Cylindrical Retroreflector Array for Rotation Tracking

    公开(公告)号:US20230086536A1

    公开(公告)日:2023-03-23

    申请号:US17480636

    申请日:2021-09-21

    Applicant: Apple Inc.

    Abstract: An electronic device is described. The electronic device may include a housing, a rotatable crown, and a self-mixing interferometry (SMI) sensor positioned within the housing. The rotatable crown may include an array of retroreflective surface features that reflect incident light back to a light source. Each retroreflective surface feature of the array of retroreflective surface features may be formed as a corner-cube with three perpendicular faces. The SMI sensor or associated processing electronics may compare originally emitted light with reflected light to identify a movement or distance of the rotatable crown with respect to the SMI sensor.

    OPTICAL SENSING OF TRANSLATIONAL AND ROTATIONAL SHAFT MOVEMENTS

    公开(公告)号:US20250110580A1

    公开(公告)日:2025-04-03

    申请号:US18733704

    申请日:2024-06-04

    Applicant: Apple Inc.

    Abstract: An assembly includes a rotatable and translatable input device having an axis of rotation, a circumference about the axis of rotation, and an optical encoder pattern disposed around the circumference. The optical encoder pattern includes a series of polygon facets about the circumference and a one-dimensional substantially retroreflective feature parallel to the axis of rotation. The assembly further includes an optical emitter configured to emit electromagnetic radiation toward the optical encoder pattern, and an optical receiver including a two-dimensional array of pixels. The optical receiver is configured to receive reflections of the emitted electromagnetic radiation from the optical encoder pattern and generate an irradiance pattern in response to the reflections. The optical emitter and the optical receiver are disposed along a sensing axis orthogonal to the axis of rotation.

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