Patent Publication Number: US-2006007699-A1

Title: Decorative application with optical fiber light guiding assembly

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to an illuminating decorative application, and more particularly to a decorative application with optical fiber light guiding assembly.  
      Most conventional books, diaries, and other types of bound publications include a front cover, a back cover, and a plurality of leaves between the front and back covers. The front cover, the leaves, and the back cover are sequentially bound together at one side using adhesive, rings, or the like, so that the front and back covers and the leaves may be turned about the bound side. To provide various kinds of books with a visually beautiful appearance, an illuminating decoration has been developed to decorate books.  FIG. 1  is a perspective view of a book  1  with a conventional decorative application with optical fiber light guiding assembly. The book  1 , which may be otherwise a diary or any other bound publication, has a rigid cover  11  provided with a lighting area  12 , within which a plurality of holes  13  are provided. A light-emitting module  14  and a battery  15  are arranged in the rigid cover  11  at a predetermined position, and a plurality of optical fibers  16  are connected at a proximal end to the light-emitting module  14 , and a distal end  161  to one of the holes  13  on the rigid cover  11  of the book  1 . In this manner, light emitted from the light-emitting module  14  is guided by the optical fibers  16  to the distal ends  161  to illuminate the rigid cover  11 .  
      Most of the currently available decorative applications with optical fibers as light guiding means have the above-described structure. U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,657 discloses a decorative article associated with optical fibers for guide light.  
      With the above-mentioned conventional optical fiber light guiding assembly, the distal ends of the optical fibers produce only light spots on the rigid cover of the book to create very limited decorating effect. Moreover, the optical fibers must be arranged with the distal ends perpendicular to the holes. This arrangement inevitably increases an overall thickness of the rigid cover of the book to possibly spoil an overall visual beauty of the book.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      A primary object of the present invention is to provide a decorative application with optical fiber light guiding assembly to eliminate the drawbacks existed in the conventional similar designs.  
      To achieve the above object, the present invention includes a light-conducting plate fitted in an opening provided on an article to be decorated. Light emitted from a light-emitting module is guided by optical fibers to project toward the light-conducting plate to produce illuminated decorating effect.  
      Another object of the present invention is to provide a decorative application with optical fiber light guiding assembly that provides enhanced illuminating and decorating effect superior to the simple effect created only by light spots.  
      A further object of the present invention is to provide a decorative application with optical fiber light guiding assembly that has a relatively small overall thickness resulted from improved arrangements of optical fibers in an article to be decorated.  
      The present invention is superior to the conventional designs in that it enables the light emitted from the light-emitting module to be guided by the optical fibers to project toward the light-conducting plate and evenly create an illuminated decorating effect over a wide surface instead of only some spots. The reduced overall thickness of the present invention also makes it more practical for use in commercial applications. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view showing a conventional decorative application with optical fiber light guiding assembly;  
       FIG. 2  is a perspective view of a decorative application with optical fiber light guiding assembly according to a first embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view showing arrangements of different components of the decorative application with optical fiber light guiding assembly of  FIG. 2 ;  
       FIG. 4  is a sectional view taken along line  4 - 4  of  FIG. 2 ;  
       FIG. 5  is a sectional view showing the present invention is implemented on a flexible article made of a soft material;  
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view of a decorative application with optical fiber light guiding assembly according to a second embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 7  shows the arrangement of optical fibers in the second embodiment of the present invention as shown in  FIG. 6 ; and  
       FIG. 8  is a perspective view of a decorative application with optical fiber light guiding assembly according to a third embodiment of the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      Please refer to  FIGS. 2 and 3  that are front and reverse sides, respectively, of a cover of a book on which a decorative application with optical fiber light guiding assembly according to a first embodiment of the present invention is implemented. As shown, the present invention is implemented on an article to be decorated, such as a book  2  illustrated in  FIG. 2 , and includes a light-conducting plate  24  made of a light-pervious material or a translucent material and having different patterns and colors formed thereon, a light-emitting module  31  having a plurality of optical fibers  4  coupled therewith, and a battery  32  for powering the light-emitting module  31  to emit light.  
      The book  2  includes a rigid cover  21  having a portion being cut away to provide an opening  22  having inner edges  23 . An inner or reverse side  211  of the rigid cover  21  is provided with a flat recess, in which the light-emitting module  31 , the battery  32 , and the optical fibers  4  are arranged. The light-conducting plate  24  has area and shape corresponding to that of the opening  22  on the rigid cover  21  of the book  2  to be fitly received in the opening  22 . The optical fibers  4  coupled with and extended from the light-emitting module  31  have light source lead-outs  41  parallelly arranged along the inner edges  23  of the opening  22 . In the first embodiment of the present invention, the light source lead-outs  41  are distal ends of the optical fibers  4  and arranged in perpendicular to outer edges  241  of the light-conducting plate  24  fitted in the opening  22  on the rigid cover  21  of the book  2 , as shown in  FIG. 4 .  
      Light emitted from the light-emitting module  31  is guided by the optical fibers  4  coupled with and extended from the module  31  to the light source lead-outs  41 , from where the light is projected toward the light-conducting plate  24  and produces an illuminated decorative effect.  
      Please refer to  FIG. 5 . The article to be decorated with the present invention is not limited to a book with rigid cover. The present invention may also be implemented on other types of articles, such as a flexible article  25  made of a soft material, including, for example, a piece of fabric, a fabric knapsack, etc., with an opening formed thereon for receiving a light-conducting plate.  
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view showing a second embodiment of the present invention. The second embodiment is generally similar to the first embodiment in the design, and components similar in these two embodiments are denoted with the same reference numeral.  
      In the illustrated second embodiment, the article to be decorated with the present invention is still a book  2  having a rigid cover  21  with an opening  22 . The opening  22  has inner edges  23  and is adapted to fitly receive a light-conducting plate  24  therein.  
      At least one optical fiber  51  coupled with and extended from a light-emitting module  31  is parallelly arranged along the inner edges  23  of the opening  22 . A battery  32  supplies power needed by the light-emitting module  31  to emit light.  
      The optical fiber  51  has a distal end forming a light source lead-out  511 , and is provided along one side with a plurality of spaced sideways light source lead-outs  512 . Please refer to  FIG. 7 . When the light emitted from the light-emitting module  31  passes through the at least one optical fiber  51 , part of the light source  513  is guided out at the sideways light source lead-outs  512  to project toward the light-conducting plate  24  and thereby produces an illuminated decorating effect.  
      The sideways light source lead-outs  512  are formed on the optical fiber  51  by, for example, forming at one side of the optical fiber  51  with notches having a predetermined opening angle, so that part of the light source  513  passing through the optical fiber  51  is guided out of the optical fiber  51  via the sideways light source lead-outs  512 .  
       FIG. 8  is a perspective view showing a third embodiment of the present invention. In the third embodiment, there are provided a plurality of optical fibers  51  coupled with and extended from a light-emitting module  31 , which is powered with a battery  32 . The optical fibers  51  are parallelly arranged to extend through a lower side of the opening  22  provided on a rigid cover  21  of a book  2  to be decorated using the present invention. As in the second embodiment, the optical fibers in the third embodiment are also provided along one side with a plurality of spaced sideways light source lead-outs  512 , so that these sideways light source lead-outs  512  are located within the opening  22  to face toward a lower side of the light-conducting plate  24  fitted in the opening  22 .  
      Again, part of the light emitted from the light-emitting module  31  is projected via the sideways light source lead-outs  512  toward the light-conducting plate  24  to produce an illuminated decorated effect.  
      The present invention has been described with some preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.