Patent Publication Number: US-2010121498-A1

Title: System for collecting energy to identify with an object of interest

Description:
This application claims benefit of Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/051,631, filed May 8, 2008. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to the storage and use of energy. More particularly, the present invention relates to identification of an object of interest, collection of energy from the object of interest and utilization of the identified, collected energy to highlight the object of interest. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     There are many individually identifiable sources of energy in the environment. These identifiable sources can be people, animals, and plants, inanimate forces such as the wind, sun, or ocean waves, or physical objects in motion. Identifiable sources of energy may include multiple point sources of energy, such as a number of identifiable objects found in a particular outdoor location having wind, sun and physical objects acting as reflectors for each. 
     Such identifiable sources of energy have multiple uses. Energy storage devices, such as a batteries or capacitors, may collect energy converted from the electromagnetic or kinetic energy provided by the identifiable objects to then drive sound speakers, sources of artificial light such as LEDs, and even smell generators that blend stored chemicals to emit a variety of fragrances. For example, it is now common to identify the sun as a source of electromagnetic energy and to collect a portion of that energy in a battery by way of conversion from electromagnetic energy to chemical electric charge for accumulation in a battery. Such collected energy may then be extracted by a lamp circuit to provide illumination in the evening hours or to power other electrical apparatus. 
     Although the utilitarian value of energy collected and stored in a battery is seen in the many electrical appliances, vehicles and tools of everyday life, a need continues to exist to use such energy to enhance emotional experiences in other contexts such as in entertainment, educational, religious, healing and inter-personal relationships. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An Identifiable Energy Storage Media (IESM) device is disclosed that includes a representation of an object and a battery connected to the representation, the battery having stored energy generated from the object. 
     In one embodiment of the invention, a method is disclosed that includes identifying an object of interest, collecting energy generated from the object of interest, storing the electrical energy in a battery, capturing a representation of the object of interest, placing the representation and the battery in a display device, and highlighting the representation of the object of interest using electrical energy collected from the object of interest. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The components in figures are not necessarily to scale emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principals of the invention. Like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the different views. 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an embodiment illustrating a photovoltaic cell to a battery to collect energy from an object of interest; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of an embodiment illustrating an LED light connected to the battery to illuminate a photograph of the object of interest using energy stored in the battery; 
         FIG. 3  is a flow diagram of one embodiment that illustrates identifying an object of interest, generating energy from the object of interest and storing the energy for later use; 
         FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of one embodiment that illustrates use of stored energy to eliminate a representation of an object; 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a visual display unit configured to collect energy generated from an object of interest; 
         FIG. 6  is one embodiment of a schematic illustrating a visual display unit configured to highlight a representation of an object of interest using illumination from a light source. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     An apparatus, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, includes a representation of an object of interest and a battery connected to the representation, the battery having stored therein energy collected from the object of interest. Although the description which follows refers to a single “object of interest,” such as an individual football or basketball player, it is understood that an “object of interest” may include many individual objects of interest forming a collective “object of interest” for energy collection, such as would be found with collection of radiated and reflected sunlight at particular geographic location on a sunny day. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates one embodiment of the Identifiable Energy Storage Media (IESM) device, preferably a display unit  100 , for collecting energy from an object of interest for storage in a battery. The display unit  100  has an energy collector  102  detachably connected to a power terminal  104  on a housing  106 . The power terminal  104  is in electrical communication with a battery  108  through a power supply line  110  so that the battery  108  may collect energy provided by energy collector  102 . In the illustrated embodiment, the energy collector is preferably a photovoltaic cell to convert electromagnetic energy generated by or reflected off of an object of interest (not shown) to a current to charge the battery  108 . In an alternative embodiment, the energy collector  102  may be a Ferraday device, piezoelectric device, microphone or other electronic device useful for converting linear motion, elastic deformation or acoustic wave energy, respectively, to an electric current for collection of the energy in a battery. Examples of a Ferraday device include a linear electrical generator, a flywheel apparatus attached to a dynamo or other device suitable for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy so as to convert and collect, for example, the motion of a person into energy for storage in the battery  108 . 
     A voltage regulator  112  is connected to the power supply line  110  to maintain an approximately constant line voltage to charge the battery  108 . The output of voltage regulator  112  is electrically connected to a user interface  114 , memory  116  and microcontroller  118  through device supply line  120  to provide operating power to such components ( 114 ,  116 ,  118 ). The user interface  114  enables user control of energy collection timing, such as “start collection” and “stop collection.” In a preferred embodiment, the user interface  114  includes a push button to provide an indication for the microcontroller  118  to initiate collection of energy through energy collector  102 . 
     In an alternative embodiment, a recording module  122  is detachably connected to the housing  106  through collection module terminal  124  and is in electrical communication with microcontroller  118  to receive control commands, power supply line  110  for “recording” user feedback (such as with a blinking LED light) and device supply line  120  for operating power. The recording module receives data associated with collection of energy at energy collector  102 . In a preferred embodiment, the recording module  122  is a light sensor to measure light amplitude over time and includes a recording LED (not shown) to indicate that recording is taking place. In such an embodiment, the microcontroller  118  receives light amplitude data for storage in memory  114  to enable subsequent retrieval by a user. Alternatively, the recording module  122  may consist of more than one light sensors used in combination and filtered with spectral filters to gather data relating to amplitude in different spectral regions over time to enable subsequent use of colored or tinted light sources. 
     Although the battery  108  is illustrated as contained within the housing  106 , in an alternative embodiment, the battery is detachably connected to the housing  106  at battery terminal  126  to allow the collected energy to be used in a different device. Also, although only a single energy collector  102  is illustrated, in an alternative embodiment, a secondary battery (not shown) or energy source may be provided through an auxiliary power terminal  128  to supplement power collected and stored in the battery  108 . 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a block diagram of one embodiment that has a playback module detachably coupled to a battery in a display device that may be used to highlight a representation of an object of interest. In this embodiment, the recording module (See  FIG. 1 ) is removed and replaced with a playback module  200  detachably coupled at collection module terminal  124  to the display device  106 . The playback module  200  is in electrical communication with the battery  108  through power supply line  110 . The playback module  200  is preferably a light source such as an LED, positioned in complementary opposition to a representation of on object of interest  202 . Or, the playback module may be a speaker, scent machine or other apparatus that enables a user to associate power previously collected in the battery  108  with an associated representation of the object of interest. The playback module  200  is in electrical communication with microcontroller  118  to receive a playback command, such as a control command indicating “lamp on” or “lamp off.” In a preferred embodiment, the representation of an object of interest is a photograph of a person or place from which the energy in the battery was collected and the photograph may be illuminated by the LED light in the playback module  200 . Alternatively, the representation may be a physical sample of the object of interest, such as sand from a beach, a patch from a uniform or other indicia of the origin of the collected energy. 
     In an alternative embodiment, the representation of the object of interest  202 , such as a photograph, signature or physical sample, is placed on or coupled directly to the battery  108  having stored energy generated from the object. In this embodiment, the representation is preferably not highlighted by a playback module, but may exist apart from the playback module to provide power to another apparatus such as a watch, flashlight or other electrical device. 
       FIG. 3  is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method for collecting energy from an object of interest. An object of interest is identified (block  302 ) and an energy collector directed toward (such as for use with a photovoltaic cell) or coupled to (such as for use with a Faraday or piezoelectric device) the object of interest (block  304 ). If the user triggers the display device to start energy collection (block  306 ), energy collection begins (block  308 ) and is stored in an electricity storage unit, preferably a battery (block  310 ). In an alternative embodiment, if energy versus time data is collected (block  312 ), then energy versus time data collection is started (block  314 ) and energy collection begins (block  308 ). Preferably after energy collection is completed (block  316 ), the microcontroller (not shown) determines whether or not energy versus time data collection was initiated (block  318 ), stops such data collection if necessary (block  320 ), and energy collection stops (block  320 ). In an alternative embodiment, a representation of the object of interest is collected (block  322 ), preferably a photograph, sound or scent recording of the object of interest, and a representation is subsequently associated with the display device (block  324 ) such as by physically attaching the representation to the display device (not shown) if such representation is a tangible object suitable for physical attachment. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a flow diagram of one embodiment using a display device to highlight a representation of the object of interest using energy collected from the same object of interest. The display device is turned on (block  402 ) through the user interface (not shown). If energy versus time data is available (block  404 ), the data is retrieved from memory (block  406 ) and energy provided the battery (not shown) is regulated versus time (block  408 ) to drive a playback module (block  410 ) to highlight the representation of the object of interest, preferably illuminating said object of interest using LEDs. When the display device is either turned off either by the user through the user interface or by operation of battery depletion, (block  412 ), the playback module ceases highlighting (block  414 ) the representation. In an alternative embodiment, if sound data is available (block  416 ), the playback module  410  is activated (block  410 ) and sound playback begins (block  418 ). 
       FIG. 5  illustrates one implementation of the display device illustrated in  FIG. 1  configured for an energy collection and recording mode. Energy collector  102  preferably a photovoltaic cell, is connected to charger terminal  502  for communication of current to battery  108 . Shunt voltage regulator  504  is connected to charger terminal  502  to set the maximum collection voltage, preferably to 5.1 volts. A recording module, preferably light sensor  506 , is coupled to voltage regulator  508  through collection module terminal  510  to receive power for operation. Light sensor  506  is operable to sample energy, in the form of light amplitude over time, for communication to non-volatile memory  512  for storage through microcontroller  514 . Preferably, collection module terminal  510  includes a recording LED across terminals 1 and 4 of collection module terminal  510  to flash once per second to indicate that recording is taking place. A user interface, preferably push button  516  is connected to the microcontroller  514  to selectively initiate energy collection. 
     In one display unit designed for use with a photovoltaic cell, the various elements of the display unit have the characteristics listed in Table 1 (See  FIGS. 5 and 6 ). 
     
       
         
           
               
               
               
             
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Characteristic 
                 Designation/Part Name 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
            
               
                   
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 CR1 
                 na 
                 1N4001 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 CR2 
                 5.1 
                 V 
                 1N5231 (Zener diode) 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 Q1 
                 na 
                 IRFZ34N (MOSFET) 
               
               
                   
                 Q2 
                 na 
                 2N4401 (MOSFET) 
               
               
                   
                 C1 
                 220 
                 na 
               
               
                   
                 C2 
                    0.1 
                 na 
               
               
                   
                 C3 
                    0.1 
                 na 
               
               
                   
                 C4 
                  10 
                 na 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 R1 
                 4.7K 
                 ohm 
                 na 
               
               
                   
                 R2 
                 4.7K 
                 ohm 
                 na 
               
               
                   
                 R4 
                 10K 
                 ohm 
                 na 
               
               
                   
                 R5 
                 10K 
                 ohm 
                 na 
               
               
                   
                 R6 
                 100K 
                 ohm 
                 na 
               
            
           
           
               
               
               
               
            
               
                   
                 U1 
                 NA 
                 PIC12F683 (Flash Microcontroller) 
               
               
                   
                 U2 
                 NA 
                 24LC256 (PROM) 
               
               
                   
                   
               
            
           
         
       
     
       FIG. 6  is a schematic diagram illustrating one implementation of the display device illustrated in  FIG. 2  and configured for a playback mode. During playback mode, the energy and energy data obtained during recording mode is used to highlight a representation of an object of interest. In this configuration, the recording module  506  and energy collector  102  are removed (see  FIG. 5 ) and the recording module is replaced with a playback module  602  detachably coupled to a playback module terminal  604 , preferably on LED light. A jumper  606  is removed and pushbutton  516  disengaged. Although illustrated as an LED  602 , the LED may be replaced by any suitable light source such as a standard filament-based bulb or fluorescent light source. Preferably, the light source would be capable of varying intensities for control by the microcontroller  514 . For example, the amplitude of illumination of the LED&#39;s  602  is controlled by a MOSFET  608  controlled by microcontroller  514  with reference to energy versus time data provided from memory  610 . A representation of the object of interest, preferably a photograph (not shown) is illuminated by the illuminating LED&#39;s  602 , preferably with the same intensity of light minute by minute as the energy was collected during the recording mode (see  FIG. 3 ). By way of example for the described implementation of  FIG. 6 , the display unit  100  may collect solar energy from an endangered landscape in Maui from 1:00 PM to 1:30 PM in the afternoon as scattered clouds pass overhead. Subsequently, the display unit  100  would show the photographed representation of the landscape as it darkened, brightened, and then darkened, while a clock on the user interface of the display unit  100  would show the time when the changes occurred. With the additional recording of spectral shifts provided by a plurality of light sensors in a recording module  506 , each sensor with a respective light filter to isolate predetermined spectral ranges. 
     While various implementations of the application have been described, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many more embodiments and implementations are possible that are within the scope of this invention.