Patents by Inventor Shin-Ying Lu

Shin-Ying Lu 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: 10866458
    Abstract: An electronic device may include display layers such as liquid crystal display layers and a backlight unit that provides illumination for the display layers. The backlight unit may include light-emitting diodes that emit light into the edge of a light guide film. To minimize the inactive area of the display, the light-emitting diodes may be tightly spaced to approximate a line light source instead of point light sources. Color and/or luminance compensation layers may be incorporated at various locations within the backlight structures to ensure that the backlight provided to the display layers is homogenous. A thin-film transistor layer of the display may be coupled to a printed circuit board by a flexible printed circuit. The flexible printed circuit may have additional solder mask layers to improve robustness, may include encapsulation, and may have traces with a varying pitch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Shin-Ying Lu, Daming Xu, Suraj P. Gorkhali, Adria Fores Herranz, Mookyung Son, Heesang Suh, Victor H. Yin, Aaron L. Holsteen, Xiaokai Li, Zhibing Ge
  • Publication number: 20200133068
    Abstract: An electronic device may include display layers such as liquid crystal display layers and a backlight unit that provides illumination for the display layers. The backlight unit may include light-emitting diodes that emit light into the edge of a light guide film. To minimize the inactive area of the display, the light-emitting diodes may be tightly spaced to approximate a line light source instead of point light sources. Color and/or luminance compensation layers may be incorporated at various locations within the backlight structures to ensure that the backlight provided to the display layers is homogenous. A thin-film transistor layer of the display may be coupled to a printed circuit board by a flexible printed circuit. The flexible printed circuit may have additional solder mask layers to improve robustness, may include encapsulation, and may have traces with a varying pitch.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 12, 2019
    Publication date: April 30, 2020
    Inventors: Shin-Ying Lu, Daming Xu, Suraj P. Gorkhali, Adria Fores Herranz, Mookyung Son, Heesang Suh, Victor H. Yin, Aaron L. Holsteen, Xiaokai Li, Zhibing Ge
  • Patent number: 10571743
    Abstract: A display may have a backlight unit that provides backlight illumination. The backlight unit may include a light guide that distributes light through the display. Light-emitting diodes may emit light into the light guide. A reflector that is overlapped by the light guide may help reflect light upwards through an array of pixels. The backlight unit may have a chassis that receives the reflector, light guide, light-emitting diodes, and optical films such as diffusers and prism films. Optical and mechanical features in the backlight unit may enhance color and intensity uniformity for the backlight illumination and may help enhance durability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 28, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Byungsoo Ko, Daming Xu, Heesang Suh, Michael Tom, Shin-Ying Lu, Thomas Mueller, Wenyong Zhu, Victor H. Yin, Mookyung Son
  • Publication number: 20180307102
    Abstract: A display may have a backlight unit that provides backlight illumination. The backlight unit may include a light guide that distributes light through the display. Light-emitting diodes may emit light into the light guide. A reflector that is overlapped by the light guide may help reflect light upwards through an array of pixels. The backlight unit may have a chassis that receives the reflector, light guide, light-emitting diodes, and optical films such as diffusers and prism films. Optical and mechanical features in the backlight unit may enhance color and intensity uniformity for the backlight illumination and may help enhance durability.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 28, 2017
    Publication date: October 25, 2018
    Inventors: Byungsoo Ko, Daming Xu, Heesang Suh, Michael Tom, Shin-Ying Lu, Thomas Mueller, Wenyong Zhu, Victor H. Yin, Mookyung Son
  • Patent number: 9857521
    Abstract: A display may have an array of pixels that display images for a user. The backlight unit may have a light-guide layer. An array of light-emitting diodes may emit light into an edge of the light-guide layer. The light guide layer may overlap a backlight reflector. The backlight reflector may include a backlight reflector panel formed from a stack of dielectric layers on a rectangular substrate. The backlight reflector may also include a strip of backlight reflector tape having an edge that is overlapped by an edge portion of the backlight reflector panel. Color compensating features such as printed colored ink patterns may be formed on the backlight reflector to adjust the color of backlight illumination in portions of the backlight unit adjacent to the light-emitting diodes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Chuan Pu, Shin-Ying Lu, Chenhua You, Sheng Min Wang, Jun Qi, Victor H. Yin
  • Publication number: 20160306090
    Abstract: A display may have an array of pixels that display images for a user. The backlight unit may have a light-guide layer. An array of light-emitting diodes may emit light into an edge of the light-guide layer. The light guide layer may overlap a backlight reflector. The backlight reflector may include a backlight reflector panel formed from a stack of dielectric layers on a rectangular substrate. The backlight reflector may also include a strip of backlight reflector tape having an edge that is overlapped by an edge portion of the backlight reflector panel. Color compensating features such as printed colored ink patterns may be formed on the backlight reflector to adjust the color of backlight illumination in portions of the backlight unit adjacent to the light-emitting diodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 12, 2015
    Publication date: October 20, 2016
    Inventors: Chuan Pu, Shin-Ying Lu, Chenhua You, Sheng Min Wang, Jun Qi, Victor H. Yin
  • Patent number: 8964161
    Abstract: The present invention provides an electro-optical device comprising a cell of polymer-stabilized blue phase (PSBP) liquid crystal under an electrical field and a method of controlling the reflection and transmission of an incident electromagnetic radiation such as visible light, by way of controlling the electrical field. The invention exhibits merits such as cost-effectiveness; simpler manufacturability due to the removal of requirements of polarizer and color filter; and fast switching, among others.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 24, 2015
    Assignee: Kent State University
    Inventors: Liang-Chy Chien, Shin-Ying Lu
  • Publication number: 20130242244
    Abstract: A liquid crystal panel and method are disclosed in which a substrate is electrically connected to an electrically conductive glass using a carbon black conductor formed from an electrically conductive carbon black adhesive.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 19, 2012
    Publication date: September 19, 2013
    Inventors: Frank Supon, Shin-Ying Lu
  • Publication number: 20100315585
    Abstract: The present invention provides an electro-optical device comprising a cell of polymer-stabilized blue phase (PSBP) liquid crystal under an electrical field and a method of controlling the reflection and transmission of an incident electromagnetic radiation such as visible light, by way of controlling the electrical field. The invention exhibits merits such as cost-effectiveness; simpler manufacturability due to the removal of requirements of polarizer and color filter; and fast switching, among others.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2010
    Publication date: December 16, 2010
    Inventors: Liang-Chy Chien, Shin-Ying Lu
  • Publication number: 20100315568
    Abstract: A liquid crystal device includes carbon nanotube-doped liquid crystal materials that have a fast switching mode. The liquid crystals may be nematic liquid crystals contained in an optically controlled birefringence cell, with a small amount of nanotubes relative to the liquid crystals. The cell may operate between an optical bend state and homeotropic state, where the liquid crystals aligning in a bend state in response to low voltage and transform to a homeotropic state in response to high voltage. The cell may capable of a large change in effective birefringence, or variable effective birefringence enabling self-compensated optical retardation. The liquid crystals may be included with an electro-optical film, which may be formed with polymer encapsulated liquid crystals with the inclusion of at least a small amount of nanotubes sufficient to induce homogeneous liquid crystal dispersion. The electro-optical film may be fabricated by lamination or otherwise onto a substrate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 16, 2010
    Publication date: December 16, 2010
    Applicant: KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
    Inventors: Liang-Chy Chien, Shin-Ying Lu, Lu Lu
  • Patent number: 7812919
    Abstract: This invention relates to a method of fabrication of liquid crystal light modulating devises having electrically tunable spectral wavelength and more particularly, to a cholesteric liquid crystal display with electrically switchable colors. The cholesteric light modulators may be fabricated by applying a plurality of layers to maximize the light modulation. It also features a polymer composite or polymer-network stabilized cholesteric liquid crystal with electrically switchable Bragg reflected wavelength within a predetermined range of spectral wavelength.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 9, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2010
    Assignee: Kent State University
    Inventors: Liang-Chy Chien, Shin-Ying Lu
  • Publication number: 20080030635
    Abstract: This invention relates to a method of fabrication of liquid crystal light modulating devises having electrically tunable spectral wavelength and more particularly, to a cholesteric liquid crystal display with electrically switchable colors. The cholesteric light modulators may be fabricated by applying a plurality of layers to maximize the light modulation. It also features a polymer composite or polymer-network stabilized cholesteric liquid crystal with electrically switchable Bragg reflected wavelength within a predetermined range of spectral wavelength.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 9, 2007
    Publication date: February 7, 2008
    Inventors: Liang-Chy Chien, Shin-Ying Lu