Photoluminescence keyboard glyph lighting
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorChang Zhang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A keycap assembly can include a keycap that includes a chargeable light emissive material. The keycap assembly can include a light sensor configured to sense light emitted by or incident to the chargeable light emissive material. The keycap assembly can further include a microcontroller. In certain implementations, the microcontroller includes a processor and a memory device storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the microcontroller to: receive an electrical signal from the light sensor; and determine a property of the chargeable light emissive material based on the electrical signal, where the property includes at least one of a charge level or an illumination intensity.
Claims22
A keycap assembly, comprising:
- a keycap comprising a chargeable light emissive material positioned at a surface of a body of the keycap;
- a light sensor configured to sense light incident to the light sensor and to the chargeable light emissive material at the surface of the body of the keycap from a light source external to the keycap assembly;
- and
- a microcontroller comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory device storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the microcontroller to:
- receive an electrical signal from the light sensor;
- and
- determine an amount of illumination energy emitted from the surface of the body of the keycap by the chargeable light emissive material based on the electrical signal.
A computing device, comprising:
- a display;
- a keyboard housing;
- a set of key mechanisms disposed within the keyboard housing, the set of key mechanisms comprising photoluminescent keycaps;
- a light sensor positioned external to the keyboard housing and having a field of view including a view of photoluminescent surfaces of the photoluminescent keycaps;
- and
- a microcontroller that, in response to light sensor data from the light sensor, causes the display to provide an illumination output to the photoluminescent keycaps.
A keyboard assembly, comprising:
- a keyboard housing;
- a set of key mechanisms disposed within the keyboard housing;
- a photoluminescent material associated with a top surface of at least one of the set of key mechanisms or the keyboard housing;
- a light sensor disposed on or within the keyboard housing, wherein light detected by the light sensor is indicative of incident light onto the photoluminescent material, wherein the light sensor is positioned outside peripheries of the key mechanisms of the set of key mechanisms in a direction perpendicular to the top surface;
- and
- a microcontroller that, in response to the light detected by the light sensor, transmits a digital communication to an electronic device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.