Patents by Inventor Nathan K. Gupta

Nathan K. Gupta 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).

  • Publication number: 20240118538
    Abstract: An electronic device may have optical components that each have first and second transparent layers such as first and second glass layers. The glass layers may have outer surfaces that face away from each other and inner surfaces that face towards each other. A polymer layer is formed between the inner surfaces of the glass layers. Along the periphery of each optical component, a hermetic seal is formed to protect the polymer material of the polymer layer. The seal may include one or more metal layers that are coupled to the first and second glass layers. Alternatively or additionally, the seal may include an internal seal, such as a metal foil layer that extends between the first and second glass layers, within the optical component to reduce the width of the optical component.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 18, 2023
    Publication date: April 11, 2024
    Inventors: Wei Lin, Boyi Fu, Nathan K Gupta
  • Publication number: 20240092065
    Abstract: An electronic device may have optical components that each have first and second transparent layers such as first and second glass layers. The glass layers may have outer surfaces that face away from each other and inner surfaces that face towards each other. A polymer layer is formed between the inner surfaces of the glass layers. Along the periphery of each optical component, a hermetic seal is formed to protect the polymer material of the polymer layer. The seal may include one or more metal layers that are coupled to the first and second glass layers. For example, glass prism rings may be coupled to the first and second glass layers and metal may be coupled to the prism rings. The one or more metal layers may then be bonded to the metal on the prism rings, such as through soldering.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 29, 2023
    Publication date: March 21, 2024
    Inventors: Wei Lin, Boyi Fu, Nathan K Gupta
  • Publication number: 20240077968
    Abstract: An electronic device has sensors. More particularly, the electronic device is a small form factor electronic device such as earbuds, styluses, or electronic pencils, earphones, and so on. In some implementations, one or more touch sensors and one or more force sensors are coupled to a flexible circuit. In various implementations, the touch sensor and the force sensor are part of a single module controlled by a single controller. In a number of implementations, the flexible circuit is laminated to one or more portions of an interior surface of the electronic device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2023
    Publication date: March 7, 2024
    Inventors: Zhiyuan Sun, Wei Lin, Ying-da Wang, Chun-Chih Chang, Nathan K. Gupta, Travis N. Owens, Karan S. Jain, Supratik Datta, Kyle J. Campiotti
  • Publication number: 20240043710
    Abstract: A conductive ink may include an ultraviolet-curable resin and high-aspect-ratio conductors, such as nanowires or carbon nanotubes, dispersed in the ultraviolet-curable resin. The conductive ink may be fully curable at room temperature in under a minute with a curing depth of at least 100 microns, without heat, moisture, or a secondary curing step. The conductive ink may also have pigment and/or dyes within the ultraviolet-curable resin, and the conductive ink may be opaque at infrared wavelengths and transparent at ultraviolet wavelengths. The conductive ink may ground the cover glass of an electronic device display to a metal structure within the electronic device, such as a metal plate of the display, to prevent an accumulation of charge at the cover glass.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 24, 2022
    Publication date: February 8, 2024
    Inventors: Ken Hsuan Liao, Ying-Chih Wang, Shu Yang, Yu-Jen Fang, Po-Jui Chen, Andrew H Moon, Sarah Trabia, Nathan K Gupta
  • Publication number: 20230382085
    Abstract: An electronic device may have optical components that each have first and second transparent layers such as first and second glass layers. The glass layers may have outer surfaces that face away from each other and inner surfaces that face towards each other. A polymer layer is formed between the inner surfaces of the glass layers. Along the periphery of each optical component, a hermetic seal is formed to protect the polymer material of the polymer layer. The seal may have a moisture barrier layer that is attached to the first and second glass layers. The moisture barrier layer may be supported by an elastomeric buffer member. The moisture barrier layer may be formed from metal film or a polymer layer or other substrate that is coated with a moisture-impermeable coating. The moisture-impermeable coating may be formed from one or more thin-film metal layers and/or one more thin-film dielectric layers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 9, 2023
    Publication date: November 30, 2023
    Inventors: Zachary M Beiley, Brent J Bollman, Derrick T Carpenter, Benjamin P Cherniawski, Boyi Fu, Nathan K Gupta, Wei Lin, Graham C Nelson, Isik I Nugay Ozel, Zhipeng Pan, Alexander D Schlaupitz, Kristina M Serratto, Ying-Da Wang, Da Yu, Tyler A Marshall
  • Publication number: 20230352497
    Abstract: A display may have one or more bent portions. To increase the magnitude of curvature in a display and/or to allow for compound curvature in the display, a display panel may be partially formed in a planar state. The partial display panel is then bent to have desired curvature. After the partial display panel is bent, additional display components that are susceptible to damage during the bending process may be added to complete the display panel. A flexible printed circuit may be formed directly on the display panel using precise deposition of conductive material. By forming the flexible printed circuit layer-by-layer directly on the display panel, no substantive pressure needs to be applied to the display panel. Electrical connections may therefore be made to the display panel in regions of the display with high levels of curvature and/or with compound curvature without causing front-of-screen artifacts for the display panel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 1, 2023
    Publication date: November 2, 2023
    Inventors: Meng-Tse Chen, Anshi Liang, Arnoldus A Barlian, Bayu A Thedjoisworo, Boris A Russ, Chun-Hsien Lee, Chun-Lan Wu, Han-Chieh Chang, Jiming Yu, Marc J DeVincentis, Nathan K Gupta, Paolo Sacchetto, Paul S Drzaic, Zhen Zhang, Ziyang Zhang
  • Patent number: 11803276
    Abstract: An electronic device with a force sensing device is disclosed. The electronic device comprises a user input surface defining an exterior surface of the electronic device, a first capacitive sensing element, and a second capacitive sensing element capacitively coupled to the first capacitive sensing element. The electronic device also comprises a first spacing layer between the first and second capacitive sensing elements, and a second spacing layer between the first and second capacitive sensing elements. The first and second spacing layers have different compositions. The electronic device also comprises sensing circuitry coupled to the first and second capacitive sensing elements configured to determine an amount of applied force on the user input surface. The first spacing layer is configured to collapse if the applied force is below a force threshold, and the second spacing layer is configured to collapse if the applied force is above the force threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Dhaval C. Patel, Eugene C. Cheung, Pey-Jiun Ko, Po-Jui Chen, Robert W. Rumford, Steve L. Terry, Wei Lin, Xiaofan Niu, Xiaoqi Zhou, Yi Gu, Yindar Chuo, Rasmi R. Das, Steven M. Scardato, Se Hyun Ahn, Victor H. Yin, Wookyung Bae, Christopher L. Boitnott, Chun-Hao Tung, Mookyung Son, Sunggu Kang, Nathan K. Gupta, John Z. Zhong
  • Publication number: 20230343914
    Abstract: Conductive traces may be conformally wrapped around the side of a display panel that includes an array of display pixels. The conductive traces may electrically connect contacts on an upper surface of the display panel to corresponding contacts on a flexible printed circuit that is attached to a lower surface of the display panel. The side-wrapped conductive traces may be interposed between first and second insulating layers. The flexible printed circuit may have a multi-step interface that is electrically connected to the side-wrapped conductive traces. A system-in-package including a display driver integrated circuit may be mounted to the flexible printed circuit. The system-in-package may include a plurality of redistribution layers that electrically connect contacts on the display driver integrated circuit to contacts on the flexible printed circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 16, 2023
    Publication date: October 26, 2023
    Inventors: Han-Chieh Chang, Anshi Liang, Arnoldus A Barlian, Bayu A Thedjoisworo, Boris A Russ, Chun-Lan Wu, Ken Hsuan Liao, Marc J DeVincentis, Meng-Tse Chen, Nathan K Gupta, Paolo Sacchetto, Paul S Drzaic, Po-Jui Chen, Ying-Chih Wang, Yong Sun, Zhen Zhang, Ziyang Zhang
  • 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: 11754779
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display, a display cover layer, and an image transport layer formed from a coherent fiber bundle. The coherent fiber bundle may have an input surface that receives an image from the display and a corresponding output surface to which the image is provide through the coherent fiber bundle. The coherent fiber bundle may be placed between the display and the display cover layer and mounted to a housing. The coherent fiber bundle may have fiber cores with bends that help conceal the housing from view and make the display appear borderless. A central portion of the coherent fiber bundle may be formed from different materials and/or structures than a surrounding border portion of the layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 15, 2021
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Ying-Da Wang, Chih-Yao Chang, Chun-Chih Chang, Nathan K. Gupta, Wei Lin, Xiani Li
  • Publication number: 20230178526
    Abstract: Display structures and methods of manufacture of display structure including a display panel with a curved three-dimensional film contour are described. In an embodiment, a display panel includes display area with a main body area and a plurality of petals extending from the main body area. The petals are folded into a curved three-dimensional (3D) film contour, and are separated by corresponding trenches between petals. The trenches may be filled with various seam hiding materials to visually obscure the trenches.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 3, 2021
    Publication date: June 8, 2023
    Inventors: Xia Li, Tore Nauta, Gilbert Huppert, Dongwoo Shin, Hjalmar Edzer Ayco Huitema, Ruize Xu, Wei Lin, Nathan K. Gupta, Kian Kerman, Elmar Gehlen, Jin Yan, Se Hyun Ahn, Young Cheol Yang, Arnoldus Alvin Barlian, Ran He, Francois R. Jacob, Brent J. Bollman, Wei-Liang Hsu, Di Liu, Jonathan P. Mar
  • Patent number: 11644617
    Abstract: A system may include one or more electronic devices. Fiber bundles may be provided to convey light. A fiber bundle may have a bend along its length. Fibers for the fiber bundle may be formed from polymer cores coated with polymer claddings. The fibers may have end faces coated with antireflection coatings. The antireflection coatings may be formed from amorphous fluoropolymer deposited from solution. The fluoropolymer may be applied to the end faces of the fibers by dipping, spraying, or by dispensing with a needle dispenser or other dispensing tool. An optical component such as a light-emitting device for a communications system, an illumination system, or a sensor system may provide infrared light that is guided through the fiber bundle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 20, 2021
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2023
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Shenglin Ye, Wei Lin, Prabhakar Gulgunje, Shubhaditya Majumdar, Boyi Fu, Sudirukkuge T. Jinasundera, Nathan K. Gupta
  • Patent number: 11534995
    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 such as an image transport layer formed from Anderson localization material. Anderson localization material may be formed using equipment such as heated molds, extrusion equipment, fusion tools, and fiber drawing equipment. The materials used to form a block of Anderson localization material may be polymers or other transparent materials. Elevated temperatures such as temperatures above the melting points of the polymers may be used during extrusion, fusion, drawing, and other operations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Wei Lin, Nathan K. Gupta, Shubhaditya Majumdar, Prabhakar Gulgunje
  • Patent number: 11525955
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display, a display cover layer, and a drawn sheet-packed coherent fiber bundle. The coherent fiber bundle may have an input surface that receives an image from the display and a corresponding output surface to which the image is transported. The coherent fiber bundle may be placed between the display and the display cover layer and mounted to a housing. The coherent fiber bundle may have fiber cores with bends that help conceal the housing from view and make the display appear borderless. The coherent fiber bundle has filaments formed from elongated strands of binder in which multiple fibers are embedded. Sheets of filaments are stacked and fused together to form a block of material that is subsequently drawn to form the drawn sheet-packed coherent fiber bundle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Wei Lin, Nathan K. Gupta, Prabhakar Gulgunje, Shubhaditya Majumdar
  • Patent number: 11500228
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display, a display cover layer, and a sheet-packed coherent fiber bundle. The coherent fiber bundle may have an input surface that receives an image from the display and a corresponding output surface to which the image is transported. The coherent fiber bundle may be placed between the display and the display cover layer and mounted to a housing. The coherent fiber bundle may have fiber cores with bends that help conceal the housing from view and make the display appear borderless. The coherent fiber bundle has filaments formed from elongated strands of binder in which multiple fiber cores are embedded. Sheets of filaments are stacked and fused together to form the coherent fiber bundle. By aligning and fusing the sheets with respect to each other the filaments are packed with a desired density and uniformity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 22, 2021
    Date of Patent: November 15, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Wei Lin, Chih-Yao Chang, Nathan K. Gupta
  • Publication number: 20220236507
    Abstract: A light pipe such as a fiber ribbon may be formed from fibers joined by binder such as extruded binder. The fiber ribbon or other light pipe may have bends. A light source may provide light to an input of a fiber ribbon that is guided by the fiber ribbon to a corresponding output. The output may be located in an interior portion of an electronic device or may be positioned so that light from the output exits the electronic device and illuminates external objects. The light source may have light-emitting devices on a substrate. The light-emitting devices may be vertical cavity surface-emitting laser diodes or other lasers and/or may be light-emitting diodes. Light-emitting devices may be arranged in discrete clusters corresponding to the locations of fiber cores in the fiber ribbon.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2021
    Publication date: July 28, 2022
    Inventors: Prabhakar Gulgunje, Brian S. Medower, Mahmut C. Orsan, Nathan K. Gupta, Shifa Xu, Shubhaditya Majumdar, Wei Lin, Yazan Z. Alnahhas
  • Patent number: 11340725
    Abstract: A force input sensor includes a load cell to adapt a compressive force applied to the force input sensor into a strain experienced by a strain sensor in the load cell. In particular, the load cell includes two compression plates separated from one another by a gap so as to define a volume between them. A flexible substrate (a “diaphragm”)—includes a strain sensor and is disposed and supported within the volume. One of the two compression plates includes a feature (a “loading feature”) that extends toward a central region of the flexible substrate. As a result of this construction, when the compression plates receive a compressive force, the loading feature induces a bending moment in the flexible substrate, thereby straining the strain sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Deng, Travis N. Owens, Shubhaditya Majumdar, Wei Lin, Ying-Da Wang, Timothy D. Koch, Nathan K. Gupta
  • Patent number: 11247421
    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 such as a fiber optic plate. The fiber optic plate may be formed from fibers. An extruder may form fiber bundles that each include a respective plurality of fibers distributed in binder material. The fiber bundles from the extruder may be fed directly to a block forming die. The block forming die may receive the fiber bundles from the extruder and output a unitary fiber block. The fiber bundles may remain heated in the block forming die such that the binder material of the fiber bundles seamlessly merges during formation of the unitary fiber block. A cutter can be used to cut off a layer of the unitary fiber block. This layer may be machined and polished to form the fiber optic plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Prabhakar Gulgunje, Wei Lin, Shubhaditya Majumdar, Nathan K. Gupta
  • Patent number: 11215752
    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 such as an image transport layer formed from optical fibers. Extruded filaments of binder material may be fused together to form a layer of binder for the image transport layer. Each filament may contain multiple embedded optical fibers. As a result of the extrusion process, the optical fibers may be characterized by increasing lateral deformation at increasing distances from the center of the filament in which the optical fibers are embedded. Tension variations and variations in the orientation angle of the fibers in the image transport layer can be maintained below desired limits to ensure satisfactory optical performance for the image transport layer. The optical fibers and binder may be formed from polymers or other clear materials.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 4, 2022
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Wei Lin, Di Liu, Chunchia Huang, Nathan K. Gupta, Prabhakar Gulgunje, Shenglin Ye, Shubhaditya Majumdar
  • Publication number: 20210089170
    Abstract: A two dimensional touch sensor panel can be thermoformed or curved by another process to a three-dimensional touch sensor panel, and the three-dimensional touch sensor panel can be laminated to a three-dimension surface having a highly curved or spherical shape. In some examples, thermoforming a two-dimensional touch sensor panel into a three-dimensional touch sensor panel can result in strain of the touch electrodes, and can result in non-uniform three-dimensional touch electrodes (distortion of the two-dimensional touch electrode pattern). The strain can be a function of the curved touch-sensitive surface and/or process related mechanical strain from thermoforming. In some examples, a three-dimensional touch sensor panel can be formed with uniform area touch electrodes using a two-dimensional touch sensor panel pattern with non-uniform area touch electrodes in accordance with the strain pattern expected for a given curved surface and thermoforming technique.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2020
    Publication date: March 25, 2021
    Inventors: Supratik DATTA, Karan JAIN, Zhiyuan SUN, Ho Hyung LEE, Da YU, Wei LIN, Nathan K. GUPTA, Chun-Chih CHANG