PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-11513554-B1
Application Number: US-202016854165-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B1

Title: Electronic devices having displays with borders of image transport material

Abstract:
An electronic device may have a housing. A pixel array may be mounted in the housing to display an image. The pixel array may have a central portion surrounded by a peripheral portion. Display cover layer structures may overlap the pixel array. A central portion of the display cover layer structures may overlap the central portion of the pixel array. A peripheral portion of the display cover layer structures may overlap the peripheral portion of the pixel array. A border structure of image transport material may be interposed between the peripheral portion of the pixel array and the peripheral portion of the display cover structures. The image transport material may be omitted from the central portion of the pixel array. The image transport material may be formed from a coherent fiber bundle or Anderson localization material.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electronic device, comprising:
 first pixels that are configured to display a first portion of an image; 
 second pixels that are configured to display a second portion of the image; 
 third pixels that are configured to display a third portion of the image that extends between the first and second portions; 
 a display cover structure; and 
 a border structure of image transport material formed from a coherent fiber bundle having an input surface at which the first and second portions of the image are received and an output surface to which the first and second portions of the image are transported, wherein the border structure runs along an edge of the display cover structure, has a first portion that covers the first pixels, and has a second portion that covers the second pixels, wherein a portion of the display cover structure extends between the first and second portions of the border structure and covers the third pixels, and wherein no image transport material lies between the portion of the display cover structure and the third pixels. 
 
     
     
       2. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the display cover structure comprises a display cover layer, wherein a first portion of the display cover layer overlaps the first portion of the border structure and wherein a second portion of the display cover layer overlaps the second portion of the border structure. 
     
     
       3. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the portion of the display cover structure comprises a clear layer that overlaps the third pixels and wherein the third portion of the image is viewable through the clear layer. 
     
     
       4. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the first portion of the image comprises a first peripheral edge portion of the image and wherein the second portion of the image comprises an opposing second peripheral edge portion of the image. 
     
     
       5. The electronic device defined in  claim 4  wherein the first portion of the border structure comprises a first strip-shaped structure that overlaps the first pixels and wherein the second portion of the border structure comprises a second strip-shaped structure that overlaps the second pixels. 
     
     
       6. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the display cover structure comprises an additional portion that overlaps the border structure. 
     
     
       7. The electronic device defined in  claim 6  wherein the third pixels are configured to form a flexible display panel with bent edges. 
     
     
       8. The electronic device defined in  claim 7  wherein the first pixels and the second pixels are formed on different display panels than the third pixels. 
     
     
       9. The electronic device defined in  claim 8  wherein the first pixels and the second pixels are formed on planar substrates. 
     
     
       10. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the third pixels are configured to form a flexible display panel with bent edges. 
     
     
       11. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  further comprising a housing having first and second opposing peripheral edges, a third peripheral edge that extends between the first and second opposing peripheral edges, and an opposing fourth peripheral edge that extends between the first and second opposing peripheral edges, wherein the first pixels extend along the first peripheral edge, the second pixels extend along the second peripheral edge, and the third pixels extend between the third and fourth peripheral edges. 
     
     
       12. An electronic device, comprising:
 a pixel array configured to display an image; 
 display cover layer structures, wherein a first portion of the display cover layer structures overlaps a central portion of the pixel array; and 
 a border structure of image transport material that has a ring shape running laterally along a periphery of the first portion of the display cover layer structures, wherein the border structure includes elongated structures of image transport material, each elongated structure having first and second opposing ends, the first end of each elongated structure defining an input surface that receives an edge portion of the image from a peripheral portion of the pixel array and the second end of each elongated structure defining a corresponding output surface at which the received edge portion of the image is provided and wherein the display cover layer structures have a second portion that overlaps the first portion of the display cover layer structures and the border structure. 
 
     
     
       13. The electronic device defined in  claim 12  wherein the first portion of the display cover layer structures comprises a first display cover layer and wherein the second portion of the display cover layer structures comprises a second display cover layer that is attached to the first display cover layer. 
     
     
       14. The electronic device defined in  claim 12  wherein the first and second portions of the display cover layer structures are parts of a common display cover layer. 
     
     
       15. The electronic device defined in  claim 12  wherein the second portion of the display cover layer structures has an inner surface with a curved cross-sectional profile that overlaps the border structure. 
     
     
       16. The electronic device defined in  claim 12  wherein the border structure has a circular ring shape. 
     
     
       17. The electronic device defined in  claim 12  wherein the border structure has a rectangular ring shape. 
     
     
       18. An electronic device, comprising:
 a pixel array configured to produce an image, wherein the pixel array has a peripheral edge portion; 
 a ring-shaped border structure of image transport material formed from elongated structures of image transport material, each elongated structure having first and second opposing sides, the first side of each elongated structure defining an input surface configured to receive a portion of the image produced by the peripheral edge portion of the pixel array and the second side of each elongated structure defining an output surface to which the portion of the image is transported, the output surface having a curved cross-sectional profile; and 
 display cover layer structures having a central portion that overlaps a portion of the pixel array that is surrounded by the peripheral edge portion of the pixel array and having an edge portion that overlaps the ring-shaped border structure, wherein the central portion of the display cover layer structures has a periphery that is laterally surrounded by the ring-shaped border structure. 
 
     
     
       19. The electronic device defined in  claim 18  wherein the display cover layer structures comprise an inner surface with a tapered profile that extends from the edge portion of the display cover layer structures to the central portion of the display cover layer structures. 
     
     
       20. The electronic device defined in  claim 1  wherein the first and second portions of the border structure laterally surround the portion of the display cover structure on opposing sides of the portion of the display cover structure.

Description:
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application No. 62/891,205, filed Aug. 23, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD 
     This relates generally to electronic devices, and, more particularly, to optical structures for electronic devices. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Electronic devices may have displays. Displays have arrays of pixels for displaying images for a user. To prevent damage to the pixels, the pixels can be covered with a transparent display cover layer. If care is not taken, however, the inclusion of a display cover layer into an electronic device may cause the device to have larger inactive border regions than desired or may introduce undesired image distortion. 
     SUMMARY 
     An electronic device may have a housing. A pixel array may be mounted in the housing to display an image. The pixel array may have a central portion. A peripheral portion of the pixel array may run along the periphery of the central portion. 
     Display cover layer structures formed from transparent material such as glass, polymer, or crystalline material such as sapphire may overlap the pixel array. A central portion of the display cover layer structures may overlap the central portion of the pixel array. A peripheral portion of the display cover layer structures may overlap the peripheral portion of the pixel array. 
     The central portion of the display cover layer structures may be formed from first and second layers of material that are attached to each other or an integral display cover layer. The peripheral portion of the display cover layer structures, which may be thinner than the central portion of the display cover layer structures, may overlap a border structure of image transport material. The image transport material may be formed from a coherent fiber bundle or Andersen localization material. 
     The border structure may be interposed between the peripheral portion of the pixel array and the peripheral portion of the display cover structures. The border structure may have an input surface that receives a peripheral portion of an image from the peripheral portion of the pixel array and an opposing output surface at which this portion of the image is presented. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a side view of an illustrative electronic device with image transfer layer material overlapping the periphery of a display in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of an illustrative optical fiber in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of illustrative Anderson localization material in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is a top view of an illustrative rectangular electronic device having a border formed from image transfer layer material in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 5  is a top view of an illustrative circular electronic device having a border formed from image transfer layer material in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  is a top view of an illustrative electronic device with first and second opposing peripheral edges that include image transfer material in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIGS. 7, 8, 9, and 10  are cross-sectional side views of illustrative electronic devices having a border structure formed from image transport material in accordance with embodiments. 
         FIG. 11  is a perspective view of a flexible electronic device display that is bent along a first pair of opposing edges and that has two strips of image transport material running along a second pair of opposing edges in accordance with an embodiment. 
         FIG. 12  is a cross-sectional side view of the display and image transport material of  FIG. 11  when coved by display cover layer structures in accordance with an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     An electronic device may have a display. The display may have an array of pixels for creating an image. The image may pass through a protective display cover layer that overlaps the array of pixels. It may be desirable to expand image size and/or to otherwise optically modify an image presented on the array of pixels, particularly along the one or more peripheral edges of the array of pixels. This can be accomplished by incorporating display border structures formed from image transport material into the electronic device. 
     For example, to minimize display borders, one or more borders of a pixel array may be provided with a strip of image transport material. The image transport material, which may sometimes be referred to as image transport layer material, may be formed from Anderson localization material or a coherent fiber bundle. The image transport material may receive an image from a display at an input surface and may provide the image to a corresponding output surface for viewing by a user. 
     In some configurations, the image transport material forming a display border structure may have a shape that helps expand the effective size of the image on a display without imparting undesired distortion to the image. A transparent protective display cover layer may overlap and protect display structures. Edge portions of the display cover layer may overlap the strip of image transport material. 
     A cross-sectional side view of a portion of an illustrative electronic device with a display cover layer and a border structure of image transport material is shown in  FIG. 1 . In the example of  FIG. 1 , device  10  is a portable device such as a cellular telephone, wristwatch, or tablet computer. Other types of devices may have display cover layers with image transport material, if desired. 
     Device  10  includes a housing such as housing  12 . Housing  12  may be formed from polymer, metal, glass, crystalline material such as sapphire, ceramic, fabric, fibers, fiber composite material, natural materials such as wood and cotton, other materials, and/or combinations of such materials. Housing  12  may be configured to form housing walls. The housing walls may enclose one or more interior regions such as interior region  24  and may separate interior region  24  from the exterior region surrounding device  10 . 
     Electrical components  18  may be mounted in interior region  24 . Electrical components  18  may include integrated circuits, discrete components, light-emitting components, sensors, and/or other circuits and may, if desired, be interconnected using signal paths in one or more printed circuits such as printed circuit  20 . If desired, one or more portions of the housing walls may be transparent (e.g., so that light associated with an image on a display or other light-emitting or light-detecting component can pass between interior region  24  and exterior region  22 ). 
     Electrical components  18  may include control circuitry. The control circuitry may include storage and processing circuitry for supporting the operation of device  10 . The storage and processing circuitry may include storage such as hard disk drive storage, 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 the control circuitry may be used to control the operation of device  10 . For example, the processing circuitry may use sensors and other input-output circuitry to gather input and to provide output and/or to transmit signals to external equipment. The processing circuitry may be based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, baseband processors, power management units, audio chips, application specific integrated circuits, etc. The control circuitry may include wired and/or wireless communications circuitry (e.g., antennas and associated radio-frequency transceiver circuitry such as cellular telephone communications circuitry, wireless local area network communications circuitry, etc.). The communications circuitry of the control circuitry may allow device  10  to communicate with other electronic devices. For example, the control circuitry (e.g., communications circuitry in the control circuitry) may be used to allow wired and/or wireless control commands and other communications to be conveyed between devices such as cellular telephones, tablet computers, laptop computers, desktop computers, head-mounted devices, handheld controllers, wristwatch devices, other wearable devices, keyboards, computer mice, remote controls, speakers, accessory displays, accessory cameras, and/or other electronic devices. Wireless communications circuitry may, for example, wirelessly transmit control signals and other information to external equipment in response to receiving user input or other input from sensors or other devices in components  18 . 
     Input-output circuitry in components  18  of device  10  may be used to allow data to be supplied to device  10  and to allow data to be provided from device  10  to external devices. The input-output circuitry may include input devices that gather user input and other input and may include output devices that supply visual output, audible output, or other output. 
     Output may be provided using light-emitting diodes (e.g., crystalline semiconductor light-emitting diodes for status indicators and/or displays, organic light-emitting diodes in displays and other components), lasers, and other light-emitting devices, audio output devices (e.g., tone generators and/or speakers), haptic output devices (e.g., vibrators, electromagnetic actuators, piezoelectric actuators, and/or other equipment that supplies a user with haptic output), and other output devices. 
     The input-output circuitry of device  10  (e.g., the input-output circuitry of components  18 ) may include sensors. Sensors for device  10  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 (e.g., a two-dimensional capacitive touch sensor integrated into a display, a two-dimensional capacitive touch sensor and/or a two-dimensional force sensor overlapping a display, and/or a touch sensor or force sensor that forms a button, trackpad, or other input device not associated with a display), and other sensors. Touch sensors for a display or for other touch components may be based on an array of capacitive touch sensor electrodes, acoustic touch sensor structures, resistive touch components, force-based touch sensor structures, a light-based touch sensor, or other suitable touch sensor arrangements. If desired, a display may have a force sensor for gathering force input (e.g., a two-dimensional force sensor may be used in gathering force input on a display). 
     If desired, the sensors 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, image sensors, fingerprint 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, radio-frequency sensors (e.g., sensors that gather position information, three-dimensional radio-frequency images, and/or other information using radar principals or other radio-frequency sensing), depth sensors (e.g., structured light sensors and/or depth sensors based on stereo imaging devices), optical sensors such as self-mixing sensors and light detection and ranging (lidar) sensors that gather time-of-flight measurements, humidity sensors, moisture sensors, gaze tracking sensors, three-dimensional sensors (e.g., time-of-flight image sensors, pairs of two-dimensional image sensors that gather three-dimensional images using binocular vision, three-dimensional structured light sensors that emit an array of infrared light beams or other structured light using arrays of lasers or other light emitters and associated optical components and that capture images of the spots created as the beams illuminate target objects, and/or other three-dimensional image sensors), facial recognition sensors based on three-dimensional image sensors, and/or other sensors. 
     In some configurations, components  18  may include mechanical devices for gathering input (e.g., buttons, joysticks, scrolling wheels, key pads with movable keys, keyboards with movable keys, and other devices for gathering user input). During operation, device  10  may use sensors and/or other input-output devices in components  18  to gather user input (e.g., buttons may be used to gather button press input, touch and/or force sensors overlapping displays can be used for gathering user touch screen input and/or force input, touch pads and/or force sensors may be used in gathering touch and/or force input, microphones may be used for gathering audio input, etc.). The control circuitry of device  10  can then take action based on this gathered information (e.g., by transmitting the information over a wired or wireless path to external equipment, by supplying a user with output using a haptic output device, visual output device, an audio component, or other input-output device in housing  12 , etc.). 
     If desired, electronic device  10  may include a battery or other energy storage device, connector ports for supporting wired communications with ancillary equipment and for receiving wired power, and other circuitry. In some configurations, device  10  may serve as an accessory and/or may include a wired and/or wireless accessory (e.g., a keyboard, computer mouse, remote control, trackpad, etc.). 
     Device  10  may include one or more displays. The displays may, for example, include an organic light-emitting diode display, a liquid crystal display, a display having an array of pixels formed from respective light-emitting diodes (e.g., a pixel array having pixels with crystalline light-emitting diodes formed from respective light-emitting diode dies such as micro-light-emitting diode dies), and/or other displays. The displays may include rigid display structures and/or may be flexible displays. For example, a light-emitting diode display may be sufficiently flexible to be bent. Displays for device  10  may have pixel arrays for displaying images for a user. Each pixel array may be mounted under a transparent display cover layer that helps to protect the pixel array. In the example of  FIG. 1 , display  14  (which may sometimes be referred to as a pixel array, display panel, display layer, or display substrate) has an array of pixels P and is mounted under display cover layer  44 . 
     The display cover structures overlapping display  14 , which may sometimes be referred to as transparent housing structures, may be coupled to opaque housing structures and/or transparent housing structures (see, e.g., the walls of housing  12  of  FIG. 1 ). These display cover structures may include structures formed from one or more transparent materials such as polymer, glass, crystalline material such as sapphire, etc. This allows a user such as viewer  28  who is viewing display  14  in direction  26  to view an image on display  14 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the display cover structures may include an outer display cover layer portion such as outer display cover layer  44 , a central inner display cover layer portion such as inner display cover layer  42 , and image transport border structure  16 . Display cover layers  44  and layer  42  may be formed from clear material such as a layer (plate) of clear polymer, glass, crystalline material such as sapphire, etc. Layers  44  and  42  may be separate layers that are attached to each other (e.g., using adhesive  46  formed from polymer such as a thin layer of optically clear adhesive) or layer  42  may be formed as an integral portion of layer  44 . 
     Border structure  16  may be formed from image transport material and may extend in a strip around the periphery of layer  42 . For example, in configurations in which layer  42  has a rectangular footprint (outline when viewed from above in direction  26 ), border structure  16  may have a rectangular ring shape that surrounds layer  42 . Border structure  16  may have input and output surfaces of any suitable shape. As shown in  FIG. 1 , for example, the input surface of border structure  16  may be planar and may rest against a planar peripheral edge portion of display  14  to receive an image from that portion of display  14 . The output surface of border structure  16  at which that peripheral edge portion of the image is presented may have a curved cross-sectional profile. 
     During operation, pixels P of display  14  produce an image. Light from the image passes through layer  42  and layer  44 . The central portion of the image on display  14  is visible to viewer  28  through layers  42  and  44 . In border structure  16 , the portion of the image on display  14  that is overlapped by border structure  16  passes from the input surface on the inwardly facing side of border structure  16  to the corresponding output surface on the outwardly facing side of border structure  16  and subsequently passes through the overlapping portion of layer  44 . 
     Because border structure  16  is formed from image transfer material, the portion of the display image on the input surface of border structure  16  is passed to the output surface of border structure  16  through the fibers, elongated filaments, or other optical structures of the border structure. The outer surface of border structure  16  may be uncovered by any portions of display cover layer  44  or, as shown in the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 1 , a peripheral portion of display cover layer  44  may cover and protect the outer surface of border structure  16 . The image presented on the outwardly facing surface of border structure  16  may be viewed through the transparent material forming overlapping portions of display cover layer  44 . 
     Border structure  16  may have parallel planar input and output surfaces or, as shown in the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 1 , border structure  16  may have other suitable shapes (e.g., shapes where the input and/or output surfaces are curved and/or planar, where the input and/or output surfaces are parallel and/or are not parallel to each other, etc.). Border structure  16  may have optical structures that are straight, that have a single bend, that have two bends, and/or that have more than two bends. 
     During operation of display  14 , image light from display  14  passes through layers  42  and  44  and through structure  16  for viewing by a user such as viewer  28  who is viewing device  10  in direction  26  (e.g., a user who is viewing device  10  straight on in a direction parallel to the surface normal of a planar central portion of layer  16  on front face F, a user who is viewing device  10  at an off-axis viewing angle such as at a 45° angle to the surface normal of a planar central portion of layer  16 , or a user who is viewing device  10  in other directions). 
     Border structure  16  may be formed from image transport layer material such as a coherent fiber bundle or other elongated optical features. In configurations in which structure  16  is a coherent fiber bundle, elongated structures  16 F may be optical fibers. In configurations in which structure  16  is formed from Anderson localization material structures  16 F may be a group of filaments that have different refractive index values. Anderson localization material is characterized by transversely random refractive index features (e.g., higher index regions and lower index regions or regions of three or more or four or more different respective refractive indices) with a lateral size of about 300-500 nm, at least 100 nm, at least 700 nm, at least 1 micron, less than 5 microns, less than 1.5 microns, less than two wavelengths, or other suitable lateral size that are configured to exhibit two-dimensional transverse Anderson localization of light (e.g., the light output from the display of device  10 ). These refractive index variations are longitudinally invariant along the direction of light propagation and are generally perpendicular to the surface normal of a layer of Anderson localization material (e.g., the refractive index variations have filamentary shapes that run from the lower input surface of structure  16  of  FIG. 1  to the upper output surface of structure  16  of  FIG. 1 ) as illustrated by structures  16 F. In some configurations, elongated optical structures in border structure  16  (e.g., the fibers in a coherent fiber bundle or the filaments in an Anderson localization material) may have one or more bends and/or other distortions, as shown by structures  16 F of  FIG. 1 . 
     Image transport material such as Anderson localization material and coherent fiber bundle material can be used to form strips that run along the periphery of display  14  (e.g., border structure  16 ). Border structure  16  may be formed from a layer of image transport material with a thickness of at least 0.2 mm, at least 0.5 m, at least 1 mm, at least 2 mm, at least 5 mm, less than 20 mm, less than 10 mm, or other suitable thickness. Anderson localization material and coherent fiber bundle material may also be used to form other image transport structures in device  10  (e.g., straight and/or bent elongated light pipes, spherical shapes, cones, tapered shapes, etc.). As shown in  FIG. 1 , the surfaces of image transport layer structures such as structure  16  may be planar and/or may have curved cross-sectional profiles (e.g., the edges of device  10  may have rounded outer surfaces). These surfaces may be formed by performing operations such as molding operations, slicing operations, grinding operations, and polishing operations on blocks of image transport layer material. 
     In coherent fiber bundles, a set of fibers are fused together to form layer  16 . An illustrative fiber is shown in  FIG. 2 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , fiber  30  may have a transparent core  32  and one or more layers such as layer  36  (e.g., a lower-index cladding) and layer  34  (e.g., a clear binder material, a stray light absorption layer, and/or other layers). 
     Illustrative Anderson localization material for forming layer  16  is shown in  FIG. 3 . As shown in  FIG. 4 , Anderson localization material  38  contains a random (pseudorandom) set of elongated optical structures  40  (e.g., filaments with different refractive index values). The filaments are distributed laterally with a random (pseudorandom) pattern. Material  38  may contain elongated optical structures (e.g., filaments) with 2-4, at least 2, at least 3, at least 4, fewer than 6, fewer than 5, or other suitable number of different materials of different respective refractive index values. 
       FIG. 4  is a top view of device  10  in an illustrative configuration in which device  10 , housing  12 , and the display of device  10  each have a rectangular outline with four edges and rounded corners. Other suitable shapes may be used for device  10 , if desired. In the example of  FIG. 4 , each of the four edges of device  10  may have a curved cross-sectional profile of the type shown in  FIG. 1 . For example, the outermost surface of display cover layer  44  along the lower edge of device  10  of  FIG. 4  may be bent downwards around bend axis  52 . The outermost surface of display cover layer  44  along the opposing upper edge of device  10  may be curved around a parallel bend axis. The left and right edges of display cover layer  44  may also be bent downwards so that the outermost surface of display cover layer  44  has a curved cross-sectional shape. For example, the portion of display cover layer  44  along the right edge of device  10  may be bent downwards around bent axis  50 . In corners CR of device  10 , the outermost surface of display cover layer  44  may exhibit compound curvature (e.g., these corner portions may curve downwards smoothly to join adjacent curved edges). As shown in  FIG. 4 , layer  42  may have a rectangular shape in the center of device  10 . Border structure  16  may have a rectangular ring shape that runs along the outer peripheral edge of layer  42 . Layer  44  may overlap both layer  42  and border structure  16 . The presence of border structure  16  may help expand the visible edge of display  14  and/or may be used to transfer image content to the sidewalls of device  10  from peripheral portions of display  14 . 
     In the example of  FIG. 5 , device  10  has a circular outline. Layer  42  has a circular outline and lies in the center of device  10 . Border structure  16  runs in a circular ring around the periphery of layer  42 . Layer  44  overlaps layer  42  and border structure  16 . Because border structure  16  surrounds layer  42 , border structure  16  can help reduce or eliminated inactive border regions so that display  14  appears borderless or nearly borderless. 
     If desired, border structure  16  may extend along only part of the periphery of layer  42 . This type of arrangement is shown in  FIG. 6 . As shown in the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 6 , border structure  16  may extend along the left edge of layer  42  and along the opposing (parallel) right edge of layer  42  but need not (in this example) extend along any of the upper or lower peripheral edge portions of layer  42 . Layer  44  may cover layer  42  and border structure  16 . 
       FIG. 7  shows how layer  42  may be formed as an integral portion of layer  44  in the center of device  10 . The outwardly facing surface of border structure  16  may rest against curved inner surface  54  of the bent edge portion of display cover layer  52 . 
     In the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 8 , the sidewall portion of the outer surface of display cover layer  44  is planar or nearly planar and extends vertically (in the orientation of  FIG. 8 ). Surface normal n of the sidewall surface faces a user such as viewer  28  who is viewing device  10  from the side in direction  26 . A touch sensor and/or force sensor may be incorporated into display  14 . For example, display  14  may include a two-dimensional capacitive touch sensor and/or may include a force sensor configured to detect touch events (and, if desired, force) associated with contact between the tips of a user&#39;s fingers or other external objects and the surface of display cover layer  42 . Virtual buttons and other selectable items may be displayed on the sidewall surface of device  10  formed by display cover layer  42  and/or on front face F of display cover layer  42 . Border structure  16  may be configured to direct a peripheral portion of the image on display  14  to the sidewall of device  10  in this type of arrangement (e.g., to serve as virtual sidewall buttons). Structure  16  may optionally direct some of the image light from display  14  to front face F. 
     The image transport layer material in structure  16  transports a portion of the image on display  14  to an output surface that, in some configurations, will appear to be closer to the viewer than the image on the portion of the display overlapped by layer  42 . To create a smooth transition between the portion of the image on display  14  that is overlapped by layer  42  and layer  44  and the portion of the image on display  14  that is overlapped by border structure  16 , inner surface  54  may have a taper, as shown in  FIG. 9 . As shown in  FIG. 9 , display cover layer  42  may be an integral portion of display cover layer  44 . If desired, display cover layer  42  and layer  44  may be separate layers joined along interface  60  (e.g., using adhesive). Portion  42  overlaps the center of display  14  so that this portion of display  14  will appear optically more distant from viewer  28  than portions of display  14  that are overlapped by border structure  16 . Due to the gradual transition provided by tapered inner surface  54 , the image on the outer surface of border structure  16  gradually transitions in height so that at the border (transition) between border structure  16  and the portion of display  14  that is not overlapped by border structure  16  the image will not exhibit undesired height discontinuities. 
     In the illustrative configuration of  FIG. 10 , display cover layer  42  has been formed as an integral portion of display cover layer  44 . Layers  42  and  44  may be separate layers (e.g., layers joined by adhesive), if desired. The shape of curved inner surface  54  is arranged to provide a smooth transition in image viewing distance between the portion of display  14  that is overlapped by layer  42  and the portion of display  14  that is overlapped by border structure  16 . The peripheral edge portion of display  14  has been bent downward (e.g., to help fit display  14  to the curved inner surface of the curved sidewall portion of display cover layer  44 ). Border structure  16  has a curved input surface and a corresponding curved output surface. The thickness of border structure  16  tapers between a larger value and a smaller (zero value) at increasing distances from the outermost peripheral edge of device  10  towards the center of display  14 , thereby avoiding abrupt discontinuities in the height at which the image on display  14  is presented to the user for viewing. 
       FIG. 11  is a perspective view of device  10  in an illustrative configuration in which border structure  16  extends along the opposing upper and lower edges of device  10 . The outer surface of border structure  16  may exhibit a curved cross-sectional profile. Corners may exhibit compound curvature. The left and right edges of device  10  may be formed by bending a flexible display panel (display  14 ) downwardly about left bend axis  72  and right bend axis  70 , respectively. The upper and lower edges of the pixel array of device  10  may be formed from separate display panels that are overlapped by the respective input surfaces of the upper and lower portions of border structure  16 . During operation, image content from the upper and lower portions of the image is presented on the output surfaces of border structure  16  along the upper and lower edges of device  10 . Display cover layer  42  may extend between the strip-shaped border structure at the top edge of device  10  and the strip-shaped border structure at the lower edge of device  10  and may extend from the left to right edge of device  10 . Display cover layer  44  may overlap border structures  16  and layer  42 . 
       FIG. 12  is a cross-sectional side view of device  10  of  FIG. 11  taken along line  74  and viewed in direction  76 . As shown in  FIG. 12 , display cover layer  44  may have an integral portion  42  (or a separate attached portion  42 ) that overlaps display  14  in the center of device  10 . Display panels  14 B (sometimes referred to as strip-shaped displays, pixel arrays, strips of pixels, or display strips) may be planar panels or other panels that extend along the upper and lower edges of device  10 . The pixel arrays of panels  14 B may display image content in coordination with the pixel array of the main portion of the display (display  14 ). In this way, these pixel arrays may form a set of pixels that displays an image for viewing by a user. Displays  14 B may be formed from electrophoretic ink pixel arrays, pixel arrays formed from liquid crystal display pixels or light-emitting diode display pixels, or other suitable display pixels. Display  14  (e.g., a flexible display) may be formed from a flexible organic light-emitting diode display or other flexible display (as an example). The strips of image transport layer material in border structure  16  may overlap the pixel array portions formed by displays  14 B and may transport an image on displays  14 B to an opposing inner surface of display cover layer  44 . 
     If desired, protective layers (e.g., glass layers, thin-film coatings, and/or other layers of material) may be added to the inner and/or outer surfaces of structure  16 , layer  42 , and/or layer  44  and/or structure  16 , layer  42 , and/or layer  44  may be coupled to additional layer(s) of glass, polymer, crystalline material such as sapphire, or other material. Structure  16  may include coherent fiber bundle material and/or Anderson localization material formed from glass, crystalline material such as sapphire, polymer and/or other transparent material. If desired, portions of the display cover layer structures (e.g., layer  44 ) may be omitted. The outer surface of border structure  16  may, if desired, be chemically hardened and/or coated with a protective thin-film layer. 
     Device  10  may be operated in a system that uses personally identifiable information. It is well understood that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and handled so as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users. 
     The foregoing is merely 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: 20200421
Publication Date: 20221129
Grant Date: 20221129
Priority Date: 20190823
Inventors: DE JONG, ERIK G.
GUILLOU, Jean-Pierre S.
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "G06F1/1656", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1652", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1656", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1609", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02B5/0221", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1652", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02B5/0221", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1656", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1652", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G06F1/1609", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G02B6/06", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 84230789