Patents by Inventor Mingxia Gu

Mingxia Gu 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: 11022840
    Abstract: An array of pixels in a display may be illuminated by a backlight having an array of light-emitting diodes in an array of respective cells. A reflector is used to reflect light from the light-emitting diodes through the array of pixels. Within the cells, the reflector has cross-sectional profiles that help distribute light emitted from the light-emitting diodes toward edges of the cells. A light diffuser layer for the backlight may have a partially reflective layer such as a thin-film interference filter with an angularly dependent transmission. Within each cell, the reflector may have cross-sectional profiles with portions that are parabolic or elliptical.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 1, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Rong Liu, Yu P. Sun, Abdeslam Hafidi, Erik A. Zweigle, Jun Qi, Mingxia Gu, Victor H. Yin, Xiangtong Li, Yanming Li, Yi Huang, Ziruo Hong
  • Patent number: 10969628
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display with a backlight. The backlight provides backlight illumination for an array of pixels that is displaying images. The backlight may include an array of cells. Each cell may contain a light source with one or more light-emitting diodes and a cavity reflector that reflects light from the light source outwardly through a diffuser for use in forming the backlight illumination. The light sources may be mounted to a printed circuit. Support posts on the printed circuit may be used to maintain the diffuser at a fixed distance from the printed circuit. The support posts may have opposing first and second ends. The first ends may be attached to the diffuser with fixed connections such as adhesive connections. The second ends may be attached to the printed circuit using floating connections.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Erik A. Zweigle, Yu P. Sun, Ziruo Hong, Victor H. Yin, Eric L. Benson, Rong Liu, Mingxia Gu, Robert J. Durand, Wr Jamarulan Wr Ramli
  • Patent number: 10964275
    Abstract: A display may have a pixel array such as a liquid crystal pixel array. The pixel array may be illuminated by a backlight unit that includes an array of light-emitting diodes. A backlight brightness selection circuit may select brightness values for the light-emitting diodes. The backlight brightness selection circuit may select the brightness values based on image data, based on brightness values used in previous image frames, based on device information, and/or based on sensor information. The backlight brightness selection circuit may select the backlight brightness levels to mitigate visible artifacts such as flickering and halo. The backlight levels selected by the backlight brightness selection may be modified by a power consumption compensation circuit. The power consumption compensation circuit may estimate the amount of power consumption required to operate the backlight using the target brightness levels and may modify the target brightness levels to meet maximum power consumption requirements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Duane M. Petrovich, Sean C. Chang, Tobias Jung, Pierre-Yves Emelie, Marc Albrecht, Chen Zheng, Andrei E. Toma, Kevin W. Sliech, Mingxia Gu, Wei H. Yao
  • Patent number: 10911748
    Abstract: A display calibration system may include a first electronic device that includes an ambient light sensor and a display to be calibrated in a second electronic device. The first electronic device may generate test patterns to be displayed on the display. The ambient light sensor may receive light emitted from the display based on the test patterns to generate display color space data. The first electronic device may generate calibration data for the display based on the display color space data and a target reference color space. The second electronic device may store the calibration data and use the calibration data to generate more accurate images. Because the first electronic device may include other functionalities other display calibration, specialized display calibration equipment may be omitted. Additionally, a third electronic device that acts as an intermediary between the first and second electronic devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Robert Molholm, Mingxia Gu, Lu Zhang, Francisco H. Imai, Jiaying Wu, Shahram Peyvandi, Gabriel Marcu, Po-Chieh Hung, Xiran Wang
  • Publication number: 20200379143
    Abstract: Textured cover assemblies for electronic devices are disclosed. The textured cover assemblies may be placed over a display and may provide anti-glare and anti-reflection properties to the electronic device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 29, 2019
    Publication date: December 3, 2020
    Inventors: Mingxia Gu, Janos C. Keresztes, Jun Qi, Jungwook Park, Victor H. Yin, Yanming Li
  • Publication number: 20200372876
    Abstract: An electronic device includes a display having an emulation component and a separate calibration component. The emulation component may provide a user of the device with a list of available emulation presets at least some of which is common across a large batch of displays. The calibration component may include at least one factory calibration setting that may be shared among one or more of the emulation presets. The user may optionally add to the list of emulation presets by filling up empty emulation slots in the emulation component. The user may also be given the option to recalibrate the display or to add custom calibration datasets using calibration targets different than factory targets. The custom calibration datasets may be optimized for one or more of the emulation presets. Thus, when the user selects a particular emulation preset, the display may automatically select the desired calibration dataset for optimal performance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 4, 2020
    Publication date: November 26, 2020
    Inventors: Kevin W. Sliech, Lu Zhang, Mingxia Gu, Robert L. Ridenour, Yanming Li
  • Publication number: 20200335047
    Abstract: A display may have a pixel array such as a liquid crystal pixel array. The pixel array may be illuminated by a backlight unit that includes an array of light-emitting diodes. A backlight brightness selection circuit may select brightness values for the light-emitting diodes. The backlight brightness selection circuit may select the brightness values based on image data, based on brightness values used in previous image frames, based on device information, and/or based on sensor information. The backlight brightness selection circuit may select the backlight brightness levels to mitigate visible artifacts such as flickering and halo. The backlight levels selected by the backlight brightness selection may be modified by a power consumption compensation circuit. The power consumption compensation circuit may estimate the amount of power consumption required to operate the backlight using the target brightness levels and may modify the target brightness levels to meet maximum power consumption requirements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 21, 2019
    Publication date: October 22, 2020
    Inventors: Duane M. Petrovich, Sean C. Chang, Tobias Jung, Pierre-Yves Emelie, Marc Albrecht, Chen Zheng, Andrei E. Toma, Kevin W. Sliech, Mingxia Gu, Wei H. Yao
  • Patent number: 10785845
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display mounted in a housing. The housing may have a stand that supports the housing on a support surface or may have other shapes. The display may have pixels that display an image. The display may also have a two-dimensional array of light-emitting devices such as light-emitting diodes that supply backlight illumination for the pixels. An array of temperature sensors may be overlapped by the pixels. Control circuitry may maintain historical backlight aging information during operation of the display. The aging information may include information on output brightness levels of the light-emitting diodes and light-emitting diode operating temperatures.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 3, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Adrian E. Sun, ByoungSuk Kim, Jason P. Marini, Jun Qi, Kerry J. Kopp, Matthew W. Cooper, Mingxia Gu, Yanming Li, Kevin J. Ryan, Shmuel G. Link
  • Patent number: 10571744
    Abstract: A display may have a pixel array such as a liquid crystal pixel array. The pixel array may be illuminated by a backlight unit that includes an array of light-emitting diodes. A backlight brightness selection circuit may select brightness values for the light-emitting diodes. The backlight brightness selection circuit may select the brightness values based on image data, based on brightness values used in previous image frames, based on device information, and/or based on sensor information. The backlight brightness selection circuit may select the backlight brightness levels to mitigate visible artifacts such as flickering and halo. The backlight levels selected by the backlight brightness selection may be modified by a power consumption compensation circuit. The power consumption compensation circuit may estimate the amount of power consumption required to operate the backlight using the target brightness levels and may modify the target brightness levels to meet maximum power consumption requirements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Sean C. Chang, Tobias Jung, Marc Albrecht, Abdeslam Hafidi, Jun Qi, Duane M. Petrovich, Mingxia Gu, Xiang Fang, Pierre-Yves Emelie, Wei H Yao
  • Publication number: 20190265548
    Abstract: An array of pixels in a display may be illuminated by a backlight having an array of light-emitting diodes in an array of respective cells. A reflector is used to reflect light from the light-emitting diodes through the array of pixels. Within the cells, the reflector has cross-sectional profiles that help distribute light emitted from the light-emitting diodes toward edges of the cells. A light diffuser layer for the backlight may have a partially reflective layer such as a thin-film interference filter with an angularly dependent transmission. Within each cell, the reflector may have cross-sectional profiles with portions that are parabolic or elliptical.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 10, 2019
    Publication date: August 29, 2019
    Inventors: Rong Liu, Yu P. Sun, Abdeslam Hafidi, Erik A. Zweigle, Jun Qi, Mingxia Gu, Victor H. Yin, Xiangtong Li, Yanming Li, Yi Huang, Ziruo Hong
  • Patent number: 10123005
    Abstract: A display may store extended display identification data for communicating the capabilities of the display to a source device such as a graphics processing unit. The extended display identification data may include a red primary color value, a green primary color value, and a blue primary color value. The primary color values in the extended display identification data may be determined during manufacturing. For example, a light sensor may measure the native primary colors of the display, and calibration computing equipment may determine if the native primary colors of the display are within a target color gamut. If the native primary colors of the display are outside of the target color gamut by an amount larger than a threshold, the primary color values in the extended display identification data may be adjusted to account for the color variation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Mingxia Gu, Andrew P. Aitken, Bongsun Lee, Gabriel Marcu, Ian C. Hendry, Jun Qi, Victor H. Yin, Wei Chen, Yanming Li
  • Publication number: 20180059482
    Abstract: An array of pixels in a display may be illuminated by a backlight having an array of light-emitting diodes in an array of respective light-emitting diode cells. A cavity reflector in each cell may help distribute blue light emitted from the light-emitting diode of that cell toward edges of the cell. Optical films in the backlight may include a photoluminescent layer such as a phosphor layer that converts blue light from the light-emitting diode array into white light and may include a dichroic filter for reflecting white light away from the diode array towards the pixel array. A light diffuser layer for the backlight may have printed white ink pads, recesses filled with a high index of refraction material, protrusions for light scattering, light-scattering particles, thin-film interference filters, partially reflective mirrors, and other structures for diffusing the light from the light-emitting diodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 18, 2016
    Publication date: March 1, 2018
    Inventors: Xiangtong Li, Jun Qi, Mingxia Gu, Rong Liu, Victor H. Yin, Yu P. Sun
  • Publication number: 20170371087
    Abstract: A display such as a liquid crystal display may have an array of pixels that is illuminated using backlight illumination from a backlight. The backlight may have a light guide plate that distributes light from light-emitting diodes across the display. The light-emitting diodes may be overlapped by the light guide plate and may emit light into portions of the light guide plate that have ramped profiles. Light-emitting diodes for the backlight may have multiple light-emitting diode dies mounted on common package substrates. Reflective walls may be formed between the light-emitting diode dies on a substrate. Phosphor may cover the dies. The light-emitting diodes may contain four light-emitting diode dies that emit light in four different directions. Two or more of the dies may emit light of different colors. Light may be emitted into the corners of rectangular light distribution regions of a light guide plate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2016
    Publication date: December 28, 2017
    Inventors: Chenhua You, Abdeslam Hafidi, Jun Qi, Mingxia Gu, Victor H. Yin
  • Patent number: 9719639
    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: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Mingxia Gu, Chenhua You, Jun Qi, Yanming Li, Young Cheol Yang, Jean-Jacques Drolet, Wei Chen, Victor H. Yin
  • 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: 9612489
    Abstract: A liquid crystal display (LCD) is provided having a discontinuous electrode. In certain embodiments, different portions (such as finger- or slit-like extensions) of the discontinuous electrode may be at different depths relative to one another and/or may be of different widths relative to one another. Similarly, in other embodiments, the different portions of the discontinuous electrode may be spaced apart in a non-uniform manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Cheng Chen, Shih Chang Chang, Ming Xu, Shawn Robert Gettemy, Mingxia Gu
  • Publication number: 20160261860
    Abstract: A display may store extended display identification data for communicating the capabilities of the display to a source device such as a graphics processing unit. The extended display identification data may include a red primary color value, a green primary color value, and a blue primary color value. The primary color values in the extended display identification data may be determined during manufacturing. For example, a light sensor may measure the native primary colors of the display, and calibration computing equipment may determine if the native primary colors of the display are within a target color gamut. If the native primary colors of the display are outside of the target color gamut by an amount larger than a threshold, the primary color values in the extended display identification data may be adjusted to account for the color variation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 19, 2016
    Publication date: September 8, 2016
    Inventors: Mingxia Gu, Andrew P. Aitken, Bongsun Lee, Gabriel Marcu, Ian C. Hendry, Jun Qi, Victor H. Yin, Wei Chen, Yanming Li
  • Patent number: 9329339
    Abstract: A plasmonic detector and method for manufacturing a plasmonic detector. The plasmonic detector comprises two nanoscale metallic rods coupled to a bias voltage; a nanoscale cavity formed between adjacent ends of the two nanoscale metallic rods; and an absorption material disposed in the nanoscale cavity for converting an electromagnetic field to an electric current for outputting via the nanoscale metallic rods.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2016
    Assignee: AGENCY FOR SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH
    Inventors: Ping Bai, Mingxia Gu, Erping Li
  • Patent number: 9081230
    Abstract: A display is provided that has upper and lower polarizers, a color filter layer, a liquid crystal layer, and a thin-film transistor layer. The color filter layer and thin-film transistor layer may be formed from materials such as glass that are subject to stress-induced birefringence. To reduce light leakage that reduces display performance, one or more birefringence compensation layers may be incorporated into the display to help compensate for any birefringence effects. The compensation layers may include a birefringence compensation layer attached to the color filter layer or the thin-film transistor layer. A display may include an upper compensation layer attached to the color filter layer and a lower compensation layer attached to the thin-film transistor layer. The compensation layer may be formed from glass or polymer materials that have a negative photo-elastic constant.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2015
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Yi Huang, Pongpinit Towashiraporn, Erik A. Zweigle, Mingxia Gu, Wei Chen, Cheng Chen, Young Cheol Yang, Isaac V. Kauvar
  • 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