Welding Protection Device with Haptic Sensing
Assignee3M Innovative Properties Company
InventorStefan G. Gustavsson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A welding protection device that includes a shield body, an automatic darkening filter insertable in the shield body, and a haptic sensing unit to sense a touch pattern occurring on the shield body or automatic darkening filter assembly. Upon sensing of a touch pattern, a user definable command is executed that can place the welding protection device in a specific operational state.
Claims16
A welding helmet, comprising:
- a shield body;
- an automatic darkening filter assembly insertable within the shield body and configured to switch to or from a grind mode, the automatic darkening filter assembly comprising a user interface that is inside the welding helmet when the automatic darkening filter assembly is inserted within the shield body;
- and
- a haptic sensing unit disposed within the welding helmet and configured to sense a touch pattern occurring on at least a first portion of the shield body or automatic darkening filter assembly such that a welder can tap anywhere on helmet to switch to or from the grind mode without the need for the welder to access and activate an external button on the welding helmet or the user interface inside the welding helmet.
A method of entering into a grinding mode for a welding helmet having a shield body and an automatic darkening filter assembly comprising a user interface that is inside the welding helmet when the automatic darkening filter assembly is inserted within the shield body, comprising:
- providing a haptic sensing unit within the welding helmet having a haptic sensor configured to sense a touch pattern occurring on at least a first portion of the shield body or automatic darkening filter assembly such that a welder can tap anywhere on the helmet to switch to or from a grind mode, without the need for the welder to access and activate an external button on the welding helmet or the user interface inside the welding helmet;
- executing a user definable command when the haptic sensor senses a touch pattern occurring anywhere on at least a first portion of shield body or automatic darkening filter assembly;
- and
- triggering a particular light state for the automatic darkening filter assembly based on the touch pattern sensed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.