EP2426400A2

EP2426400A2 - Elastic lamp with variable colors

Info

Publication number: EP2426400A2
Application number: EP11179854A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Hsiang-Lin Yang; Yu-Chang Chen
Original assignee: Pegatron Corp
Current assignee: Pegatron Corp
Priority date: 2010-09-03
Filing date: 2011-09-02
Publication date: 2012-03-07
Anticipated expiration: 2031-09-02
Also published as: EP2426400B1; TWI407040B; JP2012059697A; JP5572600B2; TW201211443A; EP2426400A3

Abstract

An elastic lamp with variable colors (1) includes an elastic body (11), a switch (12), a processing unit (13), a color detecting unit (14), and a light emitting unit (15). The switch, the color detecting unit and the light emitting unit are coupled to the processing unit. The light emitting unit is disposed in the elastic body and can be controlled to emit lights with variable colors. When the switch is turned on based on the deformation of the elastic body, the processing unit enables the color detecting unit to detect the color of an object and thereby generates a color signal (S_L). Based on the color signal, the processing unit enables the light emitting unit to emit a light corresponding to the color signal.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a lamp and, in particular, to an elastic lamp with variable colors.

Related Art

Recently, the mood lights have become an indispensable element to enrich our regular lives. Some of them can emit lights with various colors to create different atmospheres in the room, so that they can provide not only the illumination function but also other applications. Some of them have special design on their appearances. For example, the functional operation can be integrated in the structure of the mood light, so that the users can operate it more intuitional or more human friendly.
However, the conventional mood light can only provide limited amount of colors, and it is usually passively controlled by the control system. For example, it usually emits light of a specific wavelength (color) based on the signal outputted from the control system. In other words, the convention mood light has the function of emitting lights with various colors, but it can not operate independently. For example, it can not actively determine the light color of the environment or an object and then automatically adjust itself
Generally, it needs several lamps to create desired atmosphere, so the configuration of the control system requires a lot of time and cost. Besides, even if the user prefers a specific color light in the environment, it is restricted by the default selections, which may not provide the desired color light. In addition, there still has no efficient way to rapidly set up all of the lamps. This may make the user to lose his/her patience.
Therefore, it is an important subject of the invention to provide a lamp that can be operated more intuitionally. In more detailed, the lamp can automatically change and emit light with the color the same as that of the environment or an object, while the additional control system is not necessary. Thus, the lamp of the invention can encourage the user to use it, and decrease the cost for creating the desired atmosphere.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This disclosure is to provide a lamp that is operated more intuitionally. That is, the lamp can automatically change and emit light with the color the same as that of the environment or an object, while the additional control system is not necessary, thereby encouraging the user to use it and decreasing the cost for creating the desired atmosphere.
The embodiment of the invention discloses an elastic lamp with variable colors, which includes an elastic body, a switch, a processing unit, a color detecting unit, and a light emitting unit. The switch is turned on as the elastic body is deformed, The switch, the color detecting unit and the light emitting unit are coupled to the processing unit. The light emitting unit is disposed in the elastic body, and it is controlled to emit lights with variable colors. When the switch is turned on based on the deformation of the elastic body, the processing unit enables the color detecting unit to detect a color of an object and thereby generates a color signal. Based on the color signal, the processing unit enables the light emitting unit to emit the light corresponding to the color signal. The material of the elastic body includes a foaming material, and the pores of the foaming material allow the light to pass through. Preferably, the foaming material is a foam spongy. In addition, the light emitting unit includes a light-emitting diode (LED) and preferably, a red-green-blue (RGB) LED.
In one embodiment, the switch is disposed inside the elastic body.
In one embodiment, the switch includes two electrodes. When the elastic body is deformed, the two electrodes are in contact with each other so as to turn on the switch.
In one embodiment, the elastic lamp with variable colors further includes a wireless transmission unit coupled to the processing unit for transmitting the color signal to another lamp so as to control another lamp to emit a light corresponding to the color signal. Preferably, the wireless transmission unit is an infrared-ray (IR) transmission unit.
In one embodiment, the elastic lamp with variable colors further includes a base having an opening. The elastic body is disposed on the base, and the wireless transmission unit is protruded out of the opening.
As mentioned above, the elastic lamp with variable colors of the invention includes an elastic body and a switch, so that the user can intuitionally operate it (e.g. press it) to cause the deformation of the elastic body, thereby turning on the switch to enable the lamp to detect the color of the environment or an object. After the color detecting unit retrieves the color signal, the light emitting unit is controlled to emit the light with a color corresponding to the color signal. This can achieve the desired function of actively determining and adjusting the color of the emitted light, as well as providing a novel operation method. Besides, the elastic lamp with variable colors of the invention may further include a wireless transmission unit for rapidly transmitting the color signal, which carries the information about the color of the environment or object, to other lamps. This configuration can provide a proper transmission medium of the light color, so that the user does not have to repeat the setting procedures for multiple lamps.
Compared with the prior art, the elastic lamp with variable colors of the invention can independently operate to achieve the desired function of actively adjusting the color of the emitted light corresponding to the color of the object. This can save the cost for the control system. In addition, the operation of the invention is to induce the deformation of the elastic lamp with variable colors, which is a very simple and intuitional action. The invention can express the concept of absorbing the color of the environment or object. Besides, the specific program and additional inputted data are not necessary for carrying out this invention, so that the elastic lamp with variable colors of the invention is user friendly.
These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG 1 is a partial exploded view of a elastic lamp with variable colors according to a first embodiment of the invention;
FIG 2 is a block diagram of the elastic lamp with variable colors of FIG. 1;
FIG 3 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of the elastic lamp with variable colors of FIG. 1, which detects the color of an object;
FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are schematic diagrams showing the elastic lamp with variable colors before and after the deformation;
FIG. 5 is a perspective illustration of a elastic lamp with variable colors according to a second embodiment of the invention; and
FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the operation that the elastic lamp with variable colors of FIG. 5 transmits another lamp for controlling it to emit the light of the same color.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a partial exploded view of an elastic lamp with variable colors 1 according to a first embodiment of the invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the elastic lamp with variable colors 1 includes an elastic body 11, a switch 12, a processing unit 13, a color detecting unit 14, and a light emitting unit 15. In this embodiment, the elastic body 11 is composed of two separate parts. Of course, in other aspects, the elastic body 11 may be integrally formed as one piece or composed of three or more parts. The material of the elastic body 11 may include a foaming material, so that the elastic body 11 has a certain deformation ability after being compressed. Preferably, the foaming material is a foam spongy. Besides, the pores of the foaming material may allow light to pass through for the design of the lamp. The appearance of the elastic body 11 is not limited to this embodiment, which has the shape of a bubble light.
With reference to FIG. 1, the processing unit 13, color detecting unit 14, and light emitting unit 15 are all disposed inside the elastic body 11. In this embodiment, they are enclosed by two elastic bodies 11. To be noted, the color detecting unit 14 is preferably partially protruded out of the elastic body 11, so that it can certainly receive the external light for detecting the color of an object. Besides, the switch 12 is preferably disposed inside the elastic body 11, and is more preferably disposed at the position where the user applies a force to induce the deformation of the elastic body 11. For example, the switch 12 may be disposed in the inner space 111. The light emitting unit 15 is preferably disposed at the center of the elastic body 11 (as shown in FIG. 1), so that the light emitting unit 15 can uniformly emit light through the pores of the elastic body 11.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the elastic lamp with variable colors 1 of FIG 1. As shown in FIG 2, the switch 12, color detecting unit 14 and light emitting unit 15 are all coupled to the processing unit 13, so that the signals can be transmitted between these units. In this embodiment, the function of the switch 12 is to transform the external user motion to the internal control signal for initiating the following operation. Preferably, the switch 12 also has the deformation property corresponding to the elastic body 11. Thus, when the elastic body 11 is pressed to generate the deformation, the switch 12 can also be compressed to generate a certain displacement; otherwise, after the elastic body I 11 is recovered from the deformation, the switch 12 can also come back its original position. This operation can achieve the functions of turning on and off. In this embodiment, the switch 12 includes two electrodes 121a and 121b, which are preferably composed of deformable resistance sheets disposed opposite to two sides of the elastic body 11. This configuration allows the electrodes 121a and 121b to locate adjacent to or attach to the elastic body 11, so that they can have desired displacement depending on the deformation of the elastic body 11.
In general, the electrodes 121a and 121b are not contact with each other, so there is no signal generated. When the elastic lamp with variable colors 1 is pressed, the electrodes 121a and 121b are relatively compressed to generate the displacements, thereby causing the contact of the electrodes 121a and 121b. This operation can turn on the switch 12 to generate the signal. However, the above-mentioned deformable resistance sheets are for example only, and of course, the switch 12 can be carried out by any possible configuration such as a spring button.
Referring to FIG. 1, the processing unit 13 of the embodiment can be a microchip or a microprocessor. The color detecting unit 14 is a device for detecting the visible light of 400 to 700 nm. In practice, the color detecting unit 14 can determine the wavelength of the incident light from an object, thereby recognizing the color of the object. In this embodiment, the light emitting unit 15 may include light-emitting diode (LED) or other devices that can emit visible light. The LED is preferably a red-green-blue (RGB) LED, which has individual red, blue and green LED components 151. It is helpful for the controlling and adjusting of the processing unit 13 to generate light with various wavelengths, thereby emitting light with different colors.
The detail operation of the invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the related figures. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of the elastic lamp with variable colors 1 of FIG. 1, which detects the color of an object, and FIG. 4A and FIG 4B are schematic diagrams showing the elastic lamp with variable colors 1 before and after the deformation. Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, if it is desired to make the elastic lamp with variable colors 1 to emit the light with the color the same as an object (e.g. the table lamp TL), the user may take the table lamp TL close to the elastic lamp with variable colors 1. In this case, the portion of the color detecting unit 14 protruding out of the elastic body 11 is disposed towards the light source. Then, an external force F is applied to the elastic lamp with variable colors 1 by, for example, crushing, pressing, and/or pinching, so that the elastic body 11 can have a desired deformation. The applied force F can thus induce the displacements of the electrodes 121a and 121b of the switch 12, and then the electrodes 121a and 121b is contact with each other (see FIGS. 4A and 4B). The operation can turn on the switch 12, so that the switch 12 can output a start signal S_A to the processing unit 13. After receiving the start signal S_A, the processing unit 13 outputs a detecting control signal Sc to the color detecting unit 14 based on the start signal S_A. Accordingly, the color detecting unit 14 is controlled to execute the detection to determine the wavelength of the light entering the color detecting unit 14, which also represents the color of the light emitted from the table lamp TL. After determining the color of the object, the color detecting unit 14 can generate and output a color signal S_L to the processing unit 13, and then the processing unit 13 outputs a lighting control signal S_E for controlling the light emitting unit 15 to emit the light with the color corresponding to the color signal SL. In this embodiment, the wavelength of the light entering the color detecting unit 14 and the wavelength of the light emitted from the elastic lamp with variable colors 1 are substantially the same. Consequently, the user can feel that the elastic lamp with variable colors 1 emits the color light the same as the object.
To be noted, regarding to the physiology structure of human eyes, the lights having the wavelengths within a certain range can be determined as the same color by human eyes; however, their measuring values may have slightly different while detected by specific equipment.
As mentioned above, the elastic lamp with variable colors of the invention can detect the color of the object and actively adjust to emit the light with the same color. In practice, the operation is to simply press the elastic lamp with variable colors. This can provide a convenient application and carry out the concept of absorbing the color of the object to change the color of the emitted light, thereby increasing its attraction to the user.
FIG. 5 is a perspective illustration of an elastic lamp with variable colors 5 according to a second embodiment of the invention. The structure and technology of the elastic lamp with variable colors 5 of the second embodiment, which includes an elastic body 51, a switch 52, a processing unit 53, a color detecting unit 54, and a light emitting unit 55, are the same as those of the elastic lamp with variable colors 1 of the first embodiment. Referring to FIG. 5, the elastic lamp with variable colors 5 further includes a wireless transmission unit 56 and a base 57. The wireless transmission unit 56 is coupled to the processing unit 53 for transmitting the color signal to another lamp so as to control another lamp to emit a color light corresponding to the color signal. In more detailed, after the processing unit 53 receives the color signal from the color detecting unit 54, the elastic lamp with variable colors 5 can transmit this color signal to another lamp through the wireless transmission unit 56. Therefore, other lamps can together utilize the detect result of the color detecting unit 54 (the color signal) to emit lights with the same color. Preferably, the wireless transmission unit 56 is an infrared-ray (IR) transmission unit, and of course, it can be carried out by any other wireless transmission technologies. The elastic bodies 51 are disposed on the base 57 for firmly connecting the elastic bodies 51 and keeping the internal components within the space inside the elastic bodies 51. The bottom of the base 57 has an opening 571 through which the color detecting unit 54 and the wireless transmission unit 56 are protruded.
For example, after the operation with respect to FIG 3 in which the elastic lamp with variable colors can detect the color of the object and emit light with the same color, the user then moves the classic lamp with variable colors 5 towards a stand lamp SL (see FIG. 6), so that the elastic lamp with variable colors 5 can transmit the obtained color signal to the stand lamp SL through the wireless transmission unit 56. After receiving the color signal by the wireless receiving unit RU, the control system of the stand lamp SL can control its light module to emit light with the same color. This can achieve the color absorbing and transmitting functions of the invention.
As mentioned above, the elastic lamp with variable colors of the invention includes an elastic body and a switch, so that the user can intuitionally operate it (e.g. press it) to cause the deformation of the elastic body, thereby turning on the switch to enable the lamp to detect the color of the environment or an object. After the color detecting unit retrieves the color signal, the light emitting unit is controlled to emit the light with a color corresponding to the color signal. This can achieve the desired function of actively determining and adjusting the color of the emitted light, as well as providing a novel operation method. Besides, the elastic lamp with variable colors of the invention may further include a wireless transmission unit for rapidly transmitting the color signal, which carries the information about the color of the environment or object, to other lamps. This configuration can provide a proper transmission medium of the light color, so that the user does not have to repeat the setting procedures for multiple lamps.
Compared with the prior art, the elastic lamp with variable colors of the invention can independently operate to achieve the desired function of actively adjusting the color of the emitted light corresponding to the color of the object. This can save the cost for the control system. In addition, the operation of the invention is to induce the deformation of the elastic lamp with variable colors, which is a very simple and intuitional action. The invention can express the concept of absorbing the color of the environment or object. Besides, the specific program and additional inputted data are not necessary for carrying out this invention, so that the elastic lamp with variable colors of the invention is user friendly.
Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, the disclosure is not for limiting the scope of the invention. Persons having ordinary skill in the art may make various modifications and changes without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiments described above.

Claims

A elastic lamp with variable colors (1), comprising:
an elastic body (11);

a switch (12), which is turned on as the elastic body is deformed;

a processing unit (13) coupled to the switch;

a color detecting unit (14) coupled to the processing unit; and

a light emitting unit (15) disposed in the elastic body and coupled to the processing unit, wherein the light emitting unit is controlled to emit lights with variable colors;

wherein, when the switch is turned on based on the deformation of the elastic body, the processing unit enables the color detecting unit to detect a color of an object and thereby generates a color signal (S_L), and the processing unit enables, based on the color signal, the light emitting unit to emit the light corresponding to the color signal.
The elastic lamp with variable colors of claim 1, wherein the material of the elastic body comprises a foaming material, and pores of the foaming material allow the light to pass through.
The elastic lamp with variable colors of claim 1, wherein the foaming material is a foam spongy.
The elastic lamp with variable colors of claim 1, wherein the switch is disposed inside the elastic body.
The elastic lamp with variable colors of any of the preceding claims, wherein the switch comprises two electrodes (121a, 121b), and when the elastic body is deformed, the two electrodes are in contact with each other so as to turn on the switch.
The elastic lamp with variable colors of any of the preceding claims, wherein the light emitting unit comprises a light-emitting diode (LED).
The elastic lamp with variable colors of claim 6, wherein the LED is a red-green-blue (RGB) LED.
The elastic lamp with variable colors of any of the preceding claims, further comprising:
a wireless transmission unit (56) coupled to the processing unit for transmitting the color signal to another lamp (SL) so as to control it to emit a light corresponding to the color signal.
The elastic lamp with variable colors of claim 8, wherein the wireless transmission unit is an infrared-ray (IR) transmission unit.
The elastic lamp with variable colors of claim 8 or 9, further comprising:
a base (57) having an opening (571), wherein the elastic body is disposed on the base, and the wireless transmission unit is protruded out of the opening.
The elastic lamp with variable colors of any of the preceding claims, further comprising:
a base having an opening, wherein the elastic body is disposed on the base, and the color detecting unit is protruded out of the opening.