Patent Application
20130314930
The field of the invention is products that utilize light emitting materials in ornamental designs.
Over the past several years lights have been incorporated into several products that had not historically been lighted. Examples include stationary products, sneakers, buildings, and signs. Examples of such products include Sketchers™ sneakers found at http://www.skechers.com/style/90290/luminators-nova-wave/bklm, Applicant's stationary products incorporating fiber optics as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,349,608, and neon signs such as the ones found at http://www.bestbuyneonsigns.com/.
These and all other extrinsic materials discussed herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
However, the above mentioned products are sometimes problematic because they sometimes light up when no one is around to appreciate the view, or fail to light up when someone is around to appreciate it. For example, the sneakers mentioned above are configured to light up with each step taken by the wearer, which can be somewhat silly during daytime hours where the light is barely visible. As another example, stationary products and neon signs require activation of a manual switch in order to light up, which can reduce the spontaneity that could otherwise be derived from a lighted notebook or other object.
Thus, there is still a need for improved products incorporating ornamental designs.
The inventive subject matter provides apparatus, systems and methods in which a power source or power converter, light source, a light transmitting material, light emitting points, a sensor, a controller (e.g. a printed circuit board, wire wrap, or point-to-point construction) and a non-light emitting portion are configured to display an ornamental design on a base object. A non-light emitting portion could comprise the material(s) that the base object itself is made of, or an engraving, paint, stitching, strip of fabric, wire, or other material that is stitched on, glued on, or otherwise incorporated therein.
As used herein, the term “light emitting point” is used very broadly to include any relatively small (≦12 mm2) visually distinct area that emits light.
It is contemplated that the light emitting points could be of various shapes and sizes. The surface area of the exposed portion of a point is preferably less than 6 mm2, more preferably less than 4 mm2, and most preferably less than 1 mm2. Each point could be illuminated with visible light from any suitable light source. Contemplated light sources include light emitting diodes (LEDs), and less preferably, incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent light sources.
It is contemplated that an object could comprise any suitable number of light emitting points configured to form a design. Some or all of these points could derive their colors directly from the color of the light source, or from some intermediate filter, including for example a tint coating on the actual point. Larger points could derive their colors from two or more different color tint coatings.
As used herein, the term “light transmitting material” is used very broadly, to include any material capable of transmitting light from a light source to a point of emission. Examples include fiber optics.
A base object comprising an ornamental design could be functional and/or decorative. Indeed, many preferred objects include both functional features and at least one ornamental design.
As used herein, and unless the context dictates otherwise, the term “coupled to” is intended to include both direct coupling (in which two elements that are coupled to each other contact each other) and indirect coupling (in which at least one additional element is located between the two elements). Therefore, the terms “coupled to” and “coupled with” are used synonymously.
Various types of sensors are contemplated, including for example, a fiber optic sensor, an ambient motion detector, a temperature detector, a biometric information detector (e.g. a fingerprint detector), a sound detector, a manual switch, or any combination thereof.
A controller that cooperates with a sensor could be configured to cause a light source to emit light either immediately upon the detecting of a temperature, sound, fingerprint or movement, or upon a delay. It is further contemplated that a controller could cooperate with the sensor to cause a light source to emit a light only upon the sensing of two or more of a temperature, sound, fingerprint, or movement. Moreover, the timing or pattern of the emission of light could be different based on what is detected by the sensor. Thus, an ornamental design comprising a regular face could smile immediately when the sensor detects laughter, frown immediately when the temperature gets colder, and wink after a delay when the sensor is touched.
In some preferred embodiments, an object could comprise three, four, five, six, seven, or possibly even a hundred or more at least partially distinct areas of light emitting material. In such embodiments, two or more of these areas could be configured to light up at different times to give a viewer the impression that: (1) at least a portion of an animal is (a) smiling, winking, grinning, smirking, frowning, or making another facial movement, (b) walking, flying, crawling, making a hand gesture, bouncing, spinning, skating, gliding, falling, shaking, rising, dancing, growing, shrinking, or otherwise moving a body; (2) at least a portion of an inanimate object is expanding, shrinking, rotating, zig-zagging, snaking, shaking, or otherwise moving; or (3) at least a portion of a plant, tree, or flower is growing, shrinking, rotating, dying, changing colors, or otherwise moving.
As used herein, the term “distinct area” as used with respect to the lighted portion of an ornamental design, means any area where the light emitting points operate as a group to depict a position of an imaged portion of the design. In some cases a single bundle exclusively terminates in a given area, and that area would then be considered a distinct area. In other cases fibers from two or more bundles could terminate in a given area, and if they are illuminated together, the area in which they terminate would also be considered a distinct area. The term “a partially distinct area” is used herein to accommodate aberrant lighting situations, where less than 5% of the light emitting points are misplaced. For example, an ornamental design of a person might have 50 light emitting points that illuminate together in the head and upper body, another 25 in the legs in one walking position, and another 25 in the legs of another walking position. There would be “three distinct areas” as the term is used herein because the head and torso would light up together, and each of the two legs would light up together. But if one of the 25 fibers were positioned in the wrong leg, the leg regions would be “partially distinct.”
Unless the context dictates the contrary, all ranges set forth herein should be interpreted as being inclusive of their endpoints and open-ended ranges should be interpreted to include only commercially practical values. Similarly, all lists of values should be considered as inclusive of intermediate values unless the context indicates the contrary.
As used herein, the term “base object” is used very broadly to include any tangible object of any shape, size, configuration, or functionality. A base object could comprise any suitable material, including for example, glass, metal, a steel, fabric, paper, plastic, rubber, wood, any synthetic material, any non-synthetic material, any organic material, or any combination thereof. Base objects include, for example: (a) a hat, a glove, a footwear, or any other clothing accessory; (b) a jacket, a sweater, a shirt, a pair of pants, or any other article of clothing; (c) a necklace, a ring, a bracelet, or any other piece of jewelry; (d) a representation of a dog, cat, human, or any other animal; (e) a representation of a plant, a tree, a flower, or any other plant; (f) a toy; (g) a journal, a notebook, a diary, a binder, a pencil pouch, a locker accessory (e.g. mirror, bin, dry erase board, chalk board), a writing instrument, a memo pad holder, or any other item of stationary; (h) a laptop, a mouse pad, or other computer related products; (i) a table, chair, countertop, storage container, or other piece of furniture; or any other tangible object.
Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the inventive subject matter will become more apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, along with the accompanying drawing figures in which like numerals represent like components.
The following discussion provides many example embodiments of the inventive subject matter. Although each embodiment represents a single combination of inventive elements, the inventive subject matter is considered to include all possible combinations of the disclosed elements. Thus if one embodiment comprises elements A, B, and C, and a second embodiment comprises elements B and D, then the inventive subject matter is also considered to include other remaining combinations of A, B, C, or D, even if not explicitly disclosed.
Referring first to
It is further contemplated that detection of a movement, sound, fingerprint or temperature by a sensor on one object could cause at least a portion of an ornamental design to light up on a separate object as shown in
In some preferred embodiments, sensors could be user configured to detect some specific motion, sound, temperature, fingerprint, or other unique feature. For example, a sensor on a wall could allow a user to record a voice code, which must be repeated in the same tone, volume, or rhythm to activate the light source(s) coupled to the ornamental design. It is also contemplated that the length of time the light source(s) will stay active before powering down for a later use could be user configured.
It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those already described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims. Moreover, in interpreting both the specification and the claims, all terms should be interpreted in the broadest possible manner consistent with the context. In particular, the terms “comprises” and “comprising” should be interpreted as referring to elements, components, or steps in a non-exclusive manner, indicating that the referenced elements, components, or steps may be present, or utilized, or combined with other elements, components, or steps that are not expressly referenced. Where the specification claims refers to at least one of something selected from the group consisting of A, B, C . . . and N, the text should be interpreted as requiring only one element from the group, not A plus N, or B plus N, etc.
