Patent Publication Number: US-6659617-B1

Title: Illuminated jewelery

Description:
The present invention concerns improvements relating to illuminated jewellery, and more specifically, relates to a method of and an article of jewellery for generating attractive compound optical effects. More particularly, though not exclusively, the optical effects can simulate naturally occurring optical effects such as sparkle and scintillation or can generate artificial optical effects such as ripple and pulsed lighting. 
     BACKGROUND 
     A jewel stone is an optical system that is manufactured from material that is not opaque to light. It may be a natural mineral or a manufactured artificial mineral or optical compound. The design is such that when illuminated and viewed from the front the light falling upon it is largely refracted, internally reflected and returned to the front so that the jewel stone appears bright. The refraction and reflection process may also change the colour of the light emitted after passing through the jewel stone and re-emerging. Jewellery including one or more jewel stones is generally designed so that it does not pass light from the front to the rear. Thus when illuminated from the front and viewed from the rear, the jewel stones appear dull. 
     The process of design and manufacture of jewellery often involves cutting the mineral into carefully designed angles and facets that are intended to achieve the desired optical effects of causing the front surface to sparkle or scintillate as the refraction and reflection occurs. Such optical effects occur when the jewel stones catch external light at certain incident angles and reflect or diffuse the light. 
     Scintillation is the word generally associated with jewellery that sparkles. The scintillation effect is most pronounced when correctly designed jewels are illuminated with a point source such as a candle and the jewel is moved through some angular rotation. Very small angular movements can provide substantial scintillation by virtue of the multiple internal reflections refractions and dispersions which are given words such as fire and brilliance. 
     Although jewel stones are generally designed to have optical effect, when external light is not strong enough, little optical effect including scintillation effect occurs and the colours of the jewel stones are not readily visible. Further, when there is no relative movement between jewellery, the viewer and external light, jewel stones do not produce any optical effect even if enough ambient light is present. 
     Artificial illumination of a jewel in an article of jewellery has previously been described in our co-pending International patent application WO-A-99/23906. The jewel of a known cut, e.g. a brilliant cut, is artificially illuminated in such a way as to simulate realistic optimum natural illumination. This type of illumination generates simulated natural optical effects in the jewel such as sparkle, scintillation and glow. This is achieved by a jewel of the article of jewellery being illuminated by light emitting diodes (LEDs) and the article including a digital controller for controlling the LEDs to emit light pulses which are variable in duration and intensity. The pattern of light pulses emitted from the LEDs illuminating the jewel can be varied to simulate the natural optical effects. 
     An object of the present invention is to provide improvements to the concepts described in the above International patent application. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present inventors have devised a novel jewellery structure which when illuminated can provide enhanced optical effects that are highly attractive. In its broadest aspect, the present invention resides in an article of jewellery comprising an artificially illuminated compound jewel. In particular, improved optical effects are generated as a result of the interaction between the optical effects of each of the component parts of the compound jewel when at least one of those component parts is artificially illuminated. 
     Preferably at least two of the component parts are illuminated so that despite the external lighting conditions, the optical interaction effects between the at least two component parts can be produced. 
     According to a more specific aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article of jewellery for generating an attractive composite optical effect, the article of jewellery comprising: a compound jewel having first and second portions with different optical properties; and a light source for artificially illuminating at least the first portion of the compound jewel, the compound jewel and light source being arranged to generate the composite optical effect from the artificially illuminated first portion and from the second portion when the same is naturally or artificially illuminated. 
     The present invention may also be considered to be an article of jewellery arranged to simulate natural optical effects or create enhanced visual effects, the article comprising a compound jewel and a light source incorporated in the article of jewellery for emitting light so as to illuminate at least a part of the compound jewel. 
     A compound jewel, as referred to hereinafter, is to be understood to be at least one jewel mounted within another larger jewel. Accordingly, a compound jewel has at least two different components each having its own set of optical properties. These sets of optical properties are different from each other due to the inherent difference in physical size of the components. However, the sets of optical properties can be selected to have different light-transmission characteristics and different reflectance and refraction properties by the use of different materials for each component. The components are selected to give a desired visual output due to the combined optical effects generated when at least one of the jewels (components) is illuminated. 
     The term ‘jewel’ is to be construed broadly throughout this description to mean any article or material having optical reflective and/or refractive properties. Examples of such jewels are one or more precious stones such as diamonds or rubies, semi-precious stones, imitations of these stones made from artificial materials or even small reflective metallic objects. These jewels may be combined aesthetically as desired. 
     Generally, the compound jewel can be mounted to an attractive metal support that has formations provided on it enabling it to be suspended as in the case of a necklace or pinned as in the case of a brooch. 
     One or more of the jewels are illuminated by light sources incorporated in the article of jewellery. In an embodiment of the present invention, the illumination is by way of light pulses that are variable in intensity and duration in a similar manner to that described in the above-mentioned co-pending International patent application. Using a digital controller, the light pulses can be generated under the control of a software program to produce the desired optical output. 
     Preferably, the or each light source comprises a set of miniature coloured LEDs. If a red LED, a green LED and a blue LED are used, then advantageously each light source can produce any desired colour output dependant on the way in which the LEDs are driven, namely by controlling the amounts of light produced from each coloured LED. Advantageously, it becomes possible to contrast the illumination of one jewel (component) with that of the other and an improved range of visual effects can easily be generated. 
     Preferably, a two-component compound jewel is provided with two different independently controllable light sources. Each component of the compound jewel can be illuminated in a different colour to provide desired contrasting optical effects. The illumination colours and intensities can be varied over time advantageously to obtain a continually changing attractive visual effect. 
     More specifically, the first jewel, can be a so called “Precious Jewel” (PJ) and is the smaller stone of the two. The PJ may comprise any material with suitable optical properties from quartz to diamond and is usually cut in any way that produces attractive light refraction and reflection. 
     The second jewel can be a larger and generally plainer “jewel” which is designated a “Silver Sea” (SS). The SS may comprise a material that is of a lower cost than the PJ. For example, the SS may comprise any of a large number of natural or artificial quartz materials sometimes with deliberate inclusions for effect. The SS is prepared by a quartz material stone being shaped and polished to give any one of a number of attractive and suitable finishes. 
     In this arrangement, the compound jewel is made by cutting a hole in the front face of the SS and mounting the PJ together with its associated illuminating LEDs within this hole. Thus creating a “Precious Jewel set in a Silver Sea”. The hole can be central to the SS or alternatively, it can be off-centre depending upon the particular aesthetic design of the jewellery. 
     In one practical implementation, the illumination of the SS is arranged to be complimentary to the PJ. For example, the SS may be illuminated in white light and the PJ illuminated in blue light. By digital control of the respective LEDs, the colours and intensities may, over time, be varied to maintain a continuously changing attractive visual effect. Generally, both the SS and the PJ have their own independent illuminating LEDs suitable digitally controlled although it is not fundamental to the present invention and the compound jewel may be illuminated by a single LED source to produce a limited range of colours and contrasts. 
     It is possible to provide a compound jewel with three or more components. In this case, two or more relatively small jewels can be provided within a relatively larger jewel. Also each jewel can carry its own respective illumination source with all of the different light sources being under the control of a low-power PIC microprocessor for example. 
     A digital program may be stored in the illumination controller for allowing the apparent transmutation of the PJ and the SS into other jewels having different optical characteristics. The program can control the individual coloured LEDs of the light sources such that outputs from these different coloured LEDs may be combined to create broadly any colour at any intensity. By mixing the outputs of the LEDs, different colours of illumination can advantageously be created and used to give the appearance that the type of PJ or SS in the article has been changed. This provides the user with the ability to change the appearance of his or her jewellery without having to change the article of jewellery itself. 
     The desired colour range of one of the jewels may be selected from a sequential series by use of touch pads on the article of jewellery. This advantageously enables the article to be miniaturised whilst still retaining adaptability. Once the desired colour range for the jewel has been reached the program can deliver various intensities over time within the selected colour range. 
     Preferably, the power supply is from a single ultra-low voltage battery, such as 1.2 Volts and the power supply circuit of the article of jewellery is arranged to step up this low voltage to a level (typically 3.0 Volts) which is suitable to drive the light source and an illumination controller, such as the PIC microcontroller. In an embodiment of the present invention, the voltage is stepped up under the control of a microelectronic switching power supply. 
     As the battery cells typically are have the largest volume of any of the components and weigh the most out of any of the components, this improvement allows the jewellery design to be fabricated in a small volume with a lower weight. This improvement enables the article of jewellery to be realised in a small compact package for example as in a cube with dimensions of 12 mm. 
     The present invention also extends to a method of generating an attractive composite optical effect in an article of jewellery comprising a compound jewel with first and second portions having different optical properties, the method comprising: artificially illuminating a first portion of the compound jewel; and artificially or naturally illuminating a second portion of the compound jewel, the combined effect of the illumination of both portions providing the composite optical effect. 
     The step of artificially or naturally illuminating a second portion of the compound jewel may comprise artificially illuminating the second portion independently of the first portion to provide different illumination of the first and second portions. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 a  is a front view of an article of jewellery incorporating a compound jewel of a first embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 1 b  is a rear view the article of jewellery of FIG. 1 with its metal cover removed and showing the electronic components of its illumination system; 
     FIG. 1 c  is a series of sectional and non-sectional, side and rear views of the article of jewellery of FIGS. 1 a  and  1   b;    
     FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a PIC microprocessor board and an LED light source of the illumination system used in a second embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a power supply board of the illumination system used in the second embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 4 a  is a front view of an article of jewellery incorporating a compound jewel of a third embodiment of the present invention; and 
     FIG. 4 b  is a set of sectional and non-sectional, rear and side views of the article of jewellery shown in FIG. 4 a.   
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     Referring now to FIG. 1 a , an article of jewellery  10  is shown according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The article of jewellery  10  comprises a compound jewel  12  which is made up of two jewels; a relatively large jewel  14  and a smaller jewel  16  mounted within the large jewel  14 . The large jewel  14  has a square-shaped hole  18  cut out of its front face  20  in which the small jewel  16  is placed and mounted. An electronic control circuit is provided on the rear face  21  of the large jewel  14  and is protected by a metal housing  22 . The physical arrangement of the rear face  21  is described later with reference to FIG. 1 b.    
     The front face  20  of the compound jewel  12  has a pair of touch-sensitive electrical contacts  24  provided therein as part of the aesthetic design of the article  10 . The miniature metallic contacts  24  are provided for inputting basic user instructions into the electronic control circuit (See FIG. 1 b ) and these instructions are responsible for the selection of the particular illumination of the article  10 . Each contact  24  has a semicircular shape and together they make up an ‘S’-shaped touch-sensitive switch. The contacts are formed by an ‘S’-shaped groove being cut out in the front face  20  of the large jewel  14  and metal being is set into the groove. Each of the contacts  24  is wired to the electronic control circuit which can sense when a finger covers the contacts  24 . It does this by sensing the change of resistance when a weak conductive link is formed between the contacts by the user&#39;s finger. 
     The article  10  is suspended from a chain  26  such that it can be worn as a pendant. A formation  28  (see FIG. 1 b ) in the metal housing  22  is provided at the rear face  21  of the article. This formation  28  enables the connection of the chain  26  to the article  10 . 
     The small jewel  16  is embedded within the large jewel  14 . The small jewel  16  has a diameter of approximately 5 mm and is a so called “Precious Jewel” (PJ)  16 . In this embodiment, the PJ  16  is made from a high-quality quartz material shaped in a brilliant cut that produces sharp attractive light refraction and reflection. However, the PJ  16  can be formed from another material such as diamond and can also be cut in other different jewel cuts. 
     The large jewel  14  has a diameter of approximately 25 mm and has plainer (duller) more diffuse optical characteristics than the small jewel  16 . In this way, the two jewels  14 ,  16  have contrasting optical characteristics. The large jewel  14  is referred to as a “Silver Sea” (SS)  14 . In this embodiment, the SS  14  is formed from a lower-cost quartz material than the material of the PJ  16 . The SS  14  is prepared by the quartz material stone being shaped and polished to give an attractive finish. 
     Referring now to FIG. 1 b , the physical layout of the components on the rear face  21  of the article  10  is shown. The article  10  comprises an illumination system for illuminating both the small and the large jewels  16 ,  14  of the compound jewel  12 . In particular, a first multiple-colour LED package  30  is provided for illuminating the small jewel  16 , and a second multiple-colour LED package  32  for illuminating the large jewel  14 . Each LED package  30 ,  32  generates selectable multiple-coloured light output from a group of three LEDs  34  (one red, one green and one blue) provided adjacent each other in the package. 
     Each LED package  30 ,  32  is individually wired to the electronic control circuit which can control the light output in terms of its intensity, duration, colour and frequency. This is achieved by the electronic control circuit comprising a PIC microprocessor which generates variable intensity digital drive pulses in a way that has been previously described in our co-pending International patent application WO-A-99/23906. It is to be appreciated that the contents of this International patent application are incorporated herein by reference. The positions of the components  36  which form part of the electronic control circuit are illustrated in FIG. 1 b.    
     The power supply for the PIC microprocessor is provided by two Nickel Metal Hydride rechargeable batteries  38 . The power is regulated at 3.0 Volts by a voltage regulator device  36 . 
     As mentioned above, the compound jewel  12  is formed by cutting out the square-shaped hole  18  in the front face  20  of the SS  14  and mounting the PJ  16  together with the illuminating LED packages  30 ,  32  within this hole  18 . The PJ  16  and the LED packages  30 ,  32  are integrated into a single assembly  33  which slots into the hole  18  and is secured in place by two mounting screws  34  which are not visible on the front face  20  of the article  10 . In this embodiment, the hole  18  is positioned to be off centre to the SS  14 . However, in other embodiments, the hole  18  can be positioned centrally to give a different aesthetic design. 
     The electrical connection to each of the LED packages  30 ,  32  is achieved using flying leads (not shown) to the electronic control circuit. However, this could readily be substituted by fixed leads to internal contact points in the hole  18  with complimentary contacts provided on the assembly  33 , such that when the assembly is correctly seated in the hole  18 , power and control signals can be supplied to the LED packages  30 ,  32  via the contacts. 
     The two LED packages  30 ,  32  can be controlled independently of each other and are arranged to provide contrasting illumination of the compound jewel  12 . Accordingly, when appropriately illuminated, the article of jewellery  10  presents an optical image which can be described as a “Precious Jewel set in a Silver Sea”. 
     A digital program is stored in the PIC microprocessor for allowing the apparent transmutation of the PJ  16  and the SS  14  into other jewels having different optical characteristics. The program controls the individual red, green and blue LEDs  35  of the first and second LED packages  30 ,  32 . Outputs from these different coloured LEDs  35  may be combined to create broadly any colour at any intensity. By mixing the outputs of the LEDs packages, different colours of illumination can be created and used to give the appearance that the type of PJ  16  or SS  14  in the article  10  has changed. For example, illumination by white light would resemble the appearance of artificial diamonds, pink light would give the appearance of amethyst, golden/orange light would give the appearance of topaz, with blue light simulating the appearance of sapphire, green light simulating the appearance of emeralds, etc. Therefore, natural optical effects seen in a particular colour jewel can be simulated by first determining a range of illumination for the jewel and then generating artificial illumination variations within the selected colour range. 
     Various simple means of controlling and selecting the colour range can be used. In the present embodiment, the colour range of the PJ  16  is selected from a sequential series by placing a finger on the surface of the SS  14  where the miniature S-shaped metallic contacts  24  are provided. The program running on the PIC microprocessor cycles through the different colours until the user&#39;s finger is removed from the contacts  24 . This enables the desired colour range for the PJ  16  to be reached. The program then continues cyclically to deliver various intensities over time within the selected colour range. 
     The above procedure can be repeated for setting the illumination colour range of the SS  14 . For the most dramatic effects, the colour range of the SS  14  is selected to be in contrast to the illumination of the PJ  16 . 
     Referring now to FIG. 1 c , as can be best seen in the rear view of the assembled article  10 , the article  10  has a pair of charging terminals  40  for connection to a charging stand (not shown). The charging terminals  40  are arranged in novel and an aesthetically attractive manner. In particular, the charging terminals  40  are provided as part of a fixing screw  42  which is used to secure the metal housing  22  of the article  10  to the rear surface of the large jewel  14 . The provision of a recharging facility allows a user to recharge the batteries  24  after a session of wearing and using the article  10 . 
     Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, a second embodiment of the present invention is shown. This embodiment is similar to the first embodiment and so only the differences will be described hereinafter. In addition, the same reference numerals will be used for corresponding parts of the embodiments. 
     The main differences between the embodiments are that in this embodiment, only the small jewel  16  of the compound jewel  12  is artificially illuminated by the provision of a multiple-colour LED package  30 . The large jewel  14  receives ambient illumination externally from the article. In addition, the power supply is provided from a single low-voltage battery which has its voltage stepped up to the desired level. Also, the illumination control circuit is provided on two separate printed circuit boards rather than a single one as in the first embodiment. This provides the benefit that the boards can be arranged to minimise the space occupied by the circuit within the article of jewellery. 
     In FIG. 2 a control board  50  is shown in detail. The control board  50  has at its heart a PIC microprocessor  52  which is used to control the operation of the jewel illumination system  54 . In this embodiment, the jewel illumination system  54  comprises a single LED package  56  containing red, green and blue LEDs  58 . The control board  50  comprises a driver circuit  60  for supplying current to each of the red, green and blue LEDs  58  which are commoned at one side to the driver circuit  60 . The other sides of the LEDs  58  are connected individually to the PIC microprocessor  52 . Accordingly, the driver circuit can be relatively simple as control of the LED selection is carried out by the PIC microprocessor  52 . 
     The PIC microprocessor  52  is a PIC 12C508-04SM device. This device has the ability to store a control program for sequentially pulsing the LEDs  58  to generate a corresponding light pulse from a pulsed LED  58 . In addition, the PIC microprocessor  52  stores a digital program specifically designed to drive the LEDs  58  in a way such as to stimulate natural optical effects, such as natural sparkle and scintillation, and also to generate artificial optical effects. A detailed description of how to drive the LEDs  58  in such a way is given in our co-pending International Patent application WO-A-99/23906. 
     The PIC microprocessor  52  is connected to a power supply board  62  (see FIG. 3) which provides power lines  64  and control lines  66  providing user selection signals from the S-shaped metallic contacts  24 . 
     Referring now to FIG. 3, the power supply board  62  is shown. The power supply board  62  houses a micro-electronic switching power supply  68  and an analogue condition sensing circuit  70 . The micro-electronic switching power supply  68  is a low-power compact size MAX1678EUA device. 
     The power supply board  62  essentially takes power from a single 1.2 Volt Nickel Metal Hydride rechargeable battery  72  and, by use of the micro-electronic power supply  68 , steps this voltage up to the 3.0 Volts. This voltage signal is then supplied to the control board  50  such that it can be used to operate the driver circuit  60  of the LEDs  58 , and the PIC microprocessor  52 . 
     The condition sensing circuit  70  functions to sense activity at the S-shaped contacts  24  and to generate appropriate control signals for the micro-electronic power supply  68  and the PIC microprocessor  52 . In particular, the condition sensing circuit detects changes in resistance when a user places his or her finger (not shown) across the two S-shaped contacts  24  because a weak conductive link is formed between the contacts effectively altering the resistance therebetween. When the change in resistance has reached a threshold value, the condition sensing circuit generates an appropriate signal indicative of this. Such signals are transmitted to the PIC microprocessor  52  and used in the selection algorithms implemented there. 
     It is to be appreciated that the above described power supply board  62  and the microprocessor control board  50  could advantageously be used in the first embodiment without difficulty. In this case, only the single 1.2 Volt rechargeable battery  72  would be required rather than the two batteries  38  shown in FIGS. 1 b  and  1   c , and a single LED package  30 ,  56  could be powered and controlled. However, it would also readily be possible to replace the PIC microprocessor  52  of FIG. 3 with a slightly larger PIC microprocessor or to adapt it to control and operate multiple LED packages  30 ,  32 . 
     Referring now to FIGS. 4 a  and  4   b , an article of jewellery  110  according to a third embodiment of the present invention is shown. The article of jewellery  110  incorporates a compound jewel  112  together with an illumination system. The article  110  is similar in many ways to the article of jewellery  10  described in the first embodiment and so for the sake of brevity, only the differences will be described hereinafter. 
     The article  110  is in the shape of an oval stone. The compound jewel  112  comprises a relatively large oval-shaped jewel  114  within which is provided a smaller round-shaped jewel  116 . The small jewel  116  has a relative size to the large jewel  114  which is significantly greater than that of the small jewel  16  in the first embodiment. Accordingly, the hole  118  in the large jewel  114 , for accommodating the small jewel  116 , is correspondingly larger. Also, the small jewel  116  has formations  120  within it which together resemble the shape of an oyster. 
     The compound jewel  112  has a single illumination source (multiple-colour LED package)  122  for illuminating the small jewel  116 . The large jewel  114  is not artificially illuminated and relies on ambient external light for its optical effects. 
     A pair of user input contacts  124  are provided in a different relative location as compared to the contacts  24  of the first embodiment. However, the function of these contacts  124  is the same. 
     Having described particular preferred embodiments of the present invention, it is to be appreciated that the embodiments in question are exemplary only and that variations and modifications such as will occur to those possessed of the appropriate knowledge and skills may be made without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. For example, whilst the present invention has been described with a compound jewels having a single small jewel (PJ) set into a large jewel (SS), it must be appreciated that the present invention can be extended to a compound jewel having a plurality of small jewels mounted within a single large jewel. Also each of these smaller jewels could be arranged to have its own illumination system such that several Precious Jewels could be provided within the same Silver Sea.