Abstract:
A user-actuated lighting effect device includes a housing, a light-generating lamp coupled to the housing, a power source, and a control circuit. The control circuit includes a user-actuated switch operably coupling the lamp and the power source. The lamp creates a lighting effect on or near the user when the first switch is on. The housing can be mounted in a use orientation on a pedal board. The lamp can create an upwardly directed lighting effect. An operational mode can be selected using a lighting mode switch.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO OTHER APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/030,927 filed on 18 Sep. 2013, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/702,628 filed on 18 Sep. 2012; these applications are incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to the musical instrument accessory market. It finds particular utility when used with a pedal board. 
     Musical effect pedals, also referred to as effect pedals, or stompboxes, or audio effect pedals, are commonly used with electric guitars and other instruments to allow the performer to affect the sound of the music being played during the performance. One or more audio effect pedals are typically mounted to a pedal board. Pedal boards typically have an upwardly angled surface on which several audio effect pedals can be mounted, typically with the use of hook and loop fasteners, such as sold under the trademark Velcro®. Pedal boards also facilitate routing of cables and delivery of power to the various effect pedals. Electric guitar players, as an example, use individual assortments of audio effect pedals/stompboxes to create their individual sound. With rare exception, electrical guitar player and electric bass player “process” their audio signal with effect pedals/stompboxes during practice and performance. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A user-actuated lighting effect device includes a housing, a light-generating lamp coupled to the housing, a power source, and a control circuit. The control circuit includes a user-actuated switch operably coupling the lamp and the power source, the switch placeable in an off state to electrically isolate the lamp from the power source and in an on state to electrically connect the lamp to the power source. The lamp creates a lighting effect on or near the user when the switch is in the on state. In some examples, the lighting effect device can include one or more the following. The housing can include pedal board attachment structure so the housing can be mounted in a use orientation on a pedal board. The lamp can be arranged and positioned to create an upwardly directed lighting effect. The switch can be a user-actuated foot switch on the housing. 
     A method for providing a performer with upwardly directed illumination can be carried out as follows. A foot-actuated lighting effect device is placed on a support surface at a location adjacent to an area where a performer will be during a performance. The foot-actuated lighting effect device includes a lamp for selectively creating an upwardly directed lighting effect on or near the performer, a lighting mode switch and a performer-actuated first foot switch. An operational mode is selected using the lighting mode switch. The foot switch is operated by the performer to selectively place the device in the selected operational mode. Some examples may include one or more of the following. A second foot switch can be operated by the performer to change the color of the light from the lamp. The mode switch can be used to allowing the performer to select at least the following operational modes: different colored lighting effects, a strobe lighting effect, a fader lighting effect, and a lighting effect affected by an audio signal. The placing step can be carried out with the lighting effect device being an integral part of a pedal board. 
     Other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention can be seen on review the drawings, the detailed description, and the claims which follow. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a simplified schematic view showing a performer with a guitar being illuminated by a lighting effect during a practice session or performance. 
         FIG. 2  is a simplified top plan view of a conventional pedal board having a number of conventional audio effect pedals and a lighting effect device mounted to its upper surface. 
         FIG. 3  is a simplified top plan view of the lighting effect device of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIGS. 4A and 4B , which constitute  FIG. 4 , are schematic diagrams illustrating the main components of the lighting effect device of  FIG. 3 . 
         FIG. 5  is a top plan view of a pedal board with the lamp on the lighting effect device being an integral component of the pedal board. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The following description will typically be with reference to specific structural embodiments and methods. It is to be understood that there is no intention to limit the invention to the specifically disclosed embodiments and methods but that the invention may be practiced using other features, elements, methods and embodiments. Preferred embodiments are described to illustrate the present invention, not to limit its scope, which is defined by the claims. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize a variety of equivalent variations on the description that follows. Unless otherwise stated, in this application specified relationships, such as parallel to, aligned with, or in the same plane as, mean that the specified relationships are within limitations of manufacturing processes and within manufacturing variations. When components are described as being coupled, connected, being in contact or contacting one another, they need not be physically directly touching one another unless specifically described as such. Like elements in various embodiments are commonly referred to with like reference numerals. 
       FIG. 1  is a simplified schematic view showing the performer P holding a musical instrument such as a guitar G during a practice session or performance. Performer P is shown standing next to a generally conventional pedal board  10  on which a lighting effect device  12 , also referred to as a lighting effect pedal  12  or simply device  12 , is mounted.  FIG. 1  also schematically illustrates an upwardly directed lighting effect  14 , emanating from a lamp  26 , see  FIG. 3 , created by lighting effect device  12  under the control of performer P. 
     In some examples, lighting effect device  12  can also include a supplemental lamp  27 . Supplemental lamp  27  can be electrically coupled to the housing  18  through an LED expansion socket  66  on the surface  22  of housing  20 ; see  FIG. 3 . Supplemental lamp  27  can also be, and typically is, under the control of performer P. Supplemental lamp  27  can be used to create a supplemental lighting effect  15  directed to, for example, the performer&#39;s instrument. Supplemental lighting effect  15  can be generated instead of or in addition to lighting effect  14 . Supplemental lamp  27  can be supported by, for example, a microphone stand or a separate support structure can be provided for the supplemental lamp. Lamp  27  typically uses an LED array as a light source, with its own power supply and driver circuits, and mirrors the light from LED array  51  of lamp  26 . 
       FIG. 2  is a simplified top plan view of a conventional pedal board  10  having a number of conventional audio effect pedals  16  mounted to its upper surface  18 . In addition, a lighting effect device  12  is also mounted to upper surface  18 . 
     Lighting effect device  12  is described primarily with reference to the performer being a musician. However, device  12  can also be used by, for example, singers, magicians, street performers, and other performers looking for a self-controlled, programmable, inexpensive, durable and easy to operate stage lighting solution. 
       FIG. 3  is a simplified representation of the main components of lighting effect device  12  including a housing  20  having an upper surface  22  at which a number of components are found. A power switch  45 , see  FIG. 4 , also referred to as on/off switch  45 , is used to turn device  12  on and off. The mode switch  24  is a foot operated, push on-push off switch which allows the user to cycle through a number of different modes by successively pressing switch  24 , discussed below. In some examples, the elements along the upper edge, that is from input jack  44  through guitar in jack  38 , are not on upper surface  22  but rather are on a back wall of housing  20 . 
     Mode 1: Color—The colored lighting options in this example are red, green, blue, and white. When mode 1 is selected, the color of lighting effect  14  is selected by using the foot operated, push on-push off color select switch  34 . When the device  12  is first activated, the color can default to a particular color, such as red. An indicator LED  32  shows the user-selected color. The brightness of lighting effect  14  created by lamp  26  is chosen by a hand operated rotatable knob controlling a rotary switch, referred to as brightness/speed switch  30 . 
     Mode 2: Instrument Input Effect—When selected, this mode causes the lighting effect  14  to be largely controlled by an output from the musical instrument, in this case guitar G. Housing  20  has a guitar in jack  38  from an output on guitar G, and a guitar out jack  39  for connection to a conventional amplifier/speaker system, not shown. When mode 2 is active, guitar LED indicator  40  is illuminated. In this mode microcontroller  58  causes switch  41  to connect guitar in, out jacks  38 ,  39  to volume control  48 . 
     Mode 3: Strobe Effect—In this mode, device  12  can be triggered on/off in a strobe mode by the brightness switch  28  to produce a stroboscopic lighting effect  14  with, for example, regular colored flashes of light with varied discharge times. The discharge time, that is the rate of flashing per second, can be adjusted using brightness/speed switch  30 . The color is selected by using the color select switch  34 . The indicator LED  32  will pulse at the adjusted discharge rate with an intensity corresponding to the intensity of the light from LED array  51 . The indicator led  32  flashes at the same rate as the high brightness (HB) LEDs  50 . Both the HB LEDs  50  and indicator LED  32  are set to full brightness. 
     Mode 4: Christmas Tree Wheel Effect—Selection of this mode causes lighting effect  14  to cycle through the available colors, in this example red, green, blue and white. The speed of the cycling through the colors is controlled by the user using brightness/speed switch  30 . 
     Mode 5: Audio Microphone Trigger Effect—When selected, the device  12  produces an adjustable colored lighting effect  14  triggered by external audio input captured by the built-in microphone  36 . When this mode 5 is selected, microphone LED  54  is illuminated. The audio input captured by microphone  36  is directed through an internal bandpass filter within audio circuit  64  analyzing the external audio frequency and volume of the audio input. The indicator LED  32  shows the user-selected color. In this mode the hand operated, rotatable knob, referred to as volume control  48 , is used to adjust the input level for best effect; volume control  48  is basically a sensitivity control in this mode 5. Mode 5, offers two selectable lighting effect sub-modes-1960&#39;s Color Organ Mode and User Mode. Each uses captured audio frequency and volume in a unique fashion. 
     1960&#39;s Color Organ Sub-Mode—Adjusting the brightness/speed switch  30  to the left selects this sub-mode when Mode 5 is selected. An internal bandpass filter with an audio circuit  64  analyzes the incoming audio and triggers a color and light intensity effect based on, in this example, three trigger frequencies and their relative input volumes. In this example, the three trigger frequencies and corresponding colors are: Blue 100 Hz, Green 1 KHz and Red 3 KHz. 
     User Sub-Mode—Adjusting the brightness/speed switch  30  to the right selects this sub-mode when Mode 5 is selected. The internal bandpass filter within audio circuit  64  analyzes the incoming audio from microphone  36  and triggers a user-selected color. Input volume detected through microphone  36  determines the intensity of the colored lighting effect. The indicator LED  32  shows the selected color. 
     Mode 6: Fader Effect—In this mode, device  12  produces colored lighting that fades in and out at varied speeds. The fade speed is hand adjusted using brightness/speed switch  30 . The colored lighting options, as mentioned above, are in this example red, green, blue, and white. The color is selected by using the color select switch  34 . The indicator LED  32  shows the user-selected color. 
     Mode 7: Audio Effects-In this mode, microcontroller  58  causes switch  41  to select the guitar in, out jacks  38 ,  39 . When selected, the device  12  produces an adjustable colored lighting effect  14  triggered by input from a guitar or other instrument through guitar in, out jacks  38 ,  39 . When this mode 7 is selected, guitar LED  40  is illuminated. The volume control  48  affects the selected input to allow the performer to adjust the input level for best effect; volume control  48  is basically a sensitivity control in this mode 7. 
     The mode numbers, that is the order of the effects, can be changed by re-programming device  12 . Some performers may want to eliminate some modes entirely so they can cycle through their desired modes faster. 
     The device  12  can be powered from an external power supply or internal, preferably rechargeable, batteries. An external power supply can be connected to device  12  by a power input jack  44 . When device  12  includes internal rechargeable batteries, not shown, recharging can be through the input jack  44 . Using an optional external rechargeable battery is well-suited for street artists such as jugglers and magicians who will find device  12  useful to enhance their un-plugged performances. 
     A USB interface  46  provides the user with external programming capability and the ability to perform to a user&#39;s unique effect scheme. The device  12  may be connected to, for example, a computing device, such as a personal computer, a tablet computer, or a so-called smart phone via a USB2 cable, not shown. Other types of cables and cable connections can also be used. In addition, connection can be through wireless means as well. Developmental software can be created to enable the user to adjust and save, for example, color, fading, strobe effect and effect duration schemes generated on the computer or generated during a performance. For example, settings can be derived on a computer at home then programmed into device  12  (which stores it in FLASH and EEPROM). Device  12  can then be disconnected from the computer and taken to for use at a performance with the settings preprogrammed. Only the volume control setting cannot be programmed in this example. In other examples, it may be desired to have the ability to program volume control settings. 
     Lamp  26  includes an LED array  51  made including, in this example, two RGB LEDs  50  connected in series. Each LED  50  has three different colored LED chips in a single package with separate wires available for each color. The LEDs  50  currently used run on about 350 ma using about 20 W of power, although higher power ones could be used by changing the driver current. The constant current LED drive circuits  52  use switching power supply ICs to keep power dissipation low. 
     Microcontroller  58 , in this example, has on-chip FLASH memory (for program storage), EEPROM (for user data storage) and SRAM (for program usage). Microcontroller  58  is the controller for the entire device  12 , controlling the LED outputs and sampling all of the user controls. In this example, microcontroller  58  controls the LED array  51  using pulse width modulation (PWM). The PWM feature can be controlled by an 8-bit register for each of the 3 LED colors. That gives 256 levels of brightness for each color. 
     There are also three output pins corresponding to red, green and blue which drive a small RGB LED  32  as an indicator to the operator. LEDs  32  and  50  are either off or full on; no PWM is used. The microcontroller  58  samples the signal from brightness/speed switch  30  using an on-chip analog to digital converter. The converted input from switch  30  is filtered and averaged in software to give a steady value for the control. The on-chip analog to digital converter is also used to sample the  3  audio inputs corresponding to a high audio volume, medium audio volume and low audio volume for the beat/color organ function. The input levels of the signals from audio inputs are converted to an 8-bit value which is used to control the LED PWM signals  60 , hence the brightness of LEDs  50 . This is for both product software development and for user programming of light patterns, timing etc. Any number of modes can be programmed into device  12  and selected in sequence. 
     Overall Software 
     The software running on the microcontroller  58  determines how device  12  actually works. It samples the user controls (switches and brightness/speed control) and checks for changes. If any are found, they are executed, otherwise, the last selected mode is continued to be processed. There are two main functions in the software; the first is the main “LOOP” program which is continuously run. The second is the INTERRUPT functions. The interrupts only happen when a footswitch, specifically switches  24 ,  28 , or  34 , is activated, or when user data is received from the USB interface  46 . They “interrupt” the main loop and are implemented immediately. Once a mode is selected, the microcontroller  58  continuously executes a loop which may change the output from the LEDs  50  based on a running timer. This is used when the strobe effect mode or the fader effect mode is selected. In the loop, the brightness/speed switch  30  is sampled and used to set the timer. This changes the strobe or fader speed. In the simple color mode, the timer is not used and the brightness/speed switch  32  is used for the LED brightness. If an interrupt comes from the microcontroller  58  through the USB interface  46 , the user data is stored in EEPROM and used as parameters for the selected mode during the main program loop. 
     Overall Hardware 
     Power from an external adapter or battery is applied to power input jack  44 . The voltage is commonly about 24 volts DC. Voltage regulator  74  supplies 5 V DC to microcontroller  58  while voltage regulator  76  supplies 5 V DC to the audio circuit  64 , preventing digital noise from the rest of the board to affect the audio signals. 
     Microcontroller  58  can be, for example, Atmel ATMEGA32U4 or similar part. Its clock is supplied by a crystal, Y1, allowing for an accurate timer and serial interface baud rate (USB clock). Its program is stored microcontroller  58  in on-chip FLASH memory. Four of the analog inputs of microcontroller  58  are used. Three come from the audio amp and frequency splitter of circuit  64 , and one from the brightness/speed switch  30 . The three footswitches  28 ,  34  and  24  go to digital input pins of the microcontroller  58 . These can generate interrupts in the microcontroller  58 . Three digital out pins of microcontroller  58  are used to directly drive the indicator LED  32 , sometimes referred to as the small RGB LED, in  FIG. 4 . This provides feedback to the user about the mode selected. Three more outputs, from pins connected to internal timers, are used as the PWM signals  60  to drive the high brightness LED array  51  (through their constant current LED drive circuits  52 ). An external LED array of supplemental lamp  27 , shown in  FIG. 1 , is supplied PWM control signals through LED expansion socket  66  so that it can be driven in parallel with the on-product high brightness RGB LED array  51 . This external LED array of supplemental lamp  27  will typically be have its own power supply and LED driver circuits to facilitate supplemental lamp  27  being of any size and brightness. Additional supplemental lamp  27  can also be used. The signal from microphone are amplified within circuit  64  to provide an audio signal to three bandpass filters within audio circuit  64 . These three filters separate the audio into high, medium and low frequencies. Each filter is followed by a peak detector and an averaging filter to condition the signal for analog to digital conversion inside the microcontroller  58 . 
     In Use 
     In use, device  12  can be used by musicians and performers seeking an elegant and simple performer-operated stage lighting system. In one example, the performer P arrives at a performance venue, such as a small club, with guitar G, amplifier (not shown) and pedal board  10 , the pedal board including conventional music effect pedals  16  and lighting effect pedal  12 . At an appropriate time during the performance, it may be time for a guitar solo. The performer taps the appropriate switches on device  12  with the performer&#39;s foot to trigger a lighting effect  14  typically the form of an upward flood of colored light emitted from lamp  26 . The performer and the performance are now highlighted in a simple and unique way. When the guitar solo is finished, the performer can tap the device  12  to remove lighting effect  14 . In some examples, a supplemental lighting effect  15  from supplemental lamp  27  may be created in addition to or instead of lighting effect  14 . 
     Device  12  may be used alone, that is not mounted to a pedal board  10 , or installed anywhere on a pedal board  10 , and may be positioned in front of or at other positions adjacent to performer P. 
       FIG. 5  shows an example of a lighting effect device  12 A made as an integral part of pedal board  10 A. Pedal board  10 A has an upper surface  18 A on which audio effect pedals  16  can be mounted. In other examples, only lamp  26  can be made as an integral part of pedal board  10  with housing  20  and the rest of the components of device  12  being mounted to upper surface  18 A of pedal board  10  via housing  20 . 
     The device  12  may be used by, for example, singers, electric and acoustic guitar players, electric bass players, as well as string, brass and woodwind players. Device  12  can be used by a performer looking for a self-controlled, programmable, inexpensive, durable and easy to operate stage lighting solution. Since device  12  can be battery powered, street artists such as jugglers and magicians may also find this device useful to enhance their performance. 
     While the present invention is disclosed by reference to the preferred embodiments and examples detailed above, it is to be understood that these examples are intended in an illustrative rather than in a limiting sense. It is contemplated that modifications and combinations will occur to those skilled in the art, which modifications and combinations will be within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the following claims. 
     Any and all patents, patent applications and printed publications referred to above are incorporated by reference.