A foldable electronic device may have a flexible transparent wall portion that joins planar transparent walls. Components may be interposed between the transparent planar walls and opaque walls. Display and touch layers may be overlapped by the transparent walls and the transparent flexible wall portion. Touch sensor structures may also be overlapped by the opaque walls.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 7, 2021
    Publication date: July 22, 2021
    Inventors: Isaac W. Chan, Chun-Hao Tung, Fletcher R. Rothkopf, Sunggu Kang, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 11054948
    Abstract: A touch sensor panel is disclosed. In some examples, the touch sensor panel includes a substrate including a first side and a second side, a passivation layer, a first plurality of touch electrodes formed on the first side of the substrate, and a second plurality of touch electrodes formed on the second side of the substrate. In some examples, a component of the touch sensor panel, other than the first plurality of touch electrodes and the second plurality of touch electrodes, is configured to prevent light configured to activate the passivation layer during fabrication of the touch sensor panel from being transmitted from the first side of the substrate to the second side of the substrate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 6, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Seung Hoon Lee, Ji Hun Choi, Chun-Hao Tung, Sunggu Kang
  • Patent number: 10983626
    Abstract: Display layers and touch sensor layers may be overlapped by enclosure walls in an electronic device. The electronic device may have a front wall and opposing rear wall and curved sidewalls. The front wall and the curved sidewalls may be formed from a glass layer or other transparent member. A touch sensor layer and display layer may extend under the glass layer with curved sidewalls. A touch sensor layer may also extend under the opposing rear wall. A foldable electronic device may have a flexible transparent wall portion that joins planar transparent walls. Components may be interposed between the transparent planar walls and opaque walls. Display and touch layers may be overlapped by the transparent walls and the transparent flexible wall portion. Touch sensor structures may also be overlapped by the opaque walls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Isaac W. Chan, Chun-Hao Tung, Fletcher R. Rothkopf, Sunggu Kang, John Z. Zhong
  • Publication number: 20210089168
    Abstract: An electronic device with a force sensing device is disclosed. The electronic device comprises a user input surface defining an exterior surface of the electronic device, a first capacitive sensing element, and a second capacitive sensing element capacitively coupled to the first capacitive sensing element. The electronic device also comprises a first spacing layer between the first and second capacitive sensing elements, and a second spacing layer between the first and second capacitive sensing elements. The first and second spacing layers have different compositions. The electronic device also comprises sensing circuitry coupled to the first and second capacitive sensing elements configured to determine an amount of applied force on the user input surface. The first spacing layer is configured to collapse if the applied force is below a force threshold, and the second spacing layer is configured to collapse if the applied force is above the force threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2020
    Publication date: March 25, 2021
    Inventors: Dhaval C. Patel, Eugene C. Cheung, Pey-Jiun Ko, Po-Jui Chen, Robert W. Rumford, Steve L. Terry, Wei Lin, Xiaofan Niu, Xiaoqi Zhou, Yi Gu, Yindar Chuo, Rasmi R. Das, Steven M. Scardato, Se Hyun Ahn, Victor H. Yin, Wookyung Bae, Christopher L. Boitnott, Chun-Hao Tung, Mookyung Son, Sunggu Kang, Nathan K. Gupta, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 10955978
    Abstract: A touch sensor panel is disclosed. The touch sensor panel can include a first substrate layer; a first electrode layer comprising one or more of a touch electrode and a trace configured to couple the touch electrode to sense circuitry, the first electrode layer located on a first side of the first substrate layer; a second electrode layer located on the first side of the first substrate layer; a passivation layer disposed in between the first electrode layer and the second electrode layer; and a third electrode layer located on a second side of the first substrate layer, different from the first side of the first substrate layer. The first electrode layer can be comprised of a first conductive material, the second electrode layer can be comprised of a second conductive material, and the third electrode layer can be comprised of a third conductive material. The touch sensor panel may not include a second substrate layer between the first substrate layer and the second electrode layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Sz-Hsiao Chen, Chun-Hao Tung
  • Patent number: 10754066
    Abstract: A display may have an active area in which pixels display images through a transparent display layer. An opaque masking material may be formed in an inactive border area adjacent to the active area. The opaque masking layer may include particles such as carbon black particles to provide the opaque masking layer with a dark appearance. The color of the opaque masking layer may be adjusted by incorporating additional particles such as titanium oxide particles. Particle size for the carbon black particles and the index of refraction of the opaque masking layer may be adjusted to reduce reflectance in the inactive border area. A transparent conductive layer may be supported by the transparent display layer. Index-of-refraction matching layers may be interposed between the transparent conductive layer and the transparent display layer. The opaque masking layer may be interposed between the matching layers in the inactive border area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2020
    Assignee: Apple inc.
    Inventors: Chun-Hao Tung, Qian Zhao, Sunggu Kang, John Z. Zhong