Patent Grant
11774788
The use of traditional large screen displays is often restricted as a result of inhospitable mounting conditions. One such inhospitable mounting condition that is often encountered both indoors as well as outdoors, is the lack of a flat mounting surface. As can be appreciated, a flat mounting surface readily accommodates various types of mounting arrangements and thereby constitutes a relatively hospitable environment for mounting traditional large screen displays.
Unfortunately, many indoor as well as outdoor structures have various protrusions and curved surfaces located at certain spots that may coincidentally be the most desirable in terms of visibility to viewers. The traditional approach to solving this problem is to either mount the large screen display at a less than desirable alternative location, or to mount it upon the non-flat surface by using a customized mounting fixture along with its attendant handicaps such as material cost, labor cost, weight issues etc.
As for the weight issue, even a flat mounting surface may turn out unsuitable for mounting a large screen display if the mounting surface is unable to bear the weight of a traditional large screen display. As is known, the heaviness of the traditional large screen display is a result of not only the weight of the screen itself, but also the weight of the housing in which the screen is housed, and the weight of the mechanical and electronic components contained inside the housing. The weight issue associated with using a traditional large screen display is further exacerbated by the weight of the mounting fixture, more so a customized mounting fixture when used for mounting the display on a non-flat surface.
To elaborate further upon certain other aspects associated with a traditional large screen display, attention is first drawn to
When display system 100 is an LCD display system, the various components may be generically described as including an LCD display screen 115, a back-lighting system 110, and drive electronics 105. The integrated packaging of these components, as well as other components that are not shown (frame, cabinet, etc), leads to a cumbersome arrangement having various limitations in terms of mounting considerations, cost, limited field of view etc. Specifically, in
When display system 100 is a plasma display system (rather than an LCD system), the various components may be generically described as including a plasma display screen 115, a plasma drive system 110, and imaging/drive electronics 105. Plasma display screen 115 contains multiple compartments 120 that contain gas for exciting a phosphor coating inside the display screen 115. The plasma display system also suffers from the same issues as described above with reference to the LCD display system. Additionally, the plasma display system suffers from heat related, as well as weight related issues when compared to the LCD display system.
Attention is now drawn to
A ubiquitously mountable image display system includes a shape-reconfigurable display screen component to which is attached a plurality of circuit modules each having at least one light source. The shape-reconfigurable display screen component is formed of a material that accommodates flexing of the display screen component without creating a perceivable aberration in separation distance between two or more picture elements of an image that is rendered upon a viewing plane of the display screen component when light from the plurality of light sources is directed towards the viewing plane.
Many aspects of the invention can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale. Instead, emphasis is placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the invention. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views. Suffixes appended to reference numerals are generally indicative of alternative embodiments. As an illustrative example, “405A” (i.e. a reference numeral “405” with appended suffix “A”) is indicative of a first alternative embodiment of an element “405,” while “405B” indicates a second alternative embodiment of “405.”
Throughout this description, embodiments and variations are described for the purpose of illustrating uses and implementations of the inventive concept. The illustrative description should be understood as presenting examples of the inventive concept, rather than as limiting the scope of the concept as disclosed herein. For example, it will be understood that the description provided below with respect to mounting the ubiquitously mountable image display system upon a curved surface does not preclude mounting of the ubiquitously mountable image display system upon a that surface. A person of ordinary skill in the art will recognize the advantages associated with using the ubiquitously mountable image display system described herein (reduced weight, portability, cost etc) for a wide variety of applications (including numerous traditional applications such as flat surface mounting). It will also be understood, that the word “image” as used herein does not merely refer to a static image (such as a JPEG image) but encompasses moving images as well (movies, video clips, dynamically varying advertising material, text messages etc). It will be further understood that a reference may be made to one particular embodiment (for example, an ubiquitously mountable image display system “300”) or to one particular element (for example, “module 310”) solely in the interests of convenience for purposes of description. However, such a reference and/or accompanying description may be equally applicable to various other embodiments (for example, ubiquitously mountable image display system “400”) or another element (for example, “310C”). A person of ordinary skill in the art should recognize such equivalencies and understand that the teachings below encompass such diverse elements and applications.
Attention is now drawn to
In one embodiment, display screen component 305 is composed of a material that provides partial transmissivity to light. As a result, light emitted by each light source 311 is partially diffused so as to create smooth transitional boundaries between the pixels of the image rendered on viewing plane 307. Various types of materials may be used for this purpose. A few non-limiting examples include various types of plastics, fiberglass, acrylic and other polymers. Some of the criteria that may be used for selecting this material includes: a desired level of flexing capability along one or more axes, minimal weight, high machinability (cutting, drilling, punching, polishing, finishing etc), and a desired level of diffusion/transmissivity to RGB (red, green, blue) light.
In another embodiment, display screen component 305 is composed of a material that can accommodate selective blocking of light emitted by each light source 311. A few nonlimiting examples where such material is used includes a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel, and a digital light processing (DLP) panel. In this embodiment, the display screen component 305 may be suitably controlled via electronic circuitry (not shown) in order to perform the selective blocking of light. The blocking may be configured at a pixel level, or higher.
Irrespective of the nature of the material used in display screen component 305, there are two features of display screen component 305 that may be deemed somewhat more important than others. These two features are: the ability to flex along one or more axes, and minimal weight. The ability to flex allows display screen component 305 to be ubiquitously mounted on various types of hospitable as well as inhospitable mounting surfaces. This aspect will be described below in further detail using other figures. As for the minimal weight aspect, display screen component 305 is not only selected on the basis of a suitably light material, but each light source circuit module 310 is designed to contain minimal circuitry, such that the combination of display screen component 305 and light source circuit modules 310 can be assembled as one integrated display unit having significantly less weight than an equivalent prior-art large screen display unit. It should be understood that a significant amount of the control circuitry that provides signals to each light source circuit module 310 is contained inside a separate assembly (a control unit, not shown in
Each light source circuit module 310 is individually attached to mounting surface 306 using a suitable adhesive, or suitable mechanical fasteners (bolts, nuts, rivets, spacers etc), with no enclosure or frame deemed essential for holding together the resulting assembly. The elimination of the enclosure and/or frame reduces additional weight that may not only be unnecessary but undesirable as well in certain applications. For example, in an indoor environment, such as an exhibition halt, a cabinet may not be needed for protecting ubiquitously mountable image display system 300 from natural elements such as sun, wind, and rain.
Furthermore, the weight of image display system 300 may be kept to a minimum for certain applications (for example when hung from a ceiling) by eliminating various hardware elements such as mounting brackets, user controls, and metal bolts. However, it should be understood that such hardware elements are not necessarily precluded from being used in various applications, and thus, one or more of these elements can be optionally included with ubiquitously mountable image display system 300 when so desired. A minimally configured ubiquitously mountable image display system 300 may thus be described as a frame-free, cabinet-less, shape-reconfigurable display system.
In this embodiment, display screen component 305A is formed of a material that is substantially opaque, thereby blocking light from propagating out of areas other than perforations 415. Various types of materials may be used for this purpose. A few non-limiting examples include various types of opaque plastics, opaque fiberglass, and composites including graphite-based composites. The criteria that may be used for selecting this material includes: a desired level of flexing capability along one or more axes, minimal weight, and high machinability (cutting, drilling, punching, polishing, finishing etc). The high machinability aspect comes into play to a large extent when fabricating the perforations 415 upon display screen component 305A.
The extent to which a light source 311 is inserted into a perforation 415 may vary from one implementation to another. For example, in one implementation, the extent of insertion may result in a light emitting surface of light source 311 being located flush with viewing plane 307 of display screen component 305A.
As can be understood, the bend radius, as well as shape, of display screen component 305 may be initially selected to conform to a first mounting surface such as a curved wall, for example. Subsequently, the end-user may opt to re-use display screen component 305 upon a second mounting surface, such as a pillar for example. In order to do so, the end-user removes display screen component 305 from the curved wall, and reconfigures the shape of display screen component 305 to conform to a different curvature of the pillar so as to provide multiple viewing axes around the pillar.
One or both of the two non-planar shapes described above may be retained in their respective shapes by the use of suitable mounting fixtures as long as a particular non-planar shape is desired. In other words, a first mourning fixture, in the form of a first curved, rigid support bar may be attached to display screen component 305 when display screen component 305 is mounted on the curved wall, and the bar may be removed when display screen component 305 is mounted on the pillar using anchor bolts and hooks for example. Some additional aspects pertaining to the use of support bars will be described below using
It must be recognized that this form of end-user adjustment is different in nature to a flexing operation that may be performed upon a display screen element during a manufacturing operation of a traditional display unit. The manufacture-related flexing operation provides a curvature that cannot be modified by an end-user of the traditional display unit.
Furthermore, it will be understood that the phrase “end-user” may be applied to a wide variety of people, including, for example, a buyer of the image display system, a lessee, or any other person who handles the product after the product has been shipped out of a manufacturing facility. The phrase also includes certain personnel who may be involved with the product during the manufacturing process, such as for example, a quality-control inspector or a product tester. Such personnel may test the flexibility features as well as other features of the product before shipping the product out of the manufacturing facility.
To explain the rationale behind beveled edges 611 and 612, attention is once again drawn to
However, the maximum separation distance that can be provided between adjacent light source circuit modules 310 of
Consequently, one solution that is directed at minimizing the negative impact, is to provide beveled edges 611 and 612 as shown in
Attention is now drawn to
To elaborate upon the matrix configuration, it can be seen that rows 711, 712 and 713 are contiguous rows, while columns 714, 715 and 716 are contiguous columns. It can be further seen that the inter-row spacing between rows 711, 712 and 713 is uniformly distributed, whereas the inter-column spacing between columns 714, 715 and 716 is not uniform. The separation distance between column 714 and 715 is larger than that between columns 715 and 716. The non-uniform separation distance between columns 714 and 715 leads to a perceivable aberration 720 being created upon an image displayed on viewing surface 307.
Similarly, a non-uniform separation distance may exist between rows as well. Here again, the non-uniform separation distance between rows leads to a perceivable aberration upon an image displayed on viewing surface 307.
A viewer's attention is automatically/sub-consciously drawn to such visual incongruities, (which in this case relates to a non-uniform spacing between columns (or between rows) of a matrix of image pixels) thereby adversely affecting the viewing experience. Consequently, it is desirable to eliminate such a non-uniform distribution of separation distances between rows or columns.
In practice, the adverse effects related to such perceivable aberrations may be minimized to some extent by providing a gradual change in separation distance amongst the multiple columns located between two vertical axes located at opposing vertical edges of display screen component 305A and/or by providing a gradual change in separation distance amongst the multiple rows located between two horizontal axes located at opposing horizontal edges of display screen component 305A.
Such a gradual change in separation distance (in either the column direction or in the row direction) is automatically provided by the flexing characteristic of display screen component 305A, which eliminates abrupt angular bends upon viewing surface 307. To accomplish this feature, display screen component 305A is designed to incorporate a maximum bend radius that may be carried out at any location along a horizontal axis (and/or a vertical axis), thereby permitting display screen component 305A to be configured to one or more flexed shapes without creating any perceivable aberrations in either a horizontal or a vertical viewing direction.
It should be noted that while the description above is directed at display screen component 305A (having perforations), a person of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that there are several aspects (perceivable aberrations, separation distance between pixels etc) that are equally applicable to display screen component 305 (diffused screen, LCD screen, DLP screen etc) shown in
Each light source circuit module 310 may be configured in different ways. For example, as shown, light source circuit module 310A, which includes a single light source 311 (not shown), is aligned with a corresponding single perforation 705. On the other hand, light source circuit module 310B contains multiple light sources 311 (not shown) and is attached to display screen component 305A such that each of the multiple light sources 311 is aligned to a corresponding perforation 705 in a set of perforations corresponding to the larger profile of light source circuit module 31011. While only a few of circuit modules 310A and 310B are shown, it will be understood that several more of each of these modules will be employed such that light is emitted via many more, or all, perforations 705 of display screen component 305A.
Attention is now drawn to
Drive circuit 810 includes signal drivers that provide drive signals for driving light source 311. Control interface circuitry 805 contains circuitry that receives signals from a control unit (not shown) and suitably conditions these signals for use by drive circuit 810. The circuitry contained in control interface circuitry 805 is selected in correspondence to the type of signals transmitted from the control unit. For example, when the control unit provides wireless signals, control interface circuitry 805 includes wireless devices that receive the wireless signals and suitably demodulate these wireless signals to generate baseband signals that are then provided to drive circuit 810 for driving light source 311.
In a dynamic imaging application, where ubiquitously mountable image display system 300 is used to display moving images (movies, videos etc), control interface circuitry 805 may include signal conditioning circuitry and image processing circuitry as well.
As explained above, multiple light source circuit modules 310 are attached to display screen component 305 thus contributing to the overall weight of the integrated assembly. Consequently, as a general rule, a minimal amount of circuitry is incorporated into each light source circuit module 310 so as to minimize size, weight, and cost of each module, as well as to minimize the overall weight.
Each of surfaces 205, 210, 215 and 225 of
In the example configuration shown in
Support bar 181 is especially useful when ubiquitously mountable image display system 300 is hung in free space as shown in
When no longer needed to be hung in free space in the manner shown in
Control unit 192 can be implemented in several different ways and may be considered an integral part of a display system 190 that includes ubiquitously mountable image display system 300 and any additional hardware related to communication medium 191.
In a first embodiment, control unit 192 is a dedicated unit containing hardware and software that are expressly designed for interacting with ubiquitously mountable image display system 300.
In a second embodiment, control unit 192 is implemented in a general-purpose computer such as a desktop personal computer or a laptop.
Typically, control unit 192 is located at a suitable location that is remote from surface 205. Because weight considerations and mounting considerations are comparatively less important in the case of control unit 192 than in the case of ubiquitously mountable image display system 300, control unit 192 may be placed upon various suitable surfaces, such as a tabletop, a shelf, a ledge etc. This two-piece configuration (control unit 192 and ubiquitously mountable image display system 300) of display system 190 provides various advantages for ubiquitously mounting a display system in a wide variety of locations where traditional display systems may suffer from various handicaps.
The above-described embodiments are merely set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure. Many variations and modifications may be made without departing substantially from the disclosure. All such modifications and variations are included herein within the scope of this disclosure.
This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of prior filed U.S. non-provisional utility application Ser. No. 16/846,392, filed Apr. 12, 2020. Application Ser. No. 16/846,392 is a Continuation of and claimed the benefit of application Ser. No. 14/627,008, filed Feb. 20, 2015. Application Ser. No. 14/627,008 is a continuation of and claimed the benefit of application Ser. No. 13/241,145 filed on Sep. 22, 2011. Application Ser. Nos. 16/846,392, 14/627,008 and 13/241,145 are incorporated herein by reference.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16846392 | Apr 2020 | US |
| Child | 17555300 | US | |
| Parent | 14627008 | Feb 2015 | US |
| Child | 16846392 | US | |
| Parent | 13241145 | Sep 2011 | US |
| Child | 14627008 | US |
