Illuminated seat belt buckle

Abstract

The present invention provides an illuminated seat belt buckle, includes a buckle body, an unlock button configured on an upper open end of the buckle body, an illuminating portion, and a light-emitting module. The illuminating portion, configured at an upper portion of the unlock button, consists of a light-guide body and an outer covering layer, and a light incident area located on the side of the illuminating portion and a first illuminating area located above the illuminating portion are formed at a portion of the light-guide body exposing from the outer covering layer. The light-emitting module is configured on the buckle body, which includes a light guider and a light-emitting element, in which the light guider has a light-guiding port. The light-guiding port is used to guide the lights generated from the light-emitting element into the light incident area of the illuminating portion to make the first illuminating area emits light. Under above constructions, the unlock button combines with the illuminating portion to form as a light-emitting button so as to make the light-emitting button to have guiding and warning functions and/or decorative luminous effects.

Claims

1. An illuminated seat belt buckle, comprising: a buckle body; an unlock button located on the buckle body; an illuminating portion having a bottom located on the unlock button, a top opposite the bottom, and a side between the top and the bottom, and includes a light-guide body, an outer covering layer, a light incident area located on the side of the illuminating portion, a first illuminating area located on the top of the illuminating portion, and a light-guide plate located in the light-guide body; and a light-emitting module located on the buckle body, and comprising a light guider and a light-emitting element, wherein the light guider has a light-guiding port configured to guide lights generated from the light-emitting element into the light incident area of the illuminating portion to the first illuminating area.

2. The illuminated seat belt buckle of claim 1, wherein the illuminating portion is formed by integral molding.

3. The illuminated seat belt buckle of claim 1, wherein the outer covering layer is made from an opaque material or a translucent material.

4. The illuminated seat belt buckle of claim 1, wherein the first illuminating area is in the form of texts or an image.

5. The illuminated seat belt buckle of claim 1, further comprising a second illuminating area located on the side of the illuminating portion.

6. The illuminated seat belt buckle of claim 1, wherein the light-emitting module is outside of the buckle body.

7. The illuminated seat belt buckle of claim 1, wherein the light-emitting module is inside of the buckle body.

8. The illuminated seat belt buckle of claim 1, wherein the light-emitting module is electrically connected to a power supply.

9. The illuminated seat belt buckle of claim 8, wherein; the light-emitting module and the power supply are respectively provided with a first signal power cable and a second signal power cable; the light-emitting module is further provided with a first connector connected to the first signal power cable; and the power supply is further provided with a second connector connected to the second signal power cable.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the illuminated seat belt buckle of the present invention;

(2) FIG. 2 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the illuminating portion in FIG. 1;

(3) FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the use in FIG. 1;

(4) FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of another preferred embodiment of the illuminated seat belt buckle of the present invention;

(5) FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of the use in FIG. 4; and

(6) FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the illuminating portion.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

(7) It should be noted that when an element is referred to as being fixed to another element, it can be directly on the other element or a central element may also exist. When an element is considered to be connected to another element, it can be directly connected to the other element or an intermediate element may also exist. The terms vertical, horizontal, left, right and similar expressions used herein are for illustrative purposes only, and do not mean it is the only implementation.

(8) Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the technical field of the present invention. The terms used in the specification of the present invention herein are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present invention. The term and/or as used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more related listed items.

(9) Please refer to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a preferred embodiment of an illuminated seat belt buckle of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a three-dimensional schematic view of the illuminating portion in this embodiment, and FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of the use of this embodiment. As shown in the figures, the present invention provides is an illuminated seat belt buckle 1 applicable to various vehicles equipped with seat belt devices. The illuminated seat belt buckle 1 mainly includes a buckle body 10, an unlock button 20 configured at the upper opening end of the buckle body 10, an illuminating portion 30 configured on the upper part of the unlock button 20, and a light-emitting module 40 configured on the buckle body 10.

(10) The buckle body 10 has a fixed seat 11, and the fixed seat 11 is provided with a locking device 12 connected to the vehicle and has an upper open end. The locking device 12 is connected to the vehicle by a bracket 13. The unlock button 20 is configured at the upper opening end of the buckle body 10. By pressing down the unlock button 20, the unlock button 20 is able to allow the locking device 12 to unlock it so as to release a seat belt tongue fastened in the buckle body 10.

(11) The illuminating portion 30 is configured on the upper part of the unlock button 20, the illuminating portion 30 consists of a light-guide body 31 and an outer covering layer 32. The illuminating portion 30 is formed by integral molding two different materials. The materials are defined as materials with good light guiding effect (such as PC material) to applied as the light-guide body 31, and opaque materials (such as surface plated acrylic) to applied as the outer covering layer 32. A light incident area 33 located on the side of the illuminating portion 30 and a first illuminating area 34 located above the illuminating portion 30 are formed at a portion of the light-guide body 31 exposing from the outer covering layer 32. Wherein, the first illuminating area 34 is presented in the form of text (the text PRESS as shown in FIG. 2) or an image.

(12) In another embodiment, in addition to having the first illuminating area 34 located above the illuminating portion 30, the light-guide body 31 is also able to have a second illuminating area 35. The second illuminating area 35 is located on the side of the illuminating portion 30 and is formed at another portion exposing from the outer covering layer 32. The second illuminating area 35 is used to project a light source towards the inside of the buckle body 10, as shown in FIG. 3.

(13) Specifically, the light-guide body 31 in the illuminating portion 30 is made of a material with light guide effect. In addition, the outer covering layer 32 in the illuminating portion 30 can be made of either opaque or translucent material. In this way, when the outer covering layer 32 is made of opaque material, the area of the light-guide body 31 covered by the outer covering layer 32 transmits light, only the first illuminating area 34 and the second illuminating area 35 of the light-guide body 31 exposed from the outer covering layer 32 transmit light. If the outer covering layer 32 is made of a translucent material, the outer covering layer 32 and the light-guide body 31 will both transmit light. Therefore, different luminous effects are presented.

(14) The light-emitting module 40 is configured on the buckle body 10, which includes a light guider 41 and a light-emitting element 42, in which the light guider has a light-guiding port 411. The light-guiding port 411 is used to guide the lights emitted from the light-emitting element 42 into the light incident area 33 of the illuminating portion 30 to make the first illuminating area to emit a light by passing through the first illuminating area 34 and the second illuminating area 35. With this configuration, the unlock button 20 combines with the illuminating portion 30 to form as a light-emitting button to provide guiding and warning functions and/or decorative luminous effects.

(15) In another embodiment, apart from configuring the light-emitting module 40 at the outer portion of the buckle body 10, the light-emitting module 40 is able to be configured inside the buckle body 10 (as shown in FIG. 4). The light-emitting module 40 is electrically connected to a power supply 60 through a signal power cable 50, the power supply 60 also has a signal control function to provide the power and control signals required by the light-emitting module 40. As shown in the figure, the light-emitting module 40 and the power supply 60 are respectively provided with a signal power cable connector 43 and 61 that can be connected to each other.

(16) As shown in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, the illuminating portion 30 is attached to a cover on the upper part of the unlock button 20 by adhesive or other various methods. In other words, the illuminating portion 30 is detachable on the upper part of the unlock button 20, and can be replaced or exchanged at any time.

(17) FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are the cross-sectional schematic diagrams and schematic diagrams showing another preferred embodiment of the illuminated seat belt buckle 1 of the present invention. The illuminated seat belt buckle 1 includes the buckle body 10, the unlock button 20 configured at the upper opening end of the buckle body 10, the illuminating portion 30 configured on the upper part of the unlock button 20, and the light-emitting module 40 configured on the buckle body 10.

(18) Compared with the previous embodiment disclosed in FIGS. 1 to 3, this embodiment mainly has the following two differences:

(19) (1) The illuminating portion 30 is integrally formed on the upper part of the unlock button 20, that is to say, the illuminating portion 30 is directly molded and combined with the unlock button 20, and is a part of the unlock button 20.

(20) (2) The light-emitting module 40 is arranged and combined inside the buckle body 10, the signal power cable 50 used to electrically connect the light-emitting module 40 and the power supply 60 that passes through a hole at the bottom of the buckle body 10.

(21) It is disclosed that, during implementation, the illuminating portion 30 is an additional component that can be additionally attached to the upper part of the unlock button 20 by adhesive or other various methods, it can also be implemented in a way that is integrally formed on the upper part of the unlock button 20. In addition, the light-emitting module 40 can adopt an embodiment that is combined on the outside of the buckle body 10, or it is also able to be combined inside the buckle body 10.

(22) Please refer to the schematic cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the illuminating portion shown in FIG. 6, the illuminating portion 30 is configured on the upper part of the unlock button 20, the illuminating portion 30 consists of the light-guide body 31 and the outer covering layer 32. The light incident area 33 and the first illuminating area 34 are formed at a portion of the light-guide body 31 exposing from the outer covering layer 32. In addition, the illuminating portion 30 further includes a light-guide plate 36 configured in the light-guide body 31, and the light source injected through the light incident area 33 can obtain a more uniform luminous effect through the light-guide plate 36.

(23) In summary, it can be known that the present invention is an illuminated seat belt buckle 1 that can be applied on various vehicles equipped with seat belt devices. Different from the known prior art, the present invention provides an illuminating portion 30 comprised of light-guide body 31 and the outer covering layer 32 on the upper end of the unlock button 20, It can have guiding and warning functions and/or decorative luminous effects by means of the unlock button 20 provided with the illuminating portion 30 on the upper end.

(24) The above are the preferred embodiments of this application, and the scope of protection of this application is not limited accordingly. Therefore: all equivalent changes made in accordance with the structure, shape, and principle of this application shall be covered by the scope of protection of this application inside.