Patent Application
20180073720
The present invention pertains to the field of display devices, such as LED TVs, having ambient light capabilities. In particular, the present invention pertains to a back cover assembly comprising a back cover for a device having ambient light capabilities, wherein a part of the back cover is utilized as a reflector for the light emitted by ambient light sources.
Display systems for enhanced viewing experience when watching video shown on a display device, such as a TV, by using light sources for projecting ambient light are known in the art.
A particularly interesting application is to project the ambient light on a wall using ambient light sources surrounding the display device and/or projecting the ambient light towards a viewer.
Typically, a display device having ambient lighting functionality is a flat TV, which may hang on a surface, such as a wall, or placed in front of the surface. The display device may be provided with ambient light sources, such as Light Emitting Diodes, located adjacent to a display area or screen being capable of displaying diffuse light correlated to the images or video content presented on the display area. In use, the ambient light sources may emit ambient light towards a surface behind the display device and/or towards a viewer in front of the display device.
Due to cost the number of components in these ambient display devices needs to be reduced. Furthermore, it is required that the ambient light components require as less space as possible due to the increasing demand on flat TV screens.
Hence, an improved back cover assembly for an ambient display device would be advantageous.
Accordingly, the present invention preferably seeks to mitigate, alleviate or eliminate one or more of the above-identified deficiencies in the art and disadvantages singly or in any combination and solves at least the above mentioned problems by providing a back cover assembly according to the appended patent claims.
An object of the invention is to utilize part of the back cover, i.e. housing, of the TV set as a reflector for the light emitted by ambient light sources e.g. provided on the backlight PCB of the TV set.
In an aspect a back cover assembly for a device having an ambient light source is provided. The back cover assembly comprises a back cover for protecting the device. The back cover comprises an opening for allowing light emitted from the ambient light source to propagate therethrough and a reflective surface for deflecting light emitted from the ambient light source.
An advantage of the back cover assembly is that no separate mechanical reflector is needed, which saves both components, and costs. Another advantage, when the device is a TV set, is that it allows for a less thick TV set. Yet another advantage with this is that the labor needed for mounting the reflector is reduced.
Other embodiments and advantages will be disclosed in the following.
These and other aspects, features and advantages of which the invention is capable of will be apparent and elucidated from the following description of embodiments of the present invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which
The following description focuses on embodiments applicable to an ambient display device wherein the ambient light sources, such as side emitting Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), are integrated into a printed circuit board (PCB), such as the backlight PCB of the display device. The backlight PCB may e.g. be a LED backlight PCB. As is well known in the art, backlight PCBs are commonly used as the light source in TV-sets.
An idea of the present invention is to integrate or mount side emitting diodes into or onto the backlight PCB, to reduce the number of components and the required space for the ambient light functionality.
Side emitting LEDs, even though they have slightly poorer optical performance than top emitting LEDs, are well suited as ambient light sources, since they are compact and needs a smaller reflector than top emitting diodes. However, a problem which is overcome by the present invention is that, since the most logical position of the side emitting LEDs would be at the back of the LED backlight PCB, the side emitting LEDs do not emit light in the direction towards the wall behind the TV set, due to their side emitting construction.
A further idea is to integrate or mount top emitting LEDs into or onto the backlight PCB, since although they require more space, provides for a slightly better optical performance than the side emitting LEDs.
Hence, the present invention provides embodiments using both side emitting LEDs or top emitting LEDs.
In order to deflect the light towards the wall behind the TV set a reflector is needed. The common solution for the embodiments disclosed herein is to utilize a part of a back cover of the device having ambient light functionality as a reflector for deflecting the light emitted from the ambient light sources e.g. towards a wall behind the back cover. In this way no separate mechanical reflector is needed, which saves both components, and costs. Furthermore, this solution allows for a less thick TV set, as well as reduced labor for mounting the reflector.
It should be appreciated that the side 31b and the back 31a of the back cover 31 can be one mechanical part, with openings for enabling ambient light to pass there through. Hence, no separate bridges 32 are required in such an embodiment.
It should further be appreciated that the reflective surface 311 may be arranged between the ambient light source 12 and the opening. Furthermore, the reflective surface 311 may be arranged so that the light emitted from the ambient light source 12 propagates through the opening before reaching the reflective surface 311. Thus, the light may pass through the opening both before or after it is deflected by the reflective surface 311.
It should also be understood that the back cover 31 preferably at least partly houses or covers the ambient light source 12, and that the light emitted from the ambient light source 12 propagates at least partly in an interior portion of the device under the back cover 31 before it is deflected by the reflective surface 311. The configuration in
In an embodiment, according to
In another embodiment, according to
The reflective surface 311 or flap 311 forming a reflector surface may be processed to allow for high reflectance, thus effectively deflecting the ambient light emitted from the ambient light sources 12. Generally, the back cover of current TV-sets is black. Since black color does not provide for a high reflectance, the back cover may according to some embodiments be painted with a commonly known high reflectance paint.
The reflector surface 311 may also be 2k molded, or provided with a reflector tape (not shown).
In case the back cover is a metallic back cover, the metal itself could be used as a reflector, optionally after polishing, and hence no further processing may be needed.
It should be appreciated that the present invention is not limited to 2-sided ambient lighting. 3-sided ambient lighting, i.e. ambient side emitting LEDs on the left, right and upper side of the backlight PCB, or 4-sided ambient lighting, i.e. ambient side emitting LEDs on all sides of the backlight PCB are, is also included within the gist of the present invention.
In an embodiment, according to
The ambient light sources may be controlled by any commonly known means, such as by a control unit incorporated in the TV set, or optionally integrated in the LED backlight PCB 11. The controlling of the ambient light sources is not relevant for the present invention, since it may function independently of how the ambient light sources are controlled.
It should be appreciated that the PCB on which the ambient light sources are provided, need not be the backlight PCB of the display device, as has been described in the embodiments above. Optionally the ambient light sources may be provided on a PCB, different from the backlight PCB, such as an Aluminum (Al) PCB, which in use is mounted next to or on top of the backlight PCB of the display device. Even though the use of two separate PCBs, i.e. one backlight PCB and one PCB with ambient light sources provided thereon, increases the thickness or depth of the display device, at least from a manufacturing point of view it may be cheaper to produce a separate PCB having the ambient light sources provided thereon, than integrating the ambient light sources on the backlight PCB.
It should be appreciated that the back cover assembly according to some embodiments is not limited merely to TV set applications, but may be utilized in any back cover assembly, for any device, for which ambient light is desired. Hence the back cover assembly according to some embodiments could be utilized in e.g. a hifi system, on a receiver, telephone, etc. Although the present invention has been described above with reference to specific embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein. Rather, the invention is limited only by the accompanying claims and, other embodiments than the specific above are equally possible within the scope of these appended claims.
In the claims, the term “comprises/comprising” does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps. Furthermore, although individually listed, a plurality of means, elements or method steps may be implemented by e.g. a single unit or processor. Additionally, although individual features may be included in different claims, these may possibly advantageously be combined, and the inclusion in different claims does not imply that a combination of features is not feasible and/or advantageous. In addition, singular references do not exclude a plurality. The terms “a”, “an”, “first”, “second” etc do not preclude a plurality. Reference signs in the claims are provided merely as a clarifying example and shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims in any way.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10164947.3 | Jun 2010 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2011/052216 | 5/20/2011 | WO | 00 | 9/10/2013 |
