Abstract:
A lighting board is made with a receptacle substrate accommodated to accept cassette light units. The convenience of assembly and disassembly of the light unit from the receptacle substrate makes the product easily to be maintained for changing different color light units, changing different displaying patterns, remove or replace a failed light unit in the lighting board.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
   The present application is based on, and claims priority from, Taiwan Application Serial Number 094145968, filed Dec. 23, 2005, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   This invention relates to a lighting board that can be used as a display, automobile lights including but not limited to headlights or taillights, indicator, decorating display, advertising display, and lighting board units in entertainment equipments . . . etc. 
   2. Description of the Related Art 
     FIG. 1  illustrates a traditional lighting board which includes a printed circuit board (PCB)  10  and a plurality of light-emitting diode chips  11  Each of the diodes has bottom electrodes  11   a  and  11   b . Corresponding metal circuits  10   a  and  10   b  are provided on the board  10  to electrically couple with the electrodes  11   a  and  11   b  of the light-emitting diode chip  11  respectively to form a traditional light-emitting diode display board. The shortcomings of the prior art are as follows: (1) inflexibility, i.e., it is impossible or inconvenient to change different light color chips as desired; (2) difficult maintenance and repair, i.e., it is difficult to replace a failed diode chip. 
   There is a need for a cassette light unit with a receptacle substrate on which corresponding receptacle slots are provided so that a user can easily change different color light unit at any moment, and easily maintain the lighting board, and rapidly replace any failed light unit  500 . 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The primary object of the present invention is to prepare a lighting board that is convenient for assembly and disassembly of the light units from the lighting board. A second object of the present invention is to provide a lighting board that is easily to be maintained for changing different color light units, or changing different displaying patterns. A third object of the present invention is to provide a lighting board that allows a user to easily and rapidly replace a failed light unit. 
   A lighting board using a cassette light unit, comprising: a cassette light unit has a top layer electrode plate; a bottom layer electrode plate, and a transparent unit is made at the top of the light unit for modifying the light beam emitted from a light chip. A receptacle substrate has a pair of elastic parallel cantilevers coupling with the top layer electrode plate of the cassette unit being inserted. A second metal uses as a base metal electrically coupling with the bottom layer electrode plate of the cassette light unit. The open area between the parallel cantilevers is for the accommodation of the protruded transparent head of the light unit. A slit is formed between the first metal plate and the second metal plate for the insertion of the light unit into the receptacle substrate. An insulation material is positioned in between the first metal plate and the second metal plate for electrical isolation there between. 
   The cassette light unit in the present invention comprises: a light-emitting diode chip, the light-emitting diode chip has a first electrode and a second electrode; a top layer electrode plate electrically couples with the first electrode of the light-emitting diode chip; a bottom layer electrode plate electrically couples with the second electrode of the light-emitting diode chip. The top layer electrode plate has an open area to accommodate the light-emitting diode chip onto the bottom layer electrode plate. An insulation material is positioned in between the top layer electrode plate and the bottom layer electrode plate for electrical insulation there between. A transparent head is positioned above the light-emitting diode chip and protruded above the top layer electrode plate for modifying the light beam emitted from a light chip. 
   The present invention uses a cassette light unit that is convenient for assembly and disassembly from the lighting board, and it is convenient to change different color light units, and it is easy to rapidly remove or replace a failed light unit. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       FIG. 1  is a traditional lighting board; 
       FIG. 2A  is a top view of a cassette light unit used in the present invention; 
       FIG. 2B  is a side view of  FIG. 2A ; 
       FIG. 3  is a top view of a first embodiment of the present invention with a single light unit; 
       FIG. 4A  is a top view of a lighting board of the present invention before insertion of a light unit; 
       FIG. 4B  is a side view of  FIG. 4A ; 
       FIG. 5  is a top view of a lighting board of a second embodiment of the present invention with multiple light unit slots; 
       FIG. 6  is a top view of a third embodiment of the present invention with a matrix light unit slots. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     FIG. 2A  is a top view of the light unit  500  used in this present invention. It shows a cassette light unit  500  that encapsulates a light-emitting diode chip  20 . The first electrode or surface electrode of the light-emitting diode chip  20  is electrically coupled with the top electrode plate  21  through a bonding wire  24 . The top layer electrode plate  21  has an open area at its center to be inserted and mounting a light-emitting diode chip  20  onto the bottom layer electrode plate  22 . The second electrode or bottom electrode of the light-emitting diode chip  20  is electrically coupled with the bottom layer electrode plate  22 . A transparent head  23  is made to cap over and above the light-emitting diode chip  20  for modifying the emitted light and to ensure the reliability of the product. 
     FIG. 2B  is a side view of the light unit  500  of  FIG. 2A , present invention. It shows the cassette light unit  500  that comprises: a light-emitting diode chip  20  mounted on the bottom layer electrode plate  22  through an open area of the top layer electrode plated  21 . The top layer electrode plate  21  is electrically coupled with the first electrode or surface electrode of the light-emitting diode chip  20  through a metal wire  24 . The bottom layer electrode plate  22  is electrically coupled with the second electrode or bottom face electrode of the light-emitting diode chip  20 . A transparent head  23  is arranged above the light-emitting chip  20  to modify the emitted light. An insulation material  25  is positioned between the top layer electrode plate  21  and the bottom layer electrode plate  22  for electrical insulation there between. 
     FIG. 3  is a top view of a first embodiment of the present invention with a single light unit  500 . A lighting board with a single cassette light unit  500  of the present invention is shown. A receptacle substrate  502  ( FIG. 4 ) of the lighting board has a first metal sheet  31  and a second metal sheet  32 . The first metal sheet  31  has a pair of elastic cantilevers  311  which will hold the periphery of the top layer electrode plate  21  of the cassette light unit  500  steadily, so as to fix the cassette light unit  500  when it is inserted in position. At least one elastic cantilever  311  is electrically coupled with the top layer electrode plate  21  of the cassette light unit  500 . The parallel elastic cantilever  311  has an open area for accommodation the protruded head  23  of the cassette light unit  500 . An insulation material  33  is disposed in between the first metal sheet  31  and the second metal sheet  32 . 
     FIG. 4A  is a top view of a lighting board of the present invention before insertion of a light unit  500 . The top metal sheet  31  has parallel elastic cantilevers  311 . A light unit  500  is inserted in the open area between the parallel cantilevers  311 . The dotted lines denote inserted and positioned status of the cassette light unit  500 . The transparent head  23  is protruded above the first metal sheet  31 . 
     FIG. 4B  is a side view of  FIG. 4A . A cassette light unit  500  is waiting to be inserted into a slot of the receptacle substrate  502 . It shows that the receptacle substrate  502  has a first metal  31  and a second metal  32 , and an insulating material  33  disposed in between the first metal  31  and the second metal  32 . The first metal  31  has a pair of parallel elastic cantilevers  311  that is used for holding the inserted cassette light unit  500  with elasticity. At least one elastic cantilever  311  is electrically coupled with the top layer electrode plate  21  of the cassette light unit  500  and the second metal  32  is electrically coupled with the bottom layer electrode plate  22  of the cassette light unit  500  when the cassette light unit  500  is inserted in the receptacle substrate  502 . Due to the small size of the cassette light unit  500 , the protruded transparent head  23  can be used as a grip for handling for assembly and disassembly of the light unit  500 . 
     FIG. 5  is a top view of a second embodiment of the present invention with multiple light unit slots. A line shaped lighting board receptacle substrate  602  is shown, in which a first metal  31  overlies second metal  32  and insulation layer  33  is inserted between the first metal  31  and the second metal  32 . Parallel cantilevers  311  are made elastically bending toward the second metal  32 . The open area between the parallel cantilevers  311  is for accommodation of the transparent protruded head  23  of the light unit  500 . The slot between the cantilever  311  and the second metal  32  is for the insertion and holding of the light unit  500 (not shown in this figure). 
     FIG. 6  is a top view of a third embodiment of the present invention with matrix light unit slots. A matrix lighting board  702  is illustrated as having 4×3 receptacle slots, each slot for receiving a cassette light unit  500  (not shown in this figure). The principle of this embodiment likes those that have been described above. 
   The transparent head  23  of the present invention can be in the shape of a lamp bulb, so as to modify the emitting light. The transparent head  23  can be made into different shapes, e.g., animals, plants, people, mountain or river sceneries, knifes or forks and buildings etc. The product shall emit the light from the embedded light chip when the light unit is inserted into the receptacle in position, and become a lighting sculpture product. 
   The transparent head  23  can be a thin layer protection glue for protecting the elements underneath to boost the product reliability. 
   While the preferred embodiments have been described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Such modifications are all within the scope of the present invention as defined in the attached claims.