PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-9804441-B2
Application Number: US-201615055377-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Electronic device optical sensing system with stray light suppression

Abstract:
An electronic device display may have an active area with an array of pixels and an inactive area. A light-transmitting window may be formed in the inactive area. A light-sensing component such as an ambient light sensor may be mounted within the housing in alignment with the window. Opaque masking material may be provided on one or more layers of the display in the inactive area and may have an opening for the window. Backlight structures in the display may generate backlight illumination for pixels in the active area. Stray portions of the backlight illumination may be blocked using a stray light absorption layer on one of the layers of the display such as a layer other than the layer on which the opaque masking material is formed. The stray light absorption layer may have an opening aligned with the window.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic device, comprising:
 a display having backlight structures that produce backlight illumination and having display layers, wherein the display layers have an active area with an array of pixels that are backlit using the backlight illumination and wherein the display layers have a pixel-free inactive area that includes an opaque masking layer with an opening that forms a window; 
 a light-sensing device that receives light through the window; and 
 a stray light absorption layer on a given one of the display layers, wherein the stray light absorption layer has an opening that is aligned with the opening in the opaque masking layer and absorbs stray portions of the backlight illumination. 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the stray light absorption layer comprises a coating layer on the given display layer. 
     
     
       3. The electronic device defined in  claim 2  wherein the display layers include a thin-film transistor layer having a glass substrate layer with opposing first and second surfaces, wherein the thin-film transistor layer has a layer of thin-film transistor circuitry on the first surface, and wherein the stray light absorption layer is a coating layer on the second surface. 
     
     
       4. The electronic device defined in  claim 3  wherein the glass substrate layer has an index of refraction and wherein the stray light absorption layer has an index of refraction that is within 5% of the index of refraction of the glass substrate layer. 
     
     
       5. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the stray light absorption layer comprises tape on the given display layer. 
     
     
       6. The electronic device defined in  claim 5  wherein the display layers include a thin-film transistor layer having a glass substrate layer with opposing first and second surfaces, wherein the thin-film transistor layer has a layer of thin-film transistor circuitry on the first surface, and wherein the tape is attached to the second surface. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device defined in  claim 6  wherein the glass substrate layer has an index of refraction and wherein at least some of the tape has an index of refraction that is within 5% of the index of refraction of the glass substrate layer. 
     
     
       8. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the given one of the display layers comprises a first of a pair of first and second display layers and wherein the display includes a layer of liquid crystal material interposed between the first and second display layers. 
     
     
       9. The electronic device defined in  claim 8  wherein the first of the display layers includes thin-film transistor circuitry. 
     
     
       10. The electronic device defined in  claim 9  wherein the opaque masking layer is formed on the second display layer. 
     
     
       11. The electronic device defined in  claim 10  wherein the second display layer includes a glass substrate layer and a color filter element layer on the glass substrate layer. 
     
     
       12. The electronic device defined in  claim 11  wherein the color filter element layer includes an array of color filter elements and black masking material with openings for the color filter elements and wherein the opaque masking layer in the inactive area is formed from a portion of the black masking material. 
     
     
       13. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the light-sensing device comprises an ambient light sensor. 
     
     
       14. The electronic device defined in  claim 13  wherein the ambient light sensor comprises a color ambient light sensor. 
     
     
       15. The electronic device defined in  claim 14  wherein the display layers include a thin-film transistor layer, wherein the stray light absorption layer is formed on the thin-film transistor layer, and wherein the opaque masking layer is formed on a display layer other than the thin-film transistor layer. 
     
     
       16. An electronic device, comprising:
 a liquid crystal display having first and second layers and a layer of liquid crystal material interposed between the first and second layers, wherein the liquid crystal display has an active area that is backlit by backlight illumination, and wherein the liquid crystal display has an inactive area with an opaque masking layer that has an opening for a light transmitting window; 
 backlight structures that produce the backlight illumination; 
 an ambient light sensor aligned with the light transmitting window; and 
 a stray light absorption layer on the first layer that blocks stray portions of the backlight illumination. 
 
     
     
       17. The electronic device defined in  claim 16  wherein the opaque masking layer is formed on the second layer. 
     
     
       18. The electronic device defined in  claim 17  further comprising a layer of thin-film transistor circuitry on the first layer. 
     
     
       19. The electronic device defined in  claim 18  further comprising a color filter element layer on the second layer. 
     
     
       20. The electronic device defined in  claim 16  wherein the first layer has a glass substrate layer having an index of refraction and wherein the stray light blocking layer comprises an opaque material with an index of refraction that is within 5% of the index of refraction of the glass substrate layer. 
     
     
       21. The electronic device defined in  claim 20  wherein the stray light blocking layer comprises tape. 
     
     
       22. A portable computer, comprising:
 a first housing; 
 a second housing that is coupled to the second housing and that rotates relative to the first housing; 
 a display in the first housing, wherein the display includes backlight structures that produce backlight illumination and includes liquid crystal display layers including first and second display layers and a layer of liquid crystal material interposed between the first and second display layers, wherein the liquid crystal display layers form an active area with pixels that is backlit by the backlight illumination and form an inactive area with an opaque masking layer, wherein the opaque masking layer has an opening for a light transmitting window; 
 an ambient light sensor aligned with the light transmitting window; and 
 a stray light absorption layer on the first display layer that blocks stray portions of the backlight illumination and that has an opening aligned with the ambient light sensor. 
 
     
     
       23. The portable computer defined in  claim 22  wherein the stray light absorption layer comprises a layer of glass, wherein the stray light absorption layer is formed on the layer of glass, and wherein the opaque masking layer is formed on the second display layer.

Description:
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application No. 62/271,099, filed Dec. 22, 2015, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     This relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, to electronic devices with light-sensing components. 
     Electronic devices often include light sensors. For example, a portable computer may contain an ambient light sensor. Ambient light measurements may be made with the ambient light sensor to determine whether the portable computer is in a bright or dark environment. Control circuitry within the portable computer can adjust display brightness based on information from the ambient light sensor. For example, if a user moves a portable computer to a bright outdoors environment, display brightness can be increased to compensate for glare. 
     It can be challenging to form ambient light sensing systems in electronic devices. If care is not taken, stray light from a display backlight can interfere with ambient light measurements. Stray light shielding structures may be difficult to incorporate into an electronic device without becoming unsightly or ineffective at preventing stray light interference. 
     It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide improved stray light suppression structures for electronic devices with light sensing components. 
     SUMMARY 
     An electronic device may have a housing in which a display is mounted. The housing may be, for example, a laptop computer housing having first and second portions that rotate with respect to each other. The display may be mounted in the first of the housing portions. A keyboard and other components may be mounted in the second of the housing portions. 
     The display may have an active area with an array of pixels and an inactive area that serves as a border for the array of pixels. A light-transmitting window may be formed in the inactive area. A light-sensing component such as an ambient light sensor may be mounted within the housing in alignment with the window. Opaque masking material may be provided on one or more layers of the display in the inactive area to block internal components from view. The opaque masking material may be formed from a layer of opaque material such as black in and may have an opening for the light-transmitting window. 
     Backlight structures in the display may generate backlight illumination for pixels in the active area such as liquid crystal display pixels. Stray portions of the backlight illumination may be blocked using a stray light absorption layer on one of the layers of the display. A stray light absorption layer may be formed, for example, on a display layer in the inactive area other than the layer on which the opaque masking material is formed. The stray light absorption layer may have an opening for the window that is aligned with the opening in the opaque masking layer. The index of refraction of the stray light absorption layer may match the index of refraction of the display layer on which the stray light absorption layer is formed to help defeat total internal reflection and thereby extract stray light for absorption within the stray light absorption layer. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an illustrative electronic device of the type that may have a light sensor in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative electronic device with a light sensor mounted under an inactive portion of a display in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative display with a backlight and an inactive area having a window for a light sensing device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is a top view of an illustrative stray light blocking structure surrounding a light sensing device in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  is a cross-sectional side view of a stray light blocking layer formed from a single layer of material in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional side view of a stray light blocking layer formed from tape having a polymer carrier layer and an adhesive layer in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 7  is a cross-sectional side view of an illustrative edge portion of a laptop computer having a light sensing device mounted under an inactive portion of a display in accordance with an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     An electronic device such as electronic device  10  of  FIG. 1  may contain one or more light-sensing devices. Device  10  may be a handheld electronic device such as a cellular telephone, media player, gaming device, or other device, may be a wristwatch device or other small portable device, may be a laptop computer, tablet computer, or other portable computer, may be a desktop computer, may be a computer display, may be a display containing an embedded computer, may be a television or set top box, or may be other electronic equipment. Configurations in which device  10  has a rotatable lid such as configurations in which device  10  is a portable computer may sometimes be described herein as an example. This is, however, merely illustrative. Device  10  may be any suitable electronic equipment. 
     As shown in the example of  FIG. 1 , device  10  may have a housing such as housing  12 . Housing  12  may be formed from plastic, metal (e.g., aluminum), fiber composites such as carbon fiber, glass, ceramic, other materials, and combinations of these materials. Housing  12  or parts of housing  12  may be formed using a unibody construction in which housing structures are formed from an integrated piece of material. Multipart housing constructions may also be used in which housing  12  or parts of housing  12  are formed from frame structures, housing walls, and other components that are attached to each other using fasteners, adhesive, and other attachment mechanisms. 
     Device  10  may include a display such a display  14 . Display  14  may be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a plasma display, an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, an electrophoretic display, or a display implemented using other display technologies. A touch sensor may be incorporated into display  14  (i.e., display  14  may be a touch screen display) or display  14  may be insensitive to touch. Touch sensors for display  14  may be resistive touch sensors, capacitive touch sensors, acoustic touch sensors, light-based touch sensors, force sensors, or touch sensors implemented using other touch technologies. 
     Device  10  may have a one-piece housing or a multi-piece housing. As shown in  FIG. 1 , for example, electronic device  10  may be a device such as a portable computer or other device that has a two-part housing formed from an upper housing portion such as upper housing  12 A and lower housing portion such as lower housing  12 B. Upper housing  12 A may include display  14  and may sometimes be referred to as a display housing or lid. Lower housing  12 B may sometimes be referred to as a base housing or main housing. Housings  12 A and  12 B may be connected to each other using hinge structures located along the upper edge of lower housing  12 B and the lower edge of upper housing  12 A. The hinges may allow upper housing  12 A to rotate about axis  22  in directions  24  relative to lower housing  12 B. The plane of lid (upper housing)  12 A and the plane of lower housing  12 B may be separated by an angle that varies between 0° when the lid is closed to 90°, 140°, or more when the lid is fully opened. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , device  10  may have input-output devices such as track pad  18  and keyboard  16 . Track pad  18  and keyboard  16  may be mounted in lower housing  12 B. Connector ports in device  10  may receive mating connectors (e.g., an audio plug, a connector associated with a data cable such as a Universal Serial Bus cable, a data cable that handles video and audio data such as a cable that connects device  10  to a computer display, television, or other monitor, etc.). Device  10  may also have components such as cameras, microphones, speakers, buttons, status indicator lights, buzzers, sensors, and other input-output devices. These devices may be used to gather input for device  10  and may be used to supply a user of device  10  with output. 
     Some of the input-output devices of device  10  may be light-based devices such as light detectors or other light-sensing devices. Light-sensing devices for device  10  may include light-based proximity sensors (e.g., a sensor that emits modulated infrared light and that measures corresponding infrared light reflected from a nearby object to estimate the distance between the object and device  10 ), may include a camera (e.g., a digital image sensor with an array of light-sensing pixels), and/or may contain ambient light sensors for sensing ambient visible light, ambient infrared light, and/or ambient ultraviolet light. 
     Ambient light sensors for device  10  may include monochromatic and/or color-sensing ambient light sensors. A monochromatic ambient light sensor for device  10  may be formed from a light detector that measures ambient light levels for the entire visible spectrum, part of the visible light spectrum, and/or other light at other wavelengths (e.g., infrared light) without discriminating between light of different wavelengths. A color-sensing ambient light sensor may contain multiple detectors that are responsive to different respective portions of the light spectrum (i.e., different colors of light). For example, a color-sensing ambient light sensor may have a blue channel sensor to measure blue light intensity in incoming ambient light, a green channel sensor to measure green ambient light intensity, etc.). 
     Light-sensing devices in device  10  may be mounted in alignment with transparent openings in device  10 . The transparent openings, which may sometimes be referred to as windows, may allow light to pass (e.g., so that a light-sensing device in alignment with the window may receive and measure incoming light). Transparent window structures for an ambient light sensor or other light-sensing device may be formed from openings in housing  12 , from transparent portions of housing  12 , or from other transparent portions of device  10 . With one suitable arrangement, which may sometimes be described herein as an example, an ambient light sensor or other light-sensing device may be mounted in alignment with a window that is located in a portion of display  14  such as window  26 . 
     Display  14  may have a central active area AA that contains structures for displaying images (e.g., a rectangular array of pixels to display images) and an inactive border area such as inactive area IA that runs along one or more of the edges of active area AA. As an example, inactive area IA may surround active area AA and may have the shape of a rectangular ring in scenarios in which active area AA has a rectangular shape. Inactive area IA is free of pixels and does not emit light for forming images on display  14 . 
     Window  26  may be formed in inactive area IA (as an example). Opaque masking structures such as a layer of black ink or other opaque material may be provided in area IA of display  14  to block internal components from view from the exterior of device  10 . The internal components may include display driver integrated circuits, interconnects, connectors, cables, mounting brackets, component housings, and other structures. An opening may be formed in the opaque masking structures for window  26  (i.e., window  26  may be formed from one or more transparent layers of display  14  without opaque masking structures). 
     A cross-sectional side view of a portion of device  10  of  FIG. 1  in the vicinity of window  26  taken along line  28  and viewed in direction  30  of  FIG. 1  is shown in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , display  14  may be mounted in housing  12 . Electrical components such as components  38  may be mounted on one or more substrates within the interior of device  10  such as substrate  36  (e.g., a printed circuit). Window  26  may be aligned with a light-sensing component in the interior of device  10  such as light-sensing device  32 . This allows ambient light  34  to pass through window  26  for measurement by light-sensing device  32 . Window  26  may be formed from an opaque masking structure opening within one or more opaque masking layers on one or more respective display layers in inactive area IA. 
     Display  14  may include substrate layers, backlight structures, and an optional display cover layer formed from a transparent protective material such as clear glass, transparent plastic, sapphire, ceramic, etc. In the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 2 , display  14  is a backlit display having a backlight unit such as backlight unit  42  that emits backlight illumination  44  in the outwards (Z dimension) direction through display layers  46  in active area AA of display  14 . Display layers  46  have structures that form an array of pixels in active area AA and have pixel-free portions that extend into inactive area IA. 
     Display  14  for device  10  includes pixels  90  formed from liquid crystal display (LCD) components, organic light-emitting diodes, or other suitable pixel structures. A display cover layer may cover the surface of display  14  or a display layer such as a color filter layer, thin-film transistor layer, or other portion of a display may be used as the outermost (or nearly outermost) layer in display  14 . The outermost display layer may be formed from a transparent glass sheet, a clear plastic layer, or other transparent member. Configurations for display  14  based on liquid crystal pixels in which the outermost portion of display  14  is formed from a color filter layer, thin-film transistor layer, or other layer that lies adjacent to a liquid crystal layer may sometimes be described herein as an example. 
     A cross-sectional side view of an illustrative configuration for display  14  of device  10  is shown in  FIG. 3 . As shown in  FIG. 3 , display  14  may include backlight structures such as backlight unit  42  for producing backlight illumination  44 . During operation, backlight  44  travels outwards (vertically upwards in dimension Z in the orientation of  FIG. 3 ) and passes through pixel structures in active area AA of display layers  46 . This illuminates any images that are being produced by the pixels in active area AA of display  14  for viewing by a user. For example, backlight  44  may illuminate images on display layers  46  that are being viewed by viewer  48  in direction  50 . 
     Backlight structures  42  may include a light guide layer such as light guide layer  78 . Light guide layer  78  may be formed from a transparent material such as a planar member of clear glass or plastic, may be formed from a thin flexible polymer film, or may be formed from other suitable light transparent structures. During operation of backlight structures  42 , a light source such as light source  72  may generate light  74 . Light source  72  may be, for example, an array of light-emitting diodes. 
     Light  74  from light source  72  may be coupled into edge surface  76  of light guide layer  78  and may be distributed in dimensions X and Y throughout light guide layer  78  due to the principal of total internal reflection. Light guide layer  78  may include light-scattering features such as pits or bumps. The light-scattering features may be located on an upper surface and/or on an opposing lower surface of light guide layer  78 . Light source  72  may be located at the left of light guide layer  78  as shown in  FIG. 3  or may be located along the right edge of layer  78  and/or other edges of layer  78 . 
     Light  74  that scatters outwardly (i.e., upwards in direction Z) from light guide layer  78  may serve as backlight  44  for display  14 . Light  74  that scatters inwardly (i.e., downwards) may be reflected back in the upwards direction by reflector  80 . Reflector  80  may be formed from a stack of alternating high-index-of-refraction and low-index-of-refraction dielectric layers or other reflective structures. Reflector  80  may be a layer of material that is separate from layer  78  or may be formed as a coating on layer  78 . 
     To enhance backlight performance for backlight structures  42 , backlight structures  42  may include optical films  70 . Optical films  70  may include diffuser layers for helping to homogenize backlight  44  and thereby reduce hotspots, compensation films for enhancing off-axis viewing, turning films for collimating backlight  44 , and other films. Optical films  70  may overlap the other structures in backlight unit  42  such as light guide layer  78  and reflector  80 . For example, if light guide layer  78  has a rectangular footprint in the X-Y plane of  FIG. 3 , optical films  70  and reflector  80  may have a matching rectangular footprint. 
     Display layers  46  may be mounted in chassis structures such as a plastic chassis structure and/or a metal chassis structure to form a display module for mounting in housing  12  or display layers  46  may be mounted directly in housing  12  (e.g., by stacking display layers  46  into a recessed portion in housing  12 ). Display layers  46  may form a liquid crystal display or may be used in forming displays of other types. 
     In a configuration in which display layers  46  are used in forming a liquid crystal display, display layers  46  may include a liquid crystal layer such a liquid crystal layer  52 . Liquid crystal layer  52  may be sandwiched between display layers such as display layers  58  and  56 . Layers  56  and  58  may be interposed between lower polarizer layer  60  and upper polarizer layer  54 . 
     Layers  58  and  56  may be formed from transparent substrate layers such as clear layers of glass or plastic. Layers  56  and  58  may be layers such as a thin-film transistor layer and/or a color filter layer. Conductive traces, color filter elements, transistors, and other circuits and structures may be formed on the substrates of layers  58  and  56  (e.g., to form a thin-film transistor layer and/or a color filter layer). Touch sensor electrodes may also be incorporated into layers such as layers  58  and  56  and/or touch sensor electrodes may be formed on other substrates. In some configurations, color filter structures and thin-film circuitry for pixels  90  may be formed on a common substrate (e.g., layer  56  or layer  58 ). 
     With one illustrative configuration, layer  58  may be a thin-film transistor layer that includes an array of pixel circuits based on thin-film transistors and associated electrodes (display pixel electrodes) for applying electric fields to liquid crystal layer  52  and thereby displaying images on display  14 . Thin-film transistor circuitry  58 A for forming the pixel circuits may be supported by transparent substrate layer  58 B (e.g., a layer of glass, transparent plastic, etc.). 
     In this configuration, layer  56  may be a color filter layer that includes color filter element layer  56 A on transparent substrate  56 B (e.g., a clear glass or plastic layer, etc.) for providing display  14  with the ability to display color images. Color filter element layer  56 A may include an array of color filter elements  56 A′ (e.g., color filter elements such as red, green, and blue filter elements formed from colored polymer or other colored materials). In active area AA, opaque masking material such as black masking material BM may have a grid shape (sometimes referred to as a black matrix) with openings for respective color filter elements  56 A′. In inactive area IA, black masking material BM may form an opaque border for display  14  that helps hide internal components in device  10  from view by viewer  48 . The black masking material BM in inactive area IA may have an opening such as opening  86  for window  26 . Black masking material BM may be formed from a polymer containing dye, carbon black particles, or other opaque material (e.g., material BM may be black ink). Configurations in which opaque masking layers are formed from other opaque materials may also be used. 
     If desired, multiple layers of black masking material BM with openings such as opening  86  may be formed in layers  46  and/or black masking material BM may be formed on a different layer than layer  56 B. For example, one or more layers of opaque masking material for forming an opaque border in inactive area IA may be formed within polarizer layer  54 , between polarizer layer  54  and the upper surface of substrate  56 B, within layer  58 A, between layer  58 A and layer  58 B, and/or in polarizer layer  60  or between polarizer layer  60  and layer  58 . 
     To help absorb stray light that is produced by backlight structures  42  and thereby prevent stray light from interfering with the operation of light-sensing device  32 , stray light absorption layer  82  may be formed on the lower (inner) surface of layer  58  (e.g., the lower surface of clear glass or plastic substrate layer  58 B). Stray light absorption layer  82  may have an opening such as opening  84  that is aligned with the opening(s) in the other opaque layer(s) in inactive area IA such as opening  86  in black masking layer BM in color filter element layer  56 A, thereby forming window  26 . Stray light absorption layer  82  may be formed from one or more layers of material that absorb light at the wavelengths of operation of light-sensing device  32  (e.g., visible, infrared, and/or ultraviolet wavelengths). 
     Stray light absorption layer  82  may have an index of refraction value that is matched to the index of refraction of layer  58 B. This helps prevent stray light in layer  58 B from propagating laterally (in the X and Y dimensions of  FIG. 3 ) due to total internal reflection in layer  58 B (i.e., the waveguiding behavior of layer  58 B is defeated). The index of refraction of layer  58 B may be 1.55 or other suitable value and the index of refraction of layer  82  may be within 2% (plus or minus) of 1.55, may be within 5% of 1.55, may be within 8% of 1.55, or may be within 10% or more of the index of refraction of layer  58 B (as examples). When the index of refraction of the material(s) that make up layer  82  is sufficiently close to the index of refraction of layer  58 B, stray light such as a stray portion of light  44  from backlight unit  42  that travels from active area AA to inactive area IA by waveguiding within layer  58 B (by total internal reflection) is extracted into layer  82  (i.e., total internal reflection is defeated due to the presence of layer  82 ). 
     Once the stray light has been extracted from layer  58 B and is within layer  82 , light-absorbing material in layer  82  may absorb the light and prevent the light from reaching light-sensing device  32 . The light-absorbing material in layer  82  may include dyes, pigments (e.g., particles of carbon black or other dark particles), semiconducting material such as semiconducting particles, metal (e.g., metal particles), inorganic light scattering and blocking material (e.g., inorganic particles of oxides, nitrides, etc.), or other suitable light-absorbing substances. Polymer binder (e.g., polymer adhesive material, thermoplastic resin, thermoset resin, or other polymer matrix material) may be used in hold particles and/or other materials in place within layer  82  and/or may be used in affixing one or more layers of light absorbing material to the lower surface of layer  58 B. 
     Light absorbing layer  82  may have any suitable shape. As shown in the top view of illustrative layer  82  of  FIG. 4 , for example, layer  82  may have a circular outline with a central circular opening  84 . Light-sensing device  32  may be aligned with opening  84  and may receive incoming ambient light  34  through opening  84 . If desired, layer  82  may have a rectangular shape, may have one or more openings  84  of other shapes (rectangular, square, circular, oval, shapes with straight and curved edges, etc.), and/or may have shapes without openings (e.g., layer  82  may form a strip of material that is laterally interposed between device  32  and the adjacent edge of backlight  42 . The illustrative shape of light absorbing layer  82  of  FIG. 4  is merely illustrative. 
     Layer  82  may be formed from a single layer of material (e.g., a polymer binder material or other material that includes embedded light-absorbing material such as particles of carbon black and/or other light-absorbing materials such as inorganic materials deposited as a coating) as shown in  FIG. 5  or may have multiple layers such as layers  82 A and  82 B as shown in  FIG. 6 . In configurations of the type show in  FIG. 5 , printing techniques (e.g., printing and curing of a black ink or other opaque liquid material), physical vapor deposition techniques, or other material deposition techniques may be used to deposit a uniform layer of material  82  on the underside of layer  58 B. In a configuration of the type shown in  FIG. 6 , layer  82  may be a tape layer and may have a flexible light-absorbing tape substrate layer that is attached to layer  58 B using adhesive. For example, layer  82 B may be formed from a polymer binder material or other material that includes embedded light-absorbing material such as particles of carbon black and/or other light-absorbing materials (e.g., layer  82 B may be a flexible plastic light-absorbing film) and layer  82 A may be a layer of pressure sensitive adhesive or other adhesive for attaching layer  82 B to layer  58 B. Layers  82 A and/or  82 B may include light-absorbing material. If desired, additional sublayers (e.g., three or more layers) may be used in forming layers such as layer  82  of  FIG. 6 . The arrangement of  FIG. 6  in which layer  82  includes two layers is merely illustrative. In general, layer  82  may be formed using physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, electroplating, screen printing, inkjet printing, or pad printing (e.g. printing of black ink or other liquid opaque material), techniques involving attachment of a tape, or other suitable coating techniques. 
     As shown in the cross-sectional side view of illustrative device  10  of  FIG. 7 , a light diffusing layer (e.g., a translucent polymer layer, or other layer with light refracting and/or light diffracting structures) such as diffusing layer  100  may be placed within opening  84  to help homogenize ambient light that is being received by light-sensing device  32  (e.g., to help reduce or eliminate angular sensitivity in light sensing measurements). If desired, diffusing layer  100  may be incorporated into device  32 . Light blocking structures  102  (sometimes referred to as a light-shielding boot, light-shielding sleeve, or light shield) may be used to help block stray backlight (see, e.g., light  44 ″). Structures  102  may be formed from plastic (e.g. elastomeric plastic), metal, or other suitable materials. Stray backlight in layer  58 B (see, e.g., light  44 ′) may be extracted from layer  58 B and absorbed by layer  82  to enhance the performance of light-sensing device  32 . 
     The foregoing is merely illustrative and various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The foregoing embodiments may be implemented individually or in any combination.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20160226
Publication Date: 20171031
Grant Date: 20171031
Priority Date: 20151222
Inventors: JIA ZHANG
DUDLEY JAMES J.
SPRIGGS KATHERINE J.
TASHMAN WILLIAM A.
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "G02F1/133514", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/133308", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02B5/003", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/133512", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/133502", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/1336", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/1336", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02B5/003", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/1368", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F2001/133601", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02B5/003", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/1336", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/133512", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/1368", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/133502", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/133514", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/133612", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/13312", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/133308", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/13312", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/133601", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02F1/133612", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 59066768