Other

Year-round Creations, LLC

John Jeffery Oskorep

Dennis Michael Kazar

Frank Joseph Oskorep

Steven Sanghoon Lee

Joseph E Phillips

Karin Marie Doyle

A decorative light strand has user-selectable color schemes corresponding to each holiday for year-round use. In one illustrative embodiment, the light strand has a plurality of lights; a decorating selector comprising a switch which provides a plurality of user-selectable settings; and logic coupled to the switch and the plurality of lights to provide different holiday color schemes in response to the user-selectable settings. A method of advertising the same includes the steps of providing a set of packaged year-round holiday lighting products for sale; providing a first displayed advertisement for the packaged year-round holiday lighting products during a first holiday season which corresponds to a first one of the holiday color schemes, the first displayed advertisement including first indicia representative of the first holiday season; providing a second displayed advertisement for the packaged year-round holiday lighting products during a second holiday season which corresponds to a second one of the holiday color schemes, the second displayed advertisement including second indicia representative of the second holiday season; and providing a third displayed advertisement for the packaged year-round holiday lighting products during a third holiday season which corresponds to a third one of the holiday color schemes, the third displayed advertisement including third indicia representative of the third holiday season. This approach is more efficient and economical for stores which sell and advertise holiday decorations.

Year-round decorative lights with selectable holiday color schemes and associated methods

A decorative lighting apparatus provides user-selectable color schemes corresponding to several holidays and other occasions for year-round use. In one illustrative example, the decorative lighting apparatus includes control circuitry which has a plurality of color-control outputs for coupling to color-control terminals of each one of a plurality of color-controllable lights along a decorative light strand. The control circuitry is operative to illuminate the color-controllable lights with any given color scheme by repeatedly time-multiplexing color-control signals at the color-control outputs to different interleaved sets of color-controllable lights along the decorative light strand. Each color-controllable light is a Red-Green-Blue (RGB) Light-Emitting Diode (LED). Preferably, the time-multiplexing rate is sufficient such that the RGB LEDs appear to be simultaneously illuminated along the strand (e.g. 32 Hertz or greater). Advantageously, this low-cost implementation reduces the number of wires required along the decorative light strand without sacrificing versatility.

Year-round decorative lights with time-multiplexed illumination of interleaved sets of color-controllable LEDS

A decorative lighting apparatus includes a decorative light strand having first, second, and third wires, each with a plurality of lamps coupled in series therealong, and a return wire coupled to ends of the first, the second, and the third wires. Each lamp of the plurality of lamps has a first light-emitting diode (LED) device coupled in parallel and in reverse orientation with a second LED device. The first, the second, and the third wires are positioned together such that each lamp of the first, the second, and the third pluralities are positioned adjacent to each other but sufficiently separated such that little or no color mixing occurs between the lamps. The apparatus also includes a controller adapted to control the plurality of lamps to provide different user-selectable color schemes in various simultaneously-illuminated combinations of color.

Year-round decorative lights with multiple strings of series-coupled bipolar bicolor LEDs for selectable holiday color schemes

A decorative lighting apparatus includes a decorative light strand having a plurality of addressable color-controllable red-green-blue (RGB) light-emitting diode (LED) nodes positioned therealong; a decorating selector which provides a plurality of user-selectable switch settings; control circuitry; and memory. The control circuitry selects, from the memory, stored holiday color data associated with a user-selectable switch setting and sends the holiday color data over one or more data lines to addressable color-controllable RGB LED nodes associated with LED node address data. Preferably, the plurality of holiday color schemes include color schemes for most major U.S. holidays including Christmas, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Independence Day, and Halloween.

Decorative lights with addressable color-controllable LED nodes and control circuitry, and method

A decorative light strand has user-selectable color schemes corresponding to each holiday for year-round use. The light strand has a plurality of differently colored lights; a decorating selector comprising a switch which provides a plurality of user-selectable settings; and logic coupled to the switch and the plurality of differently colored lights to provide different holiday color schemes in response to the user-selectable settings. In one specific example, the light strand includes a plurality of red lights, a plurality of white lights, a plurality of blue lights, a plurality of green lights, a plurality of orange lights, and a plurality of yellow lights. A decorating selector on one end of the light strand has a plurality of decorative holiday settings which include a New Year's holiday setting which enables the plurality of white lights; a Valentines/Sweetest Day holiday setting which enables the pluralities of red and white lights; an Independence/Memorial Day holiday setting which enables the pluralities of red, white, and blue lights; a Halloween holiday setting which enables the pluralities of orange and yellow lights; a Thanksgiving holiday setting which enables the plurality of orange and green lights; a Christmas holiday setting which enables the pluralities of red and green lights; and a Hanukkah holiday setting which enables the pluralities of blue and yellow lights. Advantageously, this light strand may be hung permanently and utilized year-round for major U.S. holidays and other suitable occasions.

Year-round decorative lights with selectable holiday color schemes

A low-cost, simple, and easy-to-use liquid soap spraying and sponge attachment for a water sprayer. The attachment includes a tubular body which forms a cavity having a first open end on the front side and a second open end on the rear side. The second open end is configured to receive the nozzle portion of the water sprayer while exposing the actuator and the handle portion of the water sprayer. The first open end is configured to allow water from the nozzle portion of the water sprayer to spray through the body in response to actuations of the actuator. A detachable circular sponge is positioned on the front side of the body, preferably using Velcro materials. A liquid soap spraying mechanism of the attachment includes a liquid soap reservoir formed within the tubular body, a liquid soap pump mechanism in the body, a liquid soap nozzle positioned on the front side of the body, and a finger trigger lever positioned on the bottom rear side of the tubular body for spraying liquid soap from the liquid soap nozzle when actuated. Thus, single-handed operation is possible wherein the end-user's hand can move the water sprayer to position the sponge for scrubbing, the user's thumb can activate the water sprayer for spraying water, and the user's index finger can activate the soap sprayer for spraying soap.

Liquid soap sprayer and sponge attachment for water sprayer

An apparatus for and method of scanning a key array (101-116) uses two or three scan lines (134 and 135 or 308, 309, and 310), thereby limiting the need for an excessive number of input/output lines of a processor (136). A separate resistor ladder (301,302, 303) is provided for each dimension of keys, including row, column, and/or matrix. A minimal number of parts is also required to implement the resistor ladder (301,302, 303). A reference conductor (311), a row conductor (312), a column conductor (313), and, if desired, a matrix conductor (314) each run under each key, such that when a different key is depressed, a unique combination of voltages appears at the scan lines (134 and 135 or 308, 309, and 310) for the resistor ladders (301, 302, 303).

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Chicago, IL, United States of America

John Jeffery Oskorep