Visual alarm for a communication module

• US 5,877,695 A
• Filed: 10/07/1997
• Issued: 03/02/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Hayes, John Joseph Jr., Kubes, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Daniel J.
• Application Number:
  US08/946,491
• Time in Patent Office: 511 Days
• Field of Search: 340/815.4, 340/815.53, 340/825.79, 340/825.81, 340/691, 340/693, 341/20, 341/22, 341/31, 345/76, 345/80, 345/82, 345/84, 345/87, 345/105-107, 345/204-206, 345/211, 455/90, 455/95, 455/128, 455/145, 455/347, 455/351, 455/566, 455/575, 362/84, 313/506, 313/505, 313/511
• US Class Current: 340/815.4
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 3/1058 Pager holders or housings casings for electric apparatus H05K5/00
• 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: H01H 2219/0026 having outer surface of housing of electronic apparatus programmable as display and/or input device
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2219/02 programmable
• CPC Class Codes: H01H 2219/037 using organic materials, e.g. organic LED
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0283 for providing a decorative aspect, e.g. customization of casings, exchangeable faceplate
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72478 for hearing-impaired users
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/04 the ringing-current being generated at the substations

Abstract

An organic electroluminescent material is sealed within the outer housing of a portable radio telephone along with the control grids to cause the material to luminesce in a pixilated pattern. The pixels are controlled to generate a visual alarm which flashes a warning to a user as either a message or a flashing color of the housing or image. The visual alarm may be combined with audible and vibratory alarms within the mobile telephone.

Claims

1. A visual alarm system for a modular telecommunication device comprising:

an outer housing for said modular telecommunications device which includes an upper and lower shell sealed to one another and formed of a material which is impervious to moisture and oxygen with at least a portion of said upper shell being transparent to light;

an organic electroluminescent display assembly contained within said sealed upper and lower shells which includes,

a composite layer of organic electroluminescent material having the characteristic of producing illumination in response to voltage across the material;

a first layer of electrically conductive material on one side of said layer of composite organic electroluminescent material, said first layer comprising a plurality of parallel elongate conductive strips separated from one another and connected to an electrical terminal on the outside of said sealed upper and lower shells;

a second layer of electrically conductive material on the other side of said layer of composite organic electroluminescent material from said first layer, said second layer comprising a plurality of parallel elongate conductive strips separated from one another and extending in a direction at an angle to the conductive strips in said first layer to define a pixel area within the organic electroluminescent layer between each crosspoint region between an overlying and underlying conductive strip, each of said strips in said second layer also being connected to an electrical terminal on the outside of said sealed upper and lower shells;

a circuit for selectively applying electrical power to the electrical terminals connected to selected ones of said separate strips within said first and second conductive layers to illuminate said pixel areas at the crosspoint regions between each underlying and overlying conductive strip to which electrical power is selective applied and allow said illuminated pixels to be visible through portions of said upper and lower shell which are transparent; and

means for energizing said circuit in response to the occurrence of an alarm condition within said modular telecommunications device to produce illumination of selected ones of the pixel areas underlying the transparent areas in said outer housing and visually signal to a user the existence of said alarm condition.

2. A visual alarm system for a modular telecommunication device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the conductive material in one of said first and second layers of conductive material includes a material of indium tin oxide and the conductive material in the other layer includes a material of aluminum.

3. A visual alarm system for a modular telecommunication device as set forth in claim 1 wherein s aid plurality of strips in said first layer of conductive material extend in a direction orthogonal to said plurality of strips in said second layer of conductive material.

4. A visual alarm system for a modular telecommunication device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said composite layer of organic electroluminescent material having the characteristic of producing illumination in response to voltage across the material includes at least two separate layers of a light emitting polymer material of poly-phenylene-vinylene or Alq type monomers.

5. A visual alarm system for a modular telecommunication device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said sealed upper and lower shells also includes at least a second complete and separate organic electroluminescent display assembly and also includes:

an area of said first display assembly underlying at least a portion of said outer shell which is transparent to light to define a standby mode indicating visual condition on the outer housing;

an area of said second display assembly underlying at least a portion of said outer shell which is transparent to light to define an alarm condition indicating visual display on the outer housing; and

wherein

said circuit for selectively applying electrical power to the electrical terminals is connected to selected ones of said separate strips within both said first and second conductive layers of said first organic electroluminescent display assembly and first and second organic electroluminescent display and is selectively operative in either one of two modes, a first mode in which it is operative and controlled in a manner that illuminates selected pixels in the organic electroluminescent layer of the second display assembly at the crosspoints between each of the underlying and overlying conductive strips in said decorative display region to provide standby mode indicating display on the surface of said modular telecommunications device and, alternatively, in a second mode in which it is operative and controlled in a manner that illuminates selected pixels in the organic electroluminescent layer of the first display assembly at the crosspoints between each of the underlying and overlying conductive strips to provide said visible alarm condition indicating to a user the presence of said alarm condition within said modular telecommunications device.

6. A visual alarm system for a modular telecommunication device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said sealed upper and lower shells are substantially entirely transparent to light, said organic electroluminescent display assembly contained within said sealed upper and lower shells underlies substantially all of the transparent portions of said shells and said circuit for selectively applying electrical terminals is controlled to provide a substantially uniform color to the exterior of said modular telecommunication device.

7. A visual alarm system for a modular telecommunication device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said energizing means is selective operable in at least two separate conditions, the first condition producing illumination of selected ones of the pixels areas underlying the transparent areas in said outer housing to visually signal to a user the existence of a standby condition within said telecommunication device and the second condition producing illumination of selected ones of the pixels areas underlying the transparent areas in said outer housing to visually signal to a user the existence of said alarm condition within said telecommunication device.

8. A visual alarm system for a modular telecommunication device as set forth in claim 7 wherein said producing illumination of selected ones of the pixels areas in said outer housing to visually transparent areas in said outer housing to visually signal to a user the existence of said alarm condition within said telecommunication device further have at least two separate visual states, one to indicate an alarm comprising an incoming call of a first type and another to indicate an alarm comprising an incoming call of a second type.

9. A visual alarm system for a modular telecommunication device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said organic electroluminescent display assembly contained within said sealed upper and lower shells underlying said transparent area defines an alarm region and a user input/output region and where said user input/output region also includes:

a touch sensitive screen underlying said at least a portion of said user input/output region, said screen having electrical connections passing through said sealed upper and lower shells for connection to external circuitry for receiving input signals from a user.

10. A visual alarm system for a modular telecommunication device as set forth in claim 9 wherein said circuit for selectively applying electrical power to the electrical terminals connected to selected ones of said separate strips with said first and second conductive layers is controlled in a manner that illuminates selected pixels in the organic electroluminescent layer at the crosspoints between each of the underlying and overlying conductive strips in said user input region defined by said touch sensitive screen to provide visible guidance to a user as to where to touch said screen in order to enter a desired input into the said modular telecommunications device.

11. A visual alarm system for a modular telecommunication device as set forth in claim 9 wherein said organic electroluminescent display assembly contained within said sealed upper and lower shells and underlying said user input/output regions also includes:

an area of said display assembly underlying at least a portion of said outer shell which is transparent to light to define a user display region, and wherein

said circuit for selectively applying electrical power to the electrical terminals connected to selected one of said separate strips within said first and second conductive layers is controlled in a manner that illuminates selected pixels in the organic electroluminescent layer at the crosspoints between each of the underlying and overlying conductive strips in said user display region underlying said transparent portion of said upper shell to provide visible messages to a user related to operation of said modular telecommunications device.