PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-11871517-B1
Application Number: US-202117200608-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B1

Title: Electronic devices with stacked circuitry

Abstract:
An electronic device may have a display with an array of pixels for displaying images. The electronic device may also have a lens through which the images are viewable on the display. The display may have a display panel that is mounted to a printed circuit stack. The printed circuit stack may include multiple printed circuit layers to which components are mounted. The components may include an orientation sensor overlapped by the display panel. A camera may be mounted to a printed circuit stack and may overlap one or more electrical components such as an orientation sensor. The printed circuit stacks may include rigid and flexible printed circuits coupled together using solder and other conductive connections. Air gaps may be created between stacked printed circuit layers.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic device, comprising:
 a camera; 
 a printed circuit to which the camera is mounted; and 
 an orientation sensor coupled to the printed circuit that is configured to measure an orientation of the camera, wherein the printed circuit comprises a flexible printed circuit substrate to which the orientation sensor is mounted and comprises a rigid printed circuit substrate. 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  further comprising:
 a display configured to display an image; and 
 a lens through which the image is viewable, wherein the orientation sensor comprises an orientation sensor selected from the group consisting of: an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a compass. 
 
     
     
       3. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the camera is attached to a first surface of the rigid printed circuit substrate and wherein the rigid printed circuit substrate has an opposing second surface that is attached to the flexible printed circuit substrate. 
     
     
       4. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the orientation sensor is soldered to the flexible printed circuit substrate and wherein the rigid printed circuit substrate is soldered to the flexible printed circuit substrate. 
     
     
       5. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the camera comprises a camera body, a camera lens coupled to the camera body, and an image sensor coupled to the camera body. 
     
     
       6. The electronic device defined in  claim 5  wherein the image sensor is directly soldered to the rigid printed circuit substrate. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device defined in  claim 5  wherein the camera further comprises a camera printed circuit substrate to which the image sensor is soldered and wherein the camera printed circuit substrate is soldered to the rigid printed circuit substrate. 
     
     
       8. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the camera overlaps the orientation sensor. 
     
     
       9. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the orientation sensor is embedded in the printed circuit. 
     
     
       10. The electronic device defined in  claim 9  wherein the orientation sensor is between the flexible printed circuit substrate and the camera. 
     
     
       11. An electronic device, comprising:
 a display panel having an array of pixels configured to produce an image; 
 a lens through which the image is visible; 
 a first printed circuit to which the display panel is mounted; 
 a first sensor coupled to the first printed circuit and overlapped by the display panel; 
 a camera; and 
 a second printed circuit to which the camera is mounted. 
 
     
     
       12. The electronic device defined in  claim 11  further comprising a second sensor mounted to the second printed circuit, wherein the second sensor comprises a sensor selected from the group consisting of: an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a compass. 
     
     
       13. The electronic device defined in  claim 11  wherein the first printed circuit comprises a first printed circuit layer, a second printed circuit layer, and a third printed circuit layer, wherein the first and third printed circuit layers are separated by an air gap in a first area and are coupled together by the second printed circuit layer in a second area. 
     
     
       14. The electronic device defined in  claim 13  further comprising an integrated circuit in the air gap. 
     
     
       15. The electronic device defined in  claim 14  wherein the second printed circuit includes a rigid printed circuit to which the camera is soldered and a flexible printed circuit attached to the rigid printed circuit. 
     
     
       16. The electronic device defined in  claim 11  wherein the first printed circuit comprises a stack of multiple printed circuit substrates. 
     
     
       17. An electronic device, comprising:
 a housing; 
 a lens; and 
 a printed circuit assembly in the housing, wherein the printed circuit assembly comprises:
 a display panel having an array of pixels configured to produce an image viewable through the lens; 
 a printed circuit stack to which the display panel is mounted, wherein the printed circuit stack has a first printed circuit layer and a second printed circuit layer separated in a first area by an air gap and joined in a second area by an interposed third printed circuit layer; and 
 an electrical component in the air gap that is mounted to the first printed circuit layer. 
 
 
     
     
       18. The electronic device defined in  claim 17  wherein the printed circuit assembly further comprises an orientation sensor coupled to the printed circuit stack and wherein the orientation sensor comprises an orientation sensor selected from the group consisting of: an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a compass. 
     
     
       19. The electronic device defined in  claim 18  wherein the electrical component comprises a display driver integrated circuit. 
     
     
       20. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  further comprising:
 a head-mounted housing on which the camera is located; and 
 a display mounted on the head-mounted housing.

Description:
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application No. 63/023,158, filed May 11, 2020, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     This relates generally to electronic devices, and, more particularly, to assemblies of electrical components for electronic devices. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Electronic devices often include electrical components such as cameras and displays. Printed circuit boards may contain signal paths that route signals between electrical components. 
     SUMMARY 
     An electronic device may have a display with an array of pixels for displaying images. The electronic device may have a lens through which the images are viewable on the display. The display may have a display panel that is mounted to a printed circuit stack. The printed circuit stack may include multiple printed circuit layers to which components are mounted. The components may include an orientation sensor, other sensors, a display driver integrated circuit, and/or other electrical components that are overlapped by the display panel. 
     The electronic device may include a camera. The camera may be mounted to a printed circuit stack and may overlap one or more electrical components such as an orientation sensor and/or other sensors. 
     The printed circuit stacks may include rigid and flexible printed circuits coupled together using solder and other conductive connections. Air gaps may be created between the layers in a stacked printed circuit. Integrated circuits and other electrical components may be mounted to the surface of a printed circuit layer in an air gap that is overlapped by a display or camera and/or may be formed on other printed circuit layers. Electrical components such as orientation sensors and/or other sensors may also be embedded within one or more printed circuit layers in a printed circuit stack (e.g., in an area of the printed circuit stack that is overlapped by a camera and/or display). 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a diagram of an illustrative electronic device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG.  2    is a schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG.  3    is side view of an illustrative assembly including electronic components and printed circuit board structures in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG.  4    is side view of an illustrative assembly with a display in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIGS.  5  and  6    are side views of illustrative assemblies with cameras in accordance with embodiments. 
         FIG.  7    is a side view of an illustrative camera system in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG.  8    is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative camera with a package substrate that is electrically coupled to a printed circuit in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG.  9    is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative camera with an image sensor that is electrically coupled to a printed circuit in accordance with an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     An electronic device may have input-output devices such as cameras, displays, and sensors. These input-output devices and other circuits in the electronic device may be formed from electronic components such integrated circuits and discrete components (e.g., capacitors, inductors, resistors, transistors, etc.) mounted to printed circuit boards. Printed circuits may be formed from stacked printed circuit layers. Printed circuit assemblies that contain one or more electronic components coupled to a printed circuit stack may be used to help conserve space within an electronic device, to reduce noise and signal interference effects, to improve power efficiency, and/or to tightly couple components together. 
     A side view of an illustrative electronic device of the type that may include one or more printed circuit assemblies is shown in  FIG.  1   . Device  10  may be a laptop computer, a computer monitor containing an embedded computer, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, a cellular telephone, a media player, or other handheld or portable electronic device, a smaller device such as a wristwatch device, a wristband device, a pendant device, a headphone or earpiece device, a head-mounted device such as glasses, goggles, a helmet, or other equipment worn on a user&#39;s head, or other wearable or miniature device, a television, a computer display that does not contain an embedded computer, a gaming device, a navigation device, an embedded system such as a system in which equipment is mounted in a kiosk, in an automobile, airplane, or other vehicle, a removable external case for electronic equipment, an accessory such as a remote control, computer mouse, track pad, wireless or wired keyboard, or other accessory, and/or equipment that implements the functionality of two or more of these devices. 
     As shown in  FIG.  1   , device  10  may have a housing such as housing  12 . Housing  12  may be formed from materials such as polymer, glass, metal, crystalline materials such as sapphire, ceramic, fabric, foam, wood, other materials, and/or combinations of these materials. Device  10  may have any suitable shape. Housing  12  may, for example, be configured to form a portable device housing for a handheld device such as a cellular telephone, a housing for a larger portable device such as a laptop computer, a head-mounted housing or other wearable housing for a wearable electronic device such as a head-mounted device, wristwatch, or other device worn on a user&#39;s body, or a housing for other electronic equipment. Electrical components may be supported by and/or enclosed by housing  12 . 
     Device  10  may have one or more displays such as display  14 . Display  14  may be a touch screen display mounted on an exterior surface of device  10  (e.g., the front face of housing  12  in a cellular telephone or tablet computer, the upper housing portion of housing  12  in a foldable laptop computer, etc.). In a head-mounted device, one or more displays such as display  14  may each be mounted in an optical module such as optical module  30 . There may be, for example, a left optical module in housing  12  to present images to a left eye box associated with a user&#39;s left eye and a right optical module in housing  12  to present image to a right eye box associated with a user&#39;s right eye. Each optical module may have a lens such as lens  32  through which images on the display of that optical module may be viewed from the eye box associated with that optical module. 
     Device  10  may have input-output devices such as cameras  34 . Cameras  34  may be visible light cameras and/or may be sensitive at infrared wavelengths. There may be multiple cameras  34  in device  10 . For example, in a cellular telephone, one camera may face the user and another camera may face away from the user. In a head-mounted device, two or more cameras  34  may be located on different portions of housing  14  to capture images of the real world (e.g., so that these images may be merged with computer-generated information on displays  14 ). 
     It may be desirable to physically couple sensors and electronic components such as cameras  34  and displays  14 . For example, it may be desirable to mount an inertial measurement unit or other orientation sensor directly to a camera  34  (or a printed circuit directly connected to camera  34 ) and/or it may be desirable to mount an inertial measurement unit or other orientation sensor directly to display  14  (e.g., a display panel containing an array of pixels for display  14 , other display structures, a printed circuit to which display  14  is coupled, or optical module  30 ). This may allow the alignment of cameras  34  and/or display  14  to be monitored in real time. By gathering orientation information (e.g., real-time camera orientation information and/or real-time display orientation, control circuitry  20  can adjust displayed images and/or otherwise compensate for detected misalignment between cameras and/or displays), can use the orientation information in combining real-world images and computer-generated content, and/or can otherwise operate device  10  using the orientation information. Configurations such as these are illustrated in  FIG.  1   , which shows how sensors  16  may be mounted to cameras  34  and/or optical module  30  (display  14 ). If desired, device  10  may have printed circuit assemblies in which sensors  16 , electronic components such as cameras  34 , displays  14 , and/or other input-output devices are mounted together using one or more printed circuit substrates. 
     A schematic diagram of an illustrative electronic device is shown in  FIG.  2   . Device  10  of  FIG.  2    may be operated as a stand-alone device and/or the resources of device  10  may be used to communicate with external electronic equipment. As an example, communications circuitry in device  10  may be used to transmit user input information, sensor information, and/or other information to external electronic devices (e.g., wirelessly or via wired connections) and/or may be used to receive such information from external electronic devices. Each of these external devices may include components of the type shown by device  10  of  FIG.  2   . 
     As shown in  FIG.  2   , electronic device  10  may include control circuitry  20 . Control circuitry  20  may include storage and processing circuitry for supporting the operation of device  10 . The storage and processing circuitry may include storage such as nonvolatile memory (e.g., flash memory or other electrically-programmable-read-only memory configured to form a solid-state drive), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic random-access-memory), etc. Processing circuitry in control circuitry  20  may be used to gather input from sensors (e.g., cameras) and other input devices and may be used to control output devices. The processing circuitry may be based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, baseband processors and other wireless communications circuits, power management units, audio chips, application specific integrated circuits, etc. During operation, control circuitry  20  may use display(s)  14  and other output devices in providing a user with visual output and other output. 
     To support communications between device  10  and external equipment, control circuitry  20  may communicate using communications circuitry  22 . Circuitry  22  may include antennas, radio-frequency transceiver circuitry, and other wireless communications circuitry and/or wired communications circuitry. Circuitry  22 , which may sometimes be referred to as control circuitry and/or control and communications circuitry, may support bidirectional wireless communications between device  10  and external equipment (e.g., a companion device such as a computer, cellular telephone, or other electronic device, an accessory such as a point device, computer stylus, or other input device, speakers or other output devices, etc.) over a wireless link. For example, circuitry  22  may include radio-frequency transceiver circuitry such as wireless local area network transceiver circuitry configured to support communications over a wireless local area network link, near-field communications transceiver circuitry configured to support communications over a near-field communications link, cellular telephone transceiver circuitry configured to support communications over a cellular telephone link, or transceiver circuitry configured to support communications over any other suitable wired or wireless communications link. Wireless communications may, for example, be supported over a Bluetooth® link, a WiFi® link, a wireless link operating at a frequency between 10 GHz and 400 GHz, a 60 GHz link, or other millimeter wave link, a cellular telephone link, or other wireless communications link. Device  10  may, if desired, include power circuits for transmitting and/or receiving wired and/or wireless power and may include batteries or other energy storage devices. For example, device  10  may include a coil and rectifier to receive wireless power that is provided to circuitry in device  10 . 
     Device  10  may include input-output devices such as devices  24 . Electronic components such as input-output devices  24  may be used in gathering user input, in gathering information on the environment surrounding the user, and/or in providing a user with output. 
     Devices  24  may include one or more displays such as display(s)  14 . Display(s)  14  may include one or more display devices such as organic light-emitting diode display panels (panels with organic light-emitting diode pixels formed on polymer substrates or silicon substrates that contain pixel control circuitry), liquid crystal display panels, microelectromechanical systems displays (e.g., two-dimensional mirror arrays or scanning mirror display devices), display panels having pixel arrays formed from crystalline semiconductor light-emitting diode dies (sometimes referred to as microLEDs), and/or other display devices. 
     Devices  24  may also include cameras  34 . Cameras  34  may include visible light cameras, infrared cameras, and/or cameras that are sensitive at multiple wavelengths, may include three-dimensional camera systems such as depth sensors (e.g., structured light sensors and/or depth sensors based on stereo imaging devices that capture three-dimensional images), may include time-of-flight cameras, and/or may include other cameras. Cameras  34  may face toward the user of device  10  and/or away from the user of device  10 . 
     Sensors  16  in input-output devices  24  may include force sensors (e.g., strain gauges, capacitive force sensors, resistive force sensors, etc.), audio sensors such as microphones, touch and/or proximity sensors such as capacitive sensors such as a touch sensor that forms a button, trackpad, or other input device), and other sensors. If desired, sensors  16  may include optical sensors such as optical sensors that emit and detect light, ultrasonic sensors, optical touch sensors, optical proximity sensors, and/or other touch sensors and/or proximity sensors, monochromatic and color ambient light sensors, fingerprint sensors, iris scanning sensors, retinal scanning sensors, and other biometric sensors, temperature sensors, sensors for measuring three-dimensional non-contact gestures (“air gestures”), pressure sensors, sensors for detecting position, orientation, and/or motion (e.g., accelerometers, magnetic sensors such as compass sensors, gyroscopes, and/or inertial measurement units that contain some or all of these sensors), health sensors such as blood oxygen sensors, heart rate sensors, blood flow sensors, and/or other health sensors, radio-frequency sensors, optical sensors such as self-mixing sensors and light detection and ranging (lidar) sensors, humidity sensors, moisture sensors, gaze tracking sensors, electromyography sensors to sense muscle activation, facial sensors, interferometric sensors, time-of-flight sensors, magnetic sensors, resistive sensors, distance sensors, angle sensors, and/or other sensors. In some arrangements, device  10  may use sensors  16  and/or other input-output devices  24  to gather user input. For example, input-output devices  24  such as buttons may be used to gather button press input, touch sensors overlapping displays can be used for gathering user touch screen input, touch pads may be used in gathering touch input, microphones may be used for gathering audio input (e.g., voice commands), accelerometers may be used in monitoring when a finger contacts an input surface and may therefore be used to gather finger press input, etc. 
     Input-output devices  24  may include optical components such as depth sensors (e.g., structured light sensors or other sensors that gather three-dimensional image data), optical proximity sensors, ambient light sensors (e.g., color ambient light sensors), optical time-of-flight sensors and other sensors  16  that are sensitive to visible and/or infrared light and that may emit visible and/or infrared light (e.g., devices  24  may contain optical sensors that emit and/or detect light). For example, a visible-light image sensor in a camera may have a visible light flash or an associated infrared flood illuminator to provide illumination while the image sensor captures a two-dimensional and/or three-dimensional image. An infrared camera such as an infrared structured light camera that captures three-dimensional infrared images may have an infrared flood illuminator that emits infrared flood illumination and/or may have a dot projector the emits an array of infrared light beams. Infrared proximity sensors may emit infrared light and detect the infrared light after the infrared light has reflected from a target object. 
     If desired, electronic device  10  may include additional components (see, e.g., other devices  18  in input-output devices  24 ). The additional components may include haptic output devices, actuators for moving movable structures in device  10 , audio output devices such as speakers, light-emitting diodes for status indicators, light sources such as light-emitting diodes that illuminate portions of a housing and/or display structure, other optical output devices, and/or other circuitry for gathering input and/or providing output. Device  10  may also include a battery or other energy storage device, connector ports for supporting wired communication with ancillary equipment and for receiving wired power, and other circuitry. 
       FIG.  3    is a side view of an illustrative printed circuit assembly of the type that may be used in device  10 . As shown in  FIG.  3   , printed circuit assembly  60  may have one or more components  52 . Components  52  may be coupled directly and/or indirectly to printed circuit board  50 . Components  52  may include integrated circuits, discrete components such as resistors, capacitors, and/or inductors, packaged input-output devices  24 , and/or other electrical devices (e.g., displays  14 , cameras  34 , sensors  16 , other components  18 , and/or other input-output devices  24  of  FIG.  2   , control circuitry  20 , communications circuitry  22 , etc.). 
     Printed circuit (printed circuit layer)  50  may be a rigid printed circuit board formed from a rigid printed circuit board substrate material such as fiberglass-filled epoxy, may be a flexible printed circuit (e.g., a printed circuit having a bendable polyimide substrate or a substrate formed from a sheet of other flexible polymer), may be a printed circuit having rigid and flexible portions (sometimes referred to as a ridged flex printed circuit), and/or may be any other suitable printed circuit. Printed circuit  50  has one or more layers of dielectric substrate material and has conductive signal paths  54 . Signal paths  54  may be formed from metal traces or other conductive structures and may include vias, embedded signal lines, and other conductive structures embedded in printed circuit and/or may contain externally facing metal traces or other conductive structures on one or more external surfaces of printed circuit  50  such as contacts (contact pads)  52 P. 
     Conductive joints such as welds, solder joints, conductive adhesive joints, spring-loaded-pin connections, and/or other conductive connections may be used in electrically connecting components  52  to signal paths  54 . For example, solder  56  or other conductive material may be used in forming electrical connections between contacts  54 P of printed circuit  50  and corresponding contacts (solder pads)  52 P on components  52 . 
     If desired, one or more additional printed circuits may be coupled to printed circuit  50  to form a printed circuit stack (sometimes referred to as a logic board or printed circuit). For example, additional printed circuit  50 ′ (which may serve, for example, as a spacer), may have signal paths  54  coupled to the signal paths  54  of printed circuit  50  (e.g., using solder  56 , conductive adhesive, or other electrical connections). Signal paths  54  of printed circuit  50 ′ may, in turn, be coupled to additional printed circuit layers and/or may be coupled to the terminals of component  52 . 
     As shown in  FIG.  3   , in addition to or instead of electrically and mechanically coupling components  52  to signal paths  54  on the upper and/or lower surfaces of printed circuit  50  and/or embedding one or more components  52  within printed circuit  50  and thereby electrically and mechanically coupling components  52  to signal paths  54  in printed circuit  50 , adhesive and/or other attachment structures  58  may be used in attaching components  52  to printed circuit  50  (and/or additional printed circuits such as illustrative additional printed circuit  50 ′). Attachment structures  58  may, as an example, be used to attach a plastic package or other component housing structures associated with components  52  to printed circuit  50 . This helps mechanically support components  52 . Electrical connections may be made using solder  56  or other electrical connections. 
     In general, any suitable number of printed circuit boards such as printed circuit  50  and stacked printed circuit  50 ′ may be included in a printed circuit stack forming printed circuit assembly  60  and any suitable number of components  52  may be electrically and mechanically coupled to the printed circuit of assembly  60  (e.g., a single component  52 , at least one component  52 , at least two components  52 , at least five components  52 , fewer than 50 components  52 , etc.). 
     Components  52  that have electrical contacts and/or housings that are directly attached to contacts  54 P or other structures on the surfaces of printed circuit  50  are sometimes referred to as directly mounted components. Components  52  such as the component mounted to additional printed circuit board  50 ′ may sometimes be referred to as being indirectly mounted components, because these component are coupled to printed circuit  50  using the signal paths that pass through additional printed circuit  50 ′. In some configurations, stacked printed circuits such as printed circuit  50  and additional printed circuit  50 ′ are referred to as forming a unitary “printed circuit” (e.g., printed circuits  50  and  50 ′ serve as respective sub-layers in printed circuit board  50 MLB, which may sometimes be referred to as a main logic board or printed circuit stack). 
     Consider, as an example, printed circuit assembly  60  of  FIG.  4   . In the example of  FIG.  4   , printed circuit assembly  60  includes display  14 . Display (display panel)  14  has an array of pixels P that generate an image. The image is viewable by a user through lens  32 . Lens  32  and printed circuit assembly  60  may be supported in housing  12  (e.g., lens  32  and printed circuit assembly  60  may be coupled to a common lens barrel or other optical module support structure for optical module  30 ). 
     Display  14  may have signal paths  70  formed from solder pads (see, e.g., display contacts  68 ), vias, embedded metal traces, and/or other metal traces in the substrate of display  14 ). The substrate of display  14  may be formed from dielectric (e.g., polymer), silicon or other semiconductor substrate material, and/or other substrate materials. Display  14  may be, as an example, a light-emitting diode display such as an organic light-emitting diode display (as an example). Contacts  68  may be formed on the backside (non-pixel side) of display  14  or other portion of display  14 . Display (display panel)  14  may have a polyimide substrate or other polymer substrate on which thin-film circuitry (e.g., thin-film transistors and thin-film capacitors for forming pixel circuits, interconnects, thin-film light-emitting diodes, etc.) is formed and is covered with a layer of encapsulant and/or may have other light-emitting diode circuitry. 
     In the illustrative configuration of  FIG.  4   , contacts  68  are electrically coupled (e.g., using solder, conductive adhesive, etc.) to corresponding contacts in signal paths  54  of printed circuit  50 MLB. Printed circuit  50 MLB, which may sometimes be referred to as a main logic board or printed circuit stack, may have one or more layers such as printed circuit sublayers (printed circuits)  50 A,  50 B, and  50 C. As shown in  FIG.  4   , sublayers  50 A,  50 B, and  50 C may contain interconnected signal paths  54  (sometimes referred to as metal traces or interconnects). Components  54  may be embedded in the dielectric material forming the substrate(s) of printed circuit  50 MLB (e.g., as shown by the embedded component  52  of printed circuit  50  of  FIG.  3   ) and/or may be attached to the exposed surfaces of printed circuit  50 MLB. In the example of  FIG.  4   , some of components  52  (e.g., a display driver integrated circuit and/or other integrated circuits or other components  52 ) may be mounted to the exposed surface of printed circuit layer  50 A and may be cooled by air in air gap  72 . Other components  52  may be mounted to the opposing surfaces of printed circuit layer  50 C and may include sensors  16  (e.g., an inertial measurement unit containing an accelerometer, compass, and/or gyroscope), a power management unit, and/or other components  52 . Some or all of the components in assembly  60  may be overlapped by display  14  (e.g., these components may lie within the footprint of display  14  when viewed in direction  73 ). Printed circuit connector  62  (e.g., a board-to-board connector) may mate with corresponding printed circuit connector  64  on a printed circuit such as flexible printed circuit  66 . Flexible printed circuit  66  may contain signal lines that couple printed circuit assembly  60  with control circuitry, communications circuitry, sensor circuitry, input-output devices, and/or other components  52  in device  10  (e.g., another printed circuit assembly, a component module, etc.). Printed circuit  50 MLB may be a rigid printed circuit, may be a flexible printed circuit, or may be a rigid flex circuit containing both rigid and flexible areas. 
     The arrangement of printed circuit assembly  60  of  FIG.  4    in which display  14  is coupled directly to printed circuit  50 MLB, which may sometimes be referred to as forming a “main logic board”, may help conserve space within the potentially tight confines of the interior of housing  12 . This helps device  10  to be compact. Signal-to-noise ratios may be enhanced within assembly  60 , because the number of signal lines running between different printed circuits in different portions of device  10  can be maintained at a satisfactorily low number. Fewer wireless interference paths may be produced because the locations of potentially interfering components  52  within assembly  60  can be controlled and mitigation strategies (ground shielding, etc.) can be employed within assembly  60 . Signal path power loss can be reduced because overall signal path lengths can be reduced. The number of board-to-board connectors used in device  10  can also be limited, thereby helping to lower board-to-board-connector power losses. 
     Another illustrative printed circuit assembly is shown in  FIG.  5   . In the configuration of  FIG.  5   , printed circuit assembly  60  includes camera  34 . Camera  34 , which may sometimes be referred to as a packaged image sensor or image sensing device, may have camera package (body)  34 P (e.g., a package formed from polymer or other dielectric), supporting a lens such as lens  34 L and an image sensor such as image sensor  341 . Image sensor  341  may have an array of image sensor pixels (e.g., a two-dimensional array of sensor pixels on a semiconductor die). The die on which the image sensor is formed may contain control circuitry for the image sensor. The die may be mounted to a substrate internal to the package of camera  34  and/or may be mounted directly to an external substrate. Camera  34  may overlap components  52  such as an inertial measurement unit, other sensors, and/or other electrical components. 
     In the example of  FIG.  5   , camera  34  of assembly  60  is mounted on printed circuit  50 - 1 , which, in turn, is mounted to printed circuit  50 - 2 . Printed circuits  50 - 1  and  50 - 2  may be rigid printed circuits, flexible printed circuits, and/or rigid flex printed circuits. Printed circuits  50 - 1  and  50 - 2  may collectively be referred to as forming a printed circuit stack or may collectively or separately be referred to as forming a main logic board. In an illustrative configuration, printed circuit  50 - 1  is a rigid printed circuit and printed circuit  50 - 2  is a flexible printed circuit having board-to-board connector  62  to connect the circuitry of camera  34  and the other circuitry coupled to printed circuits  50 - 1  and  50 - 2  to other circuitry in device  10 . Printed circuits  50 - 1  and  50 - 2  may be electrically and mechanically coupled to each other using adhesive, solder, conductive adhesive, welds, and/or other connections. If desired, printed circuits  50 - 1  and  50 - 2  may be formed from a single printed circuit substrate or three or more separate printed circuit substrates may be used in forming the printed circuit interconnects for assembly  60 . 
     Electrical components  52  may be mounted to printed circuits  50 - 1  and/or  50 - 2 . Components  52  may include integrated circuits, discrete components, and/or other components forming circuitry  20 , circuitry  22 , and/or input-output devices  24  of  FIG.  2   . For example, components  52  may include an inertial measurement unit (e.g., an accelerometer, gyroscope, and/or compass) for measuring the orientation of camera  34 . In this type of arrangement, the movements of the inertial measurement unit and camera may be tightly coupled, helping to enhance the accuracy of camera orientation measurements. 
     Camera  34  of assembly  60  may face outwardly from device  10  and components  52  may be mounted on an opposing inwardly facing exposed surface of printed circuit  50 - 2 . If desired, an inertial measurement unit and/or other components  52  may be embedded within printed circuit  50 - 1 , as shown in  FIG.  6   . 
     In the illustrative configuration of  FIG.  7   , the body of camera  34  has been mounted to printed circuits  50 - 1  and  50 - 2 . Camera  34  may be mounted directly to printed circuit  50 - 1 , which is mounted to printed circuit  50 - 2 , camera  34  may be mounted directly to printed circuit  50 - 2  (e.g., printed circuit  50 - 1  may be omitted), and/or other printed circuit board layers may be coupled to printed circuit  50 - 1  and/or printed circuit  50 - 2  to carry signals associated with components  52  and/or camera  34 . In the example of  FIG.  7   , components  52  (e.g., an internal measurement unit and/or other sensors  16 , control circuitry  20 , communications circuitry  22 , and/or other input-output devices  24 ) have been mounted to a first area of the inwardly facing (interior-facing) surface of printed circuit  50 - 2  that is overlapped by camera  34 , to a second area of the inwardly facing surface of printed circuit  50 - 2  that is not overlapped by camera  34 , and to an opposing outwardly facing (external-facing) surface of printed circuit  50 - 2 . 
     Camera  34  may have a sensor die that is mounted to a printed circuit substrate (package substrate) that forms part of camera  34  or may have a sensor die that is mounted to an external printed circuit (e.g., printed circuit  50 - 1  and/or printed circuit  50 - 2 ). Cross-sectional side views of camera  32  in first and second illustrative mounting arrangements are shown in  FIGS.  8  and  9   . 
     In the example of  FIG.  8   , camera  32  include lens  32 L, camera package (body)  32 P, and image sensor die  341 . Die  341  is mounted to a camera printed circuit substrate such as camera package substrate  50 P. Solder joints  56  and/or other conductive connections may be formed between the contacts and other signal traces of substrate  50 P and the contacts and other signal traces of printed circuit  50 . Printed circuit  50  of  FIG.  8    may be mounted to a printed circuit such as printed circuit  50 - 1  or printed circuit  50 - 2  of  FIGS.  5 ,  6   , and/or  7 , printed circuit  50  of  FIG.  8    may serve as printed circuit  50 - 1  of  FIGS.  5 ,  6   , and/or  7 , and/or printed circuit  50  of  FIG.  8    may serve as printed circuit  50 - 2  of  FIGS.  5 ,  6   , and/or  7  (as examples). 
     In the illustrative example of  FIG.  9   , camera  34  does not include a camera package substrate such as camera package substrate  50 P of  FIG.  8   . Rather, image sensor die  341  of camera  34  is mounted directly to printed circuit  50  (e.g., using solder  56  or other conductive connections). As with the illustrative configuration of  FIG.  8   , printed circuit  50  of  FIG.  9    may be mounted to a printed circuit such as printed circuit  50 - 1  or printed circuit  50 - 2  of  FIGS.  5 ,  6   , and/or  7 , printed circuit  50  of  FIG.  9    may serve as printed circuit  50 - 1  of  FIGS.  5 ,  6   , and/or  7 , and/or printed circuit  50  of  FIG.  9    may serve as printed circuit  50 - 2  of  FIGS.  5 ,  6   , and/or  7 . 
     Adhesive (see, e.g., adhesive  58  of  FIG.  3   ) may help mechanically strengthen the attachment between camera  34  and substrates to which camera  34  is attached. For example, a layer of adhesive (e.g., polymer adhesive) may be interposed between camera body  34 P and/or other portions of camera  34  and a printed circuit to which camera  34  is being mounted. If desired, polymer adhesive (e.g., underfill) may be used in attaching package substrate  50 P of  FIG.  8    to printed circuit  50  and/or polymer adhesive (e.g., underfill) may be used in attaching sensor die  341  to printed circuit  50  (see, e.g.,  FIG.  9   ). 
     As described above, one aspect of the present technology is the gathering and use of information such as information from input-output devices. The present disclosure contemplates that in some instances, data may be gathered that includes personal information data that uniquely identifies or can be used to contact or locate a specific person. Such personal information data can include demographic data, location-based data, telephone numbers, email addresses, twitter ID&#39;s, home addresses, data or records relating to a user&#39;s health or level of fitness (e.g., vital signs measurements, medication information, exercise information), date of birth, username, password, biometric information, or any other identifying or personal information. 
     The present disclosure recognizes that the use of such personal information, in the present technology, can be used to the benefit of users. For example, the personal information data can be used to deliver targeted content that is of greater interest to the user. Accordingly, use of such personal information data enables users to calculated control of the delivered content. 
     Further, other uses for personal information data that benefit the user are also contemplated by the present disclosure. For instance, health and fitness data may be used to provide insights into a user&#39;s general wellness, or may be used as positive feedback to individuals using technology to pursue wellness goals. 
     The present disclosure contemplates that the entities responsible for the collection, analysis, disclosure, transfer, storage, or other use of such personal information data will comply with well-established privacy policies and/or privacy practices. In particular, such entities should implement and consistently use privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining personal information data private and secure. Such policies should be easily accessible by users, and should be updated as the collection and/or use of data changes. Personal information from users should be collected for legitimate and reasonable uses of the entity and not shared or sold outside of those legitimate uses. Further, such collection/sharing should occur after receiving the informed consent of the users. Additionally, such entities should consider taking any needed steps for safeguarding and securing access to such personal information data and ensuring that others with access to the personal information data adhere to their privacy policies and procedures. Further, such entities can subject themselves to evaluation by third parties to certify their adherence to widely accepted privacy policies and practices. In addition, policies and practices should be adapted for the particular types of personal information data being collected and/or accessed and adapted to applicable laws and standards, including jurisdiction-specific considerations. For instance, in the United States, collection of or access to certain health data may be governed by federal and/or state laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), whereas health data in other countries may be subject to other regulations and policies and should be handled accordingly. Hence different privacy practices should be maintained for different personal data types in each country. 
     Despite the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplates embodiments in which users selectively block the use of, or access to, personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplates that hardware and/or software elements can be provided to prevent or block access to such personal information data. For example, the present technology can be configured to allow users to select to “opt in” or “opt out” of participation in the collection of personal information data during registration for services or anytime thereafter. In another example, users can select not to provide certain types of user data. In yet another example, users can select to limit the length of time user-specific data is maintained. In addition to providing “opt in” and “opt out” options, the present disclosure contemplates providing notifications relating to the access or use of personal information. For instance, a user may be notified upon downloading an application (“app”) that their personal information data will be accessed and then reminded again just before personal information data is accessed by the app. 
     Moreover, it is the intent of the present disclosure that personal information data should be managed and handled in a way to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use. Risk can be minimized by limiting the collection of data and deleting data once it is no longer needed. In addition, and when applicable, including in certain health related applications, data de-identification can be used to protect a user&#39;s privacy. De-identification may be facilitated, when appropriate, by removing specific identifiers (e.g., date of birth, etc.), controlling the amount or specificity of data stored (e.g., collecting location data at a city level rather than at an address level), controlling how data is stored (e.g., aggregating data across users), and/or other methods. 
     Therefore, although the present disclosure broadly covers use of information that may include personal information data to implement one or more various disclosed embodiments, the present disclosure also contemplates that the various embodiments can also be implemented without the need for accessing personal information data. That is, the various embodiments of the present technology are not rendered inoperable due to the lack of all or a portion of such personal information data. 
     The foregoing is illustrative and various modifications can be made to the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may be implemented individually or in any combination.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20210312
Publication Date: 20240109
Grant Date: 20240109
Priority Date: 20200511
Inventors: HOSSAIN, MUHAMMAD F.
MOHIUDDIN, Syed F.
SHAH, RITU
ATLER, Jonathan C.
SOLDNER, NICHOLAS C.
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H05K1/147", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K1/189", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K2201/10128", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K1/147", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K2201/10128", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K1/189", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K1/147", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K1/189", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K2201/10128", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1686", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H05K1/0274", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1694", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1637", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1626", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1616", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04N23/57", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 89435001