Patent Publication Number: US-8537026-B2

Title: Computing device with color organ

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     The present disclosure relates to computing devices, and particularly, to a computing device with a color organ. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Computing devices can play music having sound effects. However, listeners of the music may wish to experience the music not only through sound, but also accompaniment with other effects, such as, visible effects. One such visible effect can be accomplished through the use of color organs which convert music into rhythmic light effects, pulsating to the beat of the music. However, there is still room for improvement in the art. 
     Therefore, it is desirable to provide an electronic device, which can overcome the above-mentioned problems. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Many aspects of the present disclosure can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the present disclosure. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the views. 
         FIG. 1  is an isometric schematic view of an electronic device, according to an exemplary embodiment. 
         FIG. 2  is a functional diagram of the electronic device of  FIG. 1 , according to the embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a circuit diagram of the electronic device of  FIG. 1 , according to the embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , a computing device  10 , according to an embodiment, includes an audio signal processing unit  11 , an amplifier circuit  12 , a single shot trigger circuit  13 , a single chip processor  14 , a driver circuit  15 , a light module  16 , and a case  17 . The audio signal processing unit  11 , the amplifier circuit  12 , a single shot trigger circuit  13 , and the driver circuit  15  can be received in the case  17  while the light module  16  can be mounted on an outer surface  172  of the case  17 . 
     The audio signal processing unit  11  can be a microchip which is also received in the case  17  and configured for compressing or decompressing digital audio data into an audio signal. In other embodiments, the computing device  10  includes a processor (not shown) and the audio signal processing unit  11  can be a software program implementing an algorithm on the processor to realize the compressing or decompressing of the digital audio data. The computing device  10  can be connected to an external storage device in which the digital audio data can be stored and the audio signal processing unit  11  reads the digital audio data from the external storage device. Also, the computing device  10  can further includes an internal storage device for storing the digital audio data and the audio signal processing unit  11  reading the digital audio data from the internal storage device. 
     Also referring to  FIG. 3 , the amplifier circuit  12  can be connected to the audio signal processing unit  11  and amplifies an amplitude of the audio signal. In this embodiment, the amplifier circuit  12  includes a first resistor  121 , a second resistor  122 , a variable resistor  123 , and a transistor  124 . The transistor  124  can be a bipolar junction transistor (BJT) and includes a base B, a collector C, and an emitter E. The base B can be directly connected to the audio signal processing unit  11  for receiving the audio signal, the collector C can be connected to the audio signal processing unit  11  through the first resistor  121  and the variable resistor  123 , and the emitter E can be connected to the audio signal processing unit  11  through the second resistor  122 . The amplifier circuit  12  outputs an amplified audio signal via the collector C and an amplifying factor of the amplifier circuit  12  can be adjusted by changing a resistance of the variable resistor  124 . 
     The single shot trigger circuit  13  can be connected to the amplifier circuit  12  and generates a pulse width modulation (PWM) signal according to the amplified audio signal. In this embodiment, the single shot trigger circuit  13  includes a 555 timer chip  130 , a third resistor  131 , a first capacitor  132 , and a second capacitor  133 . The 555 timer chip  130  has the following pins listed in Table 1. 
                         TABLE 1               Pin Label   Purpose                  GND   Ground, low level (0 V)         TRIG     OUT rises, and interval starts, when this input falls below           ⅓ VCC.       OUT   This output is driven to VCC or GND.       RESET   A timing interval may be interrupted by driving this input to           GND.       CVOL   “Control” access to the internal voltage divider (by           default, ⅔ VCC).       THRES   The interval ends when the voltage at THRES is greater than           at CVOL.       DIS   Open collector output; may discharge a capacitor between           intervals.       VCC   Positive supply voltage is usually between 3 and 15 V.                    
The pins VCC and RESET can be directly connected to a direct current (DC) voltage source VCC. The pin VCC can be also grounded through the third resistor  131  and the first capacitor  132 . The pins THRES and DIS can be grounded through the first capacitor  132 . The pin CVOL can be grounded through the second capacitor  133 . The pin GND can be grounded. The pin TRIG can be connected to the collector C of the transistor  124  for receiving the amplified audio signal. The pin OUT can be configured for outputting the PWM signal. The PWM signal rises when the amplified audio signal falls below ⅓ VCC (can be other thresholds in other embodiments) and otherwise falls.
 
     The single chip processor  14  can be connected to the single shot trigger circuit  13  and generates a driving signal according to the PWM signal. In one embodiment, the single chip processor  14  can be an 89C051 single chip and includes a power pin VCC, a ground pin GND, a general purpose input output (GPIO) pin GPIO 1 , a serial clock line (SCL) pin SCL, and a serial data line (SDA) pin SDA. The power pin VCC can be connected to the DC voltage source VCC, the ground pin GND can be grounded, the GPIO pin GPIO 1  can be connected to the pin OUT of the 555 timer chip  130  for receiving the PWM signal. The pins SCL and SDA can be two bidirectional open-drain line interfaces of an inter-integrated circuit (I 2 C) bus and output the driving signal. 
     The driver circuit  15  can be connected to the single chip processor  14  and generates driving voltages of the light module  16 . The driver circuit  15  includes a light emitting diode (LED) driver chip  150  and a fourth resistor  151 . The LED driver chip  150  can be SAA1064 chip and includes a power pin VD 0 , a ground pin GND, two slave address input pins AD 0 , AD 1 , an SCL pin SCL, an SDA pin SDA, and six segment output pins P 0 -P 5 . The power pin VD  0  can be directly connected to the DC voltage source VCC, the ground pin GND can be grounded, the slave address input pins AD 0 , AD 1  can be connected to the DC voltage source VCC through the fourth resistor  151 , the SCL pin SCL can be connected to the SCL pin SCL of the single chip processor  14 , and the SDA pin SDA can be connected to the SDA pin SDA of the single chip processor  14 . The segment output pints P 0 -P 6  output the driving voltages. 
     The light module  16  can be connected to the driver circuit  15  and lights according to the driving voltages to reflect the amplitude of the audio signal in real-time. In this embodiment, the light module  16  includes two units  16   a ,  16   b , each of which includes a red LED  161 , a green LED  162 , a blue LED  163 , and three fifth resistors  164 . Anodes of the LEDs  161 ,  162 ,  163  can be connected to the segment output pins P 0 -P 5  respectively through the fifth resistor  164 . The LEDs  161 ,  162 ,  163  can be driven to light and the intensity/brightness can be proportional to the amplitude of the audio signal. 
     As such, the computing device  10  can play the digital audio data (e.g., music) where the loudness of the digital audio data can be represented with light effects. 
     It will be understood that the above particular embodiments are shown and described by way of illustration only. The principles and the features of the present disclosure may be employed in various and numerous embodiment thereof without departing from the scope of the disclosure as claimed. The above-described embodiments illustrate the possible scope of the disclosure but do not restrict the scope of the disclosure.