Display apparatus for elevator car

• US 4,577,177 A
• Filed: 05/31/1984
• Issued: 03/18/1986
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/1983
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Marubashi, Akira
• Primary Examiner(s): Rowland, James L.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hofsass, Jeffery A.
• Application Number:
  US06/615,530
• Time in Patent Office: 656 Days
• Field of Search: 340/19 R, 340/20, 340/21, 340/815.31, 455/612
• US Class Current: 187/396
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 3/00 Applications of devices for indicating or signalling operating conditions of elevators
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 6/4204 the coupling comprising intermediate optical elements, e.g. lenses, holograms encapsulated active devices H01S5/02208, H01L33/52
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/001 using specific devices not provided for in groups G09G3/02 - G09G3/36, e.g. using an intermediate record carrier such as a film slide; Projection systems; Display of non-alphanumerical information, solely or in combination with alphanumerical information, e.g. digital display on projected diapositive as background slide projectors per se G03B23/00 = 42 HP

Abstract

A display apparatus has a light modulator with an electrooptical Pockels cell disposed in a machine room to modulate a laser beam with a modulating signal from a signal source as determined by a piece of image information to be displayed. After its passage through an optical fiber, the modulated laser beam enters an elevator car where it is focussed on a horizontal deflector by a diminishing lens and then reflected to be focussed on a vertical deflector by a collecting lens. The focussed laser beam is collected on an inner surface of an elevator door by an objective lens. Each deflector is a galvanometer mirror attached to a coil and horizontally or vertically deflecting the laser beam through an angle proportional to a saw tooth current flowing through the coil under the control of the signal source. This results in the display of the piece of image information on the inner surface of the elevator door.

Claims

1. An apparatus for displaying image information within an elevator car, comprising a projector disposed in an elevator car and formed of a light deflector, a diminishing lens disposed on an entrance side of said light deflector, and an objective lens disposed on an exit side thereof;

a laser disposed on a stationary part for an elevator system including the elevator car to form a light source for generating a light beam, a signal source disposed on said stationary part to generate a modulating signal as determined by a piece of image information to be displayed, a light modulator disposed on said stationary part to modulate said light beam from said light source with said modulating signal from said signal source;

an optical fiber for leading said modulated light beam from said light modulator to said diminishing lens included in said projector, and a set of electrical conductors for connecting said signal source to said light deflector;

the arrangement being such that the light beam deflected by said light deflector is focussed on an inner surface of said elevator car by means of said objective lens.

2. An apparatus for displaying image information within an elevator car as claimed in claim 1 wherein there is provided a tail cord having portions of said optical fiber and said set of electrical conductors extending between said elevator car and said stationary part and formed into a unitary structure therewith.

3. An apparatus for displaying image information within an elevator car as claimed in claim 1 wherein said light deflector deflects in a horizontal and a vertical direction said light beam focussed by said diminishing lens with a horizontal and a vertical scanning signal from said signal source supplied through said set of electrical conductors.

4. An apparatus for displaying image information in an elevator car as claimed in claim 1 wherein said light modulator includes an electrooptical Pockets cell modulator utilizing the Pockels effect.

5. An apparatus for displaying image information within an elevator car as claimed in claim 1 wherein said light modulator includes a combination of a galvanometer mirror and a collecting lens.

6. An apparatus for displaying image information within an elevator car as claimed in claim 5 wherein said galvanometer mirror is fixedly connected to a galvanometer coil and arranged along an axis through a spring to be rotatable about said axis so that said mirror deflects a light beam through a rotational angle proportional to a current flowing through said galvanometer coil so as to scan a projection field projected by said projector with said light beam in a direction predetermined by said axis.

7. An apparatus for displaying image information within an elevator car as claimed in claim 1 wherein said projector is disposed on a wall surface opposing to a door of said elevator car to project said deflected light beam on the inner surface of said door.

8. An apparatus for displaying image information in an elevator car as claimed in claim 1 wherein said projector is disposed on one of lateral wall surfaces of said elevator car to project said deflected light beam on the other of lateral wall surfaces.

9. An apparatus for displaying image information in an elevator car as claimed in claim 1 wherein said signal source, said laser and said light modulator are disposed in a machine room.

10. An apparatus for displaying image information in an elevator car as claimed in claim 1 wherein said signal source, said laser and said light modulator are located on a supervision board disposed in a supervision room.