Typically, the interior of a car is not illuminated during night time driving so that the driver can see through a vehicle's windows without being hampered by glare and reflection. It is therefore advantageous to limit the amount of light within the interior of the vehicle while driving, to increase the driver's ability to see the road. With this in mind, important markings, labels or other indicia on a vehicle's dashboard are typically backlit to provide the limited, but necessary lighting to the markings. For example, in most cars, the instrument panel, the climate control panel and the radio are backlit to enable the driver to see the control buttons and knobs.
Backlighting is accomplished by placing a directed light source under a graphics surface and shining a light through a transparent portion of the marking, thereby illuminating it. Backlighting the markings in a vehicle's dashboard has been problem free due to the ample physical space available in the dashboard for the necessary light source components. However, due to the limited physical space in steering column stalks, backlighting markings here is difficult and expensive, and heretofore has not been widely practiced. Therefore, the markings on the stalks are typically not illuminated, and the driver must either memorize the location and operation of the controls on the stalk, or turn on a roof-mounted reading light. Additionally, other interior surfaces and structures in a vehicle suffer from similar disadvantages, where installing a backlighting feature would require considerable modification, or may be impossible due to the limited space available.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cost-effective lighting system for markings or labels in the interior of a vehicle requiring minimal modification to existing vehicles. It is a further object of the invention to provide a lighting system for markings that do not interfere with a drivers vision, particularly at night. It is still a further object of the invention to provide a lighting means for markings on a steering column stalk, requiring minimal modification to the stalk.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds