Light bulb apparatus with antenna

Abstract

A lighting apparatus includes a metal plate, an insulation layer, a light source, a driver circuit and a wireless circuit. The metal plate includes an antenna area and a base area. The antenna area and the base area are on a same plane. The insulation layer is placed on the metal plate. The insulation layer has a top side and a bottom side. The metal plate is disposed on the bottom side of the insulation layer. The light source includes a LED module. The light source is disposed on the top side of the insulation layer. The driver circuit is electrically connected to the light source via a first conductive path. The wireless circuit is electrically connected to the antenna area of the metal plate via a second conductive path.

Claims

1. A lighting apparatus, comprising: a metal plate comprising an antenna area and a base area, wherein the antenna area and the base area are on a same plane; an insulation layer placed on the metal plate, wherein the insulation layer has a top side and a bottom side, the metal plate is disposed on the bottom side of the insulation layer; a light source comprising a LED module, where the light source is disposed on the top side of the insulation layer; a driver circuit electrically connected to the light source via a first conductive path; and a wireless circuit electrically connected to the antenna area of the metal plate via a second conductive path, wherein the insulation layer is placed on a top metal side of the metal plate, the driver circuit is placed on a bottom side of the metal plate, the top metal side is opposite to the bottom metal side.

2. The lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the antenna area is an elongated shape, the elongated shape has a first end, a second end and a lateral side, the first end is connected to the base area, the second end is a free end, an elongated gap is disposed between the lateral side and the base area.

3. The lighting apparatus of claim 2, wherein the metal plate is consisted of the base area and the antenna area, the base area and the antenna area are parts of an unibody metal unit.

4. The lighting apparatus of claim 3, wherein an antenna surface of the antenna area and a base surface of the base area are on the same plane.

5. The lighting apparatus of claim 2, wherein an elongated insulation area of the insulation layer covers the antenna area.

6. The lighting apparatus of claim 5, wherein the wireless circuit is stacked upon the second conductive path.

7. The lighting apparatus of claim 6, wherein the second conductive path has an antenna electrode for electrically connecting the wireless circuit to the antenna area.

8. The lighting apparatus of claim 7, wherein an antenna excitation foil is disposed for connecting the antenna electrode to the antenna area.

9. The lighting apparatus of claim 6, wherein the second conductive path has a ground terminal for connecting the wireless circuit to a ground.

10. The lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first conductive path and the second conductive path are disposed on the insulation layer.

11. The lighting apparatus of claim 10, wherein the second conductive path has an antenna excitation foil electrically connected to the antenna area of the metal plate.

12. The lighting apparatus of claim 11, wherein the wireless circuit comprises a receiver circuit for receiving a first wireless signal from the antenna area and a transmitter circuit for transmitting a second wireless signal from the antenna area.

13. The lighting apparatus of claim 10, further comprising a covering layer, wherein the covering layer is made of an electrical insulation material, the first conductive path and the second conductive path are disposed between the covering layer and the insulation layer.

14. The lighting apparatus of claim 13, wherein the covering layer has a light opening for exposing the LED module of the light source.

15. The lighting apparatus of claim 13, wherein the wireless circuit and the LED module have portions protruding above a cover surface of the covering layer.

16. The lighting apparatus of claim 1, wherein the wireless circuit is integrated with the driver circuit on a driver plate.

17. The lighting apparatus of claim 16, wherein the driver plate has multiple pins passing through the metal plate and the insulation layer to insert into a socket for electrically connecting to the light source.

18. The lighting apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a bulb cap and a light passing cover, wherein the bulb cap encloses the driver plate, the bulb cap has an Edison cap for receiving an external power supplied to the driver circuit, the LED module emits a light passing through the light passing cover.

19. The lighting apparatus of claim 18, further comprising a connector ring with a first ring end connected to the light passing cover and with a second ring end connected to the bulb cap.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 illustrates a light source module example.

(2) FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded view of the example in FIG. 1.

(3) FIG. 3 illustrates a side view of the example in FIG. 1.

(4) FIG. 4 illustrates a zoom-up view of a section of the example of FIG. 1.

(5) FIG. 5 illustrates a light bulb device example.

(6) FIG. 6 illustrates an exploded view of the example in FIG. 5.

(7) FIG. 7 shows another embodiment.

(8) FIG. 8 shows a side view of the embodiment in FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(9) Please refer to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8. FIG. 7 illustrates components of a lighting apparatus. FIG. 8 shows a side view of stacked components in the example of FIG. 7. The same reference numerals refer to the same components among different drawings and may not be repeated in description if being mentioned for brevity.

(10) The lighting apparatus includes a metal plate 6601, an insulation layer 6608, a light source 6609, a driver circuit 6610 and a wireless circuit 6611.

(11) The driver 6610 may be integrated with the wireless circuit 6611 or be made as a separate module from the wireless circuit 611. The wireless circuit 6611 receives a wireless command from an external device. The wireless command may be decoded and then changes a responding procedure, e.g. turning on/off the light, changing a color temperature or intensity of the light source via the driver circuit 6610.

(12) The driver circuit 6610 may converts an external power source like 110V/220V alternating current source to a direct current source as a driving power to the LED module 66091 of the light source 6609, including rectifying, filtering or other processing.

(13) The metal plate 6601 includes an antenna area 6603 and a base area 6602.

(14) The antenna area 6603 and the base area 6602 are on a same plane. In some embodiments, the antenna area 6603 and the base area 6602 are made of a same metal plate with their shapes formed by using a stamping procedure for cutting unwanted area.

(15) In other words, the metal plate 6601 is not only used as a support base for supporting the light source 6609 and the insulation layer 6608, but also used as an antenna. With such design, no matter whether the wireless circuit 6611 is disposed at the same plane of the light source 6609 or integrated with the driver circuit 6610, the antenna is well disposed, without causing a shadow while not shielded by other components.

(16) In addition, such modular design makes manufacturing cost lowering down. The assembly of components is also enhanced.

(17) The insulation layer 6608 is placed on the metal plate 6602.

(18) The insulation layer 6608 has a top side 66081 and a bottom side 66082.

(19) The metal plate 6601 is disposed on the bottom side 6082 of the insulation layer 6608.

(20) The light source 6609 includes a LED module 66091. The light source 6609 is disposed on the top side 66081 of the insulation layer 6608.

(21) The driver circuit 6610 is electrically connected to the light source 6609 via a first conductive path 6613.

(22) The wireless circuit 6611 is electrically connected to the antenna area 6603 of the metal plate 6601 via a second conductive path 6614.

(23) In some embodiments, the antenna area is an elongated shape. The extending lever 311 shows an example of such antenna area as an elongated shape. Other shapes like curved strips may be used, not limited to straight segment shape antenna.

(24) In FIG. 7, the elongated shape has a first end 6606, a second end 6605 and a lateral side 6607.

(25) The first end 6606 is connected to the base area 6602.

(26) The second end 6605 is a free end.

(27) An elongated gap 6604 is disposed between the lateral side 6607 and the base area 6602.

(28) In some embodiments, the metal plate is consisted of the base area and the antenna area.

(29) The base area and the antenna area are parts of an unibody metal unit.

(30) In FIG. 8, an antenna surface 66031 of the antenna area 6603 and a base surface 66021 of the base area 6602 are on the same plane. In some embodiments, as mentioned above, the antenna area 6603 and the base area 6602 are made from the same unibody metal plate. They may share the same thickness and thus have one or two sides aligned with a same plane or same planes.

(31) In FIG. 7, an elongated insulation area 66082 of the insulation layer 6608 covers the antenna area 6603 with similar shapes. The covering may be completely or partially covering.

(32) In FIG. 8, the wireless circuit 6611 is stacked upon the second conductive path 6614.

(33) In FIG. 7, the second conductive path has an antenna electrode 6616 for electrically connecting the wireless circuit 6611 to the antenna area 6603.

(34) In some embodiments, an antenna excitation foil is disposed for connecting the antenna electrode to the antenna area. FIG. 2 shows an example of such antenna excitation foil 3311.

(35) In some embodiments, the second conductive path has a ground terminal for connecting the wireless circuit to a ground. FIG. 2 shows a ground terminal for guiding the wireless circuit to ground.

(36) In FIG. 8, the first conductive path 6613 and the second conductive path 6614 are disposed on the insulation layer 6608.

(37) In FIG. 8, the second conductive path 6614 has an antenna excitation foil electrically connected to the antenna area 6603 of the metal plate 6601.

(38) In FIG. 8, the wireless circuit includes a receiver circuit 66111 for receiving a first wireless signal from the antenna area 6603 and a transmitter circuit 66112 for transmitting a second wireless signal from the antenna area 6603.

(39) In FIG. 8, the lighting apparatus may also include a covering layer 665.

(40) The covering layer is made of an electrical insulation material.

(41) The first conductive path 6613 and the second conductive path 6614 are disposed between the covering layer 665 and the insulation layer 6608.

(42) In some embodiments, the covering layer 665 has a light opening 6651 for exposing the LED module 66091 of the light source.

(43) In some embodiments, the wireless circuit and the LED module have portions 6652, 6653 protruding above a cover surface 6654 of the covering layer 665.

(44) In FIG. 8, the insulation layer 6608 is placed on a top metal side 66011 of the metal plate 6601.

(45) The driver circuit is placed on a bottom side 66012 of the metal plate 6601. The top metal side 66011 is opposite to the bottom metal side 66012.

(46) In some embodiments, the wireless circuit is integrated with the driver circuit on a driver plate. FIG. 6 shows an example that has multiple driver circuit components like filters disposed on a driver plate 20. In some embodiments, the wireless circuit mentioned above may be partly or completely disposed on the driver plate 20.

(47) In FIG. 6, the driver plate 20 has multiple pins 201 passing through the metal plate and the insulation layer to insert into a socket for electrically connecting to the light source. FIG. 3 shows a socket 361 as an example. The socket may include an elastic receiver for hooking the pins when being inserted to keep electrical contact without need to welding, thus reducing manufacturing cost.

(48) In FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the lighting apparatus may also include a bulb cap 12 and a light passing cover 11.

(49) The bulb cap 12 encloses the driver plate 20.

(50) The bulb cap 12 has an Edison cap 50 for receiving an external power supplied to the driver circuit.

(51) The LED module emits a light passing through the light passing cover.

(52) In FIG. 6, the lighting apparatus may also include a connector ring 40 with a first ring end 401 connected to the light passing cover 11 and with a second ring end 402 connected to the bulb cap 12.

(53) Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows a component in a lighting apparatus.

(54) In FIG. 1, the module 30 includes a light source 36 and a wireless circuit 35. The wireless circuit 35 is connected to a ground terminal 352 guiding to a ground and an antenna terminal 351 guiding to an antenna area of a metal plate as mentioned above via an antenna excitation foil 3311. There is a gap 310 between the antenna area and the base area, as mentioned above. There is a covering layer 34 for covering a conductive layer with a first conductive path and a second conductive path.

(55) FIG. 2 shows an exploded view of the example in FIG. 1.

(56) In FIG. 2, an insulation layer 32 is placed between the metal plate 31 and the covering layer 34.

(57) A conductive layer 33 with a first conductive path 332 and a second conductive path 331, which are made of wires or conductive film strips.

(58) There is an antenna excitation foil 3311 for connecting to the extending metal lever 311, which serves as the antenna area mentioned above.

(59) FIG. 3 shows a side of the components mentioned above to more particularly illustrate the spatial relation among components.

(60) FIG. 4 shows a zoom-up view of the components mentioned above to show how these components are stacked and integrated.

(61) FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 shows a light bulb apparatus with component examples mentioned above to be assembled easily and efficiently as a light bulb device.

(62) The foregoing description, for purpose of explanation, has been described with reference to specific embodiments. However, the illustrative discussions above are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings.

(63) The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the techniques and their practical applications. Others skilled in the art are thereby enabled to best utilize the techniques and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.

(64) Although the disclosure and examples have been fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as being included within the scope of the disclosure and examples as defined by the claims.