Patents by Inventor Ian T. Clark

Ian T. Clark 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: 12101426
    Abstract: An electronic device may have pixels that form an active area for a flexible display layer. An inactive area that is free of pixels may surround the active area. One or more edges of the flexible display layer may be bent around respective bend axes. The display layer may also have one or more unbent edges in which the inactive area and active area of the display have a planar shape. An image transport layer may have an input surface that receives the image and an output surface to which the image is transported. The image transport layer may be formed from a coherent fiber bundle or a layer of Anderson localization material. The coherent fiber bundle may have straight fibers that run parallel to each other in a vertical direction that is parallel to a surface normal of a central portion of the display layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2024
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Tyler R. Kakuda, Hao Dong, Ian T. Clark, Jean-Pierre S. Guillou, Michael J. Brown, Paul C. Kelley, Shaorui Yang, Warren S. Rieutort-Louis, Yi Qiao, Ying-Chih Wang
  • Patent number: 11774644
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a housing with a display. A protective display cover layer for the display may have an image transport layer formed from fibers or Anderson localization material. The image transport layer may include light absorbing material. Light absorbing material may be incorporated as an additive into a component of the image transport layer such as the binder layer of a coherent fiber bundle or the cladding of fibers in the image transport layer. The image transport layer may also be formed from fibers with a light absorbing layer formed in addition to a transparent cladding. The image transport layer may be formed from Anderson localization material that has light absorbing material. Fibers for the image transport layer may be extruded with light absorbing portions. A polymer preform having light absorbing material may be drawn to form fibers for the image transport layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jean-Pierre S. Guillou, Michael J. Brown, Michael B. Wittenberg, Wei Lin, Salman Karbasi, Shubhaditya Majumdar, Ian T. Clark, Nathan K. Gupta, Prabhakar Gulgunje, Chunchia Huang
  • Patent number: 11402869
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a housing with a display. The display may be overlapped by an image transport layer such as a coherent fiber bundle or layer of Anderson localization material. The image transport layer may have an input surface that receives an image from the display and a corresponding output surface to which the image is transported. The input surface and output surface may have different shapes. During fabrication of the image transport layer, molding techniques, grinding and polishing techniques, and other processes are used to deform the image transport layer and the shape of the output surface. The area of peripheral portions of the output surface may expand relative to central portions. Optical uniformity across the output surface can be enhanced by maintaining uniformity in fiber core diameters and other attributes of the image transport layer across deformed and undeformed portions of the output surface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Elizabeth C. Porter, Yi Qiao, Jean-Pierre S. Guillou, Tyler R. Kakuda, Di Liu, Shawn R. Gettemy, Wei Lin, Shenglin Ye, Shubhaditya Majumdar, Christopher E. Glazowski, Paul C. Kelley, Michael J. Brown, Ian T. Clark, Salman Karbasi