Keypad having illuminated buttons
AssigneeLutron Technology Company LLC
InventorsMatthew P. McDonald, Sean Tucker
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A control device for controlling power delivered to an electrical load may illuminate an area around a button of the control device, such as a gap formed between the button and an opening of a faceplate of the control device. The control device may illuminate the gap to provide a nightlight feature, to provide feedback (e.g., a status of the electrical load), and/or to indicate a selected preset. The button may have a cap portion that may be actuated by a user and a diffuser portion that may contact a rear surface of the cap portion and may conduct light emitted by an internal light source to illuminate the gap around the button.
Claims21
A wallbox-mountable electric load control apparatus comprising:
- one or more buttons, each of the one or more buttons being displaceable along a longitudinal axis, each of the one or more buttons including:
- an elongate portion aligned with and being displaceable along the longitudinal axis, the elongate portion having a first end and a second end, the elongate portion having one or more surface features extending outwardly from a peripheral surface of the elongate portion;
- a light transmissive stationary carrier having a lower light entrance surface and a transversely opposed upper light exit surface, the carrier including an aperture that permits displaceable passage of the elongate portion therethrough, wherein each of the one or more surface features disposed on the elongate portion pass through a corresponding one of one or more complementary features formed in the aperture of the light transmissive stationary carrier;
- and
- a light transmissive diffuser portion disposed about a perimeter of the first end of the elongate portion, the light transmissive diffuser portion having a lower light entrance surface and an upper light exit surface, the upper light exit surface including at least one exit surface feature configured to permit at least a portion of light incident on the lower light entrance surface to exit from the light transmissive diffuser portion in a radially outward pattern with respect to the longitudinal axis of the elongate portion.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.