Privacy Cover Slider Light Guide for Camera Status Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current electronic devices with integrated cameras lack an intuitive and aesthetically pleasing method to indicate the camera's privacy status from both near and far distances, often resulting in user confusion and increased manufacturing complexity.
Innovation Solution
A privacy cover slider system that includes a slider and camera cover, where the slider collects light from a back-firing LED and directs it to a top indicator on the device's chassis, providing a visual indication that the camera is covered, visible from multiple angles without occupying additional space or requiring extra LEDs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If a privacy cover slider is used to indicate camera status, then the visual indication is visible from multiple angles and distances, but the device complexity increases due to additional components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a light guide as an intermediary component that transfers light from the LED indicator to the top surface of the device. This light guide enables the camera status to be visible from multiple angles and distances without requiring multiple LEDs, thus resolving the contradiction between visibility and device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The light guide creates an optical copy or projection of the LED indicator light onto the top surface of the device. This allows the camera status indication to be displayed at a different location (top surface) than the actual light source (LED), achieving enhanced visibility without adding physical complexity
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If multiple LEDs are used to provide visual indication from different angles, then the camera status is clearly visible, but the manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The single LED indicator serves multiple functions: it provides the light source and, through the light guide, creates visible indications from multiple angles and distances. This multi-functional approach eliminates the need for multiple separate LEDs, simplifying manufacturing while maintaining visibility requirements
Solution Approach 2:
The light guide acts as a mediator that takes the light from a single LED and distributes it across multiple viewing angles and distances. This intermediary component enables one LED to perform the work of multiple LEDs, reducing manufacturing complexity and cost
3Ease of operation
If the indicator is placed on the display portion, then the camera status can be shown, but the indicator is only visible when the user is looking at the display
Solution Approach 1:
The patent moves the visual indication from the two-dimensional display surface to the three-dimensional top surface of the device. This dimensional change allows users to see the camera status indicator from above, independent of whether they are looking at the display, thereby resolving the visibility limitation
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides a clear and intuitive visual indication of the camera's status on two planes of interaction, enhancing user experience and simplifying manufacturing by ensuring the camera status is visible from various distances without adding complexity or bulk.
Implementation Method 1
The privacy slider including a camera cover, an illumination source reflector, and an indicator that is illuminated by the illumination source when the camera is covered by the camera cover
Data Source
AI summary
Particular embodiments described herein provide for a privacy cover in an electronic device. The electronic device includes a camera facing a first direction towards a user, an illumination source facing a second direction, opposite the first direction, and the privacy slider. The privacy slider includes a camera cover, an illumination source reflector, and an indicator that is illuminated by the illumination source when the camera is covered by the camera cover, where the indicator is located in a plane that is perpendicular to a plane that includes the camera.