CONTROL PANEL

摘要

Integrated control panel and electronic displays wherein the control panel may be positioned over the electronic display with at least part of the display being visible to the user. The control panel may consist of control elements such as rotary controls or buttons that can be associated with graphics on the display. Light emitters and detectors may be used to detect movement of the control elements such that the region of the display adjacent or juxtaposed to the control elements is not obscured from view of the user.

主权项

1. A control panel, comprising;
a viewing element which is in use positioned over a display which is configurable to display images, with at least part of the display being visible through the viewing element; at least two light controllers which are movably disposed to the viewing element, each light controller rotatable relative to the viewing element about an axis of rotation; at least two light emitters, each light emitter operable to deliver light across the viewing element to at least one of the at least two light controllers; and at least two light detectors, each light detector operable to detect light from at least one of the at least two light controllers;wherein:
the at least two light emitters and the at least two light detectors are configured to form a grid of sensing paths with two or more intersecting sensing paths across the viewing element; the at least two light controllers are scanned by sequentially activating the at least two light emitters and the at least two light detectors; the light detected by the at least two light detectors is representative of movement of the at least two light controllers and utilized to configure the image as displayed by the display.