Integrated display screen and slidable control for electrical circuits
First Claim
1. A control device for an electrical circuit which control device has a slidable member that is traveled along a track to any of a plurality of different positions in order to change an electrical condition in the circuit, wherein the improvement comprises:
- said slidable member and track being disposed in front of an electronic display screen which has an image display area at which instantly changeable images are displayed, at least a portion of said slidable member being situated directly in front of said image display area.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A circuit control device of the type having a knob which an operator travels along a track to vary a circuit condition is disposed on the face of an electronic display screen. This enables a display of calibration marks, symbols and/or other indicia pertaining to operation of the control including at; locations in immediate proximity to the slidable knob which display can change instantly when the function of the control changes or when other conditions call for different graphics. The track and sliding knob and electronic components of the control signal producing circuit are at the front of the display screen thereby enabling easy repair. Components of the control signal producing circuit are contained within the knob and/or track. Knob motion is detected by compact and durable sensors which may include radio frequency sensors, capacitive sensors, photoelectric sensors or Hall effect sensors among others.
78 Citations
50 Claims
-
1. A control device for an electrical circuit which control device has a slidable member that is traveled along a track to any of a plurality of different positions in order to change an electrical condition in the circuit, wherein the improvement comprises:
said slidable member and track being disposed in front of an electronic display screen which has an image display area at which instantly changeable images are displayed, at least a portion of said slidable member being situated directly in front of said image display area. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
-
50. A control device for an electrical circuit which control device comprises:
-
an electronic display screen having a face with an image area thereat at which instantly changeable images are displayable, a track extending along said face of said display screen within said image area thereof, a slidable member engaging said track and being manually slidable therealong to any of a plurality of successive positions, a slidable member position sensor producing a control signal for said electrical circuit which changes in response to movement of said slidable member between said positions, and a display controller electrically coupled to said position sensor and to said display screen, said display controller being conditioned to cause display of changeable images at said screen which images convey information pertinent to operation of said control device.
-
Specification