Patents by Inventor John Z. Zhong

John Z. Zhong 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: 10558281
    Abstract: Touch sensor panels typically include a plurality of layers that can be stacked on top of each other. When the touch sensor panel is used in a bright environment, incident light can hit the interfaces between those layers of the stackup having mismatched refractive indices and can reflect off those interfaces. The light reflected from those interfaces can give rise to the appearance of fringes on the touch sensor panel, which can be visually distracting. In order to reduce the appearance of these fringes, embodiments of the disclosure are directed to the addition of an index matching passivation layer between a conductive layer of traces and an adhesive layer in the touch sensor panel stackup.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Chun-Hao Tung, EnkhAmgalan Dorjgotov, Masato Kuwabara, Sunggu Kang, Cheng Chen, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 10534481
    Abstract: High aspect ratio touch sensor panels are disclosed in which multiple row electrode blocks can be formed in a single row within an active area of the touch sensor panel, each row electrode block including a plurality of vertically adjacent row electrodes, or in some instances only one row electrode. In addition, each column electrode can be separated into multiple column electrode segments, each column electrode segment being vertically oriented and formed in a different column. The column electrode segments associated with any one column electrode can be spread out so that each of these column electrodes segments can be co-located and associated with a different row electrode block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Massoud Badaye, Sudip Mondal, Sagar Rajiv Vaze, Albert Lin, Qian Zhao, Chun-Hao Tung, Sunggu Kang, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 10475363
    Abstract: An electronic device may include a display having an array of display pixels and having display control circuitry that controls the operation of the display. The display control circuitry may adaptively adjust the spectral characteristics of display light emitted from the display to achieve a desired effect on the human circadian system. For example, the display control circuitry may adjust the spectral characteristics of blue light emitted from the display based on the time of day such that a user's exposure to the display light may result in a circadian response similar to that which would be experienced in natural light. The spectral characteristics of blue light emitted from the display may be adjusted by adjusting the relative maximum power levels provided to blue pixels in the display or by shifting the peak wavelength associated with blue light emitted from the display.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Cheng Chen, Deniz Teoman, Jiaying Wu, John Z. Zhong, Jun Jiang
  • Publication number: 20190339813
    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: July 12, 2019
    Publication date: November 7, 2019
    Inventors: Isaac CHAN, Prathit BUGNAIT, Albert LIN, Chun-Hao TUNG, Sunggu KANG, John Z. ZHONG
  • Patent number: 10446112
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with a display mounted in a housing. 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 an array of photodetectors and may have a color filter layer forming a corresponding array of thin-film interference color filters with different respective pass bands. The color filter layer may have a shared dielectric stack and multiple color-filter-specific dielectric stacks on the shared dielectric stack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Tingjun Xu, Ove Lyngnes, Avery P. Yuen, Xianwei Zhao, Sunggu Kang, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 10444874
    Abstract: Touch sensor panels typically include a plurality of layers that can be stacked on top of each other. When the touch sensor panel is used in a bright environment, incident light can hit the interfaces between those layers of the stackup having mismatched refractive indices and can reflect off those interfaces. The light reflected from those interfaces can give rise to the appearance of fringes on the touch sensor panel, which can be visually distracting. In order to reduce the appearance of these fringes, embodiments of the disclosure are directed to the addition of an index matching passivation layer between a conductive layer of traces and an adhesive layer in the touch sensor panel stackup.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Chun-Hao Tung, EnkhAmgalan Dorjgotov, Masato Kuwabara, Sunggu Kang, Cheng Chen, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 10444918
    Abstract: Touch sensor configurations for reducing electrostatic discharge events in the border area of a touch sensor panel is disclosed. Touch sensors (e.g., electrodes formed on the cover material and/or the opaque mask) can be susceptible to certain events such as arcing and discharge/joule heating, which may negatively affect touch sensor performance. Examples of the disclosure can include increasing the trace width, spacing, and/or thickness in the border area relative to the trace width, spacing, and/or thickness in the visible/active area along one or more sides of the touch sensor panel. In some examples, touch electrodes can be located exclusively in the visible/active areas along one or more sides of the touch sensor panel, while dummy sections can be included in both the border and visible/active areas. Additionally or alternatively, one or more gaps between adjacent touch electrodes in the border area or serpentine routing can be included.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Wencong Zhu, Albert Lin, Alexander A. Penn, Ashray Vinayak Gogte, Chun-Hao Tung, Hao Zhang, Hui Zhou, John Z. Zhong, Steven P. Hotelling, Sudip Mondal, Sumant Ranganathan, Sunggu Kang, Ramachandran Chundru, Viswa B. Pilla
  • Publication number: 20190302932
    Abstract: A touch sensor panel having co-planar single-layer touch sensors fabricated on a single side of a substrate is disclosed. The drive and sense lines can be fabricated as column-like patterns in a first orientation and patches in a second orientation, where each column-like pattern in the first orientation is connected to a separate metal trace in the border area of the touch sensor panel, and all patches in each of multiple rows in the second orientation are connected together using a separate metal trace in the border area of the touch sensor panel. The metal traces in the border areas can be formed on the same side of the substrate as the patches and columns, but separated from the patches and column-like patterns by a dielectric layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2019
    Publication date: October 3, 2019
    Inventors: Steve Porter HOTELLING, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 10409434
    Abstract: Integrated touch screens are provided including drive lines formed of grouped-together circuit elements of a thin film transistor layer and sense lines formed between a color filter layer and a material layer that modifies or generates light. The common electrodes (Vcom) in the TFT layer can be grouped together during a touch sensing operation to form drive lines. Sense lines can be formed on an underside of a color filter glass, and a liquid crystal region can be disposed between the color filter glass and the TFT layer. Placing the sense lines on the underside of the color filter glass, i.e., within the display pixel cell, can provide a benefit of allowing the color filter glass to be thinned after the pixel cells have been assembled, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Shih Chang Chang, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 10381381
    Abstract: A display may have an array of pixels with light-emitting diodes that emit light to form images. The display may have a substrate with thin-film transistor circuitry for supplying signals to the light-emitting diodes. Anodes may be formed on the thin-film transistor circuitry, emissive material may be formed on the anodes, and a cathode layer may overlap the anodes. During operation, currents may flow between the anodes and the cathode layer to illuminate the diodes. An array of electrical components such as an array of light sensors in an integrated circuit may be mounted under the substrate. An array of corresponding light transmitting windows may be formed in the display each of which may allow light to pass through the display to a corresponding one of the light sensors. Light transmitting windows may be formed by patterning the cathode layer and supplying the windows with antireflection layers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Minhyuk Choi, Bhadrinarayana Lalgudi Visweswaran, Cheng Chen, Chin-Wei Lin, Meng-Huan Ho, Rui Liu, Shih Chang Chang, Soojin Park, Sarfaraz Moh, Jungmin Lee, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 10353516
    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: September 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Isaac Chan, Prathit Bugnait, Albert Lin, Chun-Hao Tung, Sunggu Kang, John Z. Zhong
  • Publication number: 20190196634
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are liquid-crystal display (LCD) touch screens that integrate the touch sensing elements with the display circuitry. The integration may take a variety of forms. Touch sensing elements can be completely implemented within the LCD stackup but outside the not between the color filter plate and the array plate. Alternatively, some touch sensing elements can be between the color filter and array plates with other touch sensing elements not between the plates. In another alternative, all touch sensing elements can be between the color filter and array plates. The latter alternative can include both conventional and in-plane-switching (IPS) LCDs. In some forms, one or more display structures can also have a touch sensing function. Techniques for manufacturing and operating such displays, as well as various devices embodying such displays are also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 17, 2019
    Publication date: June 27, 2019
    Inventors: Steve Porter HOTELLING, Wei Chen, Christoph Horst Krah, John Greer Elias, Wei Hsin Yao, Andrew Bert Hodge, Brian Richards Land, Willem den Boer, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 10331278
    Abstract: A touch sensor panel having co-planar single-layer touch sensors fabricated on a single side of a substrate is disclosed. The drive and sense lines can be fabricated as column-like patterns in a first orientation and patches in a second orientation, where each column-like pattern in the first orientation is connected to a separate metal trace in the border area of the touch sensor panel, and all patches in each of multiple rows in the second orientation are connected together using a separate metal trace in the border area of the touch sensor panel. The metal traces in the border areas can be formed on the same side of the substrate as the patches and columns, but separated from the patches and column-like patterns by a dielectric layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Steve Porter Hotelling, John Z. Zhong
  • Publication number: 20190179367
    Abstract: An electronic device display may have a color filter layer and a thin film transistor layer. A layer of liquid crystal material may be interposed between the color filter layer and the thin film transistor layer. A layer of polarizer may be laminated onto the surface of the color filter layer. Laser trimming may ensure that the edges of the polarizer are even with the edges of the color filter layer. The thin film transistor layer may have an array of thin film transistors that control pixels of the liquid crystal material in the display. Driver circuitry may be used to control the array. The driver circuitry may be encapsulated in a planarized encapsulant on the thin film transistor layer or may be mounted to the underside of the color filter layer. Conductive structures may connect driver circuitry on the color filter layer to the thin film transistor layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 19, 2019
    Publication date: June 13, 2019
    Inventors: Dinesh C. Mathew, Thomas W. Wilson, JR., Victor H. Yin, Bryan W. Posner, Chris Ligtenberg, Brett W. Degner, Peteris K. Augenbergs, John Z. Zhong, Steve Hotelling, Lynn Youngs, Kuo-Hua Sung
  • Publication number: 20190179074
    Abstract: An electronic device may generate content that is to be displayed on a display. The display may have an array of liquid crystal display pixels for displaying image frames of the content. The display may be operated in at least a normal viewing mode, a privacy mode, an outdoor viewing mode, and a power saving mode. The different view modes may exhibit different viewing angles. In one configuration, the display may include a backlight unit that generates a collimated light source and that includes a switchable diffuser film for selectively scattering the collimated light source depending on the current viewing mode of the display. In another configuration, the display may include a backlight unit that generates a scattered light source that includes a switchable microarray structure such as a switchable mirror structure or a tunable microlens array for selectively collimating the scattered light source depending on the current viewing mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 20, 2019
    Publication date: June 13, 2019
    Inventors: Hyungryul J. Choi, Zhibing Ge, Cheng Chen, Hossein Nemati, Wei Chen, Jun Qi, Khadijeh Bayat, David A. Doyle, John Z. Zhong
  • Publication number: 20190164522
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with a display mounted in a housing. Color ambient light sensors may make measurements of ambient light intensity and color through windows in an inactive border region of the display or other portions of the device. The electronic device may process the ambient light measurements based on ambient light information from the ambient light sensors and based on information from additional sensors such as an image sensor, a force sensor, a capacitive touch sensor, a proximity sensor, an orientation sensor, and other devices. Control circuitry in the electronic device may produce reliable ambient light measurements by combining readings from multiple reliable sources and by discarding readings from ambient light sensors that are blocked by a user's fingers or other external objects. Display color cast and intensity may be adjusted based on ambient light information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 8, 2019
    Publication date: May 30, 2019
    Inventors: Nicolas P. Bonnier, Cheng Chen, Jiaying Wu, Wei Chen, Paul V. Johnson, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 10306729
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with a display having a backlight with light sources of different colors. The electronic device may include a color ambient light sensor that measures the color of ambient light and control circuitry that adjusts the color of light emitted from the backlight based on the color of ambient light. The light sources may include at least first and second light-emitting diodes that emit light having different color temperatures. The control circuitry may adjust the intensity of light emitted from the first light-emitting diode relative to the intensity of light emitted from the second light-emitting diode to produce a backlight color that more closely matches the color of ambient light. The first and second light-emitting diodes may include an ultraviolet light-emitting diode die and a blue light-emitting diode die that are mounted in a common semiconductor package.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 28, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Cheng Chen, Jiaying Wu, Lu Zhang, David A. Doyle, Christopher E. Glazowski, Adria Fores Herranz, Chenhua You, Wei Chen, Jun Qi, John Z. Zhong
  • Publication number: 20190146623
    Abstract: Disclosed herein are liquid-crystal display (LCD) touch screens that integrate the touch sensing elements with the display circuitry. The integration may take a variety of forms. Touch sensing elements can be completely implemented within the LCD stackup but outside the not between the color filter plate and the array plate. Alternatively, some touch sensing elements can be between the color filter and array plates with other touch sensing elements not between the plates. In another alternative, all touch sensing elements can be between the color filter and array plates. The latter alternative can include both conventional and in-plane-switching (IPS) LCDs. In some forms, one or more display structures can also have a touch sensing function. Techniques for manufacturing and operating such displays, as well as various devices embodying such displays are also disclosed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2018
    Publication date: May 16, 2019
    Inventors: Steve Porter HOTELLING, Wei CHEN, Christoph Horst KRAH, John Greer ELIAS, Wei Hsin YAO, Andrew Bert HODGE, Brian Richards LAND, Willem den BOER, John Z. ZHONG
  • Publication number: 20190148465
    Abstract: A display may have an array of pixels. Display driver circuitry may supply data and control signals to the pixels. Each pixel may have seven transistors, a capacitor, and a light-emitting diode such as an organic light-emitting diode. The seven transistors may receive control signals using horizontal control lines. Each pixel may have first and second emission enable transistors that are coupled in series with a drive transistor and the light-emitting diode of that pixel. The first and second emission enable transistors may be coupled to a common control line or may be separately controlled so that on-bias stress can be effectively applied to the drive transistor. The display driver circuitry may have gate driver circuits that provide different gate line signals to different rows of pixels within the display. Different rows may also have different gate driver strengths and different supplemental gate line loading structures.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Publication date: May 16, 2019
    Inventors: Cheng-Ho Yu, Chin-Wei Lin, Shyuan Yang, Ting-Kuo Chang, Tsung-Ting Tsai, Warren S. Rieutort-Louis, Shih-Chang Chang, Yu Cheng Chen, John Z. Zhong
  • Patent number: 10288788
    Abstract: Electronic devices may be provided with displays that have polarizers. A polarizer may have a polymer layer that has a portion covered with a dichroic dye to form a polarized region and a portion that is free of dichroic dye to form an unpolarized region. The unpolarized region may be formed by masking the polymer layer during a dye coating process. Masks may be formed from polymers. The shape of the mask may define the shape of the unpolarized region. The mask may be left in place within the polarizer or may be removed from the polarizer during fabrication. Unpolarized regions may also be formed by light bleaching, chemical bleaching, and material removal techniques. Bleached areas may be chemically stabilized. A moisture barrier layer may be incorporated into the polarizer to help prevent the unpolarized region from reverting to a polarized state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: May 14, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Cheng Chen, Masato Kuwabara, Christopher L. Boitnott, Jun Qi, Nathan K. Gupta, Victor H. Yin, John Z. Zhong