Abstract:
A wireless brake light and signal indicator for transportation has a front controller mounted on a handlebar of a bicycle, a brake signal generator mounted to a brake lever and connected to the front controller, and a tail signal indicator wirelessly controlled by the front controller. The brake signal generator has an insulation body and two strip electrodes sleeved therein. The strip electrodes are mutually isolated. The insulation body has a resilient portion formed at one end thereof. The strip electrodes are constantly open and located oppositely in the resilient portion. The resilient portion aligns with the force application portion of the brake lever. Once the brake lever is gripped, the resilient portion is compressed so that the strip electrodes are shorted and a brake signal is sent to the front controller. The front controller wirelessly activates a brake light to warn vehicles or pedestrians behind.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    The present invention is related to a brake signal indicator for transportation, and more particularly to a wireless brake light and signal indicator for transportation instantaneously detecting a braking or turning action of a cyclist and wirelessly activating a corresponding light of a bicycle. 
         [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art 
         [0004]    Bicycles have become an increasingly popular leisure activity in recent years for being recreational and sporty. Cyclists may ride bicycles on the road full of vehicles and pedestrians instead of just riding in parks or in around a neighborhood. To deal with more dangerous cycling conditions, similar to motorcycles and vehicles, bicycles are preferably equipped with many signal indicators, such as direction indicator, brake indicator, and the like, to protect cyclists at day and night. Therefore, to achieve safer cycling, more and more signal indicator sets dedicated to bicycles are available for cyclists. 
         [0005]    Currently, a light set of a bicycle including a front light and a tail light gradually becomes common accessories for lighting purpose. If a direction light set and a brake light are further equipped, the direction light set must be controlled by cyclists since it is direction-dependent, and the brake light must be immediately activated once a braking action of cyclists is detected. By controlling both lights and the bicycle cyclists become inundated, so such systems are not popular. However, besides basic product requirements, aesthetic appeal of bicycles remains important. Any physical change compromising bicycle appearance is not easily accepted. In that sense, open wiring for signal transmission totally runs counter to such aesthetic consideration. 
         [0006]    As disclosed earlier, the brake light is activated after being triggered by a braking action. Conventional bicycles employ a G-sensor to detect a significant deceleration of bicycles and interpret this as a braking action. The drawback is rather high chance of malfunction regarding responding action and time. If immediacy and sensitivity are both important criteria to complete a braking action, the G-sensor needs to be further refined. 
         [0007]    Furthermore, when parked outdoors, bicycles or accessories thereof are easily stolen when bicycle security is a concern. A signal indicator set should be easily removed and mounted. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    An objective of the present invention is to provide a wireless brake light and signal indicator for transportation to instantaneously detect a braking or turning action of a cyclist and wirelessly activate a corresponding light of a bicycle. 
         [0009]    To achieve the foregoing objective, the wireless brake light and signal indicator for transportation has a front controller, a brake signal generator and a tail signal indicator. 
         [0010]    The front controller has a control unit and a front transceiving module. The control unit has a plurality of input and output terminals. The front transceiving module is connected to the corresponding input and output terminals of the control unit. 
         [0011]    The brake signal generator is adapted to mount to a brake lever of a bicycle, and has an insulation body and two strip electrodes. The insulation body takes a slender form. The two strip electrodes are sleeved by the insulation body and are mutually isolated. One end of each of the two strip electrodes is constantly open and the other ends thereof are electrically connected with the front controller. 
         [0012]    The tail signal indicator has a processor, a rear transceiving module and a plurality of light sets. The processor has a plurality of output terminals. The rear transceiving module is connected with the processor and wirelessly connects with the front transceiving module of the front controller. The plurality of light sets are respectively connected with the output terminals of the processor. 
         [0013]    As the resilient portion of the brake signal generator is sleeved around a brake lever, the brake signal generator directly detects an action when the cyclist activates the brake lever. Once the cyclist grips the brake lever, the resilient portion is compressed and two electrodes inside the resilient portion are electrically connected, and a signal is sent to the control unit of the front controller. The control unit further transmits a control signal to the front transceiving module. The front transceiving module encodes the control signal and then transmits the control signal. After the rear transceiving module receives the control signal and decodes it, the control signal is sent to the processor. The processor then activates corresponding light sets to illuminate. The light sets have a left turn light, a right turn light, a tail light and a brake light and thus provide sufficient cycling status information to vehicles behind so as to ensure cycling safety. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a front controller and a brake signal generator of a wireless brake light and signal indicator for transportation in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a tail signal indicator of the wireless brake light and signal indicator for transportation in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 3A to 3D  are circuit diagrams of the front controller of the wireless brake light and signal indicator for transportation in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 4A to 4D  are circuit diagrams of the tail signal indicator of the wireless brake light and signal indicator for transportation in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the brake signal generator of the wireless brake light and signal indicator for transportation in accordance with the present invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 6  is a cross-sectional view of the brake signal generator in  FIG. 5 ; and 
           [0020]      FIG. 7  is another cross-sectional view of the brake signal generator in  FIG. 5 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0021]    With reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a wireless brake light and signal indicator for transportation in accordance with the present invention has a front controller  10 , a brake signal generator  20  and a tail signal indicator  30 . The front controller  10  is mounted on a handle bar. The brake signal generator  20  is mounted on a brake lever and is electronically connected with the front controller  10 . The tail signal indicator  30  is mounted on a seat post of the bicycle and is wirelessly connected with the brake signal generator  20 . The brake signal generator  20  generates a brake signal in response to a braking motion initiated by a cyclist of the bicycle on gripping the brake lever and transmits the brake signal to the front controller  10 . After receiving the brake signal, the front controller  10  wirelessly transmits a control signal to the tail signal indicator  30  to illuminate the tail signal indicator  30 . 
         [0022]    With further reference to  FIGS. 3A to 3D , detailed circuit diagrams of the front controller  10  are illustrated to indicate that the front controller  10  has a control unit  11 , a front transceiving module  12 , a multi-positioned switch  13 , a mode switch  14  and a power supply module  18 . The control unit  11  may be a micro-controller unit (MCU) and is connected with the brake signal generator  20  and the mode switch  14  to transmit the control signal in response to the brake signal generated by the brake signal generator  20  or a turn signal generated by the multi-positioned switch  13 . The front transceiving module  12  is connected with input terminals and output terminals of the control unit  11  to encode the control signal transmitted from the control unit  11 , decode a received signal from the tail signal indicator  30  and transmit the decoded signal to the control unit  11 . In the present embodiment, the front transceiving module  12  employs the Manchester coding scheme to transmit and receive signals through the 2.4 G frequency band. Such coding scheme and frequency band prevent several adjacent operating front transceiving modules  12  from interfering with each other and prevent malfunctioning thereof. 
         [0023]    The multi-positioned switch  13  is a switch having multiple connection terminals, and each connection terminal is connected with an input terminal of the control unit  11 . In the present embodiment, the multi-positioned switch  13  can be shifted to two directions, specifically to the left and to the right, so as to generate the turn signal and turn on a left turn light or a right turn light. Two connection terminals, LEFT and RIGHT, of the multi-positioned switch  13  are connected with corresponding input terminals of the control unit  11 . 
         [0024]    The mode switch  14  is connected with an input terminal of the control unit  11  to generate a mode switching signal to the control unit  11 . The control unit  11  then generates the control signal based on the brake signal or the turn signal and the mode switching signal. 
         [0025]    The power supply module  18  is used to supply an operating power required by each circuit and each component inside the front controller  10 , and has a voltage regulator and a battery. The voltage regulator regulates a DC power supplied by the battery and supplies the operating power of the front controller  10 . 
         [0026]    Some of the output terminals of the control unit  11  are connected with multiple LEDs, specifically, a left turn indicator  15 L, a right turn indicator  15 R, a front low power indicator  16 F, a rear low power indicator  16 B, and an operating indicator  17 . 
         [0027]    When sending the control signal to activate the tail signal indicator  30 , the control unit  11  simultaneously turns on a corresponding indicator for the cyclist to refer to and verify. The control unit  11  constantly monitors if a power capacity of the battery in the front controller  10  is below a threshold value, and turns on the front low power indicator  16 F to indicate a low power status of the front controller  10 . Meanwhile, if the front transceiving module  11  receives a low power signal from the tail signal indicator  30 , the front transceiving module decodes the low power signal and sends it to the control unit  11 , and then the control unit  11  activates the rear low power indicator  16 B to indicate a lower power status of the tail signal indicator  30 . When the power of the front controller  10  and the power of the tail signal indicator  30  are both low, the front and rear low power indicators  16 F,  16 B are both lit to inform the cyclist to replace or charge the battery. 
         [0028]    With reference to  FIGS. 4A and 4D , detailed circuit diagrams of the tail signal indicator  30  are illustrated to indicate that the tail signal indicator  30  has a processor  31 , a rear transceiving module  32 , multiple light sets  33 A- 33 D, and a power supply and charging module  34 . 
         [0029]    The rear transceiving module  32  is connected with multiple input terminals and output terminals of the processor  31 , is wirelessly connected to the front transceiving module  12  inside the front controller  10 , and employs the Manchester coding scheme to transmit and receive signals through the 2.4 G frequency band. 
         [0030]    The multiple light sets  33 A- 33 D pertain to a tail light, a brake light, a left turn light and a right turn light. In the present embodiment, each light set is composed of multiple parallelly connected LEDs and is connected to an output terminal of the processor  31  through a transistor  35 . When receiving the control signal sent from the front controller  10  through the rear transceiving module  32 , the processor  31  activates the corresponding light set  33 A- 33 D through the transistor  35  to perform functions of the signal indicators designated by the front controller  10 . 
         [0031]    The power supply and charging module  34  has a charger  341 , a voltage regulator  342  and a rechargeable battery. The charger  341  is electrically connected with the rechargeable battery to charge the rechargeable battery when the power capacity of the rechargeable battery is below a threshold value. After being regulated by the voltage regulator  342 , the voltage of the rechargeable battery supplies the operating power required by each circuit and light set inside the tail signal indicator  30 . The power supply and charging module  34  further has an interface connector  343  electrically connected with the charger  341  and may be a USB interface connector so that the interface connector  343  can be connected with a USB port to perform charging. The rechargeable battery is further connected with a power detection terminal of the processor  31  to determine the power capacity of the rechargeable battery. When the power capacity of the rechargeable is low or below the threshold value and the processor  31  detects the condition and the processor  31  sends a low power signal to the rear transceiving module  32 , the rear transceiving module  32  encodes the low power signal and then transmits the encoded low power signal to the front transceiving module  12  of the front controller  10 . After decoding the low power signal, the front transceiving module  12  transmits the low power signal to the control unit  11  and the control unit  11  activates the rear low power indicator  16 B. 
         [0032]    The processor  31  has the following operating modes of driving the tail light:
       1) Fast blinking   2) Slow blinking   3) Constantly lit   4) Not lit       
 
         [0037]    The operating mode of the left turn indicator or the right turn indicator is when the tail light is blinking, the tail light stops blinking and is constantly lit and the left or right turn indicator blinks. 
         [0038]    The operating mode of the brake indicator is when the tail light is blinking or constantly lit, the tail light stops blinking and is constantly lit and the brake light is also constantly lit. 
         [0039]    The operating mode of the brake indicator is performed by using the front controller  10  to receive the brake signal transmitted from the brake signal generator  20  or the multi-positioned switch  13  and then wirelessly transmit the control signal to the tail signal indicator  30 , and using the processor  31  of the tail signal indicator  30  to drive the brake light or the left or right turn light and the tail light according to the operating mode. 
         [0040]    With reference to  FIGS. 5 to 7 , the brake signal generator  20  has a slender insulation body, a hollow resilient portion  201 , two strip electrodes  21 ,  22 , and two contact electrodes  21   a ,  22   a . The insulation body is integrally formed by rubber and encapsulates parts of the two strip electrodes  21 ,  22 . Approximately having the length of the insulation body, the two strip electrodes  21 ,  22  are made of copper and separated by the insulation body. One end  23  of each of the two strip electrodes  21 ,  22  is exposed beyond the insulation body. The exposed ends of the two strip electrodes  21 ,  22  are electronically connected with the front controller  10  by a proper means, such as welding. The resilient portion  201  extends from one end of the insulation body and has a length slightly longer than a width of a palm and an outer diameter slightly larger than that of the insulation body. A compressible space  202  is defined in the resilient portion  201 . The two contact electrodes  21   a ,  22   a  extend from the other ends of the corresponding strip electrodes  21 ,  22 , and are respectively mounted on two opposite positions of an inner wall of the compressible space  202 . 
         [0041]    Furthermore, the resilient portion  201  has a recessed arced portion  203  formed on a front portion of the resilient portion  201  and a sleeve  204  integrally formed with a rear portion of the resilient portion  201 . The sleeve  204  is approximately identical to the resilient portion  201  in length. With further reference to  FIG. 1 , the brake signal generator  20  is mounted on a brake lever by inserting the brake lever into one end of the sleeve  204  of the insulation body and aligning the sleeve  204  with a force application portion of the brake lever. When cyclist abuts against the arced portion  203  to grip the brake lever with one finger (for example, index finger), the resilient portion  201  is simultaneously compressed so that the contact electrodes  21   a ,  22   a  are electrically connected as shown in  FIG. 7 . The brake signal is then sent to the control unit  11  of the front controller  10 , and the control unit  11  transmits a control signal to activate the brake light of the tail signal indicator  30  through the front wireless transceiving module  12 . 
         [0042]    Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.