Display system

• US 20040051704A1
• Filed: 09/11/2003
• Published: 03/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mark Goulthorpe
• Original Assignee: Mark Goulthorpe
• Inventors: Goulthorpe, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 7,277,080 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 345/204
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 19/22 Advertising or display means on roads, walls or similar surfaces, e.g. illuminated
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 9/37 being movable elements G09F9/302 takes precedence

Abstract

The display system comprises a screen (1) made of an array of metal triangular facets (30) which are driven in and out by an array of pneumatic pistons (2) located behind the screen (1). The rear ends of the pistons (2) are flexibly connected by damped pivots (8) to a structural frame (7). The front ends of the pistons (2) are flexibly coupled to connection nodes between the facets (30) by connection devices (10) which have legs (13) which may splay apart as the pistons are pushed forwards. The pistons (2) may therefore be used to give the screen (1) of the facets (30) a visible 3-dimensional surface effect such as a sinusoidal deformation (101). The display system also includes an electronic control system for driving the pistons (2). The electronic control system may use a stored data file to produce a particular surface effect on the screen (1). Alternatively, the control system may respond in real-time to an input such as ambient sound, ambient lighting conditions or the like.

Claims

1. Display apparatus comprising:

a mechanically reconfigurable display surface facing in a forward, display direction; and

an array of mechanical actuators positioned behind the display surface and operable to move forwards to deform the display surface to adopt a configuration which makes a 3-dimensional surface effect visible.

2. Display apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the actuators have rear ends which are connected to a support structure behind the display surface and front ends which are flexibly coupled to the display surface.

3. Display apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the rear ends of the actuators are articulated to the support structure.

4. Display apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the display surface comprises an array of movable display elements.

5. Display apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the movable display elements are facets which are flexibly connected together.

6. Display apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the connections between the facets define an array of connection nodes and the actuators are connected to the connection nodes.

7. Display apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the number of actuators is less than the number of connection nodes.

8. Display apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the number of actuators is half or less than half the number of connection nodes.

9. Display apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the number of actuators is one third or less than one third the number of connection nodes.

10. Display apparatus according to claim 6, wherein along orthogonal axes of the array of connection nodes the connections to the actuators are at every second connection node.

11. Display apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the connections of the actuators to the connection nodes define a grid of square grid cells with each grid cell having one of the actuators at each corner and connected to eight of the facets.

12. Display apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 11, wherein the front end of each actuator carries a connection device having flexible legs connected to respective facets.

13. Display apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the flexible legs are positioned side by side, are connected to corners of the respective facets and are arranged to splay apart upon actuation of the actuator.

14. Display apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 13, wherein the facets are generally polygonal.

15. Display apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the facets are generally triangular.

16. Display apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 15, wherein opposed edges of the facets are slightly longitudinally convex to accommodate articulation of the facets.

17. Display apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 16, wherein the facets are rigid relative to the flexible connections between the facets.

18. Display apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the screen is a display wall.

19. Display apparatus according to any preceding claim, wherein the display surface is a display screen comprising an array of screen elements carried by the ends of the actuators and connected together by and integral with elastic interconnectors biased to pull the screen elements together but extendable in response to actuator actuation to allow the screen elements to move transversely apart.

20. Display apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the display screen is a molded elastic layer of predetermined thickness and having folds extending into the thickness of the layer to allow the screen elements to move apart.

27. Display system comprising display apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 20 and a control system according to any one of claims 21 to 26.

21. Control system for controlling display apparatus having a mechanically reconfigurable display surface and an array of actuators positioned behind the display surface and operable to move forwards and backwards to deform the display surface to adopt a series of configurations which make a dynamic 3-dimensional surface effect visible, the control system comprising:

computer means for determining output commands for the actuators to produce the series of configurations of the display surface; and

output means for outputting the commands.

22. Contral system of claim 21, wherein the computer means is arranged to read the output commands as pre-calculated commands from data files or to calculate new output commands.

23. Control system according to claim 21 or 22, wherein the computer means is also capable of calculating commands to produce a static visual 3-dimensional surface effect.

24. Control system according to any one of claims 21 to 23, wherein an input means detects an ambient condition such as local movement, light conditions or sound and influences the output commands determined by the computer means.

25. Control system according to claim 24, wherein the magnitude of the movement to be produced by the commands increases with increases in the magnitude of the detected ambient condition.

26. Control system according to any one of claims 21 to 25, further comprising feedback means for feeding back to the computer means positional data relating to the display surface and/or actuators to improve the accuracy of subsequent surface effects.

28. A method of controlling display apparatus having a mechanically reconfigurable display surface and an array of mechanical actuators for driving the display surface, the method comprising:

calculating commands for the actuators to configure the display surface to produce a visible 3-dimensional surface effect; and

outputting the commands to the actuators.

29. A method according to claim 28, wherein the calculation of the commands is influenced by detected ambient conditions.

30. A computer program product loadable into the memory of a digital computer, comprising one or more software portions for performing at least the calculation step of the method of claim 28 or 29 when run on a computer.

31. A computer usable storage medium having a computer program product according to claim 30 stored thereon.