Optically coupled decorative light controller

Abstract

A digital rectangular wave musical tone generator (10) activates a speaker (12) to produce sounds of aural quality similar to musical instruments, while varying the intensity of light output from a light-emitting diode (13). The intensity variations of this light controls the resistance of a photoresistor (16), which varies the power supplied to decorative lights by a power control device (19), thus varying the intensity of the decorative lights in synchronism with the sound.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to an apparatus for controlling the intensity of decorative lights in response to an electronically generated series of musical tones, and in particular to an optically coupled means for controlling a semiconductor power control device.

BACKGROUND ART

In recent years, it has become common practice to enhance the sensual effects of various kinds of music by modulating the intensity of various light sources located in the listening area in response to the sound level of the music.

One method for accomplishing this result uses acoustical pick up devices to change the sound into electrical impulses which then control various types of power control devices that in turn vary the level of power applied to a light source. This approach has the disadvantage of allowing any sound, even an undesired noise, to vary the light output unless sophisticated circuitry designed to provide noise immunity or to respond to signals only above a predetermined intensity level is utilized.

In addition, in setting up such a system to provide a sound/light program it is necessary to provide a source of music such as a conventional analog electromechanical sound reproduction device, for example a phonograph or tape recorder, or as an alternative, a live performance by one or more musicians. Signals broadcast from commercial broadcasting stations may of course also be used, but then it is generally not possible to have control of the program, which is based on the discretion of the broadcaster. A further difficulty is that the volume level of the sound may not be adjusted without having an effect on the intensity of the light source.

Another method uses the analog electrical audio signal output of a sound reproduction means to control the power control device that in turn varies the power level to the light source. While this avoids the problem of extraneous noises influencing light intensity, the other disadvantages mentioned above still remain.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention uses an electronic music bell tone generator to produce the desired sound rather than conventional electromechanical, analog sound reproduction means such as a phonograph or tape recorder.

It further provides means for controlling the intensity of decorative lighting in response to the musical tones produced by using an optical coupler driven by the electronic bell tone generator.

It also provides a means for varying the volume of the sound produced without affecting variations of the decorative lights, because the optical coupler's response is not varied by adjustment of the power supplied to an acoustic transducer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The invention is described with reference to the annexed drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the preferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the integrated circuit bell tone generator used in the device of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1, a transformer 1, powered by a 117 volt a.c. line supplies approximately 8.2 VAC to diodes 2 and 3, which provide a rectified output that is filtered by capacitors 4 and 5. The resulting DC output is regulated at 6 VDC by a regulator circuit comprised of resistor 6, Zener diode 7, and transistor 8. The output of the regulator is further filtered by capacitor 9 and is applied to custom integrated circuit 10, which in combination with its associated components, resistor 23 and capacitor 24, is designed to provide a series of rectangular waves of varying energy content. These rectangular waves comprise a signal which alternates between two voltage levels. This custom integrated circuit comprises memory means for storing values defining period and duration of the musical tones, and control means comprised of logic and arithmetic means which access the memory means, thus generating a series of rectangular waves for each tone by controlling the time at which the signal changes between two voltage levels. Each wave in the series has a predetermined energy content so that the intensity of each musical tone is varied over its duration. For a discussion of the details of operation of this device, see copending application Ser. No. 117,799 for Audio Visual Message Device filed Feb. 1, 1980 by Sayre Swarztrauber et al., which describes the custom integrated circuit 10 that generates a series of rectangular waves which drive an acoustic transducer means such as a speaker and produces a series of musical tones which have the aural characteristics of tuned bells. This device is designed to repetitively play approximately eleven different Christmas songs. It is also described in more detail below.

The rectangular wave output of integrated circuit 10 is connected to the base of amplifying transistor 11. The collector of amplifying transistor 11 supplies current to an electroacoustic transducer, preferably a speaker 12 in response to these rectangular waves. The speaker 12, may be located within the same housing as the remainder of the circuit described herein, or may be located externally and connected to the circuit by suitable electrical conductors. The diode 25 connected across the speaker 12 protects the amplifying transistor from damage caused by voltages induced in the speaker 12 in response to sudden changes in the current through the speaker 12. Potentiometer 15 is used to control the current through the speaker 12 thus varying the intensity of sound from the speaker 12. As described in copending application Ser. No. 000,268, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,787, for Music Tone Generator, filed Feb. 1, 1979 by Sayne Swarztrauber et al. the speaker 12 or other similar sound reproducing means may be unresponsive to harmonics of the fundamental frequency of the wave applied, and will thus generate relatively pure tones.

The output of amplifying transistor 11 also activates light emitting diode 13, through variable resistor 14. The intensity of light emitting diode 13 is controlled by variable resistor 14. This adjustment is set at the time of the manufacture as is indicated below and is not normally disturbed thereafter.

The resistance values of potentiometers 14 and 15 are chosen so that adjustment of the sound intensity by varying the setting of potentiometer 15 has negligible effect on the light intensity of the light emitting diode 13.

The response time of light emitting diode 13 is such that the light produced faithfully follows the rectangular waves generated by the integrated circuit 10. This light falls upon the active surface of photoresistor 16, causing its resistance to vary in essentially the same manner. Both light emitting diode 13 and photoresistor 16 are isolated from all external light sources by mounting within an opaque housing, not shown, and are mechanically arranged so that the light output of light emitting diode 13 falls upon the active, light sensing, surface of photoresistor 16.

Photoresistor 16 is part of a triac control circuit comprised of capacitor 17, diac 18, triac 19, and inductor 21, which controls the power supplied from a 117 volt alternating current line source to outlet 20, where a light source, not shown, is connected. When a light source is connected to the outlet 20, the line voltage appears across the series combination of the photoresistor 16 and the capacitor 17. On any given half cycle of the line voltage the triac 19 is initially off. If a musical tone is being sounded, the capacitor 17 is charged, in steps, during the individual cycles of the rectangular wave, which occur at a frequency much greater than the frequency of the line voltage.

The voltage across the capacitor 17 thus is an integration of the series of rectangular pulses of the musical tones. On cycles of the line voltage during which the voltage across the capacitor 17 reaches the breakover voltage of diac 18, a predetermined level, a pulse of current is conducted through the diac 18 to the gate of the triac 19, turning on the triac 19. Line current is then conducted through the main terminals of the triac 19 and through the inductor 21 to a load attached to the outlet 20. Conduction continues for the remainder of the half cycle of the line voltage, ceasing when the current in the load goes to zero at the end of that half cycle. During subsequent half cycles of the line voltage, the above sequence of events is repeated. The observer of a light source connected to the outlet 20 perceives a variation in the intensity of the light in synchronism with the sounding of the musical tones. Thus, the triac control circuit is similar in operation to a conventional light dimmer circuit using conduction phase control modified in that the photoresistor 16 is used instead of a potentiometer and there is an integration of the series of rectangular pulses by capacitor 17.

The light source connected to the outlet 20 is preferrably an incandescent lamp 30 or a series of incandescent lamps, as for instance Christmas tree lights or Christmas decorations. It may be desired, however, to control a different type of light source such as a gas discharge tube 32. If this light source, or its associated circuit components, present an essentially open circuit, it will be necessary to provide a resistor 22 electrically connected across the outlet 20, to complete the series circuit also comprised of photoresistor 16 and capacitor 17, thus permitting charging of capacitor 17. Suitable starter circuitry for a gas discharge tube would also have to be provided, and inductor 21 would then be chosen to have a value compatable with operation of such a light source, when connected to the outlet 20.

The potentiometer 14 is set to produce a desired variation of the intensity of the light source connected to outlet 20 for the particular output level of the amplifying transistor 11. For example, a setting which results in the light being totally off during any time interval between tones may be desired, or partial illumination may be produced, at such times, by a different setting.

In addition or alternatively, light emitting diode 13 and photoresistor 16, while mechanically arranged so that the light output of light emitting diode 13 falls upon the active, light sensing surface of photoresistor 16, may be located within a housing, not shown, which allows a small percentage of ambient light not produced by the light source connected to the outlet 20 to fall upon the photoresistor 16. This will allow the user to adjust the background or resting light intensely (that is the intensity of the light source connected to the outlet 20 during a time interval when no tone is sounded) by partially or completely blocking the ambient light reaching the photoresistor 16 with an opaque object.

As will be obvious to one skilled in the art, an additional advantage of the use of light emitting diode 13 and photoresistor 16 is excellent electrical isolation between the triac power control circuit and the music tone generator circuit, both described above.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the digital electronic integrated circuit music tone generator which produces the waveforms of the audio signal generated by the device of the invention. It is understood that the actual integrated circuit comprises hundreds of digital logic elements fabricated on a single silicon chip using available integrated circuit technology. The integrated circuit chip of the illustrative embodiment was manufactured using such technology by LSI Computer Systems, Inc. of Melville, N.Y. This circuit uses the principles set forth in co-pending application Ser. No. 000,268, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,787 and is in fact an integrated circuit embodiment of the programmed micro-processor of that invention.

Referring to FIG. 2 there is shown a Note Read Only Memory (hereinafter a Note ROM) 60 which is 768 by 4 bits and an End of Note ROM 65 which is 768 by 6 bits. In the actual construction of the integrated circuit they constitute a single 768 by 10 bit memory, indicated by dashed line 70. In other words, a single 768 by 10 bit digital memory is fabricated on the chip; the four least significant bits RO0-RO3 of each word identify the note to be sounded and the six most significant bits RO4-RO9 of each word determine the duration of that note. The 768 words are arranged in the ROM so that when they are addressed by 10 bit Note Counter (CTR) 80 each note of a musical composition is played in succession. In this embodiment the notes of eleven different Christmas carols are so arranged. Table I lists the contents of the Note and End of Note ROM in coded form. The actual bit pattern of each word in the ROM can be decoded using Table II to decode the six most significant bits and Table III to decode the four least significant bits. The 3 digit column headings are the address of the first entry in each column which addresses are also in the code shown in Table III. This address corresponds to the value in the Note Counter 80 which contains the ten least significant bits of this twelve bit address code. Thus, as is more fully explained below each word is accessed sequentially by incrementing the Note Counter 80.

The NOTE information contained in the four least significant bits of each word in the Note and End of Note ROM is used as a four bit address for accessing the period values stored in the Period Table ROM 85. There are sixteen 9 bit values stored in this ROM which define the period or frequency of each of the 15 notes and one rest used in the musical compositions to be played. The rest is provided when the four address bits are zero by OR gate 62 which disables AND gate 135. Table IV contains the sixteen 9 bit values stored in the period Table ROM 85.

The 9 bit period values from Table IV the Period Table ROM are loaded into the Period Counter 90 which is a nine stage modulo n down counter that is part of the digital logic used to fix the period of the series of rectangular waves generated to sound the particular note to which that period corresponds, as will be more fully explained herein below.

The 7 Most Significant Bits (MSB) of the 9 bit period values are loaded into the Duty Cycle Counter 95 which is a seven stage modulo n down counter that along with Feedback ROM 100, Cycle Counter 105 and Duty Cycle Comparator 110 forms a part of the digital logic that determines the duty cycle or energy content of the rectangular waves in the series generated to sound the particular note as represented by waveform 150. The 6 MSB's of the Duty Cycle Counter 95 are also used in conjunction with End of Note Comparator 115 to determine when the note has come to an end and the next note is to be selected and played.

As can be seen the Period Counter is driven by a 2 microsecond clock 120. There is of course a source of voltage and current (not shown) to power this clock as well as the other functions depicted in FIG. 2 as will be understood by those skilled in the art.

Finally, the actual series of rectangular waves is formed by the setting and resetting of Output Flip/Flop 125, (F/F), the output of which is anded with the output of Blanking Counter 130 by And gate 135 and fed to the audio output circuit.

The operation of each of the digital logic elements shown in FIG. 2 will be illustrated by explaining the generation of the rectangular wave series for the first note stored in the Note and End of Note ROM 70. Upon application of power to the integrated circuit Note Counter 80 is set to its initial value of all zeros. Referring to Table I it is seen that the address 000 contains the value E for the Note and the value 33 for the Duration or End of Note. By reference to Tables II and III it can be seen that this represents the ten digit number 0011001110. As was stated above the four least significant bits RO0-RO3 (1110) are used as an address to the Period Table ROM 85. Referring to Table IV it is seen that the 9 bit number 101010101 is stored at this address. Thus this number is loaded into the nine stages of the Period Counter 90 as is indicated by the 9 on the line from the Period Table ROM 85. Simultaneously the 7 MSB's of this number 1010101 are loaded into the seven stages of the Duty Cycle Counter 95 as is indicated by the 7 on the line from the Period Table ROM 85. The 3 MSB's of this number (101) are in turn used as an address for the Feedback ROM 100 as is indicated by the 3 on the line from the Duty Cycle Counter 95. Referring to Table V it is seen that the five digit number 00001 is stored at this address and it is loaded into the five stages of the Cycle Counter 105 as is indicated by the 5 on the line from the Feedback ROM 100.

As is indicated by the 8 on the line from Period Counter 90 the 8 MSB's of that counter are compared to the 7 bits in the Duty Cycle Counter 95, shifted by a constant `0` bit, in the Duty Cycle Comparator 110. This shift is accomplished by placing a `0` in the most significant bit which in effect divides the number represented by the 8 MSB's in half providing a 50% duty cycle. In operation the Output Flip/Flop 125 is set upon loading of the Period Counter 90 and is reset by an output from the Duty Cycle Comparator 110. The Period Counter 90 continues to count down to the end of the period and upon underflow is reloaded with the value in the Period Table 85. Simultaneously, the Output Flip/Flop 125 is set and the Cycle Counter 105 is decremented. This process continues until the number of rectangular waves equal to the number stored in the Cycle Counter have been generated. It is noted that each of these waves has the same duty cycle or energy content. When the Cycle Counter 105 underflows it is reloaded with the value in the Feedback ROM 100. Simultaneously, the Duty Cycle Counter 95 is decremented and a new duty cycle or energy content is determined for the rectangular wave. This process continues until there is an output from the End of Note Comparator 115 which is comparing the 6 MSB's of the Duty Cycle Counter 95 with the 6 bits stored in the End of Note ROM 65. This output causes incrementing of the Note Counter 80 as well as forces the loading of all of the other counters so that the above described process can be commenced for the next Note. It will be recognized by those skilled in the art that there is "pipelining" involved in the timing of these events. In the event the Duty Cycle Counter 95 reaches zero without having caused an End of Note output from comparator 115, the next input to the Duty Cycle Counter from the Cycle Counter will cause it to underflow, which in turn causes the Blanking Counter 130 to go to zero and disable the AND gate 135. This in turn prevents any further output of rectangular waves to the audio output circuit. In this instance the Duty Cycle Counter will begin counting down from its maximum value until an output is generated from the Comparator 115 and a new note is selected as is described herein above.

The foregoing is a detailed description of the specific embodiment of the audio generating digital memory and digital logic used in the optically coupled decorative lighting controller of the invention. It is recognized that other arrangements of digital memory and logic can be employed to achieve the objects of the invention, for example the programmed microprocessor of co-pending application Ser. No. 000,268, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,787, could be used. In addition, it is well within the skill of the art to alter the memory and energy content controlling logic of this embodiment to obtain different musical messages and to produce sounds other than bell tones.

Various modifications of the invention in addition to that shown and described herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description and accompanying drawings. Such modifications are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims.

TABLE I______________________________________CODED NOTE-DURATION TABLE (768 .times. 10)______________________________________000 020 040 060NOTE DUR NOTE DUR NOTE DUR NOTE DUR______________________________________E 33 E 2F D 00 638A 37 7 37 D 31 737A 21 9 35 D 31 7379 32 A 33 6 38 731A 21 E 3E 7 37 731B 30 E 28 9 35 737D 34 E 28 4 3B 935D 34 E 2F 4 3B 935D 34 7 37 4 3B 7379 34 9 35 4 3B 9009 32 A 33 2 3E 4097 34 D 08 4 3B 7379 32 D 31 6 38 737A 31 6 38 9 35 703B 36 7 37 A 3C 737E 33 9 35 4 109 737E 33 B 0D 7 37 7037 3C 4 3B 7 37 7377 34 4 3B 7 03 43B6 35 6 38 7 37 A387 34 9 35 7 37 9309 32 7 03 7 03 703A 37 0 09 7 37 009D 34 E 2F 4 3B 638E 2C 7 37 A 38 638E 2C 9 35 9 30 63ED 34 A 33 7 03 6329 34 E 05 0 09 638B 36 E 2F 6 38 737A 05 7 37 6 38 7370 31 9 35 6 3E 7310 31 A 33 6 32 731______________________________________030 0A0 0C0 0E0NOTE DUR NOTE DUR NOTE DUR NOTE DUR______________________________________4 3B 9 3E C 3B 6364 3B A 04 E 3A 63B6 3B 9 35 F 07 82F9 3A A 3B 0 31 933A 0F D 06 0 31 9330 31 0 09 1 0A 9330 31 9 08 2 02 933A 04 0 04 4 33 9339 35 9 3E 6 0A 92EA 3B 6 0F 8 34 82FD 06 7 36 9 3C 60A0 09 9 3E A 39 82FA 04 A 04 C 3E 92E9 35 9 35 6 36 A31A 3B A 3B 4 0F A31D 06 D 06 4 38 A31C 09 0 09 2 2B A2B4 07 4 07 2 3B 92E0 09 0 09 1 1B 8064 07 4 07 0 1D 92E7 0D 1 9E 1 3C A2B0 0D 0 04 1 3C C306 03 A 3A 2 3B 10A0 09 7 02 4 38 4386 03 6 0F 6 36 63BA 0D 0 0D 6 3B 82F0 09 2 0C 8 2F 9339 08 0 20 9 33 8340 04 6 05 1 3C 93C9 3E A 3D 1 3C A396 0F D 3A 2 3B C0A7 36 A 3E 4 38 031______________________________________100 120 140 160NOTE DUR NOTE DUR NOTE DUR NOTE DUR______________________________________0 31 0 08 6 06 C30A 3B 7 01 7 04 A2CA 0C 0 08 0 0A 92FE 35 9 3E 9 1B 830A 3B 7 01 A 36 A2C9 1B A 3B A 03 938E 02 9 3E 0 31 A2C7 01 B 01 0 31 C309 3E D 30 6 3C D307 01 E 35 8 30 C386 02 A 3B 9 34 A367 0B A 3B A 32 92F0 04 B 39 C 30 8359 3E A 3B A 32 A32A 3B 9 3E 9 34 938A 0C A 0C C 30 830B 39 E 35 A 2C 636D 37 7 01 9 2F A32B 39 7 01 8 30 92FA 3B 9 3E A 2C 7309 3E 7 01 9 38 6367 01 6 02 A 2C 433B 09 7 01 C 30 235D 3E 0 08 D 30 13DE 2E 9 3E C 38 23CE 02 7 01 6 3C 4390 1C 6 02 8 30 6014 06 7 01 9 34 63C0 08 9 3E A 32 8306 02 A 3B C 30 9347 01 B 0C A 32 A326 02 A 3C 9 34 C30______________________________________180 1A0 1C0 1E0NOTE DUR NOTE DUR NOTE DUR NOTE DUR______________________________________A 32 A 3E A 2E 73A9 34 9 01 A 3E 73AC 32 7 3F 9 01 9374 34 7 32 7 3F A354 34 7 22 7 32 B344 34 7 38 7 22 D324 34 9 36 7 38 E316 05 7 38 9 36 D328 33 6 07 7 38 B349 3E B 3D 6 09 A35A 3D 9 01 B 00 937C 07 A 3E 9 06 7080 31 4 0B A 02 0050 31 4 3C 0 31 73AE 38 7 38 0 31 63BA 39 2 1A D 32 937A 2E 0 05 D 32 73AA 3E 4 3C 7 3A 63B9 01 4 3C 7 3A 43E7 3F 6 39 9 37 2017 32 6 07 A 35 73A7 22 6 07 B 34 9377 38 6 39 D 32 A359 36 9 36 E 31 D327 38 4 0B D 32 B346 07 0 05 B 34 A35B 3D 6 39 A 35 9049 01 6 39 9 37 A35A 3E 7 38 7 08 937E 38 7 05 0 05 708A 39 E 38 D 32 63BA 2E A 39 D 32 73A______________________________________200 220 240 260NOTE DUR NOTE DUR NOTE DUR NOTE DUR______________________________________7 3A 0 0D 7 3C 0319 37 0 07 6 35 E33A 35 E 33 7 34 A38B 34 E 33 9 3A A3FD 3C D 34 A 05 B30A 2F B 36 7 34 A38B 2E B 36 9 32 73DD 32 B 36 A 37 73D9 04 B 36 B 03 93BA 35 A 31 9 32 4029 37 B 30 A 31 4027 3A A 37 B 36 40D6 3B B 03 D 00 6354 3E 0 0D 0 0D 73D2 01 0 07 0 33 93B7 3A D 34 E 07 70F9 38 B 36 D 34 E33A 36 A 37 B 36 A38B 35 9 3A B 36 A3FD 3E 9 3A B 36 B300 31 9 3A B 36 A380 31 7 3C A 31 73DE 07 9 32 B 30 73DD 34 A 31 A 37 93BB 36 B 36 B 03 402B 36 D 0B 0 0D 93BB 36 D 34 0 0D 903B 36 B 36 D 2E B30A 31 A 37 E 2C B37B 30 9 3A D 34 D35A 37 9 3A E 07 E3EB 03 9 3A 0 31 402______________________________________280 2A0 2C0 2E0NOTE DUR NOTE DUR NOTE DUR NOTE DUR______________________________________4 02 2 06 4 01 73C4 02 4 02 4 0B 63EA 38 6 3F 6 35 70D6 3F 7 3D 7 0D 9097 3D 6 22 7 3C 4017 3D 9 3B 9 3A 0069 3B 7 34 7 3C 23A4 02 6 35 4 01 4374 02 4 1E 7 05 6354 02 A 32 9 32 734A 38 A 3D A 05 6106 3F 9 00 4 01 4377 3D A 12 0 06 6357 3D 0 31 2 3A 7349 3B 0 31 4 37 9322 06 7 3C 6 35 70D2 06 7 3C 7 34 6352 06 7 3C 6 10 7344 02 4 01 4 37 9326 3F 4 0B 6 35 A307 3D 6 35 7 34 9016 22 7 0D 9 32 E2B9 3B 7 3C 7 0D E3D7 34 9 3A 6 35 A376 36 7 3C 7 34 93A4 0D 4 01 9 32 73EA 31 7 05 A 30 63EA 38 9 32 9 01 7219 3B A 05 E 2B 9197 0F 7 3C E 3D A052 24 7 3C A 37 0312 3A 7 3C 9 3A 031______________________________________ TABLE II______________________________________6 Bit Conversion Chart______________________________________00 111111 20 01111101 111110 21 01111002 111101 22 01110103 111100 23 01110004 111011 24 01101105 111010 25 01101006 111001 26 01100107 111000 27 01100008 110111 28 01011109 110110 29 0101100A 110101 2A 0101010B 110100 2B 0101000C 110011 2C 0100110D 110010 2D 0100100E 110001 2E 0100010F 110000 2F 01000010 101111 30 00111111 101110 31 00111012 101101 32 00110113 101100 33 00110014 101011 34 00101115 101010 35 00101016 101001 36 00100117 101000 37 00100018 100111 38 00011119 100110 39 0001101A 100101 3A 0001011B 100100 3B 0001001C 100011 3C 0000111D 100010 3D 0000101E 100001 3E 0000011F 100000 3F 000000______________________________________ TABLE III______________________________________A Bit Conversion Chart CODE DATA______________________________________ 0 1000 1 0001 2 0010 3 0011 4 0100 5 0101 6 0110 7 0111 8 1000 9 1001 A 1010 B 1011 C 1100 D 1101 E 1110 F 1111______________________________________ TABLE IV______________________________________Period TableROMNOTE Address Period______________________________________0 0000 1111111101 0001 0100011112 0010 0100101113 0011 0101000004 0100 0101010105 0101 0101101006 0110 0101111117 0111 0110010108 1000 0110101119 1001 011100011A 1010 011111111B 1011 100001111C 1100 100011111D 1101 100110000E 1110 101010101F 1111 101111111______________________________________ TABLE V______________________________________Feedback ROM (8 .times. 5) Address Data______________________________________ 000 11111 001 11111 010 01111 011 00111 101 00001 100 00011 110 11111 111 11111______________________________________

Claims

1. An apparatus for controlling power, in synchronism with the sounding of musical tones, from a power source supplied to an output terminal to which a light source is connected, comprising:

(a) at least one means for producing sound;

(b) means for producing an electrical signal;

(c) control means associated with said electrical signal producing means for controlling the signal so as to produce musical tone waveforms of predetermined frequency;

(d) means for transmitting said musical tone waveforms to said means for producing sound;

(e) means for transmitting said musical tone waveforms to light emitting means for producing light having an intensity varying at the frequency of the musical tone waveforms;

(f) power control means for controlling power from said power source supplied to said output terminal;

(g) light detector means for receiving light from said light emitting means, said light detector means varying in resistance at said frequency of said musical tone waveform in response to said light produced by said light emitting means;

(h) means for integrating a current generated in response to said varying resistance to produce a voltage; and

(i) means for activating said power control means when said voltage reaches a predetermined level during each half cycle of the power source whereby power is supplied to said light source so as to vary its intensity in response to said musical tone waveform and in synchronism with musical tones produced by said means for producing sound.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the control means associated with said electrical signal producing means produces tones having predetermined intensity and duration by controlling the time at which said signal changes between two voltage levels, said changes being selected to provide a predetermined energy content of each period of the fundamental frequency of each tone so as to vary the intensity of each tone over its duration.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said control means comprise a single integrated circuit.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising means for varying the amplitude of the electrical signal conducted to said electro-acoustic transducer independently of the amplitude of the electrical signal to which the light emitting means responds.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the light emitting means is a light emitting diode.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the light detector means is a photoresistor.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the power control means is a triac.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the musical tones comprise a series of notes of Christmas songs.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the light source comprises a gas discharge tube.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the light source is comprised of incandescent lamps.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the incandescent lamps comprise Christmas decorations.