Apple Invention: Ultrasonic Bonding

You know Jony; he loves new toys that could make future devices better, even if we're not aware of the little tweaks made in the manufacturing process. Apple's latest process related patent covers a newly invented manufacturing tool capable of adhering the wires to the PCB pad in a reliable, repeatable way at a lower overall cost, without the need for volatile adhesives.

Apple's patent FIG. 3A noted above shows a perspective view of an ultrasonic welder. If this type of invention interests you, then check out Apple's patent application 20130193193.

Apple Invention: OLED Display having Photodiodes

Apple's CEO Tim Cook is on record as saying that he doesn't like OLED display quality. Cook, speaking at an investor conference hosted by Goldman Sachs in San Francisco in February, called the color saturation of OLED (organic light-emitting diode) displays "awful."

"If you ever buy anything online and really want to know what he color is, as many people do, you should really think twice before you depend on the color from an OLED display," Cook said.

Yet behind the scenes Apple filed for a patent about improving OLED quality. Why does it matter? Because one the strengths of OLED display is that they're superior for certain types of products requiring a flexible display such as Apple's invented wristband or iWatch.

Apple states in their patent that "because each OLED may emit its own colored light, OLED displays may be thinner and lighter than displays requiring a backlight. OLEDs may also be desirable because they may be fabricated on flexible or rigid substrates. OLED displays may also allow better viewing angles and better color than some liquid crystal displays (LCDs)."

Apple states that their invention generally relates to OLED displays and methods to adjust OLED displays to maintain a desired appearance.

Apple states that Photodetectors may be disposed in the OLED display with individual OLEDs or zones of OLEDs to adjust their emitted light. In an embodiment, each photodetector may detect light incident to the display. Such detected light may be from OLEDs of the display, from the ambient light, or both. Ambient light may affect how the light emitted from the display is perceived.

For example, a corner portion of the display may be in a shadow while the remainder is under a bright light. If all the OLEDs are set to the same brightness and/or color level, either the shaded corner or the remainder of the display may be less visible than the other. The photodetectors may enable controllers to brighten or dim the entire display and/or compensate each OLED or group of OLEDs (e.g., OLEDs in the corner portion) to improve the appearance of the display as a whole. This may improve the versatility of the display in different operating environments.

Apple's patent FIG. 8 depicts a flowchart of a method for operating an OLED display to compensate for aging OLEDs; FIG. 9 is a front view of zones across the display of a handheld device. If this invention interests you, then check out patent application 20130194199.

Some of the Other Apple Patent Applications Published Today

20130195052: Methods and Apparatus for Efficient Spectral usage in Extensible Carrier Deployments (An LTE-Advanced related patent)

20130195183: Video Coding Efficiency with Camera Metadata

20130195356: Blemish Removal (Aperture)

20130195353: Digital Image Color Correction

20130196692: Context-Based Reverse Geocoding

20130196659: Methods and Apparatus for Power Saving in Discontinuous Reception – Adaptive neighbor Cell Search Duration

20130195218: Methods and Apparatus for Intelligent Scrambling of Control Symbols

20130195178: Object Detection Informed Encoding

20130194281: Moisture Barrier for Electronic Devices

20130194624: Ad Hoc Transmission of Scanned Documents to Computing Devices

20130194621: Using Regions of Interest to Scale Print Data for Print Jobs

20130193211: System and Method for Robust Real-Time Barcode Detection

Apple patent FIG. 4 of the '211 patent illustrates converting a grayscale image to an edge-detected image.

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