Fiber optic backlighting panel and zig-zag process for making same
CA 2071164 C · Owner: Poly-Optical Products, Inc. · Inventors: Myers, J. Michael; Halter, Roger F.
Overview
Its claims, description and drawings are in the Canadian Patents Database.
Open the CIPO recordAbstract From the Canadian patent
An improved fiber optic backlighting panel provides uniform and increased background illumination in devices, such as rubber keypads, membrane switches liquid crystal displays, rigid-panels or the like. The fiber optic panel comprises a light source and a layer of optical fibers arranged adjacent each other which, transmit light to different locations throughout the device, thereby providing efficient background illumination relative to the amount of light beamed in. The optical fibers are selectively terminated at these locations by forming a series of angular cuts through the layer of optical fibers with a laser according to a, predetermined geometric zig-zag or sawtooth pattern stored in …
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Listed from its CIPO record in Patent Yard's archive of Canadian patents past their term. Its claims, description and drawings are in the CIPO record and on Google Patents, and the Claude kit works from them.
Why it's free to use
- Filed June 12, 1992 and granted October 24, 2000. A Canadian patent filed from October 1, 1989 lasts 20 years from filing, so its term ended June 12, 2012.
- A certificate of supplementary protection adds at most two years for a drug, so even that would have ended by June 12, 2014.
- We check Canadian rights only. A patent in its family in another country could still be in force: check its family on Google Patents.
Timeline
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Sources & verification
Official CIPO records
Everything on this page comes from the CIPO record linked above. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.