Improvements relating to illuminated jewellery

Abstract

 An electronic article of jewellery comprising a plurality of jewels that can be illuminated uniformly using a single light source is described. The article of jewellery (10, 42, 140) comprises a chamber (14) with the plurality of jewels to be illuminated being provided in a wall (16) of the chamber (14). An artificial light source (28) such as a tri-colour LED module, is provided within the chamber along with a light diffusing element (26, 36, 40). The light source (28) and the light diffusing element (26, 36, 40), are positioned such that light rays emitted from the light source are diffused by interaction with the light diffusing element (26,36,40), before reaching the plurality of jewels to be illuminated.

Description

Field of the Invention

[0001] The present invention concerns improvements relating to illuminated jewellery, and more specifically, relates to electronic illuminated jewellery containing a plurality of jewels and a method of illuminating the same.

Background of the Invention

[0002] A jewel stone is an optical system that is manufactured from material that is not opaque to light. It may be a natural mineral, a manufactured artificial mineral or optical compound such as a plastics 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 split the light into its constituent components thereby appearing to 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 comparatively dull.

[0003] 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

[0004] 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.

[0005] 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 attractive temporal optical effect even if enough ambient light is present.

[0006] Artificial illumination of a jewel in an article of jewellery has 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.

[0007] Our co-pending International patent application WO-A-00/69304 provides improvements to the concepts described in the above International patent application and is directed to an article of jewellery for generating an attractive composite optical effect. The article of jewellery comprises a compound jewel that has first and second portions with different optical properties. A light source, such as a coloured LED module, is incorporated in the article of jewellery for at least illuminating the first portion of the compound jewel. The compound jewel and the light source are 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. Artificial illumination of the second portion can be provided by a further coloured LED module incorporated in the article of jewellery.

[0008] The present inventors have considered the artificial illumination of an article of jewellery comprising a large plurality of small jewels. In the inventors' known articles of jewellery, there has usually been a one-to-one relationship between the different light sources and the different jewels. Here the light source in the form of an LED module is mounted very close to or adjacent each of the jewels in order to accurately control its illumination. The term LED module covers several LEDs mounted in close proximity to one another e.g. on a small printed circuit board, or a single LED on a suitable mount. Such an LED module may include a red LED, a blue LED and a green LED to enable any desired colour output to be realised on the surface of the jewels namely by controlling the amount of light produced from each coloured LED. However, the difficulty with this approach is that when a large number of jewels are to be illuminated in this way, the capabilities of a suitable microprocessor, such as a PIC microprocessor, which controls the output of each LED module would be exceeded such that this is not a feasible option.

[0009] Even if it were possible with improvements to microprocessor capabilities to include an LED module behind or within each jewel, the resulting article of jewellery would have an extremely complex internal circuitry that would probably be prone to many problems. Furthermore, in order to illuminate all of the jewels such as when a uniform colour is desired to be produced across an entire area containing the jewels to be illuminated, all of the LEDs would have to be powered at the same time. In this regard, illumination of the article of jewellery would consume a relatively large amount of power, which would in turn necessitate frequent recharging of the article of jewellery. These drawbacks are disadvantageous and may even be unacceptable for some users of an elegant article of jewellery that is to be used with ease.

[0010] As described in our previous International Patent Application WO-A-99/23906, a single light source can be used to illuminate a number of jewels as long as all of the jewels are linked to the light source by optical fibres. By using this method, light emitted from the light source is distributed to all of the jewels. However, the inventors have appreciated that this method also results in a complex internal circuitry of the article of jewellery with this complexity increasing once further jewels are added to the article of jewellery; the addition of further jewels necessitates the inclusion of further optical fibres. Also repairing such articles of jewellery can be problematic as there are significantly more variables, including variances in fibre optic transmission characteristics, to consider in determining irregularities in the illumination characteristics. Therefore, in practice, the number of jewels that can be successfully and easily illuminated in this way is limited. In addition, the inventors have appreciated that, if it is desired to simulate natural illumination of the jewels, this way of illuminating each jewel can result in the point source illumination being discernible by the user such that the illumination can look artificial.

Summary of the Present Invention

[0011] It is desired to improve the known articles of jewellery such that problems described above can be overcome or at least substantially reduced.

[0012] According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic article of jewellery comprising: a chamber and a plurality of jewels to be illuminated provided in a wall of the chamber; a light source provided within the chamber for artificially illuminating the plurality of jewels; and a light diffusing element provided within the chamber; wherein the light source and the light diffusing element are positioned such that light rays emitted from the light source are diffused by interaction with the light diffusing element before reaching the plurality of jewels to be illuminated.

[0013] In this way, relatively large areas of the article of jewellery containing the plurality of jewels can be illuminated uniformly with a single light source. This thereby lowers costs and energy consumption as well as advantageously simplifying the construction and repair of such items of jewellery. Also, the addition of extra jewels to the article of jewellery advantageously does not require any adaptation to the illumination system. Many of the problems associated with the prior art are thereby overcome.

[0014] Preferably, the light source and diffusion element are positioned relative to each other such that there is little or no direct illumination of any one of the plurality of jewels and the appearance of discernible point source illumination of the jewel is prevented. In this regard, the plurality of jewels only receive diffused light that has been reflected or refracted once it has left the artificial light source.

[0015] 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. The jewels may be combined aesthetically as desired.

[0016] The term 'article of jewellery' is also to be construed broadly to cover any object or item which includes a jewel or a plurality of jewels. Accordingly, the term is intended to cover articles of jewellery in the conventional sense such as brooches, rings, necklaces, as well as decorative items such as table clocks and ornaments, functional items such as hi-fi speakers, mobile phones and furniture, and apparel such as shoes, sunglasses, hats and handbags all of which include a jewel or jewels to be illuminated.

[0017] In an embodiment of the present invention, the article of jewellery is comprised of a hollow metal casing having front and rear faces defining the chamber. The hollow metal casing houses the artificial light source and the diffusing element. Preferably, the metal casing has formations provided on it enabling it to be suspended as in the case of a necklace or bracelet or to be pinned as in the case of a brooch.

[0018] The light diffusing element, in the above embodiment, is the inner surface of the rear face (chamber wall) of the article of jewellery including the sides of the chamber, which is arranged to reflect light in a non-uniform manner. More specifically, this metallic surface is polished to produce a matte internal non-uniform reflective surface.

[0019] Alternatively, or in addition, a further diffusing element, in the form of a diffusion screen, made of a translucent plastic or glass material, for example, may be provided. This screen is arranged to refract light passing through it in a non-uniform manner and is preferably positioned adjacent the plurality of jewels to be illuminated.

[0020] The further diffusing element may, alternatively or in addition, take the form of a coating that is present on the chamber-side surfaces of the jewels in the chamber wall.

[0021] If the jewels have a pavilion and crown structure, the pavilions are provided with the diffusion coating whereas the crowns of the jewels, which are exposed to the external environment, are not provided with the diffusion coating.

[0022] When light advantageously hits a diffusing surface, such as the matte polished internal non-uniform reflective surface, of the rear face of the article of jewellery for example, this uneven (irregular) reflecting surface (which is usually microscopic) serves to scatter and diffuse the light rays incident on it. As the surface is not smooth, the reflected light is broken up into many light beams that are emitted or reflected in all directions. This in turn ensures that the resultant light on the surface of the jewels to be illuminated is unfocussed and so does not appear to be coming from a point source. This is particularly important when the jewellery is attempting to simulate natural illumination of the jewels. Adding further diffusion layers improves the diffusion of the light but the strength of the light ultimately reaching the crown of the jewels is slightly reduced.

[0023] By incorporating the light source within the internal chamber of the article of jewellery, the light rays travelling from the light source are contained and are therefore easily controlled. Preferably, the light source is positioned within the chamber so as to maximise the lengths of the light paths from the light source via the diffusion element to the plurality of jewels. This arrangement advantageously gives the generated light rays plenty of propagation distance in which to mix and scatter before they reach the jewels to be illuminated. Another advantage of having the light source remote from the jewels is that if the light source malfunctions for whatever reason, the jewels do not have to be tampered with in order to gain access to the light source for repair/replacement purposes.

[0024] The light source and diffusion element are preferably positioned relative to each other such that in use the plurality of jewels are substantially uniformly illuminated. The advantage of uniform illumination is that a greater viewing angle of the illuminated plurality of jewels is provided as well as a far more realistic natural illumination effect.

[0025] Preferably, the light source comprises a multicoloured light source such that the different refraction properties of the jewels to different wavelengths of light can be utilised. In an embodiment, the light source comprises a set of miniature coloured LEDs; a red LED a green LED and a blue LED. This implies that the light source can produce almost any desired colour output depending on the way in which the LEDs are driven thereby controlling the intensity and colour of the jewellery illumination. However, any combination of LEDs can be used to give varying ranges of possible illumination colours as desired.

[0026] The colour output can be controlled by a digital program that may be stored in a memory and used by an illumination controller (microprocessor) for allowing the apparent transmutation of the appearance of the jewels of the article of jewellery. The program may control the individual coloured LEDs of the light source such that outputs from the 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 jewels mounted in an area of the article of jewellery have changed. This provides a user with the ability to change the appearance of his or her jewellery without having to change the article of jewellery itself. Furthermore, the illumination controller can also control the duration of the emitted light pulses to vary the illumination of the plurality of jewels. This enables natural illumination effects such as 'scintillation' and 'shimmer' to be created as well as man-made optical effects such as 'ripple'.

[0027] The present invention also extends to a method of illuminating an article of jewellery comprising a chamber and a plurality of jewels to be illuminated within a wall of the chamber, the method comprising: generating light for artificially illuminating the plurality of jewels from a light source positioned within the chamber; and diffusing light rays emitted from the light source by interaction with a light diffusing element provided within the chamber before the light rays reach the plurality of jewels.

[0028] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an article of jewellery having a plurality of chambers, each chamber comprising: a plurality of jewels to be illuminated provided in a wall of the chamber; a light source provided within the chamber for artificially illuminating the plurality of jewels; and a light diffusing element provided within the chamber; wherein the light source and the light diffusing element are positioned such that light rays emitted from the light source are diffused by interaction with the light diffusing element before reaching the plurality of jewels to be illuminated.

[0029] This arrangement advantageously enables independent illumination control of groups of jewels in different regions of the article of jewellery. By grouping and illuminating the jewels in this way, an optimum level of independent control can be obtained whilst maintaining the minimum number of required light sources. Thus even complicated composite illumination patterns can be achieved without complicating the internal structure and unnecessarily increasing the cost of the article of jewellery. In addition, by independently altering the output of the various LED modules, a plurality of composite optical effects can be achieved across the entire front face of the article of jewellery.

[0030] The article of jewellery may have a rechargeable power supply to avoid the problem of frequent battery replacement. The power supply, as already detailed in our co-pending International patent application WO-A-00/69304 is preferably in the form of a low-voltage battery. The article of jewellery also further comprises means for recharging the power supply.

[0031] In known arrangements for recharging electronic jewellery having a rechargeable power supply, such as that described in our co-pending international patent application WO-A-99/23906, the article of jewellery has to remain connected to a permanent fixed external power supply during the whole recharging process.

[0032] Another aspect of the present invention resides in the appreciation that a limitation of this approach is that the article of jewellery cannot be moved around and transported from one location to another as the user desires until the recharging is complete, in other words, the article of jewellery cannot be recharged whilst in transit. Also, there is no appreciation in the prior art arrangements that it is easy for the article of jewellery to be knocked from the recharging point during the recharging process, for example as in the inductive loop charging arrangement described in WO-A-99/23906. It is therefore too easy to mistakenly abort the recharging process before recharging is complete.

[0033] The present inventors have sought to find another more efficient and convenient way of recharging an article of jewellery. An inventive concept stems from the observation that when an article of jewellery is not in use, it is often placed back into the jewellery box within which it was sold for security and protection. The inventors have therefore realised that a solution is provided by including a (relatively large) portable power source in the jewellery box (recharging box), which protects the article of jewellery when it is not in use, together with a recharging connector which can connect to and securely retain the article of jewellery for recharging. The jewellery box functions as a recharging point and the article of jewellery remains in close contact with the recharging point, so that the recharging process still continues, even when the jewellery box, with its enclosed article of jewellery, is moved.

[0034] According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided a portable recharging receptacle for recharging a portable article of jewellery, the receptacle comprising: a battery; a connector part for physically and electrically coupling the portable rechargeable article of jewellery to the receptacle in a secure manner; and means for recharging the portable article of jewellery, the recharging means being arranged to transfer electrical charge from the battery to the article of jewellery via the connector part.

[0035] Preferably the battery is a disposable battery which when exhausted can simply be replaced by a new battery. However, it is also possible for the battery to be rechargeable. In this case, the portable recharging receptacle comprises a rechargeable battery; and charging means for enabling charging of the battery from an external non-portable power source, wherein the charging means is releasably connectable to the non-portable power source. The power supply of the jewellery box is then rechargeable in a conventional manner by attaching it to a permanent external power supply source such as mains power supply, when such a permanent power supply is available.

[0036] The way in which the article of jewellery connects securely to the receptacle is very important in the overall solution. The connector described herein is one that has arisen from a significant degree of inventive activity and research. In this regard, the inventors have appreciated that the article of jewellery must have a recharging part of the connector which is not susceptible to damage and which is preferably sealed to prevent liquid ingress. Similarly, a recharging base connector part on the recharging box must also be robust to potential damage and not be unsightly to the user, namely the connector has to be fit for use with elegant pieces of expensive jewellery.

[0037] The use of inductive loop recharging, such as that used with electric toothbrushes, is not appropriate as this method suffers from many problems. For example, the use of a metal casing for the article of jewellery can cause interference with the recharging process. Also, it is very difficult to securely locate the article and the recharging box together. Furthermore, it has been realised that in order to recharge an object such as an article of jewellery according to this method, size of the object may be an issue as some items may not be of a sufficient mass to carry implement inductive recharging. However, whilst it may be possible to implement, it is fraught with problems such as those of (1) the metal casing interfering with the inductive charging, (2) locating the piece to ensure adequate inductive coupling, and (3) the inefficiency of the inductive charging process, which would compromise the battery life of a battery-powered charger.

[0038] In order to retain the article of jewellery securely, a cradle has been considered with edges which are biased toward the article of jewellery to thereby hold the article of jewellery in position within the jewellery box. However, as any such cradle would inevitably hide part of the attractive piece of jewellery this is not an advantageous solution in terms of its display capabilities. Also, disadvantageously there would also have to be a limitation of some uniformity between the shape of the article of jewellery and the shape of the cradle and the size of the pieces that could be developed in order to successfully employ this method.

[0039] The concept of using a snap-fit connector between the article of jewellery and the jewellery box has been considered as this would obviously prevent the article of jewellery from being disconnected from the recharging point when the jewellery box is moved. However, developing such a system would involve high precision manufacturing of extremely small components, which is expensive and complex. Also, moving parts that releasably come into contact with each other would inevitably be subject to wear and tear and would therefore have to be repaired/replaced quite frequently.

[0040] Accordingly, the present invention also extends to a recharging connector for an electronic article of jewellery, the connector comprising: a base connector part adapted to mate with a connector part of the article of jewellery when the article is operatively seated on the base, wherein the base connector part comprises a permanent magnet and the connector part of the article comprises a magnetic assembly fastener of the article, namely one with a component that has ferromagnetic characteristics, the attraction between the permanent magnet and the magnetic fastener providing a force for locating and maintaining the connector part in secure physical and electrical connection with the base connector part.

[0041] The concept of using a magnetic fastener in the article of jewellery is inventive because the precious metals or other materials used in the construction of the article need not be altered. Also, no additional weight is added to the article as the fastener is required for assembly of the article anyway. Furthermore, as the fastener provides a connector part of the article of jewellery, a further function is obtained from a necessary component of the article of jewellery thereby minimising the number of additional components required as well as the weight of the article of jewellery. Accordingly, this provides an elegant and simple way of operatively connecting to the article of jewellery.

[0042] Using a magnet ensures that the article of jewellery remains on the base connector portion, once the article of jewellery has come into contact with the base.

[0043] The magnetic fastener that is employed may comprise a screw made of a magnetic stainless steel (meaning a stainless steel that is attracted to magnets). This serves to enable the stainless steel screw to form a contact with the magnet of the base connector part. Preferably the stainless steel screw is arranged to be the main securing element which holds the article of jewellery together. By having only one fastener, the assembly and disassembly of the article of jewellery is simplified.

[0044] The advantage of using a stainless steel is that it will blend in with most pieces of jewellery and particularly articles of jewellery made of white gold or platinum. Stainless steels are also resistant to rusting.

[0045] Preferably the head of the stainless steel screw includes a non-standard configuration namely, the Applicant's registered logo. This non-standard configuration necessitates the use of a specific screwdriver with a co-operating screw head in order to unscrew the screw. This in turn prevents those, without the required screw head, from tampering with the article of jewellery.

[0046] The contact between the steel screw and the magnet is preferably not a direct contact. This is because the magnets and the stainless steel screws are manufactured en masse to be within certain tolerance limits. When such materials are produced en masse it is likely that at least some of the surfaces that are meant to be contacting surfaces will not be entirely level thereby preventing a flush contact to be experienced between the surfaces as necessary. To avoid this complication, a contact spring may be provided that travels over the top of the exposed upper surface of the magnet. This spring directly contacts the stainless steel screw. The spring has been carefully designed such that it is strong enough to push forward to touch the stainless steel screw of the article of jewellery so that the necessary electrical circuit is created, but not so strong that it resists the magnetic pull of the magnet. When the stainless steel screw contacts the contact spring, the first contact in the electrical circuit required for recharging the power supply of the article of jewellery is complete.

[0047] Furthermore, the magnet may be enclosed in a plastics surround housing that contacts the metal casing of the article of jewellery. This ensures that the metal casing of the article of jewellery does not come into direct contact with the metal magnet when the second contact, needed to complete the electrical circuit is made. A metal to metal contact would certainly lead to scratching of the contacting surfaces which would lead to unwanted wear and tear. When the metal casing of the article of jewellery directly contacts a plastics surface instead of a metal one, the deformation characteristics that result from such a metal to plastics contact are too soft to cause serration between the two surfaces.

[0048] In order to complete the second contact, it must be possible for an electric current to travel from a charging circuit in the receptacle (jewellery box), along the plastics surround housing and up through the corresponding electrical wire connected to the battery that powers the artificial light source. This would not be possible if the plastics surround housing was entirely of a plastic material. However, the plastics surround housing may be metallised using a conductive metallic coating, which serves to allow electricity to travel up along the side of the plastics surround housing. With this arrangement, the artificial light source can be successfully recharged whilst still benefiting from the non-abrasive quality of the plastics material.

[0049] The recharging point of the article of jewellery may have a physical guide that may be ring-shaped, which assists with the location of the article of jewellery onto the base. Once the physical guide is located on top of the base a satisfying 'click' can be heard, which positively alerts a user that recharging is underway. There may also be a small LED (not shown) provided on the body of the article of jewellery 10 which starts flashing when an electrical contact has been established. It can flash once a second when the recharging is in progress, changing into one flash every five seconds once the article of jewellery has been fully recharged. Alternatively, the small indicator LED may be provided on the recharger.

[0050] Due to the fact, that there are no effective moving parts in the recharging apparatus the amount of wear and tear of the parts is significantly reduced thereby making the parts more durable.

[0051] The size of an article of jewellery, that is illuminated by an artificial light source, must be large enough to accommodate the comparatively large power source (e.g. battery) for powering the light source and the associated electronics such as one or more circuit boards. This means that the size of the resulting article of jewellery is largely dependent on the physical size of the power source and associated electronics, which is not desirable. Furthermore, a person developing such articles of jewellery must expend a substantial amount of effort working out the positioning of the power supply etc. within the article of jewellery, and this energy would be better spent in the development of the visible aesthetic features of the article of jewellery.

[0052] It is also desired to overcome these above described problems and accordingly the present inventors have created a system that allows the size of an artificially illuminated article of jewellery to be substantially reduced.

[0053] Specifically, according to another aspect of the present invention there is provided an electronic article of jewellery having a two-part construction, the article comprising: a presentation part comprising at least one jewel and a light source for artificially illuminating the at least one jewel; a control part comprising a low-voltage power source and an electronic circuit, electrically connected to the presentation part, for controlling operation of the light source; wherein the presentation part and the control part are remotely located from each other in individual housings such that the dimensions of the presentation part are independent of the dimensions of the electronic circuit and power source.

[0054] The separation of the light source and jewels from the power source and the control electronic circuit not only enables the presentation part to be made much smaller, but also enables huge advances in mass production to be achieved. This is because for several different articles of jewellery, each ideally having its unique presentation part, but exactly the same electrical hardware of the control part can be manufactured and used (the programmed control software may vary for different lighting effects). This is particularly important where the manufacturer (often a designer) is trying to make each item of jewellery unique and individual to the user.

[0055] Furthermore, this separation of component parts enables easier maintenance and repair of the article of jewellery. Also if the presentation part is connected in a readily disconnectable manner to the control part, then the user is able to change the presentation part as frequently as they like and still use the same control part. This means that they only need to buy new presentation parts to have different sets of jewellery rather than both the control and presentation parts.

[0056] The control part may further comprise a user-operable control switch for controlling the operation of the electronic circuit. The control switch which can control the on/off operation as well as the selection of which illumination pattern is to be employed and control of the intensity level to compensate for a change in the ambient light level. By providing this switch in the control part, the construction and design of the presentation part is simplified and possibly allows the presentation part to be further miniaturised if required. Preferably, the user-operable control switch comprises a touch switch and the touch switch is operable by the placing of a user's finger on it to provide an electrically conductive path between two terminals of the switch. The use of a touch switch advantageously minimises the number of moving parts in the article of jewellery thereby lessening the possibility of component failure.

[0057] Preferably the electronic circuit comprises a microprocessor, the microprocessor having a plurality of different stored illumination algorithms for controlling the duration and intensity of light pulses emitted from the light source. In this way, the article of jewellery can be made to take on different appearances dependant on the user's mood or the colour of their apparel, for example.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0058] In order that the invention can be more readily understood, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1: is a schematic cross-sectional view of an article of jewellery with seven small jewels mounted to the front face of the article of jewellery according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2: is a schematic cross-sectional view of an article of jewellery according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3: is a schematic cross-sectional view of an article of jewellery, according to the third embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 4a: is a front schematic view of an article of jewellery according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 4b: is a schematic cross-sectional view of the article of jewellery of Figure 4a;

Figure 5: is a cross-sectional view of part of the recharging system used with the first embodiment in which a two-part connector having a connector part of the article of jewellery is not in contact with the base connector part;

Figure 6: is a cross-sectional view of part of the recharging system of Figure 5 with the connector part of the article of jewellery in contact with the base connector part;

Figure 7a is a schematic perspective view of the complete recharging system of Figure 5;

Figure 7b is a plan view of the jewellery box receptacle of the recharging system of Figure 7a;

Figure 7c is a plan view of the jewellery box receptacle of the recharging system of Figure 7a in an alternative embodiment to that shown in Figure 7b;

Figure 8 is a schematic perspective view of an article of jewellery according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention; and

Figure 9 is a schematic block diagram showing the components within the article of jewellery shown in Figure 8.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments of the Present Invention

[0059] Referring now to Figure 1, an article of jewellery 10 is shown according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The article of jewellery 10 comprises a metal casing 12 that defines a hollow internal chamber 14. The metal casing 12 has a front face 16 and a rear face 18. The front face 16 of the article of jewellery 10 includes seven jewels 20. The jewels 20, having crowns 22 and pavilions 24, are mounted in the front face 16 of the article of jewellery 10 such that only the crowns 22 of the jewels are exposed to the external environment. The pavilion 24 of each of the jewels 20 is concealed within the internal chamber 14 of the article of jewellery 10.

[0060] The internal chamber 14 of the article of jewellery 10 houses an artificial light source in the form of an LED module 28 consisting of a red LED a green LED and a blue LED, that is mounted on a solid rectangular support 30 that is positioned at an angle to the chamber walls in a corner of the internal chamber 14. The LED module 28 is therefore directed towards the inner surface 26 of the rear face 18 of the article of jewellery 10.

[0061] Light rays 32 (depicted by solid black arrows) emitted from the LED module 28 therefore immediately travel toward the inner surface 26 of the rear face 18 of the article of jewellery 10. None of the emitted light rays 32 has a direct path to any of the jewels 20 such that all of the light rays 32 reaching the jewels 20 have been reflected. The internal chamber 14 enables relatively long light pathways to be created between the light source 28 and the jewels 20 via the inner surface 26 of the rear face 18 of the article of jewellery 10. In addition, the positioning of the LED module 28 in relation to the jewels 20 to be illuminated maximises the light pathway, which in turn maximises the time available for the light rays 32 to diffuse and mix within the internal chamber 14 of the article of jewellery 10.

[0062] This inner surface 26 is formed of metal and has been polished to have a matte finish such that it is not uniformly or predictably reflective. In this regard, when the light rays 32 contact this inner surface 26 they are subsequently scattered and diffused. The red, green and/or blue light rays 32 are therefore mixed in the internal chamber 14 before they reach the pavilions 24 of the jewels 20. The colour that results from the mixing that occurs in the internal chamber 14 is substantially uniform and this uniform colour illuminates all of the crowns 22 of the jewels 20.

[0063] Such illumination gives the impression that each of the jewels 20 are individually illuminated with their own light source but ensures that the illumination does not look like it is undesirably coming from a point source.

[0064] The LEDs of the LED module 28 are driven by a microprocessor (not shown) in a similar manner to that described in our co-pending international patent application WO-A-99/23906. Accordingly the illumination colour, duration and intensity are controlled by the way in which the microprocessor drives the LED module 28.

[0065] Using a single LED module 28 that is remote from the jewels 20 to be illuminated serves to minimise power consumption, which in turn reduces the requisite frequency of recharging the article of jewellery's power supply. This in turn increases the continuous wear time of the article of jewellery 10.

[0066] Referring now to Figure 2, an article of jewellery 34 according to a second embodiment of the present invention is shown. The article of jewellery 34 is very similar to the article of jewellery 10 depicted in Figure 1 and described previously and so only the differences are described below. The main difference is that a further diffusion element that is in the form of a diffusion screen 36 is provided. The diffusion screen 36 can take the form of a translucent glass or plastic sheet for example, that extends (horizontally as shown in Figure 2) across the entire internal chamber 14 of the article of jewellery 34 directly behind the pavilions 24 of the jewels 20.

[0067] In this regard, diffuse light travelling from the matte inner surface 26 of the rear face 18 of the article of jewellery 34 travels through the diffusion screen 36 before it reaches the pavilions 24 of the jewels 20. The non-uniform refraction and diffusion which occurs serves to scatter the light rays 32 even more which in turn further reduces and spreads the intensity of the light that is ultimately transmitted onto the visible surface of the jewels 20.

[0068] Referring now to Figure 3, an article of jewellery 38 according to a third embodiment of the present invention is now described. The article of jewellery 38 is very similar to the article of jewellery 34 of the second embodiment of the present invention. Accordingly, to avoid unnecessary repetition only the differences are described hereinafter.

[0069] In the third embodiment, the diffusion screen 36 has been replaced by a diffusion coating 40 that is included on the pavilions 24 of the jewels 20. In this regard, before the jewels are mounted into the front face 16 of the article of jewellery 38, the pavilion 24 of each of the jewels 20 is coated with a suitable diffusing coating 40. For example, the pavilion 24 of the jewels 20 may be frosted to create the diffusing coating 40.

[0070] This coating 40 functions in a similar way to the diffusion screen 36 in that it further diffuses the diffuse light travelling from the matte inner surface 26 of the rear face 18 of the article of jewellery 10 before it reaches the crowns 22 of the jewels 20.

[0071] It would be possible in a modification of the third embodiment to still achieve acceptable results by only having a diffusion coating 40 as the diffusion element, with a uniformly reflective (mirror like) inner surface 26 of the chamber 14. However, in this modification, the mixing of the different colours of emitted light would not be as effective as in the first, second or third embodiments. Accordingly, the more diffusion elements provided in the chamber the better the mixing of light will be.

[0072] A fourth embodiment of the present invention is now described with reference to Figures 4a and 4b. The article of jewellery is similar to that described in the first embodiment and so to avoid unnecessary repetition only the differences will be described hereinafter. The main difference is that the internal chamber 14 of the article of jewellery 42 is divided into two compartments 44 by a metallic wall 46. The surfaces 48 of the metallic wall 46 have been polished, so they have a matte finish and so are non-uniformly reflective. The front face 16 of the article of jewellery 42 is also divided in two such that there is an area 50 to the left of the internal wall 46 that contains seven small jewels 52 to be illuminated, and an area 54 to the right of the internal wall 46 that contains a single large jewel 56 and two smaller jewels 58 to be illuminated. There is an LED module 28 in each of the two compartments 44 of the internal chamber 14. The LED modules 28 are each directed toward the matte surfaces of the internal metallic wall 46 defining the compartments. In this regard, the light rays 32 emitted from each LED module 28 contact the matte surface of the metallic wall 46 which causes the emitted light to mix and diffuse within the compartments 44 before reaching the jewels 52, 56, 58 on the front face 16 of the article of jewellery 42.

[0073] According to this embodiment, it is acceptable for the two LED modules 28 illuminating their respective areas 50, 54 of the front face 16 of the article of jewellery 42, to be driven in different ways. That is to say, by way of example, the jewels 52 mounted in the left-hand side area 50 can be illuminated in a red colour and the single large jewel 56 and the corresponding two smaller jewels 58 mounted on the right-hand side area 54 can be illuminated in a complimentary blue colour. Therefore, it is possible to generate a composite optical effect across the entire area of the front face 16 of the article of jewellery 42. Also by independently controlling the duration and intensity of the illumination of the jewels in each area 50, 54, attractive interplay effects between the illumination of the different jewels can be achieved.

[0074] Each of the above-mentioned four embodiments comprises a PIC microprocessor for controlling the operation of the LED module(s) 28, a portable rechargeable power supply (rechargeable batteries) and a means for recharging the power supply. These elements have been described previously in our previous International patent applications WO-A-99/23906 and WO-A-00/69304 and accordingly are not described in further detail herein. The contents of WO-A-99/23906 and WO-A-00/69304 are hereby incorporated by reference into the present application. In addition, a two-part connector for connecting the rechargeable power supply and the recharging means within the article of jewellery to a charging means, which is used in each of the above embodiments, is described hereinafter.

[0075] Referring now to Figures 5, 6, 7a and 7b, a charging system used by each of the above embodiments is now described. The charging system 60 includes a two-part connector with a female connector part hereinafter referred to as a recharging point 62 which is provided on the rear face 18 of the article of jewellery 10, and a male connector part hereinafter referred to as a base connector part 64 located in a jewellery box 66 in which the article of jewellery 10 is placed for recharging and safe keeping when not in use.

[0076] The recharging point 62 is present in a circular opening 68 from the centre of the rear face 18 of the article of jewellery 10. A short distance in from the circumference of this circular opening 68 is an upstanding circular wall 70 that extends perpendicularly from the inner surface 26 of the rear face 18 of the article of jewellery 10 and around the circular opening 68. The wall 70 is surmounted by an overhanging ledge 72 that extends horizontally from the upper edge of the wall 70 towards the circular opening 68. In this regard, the wall 70 and the ledge 72 form an inverted L-shape in cross-section. An electrically insulating disc 74 with a central hole 76 is positioned within the confines defined by the wall 70 and the ledge 72 over the circular opening 68. The sides of the insulating disc 74 closely abut the inner sides of the wall 70 and the overhanging ledge 72 as well as the inner surface of the rear face of the article of jewellery 10, such that the insulating disc 74 is securely held in place.

[0077] A screw 78 that is comprised of a variety of stainless steel that has ferromagnetic characteristics is assembled with the article of jewellery 10 by threading it through the central hole 76 in the insulating disc 74 of the recharging point 62. The screw 78 is threaded through this hole 76 until the screw head 80 closely abuts the lower surface 82 of the insulating disc 74. The screw head 80 has a smaller diameter than the diameter of the circular opening 68 in the rear face 18 of the article of jewellery 10. In this regard, the screw head 80 does not fill the entire circular opening 68 and an endless circular groove 84 is maintained about the screw head 80. The lower surface 82 of the insulating disc 74 extends across this groove 84 thereby forming a barrier across the groove 84 on the inside of the article of jewellery 10. In this regard, once the stainless steel screw 78 has been assembled with the article of jewellery, the screw 78 and the insulating disc 74 form a complete barrier between the internal chamber 14 of the article of jewellery 10 and the external environment, at the circular opening 68.

[0078] The stainless steel screw 78 is threaded along most of its length except for a short portion 86 near the screw head 80 that is smooth and unthreaded. This smooth portion 86 is the part of the screw 78 that closely abuts the central hole 76 and enjoys an extremely close fit with the sides of the central hole 76 of the insulating disc 74, which ensures that the screw 78 is held tightly in position. The screw head 80 has a drive formation (groove) in the shape of a logo which requires a special tool having a complimentary formation to enable rotation of the screw 78 and hence assembly/disassembly of the recharging point 62.

[0079] A standard electrically conductive nut 88 is threaded onto the distal end of the screw 78. A positive or a negative electrical wire 90 is connected to the nut 88 that ultimately leads via a charging circuit (shown in Figure 9) to the corresponding terminal in the rechargeable battery (see Figure 9) that powers the control electronics and the LED module(s) 28. A positive or a negative electrical wire 92 is also connected to the inner surface 26 of the rear face 18 of the article of jewellery 10 close to the circular opening 68 in the rear face 18 and this wire 92 also leads via the charging circuit to a corresponding terminal of the rechargeable battery .

[0080] The base connector part 64 is secured within a locating aperture in an insert platform 94, made of cardboard (or other suitable material) that extends across the base of the jewellery box 66, and in use the article of jewellery 10 rests on this platform 94. The major portion of the base connector part 64 including the associated electronic recharging components are found on the underside of the platform 94 and are held in position by the rest of the jewellery housing 95. The upper portion of the base connector part 64 extends through the cardboard platform 94 for mating with the recharging point 62.

[0081] A major component of the base connector part 64 is a single solid cylindrical 'rare earth' type magnet 96. The magnet 96 is circular in cross-section and extends slightly beyond the visible surface 98 of the platform 94 on the base of the jewellery box 66. A plastics surround housing 100 is provided around the magnet 96 and extends beyond the upper 102 and lower 104 surfaces of the magnet 96.

[0082] The plastics surround housing 100 has a flanged portion 106 which rests against the platform visible surface 98 at the edges of the locating aperture. On the upper surface of the flanged portion 106 inwardly of the flanged circumference a ring formation 108 is provided which is complimentary to the circular groove 84 present in the recharging point 62 of the article of jewellery 10 as will be described in more detail below.

[0083] The side of the plastics surround housing 100 is metallised using a metallic coating 110 to make the housing in effect electrically conductive.

[0084] A pressed metal, electrically conductive washer 112 serves to retain the plastics surround housing 100 in position. The washer 112 is connected to either a positive or a negative electrical wire 114 that ultimately leads to the corresponding terminal in a charging circuit 116 (see Figure 7b) present within the jewellery box 66.

[0085] Travelling up one side and over substantially the entire upper surface 102 of the magnet 96 is a high-tensile metal electrical spring contact 118. The lower end of the spring contact 118 extends away from the magnet 96 and is connected to either a positive or a negative electrical wire 120 which leads to a corresponding terminal in the charging circuit 116.

[0086] Referring now to Figure 6, when the recharging point 62 and the base connector part 64 are in contact, a rechargeable battery 122, which comprises several banks of storage cells, supplies power to the article of jewellery 10 enabling it to be recharged. The act of mating the base connector part 64 with the recharging point 62 involves the magnet 96 present in the base connector part 64 attracting the ferromagnetic stainless steel screw 78 present in the recharging point 62 of the article of jewellery 10. In this regard, the magnet 96 plays an important role in locating the article of jewellery 10 onto the base connector part 64. That is to say, once the rear face 18 of the article of jewellery 10 is in the vicinity of the magnet 96, it is attracted to the magnet 96 which serves to draw the recharging point 62 towards it for easier location.

[0087] The head 80 of the stainless steel screw 78, is drawn towards the magnet 96 and contacts the portion of the high tensile electrical spring contact 118 that extends over the upper surface 102 of the magnet 96. At the same time, the circular ring formation 108 present on the upper surface of the plastics surround housing 100 'clicks' through the circular groove 84 present around the screw head 80 in the recharging point 62 until the rear face 18 of the article of jewellery 10 abuts the upper surface of the flanged portion 106. This positive 'click' lets a user know that the recharging point 62 of the article of jewellery 10 is correctly positioned on the base connector part 64 to allow recharging to occur.

[0088] Once the above contacts have been made, the necessary electrical currents can travel through the electrical wires 114, 120 extending from the charging circuit 116 beneath the surface of the platform 94 in the base of the jewellery box 66 through the electrical wires 90, 92 and ultimately to the terminals of the battery present in the internal chamber 14 of the article of jewellery 10 (though in alternative embodiments the control electronics can be provided in a separate chamber). Here the spring contact 118 and the screw head 80 form one contact pair of terminals and the electrically conductive plastics surround housing 100 and the metallic conducting body 18 of the article of jewellery 10 form the other pair.

[0089] Once recharging has started, a lid 126 of the jewellery box 66 can be closed such that its peripheral edge 128 abuts the corresponding peripheral edge 130 of the base of the jewellery box 66. A protruding portion 132 of the internal surface of the lid 126 of the jewellery box 66 is padded and is shaped to press against the article of jewellery 10 when it is in the jewellery box 66 and attached to the base connector part 64. In this regard, the lid 126 assists in maintaining the article of jewellery 10 in position when the jewellery box 66 is being moved. Therefore, the combination of the attractive force of the magnet 96 and the padded protruding portion 132 on the lid 126 ensure that the article of jewellery 10 will not move from the base connector part 64 when the jewellery box 66 is, for example, being transported.

[0090] The portable jewellery box 66 has a power supply transformer 134 connected to the charging circuit 116. The transformer 134 is coupled to a permanent non-portable power supply (non-shown) via a power lead 136. The power lead is detachable from the jewellery box 66 via a removable connector 138. In use, the transformer 134 receives AC mains power via the power lead 136 and converts this into a DC power supply. The DC power supply is then rectified at the charging circuit 116 and is then used to charge the banks of storage cells of the rechargeable battery 122.

[0091] Referring now to Figure 7c, an alternative base of the jewellery box 66 is shown. The base is the same as that described with reference to Figure 7b, except that this base is advantageously completely portable as it does not require connection to a permanent fixed external power supply such as mains power at any time. The base comprises disposable batteries 139 rather than combination of the rechargeable banks of storage cells 122, the corresponding power supply transformer 134 and the power lead 136 connectable via the removable connector 138. The disposable batteries 139 have a relatively much higher charge capacity than that required by the low-voltage rechargeable battery of the article of jewellery 10 such that the article of jewellery 10 can be recharged many times before the disposable batteries 139 require changing.

[0092] Referring now to Figures 8 and 9, a fifth embodiment of the present invention is now described. The article of jewellery 140 in this embodiment has a two-part construction comprising a presentation part 142 and a control part 144.

[0093] The presentation part 142 includes a plurality of small jewels 146 (thirteen in this embodiment) present on the front face 148 of the article of jewellery 140 and an artificial light source in the form of an LED module 28 in the hollow internal chamber of the article of jewellery 140 for artificially illuminating the jewels 146. The presentation part is identical to the article of jewellery 10 described in the first embodiment. However, it is to be appreciated that the presentation part 142 can readily take the form of any of the articles of jewellery described in the second to third embodiments.

[0094] The control part 144 includes a low-voltage power source in the form of a rechargeable battery 150, a charging circuit 116 connected to the battery 150, a touch switch 152 in combination with a recharging point 62, described previously with reference to Figures 5 and 6, a microprocessor 154 and a small memory store 156 associated with the microprocessor 154 (whilst shown as separate elements, the memory 156 and the microprocessor 154 are integrated in the same integrated circuit package). The microprocessor 154 is connected to the touch switch 152 via a simple interface circuit 164, and to an input/output interface 158. The input/output interface 158 is used in this embodiment only to output control signals to the LEDs. However, in alternative embodiments, it may be used to receive signals from the presentation part 142, such as a touch switch status signal (from a switch mounted in the presentation part 142 or the control part 144) or an ambient light level signal measured by photodetector for example. The simple interface circuit 164 is designed to sense a weak resistance conductive link across the touch switch 152 which can be made by the user putting their finger across the terminals.

[0095] The presentation part 142 of the article of jewellery 140 is connected to the control part 144 of the article of jewellery by a pair of hollow tubes 160, 162. When the article of jewellery is in use, attached about a user's neck for example, the tubes 160, 162, the presentation part 142 and the control part 144 of the article of jewellery 140 form a closed loop such that signals can be transmitted from the input/output interface 164 in the control part 144 of the article of jewellery 140 to the LED module 28 in the presentation part 142 of the article of jewellery 140. These signals are transmitted via copper wires (not shown) that are housed within the hollow interior of the tubes 160. These wires also supply the electrical power for the LED module 28 provided in the presentation part 142.

[0096] One of the tubes 160 is securely attached at one end to one side of the presentation part 142 of the article of jewellery 140 and at the other end to the respective side of the control part 144 of the article of jewellery 140. The other tube 162 is hingedly connected to either the presentation part 142 or the control part 144 of the article of jewellery 140. The opposite end of tube 162 is releasably connected to the respective part of the article of jewellery 140. Tube 162 therefore allows the article of jewellery 140 to be easily removed from/secured around a part of a user's body. In order to remove the article of jewellery from about a user's neck, for example, the relevant end of tube 162 is unfastened from the respective part of the article of jewellery 140 and the tube 162 is moved about the other, hinged end of the tube 162. This action breaks the closed loop arrangement and produces a substantial gap, through which the user's neck can pass, allowing the article of jewellery 140 to be removed. This action is reversed in order to wear the article of jewellery 140.

[0097] The memory store 156 associated with the microprocessor 154 stores a plurality of different illumination algorithms for controlling the duration and intensity of light pulses emitted from the light source 28. The touch switch 152, which controls the on/off operation of the artificial illumination of the article of jewellery 140, also enables a user to switch between the various stored algorithms. This is achieved by a user placing their finger over the touch switch 152 which provides a weak electrically conductive path between two terminals (not shown) of the touch switch 152. If the user's finger is placed over the touch switch continuously for more than two seconds then an off operation is achieved, whilst an on operation to turn on the article of jewellery, is immediate in response to the creation of a weak conductive link. The various stored algorithms, each arranged to produce a different lighting pattern, can be activated by touching the touch switch 152 for less than two seconds until a different illumination of the jewels 142 present on the front face 148 of the article of jewellery 140, is achieved. This process is repeated until the light pattern of choice is displayed on the jewels 142.

[0098] The touch switch 152 is incorporated into the recharging point 62 as described previously with reference to Figures 5 and 6, by having common electrical contacts. In fact, the touch switch 152 is simply realised by use of the weak resistance conductive link sensing circuit 164 which can determine when a user's finger has been placed across the electrical contacts of the recharging point 62 and signal the same to the microprocessor 154. Accordingly, in this embodiment the touch switch is the existing electrical contacts of the recharging point 62 without any modification thereof. In an alternative embodiment, it is possible to make the touch switch 152 and recharging point 62 separate features, which share only one common negative contact (the outer shell of the article).

[0099] The recharging point 62 connects to the base connector part 64 located in the jewellery box (not shown) in which the article of jewellery 140 is placed for safe keeping when not in use. A description of how recharging of the battery 150 occurs has already been described in detail above with reference to Figures 5, 6, 7a and 7b.

[0100] 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 reference to non-uniform reflective surfaces and non-uniform refractive elements, it is to be appreciated that any optical element such as a prism or lens modified to have non-uniform characteristics could be used within the article of jewellery as the diffusion element. Also, a variety of surface finishes can be applied to the inner chamber walls to give desired effects. For example, pure white diffusion surface can be provided as the diffusion element of the chamber wall to maintain true illumination colours as the diffusion element is less absorbent of light and does so in a uniform manner, thereby overcoming the non-uniform response problem of other diffusion elements which may be absorptive of certain wavelengths of light incident thereon.

[0101] With reference to the second embodiment, it is to be appreciated that an LED module 28 can be positioned within the chamber 14 towards the centre of the rear face 18 of the article of jewellery 10, such that it was directed toward the jewels 20. In this arrangement, the light paths for the emitted light rays is shortened thereby reducing the mixing time and also possibly reducing the degree of diffusion achieved. However, such an illumination system would still work as the light would be diffused prior to its illumination of the jewels 20.

[0102] Furthermore, it is to be appreciated that whilst in the above described embodiments the jewels 20 are translucent and can be illuminated from their pavilions 24, it is also possible to use other known lighting techniques with non-translucent jewels such as rounded jewels which are illuminated directly from their side portions.

Claims

1. An electronic article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) comprising:

a chamber (14) and a plurality of jewels (20) to be illuminated provided in a wall (16) of the chamber;

a light source (28) provided within the chamber (14) for artificially illuminating the plurality of jewels (20); and

a light diffusing element (26;36;40;48) provided within the chamber (14);

wherein the light source (28) and the light diffusing element are positioned such that light rays (32) emitted from the light source are diffused by interaction with the light diffusing element before reaching the plurality of jewels (20) to be illuminated.

2. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the light source (28) and the light diffusing element (26;36;40;48) are positioned relative to each other such that there is little or no direct illumination of any one of the plurality of jewels (20) and the appearance of discernible point source illumination of the jewel is prevented.

3. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein the light source (28) is positioned within the chamber (14) so as to maximise the light path from the light source via the diffusion element (26;36;40;48) to the plurality of jewels (20).

4. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the light source (28) and diffusion element (26;36;40;48) are positioned relative to each other such that in use the plurality of jewels (20) are illuminated substantially uniformly.

5. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the diffusion element (26;36;40;48) comprises an internal surface (26) of a wall of the chamber, the surface (26) being arranged to reflect light in a non-uniform manner.

6. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed in Claim 5, wherein the internal surface (26) comprises a matte polished metallic surface.

7. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the diffusion element (26;36;40) comprises a screen (36) of diffusion material which is arranged to refract light passing through the material in a non-uniform manner.

8. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the diffusion element (26;36;40) comprises a diffusion material coating (40) which is provided on the chamber facing side of the plurality of jewels to refract and reflect light incident on the coating (40) in a non-uniform manner.

9. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the light source (28) comprises a multicolour light source where the colour to be emitted is controllable.

10. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed in Claim 9, wherein the light source (28) comprises a multicolour light emitting diode package (28).

11. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed in any preceding claim, further comprising a microprocessor (154) for controlling the illumination of the plurality of jewels (20).

12. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed in Claim 11, wherein the microprocessor (154) is arranged to control the intensity of the emitted light pulses to vary the illumination of the plurality of jewels (20).

13. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed in Claim 11 or 12, wherein the microprocessor (154) is arranged to control the duration of the emitted light pulses to vary the illumination of the plurality of jewels (20).

14. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed in any of Claims 11 to 13, further comprising a digital program stored in a memory, the operation of the microprocessor (154) being controlled by the program to generate a predetermined sequence of light pulses for illuminating the plurality of jewels (20).

15. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed any preceding claim, further comprising a hollow metal casing (12), the casing (12) being arranged to define the chamber (14).

16. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed in Claim 15, wherein the metal casing (12) has formations for enabling the article of jewellery to be worn by a user.

17. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38) as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the diffusion element (26;36;40;48) has a substantially uniform absorption characteristics to different wavelengths of light.

18. An article of jewellery (42) having a plurality of chambers (44), each chamber (44) comprising:

a plurality of jewels (52; 56; 58) to be illuminated provided in a wall of the chamber;

a light source (28) provided within the chamber (44) for artificially illuminating the plurality of jewels (52, 56, 58); and

a light diffusing element (48) provided within the chamber (44); wherein the light source (28) and the light diffusing element are positioned such that light rays (32) emitted from the light source (28) are diffused by interaction with the light diffusing element (48) before reaching the plurality of jewels (52; 56; 58) to be illuminated.

19. An article of jewellery (42) as claimed in Claim 18, wherein the plurality of chambers (44) are separated by an internal wall (46), a surface (48) of which acts as a non-uniform reflective diffusion element.

20. An article of jewellery (42) as claimed in Claim 18 or 19, wherein each of the light sources (28) is operable independently to generate a plurality of composite illumination effects in the pluralities of jewels (52; 56; 58) of the article.

21. An article of jewellery (10; 34; 38; 42) as claimed in any preceding claim, further comprising a rechargeable power supply (150) and means (62, 116) for recharging the power supply.

22. A method of illuminating an article of jewellery (10; 34; 38; 42) comprising a chamber (14; 44) and a plurality of jewels (20; 52; 56; 58) to be illuminated within a wall of the chamber, the method comprising:

generating light for artificially illuminating the plurality of jewels from a light source (28) positioned within the chamber; and

diffusing light rays emitted from the light source by interaction with a light diffusing element (26;36;40;48) provided within the chamber before the light rays reach the plurality of jewels.

23. A recharging connector (60) for an electronic article of jewellery, the connector comprising:

a base connector part (64) adapted to mate with a connector part (62) of the article of jewellery when the article is operatively seated on the base,

   wherein the base connector part (64) comprises a magnet (96) and the connector part (62) of the article comprises an assembly fastener of the article which has ferromagnetic characteristics, the attraction between the magnet (96) and ferromagnetic fastener providing a force for locating and maintaining the connector part (62) in secure physical and electrical connection with the base connector part (64).

24. A connector (60) as claimed in Claim 23, wherein the ferromagnetic fastener comprises an electrical contact of the recharging connector (60).

25. A connector (60) as claimed in Claim 23 or 24, wherein the ferromagnetic fastener comprises a contact of a humanly operable touch control switch (152) for controlling the operation of the electronic article of jewellery.

26. A connector (60) as claimed in any of Claims 23 to 25, wherein the ferromagnetic fastener comprises an assembly screw (78) of the article of jewellery.

27. A connector (60) as claimed in Claim 26, wherein the head (80) of the screw (78) comprises a non-standard drive formation requiring a complementary shaped engagement tool for rotation thereof.

28. A connector (60) as claimed in Claim 27, wherein the non-standard drive formation is in the shape of a company identifier.

29. A connector (60) as claimed in any of Claims 26 to 28, further comprising an electrically conductive nut (88) co-operable with the screw (78) and connectable to a rechargeable power supply (122) of the article of jewellery.

30. A connector (60) as claimed in any of Claims 23 to 29, wherein the article of jewellery comprises an electrically conductive body arranged to act as one of the electrical contacts of the connector part (62) of the article of jewellery.

31. A connector (60) as claimed in any of Claims 23 to 30, wherein the ferromagnetic fastener comprises an electrically conducting material.

32. A connector (60) as claimed in any of Claims 23 to 31, wherein the ferromagnetic fastener comprises a substantially inert material.

33. A connector (60) as claimed in Claim 32, wherein the ferromagnetic fastener comprises a stainless steel.

34. A connector (60) as claimed in any of Claims 23 to 33, wherein the base connector part (64) comprises an electrical spring contact terminal (118).

35. A connector (60) as claimed in Claim 34, wherein the spring force of the electrical spring contact terminal (118) acting on the connector part (62) of the article of jewellery is less than the magnetic attractive force between the magnet (96) and the ferromagnetic fastener.

36. A connector (60) as claimed in any of Claims 22 to 35, wherein the base connector part (64) comprises a moulded housing (100) for retaining the magnet (96).

37. A connector (60) as claimed in Claim 36, wherein the housing (100) forms an electrical contact of the base connector part (64).

38. A connector (60) as claimed in Claim 37, wherein the housing (100) comprises a conductive plastics material.

39. A connector (60) as claimed in Claim 37 or 38, wherein the housing (100) comprises a plastics material having a conductive coating (110) applied thereto.

40. A connector (60) as claimed in any of Claims 37 to 39, wherein the housing has a flanged portion (106) and is arranged to be retained in a wall of the base by means of a retaining element (112) engageable with the housing (100).

41. A connector (60) as claimed in Claim 40, wherein the retaining element (112) provides an electrical coupling to the housing (100) for supplying electrical current thereto.

42. A connector (60) as claimed in any of Claims 36 to 41, wherein the housing (100) has male coupling formations (108) provided thereon for engaging complimentary female coupling formations (84) provided in the connector part (62) of the article of jewellery.

43. A connector (60) as claimed in any of Claims 23 to 42, wherein the base connector part (64) is provided in a jewellery box (66) housing electrical recharging means(116; 122; 134).

44. A combination of an article of jewellery, a storing and recharging unit and a connector (60) as claimed in any of Claims 23 to 43.

45. A combination as recited in Claim 44, wherein the article of jewellery comprises an electronic article of jewellery (10; 34; 38; 42) as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 22.

46. A portable recharging receptacle (66) for recharging a portable article of jewellery, the receptacle comprising:

a battery (139);

a connector part for physically and electrically coupling the portable rechargeable article of jewellery to the receptacle (66) in a secure manner; and

means for recharging the portable article of jewellery, the recharging means being arranged to transfer electrical charge from the rechargeable battery (139) to the article of jewellery via the connector part.

47. A portable recharging receptacle (66) as claimed in Claim 46, wherein the battery (139) is rechargeable and the receptacle further comprises charging means for enabling charging of the rechargeable battery from an external non-portable power source, the charging means being releasably connectable to the non-portable power source.

48. A portable recharging receptacle as claimed in Claim 46 or 47, wherein the portable receptacle is in the form of a jewellery box (100).

49. A portable recharging receptacle as claimed in any of Claims 46 to 48, wherein the portable receptacle comprises a removably securable lid (126) with a formation (132) provided thereon for engaging a part of the article of jewellery when the same is located on the connector part (64).

50. A combination of an article of jewellery and a portable recharging receptacle (66) as claimed in any of Claims 46 to 49.

51. A combination as claimed in Claim 50, further comprising a connector (60) as recited in any of Claims 23 to 43.

52. A combination as claimed in Claim 50 or 51, wherein the battery (139) in the portable charging receptacle has at least ten times the storage capacity of a rechargeable power store of the article of jewellery.

53. An electronic article of jewellery (140) having a two-part construction, the article comprising:

a presentation part (142) comprising at least one jewel (146) and a light source for artificially illuminating the at least one jewel;

a control part (144) comprising a low-voltage power source and an electronic circuit, electrically connected to the presentation part (142), for controlling operation of the light source;

   wherein the presentation part (142) and the control part (144) are remotely located from each other in individual housings such that the dimensions of the presentation part are independent of the dimensions of the electronic circuit and power source.

54. An article of jewellery (140) as claimed in Claim 53, wherein the control part (144) further comprises a user-operable control switch for controlling the operation of the electronic circuit.

55. An article of jewellery (140) as claimed in Claim 54, wherein the user-operable control switch comprises a touch switch (152), the touch switch being operable by the placing of a user's finger thereon to provide an electrically conductive path between two terminals of the switch.

56. An article of jewellery (140) as claimed in any of Claims 53 to 55, wherein the electronic circuit comprises a microprocessor (154), the microprocessor (154) having a plurality of different stored illumination algorithms for controlling the duration and intensity of light pulses emitted from the light source.

57. An article of jewellery (140) as claimed in any of Claims 53 to 56, further comprising a tube (160; 162) connecting the presentation part (142) and the control part (144).

58. An article of jewellery (140) as claimed in Claim 57, wherein the tube (160; 162) is arranged to connect the presentation part (142) and the control part (144) together to form a closed loop, such that the article of jewellery can be worn around a part of the user's body.

59. An article of jewellery (140) as claimed in Claim 57 or 58, wherein the tube (160; 162) is hingedly connected to either the presentation part (142) or the control part (144).

60. A portable and personal item of commerce, such as a mobile telephone, a pair of glasses or an item of clothing, the item comprising:

a chamber (14) and a plurality of jewels (20) to be illuminated provided in a wall of the chamber;

a light source (28) provided within the chamber for artificially illuminating the plurality of jewels; and

a light diffusing element (26;36;40;48) provided within the chamber; wherein the light source and the light diffusing element are positioned such that light rays emitted from the light source are diffused by interaction with the light diffusing element before reaching the plurality of jewels to be illuminated.

Drawing