Systems and methods for color changing device and enclosure

• US 20020047569A1
• Filed: 07/27/2001
• Published: 04/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Signify North America Corporation (Signify N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Color Kinetics Incorporated (Signify N.V.)
• Inventors: Lys, Ihor A., Mueller, George G., Dowling, Kevin J.
• Granted Patent: US 6,888,322 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 315/169.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1605 Multimedia displays, e.g. with integrated or attached speakers, cameras, microphones
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/181 Enclosures for portable computers G06F1/1613
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/22 Illumination; Arrangements for improving the visibility of characters on dials
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 45/20 Controlling the colour of the light
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/10 Controlling the light source
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/155 Coordinated control of two or more light sources
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 362/80 Light emitting diode

Abstract

A color-changing device which includes an enclosure at least a portion of which is material which is desired to change color. There is also included an illumination device, such as an LED or collection of LEDs which can illuminate the material. There can also be included a controller which can take some form of input, such as from a network, or a sensor, and can convert that input into a signal to control the illumination. There is also included a method for performing such color change.

Claims

1. A color-changing device, comprising:

an enclosure including at least a piece of material which is to be illuminated; and

an illumination device, disposed within the enclosure, to illuminate said material, the illumination device capable of generating at least two colors.

2. The color-changing device of claim 1, wherein said device is a computer.

3. The color-changing device of claim 1, wherein said device includes one or more of the following:

a disk drive, a mouse, a pointing device, a printer, a scanner, a keyboard, a cable, a modem, a media player, a DVD player, a DVD recorder, a CD player, a CD recorder, a tape player, a tape recorder, a stereo receiver, a self contained stereo system, a television, a television remote control, a television peripheral, a cable TV decoder box, a projection system, a speaker, a landline telephone, a wireless telephone, a radio frequency (RF) transmission device, an RF communication device, a personal digital assistants (PDA), a toy, a watch, an appliance, a refrigerator, a stove, an oven, a dishwasher, a trash compactor, and a hand-held device.

4. The color-changing device of claim 1, wherein said piece of material is at least one of transparent, semi-transparent, translucent, and semi-translucent.

5. The color-changing device of claim 1, wherein said piece of material contains imperfections.

6. The color-changing device of claim 1, wherein said illumination device includes an LED.

7. The color-changing device of claim 1, further comprising a controller for controlling the lighting device.

8. The color-changing device of claim 7, wherein said controller receives input from a network.

9. The color-changing device of claim 7, wherein said controller receives input from a user of the color-changing-device.

10. A method for changing the color of a device, the method comprising acts of:

providing a device having an illumination device disposed therein, the illumination device capable of generating at least two colors;

illuminating at least a portion of said device, via the illumination device; and

changing the color of said illumination.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, said act of illuminating is performed by at least one LED.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said act of illuminating the portion of said device includes illuminating an enclosure of the device.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the act of illuminating is performed by at least two LEDs;

and the act of changing the color of the illumination is accomplished by controlling at least one of the at least two LEDs.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the act of generating the input signal is accomplished through a user interface.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the user interface is at least one of a switch, dial, button, key, and key board.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the user interface is a graphical user interface.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the act of generating the input signal is accomplished through at least one of a sensor and transducer.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the act of generating the input signal is accomplished by receiving a signal.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the signal is at least one of a network signal, database signal, and information signal.

14. A method for changing the color of a device, the device having an enclosure, the method comprising acts of:

generating an input signal;

generating a control signal in response to the input signal;

communicating the control signal to a lighting system; and

arranging the lighting system to illuminate at least a portion of the device enclosure.