Light emitting device for indicating statuses of a vehicle to other vehicles

• US 20040227627A1
• Filed: 05/13/2003
• Published: 11/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Shih-Hsiung Li
• Original Assignee: Shih-Hsiung Li
• Inventors: Li, Shih-Hsiung
• Application Number:
  US10/436,135
• Publication Number:
  US 20040227627A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/464
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/302 mounted in the vicinity, e.g. in the middle, of a rear window
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/44 for indicating braking action or preparation for braking, e.g. by detection of the foot approaching the brake pedal
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/52 for indicating emergencies

Abstract

A light emitting device for indicating statuses of a vehicle to other vehicles, has an alarming light assembly that is controlled by a control unit, wherein the control unit detects the vehicle speed and where the vehicle has a brake action. Based on the detected vehicle speed, the control unit determines the color that the alarming light assembly emits to warn other drivers so that any possible collision is avoided. Further, if the vehicle breaks down, the alarming light assembly is formed as triangular frame and emits red light as a warning sign.

Claims

1. A light emitting device for indicating statuses of a vehicle to other vehicles, the light emitting device comprising:

a control unit to detect a speed of the vehicle and whether the vehicle has a brake action, and further to output driving signals based on the detected data;

an alarming light assembly in response to the driving signals of the control unit;

wherein the alarming light assembly is composed of three illuminating units to emit different color lights in response to the speed of the vehicle.

2. The light emitting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein one of the three illuminating units has two ends that respectively pivot with the other two illuminating units, wherein the other two illuminating units are respectively controlled by one of two stepping motors that are each driven by the control unit.

3. The light emitting device as claimed in claim 2, the control unit comprising:

a microprocessor with output terminals connected to the three illuminating units;

a speed detector connected to the microprocessor and providing a detected vehicle speed signal to the microprocessor;

a brake detector connected to the microprocessor and providing a detected brake signal to the microprocessor; and

two motor driving circuits controlled by the microprocessor, and respectively connected to and driving the two stepping motors.

4. The light emitting device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the speed detector is a Hall sensor that detects a rotation speed of the wheels of the vehicle, and then provides the rotation speed and time parameters to the microprocessor for vehicle speed calculation.

5. The light emitting device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the brake detector is composed of two resistors connected at node in series, wherein the node is further connected to an input terminal of the microprocessor, and one of the two resistors is adapted to connect to a stop light circuit to detect voltage level variation.

6. The light emitting device as claimed in claim 3, wherein each motor driving circuit is composed of multiple transistors and diodes.

7. The light emitting device as claimed in claim 6, wherein each transistor of the motor driving circuit has a base terminal connected to the microprocessor through a photo coupler.

8. The light emitting device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the control unit further has a failure switch connected to the microprocessor, when the failure switch is activated, the three illuminating units are driven by the two stepping motors to form a triangular frame as a warning sign.

9. The light emitting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein each of the three illuminating units is made up of multiple light emitting diodes (LEDs) with different colors.

10. The light emitting device as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of the three illuminating units is made up of multiple light emitting diodes (LEDs) with different colors.