Fabric with active illumination and reflection characteristics

Abstract

A woven fabric with active illumination and reflection characteristics is described. Light guiding fibers are used as the weft, bright threads are used as the warp, and the warp and the weft are interwoven, or partial lengths of the light guiding fibers are not interwoven with the bright threads. The light-emitting woven fabric has light guiding fibers and bright threads as the weft, and bright threads as the warp, the weft and the warp being interwoven, or partial lengths of the light guiding fibers not being interwoven with the bright threads.

1 . A woven fabric with active illumination and reflection characteristics, comprising: 
 a plurality of warp bright threads; and    a plurality of weft light guiding fibers, wherein at least partial lengths of the light guiding fibers are interwoven with the bright threads, the bright threads being capable of reflecting light from the light guiding fibers and a foreign light source.    
   
   
       2 . The woven fabric of  claim 1  further comprises a plurality of bright threads as the weft.  
   
   
       3 . The woven fabric of  claim 2 , wherein a proportion of the light guiding fibers to the bright threads in the weft is approximately 20:0 to 1:7.  
   
   
       4 . The woven fabric of  claim 2 , wherein a proportion of the light guiding fibers to the bright threads in the weft is preferably approximately 20:0 to 1:5.  
   
   
       5 . The woven fabric of  claim 1 , wherein, the light guiding fibers include at least one side-light fiber.  
   
   
       6 . The woven fabric of  claim 1 , further comprises at least a light-emitting source connected to the terminals of the light guiding fibers, the light-emitting source including at least one light-emitting diode (LED).  
   
   
       7 . The woven fabric of  claim 1 , wherein the bright threads have a circular, rectangular, or triangular cross section.  
   
   
       8 . The woven fabric of  claim 7 , wherein the bright threads have a luminosity ranging between about grade  1  and grade  10 .  
   
   
       9 . The woven fabric of  claim 1 , wherein the woven fabric has a density ranging from approximately 50 to 210 threads per square inch.  
   
   
       10 . A woven fabric with active illumination and reflection characteristics, comprising: 
 a plurality of warp bright threads;    a plurality of weft bright threads; and    a plurality of weft light guiding fibers, wherein at least one weft thread is inserted between the light guiding fibers, and at least partial lengths of the light guiding fibers are interwoven with the bright threads;    wherein the bright threads reflect light from the light guiding fibers and a foreign light source.    
   
   
       11 . The woven fabric of  claim 10 , wherein a proportion of the light guiding fibers to the bright threads in the weft is approximately 20:0 to 1:7.  
   
   
       12 . The woven fabric of  claim 10 , wherein a proportion of the light guiding fibers to the bright threads in the weft is preferably approximately 20:0 to 1:5.  
   
   
       13 . The woven fabric of  claim 10 , wherein the light guiding fibers include at least one side-light fiber.  
   
   
       14 . The woven fabric of  claim 10 , further comprising at least a light-emitting source connected to the terminals of the light guiding fibers, the light-emitting source including at least one light-emitting diode (LED).  
   
   
       15 . The woven fabric of  claim 10 , wherein the bright threads have a circular, rectangular, or triangular cross section.  
   
   
       16 . The woven fabric of  claim 15 , wherein the bright threads have a luminosity ranging from approximately grade  1  to grade  10 .  
   
   
       17 . The woven fabric of  claim 10 , wherein the woven fabric has a density ranging from about 50 to 210 threads per square inch.