Patents by Inventor Jean-Jacques Drolet

Jean-Jacques Drolet 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: 9671660
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with a display such as a liquid crystal display. The display may have a layer of liquid crystal material interposed between upper and lower polarizers. A first substrate such as a thin-film transistor layer may be interposed between the liquid crystal layer and the lower polarizer. A second substrate such as a color filter glass layer may be interposed between the upper polarizer and the liquid crystal layer. The color filter glass layer may have opposing upper and lower surfaces. The lower surface of the color filter glass layer may have an array of color filter elements. To prevent damage to display, an electrostatic shielding layer may be formed on the upper surface of the color filter glass layer under the upper polarizer. Reflections may be minimized by using index-matching dielectric layers in the display or thinning the shielding layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jean-Jacques Drolet, Mingxia Gu, Wei Chen, Yi Huang
  • Patent number: 9595239
    Abstract: A display calibration system may be used to calibrate a display. The display calibration system may have an image sensor that captures images of the display. An electrically controllable tunable filter such as an electrically tunable liquid crystal birefringence cell filter may be used to produce various wavelength-dependent filter characteristics in accordance with a variety of different filter settings. Control circuitry in the display calibration system may be used to adjust the filter to implement one or more color matching functions or to produce other desired filter characteristics for the display calibration system. The image sensor may measure light emitted from the display while the control circuitry is adjusting the filter. The control circuitry may then process the measured light to produce calibration data for the display. The calibration data may be loaded into the display by the control circuitry to calibrate the display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 14, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Jean-Jacques Drolet, Paul S. Drzaic
  • Publication number: 20160232875
    Abstract: A display calibration system may be used to calibrate a display. The display calibration system may have an image sensor that captures images of the display. An electrically controllable tunable filter such as an electrically tunable liquid crystal birefringence cell filter may be used to produce various wavelength-dependent filter characteristics in accordance with a variety of different filter settings. Control circuitry in the display calibration system may be used to adjust the filter to implement one or more color matching functions or to produce other desired filter characteristics for the display calibration system. The image sensor may measure light emitted from the display while the control circuitry is adjusting the filter. The control circuitry may then process the measured light to produce calibration data for the display. The calibration data may be loaded into the display by the control circuitry to calibrate the display.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 5, 2015
    Publication date: August 11, 2016
    Inventors: Jean-Jacques Drolet, Paul S. Drzaic
  • Publication number: 20160212413
    Abstract: A device may have a display with an array of pixels for displaying three-dimensional images for a viewer. Each pixel may have an array of subpixels and associated lens structures. A beam steerer may be interposed between the array of pixels and the viewer. The beam steerer may steer light that is emitted from the array of pixels towards the viewer. The electronic device may have a camera that monitors the location of the viewer. The beam steerer may be adjusted based on information on the location of the viewer that is gathered from the camera. Other input-output devices such as an accelerometer may also be used in gathering information that is used in adjusting the beam steerer. Different sets of data may be supplied to the array of pixels based on the location of the viewer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 21, 2015
    Publication date: July 21, 2016
    Inventor: Jean-Jacques Drolet
  • Publication number: 20150176775
    Abstract: A display has an array of display pixels formed from display layers such as one or more polarizer layers, a substrate on which an array of display pixel elements such as color filter elements and downconverter elements are formed, a liquid crystal layer, and a thin-film transistor layer that includes display pixel electrodes and display pixel thin-film transistors for driving control signals onto the display pixel electrodes to modulate light passing through the display pixels. A light source such as one or more laser diodes or light-emitting diodes may be used to generate light for the display. The light may be launched into the edge of a polymer layer or other light guide plate structure. A light guide plate may include phase-matched structures such as holographically recorded gratings or photonic lattices that direct the light upwards through the array of display pixels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 9, 2014
    Publication date: June 25, 2015
    Inventors: Mingxia Gu, Chenhua You, Jun Qi, Yanming Li, Young Cheol Yang, Jean-Jacques Drolet, Wei Chen, Victor H. Yin
  • Publication number: 20150177438
    Abstract: A display has an array of display pixels formed from display layers such as one or more polarizer layers, a substrate on which an array of display pixel elements such as color filter elements and downconverter elements are formed, a liquid crystal layer, and a thin-film transistor layer that includes display pixel electrodes and display pixel thin-film transistors for driving control signals onto the display pixel electrodes to modulate light passing through the display pixels. A light source such as one or more laser diodes or light-emitting diodes may be used to generate light for the display. The light may be launched into the edge of a polymer layer or other light guide plate structure. A light guide plate ma include phase-matched structures such as holographically recorded gratings or photonic lattices that direct the light upwards through the array of display pixels.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 3, 2014
    Publication date: June 25, 2015
    Inventors: Jean-Jacques Drolet, Wei Chen
  • Patent number: 8970808
    Abstract: A display may be provided with display layers such as a thin-film-transistor layer and a color filter layer. Liquid crystal material may be interposed between the thin-film-transistor layer and the color filter layer. Due to temperature fluctuations during operation, the optical properties of the liquid crystal material may be altered. To prevent color casts from developing in the display, the display may include temperature sensors. The temperature sensors may run along the left and right edges of the thin-film-transistor layer or may be mounted to other portions of the display. A signal bus may be used to gather temperature sensor data from the temperature sensors. Control circuitry may use temperature data from the temperature sensors to make display color cast adjustments that compensate for temperature fluctuations in different regions of the display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventor: Jean-Jacques Drolet
  • Publication number: 20140078447
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with a display such as a liquid crystal display. The display may have a layer of liquid crystal material interposed between upper and lower polarizers. A first substrate such as a thin-film transistor layer may be interposed between the liquid crystal layer and the lower polarizer. A second substrate such as a color filter glass layer may be interposed between the upper polarizer and the liquid crystal layer. The color filter glass layer may have opposing upper and lower surfaces. The lower surface of the color filter glass layer may have an array of color filter elements. To prevent damage to display, an electrostatic shielding layer may be formed on the upper surface of the color filter glass layer under the upper polarizer. Reflections may be minimized by using index-matching dielectric layers in the display or thinning the shielding layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 14, 2012
    Publication date: March 20, 2014
    Inventors: Jean-Jacques Drolet, Mingxia Gu, Wei Chen, Yi Huang
  • Publication number: 20140071383
    Abstract: A display may be provided with display layers such as a thin-film-transistor layer and a color filter layer. Liquid crystal material may be interposed between the thin-film-transistor layer and the color filter layer. Due to temperature fluctuations during operation, the optical properties of the liquid crystal material may be altered. To prevent color casts from developing in the display, the display may include temperature sensors. The temperature sensors may run along the left and right edges of the thin-film-transistor layer or may be mounted to other portions of the display. A signal bus may be used to gather temperature sensor data from the temperature sensors. Control circuitry may use temperature data from the temperature sensors to make display color cast adjustments that compensate for temperature fluctuations in different regions of the display.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2012
    Publication date: March 13, 2014
    Inventor: Jean-Jacques Drolet
  • Publication number: 20110298696
    Abstract: Displays may include backlight structures. The displays may be liquid crystal displays for electronic devices such as computer monitors and computers. The backlight structures may include light-emitting diodes and a light-guide panel that has opposing first and second edges. The light-emitting diodes may inject light into the first edge of the light-guide panel. An edge reflector may be disposed along the second edge. The edge reflector may reflect more yellow light than blue light to enhance backlight color uniformity within the display. The edge reflector may be formed from a substrate that is impregnated with a colored substance or a multilayer structure. Light diffusing and light diffracting or refracting structures may be used to disrupt light emitted from a light-emitting diode before injecting the emitted light into a light-guide panel. Light-disrupting structures and blue-absorbing edge reflectors may be used together to promote backlight color uniformity in the backlight structures.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2010
    Publication date: December 8, 2011
    Inventors: Mingxia Gu, Jean-Jacques Drolet