MULTI-FUNCTIONAL MATERIAL SYSTEM FOR SURFACE DISPLAY UNIT

• US 20180210118A1
• Filed: 06/01/2016
• Published: 07/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Corning Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Corning Incorporated
• Inventors: Gollier, Jacques, Kuksenkov, Dmitri Vladislavovich, Miller, William James, Nolan, Daniel Aloysius, Smith, Charlene Marie, West, James Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 10,663,791 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 17/06 comprising glass as the main or only constituent of a layer, next to another layer of a specific material
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 2307/41 Opaque
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 2307/412 Transparent
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 2307/418 Refractive
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 2457/206 Organic displays, e.g. OLED
• CPC Class Codes: B32B 2457/208 Touch screens
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2011/0005 Dashboard
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2011/0007 Mid-console
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/00 Surface treatment of glass, not in the form of fibres or filaments, by coating optical coatings of optical elements G02B1/10
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 21/002 to perform ion-exchange between alkali ions C03C21/005 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 2204/04 Opaque glass, glaze or enamel
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 3/076 with 40% to 90% silica, by weight C03C3/045 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 4/18 for ion-sensitive glass
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 1/118 having sub-optical wavelength surface structures designed to provide an enhanced transmittance, e.g. moth-eye structures
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133524 Light-guides, e.g. fibre-optic bundles, louvered or jalousie light-guides
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133555 Transflectors
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133607 the light controlling member including light directing or refracting elements, e.g. prisms or lenses
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133616 Front illuminating devices
• CPC Class Codes: G02F 1/133626 providing two modes of illumination, e.g. day-night
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 19/18 involving the use of optical projection means, e.g. projection of images on clouds projection apparatus per se G03B
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 9/30 : in which the desired character or characters are formed by combining individual elements panels comprising a number of electrodes in a single cell controlling light arriving from an independent light source, e.g. electro-optical or magneto-optical cell, G02F1/00
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 50/854 : comprising scattering means
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/40 : OLEDs integrated with touch screens
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/50 : OLEDs integrated with light modulating elements, e.g. with electrochromic elements, photochromic elements or liquid crystal elements
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/877 : comprising scattering means

Abstract

A material system for a surface display unit that includes a first side (i.e., a proximal side) that faces a viewer of the surface display unit and a second side (i.e., a distal side) facing away from the viewer. The material system provides at least three appearance states, including a generally opaque first appearance state when the surface display unit is “off” (i.e., not used to display images), a second appearance state in which the material system is illuminated from the first (i.e., proximal) side to display a first image (e.g., information and/or decoration) that is perceptible to the viewer, and a third appearance state in which the material system is illuminated from the second (i.e., distal) side to display a second image (e.g., information and/or decoration) that is perceptible to the viewer. Surface display units, systems, and methods comprising the material system are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A material system for a surface display unit comprising a first side configured to face a viewer of the surface display unit and a second side opposite the first side and facing away from the viewer,

wherein the material system is configured to have at least three appearance states, including:

(i) a generally opaque first appearance state when the surface display unit is not displaying an image;

(ii) a second appearance state wherein the material system is illuminated from the first side to display a first image that is perceptible to the viewer; and

(iii) a third appearance state wherein the material system is illuminated from the second side to display a second image that is perceptible to the viewer.

2. The material system of claim 1, wherein the material system comprises one or more layers comprising at least one of a glass material, a glass-ceramic material, a polymeric material and a poly-ceramic material.

3. The material system of claim 1, wherein the material system comprises a material body having a first surface proximate to the first side of the material system and a second surface proximate to the second side of the material system, wherein the material body has a higher degree of opacity on the first surface than on the second surface.

4. The material system of claim 3, wherein the first surface comprises an optical scattering surface and the second surface is optically transmissive.

12. The material system of claim 3, wherein the material system comprises a plurality of stacked layers of a glass or glass-ceramic material, wherein one or more of the layers comprises an optical scattering surface facing a viewer-side of the material system that preferentially scatters light of different wavelengths.

13. The material system of claim 2, wherein the material system comprises:

a first layer comprising a glass or glass-ceramic material having a proximal surface facing a viewer-side of the material system and a distal surface facing away from the viewer side; and

an optically-activated light emitting element array located on the distal surface of the first layer.

15. The material system of claim 13, wherein the optically-activated light emitting element array is configured to provide an opaque illuminated background appearance for the surface display unit.

16. The material system of claim 13, wherein the optically-activated light emitting element array is configured to provide a user-modifiable background color for the surface display unit.

18. The material system of claim 13, wherein the optically-activated light emitting element array is configured to display different colors and/or patterns of light when illuminated by an optical excitation source.

19. The material system of claim 18, wherein the optical excitation source is configured to illuminate the optically-activated light emitting element array from the front, rear or side of the material system.

21. The material system of claim 13, wherein the first layer comprises extraction features to promote light emission from the optically-activated light emitting element array to the viewer-side of the material system.

23. The material system of claim 1, wherein the material system comprises at least two different types of displays in a stacked configuration with a gap between the displays.

24. The material system of claim 23, wherein a first display comprises:

a first layer comprising a glass or glass-ceramic material having a proximal surface facing a viewer-side of the material system and a distal surface facing away from the viewer side; and

an optically-activated light emitting element array located on the distal surface of the first layer; and

wherein a second display comprises an electrophoretic display having a proximal surface configured to display a background image for the material system.

25. The material system of claim 24, wherein the optically-activated light emitting element array is configured to emit light onto the proximal surface of the electrophoretic display to modify a background color of the material system.

27. The material system of claim 24, wherein the gap between at least two displays is sufficient to diffuse any shadowing or projected image from the first display onto the front surface of the second display.

29. The material system of claim 2, wherein the material system comprises:

a first glass or glass-ceramic layer;

a second glass or glass-ceramic layer, wherein the first and second layers include micro-replicated surface features facing one another; and

a material that provides mechanical means to separate the first and second layers so that there is gap between the layers and to bring the layers together to form a combined layer with the micro-replicated features joining.

30. The material system of claim 1, wherein the material system comprises a switchable material layer that is capable of being switched between two states to provide variable opacity and light transmission through the material system.

33. A surface display unit having a material system as recited in claim 1, further comprising a first optical source for illuminating the material system from the first side of the material system and a second optical source for illuminating the material system from the second side of the material system.

34. The surface display unit of claim 33, wherein the first optical source comprises a front projection unit and the second optical source comprises at least one of:

a micro-LED array, an OLED array, a LCD array, a plasma cell array, an electroluminescent (EL) cell array, an electrophoretic display and a rear projection unit.

36. The surface display unit of claim 33, wherein the surface display unit comprises a vehicle display.

5-11. -11. (canceled)

14. (canceled)

17. (canceled)

20. (canceled)

22. (canceled)

26. (canceled)

28. (canceled)

31-32. -32. (canceled)

35. (canceled)

37-40. -40. (canceled)