Patents by Inventor Stephen C. Cool

Stephen C. Cool 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: 20220268967
    Abstract: An electronic device may be surrounded by an exterior region and may have an interior region. Electronic components may be mounted in the interior region. Housing walls such as housing walls formed from transparent layers of material may separate the interior region from the exterior region. A display may be visible through one of the transparent layers of material. A transparent layer of material may be coupled to housing structures in the device and may be formed of glass or glass-ceramic. The transparent layer may have two opposing chemically strengthened surface layers of different thicknesses. A coating may be formed on a thinner of the two opposing chemically strengthened surface layers. The coating may have an oleophobic outer coating layer, an antireflection layer, and an antiscratch layer. The antiscratch layer may have one or more compressively stressed dielectric layers and may have one or more corresponding graded composition layers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 9, 2022
    Publication date: August 25, 2022
    Inventors: Martin Melcher, Matthew S. Rogers, Ove Lyngnes, Que Anh S. Nguyen, Stephen C. Cool, Tyler R. Roschuk
  • Patent number: 10890700
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display cover layer provided with an infrared-transparent antireflection coating. A pixel array may emit visible light through the cover layer and the coating. An infrared emitter may emit infrared light and an infrared sensor may receive infrared light through the coating and the cover layer. The coating may include a stack of thin-film interference layers. The stack may include alternating lower and higher refractive index layers. The layers may have thicknesses and materials that configure the coating to exhibit an infrared transmittance of greater than 94% from 920 nm to 960 nm and a photopic reflectance of less than 1.5%. The coating may reflect visible light to prevent displayed images from being obscured by visible reflections. At the same time, some photopic reflectance of the coating may be sacrificed to maximize infrared transmittance and accommodate operation by the infrared emitter and sensor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2021
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Stephen C. Cool, Li Zhang, Avery P. Yuen, Kristina A. Babiarz
  • Publication number: 20200096686
    Abstract: An electronic device may have a display cover layer provided with an infrared-transparent antireflection coating. A pixel array may emit visible light through the cover layer and the coating. An infrared emitter may emit infrared light and an infrared sensor may receive infrared light through the coating and the cover layer. The coating may include a stack of thin-film interference layers. The stack may include alternating lower and higher refractive index layers. The layers may have thicknesses and materials that configure the coating to exhibit an infrared transmittance of greater than 94% from 920 nm to 960 nm and a photopic reflectance of less than 1.5%. The coating may reflect visible light to prevent displayed images from being obscured by visible reflections. At the same time, some photopic reflectance of the coating may be sacrificed to maximize infrared transmittance and accommodate operation by the infrared emitter and sensor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 10, 2019
    Publication date: March 26, 2020
    Inventors: Stephen C. Cool, Li Zhang, Avery P. Yuen, Kristina A. Babiarz
  • Patent number: 10591645
    Abstract: An electronic device may have transparent members such as display cover layers and camera windows. A transparent member such as a sapphire member may be provided with an antireflection coating. The antireflection coating may have a stack of dielectric thin-film interference filter layers that form a thin-film interference filter that suppresses visible light reflections. The stack of dielectric thin-film interference filter layers may have thicknesses and materials that provide the thin-film interference filter and coating with low light reflection properties while enhancing scratch resistance. An adhesion layer may be used to help adhere the stack of thin-film interference filter layer to the transparent member. An antismudge coating such as a fluoropolymer coating may be used to reduce smudging. Graded layers and layers with elevated hardness values may be used in the coating.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Zhenbin Ge, Xianwei Zhao, Wookyung Bae, Sunggu Kang, Ligang Wang, Avery P. Yuen, Stephen C. Cool, John Z. Zhong
  • Publication number: 20180081085
    Abstract: An electronic device may have transparent members such as display cover layers and camera windows. A transparent member such as a sapphire member may be provided with an antireflection coating. The antireflection coating may have a stack of dielectric thin-film interference filter layers that form a thin-film interference filter that suppresses visible light reflections. The stack of dielectric thin-film interference filter layers may have thicknesses and materials that provide the thin-film interference filter and coating with low light reflection properties while enhancing scratch resistance. An adhesion layer may be used to help adhere the stack of thin-film interference filter layer to the transparent member. An antismudge coating such as a fluoropolymer coating may be used to reduce smudging. Graded layers and layers with elevated hardness values may be used in the coating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2017
    Publication date: March 22, 2018
    Inventors: Zhenbin Ge, Xianwei Zhao, Wookyung Bae, Sunggu Kang, Ligang Wang, Avery P. Yuen, Stephen C. Cool, John Z. Zhong
  • Publication number: 20180081086
    Abstract: An electronic device may have transparent members such as display cover layers and camera windows. A transparent member such as a sapphire member may be provided with an antireflection coating. The antireflection coating may have a stack of dielectric thin-film interference filter layers that form a thin-film interference filter that suppresses visible light reflections. The stack of dielectric thin-film interference filter layers may have thicknesses and materials that provide the thin-film interference filter and coating with low light reflection properties while enhancing scratch resistance. An adhesion layer may be used to help adhere the stack of thin-film interference filter layer to the transparent member. An antismudge coating such as a fluoropolymer coating may be used to reduce smudging. Graded layers and layers with elevated hardness values may be used in the coating.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2017
    Publication date: March 22, 2018
    Inventors: Ligang Wang, Zhenbin Ge, Xianwei Zhao, Avery P. Yuen, Stephen C. Cool
  • Patent number: 6433972
    Abstract: A giant magnetoresistive stack (10) for use in a magnetic read head includes a NiFeCr seed layer (12), a ferromagnetic free layer (14), a nonmagnetic spacer layer (16), a ferromagnetic pinned layer (18), and a PtMnX pinning layer (20), where X is either Cr or Pd. The ferromagnetic free layer (14) has a rotatable magnetic moment and is positioned adjacent to the NiFeCr seed layer (12). The ferromagnetic pinned layer (18) has a fixed magnetic moment and is positioned adjacent to the PtMnX pinning layer (20). The nonmagnetic spacer layer (16) is positioned between the free layer (14) and the pinned layer (18).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 1999
    Date of Patent: August 13, 2002
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Sining Mao, Zheng Gao, Hae Seok Cho, Stephen C. Cool