Patent Publication Number: US-2023155272-A1

Title: Color changing television antenna with led

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to the field of television antennas, in particular to a color changing television antenna with light emitting diodes (LEDs). 
     BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
     Description of the Related Art 
     Digital television (DTV) antenna is a core component for wireless signal transmissions of a digital television. In the operating principle of a conventional active DTV antenna, an antenna radiator is used to receive radio signals in form of weak electromagnetic waves in the air, and a coaxial cable is used to send the signals to an amplifier for amplification and then output the amplified signals. To increase the fun and appearance of the television antenna, some luminous television antennas with the light emitting diodes (LEDs) are launched on the market, and these television antennas generally use a single LED for the luminous display, and thus the display mode is monotonous, and the display effect is poor. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     To overcome the drawbacks of the prior art, the present invention provides a color changing television antenna with LED to display specific patterns and improve the display effect based on the principle of total reflection of a transparent display panel. 
     To achieve the aforementioned and other objectives, the present invention discloses a color changing television antenna with LED, comprising: a casing, an antenna radiator installed in the casing, a coaxial cable disposed at a rear end of the casing and coupled to the antenna radiator, and the casing having an LED lamp and a transparent display panel contained therein, and the display panel extending to the outside from the casing, and the part of the display panel situated inside the casing having a receiving slot for installing the LED lamp, and a light being projected onto an inner sidewall of the receiving slot, and the display panel transmitting the light projected onto the inner sidewall of the receiving slot by total reflection, and the display panel having a reflector installed on a surface thereof and provided for reflecting the light transmitted inside the display panel out of the display panel, and the reflector forming a predetermined pattern. 
     Preferably, the casing has a fixed plate disposed at a surface of the display panel, and the LED lamp is fixed onto the surface of the fixed plate. 
     Preferably, the fixed plate is rotatably coupled to a mask, and the mask is disposed between the LED lamp and the inner sidewall of the receiving slot and covered onto an outer side of the LED lamp, and the mask has a light transmitting opening; the display panel has a plurality of reflection areas on a surface thereof, and each reflection area has the reflector; and the fixed plate has a rotary driver installed thereon for driving the mask to rotate to the light transmitting opening and to be configured to be facing different display areas. 
     Preferably, the fixed plate includes a fixed portion, and the fixed plate has a ring groove formed around the fixed portion and penetrating through the fixed plate, and the ring groove has a gap, and the LED lamp is installed on a lower surface of the fixed portion, and a rotating plate is disposed on an upper surface of the fixed portion, and the mask is fixed onto the lower surface of the rotating plate, passed through the ring groove, and rotated along the ring groove, and the rotary driver and the rotating plate are fixedly coupled to each other. 
     Preferably, the fixed portion has a connecting plate disposed at the lower surface thereof and configured to be perpendicular to the fixed plate, and the LED lamp is fixed onto the connecting plate, and the LED lamp has a light-emitting surface configured to be facing the inner sidewall of the receiving slot. 
     Preferably, the LED lamp is in a substantially semicircular shape, and the LED lamp has a circular arc surface facing the inner sidewall of the receiving slot, and the inner sidewall of the receiving slot and the mask are in a circular arc shape. 
     Preferably, the casing comprises an upper casing and a lower casing, and the upper casing and the lower casing are fixed onto the upper surface and the lower surface of the display panel respectively; and the display panel comprises a penetrating fixing hole, and a connecting column coupled between the upper casing and the lower casing and passing through the fixing hole. 
     Preferably, the part of the display panel situated inside the casing has a placement slot extending along the widthwise direction of the display panel, and the receiving slot has a plurality of sidewalls extending in a direction along the placement slot and distributed in the placement slot. 
     Preferably, the casing has a dimming circuit installed therein and coupled to the LED lamp, and a surface of the casing has a button electrically coupled to the dimming circuit for changing a dimming strategy, and the LED lamp is a multi-color LED lamp. 
     Preferably, the LED lamp comprises three color (red, blue, and green) LED lamps, and the button comprises a first key switch and a second key switch, and the dimming circuit comprises a chip SN8P2501, a first triode, a second triode and a third triode, a DC power, the blue LED lamp, a first current limiting resistor and a collector of the first triode sequentially and electrically coupled with one another; the DC power, the green LED lamp, a second current limiting resistor and a collector of the second triode sequentially and electrically coupled to one another; the DC power, the red LED lamp, a third current limiting resistor and a collector of the third triode sequentially and electrically coupled to one another; an emitter of the first triode, an emitter of the second triode and an emitter of the third triode being grounded; a base of the first triode, a base of the second triode, and a base of the third triode respectively and electrically coupled to a Pin 3, a Pin 5, and a Pin 6 of the chip SN8P2501; the DC power, a first connected resistor and a Pin 4 of the chip SN8P2501 sequentially and electrically coupled to one another; the Pin 4 of the chip SN8P2501, the first key switch and a ground terminal sequentially and electrically coupled to one another; the DC power, a second connected resistor and a Pin 7 of the chip SN8P2501 sequentially and electrically coupled to one another; and the Pin 7 of the chip SN8P2501, the second key switch and the ground terminal sequentially and electrically coupled to one another. 
     The present invention has the following technical effects. In the present invention, the transparent display panel is mounted onto the television antenna, and the part of the display panel situated inside the casing has the receiving slot, and the receiving slot has the LED lamp installed therein for emitting light in a direction towards the inner sidewall of the receiving slot, and the display panel transmits the light projected onto the inner sidewall of the receiving slot by the principle of total reflection, and the reflector at the surface of the display panel can reflect the light of LED lamp, and the reflector with the predetermined pattern can display the predetermined pattern on the display panel. Compared with the conventional monotonous LED lamp, the present invention can improve the display effect and provide diversified display methods. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    is a schematic view of a color changing television antenna with LED in accordance with an embodiment the present invention. 
         FIG.  2    is a side view of a display panel in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  3    is an exploded view of a color changing television antenna with LED in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  4    is a schematic circuit diagram of an amplifying circuit in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  5    is a schematic circuit diagram showing a part of a dimming circuit in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  6    is a schematic circuit diagram showing another part of the dimming circuit of  FIG.  5   ; 
         FIG.  7    is a schematic view of a fixed plate in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG.  8    is a schematic view of the structure with a lighting method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG.  9    is a schematic view showing the structure with a lighting method in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF NUMERALS USED IN THE DRAWINGS 
       1 : Casing;  11 : Upper casing;  12 : Lower casing;  13 : Connecting column;  100 : LED lamp;  2 : Display panel;  20 : Placement slot;  21 : Receiving slot;  22 : Fixing hole;  200 : Reflector;  201 : First reflection area;  202 : Second reflection area;  3 : Coaxial cable;  4 : Fixed plate;  41 : Fixed portion;  42 : Ring groove;  43 : Gap;  44 : Connecting plate;  51 : Mask;  52 : Rotating plate;  510 : Light transmitting opening. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     To make it easier for our examiner to understand the objective of the invention, its structure, innovative features, and performance, we use a preferred embodiment together with the attached drawings for the detailed description of the invention. 
     With reference to  FIGS.  1  to  3    for a color changing television antenna with LED in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the color changing television antenna comprises a casing  1 , an antenna radiator installed in the casing  1  for receiving electromagnetic signals, and a coaxial cable  3  installed at a rear end of the casing  1  for outputting the received signals. In the casing  1 , an LED lamp  100  and a transparent display panel  2  are installed, and the display panel  2  is made of a transparent material such as an acrylic board or any other transparent board. The display panel  2  is a substantially rectangular structure extending along the lengthwise direction, and the display panel  2  is fixed into the casing  1 , and the casing  1  has an open slot penetrating through the casing  1 , and both ends of the display panel  2  extend to the outside of the casing  1  from the open slot. 
     The display panel  2  has a receiving slot  21  formed in the casing  1  and penetrating through the display panel  2  along the thick-wise direction of the display panel  2 . The LED lamp  100  is installed at the receiving slot  21  for projecting a light in a direction towards an inner sidewall of the receiving slot  21 . A power supply unit such as a battery can be installed in the casing  1  for supplying electric power to the LED lamp  100 , so that the LED lamp  100  can be lit. The LED lamp  100  has a main light emission direction parallel to the lengthwise direction of the display panel  2 , so that the light can be transmitted to the whole display panel  2  as much as possible. Since the display panel  2  is transparent, the light can pass into the display panel  2  through the inner sidewall of the receiving slot  21 , and the display panel  2  can transmit the light incident into the inner sidewall of the receiving slot  21  based on the principle of total reflection. In  FIG.  2   , when the light is projected onto the upper surface and the lower surface of the display panel  2 , the total reflection will occur, and the light will be transmitted forwardly along a surface where the display panel  2  is situated. 
     A reflector  200  is installed on a surface of the display panel  2 , wherein the reflector  200  can be a printed silver paste layer with a very strong reflection property. After the light is shed on the reflector  200 , reflection will occur, and the reflection angle is greater than the incident angle, so that the reflected light will not have a total reflection at the surface of the display panel  2 , but the reflected light will be reflected out of the display panel  2 . The reflector  200  can cover a part of the display panel  2  and be arranged along a predetermined path to form a predetermined pattern, so that when the LED lamp  100  is lit, the reflector  200  reflects the light to light up the predetermined pattern, so as to form a luminous television antenna. 
     In an embodiment as shown in  FIG.  3   , the casing  1  has a fixed plate  4  disposed on the upper surface of the display panel  2  and parallelly fixed onto the display panel  2 , and the LED lamp  100  is fixed onto a surface of the fixed plate  4  and then extended into the receiving slot  21 . 
     Further, the coaxial cable  3  is fixed onto the fixed plate  4 , and the casing  1  has an opening formed at a rear end thereof, and the coaxial cable  3  extends out of the casing  1  from the opening, and the antenna is fixed onto the upper surface of the fixed plate  4 . 
     In the embodiment as shown in  FIG.  3   , the casing  1  comprises an upper casing  11  and a lower casing  12 , and the upper casing  11  and the lower casing  12  are fixed to the upper surface and the lower surface of the display panel  2  respectively, and the upper casing  11  and the lower casing  12  provide a shading effect, so that the light is shed primarily in a direction towards the display panel  2 . Both of the upper casing  11  and lower casing  12  are configured to be parallel to the display panel  2 . The upper casing  11  and the lower casing  12  are fixed to the display panel  2  in a detachably fixing manner to facilitate users to fix the casing  1  to the display panel  2 , or maintain and replace internal components in the casing  1 . 
     Further, the display panel  2  has a plurality of fixing holes  22  penetrating through the display panel  2 , and a connecting column  13  is installed and coupled between the upper casing  11  and the lower casing  12  and passed through the fixing hole  22  to enhance the connecting strength of the upper casing  11  and the lower casing  12 . The fixed plate  4  can have a mounting hole for passing the connecting column  13  and fixing and installing the fixed plate  4 . 
     In an embodiment, the display panel  2  has a placement slot  20  extending along the widthwise direction of the display panel  2  and disposed in the casing  1 . There is a plurality of receiving slots  21  and a corresponding quantity of LED lamps  100 , and the receiving slots  21  can be distributed uniformly on a sidewall of the placement slot  20  in the extending direction of the placement slot  20  to increase brightness. Since the display panel  2  is extended to both sides of the casing  1 , it is equivalent to two display ends, so that there can be two groups of receiving slots  21  on two sidewalls of the placement slot  20  respectively. The LED lamps  100  in the two groups of the receiving slots  21  emit light towards both ends of the display panel  2  respectively. 
     In an embodiment, the casing  1  has a circuit board installed therein and fixed onto the upper surface of the fixed plate  4 . The circuit board is integrated with an amplifying circuit, and the amplifying circuit has an input terminal for coupling the antenna radiator and an output terminal for coupling the coaxial cable  3 , and the amplifying circuit provides a signal amplification effect to amplify the received weak electromagnetic signal. 
     In  FIG.  4   , the amplifying circuit comprises a triode Q 1 , wherein the triode Q 1  has a base serving as an input terminal, a collector serving as an output terminal, and an emitter serving for a grounding purpose. Of course, the input and output terminals can be coupled to a filter circuit and a regulator circuit. 
     In an embodiment, the casing  1  is further integrated with a dimming circuit which is coupled to the LED lamp  100 , and LED lamp  100  is a multi-color LED lamp, and the dimming circuit can output a dimming signal, so that the color and display method of the LED lamp  100  can be changed to provide more diversified display effects of the display panel  2 . A button is installed onto a surface of the casing  1  and electrically coupled to the dimming circuit, and users can operate the button to change the dimming strategy of the dimming circuit in order to display different colors. 
     In  FIGS.  5  and  6   , there are three LED lamps  100  (including red, blue and green) LED lamps, and each LED lamp  100  includes a blue lamp bead LED 4 , a green lamp bead LED 3  and a red lamp bead LED 2 , and the button comprises a first key switch SW 2  and a second key switch SW 1 . The dimming circuit comprises the chip SN8P2501, a first triode Q 2 , a second triode Q 3 , and a third triode Q 4 . The casing  1  is further integrated with a power supply unit for outputting DC power, and specifically outputting 5V AC signals. 
     The DC power, the blue lamp bead LED 4 , the first current limiting resistor R 3  and a collector of the first triode Q 3  are sequentially and electrically coupled to one another. The DC power, the green lamp bead LED 3 , the second current limiting resistor R 4  and a collector of the second triode are sequentially and electrically coupled to one another. The DC power, the red lamp bead LED 2 , the third current limiting resistor R 5 , and a collector of the third triode Q 4  are sequentially and electrically coupled to one another. An emitter of the first triode Q 2 , an emitter of the second triode Q 3  and an emitter of the third triode Q 4  are grounded. A base of the first triode Q 2  is electrically coupled to the Pin 3 of the chip SN8P2501, a base of the second triode Q 3  is electrically coupled to the Pin 5 of the chip SN8P2501, and a base of the third triode Q 4  is electrically coupled to the Pin 6 of the chip SN8P2501. The Pin 3, Pin 5 and Pin 6 of the chip SN8P2501 output high and low level signals, so that the first triode Q 2 , second triode Q 3  and third triode Q 4  can be turned ON or OFF, and the corresponding blue lamp bead LED 4 , green lamp bead LED 3  and red lamp bead LED 2  can be turned ON or OFF to achieve a dimming effect. 
     In the chip SN8P2501, the Pin 1 of the chip SN8P2501 is electrically coupled to a 5V DC power, and a Pin 8 of the chip SN8P2501 is grounded. The 5V DC power, the first connected resistor R 1  and the Pin 4 of the chip SN8P2501 are sequentially and electrically coupled to one another. The Pin 4 of the chip SN8P2501, the first key switch and the ground terminal are sequentially and electrically coupled to one another. The DC power, the second connected resistor R 2  and a Pin 7 of the chip SN8P2501 are sequentially and electrically coupled to one another. The Pin 7 of the chip SN8P2501, the second key switch, and the ground terminal are sequentially and electrically coupled to one another. 
     The present invention further provides another color changing television antenna with a substantial difference with regard to the structure of the fixed plate  4 . In  FIGS.  7  to  9   , the fixed plate  4  is rotatably coupled to a mask  51 , and the mask  51  is disposed between the LED lamp  100  and the inner sidewall of the receiving slot  21  and covered onto the outer side of the LED lamp  100 , and the mask  51  provides a shading effect. The mask  51  has a light transmitting opening  510 , so that the light of the LED lamp  100  can be outputted from the light transmitting opening  510  only to limit the angle of an emitted light beam and reduce the irradiation range of the light, so that the light of the LED lamp  100  can no longer cover the whole display panel  2 , but can just cover a part of the display panel  2 . The mask  51  further comprises two arc shades, and the light transmitting opening  510  is formed between the two arc shades. 
     The display panel  2  has a plurality of reflection areas defined on a surface of the display panel  2  as shown in  FIGS.  8  and  9   , such as a first reflection area  201  and a second reflection area  202 . The fixed plate  4  has a rotary driver (not shown in the figure) installed thereto and coupled to the mask  51  for driving the mask  51  to rotate relative to the LED lamp  100 , so that the light transmitting opening  510  can face towards different angles to allow light to be shed on different reflection areas. Each reflection area has a reflector  200 , and the reflector  200  in each reflection area can form a different pattern. If the light transmitting opening  510  is configured to be facing a different reflection area, a different pattern will be lit to improve the display effect. The reflection areas can be configured to allow the light passing through the light transmitting opening  510  and to output the light in an overlapped manner, so that when the light transmitting opening  510  is configured to be facing the overlapped reflection areas, the overlapped reflection areas will be lit to further improve the display effect. 
     The casing  1  further has a control circuit coupled to the rotary driver for controlling the rotary driver according to a set control program, so as to light up the reflection area according to a predetermined display strategy. For example, the light transmitting opening  510  can be controlled to face towards all reflection areas sequentially, so that each reflection area will be lit sequentially, or the light transmitting opening  510  can be configured to be facing some of the reflection areas only. 
     With reference to  FIG.  7    for a specific structure of the mask  51  and the fixed plate  4  which are rotatably coupled to each other in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the fixed plate  4  comprises a fixed portion  41 , a ring groove  42  formed around the fixed portion  41  of the fixed plate  4  and penetrating through the fixed plate  4 , and a gap  43  formed in the ring groove  42 , such that the fixed portion  41  can still be fixed onto the fixed plate  4 . The LED lamp  100  is installed on the lower surface of the fixed portion  41 , and the rotating plate  52  is disposed on the upper surface of the fixed portion  41  and can be rotated on the surface of the fixed plate  4 . The mask  51  is fixed onto a lower surface of the rotating plate  52  and passed through the ring groove  42  and can be rotated along the ring groove  42 , and the rotary driver and the rotating plate  52  are fixedly coupled to each other. When the rotary driver is operated, the rotating plate  52  drives the mask  51  to move in the ring groove  42 , so as to change the facing direction of the light transmitting opening  510 . 
     Further, the lower surface of the fixed portion  41  has a connecting plate  44  configured to be perpendicular to the fixed plate  4 , and the LED lamp  100  is fixed onto the connecting plate  44 , and the light emitting surface of the LED lamp  100  faces towards the inner sidewall of the receiving slot  21 . The LED lamp  100  which is a substantially semicircular structure comprising a planar surface and a circular arc surface, wherein the planar surface is fixed to the connecting plate  44  and the circular arc surface is configured to be facing the inner sidewall of the receiving slot  21 , and the inner sidewall of the receiving slot  21  is in a circular arc shape to match with the circular arc surface of the LED lamp  100 , and the mask  51  is also designed in a circular arc shape to match with the circular arc surface of the LED lamp  100  in order to achieve a smoother rotation of the mask  51  and prevent touching or hitting the LED lamp  100  or the inner sidewall of the receiving slot  21 . 
     In the aforementioned embodiment, the rotary driver is a micro motor having an output shaft coaxially coupled to the rotating plate  52 . 
     While the invention has been described by means of specific embodiments, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention set forth in the claims.