Systems and methods for projecting illumination from a device edge
Transmission assemblies to project illumination from an edge of an electronic device are disclosed. In some examples, the transmission assemblies include an optical source to generate laser light. An optical focusing element to focus the laser light. And a transmitting optical element is arranged at a bezel proximate an external edge of the electronic device. The transmitting optical element receives the laser light from the transmitting optical element and to project the laser light through the bezel to illuminate an object of interest
1 . An electronic device, comprising:
a device case defining a back side and an external edge of the electronic device;
a display screen arranged within the device case with a notchless edge of the display screen facing the external edge of the electronic device and with a back side of the display screen facing the back side of the electronic device;
an optical element positioned between the notchless edge of the display screen and the external edge of the electronic device; and
a transmission assembly comprising a first portion between the back side of the display screen and the back side of the device case and a second portion that extends laterally beyond the notchless edge of the display screen, wherein the second portion of the transmission assembly directs laser light toward the optical element positioned between the notchless edge of the display screen and the external edge of the device case; and
wherein the optical element projects the laser light from the transmission assembly to illuminate an object of interest.
2 . The electronic device of claim 1 , comprising a bezel arranged between the notchless edge of the display screen and the external edge of the electronic device.
3 . The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein a length of the notchless edge of the display screen substantially aligns with a length of the external edge of the electronic device.
4 . The electronic device of claim 1 , comprising a receiver sensor to capture light reflected from the object of interest including a portion of the laser light projected by the optical element.
5 . The electronic device of claim 4 , comprising a control circuit to control and synchronize activation of the transmission assembly and the receiver sensor to capture a portion of the laser light projected by the optical element and reflected from the object of interest.
6 . The electronic device of claim 1 , comprising:
another optical element positioned between another notchless edge of the display screen; and
another transmission assembly that directs another laser light toward the another optical element.
7 . The electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the laser light has a wavelength of 940 nanometers or 1380 nanometers.
8 . The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the electronic device is one or more of a smartphone or tablet computer.
9 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein an optical source of the first portion of the transmission assembly comprises an edge emitting laser (EEL) array that generates the laser light.
10 . The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the EEL array comprises multiple uniformly spaced lasers.
11 . The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the EEL array comprises multiple non-uniformly spaced lasers.
12 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein:
the first portion of the transmission assembly comprises an optical source that generates the laser light; and
the optical source is one or more of a ridge type single quantum well (SQW) or multiple quantum well (MQW) semiconductor laser, a buried heterostructure (BH) SQW or MQW laser, a distributed-feedback (DFB) or Distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser, a Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), photonic crystal surface-emitting lasers, InP based laser, GaAs based laser, GaSb based laser, or GaN based laser.
13 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein:
the second portion of the transmission assembly comprises an optical focusing element that directs the laser light toward the optical element; and
the optical focusing element comprises one or more of a prism, a coated mirror, coated optical block, a lens, or a reflector.
14 . The electronic device of claim 13 , wherein:
an optical projection element positioned to receive the laser light from the optical focusing element; and
the optical projection element structures an illumination of the object of interest based on the received laser light.
15 . The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the optical projection element comprises one or more of a micro-lens array or a diffractive optical elements (DOE) that structure the illumination in one of a regular pattern or a random pattern.
16 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the transmission assembly comprises one or more of an integrated circuit controller or a photodiode.
17 . The transmission assembly of claim 13 , wherein:
the first portion of the transmission assembly comprises an optical source that generates the laser light; and
the optical focusing element reflects the laser light at an angle substantially orthogonal to a direction of the laser light being transmitted from the optical source.