Patent Grant
8194507
The present invention relates to displays and more particularly, to a hidden display and apparatuses, such as a clock audio apparatus, that include such hidden displays.
Various devices use displays to provide information regarding the operation of the device. Clocks and clock radios are examples of devices that include displays to display information such as a time or radio station. Such devices may include light emitting diodes (LEDs) to provide an illuminated display of numbers, letters, words and/or other symbols. On many of these devices, the display includes a transparent glass or plastic panel. With such a transparent panel, the underlying display elements are visible to the user even when the display is not turned on or illuminated. Also, such transparent panels may cause an undesirable glare or reflection.
Some attempts have been made to hide displays, for example, behind a one-way mirror. In such devices, however, the display may not always provide adequate and consistent illumination through the mirror due to certain manufacturing challenges. For example, slight variances in an inside coating of the mirror or in the planarity of the inside surface may adversely affect the quality of the display through the mirror. Also, the specular reflection on the outside of the mirror may be undesirable for displays used on certain types of devices.
These and other features and advantages will be better understood by reading the following detailed description, taken together with the drawings wherein:
A hidden display, consistent with embodiments described herein, may be used in an apparatus to display information to a user. The display hardware is generally hidden within the apparatus and illuminated information appears on an outside surface of the apparatus to display the information. The hidden display may couple light into a display panel from the inside of the apparatus to provide the illuminated information on the outside surface of the display panel. The display panel may provide diffuse reflection of ambient light on the outside of the display panel such that the display hardware is not visible behind the display panel but without providing a mirror-like reflection. The display may be used in a variety of different apparatuses or devices including, but not limited to, clocks and clock audio devices.
As used herein, “couple” or “coupled” may refer to mechanical, optical and/or electrical coupling and do not imply a direct coupling or connection unless otherwise specified. As used herein, “optically coupled” refers to at least one coupled element being adapted to impart light to another coupled element directly or indirectly. As used herein, “reflect” or “reflection” refers to the redirection of at least a portion of incident radiation and does not require reflection of all radiation nor does it require reflection at any particular angle. As used herein, “diffuse reflection” refers to the reflection of light at a number of different angles.
Referring to
The hidden display 110 generally includes one or more light emitting display elements 112 that emit light 102 and optically couple the light 102 into a display panel 122. The display panel 122 both hides the light emitting display element(s) 112 and provides a display region 124 that is illuminated by the light emitting display element(s) 112 to form illuminated information. The display panel 122 includes an inside surface 126 in contact with the light emitting display element(s) 112 and an outside surface 128 including the display region 124. The light emitting display element(s) 112 may contact the inner surface 126 of the display panel 122 directly or indirectly (e.g., through another element or layer that allows light to pass through).
The display panel 122 is transparent to the light 102 impinging on the inside surface 126 and allows the light 102 to pass through. The light 102 is thus visible in the display region 124 on the outside surface 128 of the display panel 122. The display panel 122 is also opaque to ambient light 104 that impinges on the outside surface 128 such that the display hardware (e.g., light emitting elements 112) is not visible behind the display panel 122 when viewed by the naked eye in ambient light. In an embodiment, the display panel 122 may provide diffuse reflection of the ambient light 104 such that a substantial portion of the ambient light 104 is reflected without creating a mirror-like effect.
According to an embodiment, the display panel 122 may be constructed similar to a two-way mirror (also referred to as a one-way mirror or one-way glass), which is partially transparent to allow light to pass through from the inside of the display panel 122 and partially reflective to provide diffuse reflection of ambient light from the outside of the display panel 122. One way to create such a two-way mirror effect is by using a transparent substrate coated on the inside surface 126 with a partially reflective layer 127 such as, for example, a very thin almost transparent layer of metal.
According to one example, the display panel 122 may include a polycarbonate substrate that is powder coated on the inside surface 126 to provide the layer 127 having the partially transparent and partially reflective properties. The powder coating may be applied using materials and techniques known to those skilled in the art. According to one technique, for example, a flash coating of copper may be applied to the inside surface of the polycarbonate substrate. The copper flash coating may be positively charged, sprayed with a negatively charged powder coating material, and cured in ultraviolet light. The powder coating material may be a UV curable powder coating resin with a pigment providing the desired color (e.g., metallic gray). The resulting powder coating formed on the inside surface 126 of the display panel 122 allows the light 102 from the light emitting display elements 112 to pass through from the inside but causes ambient light to be reflected from the outside of the display panel 122.
The transparent substrate (e.g., polycarbonate) may be given a textured finish on the outside surface 128 (and edges), which provides the diffuse reflection of ambient light. The display panel 122 may also be made of other transparent materials known to those skilled in the art such as acrylic or acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), and other types of coatings that will create the two-way mirror effect.
The light emitting display element(s) 112 may be carried by a display element carriage 114 that is held in contact with the display panel 122. The hidden display 110 may also include a spring biasing mechanism 118 that biases the display element carriage 114 and the light emitting display element(s) 112 into contact with the inside surface 126 of the display panel 122. The spring biasing mechanism 118 allows the display element carriage 114 to move when the display panel 122 is secured to the housing 120 and applies a force (e.g., in the direction of line 101) against the display element carriage 114 to hold the light emitting element(s) 112 into contact with the display panel 112. The spring biasing mechanism 118 may include compression springs (e.g., coil springs, cantilever springs or leaf springs), foam rubber, and/or any other element capable of allowing movement of and applying force to the display element carriage 114 and/or light emitting element(s) 112. Holding the light emitting display element(s) 112 into contact with the inside surface 126 of the display panel 122 facilitates the coupling of light 102 into the display panel 122 and results in a more consistent illumination and display even with slight variances in the coating 127 and/or planarity of the inside surface 126 of the display panel 122. In other words, the characters or symbols may be displayed in the display region 124 with less blurring and with a higher readability
The light emitting display element(s) 112 may include one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs) that emit the light 102. In one embodiment, for example, the light emitting display elements 112 may include a segmented LED display, such as a seven segment LED display, to display alpha-numeric characters. The display driver circuitry 130 may include circuitry generally known to those skilled in the art for controlling the light emitting display element(s) 112 to create the illumination that forms the displayed information. Where the light emitting display elements 112 include a segmented LED display, for example, the display driver circuitry 130 includes circuitry known to those skilled in the art for causing the appropriate LED segments to be illuminated to form characters representing the displayed information.
In the illustrated embodiment, the display panel 122 forms a side of the housing 120 of the apparatus 100, although the display panel 122 may also be separate from the housing 120 or may form only a portion of a side of the housing 120. A seal 121 may be provided between the display panel 122 and the other sides of the housing 120 to prevent leakage of light between the display panel 122 and housing 120. Minimizing light leakage into or out of the housing 120 may also improve the sharpness and readability of the characters or symbols displayed in the display region 124. In some embodiments, however, a relatively small amount of light may exit a top edge of the display panel 122 to create a glowing effect. The other sides of the housing 120 may also be formed similar to the display panel 122, for example, by powder coating polycarbonate. One or more additional displays may also be provided on other sides of the housing 120 of the apparatus 100.
Referring to
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The clock audio apparatus 300 may also include control circuitry 330, a user control interface 340, an audio interface 350, and one or more speakers 360, 362 at least partially enclosed within the housing 320. The control circuitry 330 may include circuitry known to those skilled in the art for controlling the display functions, the clock functions and the audio functions. The user control interface 340 may include any type of interface that a user may use to interact with the clock audio apparatus 300 including, but not limited to, buttons and switches used to control the display, clock and audio functions. The audio interface 350 may include any type of interface that is capable of receiving analog or digital signals representing audio including, but not limited to, a radio antenna, a CD player, or a digital media player interface (e.g., an IPOD® dock with connector). The speakers 360, 362 may include any type of speaker capable of converting audio signals to sound. In the clock audio apparatus 300, the hidden display 310 may display clock information (e.g., time of day, alarm time, and alarm mode) and audio information (e.g., radio station, track number, and volume) in the display region 324.
Referring to
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The hidden display 410 is shown in greater detail in
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In the illustrated embodiment, display holders 417a, 417b are used to hold the LED display element carriage 414 to a structure within the housing 420. For example, the display holders 417a, 417b may be mounted to a circuit board such as LED circuit board 430. The display holders 417a, 417b may include posts 419a-419d that receive screws or other fasteners (not shown) extending through holes 415a-415d in the LED display element carriage 414. The springs 418a-418d may be positioned around the posts 419a-419d such that the springs 418a-418d allow the LED display element carriage 414 to float (e.g., in the direction of arrow 405 in
The control circuitry 430, 432, 434 may include, for example, LED circuit board 430, main circuit board 432, and interface circuit board 434 mounted within the housing 420. The LED circuit board 430 may be coupled to the LEDs 412 and may include display driver circuitry known to those skilled in the art for controlling illumination of the LEDs 412. The interface circuit board 434 may be coupled to the user interface controls 440, 442, 444, 446 and may include circuitry known to those skilled in the art for generating user interface signals in response to user activation of the interface controls 440, 442, 444, 446. The interface circuit board 434 may also be coupled to digital media player interface connector 454 and may include digital media player interface circuitry known to those skilled in the art for receiving digital signals from digital media players. The main circuit board 432 may be coupled to the LED circuit board 430 and the user interface circuit board 434 and may include circuitry known to those skilled in the art for controlling display, clock and audio functions. Other configurations of circuit boards may also be used to implement the control circuitry for controlling the functions of the clock audio apparatus.
The user interface controls 440, 442, 444, 446 may be located on a top panel of the housing 420 and coupled to the interface circuit board 434. The user interface controls 440, 442, 444, 446 may include, for example, one or more buttons, keys or switches for turning power on/off, for selecting an audio input, for controlling volume, for selecting audio tracks and/or radio stations, for turning on alarms, for activating snooze features, for activating sleep features, for changing modes, for controlling the brightness of the display, and for setting the clock and alarm times.
The digital media player dock 450 may be located on a top panel of the housing 420 for receiving a digital media player 452 such as an IPOD® digital media player. The digital media player dock 450 may include a digital media player interface connector 454 configured to connect the digital media player 452 to the clock audio apparatus 400 such that digital media on the digital media player 452 may be played through the clock audio apparatus 400. Other types of connectors 454 may also be used for connection to other types of digital media devices.
The speaker components 460, 462, 464 may be located on sides of the housing 420 and coupled to the main circuit board 432 to receive audio signals. The speaker components may include different size side speakers 460, 462 such as high frequency and low frequency speakers and a speaker port 464. The speakers 460, 462 may be enclosed by speaker enclosures 466, 468. The speaker enclosures 466, 468 may define the tunnel forming the speaker port 464, thus allowing the speaker components 460, 462, 464 to fit within a limited space in the housing 420. The speaker enclosures 466, 468 may also provide a frame that holds the other components (e.g., circuit boards 430, 432, 434) together within the apparatus 400. Other types and configurations of speakers known to those skilled in the art may also be used.
Although a specific shape, design and configuration of the clock audio apparatus 400 is shown, other shapes, designs and configurations are contemplated. Hidden displays, as described herein, may also be used in other types of devices, such as clocks without audio functions, audio devices without clocks, other electronic devices, and appliances.
Accordingly, the hidden display, consistent with the embodiments described herein, may provide a clear illumination of information on an outside surface of an apparatus without the display hardware being visible to the naked eye from the outside of the apparatus.
Consistent with one embodiment, a hidden display includes at least one light emitting display element and a display panel having an inside surface and an outside surface. The inside surface of the display panel is in contact with the at least one light emitting display element such that light emitted from the light emitting display element is optically coupled into the display panel. The outside surface of the display panel includes a display region for displaying illuminated information formed by the light optically coupled into the display panel. The display panel is transparent to at least a portion of the light from the light emitting display element optically coupled into the display panel such that the light from the light emitting display element is visible on the outside surface as the illuminated information. The display is opaque to ambient light impinging upon the outside surface such that the light emitting display element is not visible behind the outside surface when the light emitting element does not emit light. The outside surface provides a diffuse reflection of ambient light.
Consistent with another embodiment, an apparatus includes a housing, display driver circuitry, and a hidden display integral with at least one side of the housing. The hidden display includes at least one light emitting display element and a display panel having an inside surface and an outside surface. The inside surface of the display panel is in contact with the at least one light emitting display element such that light emitted from the light emitting display element is optically coupled into the display panel. The outside surface of the display panel includes a display region for displaying illuminated information formed by the light optically coupled into the display panel. The display panel is transparent to at least a portion of the light from the light emitting display element optically coupled into the display panel such that the light from the light emitting display element is visible on the outside surface as the illuminated information. The display is opaque to ambient light impinging upon the outside surface such that the light emitting display element is not visible behind the outside surface when the light emitting element does not emit light. The outside surface provides a diffuse reflection of ambient light.
Consistent with a further embodiment, a clock includes a housing, control circuitry located within the housing configured to control at least clock functions and display functions, and a hidden display integral with at least one side of the housing. The hidden display includes at least one light emitting display element and a display panel having an inside surface and an outside surface. The inside surface of the display panel is in contact with the at least one light emitting display element such that light emitted from the light emitting display element is optically coupled into the display panel. The outside surface of the display panel includes a display region for displaying illuminated information formed by the light optically coupled into the display panel. The display panel is transparent to at least a portion of the light from the light emitting display element optically coupled into the display panel such that the light from the light emitting display element is visible on the outside surface as the illuminated information. The display is opaque to ambient light impinging upon the outside surface such that the light emitting display element is not visible behind the outside surface when the light emitting element does not emit light. The outside surface provides a diffuse reflection of ambient light.
While the principles of the invention have been described herein, it is to be understood by those skilled in the art that this description is made only by way of example and not as a limitation as to the scope of the invention. Other embodiments are contemplated within the scope of the present invention in addition to the exemplary embodiments shown and described herein. Modifications and substitutions by one of ordinary skill in the art are considered to be within the scope of the present invention, which is not to be limited except by the following claims.
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