Patents by Inventor Laura M. Burke

Laura M. Burke 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: 12256032
    Abstract: A portable electronic device may include a housing having a wall defining an opening in the housing and at least a portion of four side surfaces of the portable electronic device. The portable electronic device may further include a display at least partially within the housing, a front cover positioned in the opening in the housing and over the display, the front cover defining a front surface, a peripheral side surface extending from the front surface and at least partially surrounded by the wall of the housing, and a notch that, together with a portion of the wall of the housing, defines an acoustic port of the portable electronic device. The electronic device may further include an acoustic port cover positioned at least partially in the acoustic port and a speaker at least partially within the housing and configured to direct sound through the acoustic port cover.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2025
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Ethan R. Stobbe, Cameron Bauer, Samuel J. Pliska, Macey E. Dade, Baris Ozgen, Lee E. Hooton, Benjamin S. Bustle, Jason M. Gillier, Stoyan P. Hristov, Anthony B. Sinclair, Nicholas Merz, Daniel Jarvis, Ian A. Spraggs, Mitchell T. Hoertz, Michael D. Quinones, David A. Pakula, Brandon R Collins-Smoot, Matthew R. McGuire, Richard H. Koch, Simon C. Helmore, Gareth L. Rose, Marwan Rammah, Zachary S. Scott, Jonathan M. Lee, Melissa A. Wah, Jacob Barton, Laura M. Burke, Jesse P. Harris, Samruddhi A. Deshpande, Ekaterina Pease, David J. Dunsmoor, Nawaf Al-Baghly
  • Publication number: 20250087868
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with a housing having sidewalls, a dielectric cover, and a conductive plate. A display may be mounted to the sidewalls opposite the dielectric cover. A logic board may be interposed between the display and the plate. The device may include a phased antenna array on a first module and an ultra-wideband (UWB) on a second module. The first and second modules may be surface-mounted to the main body of a flexible printed circuit between the plate and the dielectric cover. The UWB antenna and the array may convey radio-frequency signals through the dielectric cover. The flexible printed circuit may have a tail that carries the transmission lines for the UWB antenna and the array. The tail may be folded through a hole in the mid-chassis and coupled to a radio-frequency connector on the logic board.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2023
    Publication date: March 13, 2025
    Inventors: Alden T Rush, Salih Yarga, Joel Ravi, Woonyong Bae, Laura M Burke, Bhaskara R Rupakula, Haozhan Tian, Erdinc Irci, Hongfei Hu, Carlo Di Nallo
  • Publication number: 20250087869
    Abstract: An electronic device may be provided with sidewalls and a conductive plate. A segment of the sidewalls may form a radiating arm of an antenna. A display may be mounted to the sidewalls. The display may include a conductive frame and a flexible printed circuit. The flexible circuit may have a bend. Conductive foam may short a conductive trace on the flexible circuit to the conductive frame near the bend. Low injection pressure overmolding (LIPO) may be molded over the flexible circuit, the foam, and the frame. A conductive spring may short the frame to the conductive plate. The spring may include a wider and/or thinner portion that optionally includes one or more notches for reducing its inductance. The conductive plate, the spring, the frame, the foam, and the conductive trace may form part of the antenna ground for the antenna.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2023
    Publication date: March 13, 2025
    Inventors: Ming Chen, Enrique Ayala Vazquez, Joel Ravi, Woonyong Bae, Laura M Burke, Yuancheng Xu, Bhaskara R Rupakula, Haozhan Tian, Salih Yarga, Erdinc Irci, Tiejun Yu, Seyed Mohammad Amjadi, Ahmed Ali Abdelhaliem Nafe, Hongfei Hu, Carlo Di Nallo, Mattia Pascolini
  • Publication number: 20240267447
    Abstract: A mobile phone may include a connector module configured to couple to a charging cable, antenna circuitry conductively coupled to a first housing component and a second housing component, and a processing system configured to, in accordance with a determination that the connector module is decoupled from the charging cable, cause the second housing component to operate as a first radiating element for the antenna circuitry, and in accordance with a determination that the connector module is coupled to the charging cable and that an operational condition of the connector module is satisfied, cause the first housing component to operate as at least a portion of a second radiating element for the antenna circuitry.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 7, 2023
    Publication date: August 8, 2024
    Inventors: Laura M. Burke, Woonyong Bae, Joel Ravi, Daniel W. Jarvis, Jason P. Shannon, Marwan Rammah, Alexander K. Mark, Maxwell Zhang, Ekaterina Pease, Sara Salmon, Ethan Stobbe
  • Patent number: 12003657
    Abstract: A portable electronic device may include a housing member, a rear cover coupled to the housing member, and a top module coupled to the housing member and including a front cover defining an exterior surface and an interior surface opposite to the exterior surface, a display stack attached to the interior surface of the front cover and comprising a flexible circuit element extending from a side of the display stack, a frame member attached to the interior surface of the front cover and extending at least partially around a periphery of the display stack, and an encapsulating structure positioned between the frame member and the display stack and at least partially encapsulating a portion of a peripheral side of the display stack and the flexible circuit element. The encapsulating structure may cover at least a portion of a bottom side of the display stack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2024
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Richard H. Koch, Jonathan M. Lee, Laura M. Burke, Ekaterina Pease, Nicholas Merz, Daniel Jarvis, Ian A. Spraggs, Lee E. Hooton, Kodiak D. Burke, David A. Pakula, Marwan Rammah
  • Patent number: 11835382
    Abstract: A portable electronic device includes a housing, a front cover defining a front side of the portable electronic device, a display stack below the front cover and comprising a plurality of display layers configured to produce a graphical output in a display region of the display stack, the graphical output visible through the front cover, and a light sensor module positioned at least partially within the housing and coupled to the display stack in the display region. The light sensor module may be configured to receive ambient light passing through the front cover and through the plurality of display layers and, while a blanking interval is positioned over the light sensor module, produce an output corresponding to the received ambient light, the portable electronic device configured to determine an ambient light value based at least in part on the output from the light sensor module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2023
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Jason B. Neevel, Christopher S. Tomasetta, Jonathan M. Lee, Ekaterina Pease, Nicholas Merz, Daniel Jarvis, Michael B. Wittenberg, Jared P. Ostdiek, Rasamy Phouthavong, David A. Pakula, Richard H. Koch, Marwan Rammah, Ian A. Spraggs, Laura M. Burke
  • Publication number: 20220283024
    Abstract: A portable electronic device includes a housing, a front cover defining a front side of the portable electronic device, a display stack below the front cover and comprising a plurality of display layers configured to produce a graphical output in a display region of the display stack, the graphical output visible through the front cover, and a light sensor module positioned at least partially within the housing and coupled to the display stack in the display region. The light sensor module may be configured to receive ambient light passing through the front cover and through the plurality of display layers and, while a blanking interval is positioned over the light sensor module, produce an output corresponding to the received ambient light, the portable electronic device configured to determine an ambient light value based at least in part on the output from the light sensor module.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2021
    Publication date: September 8, 2022
    Inventors: Jason B. Neevel, Christopher S. Tomasetta, Jonathan M. Lee, Ekaterina Pease, Nicholas Merz, Daniel Jarvis, Michael B. Wittenberg, Jared P. Ostdiek, Rasamy Phouthavong, David A. Pakula, Richard H. Koch, Marwan Rammah, Ian A. Spraggs, Laura M. Burke
  • Publication number: 20220286539
    Abstract: A portable electronic device may include a housing having a wall defining an opening in the housing and at least a portion of four side surfaces of the portable electronic device. The portable electronic device may further include a display at least partially within the housing, a front cover positioned in the opening in the housing and over the display, the front cover defining a front surface, a peripheral side surface extending from the front surface and at least partially surrounded by the wall of the housing, and a notch that, together with a portion of the wall of the housing, defines an acoustic port of the portable electronic device. The electronic device may further include an acoustic port cover positioned at least partially in the acoustic port and a speaker at least partially within the housing and configured to direct sound through the acoustic port cover.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2021
    Publication date: September 8, 2022
    Inventors: Ethan R. Stobbe, Cameron Bauer, Samuel J. Pliska, Macey E. Dade, Baris Ozgen, Lee E. Hooton, Benjamin S. Bustle, Jason M. Gillier, Stoyan P. Hristov, Anthony B. Sinclair, Nicholas Merz, Daniel Jarvis, Ian A. Spraggs, Mitchell T. Hoertz, Michael D. Quinones, David A. Pakula, Brandon R. Collins-Smoot, Matthew R. McGuire, Richard H. Koch, Simon C. Helmore, Gareth L. Rose, Marwan Rammah, Zachary S. Scott, Jonathan M. Lee, Melissa A. Wah, Jacob Barton, Laura M. Burke, Jesse P. Harris, Samruddhi A. Deshpande, Ekaterina Pease, David J. Dunsmoor, Nawaf Al-Baghly
  • Publication number: 20220286545
    Abstract: A portable electronic device may include a housing member, a rear cover coupled to the housing member, and a top module coupled to the housing member and including a front cover defining an exterior surface and an interior surface opposite to the exterior surface, a display stack attached to the interior surface of the front cover and comprising a flexible circuit element extending from a side of the display stack, a frame member attached to the interior surface of the front cover and extending at least partially around a periphery of the display stack, and an encapsulating structure positioned between the frame member and the display stack and at least partially encapsulating a portion of a peripheral side of the display stack and the flexible circuit element. The encapsulating structure may cover at least a portion of a bottom side of the display stack.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2021
    Publication date: September 8, 2022
    Inventors: Richard H. Koch, Jonathan M. Lee, Laura M. Burke, Ekaterina Pease, Nicholas Merz, Daniel Jarvis, Ian A. Spraggs, Lee E. Hooton, Kodiak D. Burke, David A. Pakula, Marwan Rammah