Patent Application
20160124539
Many devices have user interfaces that allow a person to operate the device. Example user interface elements include decorative, touch and lighting elements.
Increasingly, user interfaces include decorative, touch, and lighting elements. Some conventional user interfaces combine a printed circuit board (PCB) having a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs), a sheet of plastic light guides, and a decorative film. Light guide sheets often require laser etching, and light blockers are typically required to prevent light bleed between illuminated areas of a user interface. The costs and lead times associated with the design and manufacture of conventional light guide sheets is typically prohibitive. Moreover, the need for a large PCB to position LEDs across a user interface also increases cost and design time.
To overcome at least these problems, integrated user interfaces that combine decorative, touch and lighting elements without the need for a sheet of light guides or a user interface sized PCB are disclosed herein. The integrated user interfaces disclosed herein include a panel having in-molded or deposited decorative, and/or in-molded touch elements that are mounted to a base having cavities filled with, for example, a material containing phosphor and associated light sources. The panel and the base are adhered, affixed, fused, etc. to each other to form an integrated user interface prior to assembly of the integrated user interface to a device or apparatus, such as an appliance, during manufacture. In this way, the panel and the base can be more easily and more accurately aligned.
The example integrated user interfaces disclosed herein may be used as part of any apparatus or device needing or having a user interface with touch, decorative and lighting elements. Example apparatuses and devices include, but are not limited to, a domestic appliance such as a refrigerator, a stove, a range, an oven, a microwave, a dishwasher, a washing machine, a dryer, a freezer, an ice maker, a wine cooler, a beer cooler, a clothes refresher, etc., and/or in any other apparatus, device, etc. having a user interface.
As used herein, an integrated user interface refers to a combination of parts, members, elements, etc. that are joined together and effectively and/or essentially become indivisible, irreversibly one, indecomposable, etc. One of ordinary skill in the art would instantly understand that the integrated user interfaces disclosed herein are not amendable to disassembly back into their constituent parts. For example, once the example panels and bases are joined via, for example, fusing, molding, adhering, etc. into an integrated user interface, it is expected that disassembly would damage at least one of the parts. In stark contrast, conventional user interfaces are composed of elements that are mechanically fit together, snapped together, screwed together, etc. and, thus, can be readily disassembled and reassembled. Even though the parts of a conventional user interface may be considered as a whole when mechanically assembled together, they are not considered as integrated for the purpose of this disclosure and the appended claims.
As used herein, terms such as up, down, top, bottom, side, end, front, back, etc. are used with reference to a currently considered or illustrated orientation. If it is considered with respect to another orientation, it should be understood that such terms must be correspondingly modified.
Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of this disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. The embodiments are described below by referring to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements. When like reference numerals are shown, corresponding description(s) are not repeated and the interested reader is referred to the previously discussed figure(s) for a description of the like element(s). While the examples disclosed herein are, for ease of illustration, flat integrated user interfaces, it should be understood that integrated user interfaces according to this disclosure may be curved. Moreover, while example arrangements of decorative, touch, phosphor, and light source elements are shown and discussed herein, other arrangements may be used.
As shown in
To provide lighting for some or all of the areas 110, the panel 105 includes a plurality of LEDs (one of which is designated at reference numeral 125) for respective ones of the areas 110. The example LEDs 125 of
To electrically couple the touch pads 120 and the LEDs 125 to a PCB 130 controlling a device such as an appliance, the example panel 105 includes one or more electrical traces 135. The electrical traces 135 are electrically coupled to the PCB 130 via a cable 140, such as a flat printed circuit cable, a flat ribbon cable, a flexible flat cable, a flat flex cable, etc.
In some examples, the panel 105 is formed by applying a decorative film 106 containing or having the label or icons 115 to a plastic substrate 107 containing the touch pads 120 and the traces 135, and having the LEDs 125 mounted thereon. In some examples, portions of the decorative film 106 outside the label or icons 125 are opaque to reduce light bleed. The touch pads 120 and the traces 135 may be, for example, in-molded in the plastic substrate 107. Alternatively or additionally, the decorative film 106 may instead be a layer of paint or colored plastic applied to or deposited on the plastic substrate 107.
To illuminate the areas 110, the example integrated user interface 100 includes a base 140. The example base 140 is formed of an opaque material 145 having cavities (one of which is designated at reference numeral 150) defined therein. In the example of
As shown in
Returning to
In some examples, the injected phosphor material 310, when cured or dried using, for example, heat or air, adheres, affixes, fuses, etc. the panel 105 and the base 140 into the integrated user interface 300. Alternatively or additionally, other methods and/or materials, such as glue or heat, may be used to integrate the panel 105 and the base 140.
To convert the invisible light into visible light, the example integrated user interface 500 of
Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture have been described herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the claims of this patent.
