Colored morphing apparatus for an electronic device
First Claim
1. An electronic device having a user interface for receiving a touch input, the user interface comprising:
- a first polarizer cover layer;
a liquid crystal layer disposed beneath the first polarizer cover layer and between a first and second substrate and configured to selectively alter a polarization of light transmitted therethrough;
a polarization dependent reflective layer disposed beneath the liquid crystal layer and configured to reflect one of a red component of the transmitted light, a blue component of the transmitted light, or a green component of the transmitted light of a first polarization along a first axis and to absorb all of the components of light of the first polarization that are not reflected, and to transmit each of the red, blue, and green components of light of a second polarization along a second axis, wherein the red, green, and blue components of the transmitted light, when combined, make white light; and
transparent electrodes disposed on one of the first or second substrate and configured to present a first one of a plurality of keypad configurations to a user when the red, blue, or green component of transmitted light is reflected by the polarization dependent reflective layer and to present a second one of a plurality of keypad configurations to the user when each of the red, green, and blue components are transmitted by the polarization dependent reflective layer.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A user interface (200) for a portable electronic device (100) is configured to transition from a first state to a second state to present a plurality of mode-based user actuation targets to a user. The user interface (200) includes a segmented electro-optical device (407) configured to open and close shutters, thereby revealing and hiding the user actuation targets. The user interface includes a first polarizer (401) disposed above the segmented electro-optical device (407) and a colored reflective polarizer (405) disposed beneath the segmented electro-optical device. The colored reflective polarizer (405), which may include a colored dichroic polarizer (601) and a reflective polarizer (602), causes the user interface (200) to exhibit a predetermined color.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. An electronic device having a user interface for receiving a touch input, the user interface comprising:
-
a first polarizer cover layer; a liquid crystal layer disposed beneath the first polarizer cover layer and between a first and second substrate and configured to selectively alter a polarization of light transmitted therethrough; a polarization dependent reflective layer disposed beneath the liquid crystal layer and configured to reflect one of a red component of the transmitted light, a blue component of the transmitted light, or a green component of the transmitted light of a first polarization along a first axis and to absorb all of the components of light of the first polarization that are not reflected, and to transmit each of the red, blue, and green components of light of a second polarization along a second axis, wherein the red, green, and blue components of the transmitted light, when combined, make white light; and transparent electrodes disposed on one of the first or second substrate and configured to present a first one of a plurality of keypad configurations to a user when the red, blue, or green component of transmitted light is reflected by the polarization dependent reflective layer and to present a second one of a plurality of keypad configurations to the user when each of the red, green, and blue components are transmitted by the polarization dependent reflective layer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A method of selectively revealing one of a plurality of keypad configurations of a user interface of an electronic device while selectively hiding another one of the plurality of the keypad configurations, the electronic device having a polarization dependent reflective layer for reflecting a predetermined color component of light from a user interface, the method comprising:
-
transmitting white light through a first polarizer cover layer above the polarization dependent reflective layer; reflecting from the polarization dependent reflective layer only one color of transmitted light having a first polarization along a first axis while absorbing other colors of the transmitted light having the first polarization along the first axis; altering an axis of polarization of the light transmitted through a liquid crystal layer disposed between the first polarizer cover layer and the polarization dependent reflective layer from a first polarization; transmitting through the polarization dependent reflective layer at least three colors of light having a second polarization along a second axis that is different from the first axis; when the only one color of light having the first polarization is reflected from the polarization dependent reflective layer, actuating one or more transparent electrodes disposed on a substrate to present a first keypad configuration to a user; and when the at least three colors of light having the second polarization are transmitted through the polarization dependent reflective layer, actuating one or more transparent electrodes disposed on a substrate to present a second keypad configuration to a user. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. An electronic device having a user interface for receiving a touch input, the user interface comprising:
-
a first polarizer cover layer; a liquid crystal layer disposed beneath the first polarizer cover layer and between a first and second substrate and configured to selectively alter a polarization of white light transmitted therethrough; a polarization dependent reflective layer disposed beneath the liquid crystal layer and configured to reflect a color component of the transmitted white light having a first polarization along a first axis and to absorb all of other color components of the transmitted while light having the first polarization, and to transmit all of the transmitted white light having a second polarization along a second axis that is different from the first axis; and transparent electrodes disposed on one of the first or second substrate and configured to present a first one of a plurality of keypad configurations to a user when the red, blue, or green component of transmitted light is reflected by the polarization dependent reflective layer and to present a second one of a plurality of keypad configurations to the user when each of the red, green, and blue components are transmitted by the polarization dependent reflective layer.
-
Specification