Patent Application
20160232824
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of display devices. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a device that is used to hold and display a poster.
Posters for movies or TV shows have become a popular form of art. In particular, posters that depict images or characters from movies or TV shows have become popular items to decorate walls in homes and businesses. The posters come in a variety of sizes and may include black and white images or full color images. Posters are often plainly hung on a wall or sometimes framed for hanging on the wall.
An issue with current methods of displaying posters is that the posters cannot be adequately seen in a dark room. Another deficiency of current methods of displaying posters is that hanging posters directly to a wall may not be very attractive. Also, removing posters from the wall may be messy or may cause damage to the wall. Even framed posters may be difficult and time-consuming to remove from the frame so that they may be removed or replaced.
The invention relates to a device that is used to hold and display a poster. The device holds the poster extended upon a wall and includes light sources that shine light upon the poster. Installing and removing posters using the disclosed device is a relatively quick and easy procedure that minimizes damage to the wall. Importantly, using the disclosed device, a poster may be elegantly displayed and may be properly seen even in a dark room.
These and further features of the present invention will be described with reference to the attached drawings. In the description and drawings, particular embodiments of the invention have been disclosed in detail as being indicative of some of the ways in which the principles of the invention may be employed, but it is understood that the invention is not limited correspondingly in scope. Rather, the invention includes all changes, modifications and equivalents coming within the terms of the appended claims.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate various example systems, methods, and so on, that illustrate various example embodiments of aspects of the invention. It will be appreciated that the illustrated element boundaries (e.g., boxes, groups of boxes, or other shapes) in the figures represent one example of the boundaries. One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that one element may be designed as multiple elements or that multiple elements may be designed as one element. An element shown as an internal component of another element may be implemented as an external component and vice versa. Furthermore, elements may not be drawn to scale.
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In the illustrated embodiment of
The top poster bar 3 and the clips 5 associated with the top poster bar 3 operate in a similar manner to engage or disengage the top edge of the poster P.
The housing 2 also includes poster hanging fasteners 7, which, in the illustrated embodiment are located in the proximal portion 2a. In other embodiments, the poster hanging fasteners 7 may be located in portions of the housing 2 or the device 1 different from the proximal portion 2a. The top poster bar 3 also includes housing engaging fasteners 8 disposed along the length of the top poster bar 3. In the illustrated embodiment, the fasteners 8 of the top poster bar 3 are holes and the fasteners 7 of the housing 2 are hooks corresponding in design and location to each other.
The proximal portion 2a of the housing 2 may also include device hanging fasteners 6b such as, for example, holes or brackets that may be attached to the housing 2. The device hanging fasteners 6b may be secondary means for hanging the housing 2 to the wall W and may be used instead of or in addition to the device hanging fastener 6a.
The proximal portion 2a of the housing 2 is proximate the wall W when the poster display device 1 is mounted to the wall W by using the device hanging fasteners 6a-b. In the illustrated embodiment, the device 1 includes one device hanging fastener 6a and two device hanging fasteners 6b that correspond to holes that may engage fasteners (e.g., screws, nails, etc.) attached to the wall W. In other embodiments, the device 1 may include more or fewer than the illustrated number of device hanging fasteners 6a-b or the device 1 may include device hanging fasteners different from the shown holes (e.g., wires, brackets, hooks, Velcro®, adhesives, etc.)
The housing 2 also includes light sources 9 mounted along the length of the distal portion 2b of the housing 2. The light sources 9 may be light emitting diodes (LED), incandescent light bulbs, white light sources, colored light sources, ultraviolet light sources, etc. The housing 2 also includes a power circuit 10 attached to the housing 2 to provide power to the light sources 9. The power circuit 10 may include batteries. The power circuit 10 may also include a compartment 11 for the batteries. (See
The power circuit 10 may also include a light mode switch 13 that controls light modes of the poster display device 1. Light modes of the poster display device 1 may include on (i.e., the light sources 9 are continuously on), off (i.e., the light sources 9 are continuously off), on-timer or auto-off (i.e., the light sources 9 are on for a certain period of time and automatic turn off thereafter), etc.
This way the poster displaying device 1 holds the poster P extended upon the wall W and shines light upon the poster P. The poster P is elegantly displayed and may be properly seen even in a dark room. Moreover, installing and removing the poster P using the device 1 only requires removing the top poster bar 3 from the housing 2 (i.e., disengaging the fasteners 7 from the fasteners 8) and releasing the poster P by sliding the clips 5 along the first poster engaging portion 4a and the second poster engaging portion 4b in the opposite direction as when installing the poster P. This releases the poster P from the clips 5. The housing 2 may remain mounted to the wall W for a new poster to be displayed. This is a relatively quick and easy procedure that causes minimal to no damage to the wall W.
While example systems, methods, and so on, have been illustrated by describing examples, and while the examples have been described in considerable detail, it is not the intention to restrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to such detail. It is, of course, not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for purposes of describing the systems, methods, and so on, described herein. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention is not limited to the specific details, and illustrative examples shown or described. Thus, this application is intended to embrace alterations, modifications, and variations that fall within the scope of the appended claims. Furthermore, the preceding description is not meant to limit the scope of the invention. Rather, the scope of the invention is to be determined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
To the extent that the term “includes” or “including” is employed in the detailed description or the claims, it is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as that term is interpreted when employed as a transitional word in a claim. Furthermore, to the extent that the term “or” is employed in the detailed description or claims (e.g., A or B) it is intended to mean “A or B or both”. When the applicants intend to indicate “only A or B but not both” then the term “only A or B but not both” will be employed. Thus, use of the term “or” herein is the inclusive, and not the exclusive use. See, Bryan A. Garner, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage 624 (3D. Ed. 1995).
