Vehicle window assembly having a light-producing assembly
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsLinsheng Chen, Stuart C. Salter, Steven J. Antilla, Tom Xu, Paul Kenneth Dellock
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Abstract
A vehicle window assembly is provided herein and includes an inner layer, an outer layer, and an interlayer therebetween. A light-producing assembly is disposed in the interlayer and includes light sources disposed to emit light toward the inner layer, an optical film configured to collimate light emitted by the light sources, and a variable-transparency switchable glazing configured to vary the transmittance of the light emitted from the light sources based on user-supplied input.
Claims15
A vehicle window assembly comprising:
- an inner layer in communication with a vehicle cabin, an outer layer in communication with an outside vehicle environment, and an interlayer therebetween;
- and
- a light-producing assembly disposed in the interlayer and including:
- light sources oriented toward the inner layer and generally away from the outer layer such that the light sources are configured to emit light toward the inner layer and generally away from the outer layer;
- an optical film having a light refractive microstructure that is in contact with the light sources, the optical film being configured to collimate light emitted by the light sources;
- and
- a variable-transparency switchable glazing configured to vary the transmittance of the light emitted from the light sources and collimated by the optical film based on user-supplied input between a first state, wherein the variable-transparency switchable glazing is configured to transmit the collimated light received from the optical film, and a second state, wherein the variable-transparency switchable glazing is configured to scatter the collimated light received from the optical film.
A vehicle window assembly comprising:
- a vehicle window dividing a vehicle cabin from an outside vehicle environment and having plurality of zones configured to provide illumination to the vehicle cabin;
- and
- a light-producing assembly comprising light sources oriented to emit light toward the vehicle cabin and generally away from the outside vehicle environment proximate to the vehicle window, an optical film having a light refractive microstructure that is in contact with the light sources and is configured to collimate light emitted by the light sources, such that the light emitted by the light sources toward the vehicle cabin is concentrated to be transmitted toward the vehicle cabin and generally away from the outside vehicle environment proximate to the vehicle window, and a variable-transparency switchable glazing configured to transmit or scatter collimated light received from the optical film;
- and
- a proximity sensor integrated with the vehicle window and located in each zone, wherein the light-producing assembly is operable to illuminate as a map light or a dome light based on one or more touch events registered by the proximity sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.