Patent Application
20050195366
The present invention relates to fragrance delivery systems, and more particularly to fragrance delivery systems that are synchronized with audio and/or visual presentations to add fragrance to a display of sights and/or sounds.
The “experience” of audiovisual entertainment has progressed from silent films and monaural recordings to today's visually stunning digital images and advances in sound reproduction such as the “surround sound” found in both commercial theatres and homes. Moreover, current computer-based games and games played on gaming platforms employ the same advanced graphics and sound qualities found in film or video. These technologies create an audiovisual “experience” that immerses the user in a film or game like never before, stimulating sight, sound and even tactile sensations through deep bass vibrations provided by subwoofers and tactile feedback provided by some game controllers. There remains, however, one form of sensory perception that is not stimulated—the sense of smell.
Numerous prior art systems have attempted to provide a scent to the environment that compliments or correlates to an audiovisual stimulus. Examples would be the smell of burning rubber coordinating with the screech of tires, or the scent of flowers when a corresponding image appears. Prior art systems have primarily been directed to introducing fragrances to large environments, such as an entire theater. These systems have by and large suffered from the problem that a fragrance will linger long after the coordinating audiovisual input has changed, and may in fact be difficult to replace with another scent as the scenes change, the typical result being a mixture of several fragrances that become an indistinct muddle.
None of these prior art devices, however, provides a useful and commercially viable system for fragrance delivery to enhance an audiovisual presentation. Therefore, there remains a long-felt yet unmet need for providing it and would therefore be desirable to provide. It would further be desirable to provide such improvements in a manner that permitted their application across a variety of situations and that permitted their implementation in a cost-effective manner.
Accordingly, it has now been found that these and other shortcomings of the prior art can be overcome by providing an apparatus for fragrance sensory stimulation that is connected to a multimedia source that has at least one audiovisual signal connected to an audiovisual display, and also has fragrance information synchronized with the audiovisual signal. In preferred embodiments of the present invention, a fragrance generator processes the fragrance information into a fragrance signal and at least one fragrance control system accepts a fragrance signal as an input, and generates a control signal and a burst of compressed gas. In turn, a fragrance delivery system preferably comprising a plurality of fragrance chemicals in communication with the burst of compressed gas, selectively volatilizes the fragrance chemicals so that a short burst of fragrance is sensed by the subject. In certain embodiments, the fragrance delivery system comprises an indexing turret containing a plurality of ports, each port containing one of said plurality of fragrance chemicals. In other preferred embodiment, a multiport micro-valve or array of such valves contains an absorbent material impregnated with a fragrance in each port.
In certain embodiments, the system is constructed as two subassemblies, in which a transmitter is connected to the fragrance generator and a receiver is connected to the fragrance creation system, and the transmitter sends the fragrance signals to the receiver to control the creation of synchronized bursts of fragrance, most preferably provided by a compressor or source of compressed gas regulated by a microprocessor and including a high-pressure cutoff sensor so that a short burst of pressurized air having a duration of less than five seconds is created. In certain preferred embodiments of the apparatus of the present invention, the fragrance control system is mounted on a user's body, while in other preferred embodiments, the fragrance control system is mounted on a chair. Similarly, in certain preferred embodiments of the apparatus of the present invention, the fragrance delivery system is mounted on a user's body, while in other preferred embodiments, the fragrance control system is mounted on a chair.
The present invention thus provides a fragrance producing system synchronized to an audiovisual medium that preferably includes a fragrance delivery system for providing a short burst of air containing one of a plurality of fragrance chemicals to an individual user coordinated by receiving and processing a signal contained within the audiovisual medium that has been transmitted to a fragrance creation system in which the signal activates a compressor or releases a source of compressed gas that selectively volatilizes the fragrance chemical, wherein the plurality of fragrance chemicals are disposed within an apparatus that selectively mixes one of the plurality with a burst of pressurized air or compressed gas. Most preferably, the signal contained within the audiovisual medium is transmitted via and RF transmitter to an RF receiver connected to the fragrance creation system, and the apparatus that selectively mixes one of the plurality with a burst of pressurized air generated by the compressor or burst of a compressed gas comprises a turret with a plurality of ports, and each of the ports includes an absorbent material and a fragrance chemical. Alternatively, the apparatus that selectively mixes one of the plurality with a burst of pressurized air or compressed gas comprises an array of micro-valves, and each of the micro-valves includes an absorbent material and a fragrance chemical.
Finally, the present invention also discloses methods of synchronizing a fragrance stimulus to a user with one or more audio and visual stimuli by providing a fragrance track to an audiovisual medium to provide a coded signal that correlates to a type of fragrance desired to be released at a pre-determined time, and then determining the divisions within the medium in which fragrance is to be delivered and creating a sequence of fragrances. A device having the requisite number of ports containing a sufficient variety and quantity of fragrance to correspond to the sequence of fragrances is provided and loaded with the fragrance. Next, a signal is processed to activate a compressor or release a burst of compressed gas and connect the device with a burst of compressed gas so that the correct fragrance chemical is volatilized when the burst reaches the fragrance chemical. In certain embodiments the step of providing a fragrance track comprises programmatic methods direct the system to generate a scent for a pre-determined brief period of time.
The implementation of the present invention is in several preferred embodiments, discussed below, along with several illustrative examples. The embodiments of the invention described below are provided for the purpose of understanding the invention and are not meant to be limiting.
Referring now to
The fragrance generator 100 is comprised of a medium 110 and a media player 112. As known in the art, the medium 110 and media player 112 can be any one of a number of systems, either digital, analog or some combination of such systems, that contains information and converts the information into a signal that can be used for display. Thus; the medium 110 will comprise one or more “tracks” such as a video track, a sound track and, in accordance with the present invention, a fragrance track. The media player 112 will read or process the medium 100 and create signals that can be displayed by devices such as a visual display 114 and an audio display 116. However, in accordance with the present invention, the scent track described above is transmitted to and processed by a fragrance control system 212 that may or may not be integral with the media player 112. As discussed in further detail below and well known in the art, there are a number of systems that contain a scent “medium” (not illustrated in
As illustrated in
Referring now to
As will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, the system described with relation to
Referring now to
Still referring to
In certain preferred embodiments, the present invention will also selectively provide a purging burst to provide complete separation of scents. Thus, after a delivery of any fragrance, a fragrance signal 251 to the microprocessor controller 216 will again send a flow of air through the system, however in “purge mode” no fragrance will be volatilized, and a clean burst of air clears the airflow supplied to the user.
Thus, in operation, those of skill in the art will appreciate that a fundamental requirement of the present invention is that the medium contain an additional “track” that is designed to provide a coded signal that correlates to the type of scent desired to be released at the particular temporal point in the audio or visual presentation. Alternatively, programmatic methods could be employed, e.g., a short algorithm that directs the system to generate a scent upon intervals, e.g., generating short bursts (for example, less than three seconds) of pine scent every thirty seconds during prolonged scenes in an evergreen forest. Such signals, whether part of a “track” or programmed are easily integrated into various forms of media, such as digital discs (CDs, DVDs, etc.), game cartridges, the magnetic tracks found on commercial theatre film, videotape and audiotape, and various other forms of magnetic media. Typically, the numbers of scenes or similar divisions within the medium in which fragrance will make an impact or otherwise be appropriate are identified and a sequence of fragrances is created. A turret or array of valves having the requisite number of ports containing a sufficient variety and quantity of fragrance to correspond to the sequence of fragrances is designed and provided. In operation, the system is loaded with the correct turret or valve array and the user is positioned so the nosepiece described above will transmit fragrance to the wearer in a synchronized fashion. The “fragrance track” provides a signal that is processed to cause a burst of gas to flow and indexes the turret so that the correct fragrance chemical is volatilized when the burst of air reaches the fragrance chemical.
Upon review of the foregoing, numerous adaptations, modifications, and alterations will occur to the reviewer. These will all be, however, within the spirit of the present invention. Accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims in order to ascertain the true scope of the present invention.
