Patent Publication Number: US-2009231090-A1

Title: Switch apparatus

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present invention generally relates to a switch apparatus. 
     2. Discussion of Related Art 
     Nowadays, switch apparatus different control mechanism of varies kinds, such as speech recognition, fingerprint recognition and iris recognition. 
     It is known that these switch apparatuses achieve identification of persons by recognizing biological information thereof. However, during the identification process of such switch apparatuses, mass of data is processed complexly. Thereby, hardware with excellent calculating ability is needed in these switches which inevitably increases cost. 
     Therefore, what is needed is a switch apparatus that overcomes the above described shortcomings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Many aspects of the present switch apparatus can be better understood with reference to the following drawing. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present apparatus. 
       The drawing is a schematic view of a switch apparatus, according to an exemplary embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made to the drawing to describe the embodiment of the present switch apparatus, in detail. 
     In the drawing, a switch apparatus  10 , according to a first embodiment, includes a light signal emitting module  11  and a light signal receiving module  12 . In the illustrated embodiment, the light signal receiving module  12  functions as a lock, and the light signal emitting module  11  functions as a key to open the lock. 
     The light signal emitting module  11  includes a code storing unit  110 , a driving unit  112 , a light emitting diode (LED) unit  114  and a power supply  116 . 
     The code storing unit  110  is configured for storing a predetermined code. The code storing unit  110  can be a flash memory or an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM). 
     The driving unit  112  is configured for reading the predetermined code stored in the code storing unit  110 , generating a pulse signal representing the predetermined code, and driving the LED unit  114  to emit a light signal with the pulse signal. The driving unit  112  can be a LED driving circuit. The driving unit  112  is capable of converting the predetermined code into a pulse signal (pulse voltage or pulse current) according to a first predetermined manner. Corresponding to the predetermined code, the pulse signal has specific pulse width, pulse interval or/and pulse frequency. The predetermined code is associated with the pulse width, pulse interval, pulse frequency of the pulse signal or any combination thereof. When the LED unit  114  is driven by the pulse signal, the light signal emitted from the LED unit  114  represents the predetermined code, due to the specific pulse width, pulse interval or pulse frequency of the pulse signal. 
     The LED unit  114  includes a single LED or a plurality of LEDs for emitting light of different wavelengths. The LED is capable of emitting visible light or invisible light. 
     When the LED unit  114  includes a single LED, the driving unit  112  drives the LED unit  114  to emit a light signal with a pulse signal (pulse voltage or pulse current) that has specific pulse width, pulse interval and/or pulse frequency. Due to that the light signal can varies according to different pulse width, pulse interval and/or pulse frequency of the pulse signal. The predetermined code can be represented by a combination of at least two of the pulse width, pulse interval and pulse frequency of the pulse signal. 
     When the LED unit  114  includes a plurality of LEDs with different light emitting wavelengths, the plurality of LEDs can be driven by the driving unit  112  to alternately emitting lights in a specific sequence. Thereby, the predetermined code is associated with light emitting sequence of the LEDs, different light wavelengths of the LEDs, a pulse width of the pulse signal, a pulse interval of the pulse signal and a pulse frequency of the pulse signal, or any combination thereof. Accordingly, the predetermined code can be represent by light emitting sequence of the LEDs, different light wavelengths of the LEDs, a pulse width of the pulse signal, a pulse interval of the pulse signal and a pulse frequency of the pulse signal, or any combination thereof. 
     The power supply  116  is electrically connected to the driving unit  112 , for providing electrical power to the driving unit  112 . In an exemplary embodiment, the power supply  116  is electrically connected to the driving unit  112  via a button switch  118 . 
     The light signal receiving module  12  includes a light signal converting unit  120  and an electric signal processing unit  122 . 
     The light signal converting unit  120  is configure for receiving the light signal emitted by the LED unit  114  and converting the light signal into an electric signal, which represents the predetermined code, according to a second predetermined manner. 
     The electric signal processing unit  122  is configured for storing a key code, receiving the electric signal and comparing the electric signal with the key code stored therein beforehand. If the electric signal matches the check code, for example “the predetermined code represented by the electric signal is as same as the check code” or “the predetermined code represented by the electric signal and the check code satisfy a specific transformation relationship”, the switch apparatus  10  opens. 
     Furthermore, the switch apparatus  10  can also includes a light filtering unit  124  for filtering light which is not emitted from the LED unit  114 . The light filtering unit  124  can be a filter. 
     Finally, it is to be understood that the above-described embodiments are intended to illustrate rather than limit the invention. Variations may be made to the embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed. The above-described embodiment illustrates the scope of the invention but do not restrict the scope of the invention.