Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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ELECTRONIC FLOOR DISPLAY WITH ALERTING
[0001]This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S.
provisional application serial no. 60/599,878, filed August 10, 2004. Further,
this application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending application serial
no.
11/002,276, filed December 3, 2004, which claims the benefit under 35
U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. provisional application 60/526,271, filed December
3, 2003. Application serial no. 11/002,276 is a continuation-in-part of co-
pending application serial no. 10/454,631, filed June 5, 2003, which claims
lo the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. provisional application
60/385,579 filed June 5, 2002. Application serial no. 10/454,631 is a
continuation-in-part of co-pending application serial no.10/438,923, filed May
16, 2003, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S.
provisional application 60/378,070, filed May 16, 2002. Application serial no.
10/438,923 is a continuation-in-part of co-pending application serial no.
10/285,639, filed November 1, 2002, which is a continuation of application
serial no. 10/137,357, filed May 3, 2002, and issued as U.S. Patent No.
6,507,285 on January 14, 2003. Application serial no. 10/137,357 is a
continuation of application serial no. 09/767,846, filed January 24, 2001, and
issued as U.S. Patent No. 6,417,778 on July 9, 2002. Application serial no.
09/767,846 is a continuation of application serial no. 09/418,752, filed
October 15, 1999, and now abandoned. Application serial no. 09/418,752 is
a continuation-in-part of application serial no. 09/304,051, filed May 4,
1999,
and issued as U.S. Patent No. 6,219,876 on April 24,2001. Moreover, this
application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending application serial no.
10/759,167, filed January 20, 2004, which claims the benefit under 35
U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. provisional application serial no. 60/441,408, filed
January 22, 2003. Application serial no. 10/759,167 is a continuation-in-part
of co-pending application serial no. 10/682,435, filed October 10, 2003 which
claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 119(e) of U.S. provisional applications
identified as follows: application serial no. 60/418,626, filed October 12,
2002; application serial no. 60/428,387, filed November 21, 2002; and
application serial no. 60/429,044, filed November 23 2002. Application serial
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no. 10/682,435 is a continuation-in-part of co-pending application serial no.
10/438,923, filed May 16, 2003. Each of the above-identified applications
and patents is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
Baci~_qroundl
[0002] United States Patent 6,4'17,773 to Blum et al., which is fully
incorporated herein by reference, describes an electronic display device
associated with a floor, that enables conveying information via dynamic
images and text. The present disclosure relates to various novel and
io advantageous features of such an electronic display device.
[0003] For example, the electronic display device may be included in an
overall floor display system including a protective housing for the display
device, control electronics, sensors and other components. To avoid
creating a trip hazard, the floor display system may be designed to present a
minimum of impediment to persons walking. Thus, the floor display system
may be very thin, be substantially coplanar with a floor or imbedded in a
floor, or the like, making the floor display system very easy to walk across
or
step onto.
[0004]. Market research suggests that because of its nearly imperceptible
profile, in terms of how it affects a person's normal stride, persons (e.g.
shoppers in a store) will sometimes be unaware of a floor display system
having the above-described design, even while actually standing near or
directly on the floor display system. Accordingly, there is a need to alert a
person to the presence of the floor display system when he or she is
standing near or on it, so that the person will look down and take in the
content of a display, such as a message or advertisement.
Brief Description of the Drawings
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[0005] FIGs. 1 and 2 show a plan view of a floor display system according
to embodiments of the present invention.
etailed description
[0006] Embodiments of the present invention relate to a floor display
system comprising an electronic display device, a housing for the electronic
display device, and an alerting device to generate an alert in response to the
detecting of a person. The person may be in the proximity of the floor
io display system. For example, the person may be near or standing on the
housing. The alert may be any kind of stimulus to get the attention of the
person. For example, the alert may include a vibration, a light, a sound, or
any combination of these. The detecting may be based on any kind of
physical effect associated with a person near or standing on the housing.
For example, the effect could include a pressure being applied by a standing
person's weight on the housing for a predetermined period of time. As
another example, the effect could include a change in the intensity of light
on
the housing a predetermined period of time, due to a person near or
standing on the housing blocking ambient or incipient light.
[0007] FIG. I shows a floor display system 100 according to embodiments
of the present invention. The system 100 may include a housing that
comprises a transparent or translucent protective cover 115 bordered by an
outer shell 110. The outer shell 110 may comprise sloping surfaces tapering
to a thin edge. The housing may be capable of being walked over, where
the sloping surfaces and thin edge act to reduce the likelihood of a person
tripping over the display system. Further, the housing may be stood upon.
The housing may enclose one or more electronic display devices 117 and
protect it/them from damage.
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[0003] A plurality of sensing devices 103 may be arranged on or in the
housing to sense effects associated with a person near or standing on the
housing. For example, the sensing devices 103 may include pressure
sensing devices to sense a person's weight. Additionally or alternatively, the
sensing devices 103 may include light-responsive devices or temperature-
sensing devices. The light-responsive devices could detect a reduction in
the intensity of light striking the protective covering 115, due to a person's
body blocking light due to being near or standing on the housing. In
embodiments, the light-responsive devices could be passive devices that
io receive light energy from ambient light and register changes in the amount
of
light energy received. In other embodiments, the light-responsive devices
could be active sensing devices, such as lasers, that emit electromagnetic
energy such as light or other radiation, and generate signals based on
whether the emitted light energy is reflected or interrupted. Embodiments
could include both passive and active devices.
[0009] As noted above, pressure-sensing devices or temperature-sensing
devices could also be used to detect a person standing on the housing. The
pressure-sensing devices, temperature-sensing devices and light-responsive
devices could each be used solely or in combination with each other or with
other types of sensing devices.
[0010] The sensing devices 103 may be arranged anywhere on or in or
near the housing. For example, they could be arranged below the
transparent/transiucent protective cover 115 and/or bordering outer shell
110. Additionally or alternatively, they could be on an upper surface of the
protective cover 115 and/or bordering outer shell 110 or embedded within
the protective cover 115 and/or bordering outer shell 110. For example, the
protective cover 115 and/or bordering outer shell 110 could be machined or
fabricated to receive a sensing device array therein in such a way that the
sensing device array is protected but can sense changes in light and/or
pressure and/or temperature. A passive or active light-responsive device,
for example, could be arranged proximately to the housing but not
necessarily on or in the housing.
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[0011] The floor display system 100 may fu'her comprise a controller 120.
The controller 120 may be coupled to the sensing devices 103. The
controller 120 may include any kind of electronic logic circuit, for example,
a
general microprocessor configurable with software, or an ASIC (application
specific integrated circuit). The controller may be programmed with logic to
make a decision about whether a person is near or standing on the housing
of the floor display system 100. This operation may be advantageous
because persons may simply walk by or across the floor display system and
not pause for any significant period of time near or on the housing. Such
lo behavior may not serve to determine whether or not a person has noticed a
display on the system. On the other hand, standing on the housing for a
predetermined period of time may suggest that the standing person has not
noticed the display, because if he or she had noticed the display, he or she
would likely have moved so as not to obscure his or her view of the display.
[0012] Consequently, the controller 120 may be configured to receive inputs
from the sensing devices 103 and execute logic to decide, based on the
inputs, whether a person is standing near or on the housing of the floor
display system 100. The logic could include any kind of calculation or
algorithm, but could be based at least partly on a measurement of a physical
2o effect associated with a person standing near or on the housing, registered
by a sensing device 103 and input to the controller 120. For example, if a
certain measure of pressure lasting for a predetermined period of time was
registered by a sensing device, this could be interpreted by the controller
120 as an indication of a person standing on the housing. The controller 120
or a data storage medium associated therewith, for example, could store
data tables containing predetermined values or ranges of values for amounts
of pressure, and corresponding predetermined values for time thresholds.
By, for example, comparing measured values input from a sensing device
with these predetermined values, the controller could decide whether a
person was standing on the housing.
[0013] Similarly, a change in the intensity of ambient or incipient light over
a
period of time could be measured by a sensing device, and this
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measurement could be input to the controller. The controller could compare
the measured values with predetermined values and time thresholds to
decide whether a person was standing near or on the housing. To register a
change in light intensity, for example, a baseline level of light energy could
be determined based on an average of light energy received by a plurality of
sensing devices, and measured light intensity could be compared with this
baseline value.
[0014] Similar determinations could be made by measuring changes in
temperature, or any other physical effects. The controller's determination
io could be based on a combination of inputs from sensing devices measuring
a plurality of different kinds of physical effects, including pressure, light,
temperature or others.
[0015] FIG. I further shows a plurality of alerting devices 105. The
controller 120 may further be coupled to the alerting devices. The alerting
devices 105 could be activated by the controller 120 to generate an alert if
the controller 120 determined that a person was standing near or on the
housing of the floor display system 100. The alerting devices could include,
for example, electro-mechanical actuators to generate a vibration. The
vibration could be felt by the standing person and cause him or her to look
2o down at the display. The actuators may be, for example, piezoelectric
actuators.
[0016] FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of a floor display system 100 with
alerting devices 205 representing devices to generate some form of visual
stimulus, such as flashing or strobing lights. An alerting device to generate
a
visual stimulus could include a light-emitting diode, for example. The
alerting
devices 205 may be arranged in or on the outer shell bordering the
protective cover, but are not limited to this placement. The alerting devices
205 may also be considered as representing sound-generating devices to
generate an aural stimulus such as a musical jingle. As shown in FIG. 2, the
controller 120 may be coupled to both a sensing device 103 and an alerting
device 205. Based on input from the sensing device 103 the controller 120
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may activate the alerting device 205. Alerting devices generally according to
embodiments of the present invention could include any combination of
devices to generate vibratory, visual, aural or other stimuli. These stimuli
may have the effect of causing a person standing near or on the housing of
the floor display system 100 to look down at a display being generated by
the floor display system. Alerts generated by the alerting devices may be
periodic, continuous, or variable in intensity or duration.
[0017] As noted above, an electronic display device associated with a floor
has been previously disclosed. More specifically, U.S. 6,41 7,778 discloses a
io system for electronically conveying information via an electronic display
device associated with a floor. The electronic display device may
incorporate a modifiable electronic display surface presenting for example, a
liquid crystal display. The display could be connected to a computer and a
computer generated image could be displayed on the display. Thus, the
image displayed on the display could be modified by generating a different
computer image and displaying that computer image on the display. The
display could be associated with a base portion of a floor covering, such as
included within a recess thereof, or could be included on a bottom surface,
facing upward, of an insert portion of the floor covering. Alternatively, the
2o display could be integrally formed with either of the base portion or the
insert
portion. The modifiable display could utilize a plurality of different
graphics
that can be displayed in any of a variety of manners on the display. For
example, the graphics could be displayed in a generally fixed position on the
display or could scroll across the display, with both exemplary
methodologies displaying multiple graphics either individually or in
combination.
[0018] Other alternatives for modifying graphics displayed on the floor
covering include using light emitting polymers to create, and thus change,
the graphics. The light emitting polymers can be either applied to, attached
to, or woven into the floor covering. The light emitting polymers may be
utilized on any portion of floor covering, for example, on either the base
portion or the insert portion, or on any other portion of the different
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embodiments for the floor covering. Light emitting polymers are k-nown and
described in U.S. Patents 5,945,502, 5,869,350, and 5,571,626, which are
incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
[0019] Other options for a display are to use electronic ink or electric
paper.
Electric paper is available from Xerox and is described in U.S. Patents
5,723,204, 5,604,027, 4,126,854, and 4,143,103, which are incorporated
herein by reference in their entirety. Electric paper employs thousands of
tiny, electrically charged beads, called Gyricon, each about the width of a
human hair, to create pixels. The two-tone beads are embedded inside a
io liquid-filled plastic sheeting that forms the surface of the paper. Each
bead,
half-black, half-white, gyrates in response to an electric field. Whether the
beads are black- or white-side up determines the image. Because there's no
need to refresh the image, and because the screen isn't backlit, electric
paper uses only a fraction of the power used by conventional electronic
displays. Electromagnetic styluses and printer-like devices can be used for
getting images onto the paper.
[0020] Electronic ink is available from E Ink Corp., at 45 Spinelli PI.,
Cambridge, MA 02138. Electronic ink uses a microencapsulated
micromechanical display system. Tiny microcapsules are captured between
two sheets of plastic to create pixels. Alternatively, the capsules may be
sprayed on a surface. The result is a flexible display material. The tiny
capsules are transparent and contain a mixture of dark ink and white paint
chips. An electric charge is passed through the capsules. Depending on the
electrostatic charge, the paint chips float at the top or rest on the bottom
of
each capsule. When the paint chips float at the top, the surface appears
white. When they rest at the bottom, and thus under the ink, the surface
appears black. Each of the two states is stable: black or white. A
transparent electromagnetic grid laid over the sheet's surface controls the
shape of the image. The display may be wirelessly connected to, for
3o example, a computer and thus, the World Wide Web by utilizing, for
example, a Motorola paging system. Text on all displays, if multiple displays
are used, can be changed at once by a single editor, through a Web page.
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[0021] Display technologies that may be utilized in embodiments of the
present invention, in addition to those described above, include: light-
emitting diodes (LEDs), organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs),
electroluminescent (EL) displays, plasma display panels (PDPs), field
emission displays, ferroelectric displays (FEDs), light-emitting polymers,
pixels, micro-encapsulated components, and optical fiber displays.
[0022] A floor display system as disclosed above may be used in places
where there is foot traffic or other (for example, wheeled shopping cart)
traffic, such as entryways to stores, public buildings or homes. In such
io environments, strong forces may be imparted to the floor display system by
the foot traffic or other traffic. Techniques for suitably protecting the
electronic display device from damage due to such forces and other factors
have been disclosed. The techniques include using a tough, durable
protective material such as tempered glass or plastic to cover the electronic
display device. More sophisticated protective structures have also been
disclosed. For example, U.S. Patent Application 10/454,631, which is fully
incorporated herein by reference, describes a modular protective structure
for an electronic display device associated with a floor.
[0023] As described in 10/454,631, an electronic display assembly may
comprise a plurality of display modules. A coherent display may be
presented on the plurality of display modules. That is, while individual
display modules may present only fragments of a display, in the aggregate
the plurality of display modules may present a complete or unified display.
On the other hand, each of the modules could be configured to display
unrelated images and/or text.
[0024] More specifically, a display module may be an electronic display
device incorporating any display technology, including those disclosed
herein, and others not specifically disclosed. A display module may be
configured to electronically display graphical images and alphanumeric data
in either a static (not moving or changing) or dynamic (e.g., scrolling or
otherwise moving or changing) format. More specifically, a display module
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may be coupled by wired or wireless means to a controller and modifiable
via the controller to display any content chosen by a user. For example, a
display module may be coupled to the controller via a display driver circuit
such as a video graphics adapter card. The controller may include any kind
of electronic logic circuit, for example, a general microprocessor
configurable
with software, or an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit). A driver
of
a display module may be integrated with the controller or built into an ASIC.
The controller may also be in the form of a single board computer with a
processor and memory and with one or more display driving circuits built
lo onto the board, as well as wireless components for communicating with the
outside world or for loading data into memory. The controller may be
coupled to a storage medium, which could be any form of medium suitable
for short or long tem storage of digital data, including RAM (random access
memory), ROM (read-only memory), flash or other non-volatile solid-state
electronic storage, EEPROM (electronically erasable and programmable
read only memory), or magnetic and/or optical disk storage. The storage
medium may store, for example, control software for execution by the
controller and video content of choice for display, under the control of the
control software, by a display module.
[0025] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the controller 120 may be laterally arranged
with respect to (i.e., to one or more sides of) the display modules. The
display modules and the controller may be disposed so as to lie in
substantially the same plane, and may both be thin and flat.
[0026] Embodiments of the present invention may further include any of the
features or properties of the applications incorporated herein by reference.
For example, embodiments of the present invention may include or be
associated with an audio device, a sensing device for sensing the presence
of persons (apart from persons standing near or directly on the display
housing, such as a motion sensing device) and performing an action in
3o response, variable image orientation, and interactive features including
providing product information in response to customer queries.
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Embodiments of the present invention may further be capable of wired or
wireless communication with a network.
[002e] Several embodiments of the present invention are specifically
illustrated and/or described herein. However, it will be appreciated that
modifications and variations of the present invention are covered by the
above teachings and within the purview of the appended claims without
departing from the spirit and intended scope of the invention.
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