jef144
Newly Enlightened
I was out jogging after dark and the cheap clickie switch went bad. Pulled out my more reliable twistie (Arc LSH expertly modded by Mosport to light-blind maraurding dogs), but started thinking:
Why do we even put up with mechanical switches on flashlights? They're mechanical, so they break; they convey ridiculously little information content to control sophisticated operation modes; and they just are not FUN -- they are SO 20th century!
How about these alternatives:
1. Electically isolated contact area -- like, the bezel -- that senses finger touches based on capacitance or resistance changes. Could recognize discrete taps much quicker than a clicke or twistie. You could even segment the bezel and have, say, six contact areas.
2. Variation 1, Capacitance tuning. As used by the Theremin of the SciFi golden years, the resonant frequency of RF tuned circuits can be changed by proximity of a body part, such as a thumb. Of course, a modern implementation would just measure capacitance. Maybe touch once to turn on, then wave your thumb to adjust brightness. You might think you'd look strange waving your thumb around, but read on.
3. Forward-facing light sensor looking for light reflected from the main LED. Put your hand in front of the flashlight momentarily to reflect light to register a 'click.' Phase-lock the light detection to the main LED PWM to thwart confusion with ambient light. How to register the initial turn-on? Maybe the main LED would need to be continuously strobed - but only say, 1 ms every 2 seconds.
4. Optical mouse? An optical mouse compares consecutive pictures of the table surface to detect motion. How cool would it be to run the flashlight down your arm to turn on, and up again to turn off? Right to increase intensity.... Battery versions of these optical mice run have highly effective power optimization for the inactive state. Did I mention they are cheap? Heck, my next mod might be adding a LED to a mouse.
5. Voice Recognition. Keep the number of modes/commands small to increase the accuracy. (I'm SO tired of my Prius hearing 'Satellite Radio Two' when I say 'Thai Food!' This shouldn't be a problem with a flashlight.) Maybe even give the flashlight the proportions of a Karaoke microphone -- After all, form follows function?
6. TV Remote control. These come in business-card sizes now, and have lots of buttons to push. OK, not a great idea, but leads to ...
7. Variation 2: Nokia beat me to this one -- cell phone-hosted LED. In fact, if you google 'flashlight software' you will find a crowd that is busy programming incredible modes of operation. You could strobe on specific incoming calls or SMS messages or GPS location or account balance ....
8. Whee! 1D, 2D, and 3D accelerometers are now cheap components used in detecting falling laptops as well as the Wii console. So how about two sharp down-shakes to turn on, single right-shakes to increase light...or having to trace a pentagon in the air for high mode vs. a figure-8 for low mode. These devices can also detect static tilt (gravity-assisted), so just TWISTING the flashlight could perform some useful function.
Safe to say, a mainstream flashlight company may not lead the change on introducing these user interfaces. But someone in the CPF readership might! To encourage innovation, please consider this posting to constitute 'prior art.' It would thus, I hope, invalidate any patents filed after today on these specific topics.
Why do we even put up with mechanical switches on flashlights? They're mechanical, so they break; they convey ridiculously little information content to control sophisticated operation modes; and they just are not FUN -- they are SO 20th century!
How about these alternatives:
1. Electically isolated contact area -- like, the bezel -- that senses finger touches based on capacitance or resistance changes. Could recognize discrete taps much quicker than a clicke or twistie. You could even segment the bezel and have, say, six contact areas.
2. Variation 1, Capacitance tuning. As used by the Theremin of the SciFi golden years, the resonant frequency of RF tuned circuits can be changed by proximity of a body part, such as a thumb. Of course, a modern implementation would just measure capacitance. Maybe touch once to turn on, then wave your thumb to adjust brightness. You might think you'd look strange waving your thumb around, but read on.
3. Forward-facing light sensor looking for light reflected from the main LED. Put your hand in front of the flashlight momentarily to reflect light to register a 'click.' Phase-lock the light detection to the main LED PWM to thwart confusion with ambient light. How to register the initial turn-on? Maybe the main LED would need to be continuously strobed - but only say, 1 ms every 2 seconds.
4. Optical mouse? An optical mouse compares consecutive pictures of the table surface to detect motion. How cool would it be to run the flashlight down your arm to turn on, and up again to turn off? Right to increase intensity.... Battery versions of these optical mice run have highly effective power optimization for the inactive state. Did I mention they are cheap? Heck, my next mod might be adding a LED to a mouse.
5. Voice Recognition. Keep the number of modes/commands small to increase the accuracy. (I'm SO tired of my Prius hearing 'Satellite Radio Two' when I say 'Thai Food!' This shouldn't be a problem with a flashlight.) Maybe even give the flashlight the proportions of a Karaoke microphone -- After all, form follows function?
6. TV Remote control. These come in business-card sizes now, and have lots of buttons to push. OK, not a great idea, but leads to ...
7. Variation 2: Nokia beat me to this one -- cell phone-hosted LED. In fact, if you google 'flashlight software' you will find a crowd that is busy programming incredible modes of operation. You could strobe on specific incoming calls or SMS messages or GPS location or account balance ....
8. Whee! 1D, 2D, and 3D accelerometers are now cheap components used in detecting falling laptops as well as the Wii console. So how about two sharp down-shakes to turn on, single right-shakes to increase light...or having to trace a pentagon in the air for high mode vs. a figure-8 for low mode. These devices can also detect static tilt (gravity-assisted), so just TWISTING the flashlight could perform some useful function.
Safe to say, a mainstream flashlight company may not lead the change on introducing these user interfaces. But someone in the CPF readership might! To encourage innovation, please consider this posting to constitute 'prior art.' It would thus, I hope, invalidate any patents filed after today on these specific topics.
