Light emitting panel assemblies for use in automotive applications and the like
First Claim
1. A light emitting assembly for vehicle illumination comprising a light guide having at least one light input surface, a plurality of closely spaced light sources along said light input surface for supplying light to said light guide, a plurality of light extracting deformities on at least one surface of said light guide, said deformities having shapes for controlling an output ray angle distribution of emitted light to suit a particular application, and a transparent substrate overlying at least one surface of said light guide.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Light emitting panel assemblies include in one form of the invention a light emitting panel member made of a transparent resiliently deformable elastomeric material that absorbs impact without breakage for use in automotive lighting applications of various types. In another form of the invention, a rigid light emitting panel member may be used with dome switches for switch area lighting or to backlight control buttons/key pads by providing holes or openings in the panel member for the control buttons/key pads. Also, a rigid light emitting panel member may be used as a structural member, and two or more such light emitting panel members may be stacked together and used to light an instrument panel or the like. One or more light sources may be mounted within one or more light transition areas adjacent one or more light input surfaces of the light emitting panel members. Also one or more light sources may be positioned adjacent one side of the light emitting panel members for causing light to shine through the panel members or through holes in the panel members for performing specified lighting functions.
138 Citations
52 Claims
- 1. A light emitting assembly for vehicle illumination comprising a light guide having at least one light input surface, a plurality of closely spaced light sources along said light input surface for supplying light to said light guide, a plurality of light extracting deformities on at least one surface of said light guide, said deformities having shapes for controlling an output ray angle distribution of emitted light to suit a particular application, and a transparent substrate overlying at least one surface of said light guide.
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17. A light emitting assembly for vehicle illumination comprising a light guide having at least one transparent substrate overlying a surface of said light guide, both said light guide and said substrate having deformities on at least one surface of each of said light guide and said substrate, said deformities having shapes for controlling an output ray angle distribution of emitted light to suit a particular application, the deformities on at least one of said light guide and said substrate varying in at least one of the following characteristics:
- size, shape, placement, index of refraction, density, angle, depth, height and type.
- View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A light emitting assembly for vehicle illumination comprising a light guide, a transparent substrate overlying a surface of said light guide, at least one of said light guide and said substrate having deformities on at least one surface, said deformities having shapes for controlling an output ray angle distribution of emitted light to suit a particular application, at least some of said deformities including prismatic surfaces having angles that vary.
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25. A light emitting assembly for vehicle illumination comprising a light guide having at least one light input surface, at least one light source along said light input surface for supplying light to said light guide, a plurality of light extracting deformities on at least one surface of said light guide, said deformities having shapes for controlling an output ray angle distribution of emitted light to suit a particular application, and a transparent substrate overlying at least one surface of said light guide, said substrate providing at least one of the following:
- an exterior portion of a vehicle, protection for the light guide, at least one of text, an image and color, at least one of a prismatic lens, lenticular lens and another device that changes the output ray angle distribution, and improved uniformity of the light output distribution.
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26. A light emitting assembly for vehicle illumination comprising a light guide having at least one light input surface, at least one light source along said light input surface for supplying light to said light guide, a plurality of light extracting deformities on at least one surface of said light guide, said deformities having shapes for controlling an output ray angle distribution of emitted light to suit a particular application, a transparent substrate overlying at least one surface of said light guide, at least one of said light guide and said substrate having at least one of a coating and surface treatment that changes, wherein the changes in said at least one of the coating and surface treatment are at least one of the following:
- density, color, index of refraction, reflection, opaqueness, translucence, area, depth, shape, size and type.
- View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
- 34. A light emitting assembly for vehicle illumination comprising a plurality of relatively rigid light guides in overlying relation to one another, each of said light guides having at least one light input surface, at least one light source positioned along said light input surface for supplying light to said light guides, and a plurality of light extracting deformities on at least one surface of each of said light guides for controlling an output ray angle distribution of emitted light to suit a particular application, said light guides being positioned relative to one another such that the light emitted from at least one of said light guides passes through another of said light guides in a desired direction or output ray angle distribution.
Specification