Patent Application
20140063353
Consumers have become inundated with static image content at the point of purchase. The static image content typically promotes or provides information about products in an attempt to influence consumers' purchasing decisions. However, determining the effectiveness of such static image content can be difficult. There is thus a need for new ways to attract the attention of consumers in providing them with advertisements or other product promotional content. One approach involves converting these static surfaces to video surfaces and providing video content for advertisements, attempting to attract consumers' attention through an active type of content. This video content is typically provided on flat screen display devices, such as liquid crystal display devices, proximate or near the product being promoted. The effectiveness of this type of advertisement may be limited when the consumers are simply viewing potential products to purchase and not viewing the display. Accordingly, a need exists for new ways to delivery electronic video and image content, particular on shaped surfaces that may conform to the content being projected.
A system for projecting content onto a shaped screen, consistent with the present invention, includes a projector configured for projecting electronic content having a particular shape and a rear projection screen for receiving and displaying the projected content. The rear projection screen has a shape substantially conforming to the particular shape of the projected content. The system is configured to increase an illumination of the projected content in a particular portion of the rear projection screen compared with the projected content in other portions of the rear projection screen.
A method for projecting content onto a shaped screen, consistent with the present invention, includes projecting electronic content having a particular shape and displaying the projected content on a rear projection screen. The rear projection screen has a shape substantially conforming to the particular shape of the projected content. The method also includes increasing the illumination of the projected content in a particular portion of the rear projection screen compared with the projected content in other portions of the rear projection screen.
The accompanying drawings are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification and, together with the description, explain the advantages and principles of the invention. In the drawings,
Embodiments of the present invention include a system having a projector and a shaped rear projection screen with the system configured to increase or maximize the luminance of portions of interest on the screen. In digital merchandising applications, for example, a viewer's visual attention may be more attracted to brighter projected portions of images or video. Therefore, the system can increase the brightness to highlight a particular portion of the projected content, for example a product being advertised, a branded label for the product, or the face of a person presenting a product or service. A portion of the screen is a particular discrete area on the screen and can include multiple discrete areas collectively deemed a portion. An example of a portion having multiple discrete areas includes highlighting the face of a person presenting a product and a label on the product being presented. The electronic content projected and displayed can include electronic video content or changeable electronic (digital) still images.
Shaped rear projection screens are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,923,675, which is incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth. Projection onto shaped and curved rear projection screens is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/195,965, entitled “Display System and Method for Projection onto Multiple Surfaces,” and filed Aug. 2, 2011, which is incorporated herein by reference as fully set forth. Examples of a rear projection screen and a projector are the VIKUITI XRVS Rear Projection Display Screen and the MPro 160 LCOS pico projector, both from 3M Company.
The systems can be configured to increase or maximize the brightness of a particular portion of projected content by varying the projection angle between the projector and rear projection screen. Rear projection screens typically have a transmission function for various input angles, which provides an indication of the illumination of the projected content based upon the projection angle including an area of increased or maximum brightness on the screen. From the transmission function, the projection angle can be optimized to provide an increased or the maximum visual brightness to an observer for a particular portion of the shaped rear projection screen. The projection angle (e.g., horizontal angle 23 and vertical angle 38) between the projector and rear projection screen can be varied by adjusting a position of the projector relative to the rear projection screen, adjusting a position of the rear projection screen relative to the projector, or adjusting positions of both the projector and rear projection screen. As shown in
Aside from changing the angle between the projector and rear projection screen, the projected electronic content can be configured to increase the illumination of the projected content in a particular portion of the rear projection screen. In this case, the projector can project content directly onto the screen instead of at an angle, meaning the content is projected along an axis perpendicular to the screen. Alternatively, the portion of interest can have an increased illumination by both configuring the content and adjusting an angle between the projector and rear projection screen. Also, the content can be configured to increase the illumination of the content in different portions of the screen over time, for example when projecting video content, the highlighted portion can change along with the video content. The content can be configured by using digital video or imaging editing software programs to manually adjust the brightness of the portion of interest. Examples of digital content editing programs include the PHOTOSHOP products from Adobe Systems Incorporated and the FINAL CUT PRO product from Apple Incorporated. The content can also be modified by using keystone correction for the displayed image in the projector (typically up to ±30 degrees), by adjusting the content for the correct projection, or by both using keystone correction in the projector and adjusting the content.
In the above description, a bottle or presenter shape is used as the shape of the rear projection screen for illustrative purposes only. The rear projection screens can be shaped to conform to any desired content to be projected upon them. Although a virtual mask having a projection area to create the particular shape of the content is described above, a physical mask can also be used to create the particular shape of the content, or both a virtual and a physical mask can be used.
