Apple patents display design that moves drivers to edges for sensors
Apple describes a display where the electronic components that control pixels are moved from under the screen to the edges. This creates a clear window in the display that allows an optical sensor underneath to see through without being blocked.
In the filing’s own words
An electronic device may include a display and an optical sensor formed underneath the display. A modified region of the display may form a window that overlaps the sensor. The window in the display may be formed by removing thin-film transistor (TFT) drivers from pixels in the window and distributing those TFT drivers uniformly throughout the display and/or edge(s) of a light-emitting area of the display. The distributed TFT drivers may have dedicated row drivers and may be driven with a different frequency from the rest of the display. There may be one or more distributed TFT drivers to remotely drive one or more emissive subpixels. Alternatively or additionally, the distributed TFT drivers may be coupled to dedicated power domains. One or more of the distributed TFT drivers may be coupled to one or more of the pixels in the window.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. An electronic device, comprising: a plurality of pixels arranged in a light-emitting area, wherein each one of the plurality of pixels includes an emissive portion and a thin-film transistor driver that controls the emissive portion of that pixel; a window in the plurality of pixels that includes a subset of the emissive portions and that is free of thin-film transistor drivers; distributed thin-film transistor drivers that are coupled to the subset of the emissive portions to control the subset of the emissive portions, wherein the distributed thin-film transistor drivers are distributed along an edge of the light-emitting area.; and an optical sensor that operates through the window in the plurality of pixels.
Facts
- Company
- Apple (Apple Inc.)
- Official title
- Displays with Distributed Thin-Film Transistor Drivers
- Publication number
- US20260321200A1
- Application number
- 19555501
- Filed
- Mar 3, 2026
- Published
- Oct 15, 2026
- Inventors
- 14
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G09G 3/3225 Physics & computingH10K 59/1213 Electricity & electronicsH10K 59/131 Electricity & electronicsH10K 59/65 Electricity & electronicsG09G 2320/0233 Physics & computingG09G 2360/148 Physics & computingMore from Apple in AR, VR & displays
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.