Patent Publication Number: US-2023152844-A1

Title: Display monitor integrated down light

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/462,325, filed Aug. 31, 2021, entitled “Display Monitor Integrated Down Light,” naming Guentaek Oh and Yong Gu Kang as inventors, which application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system peripheral display monitors, and more particularly to an information handling system display monitor integrated down light. 
     Description of the Related Art 
     As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems. 
     Information handling systems integrate processing components that cooperate to process information, typically for presentation at a display. On common type of display is a liquid crystal display (LCD), which generates visual images with liquid crystal pixels that filter illumination provided from a backlight. LCD&#39;s provide excellent visual images with large surface areas and even curved surface areas, which makes LCD&#39;s a popular choice for a wide variety of applications. For instance, LCD flat panel monitors are commonly found in enterprises to support business operations, such as word processing, communications and enterprise specific applications. LCD flat panel monitors are also commonly found in home systems where they are used to present entertainment, such as multimedia movies. 
     One advantage of LCD monitors is that the LCD flat panels fit into minimalist housings. Having a reduced housing size tends to reduce the weight of the monitor and also the awkwardness of moving the monitor for placement in a desktop space. A peripheral display monitor tends to have a more aesthetically appealing appearance where the visual images presented by the display panel extends across the entire front surface of the monitor. To achieve this appearance, manufacturers attempt to support LCD panels in housings with a minimal bezel at all four sides of the housing. 
     One distinct user population of high quality LCD monitors is the gaming population. Gaming applications typically rely upon high quality visual image presentation. Often gamers seek display monitors that have not just high quality images but also effects presented at the monitor housing, such as illumination at the display monitor base.  FIG.  6    depicts a prior art DELL 3SNB display monitor that provides downlight illumination at the base of a display monitor housing  32  while a backlight  40  illuminates visual images at a display panel with backlight LED&#39;s  42 . To provide downlight illumination, a downlight LED  46  is aligned with a window  66  to illuminate at the display monitor housing base. A difficulty with this arrangement is that the downlight LED consumes vertical space at the base of the display monitor housing, thus increasing the size of the housing and negatively impacting the end user experience. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Therefore, a need has arisen for a system and method which provides illumination at a display monitor housing base. 
     In accordance with the present invention, a system and method are provided which substantially reduce the disadvantages and problems associated with previous methods and systems for providing illumination at a display monitor housing base. A light bar that provides illumination to a backlight for presenting images to a display panel includes backlight LED&#39;s at a printed circuit board upper surface directed into the backlight and downlight LED&#39;s at the printed circuit board lower surface directed out a downlight opening of the display monitor housing to provide external illumination at the monitor housing base. 
     More specifically, an information handling system processes information with processing components disposed in a housing, such as CPU and memory, and presents the visual information at a display monitor, such as a peripheral display monitor interfaced through a display cable. For instance, the information handling system communicates visual images as pixel values to a display panel that generates the visual images with illumination provided by a backlight assembly, such as a backlight disposed behind the display panel that receives illumination from a light bar coupled to a bottom side surface of the backlight. The light bar has a printed circuit board with backlight LED&#39;s coupled to an upper side and directed against a bottom side surface of the backlight and downlight LED&#39;s coupled to a lower side and directed towards an opening in the display monitor housing to provide illumination external to the display monitor. A light guide disposed in the display monitor housing opening and against the backlight LED&#39;s directs the illumination in a desired manner. For example, the light guide has a light guide plate with a truncated pyramid shape and reflectors on opposing sides that direct the illumination at a desktop surface on which the display monitor rests. 
     The present invention provides a number of important technical advantages. One example of an important technical advantage is that a display monitor provides illumination at a housing base while maintaining a minimal housing structure, such as a reduced bezel size along the bottom side of the display monitor housing. A set of downlight LED&#39;s couples to a bottom surface of a light bar circuit board having backlight LED&#39;s at an upper surface so that power and control of the downlight LED&#39;s may be provided through the backlight light bar printed circuit board. Coupling the downlight LED&#39;s to the light bar printed circuit board minimize the vertical space consumed in the monitor housing to provide downlight illumination. A light guide disposed in an opening of the monitor housing at an opening aligned with the downlight LED&#39;s directs downlight illumination in a desired manner to provide an enhanced end user experience. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention may be better understood, and its numerous objects, features and advantages made apparent to those skilled in the art by referencing the accompanying drawings. The use of the same reference number throughout the several figures designates a like or similar element. 
         FIG.  1    depicts a block diagram of an information handling system interfaced with a display monitor that supports downlight illumination; 
         FIG.  2    depicts a side cutaway view of a display monitor housing having a downlight opening for directing illumination to the exterior of the display monitor housing; 
         FIG.  3    depicts a side perspective view of a light bar configured to provide bidirectional illumination to a backlight and to display monitor housing exterior; 
         FIG.  4    depicts an exploded perspective view of a light guide to direct illumination from a display monitor housing opening to an exterior location; 
         FIG.  5    depicts a side cutaway view of a light guide aligned for insertion into the display monitor housing; and 
         FIG.  6    depicts an example of a prior art peripheral display monitor that provides downlight illumination. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     An information handling system display monitor provides a downlight from a light bar through a light guide disposed in an opening of the display monitor housing and at a support surface. For purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, or other purposes. For example, an information handling system may be a personal computer, a network storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. The information handling system may include random access memory (RAM), one or more processing resources such as a central processing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic, ROM, and/or other types of nonvolatile memory. Additional components of the information handling system may include one or more disk drives, one or more network ports for communicating with external devices as well as various input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display. The information handling system may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communications between the various hardware components. 
     Referring now to  FIG.  1   , a block diagram depicts an information handling system  10  interfaced with a display monitor  30  that supports downlight illumination. In the example embodiment, information handling system  10  has a desktop configuration with a fixed housing  12  holding processing components that cooperate to process information. For example, a motherboard  14  couples to housing  12  and supports communication between processing components with integrated wirelines. A central processing unit (CPU)  16  executes instructions to process information in cooperation with a random access memory (RAM)  18  that stores the instructions and information. A solid state drive (SSD)  20  or other non-transient storage device provides persistent storage of the instructions and information during power down of the system. For instance, SSD stores an operating system and applications that are retrieved to RAM  18  at power up for execution on CPU  16 . An embedded controller  22  manages physical operation of the processing components, such as application of power, management of thermal constraints and interactions with input/output devices. A graphics processing unit (GPU)  24  interfaces with CPU  16  to further process information for generating visual images for presentation at display monitor  30 . For instance, GPU  24  defines visual images with pixel values that determine colors presented at pixels  36  of display monitor  30  and communicates the pixel values through graphics ports  26  and a graphics cable  28 . In the example embodiment, information handling system  10  has a desktop configuration interfaced through a cable with a peripheral display monitor  30 , however, in alternative embodiments portable or other types of information handling systems may generate pixel values and communicate the pixel values through wireless or other communication mediums. 
     Peripheral display monitor  30  presents visual images with a display panel  34  having plural pixels  36  that each provide a color based upon a pixel value scanned to the pixels from a timing controller  50 , which accepts the pixel values from graphics port  26 . In the example embodiment, display panel  34  is a liquid crystal display (LCD) having liquid crystal pixels  36  that adjust their crystalline state to filter light provided by a backlight  40  coupled behind display panel  34 . For instance, backlight  40  has a conventional structure of a light guide with an optical quality acrylic substrate or similar material captured in a reflector and diffuser to provide an even illumination across the back side of display panel  34  so that pixels  36  have a well-distributed illumination that provides an intended visual image. A glass cover  38  on the front of display panel  34  provides protection against impacts. A scalar  48  and timing controller  50  include processing resources that execute code stored in flash memory or other non-transient memory to scan visual images to pixels  36 . A light bar  42  couples to a bottom side surface of backlight  40  and has plural distributed backlight LED&#39;s  44  that provide illumination into backlight  40 , such as based upon commands and power provided by scalar  48  and/or timing controller  50 . Light bar  42  also has plural downlight LED&#39;s coupled to a lower side and directed towards a base of monitor housing  32  where monitor housing  32  rests on a support surface. Downlight LED&#39;s  46  provide illumination external to monitor housing  32  through an opening in monitor housing  32  as described in greater detail below. In various embodiments, illumination from downlight LED&#39;s  46  is controlled by instructions stored as firmware in flash memory of scalar  48 , timing controller  50  and/or embedded controller  22 . 
     Referring now to  FIG.  2   , a side cutaway view depicts a display monitor housing  32  having a downlight opening  54  for directing illumination to the exterior of the display monitor housing. In the example embodiment, backlight  40  receives illumination from light bar  42  with backlight LED&#39;s  44  coupled at the bottom side surface of backlight  40 . Backlight  40  distributes the illumination evenly across a display panel  34  to illuminate visual images generated by pixels and presented through cover glass  38 . Timing controller  50  and scalar  48  interface with a printed circuit board  58  of light bar  42  to control application of power to illuminate backlight LED&#39;s  44  and downlight LED&#39;s  46 . Downlight opening  54  formed in the base  52  of display monitor housing  32  provides a path through which illumination may pass from downlight LED&#39;s  46  through a light guide  56  for illumination below display monitor housing  32 . Although the example embodiment directs downlight illumination at the display monitor base, in alternative embodiments, light guide  56  may direct the illumination in other directions, such as out the front side of display monitor housing  32  or at the base offset forwards or backwards. Light guide  56  is a material conductive of illumination, such as an optical acrylic that directs and distributes illumination in a desired manner as described in greater detail below. 
     Referring now to  FIG.  3   , a side perspective view depicts a light bar  42  configured to provide bidirectional illumination to a backlight and to display monitor housing exterior. In the example embodiment, a printed circuit board  58  has plural backlight LED&#39;s at an upper surface evenly distributed across the length to provide evenly distributed illumination to the backlight. Three downlight LED&#39;s  46  couple to the bottom surface of printed circuit board  58  at a central location that aligns with the opening of the display monitor housing. Three downlight LED&#39;s  46  provide flexibility for adjusting the brightness of exterior illumination, such as by using each LED independently. 
     Referring now to  FIG.  4   , an exploded perspective view depicts a light guide to direct illumination from a display monitor housing opening to an exterior location. A light guide plate  60  promotes passage of illumination, such as with an optically transmissive acrylic material having an exposed upper surface to accept illumination and an exposed lower surface to transmit illumination to the housing exterior. In the example embodiment, light guide plate  60  has a truncated pyramid shape with a narrow upper surface and wide lower surface to promote a wider illumination pattern at the display monitor housing exterior. A pair of reflectors  62  couple to the exterior side surface of light guide plate  60  to conserve light energy and direct the light energy towards an exit at the wide bottom surface. Reflectors  62  have a black outer surface that suppresses light leakage. Patterning  64  formed in the outer surface of light guide plate  60  diffuses illumination to help promote efficient light transmission towards the broad bottom surface and at the exterior. 
     Referring now to  FIG.  5   , a side cutaway view depicts light guide  56  aligned for insertion into the display monitor housing. In the example embodiment, light guide plate  60  has reflectors coupled to the side surfaces and is sized to fit into opening  54 . Rather than coupling into opening  54  with a fixed orientation, light guide  56  may fit into a moveable brace to allow an end user to control the direction of illumination that exits to the housing exterior. In one example embodiment, logic executing on a processing resource of the display may provide an automated control of the illumination vector at the display monitor housing exterior. 
     Although the present invention has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.