Laundry treating apparatus and method of fabricating a laundry treating apparatus door

• US 10,094,063 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2016
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Cheon, Kangwoon, Yong, Seungji, Kwon, Yongwoo, Choi, Jaehoon, Son, Junyoung, Kim, Hongchul
• Primary Examiner(s): Elahi, Towfiq
• Application Number:
  US15/340,235
• Publication Number:
  US 20170121891A1
• Time in Patent Office: 707 Days
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 2101/20 Operation modes, e.g. delicate laundry washing programs, service modes or refreshment cycles
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 33/32 Control of operational steps, e.g. optimisation or improvement of operational steps depending on the condition of the laundry
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/20 Parameters relating to constructional components, e.g. door sensors
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 34/32 characterised by graphical features, e.g. touchscreens
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 37/266 Gaskets mounted between tub and casing around the loading opening
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 39/02 Devices for adding soap or other washing agents
• CPC Class Codes: D06F 39/14 Doors or covers; Securing means therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/10 using selector switches
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/409 characterised by using manual data input [MDI] or by using control panel, e.g. controlling functions with the panel; characterised by control panel details or by setting parameters G05B19/408, G05B19/4093 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23023 Control knobs, levers integrated into display, display parameters near knobs
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23058 Knob, pedal selects ranges, functions and controls in each range as function of position
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/23099 Switches on panel, connected to serial port
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/2633 Washing, laundry
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04103 Manufacturing, i.e. details related to manufacturing processes specially suited for touch sensitive devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04107 Shielding in digitiser, i.e. guard or shielding arrangements, mostly for capacitive touchscreens, e.g. driven shields, driven grounds
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/044 by capacitive means
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/028 Bending or folding regions of flexible printed circuits H05K1/0283 takes precedence

Abstract

A laundry treating apparatus includes a main body having a laundry introduction opening, and a door capable of opening and closing the laundry introduction opening, wherein the door includes a door cover defining an appearance of the door, and provided with a transparent region and an opaque region surrounding the transparent region, a display module disposed on a rear surface of the door cover and capable of outputting visual information through the transparent region, and a touch sensor attached to a rear surface of the door cover to cover the transparent region and capable of sensing a touch input applied to the transparent region, wherein the touch sensor is provided with an align mark to allow the touch sensor to be attached to a correct position with respect to the transparent region.

Claims

1. A laundry treating apparatus, comprising:

a main body having a laundry introduction opening; and

a door configured to open or close the laundry introduction opening,

wherein the door includes;

a door cover defining an appearance of the door, and having a transparent region and an opaque region surrounding the transparent region;

a display module provided on a rear surface of the door cover and to output visual information through the transparent region; and

a touch sensor attached to a rear surface of the door cover to cover the transparent region and to sense a touch input applied to the transparent region,

wherein the touch sensor has an align mark to allow the touch sensor to be attached to a correct position with respect to the transparent region,

wherein the align mark is arranged in an overlapping manner on the transparent region forming a boundary between the opaque region and the transparent region, in a state where a front surface of the touch sensor has been attached to the rear surface of the door cover,

wherein an opaque shielding member is attached to a rear surface of the touch sensor to entirely cover the align mark and the opaque region adjacent to the align mark together, and

wherein the align mark and the shielding member exposed to outside through the front surface of the door cover have the same color tone as the opaque region.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the align mark includes an align line extending along at least one side of the touch sensor.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein touch sensor comprises:

a base portion made of a transparent material;

a touch pattern portion patterned into a preset pattern on the base portion to sense a touch input applied to the door cover; and

a mark portion formed on the base portion that forms the align mark.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the mark portion is made of the same material as the touch pattern portion, but is electrically separated from the touch pattern portion.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the touch sensor further includes a signal transfer portion electrically connected to the touch pattern portion to form a signal transfer path, and

wherein the mark portion is made of the same material as the signal transfer portion and is electrically separated from the signal transfer portion.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the door cover includes:

a cover body made of a transparent material; and

a shielding layer that covers a rear surface of the cover body, and forms the opaque region.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the shielding layer is not provided on the transparent region.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the door cover includes:

a cover body made of a transparent material; and

a film attached to a rear surface of the cover body,

wherein the film includes;

a transparent portion corresponding to the transparent region; and

an opaque portion corresponding to the opaque region and surrounding the transparent portion.