Light emitting panel assemblies for use in automotive applications and the like
DCFirst Claim
1. A light emitting assembly for vehicle illumination comprising a light guide having opposite sides and at least one light input surface along at least one edge of said light guide, one or more light emitting diodes along said light input surface for receiving light from said light emitting diodes and conducting the light from said edge for emission of the light from at least one of said sides, a plurality of light extracting deformities on at least one of said sides, 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 of said sides, said substrate providing an exterior portion of a vehicle for vehicle illumination at said exterior portion.
5 Assignments
Litigations
7 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. 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.
154 Citations
33 Claims
- 1. A light emitting assembly for vehicle illumination comprising a light guide having opposite sides and at least one light input surface along at least one edge of said light guide, one or more light emitting diodes along said light input surface for receiving light from said light emitting diodes and conducting the light from said edge for emission of the light from at least one of said sides, a plurality of light extracting deformities on at least one of said sides, 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 of said sides, said substrate providing an exterior portion of a vehicle for vehicle illumination at said exterior portion.
Specification