Color changing cover for an electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10612768-B2
Application number	US-201916266665-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 4, 2019
Priority date	May 30, 2014
Publication date	Apr 7, 2020
Grant date	Apr 7, 2020

Abstract

A color changing cover device for an electronic device includes a translucent cover component appearing white when not illuminated and having a shape adapted to cover a select portion of the electronic device, a direct transmission of less than 10%, and a diffuse transmission of less than 1%. A backlight component is arranged to illuminate the translucent cover component from a back surface of the translucent cover component. The backlight component is configured to provide at least two individually addressable colored lights with different spectral output.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An article, comprising:
a translucent cover component appearing white when not illuminated, the translucent cover component having a direct transmission of less than 10% over a wavelength range of 390 nm to 700 nm and a diffuse transmission of 1% or greater over a wavelength range of 390 nm to 700 nm; and
a backlight component arranged to illuminate the translucent cover component from a back surface of the translucent cover component, the backlight component being configured to provide at least two individually addressable colored lights with different spectral output.

2. The article of claim 1 , wherein the direct transmission is less than 5% over a wavelength range of 390 nm to 700 nm.

3. The article of claim 1 , wherein the diffuse transmission is greater than 2% over a wavelength range of 390 nm to 700 nm.

4. The article of claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the diffuse transmission to the direct transmission is greater than 1.

5. The article of claim 1 , wherein the ratio of the diffuse transmission to the direct transmission is greater than 2.

6. The article of claim 1 , wherein the color presented in CIELAB color space coordinates for CIR illuminant D65 determined from reflectance spectra measurements using a spectrophotometer of the translucent cover component are within 80≤L*≤100, −5≤a*≤5, and −5≤b*≤5.

7. The article of claim 1 , wherein the color presented in CIELAB color space coordinates for CIR illuminant D65 determined from reflectance spectra measurements using a spectrophotometer of the translucent cover component are within 85≤L*≤100, −3≤a*≤3, and −3≤b*≤4.

8. The article of claim 1 , wherein the translucent cover component comprises a white glass-ceramic material.

9. The article of claim 8 , wherein the white glass-ceramic material has at least one surface under a compressive stress of at least 200 MPa and a compressively stressed layer having a depth of layer of at least 15 μm.

10. The article of claim 8 , wherein the white glass-ceramic material has a liquidus viscosity of greater than 50 kP.

11. The article of claim 1 , wherein the translucent cover component comprises a transparent glass and a white diffusing coating applied on a surface of the transparent glass, wherein the white diffusing coating is located at the back surface of the translucent cover component.

12. The article of claim 11 , wherein the transparent glass has at least one surface under a compressive stress of at least 200 MPa and a compressively stressed layer having a depth of at least 15 μm.

13. The article of claim 1 , wherein the backlight component comprises a color array positioned in opposing relation to the back surface of the translucent cover component.

14. The article of claim 1 , wherein the backlight component comprises an array of colored light sources positioned in opposing relation to the back surface of the translucent cover component.

15. The article of claim 1 , wherein the backlight component comprises a plurality of colored light sources arranged to project colored lights to the back surface of the translucent cover component from a position at or near an edge of the translucent cover component.

16. The article of claim 1 , wherein the backlight component comprises a plurality of colored light sources arranged to project colored lights to a reflective surface, wherein the reflective surface is arranged to redirect the colored lights received from the colored light sources to the back surface of the translucent cover component.

17. The article of claim 1 , further comprising at least one waveguide embedded in the back surface of the translucent cover component to receive at least one of the colored lights and distribute the at least one of the colored lights to a surrounding material of the translucent cover component.

18. The article of claim 1 , further comprising at least one light diffusing fiber arranged proximate the back surface of the translucent cover component to receive at least one of the colored lights and distribute the at least one of the colored lights to a surrounding material of the translucent cover component.

19. The article of claim 1 , wherein the backlight component comprises a plurality of light emitting diodes or lasers.

20. The article of claim 1 , wherein the back surface is roughened such that the translucent cover component exhibits more diffuse transmission than direct transmission over a wavelength range of 390 nm to 700 nm.

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Dejneka Matthew John

Classifications

• G02B6/0068

  Arrangements of plural sources, e.g. multi-colour light sources · CPC title

• F21V7/0075

  for portable lighting devices · CPC title

• H04M1/22

  Illumination; Arrangements for improving the visibility of characters on dials · CPC title

• H04B1/3888

  Arrangements for carrying or protecting transceivers · CPC title

• F21V7/05

  plane · CPC title