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US 12,202,401 B2Granted
Interior trim part of a motor vehicle
AssigneeInternational Automotive Components Group NA, Inc.
InventorCarter Scott Cannon
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The disclosure relates to an interior trim part of a motor vehicle, which includes a support layer (10), a cover layer (14) on a front side of the support layer and an illumination unit (16-26) on an opposite rear side of the support layer. The support layer includes a perforation (12), which forms an illuminated structure when the illumination unit emits light through the perforation.
Claims27
An interior trim part of a motor vehicle, comprising:
- a support, wherein the support is a substrate of the interior trim part and has a front side and a rear side opposite the front side and is at least partially opaque,
- a decorative cover applied to the front side of the substrate, wherein the decorative cover has a front side which provides an outermost surface of the interior trim part and has one or more layers,
- an illumination unit, which emits light, applied to the rear side of the substrate,
- wherein the substrate supports the decorative cover and the illumination unit, and includes a plurality of through-holes,
- wherein the one or more layers of the decorative cover overlie each through-hole of the plurality of through-holes of the substrate and extend across both the front surface of the substrate and the plurality of through-holes of the substrate such that a same number of the one or more layers of the decorative cover extend across both the front surface of the substrate and the plurality of through-holes of the substrate,
- wherein the decorative cover which overlies each through-hole of the plurality of through-holes has a uniformly closed surface and the through-holes are hidden until the illumination unit is activated,
- wherein, when activated, the illumination unit is arranged to emit light into different combinations of through-hole arrangements of the plurality of through-holes, sequentially, with each of the different combinations of through-hole arrangements providing different illuminated structures, respectively, on the front side of the decorative cover overlying the lighted plurality of through-holes,
- wherein, when activated, the illumination unit is arranged to emit light at a first time into a first combination of through-hole arrangements of the plurality of through-holes, and to emit light at a second time into a second combination of through-hole arrangements of the plurality of through-holes, with each of the first and second combinations of through-holes arrangements providing a first and second different illuminated structure, respectively, on the front side of the decorative cover overlying the lighted plurality of through-holes, and
- wherein the first and second different illuminated structures are of an illumination sequence to generate moving illumination.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.