Today the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that demonstrates their ongoing work in placing their various face cameras under the display. Apple's Face ID cameras appear to present a larger challenge to overcome than most competing smartphones that usually only have a single selfie camera. Apple's latest patent presents a possible solution in hiding the cameras under the display so as to provide users with a full-face display. Apple's patent applies to multiple current and future devices such as iPhone, MacBook and smartglasses.

In Apple's patent background they note that there's a trend towards borderless electronic devices with a full-face display. These devices, however, may still need to include sensors such as cameras, ambient light sensors, and proximity sensors to provide other device capabilities. Since the display now covers the entire front face of the electronic device, the sensors will have to be placed under the display stack. In practice, however, the amount of light transmission through the display stack is very low (i.e., the transmission might be less than 20% in the visible spectrum), which severely limits the sensing performance under the display.

Devices with Displays having Transparent Openings and Touch Sensor Metal

Apple's invention includes an electronic device, such as an iPhone, that may include a display and an optical sensor formed underneath the display.

The display may have both a full pixel density region and a partial pixel density region or pixel removal region. The pixel removal region includes a plurality of high-transmittance areas that overlap the optical sensor. Each high-transmittance area may be devoid of thin-film transistors and other display components. The plurality of high-transmittance areas regions is configured to increase the transmittance of light through the display to the sensor. The high-transmittance areas may therefore be referred to as transparent windows in the display.

To increase transmittance in the pixel removal region, the arrangement of touch sensor metal in the pixel removal region may be different than the arrangement of touch sensor metal in the full pixel density region. In particular, the touch sensor metal in the pixel removal region may have a lower total coverage per unit area than in the full pixel density region.

To improve transmission while maintaining satisfactory touch sensing performance, one or more segments of the touch sensor metal in the pixel removal region may have a reduced width relative to the touch sensor metal in the full pixel density region and/or one or more segments of the touch sensor metal in the pixel removal region may be omitted relative to the touch sensor metal in the full pixel density region.

To mitigate a different appearance between the pixel removal region and the full pixel density region at off-axis viewing angles, the position of the touch sensor metal in the pixel removal region may be tuned. Some of the touch sensor metal segments in the pixel removal region may be shifted towards or away from their adjacent pixel.

Apple's patent FIGS. 6A-6F below are top views of illustrative displays showing possible positions for pixel removal regions.  

Apple's patent FIG. 8 is a top view of an illustrative pixel removal region of a display that includes touch sensor metal. Apple's patent goes on to illustrate many other configurations.

Although the patent figures use an iPhone as an example, the patent clarifies that sensors/cameras under a display could apply to other devices such as an iPad, MacBook, Apple Watch, future smartglasses and more.

This is a highly technical patent. To review its full details, review patent application 20230284503 or WO2023168146.

Other patents on this project can be reviewed here: 01, 02 (relating to Touch ID) and 03 where our cover graphic originated from.