TRANSPARENT ILLUMINATED DISPLAY SYSTEM FOR AUTOMOBILES

• US 20150116977A1
• Filed: 10/31/2014
• Published: 04/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hendrikus A. Le Sage
• Original Assignee: Hendrikus A. Le Sage
• Inventors: Le Sage, Hendrikus A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,393,902 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 362/19
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/50 for indicating other intentions or conditions, e.g. request for waiting or overtaking
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 1/503 using luminous text or symbol displays in or on the vehicle, e.g. static text
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 21/048 Advertisement panels on sides, front or back of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 21/0485 Advertising means on windshields
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 9/301 flexible foldable or roll-able electronic displays, e.g. thin LCD, OLED
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 9/3023 Segmented electronic displays
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 9/33 being semiconductor devices, e.g. diodes
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/0274 Optical details, e.g. printed circuits comprising integral optical means H05K1/0269 takes precedence; coupling light guides with opto-electronic components G02B6/42
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/189 characterised by the use of a flexible or folded printed circuit H05K3/326 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/0108 Transparent
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10106 Light emitting diode [LED]

Abstract

A transparent illuminated display system, typically for use in automobile race events, including a highly flexible and transparent PCB board with ultra-low profile LED'"'"'s mounted to it. The flexible and transparent PCB boards can be in the shape of a single or multiple numeric or alphanumeric displays. The face of the display which would make contact with the face of a wind screen would include an adhesive element. The transparent illuminated display is mounted to a vehicle as a kind of sticker on the inside or outside of a racecar windscreen, back window and/or side windows. Each of the displays could be wired to power and data lines and illuminate the required numbers or text to show the position and other info of the car in the race.

Claims

1. A display system for use with an automobile, the system comprising:

a display including a semi-transparent printed circuit board (PCB) having a front face and a rear face, and a plurality of light emitting diode LED) elements communicatively affixed to said front face of said PCB;

said display configured to be temporarily affixed to a surface of an automobile;

a data cable connecting said display to a connection port configured to deliver power and communication signals to said PCB, wherein said communication signals activate at least one of said plurality of LED elements;

each said LED element comprising a housing, an LED, a one way light mirror, and at least one surface mount device (SMD) solder electrode configured to connect said LED element to said PCB; and

wherein said one way light mirror is angled within said LED element to a predetermined angle.

2. The display system of claim 1, further comprising an adhesive layer configured to temporarily affix said display to said automobile.

3. The display system of claim 2, wherein said adhesive layer is affixed to said rear face of said PCB.

4. The display system of claim 2, wherein said adhesive layer is affixed to said front face of said PCB and said plurality of LED elements.

5. The display system of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein said semi-transparent PCB is a first semi-transparent PCB and wherein said data cable is a first data cable;

a second semi-transparent printed circuit board (PCB) having a front face and a rear face, and a plurality of light emitting diode LED) elements; and

a second data cable connecting said second semi-transparent PCB to said first semi-transparent PCB, said second data cable configured to deliver said power signals and said communication signals from said first PCB to said second PCB.

6. The display system of claim 5, wherein the plurality of LED elements of said first PCB and the plurality of LED elements of said second PCB are configured to display a unified message, wherein said message is comprised of at least two alphanumeric symbols.

7. The display system of claim 5, wherein the plurality of LED elements of said first PCB and the plurality of LED elements of said second PCB are configured to display a cloned message, wherein the message displayed on said first PCB is identical to the message displayed on said second PCB, and wherein said message comprises alphanumeric symbols.

8. The display system of claim 1, further comprising:

a first transparent foil applied to the outer surface of said surface of said vehicle, wherein said surface is transparent and comprises inherent light reflective properties; and

a second transparent foil applied to the inner surface of said surface of said vehicle such that the surface of said vehicle is sandwiched between the first and second transparent foils, and such that said second transparent foil is sandwiched between said surface of said vehicle and said display.

9. The display system of claim 8, wherein said surface of said vehicle is a vehicle windscreen.

10. The display system of claim 8, wherein said first transparent foil is an anti-reflection foil.

11. The display system of claim 10, wherein said first transparent foil is polarized.

12. The display system of claim 8, wherein said second transparent foil is a one-way reflection foil.

13. The display system of claim 12, wherein said second transparent foil is polarized.