Abstract:
The present invention relates to a switch plate assembly having a night light-type illumination device or a switch plate with a light source formed of a plurality of colored (red, blue, and green) LEDs. In one embodiment, the LEDs are covered by a pair of translucent, arcuate diffusers in series. The diffusers aid in uniformly or evenly dispersing the generated colored light from the cover plate or night light housing. The desired colors are generated in varying intensity for each LED. Each embodiment includes color generation control for performing a response based on a sensed condition such as a fire alarm, a doorbell, or burglar alarm. The light system can also be wired to an alarm signal generation system.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to switch plate lens assemblies. More specifically, the present invention relates to a switch plate assemble with a diffusion lens, a switch plate assembly with three individual lens mounted therein and a switch plate assembly with a frosted plexiglass lens. Each of the switch plate assemblies can be utilized as a night light-type illumination device or a switch plate with a light source formed of a plurality of colored (red, blue, and green) LED&#39;s.  
         [0003]     2. The Prior Art  
         [0004]     U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,442 to Dickie et al. is directed to a night light integral with a low profile cover plate assembly for electrical wall outlets utilizes two parts, a wall plate and a cover plate. The wall plate has a flat rear panel which is attached to the wall outlet, lies against the wall and includes peripheral lips holding a plurality of detent ridges. The cover plate includes the night light assembly which, in turn, includes power blades engaging the slots of the wall outlet to energize a night light bulb. Light escapes from underneath the cover plate through clear plastic lenses filling openings in the cover plate. Snap action projections on the inner surfaces of the cover plate periphery engage the retention ridges on the outer surfaces of the wall plate to ensure that the cover plate night light is attached to the wall plate by forces other than simply the friction of the power blades in the outlet slots. The cover plate may simultaneously be used to cover a low profile plug in the other outlet slots of a standard duplex wall outlet.  
         [0005]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,431,719 to Lau et al. is directed to a self-contained night light that is disposed in a housing containing spaced-apart male AC prongs that mate with an AC socket. The housing contains an array of differently colored, preferably light emitting diodes. Light sources that can dynamically output different patterns of differently colored light in response to drive signals. A microcontroller executes a sequence of instructions causing the controller to output different sequences of signals that are coupled to a driver unit that drives the light sources. The result is that the array dynamically produces different patterns of differently colored light. A user operable control allows a viewer to “freeze” any desired pattern of light, such that until reset, the night light will continue to output a static pattern of colors. The night light may include a manual or light-sensing ON/OFF switch.  
         [0006]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,604,839 to Coleman et al. is directed to a light emitting device which includes a diffractive optical element, a first light emitting diode emitting first light having a first range of wavelengths, and a second light emitting diode emitting second light having a second range of wavelengths. The first light is directed onto the diffractive optical element at a first range of angles of incidence, and the second light is directed onto the diffractive optical element at a second range of angles of incidence. The diffractive optical element diffracts at least a portion of the first light and at least a portion of the second light into the same range of angles of diffraction to obtain light having a desired range of wavelengths.  
         [0007]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,536,914 to Hoelen et al. is directed to an illumination system for illuminating a display device comprising a light-emitting panel having a light-emission window and at least one edge surface for coupling light into the light-emitting panel. The illumination system further comprises a light mixing chamber provided with a light source. The light mixing chamber is associated with the edge surface. According to the invention, the light source comprises a plurality of clusters of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) having different light-emission wavelengths, the clusters being arranged at a pitch P with respect to each other. The ratio of the height H of the light mixing chamber to the pitch P of the clusters meets the relation 0.1.ltoreq.H/P.ltoreq.10, preferably 0.2.ltoreq.H/P.ltoreq.2. Preferably, each cluster comprises one blue, one green and one red LED, or one blue, two green and one red LEDs. Preferably, each LED has a luminous flux of at least 5 lumen.  
         [0008]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,346 to Pashley et al. is directed to a faceted surface that has first and second facets which deflect respective first and second light beams to produce first sub-beams which alternate with second sub-beams. The faceted surface is a reflector having first facets at 120 degrees to second facets for mixing light beams which are incident at 120 degrees to each other. 100% of reflected sub-beams from each source alternate with 100% of sub-beams from the other source.  
         [0009]     U.S. Pat. No. 6,241,363 to Lee is directed to a colored light mixing device which has one light source set and a color mixing plate. The light source set has three light generating units which generate light of different colors. The color mixing plate is made of transparent material, having a lower surface that faces the one light source set with a lower wavelike pattern and an upper surface opposite thereto with an upper wavelike pattern that is oriented differently from the lower wavelike pattern. Being hit by light from at least one light source set, the lower wavelike pattern acts as a plurality of linear light sources for light of mixed colors inside the color mixing plate being illuminated by light from the lower wavelike pattern, the upper wavelike pattern emits light of uniform intensity and mixed hue.  
         [0010]     U.S. Pat. No. 5,453,918 to Hernandex et al. discloses a simple color illumination-type place for stages, dance floors, and ceilings. Apparatus for color illumination of stages, dance floors, skating rinks and the like. Prismatic plates made of a material transparent to light each have parallel triangular prisms. The prisms have an apex of 60 degrees and light sources emitting different primary color light incident on the opposite sides of the individual prisms result in combined beams of primary colors to be emitted by the individual prisms having a width corresponding to a width of a corresponding prism emitting the combined beam. The prismatic plates can be arranged so that the combined beams of the prisms of one prismatic plate are incident on a second prismatic plate having an independent light source emitting a third primary color incident thereon so that each combined beam emitted by the second prismatic plate prisms has three primary colors.  
         [0011]     U.S. Pat. No. 4,990,821 to Blaisdell et al. is directed to a plug-in lamp assembly for use as a picture element in large-screen information display systems. The lamp assembly includes red, green and blue discharge lamps for selectively generating different colors. Each discharge lamp has electrical leads extending from a first end and a light output region at a second end. The lamp assembly further includes a base having spaced-apart, plug-in electrical connectors, a cap covering the second ends of the lamps and a sleeve around the discharge lamps and interconnecting the cap and the base. The base provides mechanical support for the discharge lamps and permits easy replacement of the lamp assembly. The sleeve blocks light emitted from the sides of the discharge lamps. The cap includes a diffuser and a filter for altering the output spectrum of one or more of the discharge lamps. The diffuser can be mounted in a spaced relationship to the second ends of the discharge lamps at a distance therefrom selected such that the light from each different color lamp substantially fills the area of the diffuser. As a result, the light outputs from the discharge lamps are merged at the diffuser.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0012]     A need exists for a simple and reliable switch plate assembly with either at least three diode lenses, a double diffused lens or a plexiglass lens forming a night light-type illumination device or a switch plate with a light source formed of a plurality of colored (red, blue, and green) LEDs. In one embodiment, the LEDs are covered by a pair of translucent, arcuate diffusers in series. The diffusers aid in uniformly or evenly dispersing the generated colored light from the cover plate or night light housing. In each preferred embodiment, the desired colors are generated in varying intensity for each LED. Additionally, each preferred embodiment includes a color generation control to perform in response to a sensed condition. The sensed condition can be a fire alarm, a doorbell, or burglar alarm. Additionally, the light system can be wired to an alarm signal generation system.  
         [0013]     Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus including a switch plate assembly with a switch plate cover, at least one diffusion lens mounted in the switch plate assembly, the diffusion lens is made of white polypropylene with a corrugated wall, and two standard screw type assemblies or mounting members for securely mounting the switch plate cover to the switch plate assembly.  
         [0014]     Another object of the invention is to provide a pair of plate cover screws, a UL approved electrical plastic box having switch plate cover holes for receiving the pair of plate screws to securely mount the switch plate cover to the electrical box, a base including mounting holes for receiving mounting screws, and the plastic electrical box having, adjacent to the switch plate cover holes, a pair of bracket receiving holes.  
         [0015]     A further object of the invention is to provide a rectangularly shaped metal mounting bracket including mounting tabs for mounting the bracket to the plastic electrical box, the mounting tabs having mounting tab holes which are aligned with the bracket receiving holes of the plastic electrical box, the bracket having a bracket base and a pair of legs, each of the legs extends nearly perpendicular from the bracket base to the respective mounting tab, and each of the mounting tabs extend perpendicularly outward from the respective legs with the mounting tabs being parallel to the bracket base.  
         [0016]     A still further object of the invention is to provide a pair of bracket mounting screws for entering each of the mounting tab holes and for entering the aligned bracket receiving holes to securely fasten the bracket mounting tabs and the bracket to the plastic electrical box.  
         [0017]     An object of the invention is to provide a circuit board mounting to the bracket base, the circuit board including a control circuit with switches and a series of terminals connected to a light source.  
         [0018]     Another object of the invention is to provide a plurality of colored LEDs including a color generation controller responding to a sensed condition, and the sensed condition being defined as a fire alarm, a doorbell, or burglar alarm, with the controller being wired to an alarm signal generation system.  
         [0019]     It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus comprising a switch plate assembly including a switch plate cover, at least three individual lenses mounted in the switch plate cover, the at least three individual lenses being a blue lens, a green lens and a red lens, and two mounting members being standard screw type assemblies for securely mounting the switch plate cover to the switch plate assembly.  
         [0020]     It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus comprising a switch plate assembly including a switch plate cover with a rectangular opening, a plexiglass lens mounted in the rectangular opening of the switch plate cover, and two mounting members being standard screw type assemblies for securely mounting the switch plate cover to the switch plate assembly.  
         [0021]     Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed n. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0022]     Preferred structural embodiments and preferred subcomponents of this invention are disclosed in the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0023]      FIG. 1  illustrates a switch plate assembly utilizing an embodiment with a double diffused lens in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0024]      FIG. 2  illustrates a switch plate assembly utilizing an embodiment with three individual lenses in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0025]      FIG. 3  illustrates a switch plate assembly utilizing an embodiment with plexiglass lens in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0026]      FIG. 4  illustrates an exploded view of the switch plate assembly of  FIG. 3  in accordance with present invention;  
         [0027]      FIG. 5  illustrates a circuit in accordance with the present invention; and  
         [0028]      FIG. 6A  illustrates an end view of a switch plate cover of the switch plate assembly utilizing an embodiment with a double diffused lens in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0029]      FIG. 6B  illustrates a side view of the switch plate cover of the switch plate utilizing the embodiment with the double diffused lens in accordance with the present invention; and  
         [0030]      FIG. 6C  illustrates an end view of a switch plate cover of the switch plate assembly utilizing the embodiment with a double diffused lens in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0031]     Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.  
         [0032]      FIGS. 1, 2  and  3  illustrate top views of preferred embodiments of the switch plate assembly of the present invention. Each of the  FIGS. 1, 2  and  3  will be explained separately, because of the different lens mountings. Where the assemblies have the same components, similar references will indicate such common components.  
         [0033]     With reference now to  FIG. 1 , reference numeral  10  generally indicates the switch plate assembly shown in this figure. The switch plate assembly  10  comprises a switch plate cover  12  and a diffusion lens  14  which is mounted in the switch plate assemble  10 . The diffusion lens  14  is made of white polypropylene with a wall thickness of 0.135 corrugated. The switch plate cover  12  includes two mounting members  16 ,  18  which are normally standard screw type assemblies.  
         [0034]      FIG. 2  shows another embodiment of the switch plate assembly. In this figure, reference numeral  20  generally indicates the switch plate assembly shown. The switch plate assembly  20  comprises a switch plate cover  22  and three individual lenses; a red lens  24 A, a green lens  24 B and a red lens  24 C, which are mounted in the switch plate assembly  20 . This arrangement when used with the three basic color LEDs (red, blue, green) permits an easily mixing of colors which will be radiated from these light sources. The switch plate cover  22  includes two mounting members  26 ,  28  which are normally standard screw type assemblies similar to the two mounting members  16  and  18  as shown in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0035]     With reference now to  FIG. 3 , reference numeral  30  generally indicates the switch plate assembly shown in this figure. The switch plate assembly  30  comprises a switch plate cover  32  with a rectangular opening  34  for receiving a plexiglass lens  35  mounted in the switch plate assembly  30 . The plexiglass lens  34 , in this embodiment, is frosted. It is easily conceivable that this plexiglass lens could be clear as well as some other color. The switch plate cover  22  includes two mounting members  26 ,  28  which are normally standard screw type assemblies similar to the two mounting members  16  and  18  as shown in  FIG. 1 .  
         [0036]      FIG. 4  illustrates an exploded view of inner components of the switch plate assemblies  10 ,  20  and  30 . The switch plate assemblies  10 ,  20  and  30  are similar with respect to the inner components.  
         [0037]     With reference to  FIG. 4 , generally shown is the switch plate assembly  20  and the rectangular opening  34 . The plexiglass lens  35  is not shown. Any one of the three switch plate assemblies  10 ,  20  or  30  can be used with a UL approved electrical box, such as the electrical box  40  which is a plastic box. The switch plate cover  32  is plastic in the preferred embodiment and rectangular. The switch plate cover  32  fits all standard UL approved electrical boxes, such as the plastic box  40  shown in  FIG. 4 . As shown in the figure, screw assemblies  26 ,  28  receive plate cover screws  42  and  44 . The electrical box has switch plate cover holes  46 ,  48  for receiving screws  42 ,  44  and securely mounting the switch plate cover  32  to the electrical box  40 . The inner components of each of the switch plate assemblies  10 ,  20  and  30  will be described in  FIG. 4 .  
         [0038]     Base  50  of the plastic electrical box  40  includes a mounting hole  52  for receiving a mounting screw  54 . On either side of the plastic electrical box  40 , next to the switch plate cover holes  46 ,  48  are bracket receiving holes  56 ,  58  for a metal mounting bracket, which is generally indicated by reference numeral  60 . The metal mounting bracket  60  is rectangularly shaped with mounting tabs  62 ,  64  for mounting the bracket  60  on the plastic electrical box  40 . The mounting tabs  62 ,  64  each have mounting tab holes  66 ,  68  which align with the bracket receiving holes  56 ,  58  of the plastic electrical box  40 . The bracket  60  has a bracket base  70  and legs  72 ,  74 . The legs  72 ,  74  extend roughly perpendicularly from the bracket base  70  to the mounting tabs  62 ,  64  and the mounting tabs  62 ,  64  extend perpendicularly outwardly from the legs  72 ,  74 , such that the mounting tabs  62 ,  64  are parallel to the bracket base  70 . With this arrangement, the bracket base  70  sits down in the plastic base  40 , just above mounting hole  52  of the base  50 . A pair of bracket mounting screws  76 ,  78  enter the mounting tab holes  66 ,  68  and then enter the aligned the bracket receiving holes  56 ,  58  to securely fasten the bracket mounting tabs  62 ,  64  and the bracket  60  to the plastic electrical box  40 . A circuit board  80  is mounted to the bracket base  70 . The circuit board  80  is generally shown and includes a series of terminals  82  as well as three LEDs, a blue LED  84 A, a white LED  84 B and a red LED  84 C.  
         [0039]      FIG. 5  illustrates the circuit board  80  which has been previously described as being mounted to the bracket base  70 . Switch S 1  can be set so that the LEDs  84 A,  84 B and  84 C will either glow, strobe or flash. Switch S 2  is switchable for color selection of the LEDs  84 A,  84 B,  84 C. The circuit board  80  also includes a series of CD4093 gates U 1 A, U 1 B, U 1 C and U 1 D. The frequency of U 1 A is equal to 110 Hz. The board  80  also includes resistors and capacitors. The capacitors include C 1  which is a 0.1 μf, C 2  which is a 1.0 μf, and C 3  which is a 0.1 μf. The resistors are R 1  which is 100 k ohm, R 2  which is a 10 k ohm, and R 3  which is a 1.0 m ohm. There is also a RP 1  50 k ohm which is adjustable from 2 k ohm to 50 k ohm. The current consumption is adjustable as well from 2 m amps to 40 m amps. There are two transistors Q 1  and Q 2 , and the power supply is 12 volts.  
         [0040]     In  FIGS. 6A, 6B  and  6 C, the large diffusion lens  14  accomplishes light diffusion from an LED source  84 A,  84 B and  84 C whereas the small second lens  15  further diffuses the diffused LED light source  84 A,  84 B and  84 C into a uniformly distributed soft light radiator. The result of this technique is a sentinel type night light that can be any color of the spectrum. The double diffused lenses  14 ,  15  may readily be flashed, strobed or steady glow. These assemblies, as depicted in  FIG. 1, 2  or  3 , show the versatility of application of this luminary assembly.  
         [0041]     For example, any of the  FIG. 1, 2 , or  3  may easily be made to change color, such as when a fire alarm is activated, a burglar alarm is activated or a physically impaired hearing person can be alerted by a color change of the luminary. These arrangements as described can easily be retrofitted to any electrical outlet box or may be used in new construction. A simple example of application in new construction would be the night light (white light LED  84 B) is permanently wired into the electrical system such that when night falls the light automatically comes on. The red LED  84 C is wired to a low voltage door bell push button that caused the luminary to flash red when someone pushes the doorbell. The blue or green LED  84 A (or other color) may be easily conveyed via the color changing properties of this night light color changing luminary.  
         [0042]     Examples of various modes of operation when the various colors are either strobed or flashed may easily be indicative of other type alarms. The major utilitarian value of this device is that it easily blends in to room decor because it simply looks like another receptacle type device. The switch plate lens assemblies  10 ,  20  and  30  meet most electrical codes standards because these units are powered by low voltage (12 volts DC). Additionally, electronic assembly is compatible with all standard UL approved electrical work boxes. There is a choice of all colors of the spectrum. These colors may be flashed or strobed. The primary colors are easily mixed through the double diffusion polypropylene lens, resulting in all colors of the visible spectrum.  
         [0043]     Some typical applications are as a night light using diffused white light with LED  84 B, a telephone sentinel using the red LED  84 C flashing light when telephone rings, as a door bell annunciate using a steady red LED  84 C glow light when door bell is pushed, as a smoke alarm using a blue LED  84 A as a flashing light, or burglar alarm using the blue LED  84 A as a flow sentinel.  
         [0044]     The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and, accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.