Optical Component Window with Quarter Wave Plate and Polarizer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional optical component windows in electronic devices with dark coatings have low light transmittance, affecting sensor performance, and increasing the coating's thickness to enhance transmittance makes it lighter, mismatching the opaque border appearance.
Innovation Solution
An optical component window design featuring a quarter wave plate, a linear polarizer interposed between the display cover layer and the quarter wave plate, and a partially reflective mirror between the optical component and the quarter wave plate, providing high light transmittance and low reflectance for a dark appearance that matches the opaque masking material.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Shape
If a dark window coating is used to match the appearance of opaque border material, then the aesthetic appearance is improved, but light transmittance decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The window coating is divided into multiple functional layers: a first layer providing dark appearance and a second layer providing enhanced light transmission. This segmentation allows each layer to optimize its specific function while working together to resolve the contradiction between appearance matching and light transmittance.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a composite window coating structure combining different material properties. The first layer (e.g., dark polymer with dye or pigment) provides aesthetic appearance matching, while the second layer (e.g., metal oxide coating) provides high light transmission. This composite approach allows simultaneous achievement of both appearance match and adequate light transmittance.
2Illumination intensity
If the dark window coating is thinned to increase light transmission, then sensor performance is improved, but the window coating becomes lighter in appearance and mismatches the opaque border
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting the coating into two layers with distinct functions, the first layer maintains the dark appearance even when the second layer is optimized for light transmission. This eliminates the need to thin the entire coating, allowing the appearance-matching layer to remain sufficiently thick while the transmission-optimized layer provides adequate light passage.
Solution Approach 2:
The composite structure allows the first layer to maintain its thickness for appearance matching while the second layer is engineered for optimal light transmission. The combination of materials (e.g., dark polymer plus metal oxide) creates a system where appearance and transmission requirements are independently satisfied by different layers.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration significantly enhances light transmission while maintaining a dark appearance, improving sensor performance and matching the appearance of surrounding opaque border material, thereby addressing the limitations of conventional dark window coatings.
Implementation Method 1
The optical component window may have a quarter wave plate, a linear polarizer interposed between the display cover layer and the quarter wave plate
Implementation Method 2
a partially reflective mirror interposed between the optical component and the quarter wave plate
Implementation Method 3
a linear polarizer interposed between the display cover layer and the quarter wave plate
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic device may be provided with a display mounted in a housing. The display may have an array of pixels that form an active area and may have an inactive area that runs along an edge of the active area. An opaque layer may be formed on an inner surface of a display cover layer in the inactive area of the display or may be formed on another transparent layer in the electronic device. An optical component window may be formed from the opening and may be aligned with an optical component such as a proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, image sensor, or light source. The optical component window may have a quarter wave plate, a linear polarizer interposed between the transparent layer and the quarter wave plate, and a partially reflective mirror interposed between the optical component and the quarter wave plate.