Apparatus integrated with display panel for TOF 3D spatial positioning

A display apparatus for detecting three-dimensional (3D) spatial information, comprising:

• a display panel comprising a plurality of active subpixels in a display area configured with multiple gaps, two adjacent gaps being spaced apart by one or more active subpixels, the display panel comprising a counter substrate at front and a backplane substrate at back;
• multiple light sensors substantially aligned with the multiple gaps in the display area, respectively;
• a light source on the backplane substrate and configured to provide an infrared light signal in a direction toward a field of view beyond the counter substrate;
• and
• an optical layer configured to focus infrared light signals reflected from multiple different regions of an object in the field of view illuminated by infrared light signals to the multiple light sensors, the multiple light sensors being attached discretely on a back side of the optical layer;
• wherein the multiple light sensors are configured to detect infrared light signals reflected from the multiple different regions of the object for collectively deducing 3D spatial information of the object;
• wherein the optical layer comprises a plurality of micro lenses substantially aligned with the multiple gaps in the display area, respectively;
• the plurality of micro lenses are between the multiple light sensors and the multiple gaps in the display area, respectively;
• the plurality of micro lenses are configured to couple infrared light reflected from the object through the multiple gaps in the display area to the multiple light sensors, respectively;
• the optical layer comprises a liquid crystal layer comprising a plurality of micro-lenses and a plurality of lens electrodes, each of lens electrodes controlled by a voltage and changes liquid crystal molecules to create effective lenses, each of the effective lenses is controllable to independently adjust reflecting and detecting angles;
• the multiple light sensors comprise multiple pre-fabricated integrated circuit chips attached to the back side of the optical layer, respectively;
• the multiple pre-fabricated integrated circuit chips are disposed to multiple discrete locations behind the display area of the display panel substantially aligned with the multiple gaps in the display area, respectively;
• and
• the multiple pre-fabricated integrated circuit chips are electrically coupled to a controller for assembling patches of images associated with depth information of regions to calculate a complete 3D spatial image of the object, respectively.