Apparatus with membrane panel having close-proximity communication antenna

• US 10,593,491 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2019
• Issued: 03/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
• Original Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
• Inventors: Overesch, Jeremy, Liebert, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Sandiford, Devan A
• Application Number:
  US16/373,236
• Publication Number:
  US 20190228928A1
• Time in Patent Office: 350 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 9/1087 Arc welding using remote control
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 13/702 with contacts carried by or formed from layers in a multilayer structure, e.g. membrane switches
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2225 used in active tags, i.e. provided with its own power source or in passive tags, i.e. deriving power from RF signal
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/2291 used in bluetooth or WI-FI devices of Wireless Local Area Networks [WLAN] H01Q1/241 takes precedence; WLAN in general H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 7/00 Loop antennas with a substantially uniform current distribution around the loop and having a directional radiation pattern in a plane perpendicular to the plane of the loop
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/00 Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/43 Antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Apparatus and methods are disclosed of a membrane panel comprising a close-proximity communication antenna embedded within the membrane panel. In an example, a welding-type system includes a membrane panel with a user interface and a close-proximity communication antenna embedded within the membrane panel.

Claims

1. A multilayer membrane panel user interface comprising:

a first layer that includes a close-proximity communication antenna embedded within the membrane panel; and

a second layer that includes a switch panel comprising a graphical user interfaces (GUI).

2. The interface of claim 1, further comprising one or more electrical switches.

3. The interface of claim 2, wherein each Switch panel graphic can include a display graphic, Switch graphic can similarly correspond to a location or identify a function of the one or more electrical switches.

4. The interface of claim 3, wherein the second layer comprises one or more transparent portions to reveal a lighted indicator or an identifying graphic associated with the one or more electrical switches.

5. The interface of claim 2, wherein the second layer comprises a plurality of signal traces for corresponding electrical switches.

6. The interface of claim 5, wherein the one or more electrical switches and the plurality of signal traces are printed on the second layer.

7. The interface of claim 2, wherein both the close-proximity communication antenna and the one or more electrical switches are connected to a controller via an electrical connector.

8. The interface of claim 2, further comprising an insulating layer to protect the close-proximity communication antenna or the one or more electrical switches.

9. The interface of claim 2, wherein the close-proximity communication antenna is configured to transmit information to and receive information from a communications device via near field communications (NFC).

10. The interface of claim 1, wherein the GUI comprises an antenna graphic corresponding to a location of an underlying close-proximity antenna.

11. The interface of claim 1, wherein the GUI is a touch screen enabled.

12. A welding-type system comprising a multilayer membrane panel user interface comprising:

a close-proximity communication antenna embedded within the membrane panel; and

a switch panel comprising one or more switches connected to a display via one or more electrical signal traces, wherein the welding-type system is configured to transmit and receive information via the close-proximity communication antenna or the one or more switches.

13. The welding-type system of claim 12, wherein the one or more switches include one or more of a capacitive-type switch, a pressure switch, a touch-enabled switch, or a mechanical switch.

14. The welding-type system of claim 12, wherein the one or more switches and the one or more electrical signal traces are printed on the switch panel.

15. The welding-type system of claim 14, wherein the close-proximity communication antenna and the switch panel are configured to connect to one or more controllers via the one or more electrical signal traces.

16. The welding-type system of claim 12, wherein the controller is embedded in the membrane panel.

17. The welding-type system of claim 12, wherein one or more of the close- proximity communication antenna and the switch panel are connected to the controller via an electrical connection.

18. The welding-type system of claim 17, wherein the electrical connection is one or more of a ribbon cable or a wireless channel.

19. The welding-type system of claim 12, further comprising a panel layer configured as a protective material to protect the underlying panel layers.