Apple has always strived to develop and provide the highest quality displays for their high-end devices. On September 15, local time, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) published a patent application from Apple covering an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display that integrates one or more organic photodetectors (such as organic optoelectronics). diode) for in-cell optical sensing.
In-screen optical sensing mainly uses the optical photodetector (OPD) integrated on the display to sense light, and can be used for biometric sensing (such as face, fingerprint or retina sensing), OLED lighting sensing, touch sensing. sensor, ambient light sensing or health sensing. OPDs can be configured to sense visible light, infrared light, or other wavelength ranges of electromagnetic radiation.
Apple's inventions cover systems, devices, methods and instruments for in-screen optical sensing. More specifically, for the integration of OPDs into OLED displays.
Technically, an OPD pixel (or an array of OPD pixels) can be integrated into an OLED display at the same time as the display is formed (eg, in parallel with the formation of the OLED pixels). Alternatively, it can also integrate the OPD pixels into the display after the display is formed (eg, after the OLED pixels are formed). While the latter allows OPD pixels to be optimized largely independently of OLED pixels, this optimization can sometimes conflict with optimizing OLED pixels. Accordingly, in order to maintain the integrity of the display as much as possible, the systems, apparatus, methods and apparatus described in Apple's patent application include OPD pixels formed when forming an OLED display.
As described in the patent document, OPD pixels can be formed in such a structure that they share the cathode, OLED HTL or OLED ETL structure (eg, materials and layers) used by OLED pixels. OPD pixels can also share other structures used by OLED pixels, such as hole injection layer (HIL), hole blocking layer (HBL), electron injection layer (EIL), or electron blocking layer (EBL).
For example, the OPD pixel array can be interspersed with the OLED pixel array contained in the display, or placed around the OLED pixel array. OPD pixels may be used as cameras (eg, visible light cameras and/or infrared cameras) capable of acquiring one or more images of the iPhone's environment, images of the user (eg, the user's face, fingers, or retina).
There are rumors that Apple will first introduce the under-screen facial recognition feature, and then the under-screen camera. Like most patents, Apple never wants to limit the use of an invention to a single device, even if they focus on the device to which the invention applies in the first place. In this case, Apple notes that the invention could be used in other form factors, including mixed reality headsets, smart glasses, health monitoring devices, Apple Watches, vehicle navigation systems, robotic navigation systems, iPads, and more.
Although Apple's latest patent filing is the most complex to date, Apple's engineering team has been working on under-display cameras for years, covering various approaches to Touch ID and Face ID.