Patents by Inventor Damon R. Lemmon

Damon R. Lemmon 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).

  • Cylindrical retroreflector array for rotation tracking
    Patent number: 12104934
    Abstract: An electronic device is described. The electronic device may include a housing, a rotatable crown, and a self-mixing interferometry (SMI) sensor positioned within the housing. The rotatable crown may include an array of retroreflective surface features that reflect incident light back to a light source. Each retroreflective surface feature of the array of retroreflective surface features may be formed as a corner-cube with three perpendicular faces. The SMI sensor or associated processing electronics may compare originally emitted light with reflected light to identify a movement or distance of the rotatable crown with respect to the SMI sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 1, 2023
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Xin Li, Damon R. Lemmon, David D. Dashevsky, Dianbo Guo, Peng Zhao, Ruonan Yang
  • Cylindrical Retroreflector Array for Rotation Tracking
    Publication number: 20230258479
    Abstract: An electronic device is described. The electronic device may include a housing, a rotatable crown, and a self-mixing interferometry (SMI) sensor positioned within the housing. The rotatable crown may include an array of retroreflective surface features that reflect incident light back to a light source. Each retroreflective surface feature of the array of retroreflective surface features may be formed as a corner-cube with three perpendicular faces. The SMI sensor or associated processing electronics may compare originally emitted light with reflected light to identify a movement or distance of the rotatable crown with respect to the SMI sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 1, 2023
    Publication date: August 17, 2023
    Inventors: Xin Li, Damon R. Lemmon, David D. Dashevsky, Dianbo Guo, Peng Zhao, Ruonan Yang
  • Cylindrical retroreflector array for rotation tracking
    Patent number: 11674825
    Abstract: An electronic device is described. The electronic device may include a housing, a rotatable crown, and a self-mixing interferometry (SMI) sensor positioned within the housing. The rotatable crown may include an array of retroreflective surface features that reflect incident light back to a light source. Each retroreflective surface feature of the array of retroreflective surface features may be formed as a corner-cube with three perpendicular faces. The SMI sensor or associated processing electronics may compare originally emitted light with reflected light to identify a movement or distance of the rotatable crown with respect to the SMI sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 13, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Xin Li, Damon R. Lemmon, David D. Dashevsky, Dianbo Guo, Peng Zhao, Ruonan Yang
  • Cylindrical Retroreflector Array for Rotation Tracking
    Publication number: 20230086536
    Abstract: An electronic device is described. The electronic device may include a housing, a rotatable crown, and a self-mixing interferometry (SMI) sensor positioned within the housing. The rotatable crown may include an array of retroreflective surface features that reflect incident light back to a light source. Each retroreflective surface feature of the array of retroreflective surface features may be formed as a corner-cube with three perpendicular faces. The SMI sensor or associated processing electronics may compare originally emitted light with reflected light to identify a movement or distance of the rotatable crown with respect to the SMI sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2021
    Publication date: March 23, 2023
    Inventors: Xin Li, Damon R. Lemmon, David D. Dashevsky, Dianbo Guo, Peng Zhao, Ruonan Yang