WO2022254451A1

WO2022254451A1 - A vehicle glazing with transparent light emitting diode display unit

Info

Publication number: WO2022254451A1
Application number: PCT/IN2022/050478
Authority: WO
Inventors: Arunvel Thangamani; Naveinah CHANDRASEKARAN
Original assignee: Saint-Gobain Glass France
Priority date: 2021-05-31
Filing date: 2022-05-20
Publication date: 2022-12-08

Abstract

The present invention discloses a glazing (100) for a vehicle with transparent light emitting diode based display. The glazing (100) comprises at least one substrate (101) having a first face (101a) and a second face (102a) and a display unit (102) having a light emitting diode (LED) unit adapted to be disposed on one of the faces of the substrate. The display unit (102) has a diffusing layer (122) adapted to render continuity of display from the LED unit and the display unit is adapted to exhibit a transparency of around 10-70%. Such a glazing may find application to depict night sky in sunroof or advertisement in sliding doors of trains. Further provided is a system for display in glazing for a vehicle with means for energy efficiency.

Description

A VEHICLE GLAZING WITH TRANSPARENT LIGHT EMITTING

DIODE DISPLAY UNIT

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to a glazing for a vehicle with display units or lighting elements. It particularly relates to a glazing of a vehicle integrated with light emitting diodes, and more particularly to glazing with transparent light emissive unit.

BACKGROUND

Background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present disclosure. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.

It is known to one skilled in the art that glazing refers to any and all the glass or similar material within a structure or the installation of any piece of glass or the similar material within a sash or frame. Glazing referred to herein may include the glass or the polymer windows or doors of an automobile. The encapsulation for a glazing includes a process to obtain a frame around the glass or polymer layer by injecting a polymer on its border through a framing mold. Encapsulation may be used on windscreens, side windows and rear windows. For laminated glazing, two or more layers of glass or a similar material, are fused together with an interlayer in the middle. The fusion is completed with pressure and heat and it prevents the sheets of glass or the similar material from breaking. While some pieces of glass or the similar material might end up breaking into larger pieces, those pieces will stay together with the help of the interlayer, making it shatterproof. Further it is known that annealed glass is one that has been slowly cooled, thereby making the glass stronger, more durable and less likely to break. Tempered glass on the other hand, is made by putting the outer surfaces into compression and the inner surfaces into tension. This kind of compression makes the glass shatter into a multitude of tiny pieces upon impact. The glazing may also be of annealed glass or tempered glass.

Reference is made to FR3003196A1 that relates to a glazing unit comprising a transparent display screen situated in only a portion of the glazing unit, and at least one light-guiding substrate. In the glazing disclosed therein, located further outside the screen, is at least one light source located at the periphery of the substrate and, in particular opposite an edge of the light guide substrate. It also includes a means for extracting the radiation emitted by the light source such as that of a light emitting diode (LED). However, having LED display units may result in backscattering of the light which may cause issues of undesirable reflections on other surfaces.

Reference is further made to US20130299856A1 that discloses a luminous glazing unit including at least one substrate formed by a transparent glazing element, at least one light source and at least one light extraction device for extracting the light. The extraction device is arranged to create a luminous region, and the extraction device is formed by at least one fibrous layer. The fibrous layer and the veil like structure in the glazing results in adversely affecting the transparency of the glazing.

Again reference is made to US20200350361A1 disclosing a transparent display apparatus includes a first transparent substrate, light emitting units arranged for respective pixels on the first transparent substrate, and a strip unit connected to the light emitting units. In the display apparatus, each of the light emitting units includes at least one light emitting diode having a size of area of 10,000 pm² or less, and a size of area having a transmittance of 20% or less accounts for 30% or less of a display area. This solution includes LED display in glass and superimposing back image through strip elements. This would require assembly of multiple strips which is very complicated in real time lamination assembly. Moreover, the strip elements are made darker to increase the contrast which will affect the transparency factor of the display element. Transparency of the LED film depends on the pitch distance between the LED modules. The more the pitch the more the transparency. However, when increasing the pitch of the LED modules, the resolution of the display unit gets compromised. FIG. 2A provides an illustration to depict the effect rendered by difference in pitch distance.

Lighting units or modules having transparent LED film or LED modules when placed at a distance so as increase pitch distance. This results in a pixelated and discontinuous display or undesired lighting effect. Pixelated display having transparent LED is an issue when it is embedded in comparatively small glazing structure of an automotive vehicle. In view of the prior art solutions hitherto, there exists a need for a vehicle glazing with lighting unit or display unit having transparent light emitting diode(s) for improved display of data or signal, thus eliminating the issues of backscattering.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

An object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art. Another object of the present invention is to provide a glazing for a vehicle having transparent light emissive unit for lighting or display.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a glazing with a lighting unit or a display unit for improved display of data or signal, eliminating the issues of backscattering.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a glazing with a lighting unit or a display unit for improved display capable of indirectly increasing the pitch distance of the embedded transparent LED unit or film without compromising the transparency. These and other objects of the invention are achieved by the following aspects of the invention. The following disclosure presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This presents some concept of the invention in a simplified form to a more detailed description of the invention presented later. It is a comprehensive summary of the disclosure and it is not an extensive overview of the present invention. The intend of this summary is to provide a fundamental understanding of some of the aspects of the present invention. In an aspect of the invention is disclosed a glazing for a vehicle. The glazing comprising at least one substrate having a first face and a second face. It further includes a lighting unit or a display unit having a light emitting diode (LED) unit adapted to be disposed on one of the faces of the substrate. Said lighting or display unit further comprises a diffusing layer adapted to render continuity of display from the LED unit and the display unit is adapted to exhibit a transparency of around 10- 70%.

In another aspect of the invention is disclosed a system for display in glazing for a vehicle. The system comprises a glazing comprising a lighting unit or a display unit having a light emitting diode (LED) unit adapted to be disposed on a substrate of the glazing. The lighting unit or display unit comprises a diffusing layer adapted to render continuity of display from the LED unit and to exhibit a transparency of around 10-70%. The system includes an input unit configured to provide the data/signal for display in the display unit and a power unit configured to supply power to the display unit.

The present invention provides a glazing with LED film with a certain level of transparency in the glazing structure. The LED film is capable of elimination of some level of back-scattering to avoid light illumination the internal of the vehicle. The LED film design to enable a continuous lighting without increasing the number of LED Modules or compromising on the transparency. The LED glazing structure is capable of indirectly decreasing the pitch distance. The LED glazing structure with prism structure films to avoid light bending at glazing angle of inclination during Installation. The LED glazing structure integrated with power source of heating grid. The glazing may be any of windshield, sidelite, quaterlite, backlite, sunroof, part of door of the vehicle and said vehicle is any of car, train or aircraft. The glazing structure or assembly as disclosed herein may find applications to depict night sky in sunroof of a car or advertisement in sliding doors of trains. Further provided is a system for display in glazing for a vehicle with means for energy efficiency.

The significant features of the present invention and the advantages of the same will be apparent to a person skilled in the art from the detailed description that follows in conjunction with the annexed drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following briefly describes the accompanying drawings, illustrating the technical solution of the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, for assisting the understanding of a person skilled in the art to comprehend the invention. It would be apparent that the accompanying drawings in the following description merely show some embodiments of the present invention, and persons skilled in the art can derive other drawings from the accompanying drawings without deviating from the scope of the disclosure. FIGs. 1 A and IB illustrate an exemplary embodiment of the glazing structure with light emissive unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 2A illustrates the effect rendered by difference in pitch distance of LED unit as known in the art. FIGs. 2B-2E illustrate some of the embodiments of the different aspects of the structure of light emissive unit according to the present invention.

FIGs. 3 A and 3B illustrate a system for display in a glazing with and without light guiding layer according to the present invention.

FIGs. 4A-4B illustrate the use of bus bars of heating grids and facilitate optional lighting of LED module according to the present invention. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention is now discussed in more detail referring to the drawings that accompany the present application. In the accompanying drawings, like and/or corresponding elements are referred to by like reference numbers. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or the like parts.

Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to one embodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one or more other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of the features of the other embodiments.

The terms and words used in the following description are not limited to the bibliographical meanings and the same are used to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, the terms/phrases are to be read in the context of the disclosure and not in isolation. Additionally, descriptions of well- known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.

In an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed a glazing (100) for a vehicle as depicted in FIG. 1 A. The disclosed glazing comprises at least one substrate (101) having a first face (101a) and a second face (102a). The substrate may be and not limited to annealed or tempered glass layers. In the glazing is further included a lighting unit or a display unit (102). Said lighting unit or display unit includes a light emitting diode (LED) unit or structure adapted to be disposed on one of the faces of the substrate. The substrate with the embedded LED may be transparent. The substrate may be and not limited to glass or polymer like polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The lighting unit or display unit on the glazing is adapted to exhibit a transparency of around 10-70%, preferably the whole display structure may have transparency of at least 30% or more. The lighting unit and display unit is referring to the same entity and may be interchangeably used in the subject invention. It comprises the transparent LED modules. It may be used to display data or signal inclusive of pictograms, icons, alphanumeric items, user assistance alerts or may be used as lighting applications such and not limited to ambient lighting or aesthetic lighting or mood lighting and the like. The display unit (102) further comprises a diffusing layer (121) or diffusive film adapted to render continuity of display from the LED unit. The diffusing layer is preferred to be disposed over the diodes structure. Illumination from LED units are mostly pointed units and bright light source. The diffusive film is adapted to be designed to give continuity of the pointed light source of light emitting components of the LED film structure (122).

Reference is made to FIG. IB of the present invention that depicts the display unit or the lighting unit on the glazing according to an embodiment of the present invention. The glazing material or substrate may have two faces namely a first face and a second face. Generally, when installed within a vehicle as a glazing, the first face of substrate faces inside of the vehicle while the second face of the substrate faces the outside of the vehicle. In the figure the display is disposed on the second face of the substrate. The diffusing layer or the diffusive film (121) is adapted to provide continuity of the pointed light source. The diffusion layer or film (121) is disposed on the LED film structure (122). The display unit may further comprise a prism film (123). The prism layer or film (123) is chosen with specific refractive indices to enable total internal reflection of light within the glazing. Preferably, a flat connector or a bus bar connector (124) is configured to connect the LED modules to a driver unit (125). LED driver is an entity used to power a light-emitting diode. It may be a circuit, a device having switches or gate structure. Generally, it is capable of providing sufficient power to light the LED at the required brightness, but must limit the current to prevent damaging the LED. The LED driver may be operably coupled with a controller for enabling and disabling the illumination of the LED module in the display in the glazing. The controller is conveniently located outside the glazing and may be coupled to the electronic control unit of the vehicle. In some implementation, the controller is the electronic control unit of the vehicle itself.

The display unit or display panel or the lighting unit is preferred to be attached to an inner face of the glazing material. The display unit may be attached through encapsulation. Said glazing of the disclosed embodiment of the present invention may be and not limited to encapsulated glazing, or laminated glazing. The LED structure may be provided in the glazing by printing, stick-on solution and the like. The display panel includes plurality of LED panels with size less than 2 mm². The array of LED panels is preferred to have a pitch distance more than 1mm and is capable to illuminate multi-coloured display or mono-coloured display. The display panel may have LEDs capable of providing mono-colour display or multi-coloured display (via Red-Green-Blue, RGB, HUB) which is connected through a connector, preferably a flexible connector, to the driver unit. Said connector may be transparent or non-transparent. LEDs may be disposed on the substrate via a contact structure. The contact structure for the LED module may be printed directly on the substrate of the glazing like the glass or polymer flexible sheet. There may be a bonding layer between the LED modules and the contact layer. The glazing structure with the display may be installed in a rear glazing, a side window, or sunroof of the vehicle. It may also be installed in front window or windshield, preferably on selected region such as the sun visor region or as heads-up display and in a manner without hindering the view of the driver. In some of the examples, said glazing may be installed in door of the vehicle such as and not limited to sliding doors of a train.

In an embodiment of the invention, the array of connections connecting the LED film and the driver unit are installed in the vehicle through clip-on, screw, stick-on, encapsulation or via magnetic attraction where a magnet placed on the metal frame of an inner side of the vehicle is configured to hold the display like a heads-up display (HUD) through the magnet placement in the array of connections connecting the LED film (like a HUB). The prism structure of the layer (123), the diffusive film (121) and the transparent led film structure (122) may be embedded to the glazing structure through stick-on solution or coated or may be printed on a separate substrate and embedded on the one or more layers of the glazing. It would be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the manner in which the LED attached in the glazing is described are by way of understanding and not by way of limitation.

The substrate with the embedded LED may be transparent and may consist of material for example Polyethylene Terephthalate, PET, or glass. Transparency of the LED film may depend on the pitch distance between the LED modules. The LED unit in the glazing are placed with certain pitch distance for enabling the overall transparency. Pitch is the distance between pixels, wherein a pixel consists of one or more LED elements. Pitch is usually measured in millimetres. A larger pitch indicates a larger distance between pixels.

LED modules are generally pointed light source and often result in pixelated display content or lighting effect. In order to have a transparent display module, the LED modules need to be placed at a certain distance for achieving the required pitch distance. However, keeping each LED module separated by a large distance may result in discontinuous pointed light. Since it is also essential to have continuous lighting, the diffusion layer (122) is specially designed to give continuity of the pointed light source. The specially designed diffused film is provided over the LED module, after a specific circumference of each of the LED module as depicted in FIG. 2B. The LED panel including an array of diode modules are designed through a border diffusive film to block the light after a measured circumference around the LED. In the figure the circular dots represent the LED modules. After each calculated circumference of the LED module, the diffusion film (121) provided around the module facilitates for enabling a continuous lighting as depicted in the FIG. 2B. The transparency of the diffusive film may range approximately above 30%. This is to provide continuous lighting without affecting the transparency of the LED film. As indicated, larger pitch indicates a larger distance between pixels that creates something of lower resolution. Greater the pitch, greater will be the transparency. However, with the inclusion of the diffusion layer (121), there is no compromise on the resolution while retaining the same pitch distance to facilitate transparency.

In an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed the display unit (102) having the prism layer (123) configured for eliminating backscattering of light. The LED module arranged with prism structure of said layer (123) is adapted to enable total internal reflection. The LED module is strategically assembled to face the prism structure. In an implementation of the present invention, the critical angle of the prism layer (123) and the air surface is approximately more than 40°, preferably more than 42°. When there is an incident ray on a surface of an object, it is may either be transmitted, refracted or reflected as is known in the art. Refraction and reflection may result in ghost imaging. The disclosed solution is configured to reduce the refraction and reflection and increase the transmittance. The refracted ray travels along the surface of the denser medium (glass, for instance). An example may be regarded where the light ray may be incident at a critical angle of 42°, thereby resulting angle of refraction is 90°. The prism structure may be transparent glass or acrylic, polymer substrate that is advantageously adapted to stop the back scattering of LED light. Reference is made to FIG. 2C that discloses an exemplary scenario of elimination of backscattering of light from the LED modules. Had the prism layer (123) not been present the ray of light AB would not have been reflected as BC. It is the prism layer having an appropriate refractive index that facilitates for the total internal reflection of the light ray as BC. The transparent LED films are very bright modules often causes great disturbance to the passenger in the vehicle by illuminating mirror images on surfaces where the display or lighting is not required. Such formation of secondary images may also pose threat to the driver’s view if they are formed in the windshield of a vehicle. By inclusion of the prism layer (123) in the display unit of the glazing, these issues are eliminated by addition of prism structures. This advantageously will act as light bending layer and also help in back-scattering the light through total internal reflection.

Reference is made to FIG. 2C that discloses the LED glazing structure designed to facilitate light bending. The glazing in vehicles often have an inclined glazing structure and the number of film layers of different material results in different combination of refractive Indices for the light from the LED module to pass through. This implies that the light illuminated in the display may appear in different geometry due to bending of the light ray though multiple surfaces. However, this is not preferred occurrence for a number of reasons including regulation needs. In this embodiment of the invention, the first and the substrate of the glazing material may have a combination of refractive indices to illuminate light in the straight line from the prism structure as shown in FIG. 2C. The light thus illuminated in the display is made spherical, especially as a result of the light bending action. The prism structure is designed based on glazing material and angle of inclination of glazing on vehicle. It is also the angle of placement of both the LED module and the material of the prism layer (123) that facilitates for total internal reflection and in turn results in avoiding backscattering of light and brings about light bending. Reference is made FIG. 2D that shows the glazing structure designed to indirectly decrease pitch distance of the LED module according to an embodiment of the disclosed invention. Specifically, the presence of the prism layer (123) in the display unit facilitates for distance between two points of illumination to appear to be reduced without compromising the transparency of the film. The transparency of the LED film depends on the pitch distance between the LED modules. However, as described earlier, one has to compromise on the resolution and the reading distance when increasing the pitch distance. With the inclusion of the prism layer (123) in the display unit or lighting unit, it provides for indirectly decreasing the pitch distance of the embedded transparent LED film without compromising the transparency. Reference is made to FIG. 2D, in which two rays of light (A’B’ and AB) are diverging from one LED unit of the display module. Light rays such A’B’ and AB illuminates the display unit. The ray of AB facing refraction at the various layers of the glazing and finally comes out of the lamination as BC. However, the ray of light A’B’ undergoes total internal reflection at the prism layer (123) and finally comes out of the lamination as D’E’. Although, the actual pitch distance between the two LED modules is kept greater for catering to the need of transparency, with the inclusion of the prism layer (123), effectively the pitch distance decreases. This scenario has been depicted in FIG. 2D. Glazing structure layers’ refractive indices may be strategically selected to give double illumination and thereby advantageously decreasing the pitch distance indirectly without complicating the LED driver unit configuration of the LED module or the transparency of the display unit. It is known in the art that for light emitting diode based lighting unit or display unit, undesirable light scattering occurs due to reflection, thereby resulting in additional light spots. This may lead to unclear display. The incorporation and the choice of the prism and the diffusion layer in the display unit eliminates said issues. The choice of the material of the prism layer or film, its dimension, the placement of the same, dedicated material property, orientation and the like are regarded to attain the desired functionality. The prism dimension, shape, material and placement of the same is so made that it is adapted to eliminate the ghost image. As shown in FIG. 2E this will reduce the issues of unclear display.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the laminated glazing further comprises a light guiding layer adapted to direct light from the LED unit to a desired view. The LED unit on integration with the glazing, tends to project the display in the orientation of which the glass or polymer substrate is fitted into the glazing. The angle of inclination of said substrate varies based on the type of vehicles (such as and not limited to hatchback, sedan or SUVs). The LED display unit may be used for multiple purposes such as for driver assistance, brake lightning and the like. In case of using the LED integrated glazing for these applications, the display conditions may vary as per the requirements of the application. Such requirements may include certain regulatory needs for lightings (for example the case of brake lighting) in terms of parameters such as display angle, orientations and the like. In case of driver assistance, the display needs to be accommodated at such an angle which is comfortable to the user inside the vehicle. Reference is made to FIG. 3 A that shows a scenario wherein the display in vehicle glazing is projected in normal direction, thereby resulting in a less clear display from the glazing structure. To Avoid light projecting in normal to direction, the light from the LED can be bent to the viewer’s desired angle by way of including a light guiding layer and thereby improving the quality of the image displayed. The light guiding layer may include coarse projections on its surface and it is disposed in proximity to the light source (in this case, the LED display unit). With the inclusion of said light guiding layer, the light from the LED unit is directed to a desired view and provide improved quality of the image displayed as has been depicted in FIG. 3B. The LED unit used for these applications need to have an option to modify the lighting direction and also dynamically suit the type of end application. This dynamic change is enabled by modifying the orientation of the light bending layer which consists of crystals that can respond to any type of electrical signals. This layer is added to the transparent LED patch or unit, and the regulatory needs are satisfied by modifying the layer. Reference is made to an embodiment of the present invention, in which the glazing for the vehicle further comprises heating grid, and a bus bar of the heating grid being coupled to power the display unit or the lighting unit. An exemplary embodiment of this has been depicted in FIG. 4A. The power control unit of the LED module is configured to use bars of heating grids and facilitate optional lighting of the LED module. Most of the rear glazing models in vehicles are equipped with heating grid lines from the inside of the glazing structure to defog or defrost the glass for certain amount of time. In this embodiment is provided a solution to commonly power up heating grid lines and LED module thereby to optionally power up the LED module using the partial bus bar of heating grid lines. Such features in glazing for vehicle provides means for energy efficiency. As depicted in the figure the bus bar of the heating includes a common line of connection to be operably connected to LED modules and to heating grid lines. The circuit may be used for optionally lighting or otherwise for heating. The circuit includes provisions such as and not limited to diode for opening and closing a gate structure for LED modules to optionally light it up. In an implementation of the invention, a Schottky diode printed on glazing or polymer substrate is capable to optionally open the gate and allow a single direction current flow to the LED based on the logic executed.

Reference is made to FIG. 4B of the present invention that discloses an implementation architecture of a common driver power control unit. In said implementation, the current from a vehicle battery reaches the common control unit through relay modules located in the vehicle. The common driver unit has data input line and power input line. A data input line is used to send the animation data to the LED module depending on the content to be displayed. While the power input line is used to pass current to heating grid through BUS B and BUS C and also used to power up the LED module through BUS A and B. Generally, two electrical lines are needed to power up each of the display unit and grid lines. In this implementation of the invention, when BUS A and data input is triggered, diode printed on the glass opens the anode gate of BUS B for cathode BUS A and anode BUS B to jointly power the LED. Depending on the logic given, BUS B and BUS C are triggered to power up the heating element in the grid lines. Current to the LED is controlled through series of resistors through BUS A diode structure which can be printed on the glazing or embedded in the controller to execute the required logic circuitry. In an implementation, the grid structure may have different current carrying circuits according the luminosity requirement in each node of the LED to result in different level of luminosities of the display unit. Such features would be pleasing for applications that include replicating the appearance of night sky or galaxy on sunroof.

In an embodiment of the invention is provided a system for providing a transparent display in a sun roof of a vehicle. The system comprises a tempered single glazing (100) comprising a display unit or lighting unit (102) having a light emitting diode (LED) unit adapted to be disposed on a substrate of the glazing. The display unit (102) comprises a diffusing layer adapted to render continuity of display from the LED unit and to exhibit a transparency of around 10-70%. The system may further include an input unit configured to provide the data/signal for display in the display unit (102) connected wired/wirelessly and a power unit configured to supply power to the display unit. The disclosed invention thus may be used for replicating the night sky or galaxy in a sunroof for instance. This is brought forth by different luminosities for moon, stars, planets. The grid structure has different current carrying circuits according to the luminosity requirement in each node of LED to result in different level of luminosities for Galaxy like appearance. The grid structure has specially designed diffusive film to provide a required kind of light continuity for an application. Again, the way of using heating grids bus bars to power up the LED film, one may optionally light up the LED from the bus bar of heating grid. The other application of the subject invention may include having the disclosed glazing as part of doors of vehicle.

Some of the advantages of the disclosed invention are enlisted in the following: • Transparent LED films being very bright modules often cause great disturbance to the passenger in the vehicle by illuminating mirror image where the display is not required. This is eliminated by the disclosed invention by addition of prism structures which will function as light bending layer and also help in back scattering the light through total internal reflection.

• The disclosed invention facilitates for indirectly increasing the pitch distance of the embedded transparent LED Film without compromising the transparency.

• In the present invention, the disclosed solution eliminates the problem of pointed and pixelated display with a specially designed diffusive film which will give continuity to the pointed light source.

Note that not all of the activities described above in the general description or the examples are required, that a portion of a specific activity may not be required, and that one or more further activities may be performed in addition to those described. Still further, the order in which activities are listed is not necessarily the order in which they are performed. Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have been described above with regard to specific embodiments. However, the benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any feature(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature of any or all the claims.

The specification and illustrations of the embodiments described herein are intended to provide a general understanding of the structure of the various embodiments. The specification and illustrations are not intended to serve as an exhaustive and comprehensive description of all of the elements and features of apparatus and systems that use the structures or methods described herein. Certain features, that are for clarity, described herein in the context of separate embodiments, may also be provided in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are, for brevity, described in the context of a single embodiment, may also be provided separately or in a sub combination. Further, reference to values stated in ranges includes each and every value within that range. Many other embodiments may be apparent to skilled artisans only after reading this specification. Other embodiments may be used and derived from the disclosure, such that a structural substitution, logical substitution, or another change may be made without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, the disclosure is to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

The description in combination with the figures is provided to assist in understanding the teachings disclosed herein, is provided to assist in describing the teachings, and should not be interpreted as a limitation on the scope or applicability of the teachings. However, other teachings can certainly be used in this application.

As used herein, the terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," "including," "has," "having" or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of features is not necessarily limited only to those features but may include other features not expressly listed or inherent to such method, article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary, "or" refers to an inclusive-or and not to an exclusive-or. For example, a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (or present).

Also, the use of "a" or "an" is employed to describe elements and components described herein. This is done merely for convenience and to give a general sense of the scope of the invention. This description should be read to include one or at least one and the singular also includes the plural, or vice versa, unless it is clear that it is meant otherwise. For example, when a single item is described herein, more than one item may be used in place of a single item. Similarly, where more than one item is described herein, a single item may be substituted for that more than one item.

Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The materials, methods, and examples are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting. To the extent that certain details regarding specific materials and processing acts are not described, such details may include conventional approaches, which may be found in reference books and other sources within the manufacturing arts.

While aspects of the present disclosure have been particularly shown and described with reference to the embodiments above, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various additional embodiments may be contemplated by the modification of the disclosed machines, systems and methods without departing from the spirit and scope of what is disclosed. Such embodiments should be understood to fall within the scope of the present disclosure as determined based upon the claims and any equivalents thereof.

List of reference numerals and respective features:

100: glazing

101: glazing substrate

101a: a first face of the substrate for glazing 101b: a second face of the substrate for glazing 102: a display unit/ a lighting unit 121: diffusion layer

122: LED film structure or LED module

123: prism layer

124: connector

125: driver unit

126: light guiding unit 401: power supply 402: relay module 403: resistors 404: common driver unit 405: data input

406 : power input

407 : heating grid

Claims

1. A glazing (100) for a vehicle, comprising: at least one substrate (101) having a first face (101a) and a second face (102a); a lighting unit (102) having a light emitting diode, LED, unit adapted to be disposed on one of the faces of the substrate; wherein the lighting unit (102) further comprises a diffusing layer (122) adapted to render continuity of light emission or display from the LED unit; and the lighting unit is adapted to exhibit a transparency of around 10-70%.

2. The glazing (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the LED unit includes an array of diode modules configured to be disposed through a border diffusive layer (122) to block the light after a measured circumference around the LED.

3. The glazing (100) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the lighting unit (102) comprises a prism layer (123) configured to eliminate back scattering of the light from the display.

4. The glazing (100) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein

LED modules in the LED unit are configured to be assembled to face the prism layer (123) to cause total internal reflection in the display unit.

5. The glazing (100) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the critical angle of the prism layer (123) and the air surface is more than 40°.

6. The glazing (100) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the at least one substrate of the glazing in combination with the prism layer (123) are adapted to bend light from LED unit to render spherical display in the lighting unit (102) and to indirectly decrease a pitch distance of the LED unit.

7. The glazing (100) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, further comprises heating grid, wherein a bus bar of the heating grid is coupled to power the lighting unit (102).

8. The glazing (100) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the heating grid and the display unit are operably coupled with a controller (130) configured for enabling the operation of the heating grid and the lighting unit (102).

9. The glazing (100) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the LED units are configured to be connected through a connector to a driver unit, wherein the driver unit is configured to facilitate display in the lighting unit (102).

10. The glazing (100) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the glazing is encapsulated glazing, or laminated glazing or part of a door of the vehicle and wherein the LED unit is provided in the glazing by printing or stick-on solution.

11. The glazing (100) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the laminated glazing further comprises a light guiding layer (126) adapted to direct light from the LED unit to a desired view; wherein the light guiding layer is adapted to be disposed proximal to the LED unit.

12. The glazing (100) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said glazing is any of windshield, sidelite, quaterlite, backlite, sunroof, part of door of the vehicle; and the vehicle is any of car, train or aircraft.

13. A system for display in glazing for a vehicle, wherein the system comprises: a glazing (100) comprising a lighting unit or display unit (102) having a light emitting diode (LED) unit adapted to be disposed on a substrate of the glazing; wherein the lighting unit (102) comprises a diffusing layer (122) adapted to render continuity of display from the LED unit and to exhibit a transparency of around 10-70%; an input unit configured to provide the data/signal for in the lighting unit or the display unit (102); and a power unit (401) configured to supply power to the lighting unit or the display unit.

14. The system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the power unit (401) is configured to supply power to both LED unit (122) and a heating grid (407) on the glazing.

15. The system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the LED unit (122) and the heating grid on the glazing shares a common connection to the power unit (401).

16. The system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the system comprises a grid structure having different current carrying units based on luminosity requirements in each node of the LED.

17. The glazing (100) as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein said glazing is any of windshield, sidelite, quaterlite, backlite, sunroof, part of door of the vehicle; and the vehicle is any of car, train or aircraft.