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About this capture | ||||||||||||||
Here is how Moonlight™ Illumination was added to two different laptops - an NEC-Zenith 320L, and a Toshiba T3400CT.
The NEC-Zenith's display has a backlight located along the bottom of the LCD screen.
Moonlight™ Illumination was added by cutting a slot into the outer plastic case of the laptop, and cutting another slot into the underlying metal reflector that surrounds the backlight. A small plastic shutter was attached to the laptop's plastic case to direct the light onto the keyboard, and to adjust the amount of light available.
The photo below was taken using only the light from Moonlight™ Illumination. The keyboard is clearly visible using Moonlight™ Illumination.
The Toshiba was a more challenging modification, since the backlight is on the rear side of the LCD (the side facing away from the user). A clear plastic light guide was used to carry light from the rear of the LCD to the front, where it is directed to the keyboard.
The photo below shows the light guide mounted on the rear of the Toshiba's LCD panel. The 3 pink arrows show the light path through the light guide. Light is picked up from the rear of the LCD panel (A), reflects off of a 45 degree angle machined into the light guide (B), travels along the interior of the light guide (C, D), and then emerges out the front of the display (E), where it illuminates the keyboard.
In the Toshiba, light is picked up from the rear of the LCD panel, rather than directly from the backlight. The photo above shows a white plastic diffuser sheet that covers the back of the Toshiba's LCD panel. This sheet ensures uniform illumination across the LCD panel. As part of the modification, the end of the light guide was tucked under the edge of this diffuser sheet, to pick up light from the rear of the LCD panel.
As shown below, when the modified LCD panel is assembled into the laptop case, the end of the light guide is positioned between the bottom of the LCD screen and the top of the green circuit board driving the LCD panel.
Different light guide arrangements could be used to accommodate various LCD designs. Also, in a production laptop, the light guide should be centered over the keyboard - in this prototype, both the screen and the light guide are offset to the left, resulting in slightly reduced illumination for the keycaps on the right.
The final step in the modification was to cut a slot in the laptop case, and attach a hinged shutter to direct light onto the keyboard. The following photo shows a close up of this shutter.
The next photo is lit only with Moonlight™ Illumination. Despite the Toshiba's dark keycaps, and the off-center screen and light guide, the keyboard is brightly illuminated.
To see how we modified an IBM Thinkpad 770, click here.
Please contact Moonlight™ Illumination to see our prototypes in real life and to discuss licensing.
David MacMillan
Tel: (650) 365-3392
Return to Moonlight™ Illumination Home page.
This page last updated on: January 19, 1999.
