LIGHTING APPARATUS FACILITATING READING

Abstract

The invention relates to a lighting device (LIGHT) of a graphic and/or textual content represented on any support and in particular of the paper type, characterized in that a light beam generated in a visible light spectrum is activated and periodically deactivated from the lighting device (LIGHT) according to successive cycles operated at a predetermined frequency (Fd) and in that the successive illumination periods each have a duration (T1) within a range of values from 15 to 30% of the duration (T) of the operated cycles.

Claims

1. A lighting device for facilitating the reading of graphical and/or textual content printed on a medium, the lighting device comprising: a control unit; and a lighting module configured to provide illumination in a visible light spectrum, of the graphical and/or textual content printed on the medium, said control unit and said lighting module being configured to: periodically activate and deactivate said illumination in successive cycles operated at a predetermined frequency; and operate successive illumination periods each having a duration in a range of 15 to 30% of said successive cycles.

2. The lighting device according to claim 1, wherein said predetermined frequency is within a range of values from 60 to 90 Hz.

3. The lighting device according to claim 2, wherein said illumination is generated from one or more LED-type elements.

4. The lighting device according to claim 1, wherein said device is one selected from a group consisting of: a desk lamp, a flashlight, a headlamp, a pen-lamp, a flashlight, a telephone lamp, a smartphone lamp, a lamp-watch, a key-door lamp, a ceiling lamp, a lamp-post, a bulb, a lighting tube, a projector, an automobile projector, an overhead projector, a luminous wall covering, a light carpet, a luminous bracelet, a light frame, a mini-lamp to be positioned on a book, a device configured for interior lighting and a device configured for outdoor lighting, urban or otherwise.

5. The lighting device according to claim 1, wherein values of said frequency and said duration of said periodic activation and deactivation of said illumination are adapted to prevent a brain of a reader prone to dyslexic disorder from transmitting a mirror image of the graphical and/or textual content between one cerebral hemisphere of their brain to the other.

6. A lighting device for facilitating the reading of graphical and/or textual content printed on paper, the lighting device comprising: a control unit; and a lighting module configured to provide illumination in a visible light spectrum, of the paper and graphical and/or textual content printed thereon, said control unit and said lighting module being configured to: periodically activate and deactivate said illumination in successive cycles operated at a predetermined frequency; and operate successive illumination periods each having a duration in a range of 15 to 30% of said successive cycles.

7. The lighting device according to claim 6, wherein said predetermined frequency is within a range of values from 60 to 90 Hz.

8. The lighting device according to claim 6, wherein said illumination is generated from one or more LED-type elements.

9. The lighting device according to claim 6, wherein said device is one selected from a group consisting of: a desk lamp, a flashlight, a headlamp, a pen-lamp, a flashlight, a telephone lamp, a smartphone lamp, a lamp-watch, a key-door lamp, a ceiling lamp, a lamp-post, a bulb, a lighting tube, a projector, an automobile projector, an overhead projector, a luminous wall covering, a light carpet, a luminous bracelet, a light frame, a mini-lamp to be positioned on a book, a device configured for interior lighting and a device configured for outdoor lighting, urban or otherwise.

10. The lighting device according to claim 6, wherein values of said frequency and said duration of said periodic activation and deactivation of said illumination are adapted to prevent a brain of a reader prone to dyslexic disorder from transmitting a mirror image of the graphical and/or textual content between one cerebral hemisphere of their brain to the other.

Description

4. LIST OF FIGURES

[0014] The invention will be better understood, and other features and advantages will appear on reading the description which follows, the description referring to the appended drawings among which:

[0015] FIG. 1 is a representation diagram of an EL control signal of a lighting module according to a particular and non-limiting embodiment of the invention.

[0016] FIG. 2 is a structural representation of the architecture of a LIGHT lighting device according to a particular and non-limiting embodiment of the invention.

5. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

[0017] In FIG. 2, the modules shown are functional units, which may or may not correspond to physically distinguishable units. For example, these modules or some of them are grouped into a single component. In an opposite way, according to other embodiments, some modules are composed of separate physical entities.

[0018] FIG. 1 is a temporal representation of an EL control signal for activating and deactivating (deleting) a light beam in the visible light spectrum, in a LIGHT lighting device, according to a mode of particular and non-limiting embodiment of the invention. The signal EL varies according to the time t and periodically takes two successive states. According to the preferred embodiment, an assertion of the signal EL in the high state controls an activation of the lighting beam of the lighting device LIGHT, which can thus illuminate, in a discontinuous manner, a graphic and/or textual content on a support whatever, such as a book, for example. The EL signal deactivates (removes or inhibits) the light beam of the lighting module when it is set low. The signal EL is a periodic signal of predetermined frequency Fd such that Fd=1/(T1+T2). T1 is the period of activation of the light beam in the visible light spectrum, ie the illumination period of a support bearing a pattern representing a graphic and/or textual content towards which the beam is oriented. T2 is the period during which the beam is deleted or rendered inactive, or in other words the period during which the graphic and/or textual content on a support towards which the beam is oriented is no longer illuminated by the beam. The terms graphic content are to be interpreted here as any content represented on any medium, in particular in paper format but not only, and constituted by elementary elements such as, for example, points or pixels juxtaposed, so that the content represents elements of various forms including one or more textual contents constructed from signs or symbols of one or more alphabets.

[0019] Thus, a textual content affixed to a medium corresponds here to an interpretable content in one or more languages, which can be read and interpreted by a subject, a user of the lighting device, positioned so as to look at the support thus illuminated for an operation as reading or viewing. Such a device is, for example, a desk lamp, a flashlight, a headlamp, a pen-lamp, a flashlight, a telephone lamp, a smartphone lamp, a lamp-watch, a key lamp, ceiling lamp, floor lamp, bulb, light tube, projector, car headlamp, overhead projector, bright wall cladding, light carpet, light bracelet, light frame, mini-lamp to be positioned on a book by means of a fastening system, a device configured for interior lighting (of a room) or a device configured for outdoor lighting, urban or otherwise. This list of examples is not exhaustive. According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, the duty cycle T1/(T1+T2) between the periods of activation and deactivation (or inhibition) of the light beam, respectively of durations T1 and T2, has a value between 15% and 30% of the whole cycle, and the frequency Fd of variation of the EL signal is between 60 Hz and 90 Hz.

[0020] Preferably, the frequency of the signal is equal to 70 Hz or 84 Hz and the duty cycle T1/(T1+T2) is equal to 20%.

[0021] Advantageously, the control signal EL can be easily forced to prolong its state associated with an activation of the light beam, which corresponds to a disengagement of the lighting method implemented in the LIGHT device according to the invention. It would thus be possible not to implement the method of controlling a light beam, in a lighting device according to the invention, in the case where, for a non-dyslexic subject, a visual discomfort would appear because of the discontinuity of activation of the illumination beam.

[0022] Advantageously, it is possible to refine the adjustment of the frequency Fd in the range of values described in order to adapt the period T to the sensitivity of a user of the lighting device LIGHT, within the indicated frequency range. Indeed, each individual has is own sensitivity in terms of vision and perceives more or less frequency variations of a light beam. Thus, a fine-tuning can be made accessible to the user by means of an adjustment button, a cursor, implemented in hardware or via any user interface (graphic elements of a menu on a control screen, for example).

[0023] FIG. 2 is a structural representation of a lighting device LIGHT according to a particular and non-limiting embodiment of the invention. This figure represents the overall architecture of the LIGHT lighting device, still commonly called lamp. The LIGHT device comprises two main modules which are a CTRLU control unit and a LIMOD lighting module. The control unit CTRLU is the heart of the system in terms of control and comprises a conventional bistable circuit (or chopper), adapted to the generation of the EL signal. The bistable chopping circuit of the control unit CTRLU delivers the signal EL characterized by the frequency Fd and by its duty cycle T1/ (T1+T2). Of course, the control unit CTRLU comprises all the usual elements implemented in such an architecture, such as, for example, one or more operational amplifiers, resistors and capacitors, one or more diodes, a power supply, a resetting circuit, a power supervision circuit, a power interface, a current amplifier, the list of these elements is not exhaustive. The architectural details of the control unit CTRLU are not described further to the extent that they are not useful for understanding the invention. According to one embodiment of the invention, the CTRLU module comprises a bistable circuit built around an operational amplifier, coupled to a current amplification circuit. Advantageously, the use of a current amplifier makes it possible to obtain sufficient average energy at a correct illumination even though the light beam thus generated is discontinuous. The LIMOD lighting module is a lighting module suitable for generating a light beam in the spectrum of visible light, or substantially wider. Advantageously, the beam may be more or less focused to be configured for lighting a larger or smaller surface. Such a focus can be achieved by the use of optical elements (lenses) or mechanical elements (diaphragms), or both.

[0024] Advantageously, the light beam is made from one or more LED type electroluminescent objects, from the acronym Light-Emitting Diode. Of course, the light beam can be made from other light elements, considering the deactivation of the beam can be fast enough to respect the cycles comprising lighting periods and beam inhibition (periods of non-light).

[0025] The term beam inhibition should be interpreted here as a total disappearance of the beam or a consequent decrease in the level of illumination produced by the beam.

[0026] it is the ability to activate and successively inhibit the illumination of a medium that has one or more graphic and/or textual contents, under the control of the bistable module of the CTRLU unit, which advantageously allows the brain of a subject to prefer (focus on) an image rather than its mirror image, perceived from the support when the latter is illuminated by the LIGHT lighting device according to the invention. Advantageously, this makes it possible to help consequently the reading and the deciphering of textual contents, in a subject having dyslexic disorders.

[0027] Advantageously, the control unit CTRLU comprises (controls) an output signal EL activation (or extinction/inhibition) of the lighting beam, connected to the input of the lighting module LIMOD.

[0028] In other words, the variations of the illumination beam control signal EL, made by the control unit CTRLU comprising a bistable circuit at a frequency Fd, act on the lighting of a graphic content, represented on any support, so that this graphic content is successively lit then less (or more at all) illuminated, periodically, on the support, in successive cycles of total length T operated at a predetermined frequency Fd. According to the invention, the successive illumination periods T1 each have a duration in a range of values ranging from 15 to 30% of the duration T of said operated cycles.

[0029] The invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, but applies to any lighting device of a graphic and/or textual content on any medium, implementing successive activation operations, a beam of illumination and inhibition of this same beam, periodically, according to successive cycles operated at a predetermined frequency Fd between 60 Hz and 90 Hz such that successive lighting periods T1 each have a duration included in a range of values ranging from 15 to 30% of the duration T cycles operated.