Illumination – With wearing apparel or body support
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-04
2001-04-17
O'Shea, Sandra (Department: 2875)
Illumination
With wearing apparel or body support
C362S555000, C362S570000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06217188
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an illuminated display formed from optical fibers and, more particularly, to an illuminated display which changes color while utilizing the same illumination source and the same optical fibers.
BACKGROUND
It is known to secure optical fibers to fabrics (and other panels) in such a way that the distal ends of the optical fibers are arranged in an illuminated display or pattern. Examples of such illuminated displays and the systems associated with their illumination are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,144 [Wainwright] and PCT Pub. No. WO96/37871, both having inventorship in common with the present application.
One of the motivations to create a fiber-optic illuminated display and secure it to a suitable flexible or semi-rigid material is to catch people's attention. One technique for enhancing the attention-getting characteristics of such displays is to cause different subsets of the optical fibers to be illuminated at different times, as taught by the above-referenced patent documents. Such sequencing can cause the image to appear to “bloom,” “blink,” or be part of an animated sequence. It is nonetheless desirable to further enhance the attention-getting characteristics of such fiber-optic illuminated displays.
Unfortunately, it is often difficult to enhance the appeal of the fiber-optics display without correspondingly increasing the complexity of the display and thereby increasing its manufacturing costs and its cost for users to acquire. More interesting, eye-catching optical fiber displays may also be unwieldy to carry or, in the case of a clothing item, unwieldy to put on, take off, or wear. For example, current techniques of changing the displayed color at a given point in a fiber-optic display generally require using multiple optical fiber bundles having separate strands terminating at each point at which a changed color is desired coupled with an illumination source of the desired color(s). Thus, to have multiple points on a display change color, each point must have as many optical fibers and color sources as the number of desired colors to be associated therewith; the cumulative effect of which is to significantly increase the required number of optical fibers and colored illumination sources.
Furthermore, the more complex the design, the more likely the display may become damaged due to wear and tear on the flexible material carrying such fiber-optic illuminated display and potential failure of the colored illumination devices. There is, thus, a need to enhance the visual interest or attention-getting characteristics of illuminated displays created from optical fibers. There is also a corresponding need for enhancements to such displays to be accomplished cost effectively. There is a still further need for attention-getting displays created from optical fibers to reduce the number of optical fibers and the complexity of the associated interconnections.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an illuminated image composed of a plurality of optical fibers. The optical fibers have distal end portions secured to a carrier, and the carrier, in turn, has a surface on which the fiber-optic image is composed and visible. The optical fibers have proximal ends operatively connected to a light source, that is, light from such light source is transmitted from the proximal ends of the optical fibers to the distal end portions so that they are visible on the carrier surface. The fiber-optic image is illuminated by generating digital signals in a desired sequence and transmitting them to the light source. The light source, in turn, has structures therein and structures associated therewith so that the light source emits a selected pattern of different colors over time corresponding to and in response to the digital signals. As a result, the distal end portions of the optical fibers create points of changing color on the visible surface of the carrier, each of the points corresponding to only a single one of the optical fibers through which the light has been transmitted. The result is a fiber-optic illuminated display with an image which appears to change color over time, and yet which has been formed with a reduced number of optical fiber connections and a reduced number of illumination sources.
In one preferred embodiment, the display is carried on flexible planer material, such as the fabric of a clothing item. Power is provided for illuminating the display from a suitable, portable power source, and a programmable microprocessor generates the digital signals to be transmitted to the light source. The light source preferably comprises at least one LED, and the LED emits light at three, respective wavelengths. The brightness of each of the three light emissions is varied by changing the rate at which the digital signals are generated and transmitted to the LED.
The microprocessor used in conjunction with the fiber-optic display varies the pulse rate to each of three substrates defined in the LED, corresponding in one preferred embodiment to red, green, and blue wavelengths, respectively. The varying of the pulse rate to the red, green, and blue substrates varies their respective brightnesses, and varies the resultant color emitted by the LED. The predetermined pattern of varying pulse rates can be programmed to produce any number of desired shifts over time in the resultant color.
The microprocessor addresses a plurality of the above-described LEDs either by using appropriate sequence registers or by other sequential polling techniques. As such, subsets of the LEDs which form the fiber-optic display can be changed through different color sequences at different times in accordance with sequencing between respective LEDs and variation of digital pulses to each of the LEDs.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4234907 (1980-11-01), Daniel
patent: 4875144 (1989-10-01), Wainwright
patent: 5424922 (1995-06-01), Wise
patent: 5921674 (1999-07-01), Koczi
patent: 6005692 (1999-12-01), Stahl
Bochenski, Jr. Stanley A.
Karr David W.
Wainwright Harry Lee
ANI-Motion, Inc.
O'Shea Sandra
Piltch Sanford J.
Sawhney Hargobind S.
LandOfFree
Color changeable fiber-optic illuminated display does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Color changeable fiber-optic illuminated display, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Color changeable fiber-optic illuminated display will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2483753