Light transmission control for masking appearance of solid state light sources
First Claim
1. A light emitting diode (LED) chip, comprising:
- an LED; and
a phosphor layer over at least a portion of said LED;
a light transmission control coating at least partially covering said LED, said light transmission control coating comprising a material configured to mask the appearance of said at least partially covered LED when said LED is inactive, wherein said material is configured to change to a non-masking state in response to an electrical signal applied to said light transmission control coating, said light transmission control coating planarized to expose at least one electrical connection of said LED, wherein said light transmission control coating is distinct from and at least partially covers said phosphor layer.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A light emitter device, package, or lamp that comprises and light emitter and a light transmission control material to mask the appearance of at least the light emitter. In one embodiment, a light emitting diode (LED) based lamp is disclosed, comprising an LED light source. A phosphor is arranged remote to the light source such that light emitted from the light source passes through this phosphor and is converted by this phosphor. A light transmission control material is applied at least partially outside the LED light source and the phosphor to reversibly mask the appearance of the LED light source and the phosphor. The light transmission control material is less masking when the LED light source is active. A method for masking the appearance of inactive light emitters is also disclosed that comprising providing at least one light emitter. Each of the at least one light emitters is provided with a light transmission control material over the light emitters to reversibly mask the appearance of the light emitters while the light emitters are inactive. The light transmission control material is less masking when the LED light source is active.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A light emitting diode (LED) chip, comprising:
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an LED; and a phosphor layer over at least a portion of said LED; a light transmission control coating at least partially covering said LED, said light transmission control coating comprising a material configured to mask the appearance of said at least partially covered LED when said LED is inactive, wherein said material is configured to change to a non-masking state in response to an electrical signal applied to said light transmission control coating, said light transmission control coating planarized to expose at least one electrical connection of said LED, wherein said light transmission control coating is distinct from and at least partially covers said phosphor layer. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A light emitting diode (LED) package comprising:
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an LED chip; an optical cavity for holding said LED chip; package leads electrically connected to said LED chip; encapsulation comprising a lens portion surrounding said LED chip and electrical connections; and a light transmission control material over said LED chip and said lens portion, wherein said light transmission control material comprises a material configured to mask the appearance of said LED chip when said LED chip is inactive, and said material is configured to change from a masking state to a light transmitting state in response to an electrical signal applied to said material, wherein said ,optical cavity separates said light transmission control material from said LED chip and said encapsulation. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A light emitting diode (LED) based lamp, comprising:
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an LED light source; encapsulation comprising a lens portion over and surrounding said LED light source; a phosphor remote to said LED light source such that light emitted from said LED light source passes through said phosphor and is converted by said phosphor, wherein an optical cavity separates said phosphor from said LED light source and said encapsulation; and a light transmission control material over said encapsulation, said LED light source and said phosphor, said light transmission control material comprising a material configured to mask the appearance of said LED light source and said phosphor when said LED is inactive and to transmit at least some light emitted from said LED and/or said phosphor in response to an electrical signal applied to said light transmission control material. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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34. A light emitting device, comprising:
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a light emitting diode (LED); and a diffusing material at least partially covering said LED and comprising a light scattering ability which varies with temperature, wherein an optical cavity separates said diffusing material from said LED, wherein said diffusing material is configured such that its light scattering ability decreases as the temperature of said diffusing material increases and its light scattering ability increases as the temperature of said diffusing material decreases. - View Dependent Claims (35)
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36. A light emitting device, comprising:
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a light emitting diode (LED); a heat sink structure comprising an optical cavity for holding said LED; a light transmission control material optically coupled to said LED, said light transmission control material configured to be light scattering and thereby mask the appearance of said LED when said LED is inactive and to change from light scattering to less light scattering in response to light from said LED, wherein said optical cavity separates said light transmission control material from said LED; a shaped cover coated with said light transmission control material mounted over said optical cavity; and a phosphor layer separate from said light transmission control material; said device forming a bulb.
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Specification