Swing type aerial display system

• US 5,406,300 A
• Filed: 12/11/1992
• Issued: 04/11/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/1991
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AVIX, Inc.
• Original Assignee: AVIX, Inc.
• Inventors: Tokimoto, Toyotaro, Yajima, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Hjerpe, Richard
• Assistant Examiner(s): CHIN, VIVIAN C
• Application Number:
  US07/991,547
• Time in Patent Office: 851 Days
• Field of Search: 340/755, 340/815.45, 340/815.53, 73/493, 73/517 R, 200/61.45 M, 200/61.53, 250/221, 250/229, 362/806, 362/811, 315/323, 273/186.2, 345/31, 345/39
• US Class Current: 345/31
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 13/0472 Traffic signs
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 9/33 being semiconductor devices, e.g. diodes
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/005 forming an image using a quickly moving array of imaging elements, causing the human eye to perceive an image which has a larger resolution than the array, e.g. an image on a cylinder formed by a rotating line of LEDs parallel to the axis of rotation

Abstract

A swing type aerial display system is adapted to aerially display a desired visual image utilizing a residual image effect of a moving light emitting array. In order to establish synchronization of the motion of said moving light emitting array and illuminating timing of individual cells in the light emitting array, the motion behavior of the system is monitored and timing to drive each individual cell is controlled in relation to the monitored motion behavior of the light emitting array, so that the desired image becomes visible at a desired position and desired configuration.

Claims

1. A swing type display system comprising:

an elongated hand-held movable body carrying a light emitting cell array including a plurality of light emitting cells arranged in alignment for reciprocally swinging on a desired surface by manual swing motion at an arbitrary speed to scan said light emitting cell array thereon and form a visual image utilizing an effect of residual image;

display data storage means for storing display data in the form of a bit map;

display data reading out control means for reading out display data from said display data storage means in a given order at a given speed, said display data including a plurality of sets of display data for respective light emitting cells associated with an elapsed time factor representative of angular positions of said hand-held movable body;

driver means adapted to said light emitting cell array, for receiving given bits of said display data read out by said display data reading out control means and for driving each of said light emitting cell arrays ON and OFF;

swing detecting means for producing a detection signal on the basis of the acceleration of the swinging motion of said movable body, said swing detecting means including,

an acceleration sensor for generating an output corresponding to the acceleration of the swinging motion of said movable body, and

signal processing means for detecting a specific operational point in said swinging motion of said movable body by processing the output from said acceleration sensor, and

timing control means responsive to said detection signal for deriving a trigger signal so as to control said display data reading control means such that respective sets of display data for respective light emitting cells are read out at the substantially same angular positions of said hand-held movable body for arbitrary swing speeds.

2. A swing type display system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said signal processing means of said swing detecting means detects a maximum peak and a minimum peak of said output waveform of said acceleration sensor.

3. A swing type display system as set forth in claim 1, wherein said signal processing means of said swing detecting means detects a zero-crossing of said output waveform of said acceleration sensor.

4. A swing type display system as set forth in claim 1, which further comprises a swing period detecting means for detecting a repeating period of the swinging motion on the basis of the output of said acceleration sensor.

5. A swing type display system as set forth in claim 1, which further comprises a swing speed detecting means for detecting an instantaneous swing speed at a desired point in the swinging motion on the basis of said output of said acceleration sensor.

6. A swing type display system as set forth in claim 1, which further comprises a swing mode discrimination means for discriminating a current swing mode out of a plurality of preliminarily set swing modes which are set relative to gravitative direction on the basis of symmetry and asymmetry of the output waveform of said acceleration sensor relative to an amplitude reference line.

7. A swing type display system comprising:

an elongated hand-held movable body carrying a light emitting cell array including a plurality of light emitting cells arranged in alignment for reciprocally swinging on a desired surface by manual swing motion at an arbitrary speed to scan said light emitting cell array thereon and form a visual image utilizing an effect of residual image;

display data storage means for storing display data in the form of a bit map;

display data reading out control means for reading out display data from said display data storage means in a given order at a given speed, said display data including a plurality of sets of display data for respective light emitting cells associated with an elapsed time factor representative of angular positions of said hand-held movable body;

driver means adapted to said light emitting cell array, for receiving given bits of said display data read out by said display data reading out control means and for driving each of said light emitting cell arrays ON and OFF;

swing detecting means for producing a detection signal on the basis of the acceleration of the swinging motion of said movable body, said swing detecting means including,

means for movement which oscillates reciprocally within a predetermined range defined by a .guide mechanism in response to a substantially reciprocal swinging motion of said movable body, and

a position sensor for detecting said oscillation passing across a predetermined position set between both ends of said predetermined range in a non-contacting manner, and

timing control means responsive to said detection signal for deriving a trigger signal so as to control said display data reading control means such that respective sets of display data for respective light emitting cells are read out at the substantially same angular positions of said hand-held movable body for arbitrary swing speeds.

8. A swing type display system as set forth in claim 7, which further comprises a swing period detecting means for detecting the repeating period of the swinging motion on the basis of the output of said position sensor.

9. A swing type display system as set forth in claim 7, which further comprises a swing speed detecting means for detecting the instantaneous speed of said movement at a detecting point on the basis of the output of said position sensor.

10. A swing type display system as set forth in claim 7, which further comprises a swing mode discriminating means for discriminating a current swing mode out of a plurality of preliminarily set swing modes which are set relative to the gravitative direction, on the basis of symmetry and asymmetry of the reciprocal motion of said movement relative to the detecting position of said position sensor by processing the output of said position sensor.

11. A swing type display system as set forth in claim 7, which further comprises a second position sensor for detecting said movement passing across a second detecting point defined with a substantially small interval with said detecting point of said position sensor in said swing detecting means, in a non-contacting manner, and a swing period detecting means for detecting the repeated period of the swinging motion on the basis of the output of said position sensor.

12. A swing type display system as set forth in claim 7, which further comprises a second position sensor for detecting said movement passing across a second detecting point defined with a substantially small interval with said detecting point of said position sensor in said swing detecting means, in a non-contacting manner, and a swing period detecting means for detecting the repeated period of the swinging motion on the basis of a difference in the timings of the detecting signals of said position sensor and said second position sensor.

13. A swing type display system as set forth in claim 7, which further comprises a second position sensor for detecting said movement passing across a second detecting point defined with a substantially small interval with said detecting point of said position sensor in said swing detecting means, in a non-contacting manner, and a swing mode discriminating means for discriminating a current swing mode out of a plurality of preliminarily set swing modes which are set relative to the gravitative direction, on the basis of the symmetry and asymmetry of the reciprocal motion of said movement detected by processing the outputs of said position sensor and said second position sensor.

14. A swing type display system comprising:

an elongated hand-held movable body carrying a light emitting cell array including a plurality of light emitting cells arranged in alignment for reciprocally swinging on a desired surface by manual swing motion at an arbitrary speed to scan said light emitting cell array thereon and form a visual image utilizing an effect of residual image;

display data storage means for storing display data in the form of a bit map;

display data reading out control means for reading out display data from said display data storage means in a given order at a given speed, said display data including a plurality of sets of display data for respective light emitting cells associated with angular position representative time factors of said hand-held movable body;

driver means adapted to said light emitting cell array, for receiving given bits of said display data read out by said display data reading out control means and for driving each of said light emitting cell arrays ON and OFF;

swing detecting means for producing a detection signal on the basis of the acceleration of the swinging motion of said movable body,

timing control means responsive to said detection signal for deriving a trigger signal so as to control said display data reading control means such that respective sets of display data for respective light emitting cells are read out at the substantially same angular positions of said hand-held movable body for arbitrary swing speeds; and

display initiation timing adjusting means responsive to substantially reciprocal repeated swinging motion of said movable body for controlling said timing control means to adjust a delay period from the occurrence of said detection signal of said swing detecting means to the initiation of the reading out of the display data by said display data reading out control means on the basis of an instantaneous swing speed at a given point in the swinging motion and/or repeating period of the swinging motion.

15. A swing type display system comprising:

an elongated hand-held movable body carrying a light emitting cell array including a plurality of light emitting cells arranged in alignment for reciprocally swinging on a desired surface by manual swing motion at an arbitrary speed to scan said light emitting cell array thereon and form a visual image utilizing an effect of residual image;

display data storage means for storing display data in the form of a bit map;

display data reading out control means for reading out display data from said display data storage means in a given order at a given speed, said display data including a plurality of sets of display data for respective light emitting cells associated with angular position representative time factors of said hand-held movable body;

driver means for receiving given bits of said display data read out by said display data reading out control means, adapted to said light emitting cell array, and for driving each of said light emitting cell arrays ON and OFF;

swing detecting means for producing a detection signal on the basis of the acceleration of the swinging motion of said movable body,

timing control means responsive to said detection signal for deriving a trigger signal so as to control said display data reading control means such that respective sets of display data for respective light emitting cells are read out at the substantially same angular positions of said hand-held movable body for arbitrary swing speeds; and

data output speed adjusting means responsive to substantially reciprocal repeated swinging motion of said movable body for controlling said timing control means to adjust reading out speed of said display data by said display data reading out control means on the basis of an instantaneous swing speed at a given point in the swinging motion and/or repeating period of the swinging motion.

16. A swing type display system comprising:

an elongated hand-held movable body carrying a light emitting cell array including a plurality of light emitting cells arranged in alignment for reciprocally swinging on a desired surface by manual swing motion at an arbitrary speed to scan said light emitting cell array thereon and form a visual image utilizing an effect of residual image;

display data storage means for storing display data in the form of a bit map;

display data reading out control means for reading out display data from said display data storage means in a given order at a given speed, said display data including a plurality of sets of display data for respective light emitting cells associated with angular position representative time factors of said hand-held movable body;

driver means adapted to said light emitting cell array, for receiving given bits of said display data read out by said display data reading out control means and for driving each of said light emitting cell arrays ON and OFF;

swing detecting means for producing a detection signal on the basis of the acceleration of the swinging motion of said movable body,

timing control means responsive to said detection signal for deriving a trigger signal so as to control said display data reading control means such that respective sets of display data for respective light emitting cells are read out at the substantially same angular positions of said hand-held movable body for arbitrary swing speeds;

display initiation timing adjusting means responsive to substantially reciprocal repeated swing motion of said movable body for controlling said timing control means to adjust a delay period from the occurrence of said detection signal of said swing detecting means to the initiation of the reading out of the display data by said display data reading out control means on the basis of an instantaneous swing speed at a given point in the swing motion and/or repeating period of the swing motion; and

a data output speed adjusting means responsive to substantially reciprocal repeated swinging motion of said movable body for controlling said timing control means to adjust reading out speed of said display data by said display data reading out control means on the basis of an instantaneous swing speed at a given point in the swinging motion and/or repeating period of the swinging motion.

17. A swing type display system comprising:

an elongated hand-held movable body carrying a light emitting cell array including a plurality of light emitting cells arranged in alignment for reciprocally swinging on a desired surface by manual swing motion at an arbitrary speed to scan said light emitting cell array thereon and form a visual image utilizing an effect of residual image;

display data storage means for storing display data in the form of a bit map;

display data reading out control means for reading out display data from said display data storage means in a given order at a given speed, said display data including a plurality of sets of display data for respective light emitting cells associated with angular position representative time factors of said hand-held movable body;

driver means adapted to said light emitting cell array, for receiving given bits of said display data read out by said display data reading out control means and for driving each of said light emitting cell arrays ON and OFF;

swing detecting means for producing a detection signal on the basis of the acceleration of the swinging motion of said movable body,

timing control means responsive to said detection signal for deriving a trigger signal so as to control said display data reading control means such that respective sets of display data for respective light emitting cells are read out at the substantially same angular positions of said hand-held movable body for arbitrary swing speeds; and

swing mode discrimination means for discriminating a current swing mode out of a plurality of preliminarily set swing modes which are set relative to the gravitative direction; and

data selection means for selectively identifying one of a plurality of display data stored in said display data storage means on the basis of the output of said swing mode discrimination means.

18. An aerial display system comprising:

a movable member carrying a light emitting cell array formed with a plurality of individual light emitting cells arranged in an alignment essentially perpendicular to the direction of motion of said movable member, said movable member being adapted to move across a desired aerial display area carrying said light emitting cell array at an arbitrary speed with a potential cycle-to-cycle deviation of motion speed in a substantial magnitude;

data storage means for storing at least one field of image data defining a display image, said at least one field of image data containing display data for each scanning line corresponding to the instantaneous position of said movable member in motion, said image data including a plurality of sets of cell data for respective light emitting cells and respectively forming fractions of said image data to be formed at relative angular positions for unitary forming said display image;

motion detecting means for producing a detection signal on the basis of the motion of said movable member; and

control means for receiving said detection signal and deriving a motion associated control parameter on the basis of the cycle-to-cycle deviation of the motion speed of said movable member so as to control each of said light emitting cells such that one or more selected light emitting cells corresponding to said set of cell data of said display data are illuminated at the substantially same relative angular positions of said movable member.

19. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 18, wherein said control means drives said light emitting cell array for illuminating one or more selected light emitting cells at substantially the same time.

20. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 18, wherein said control means detects a stroke range of motion of said movable member in substantially reciprocal motion, and a cycle period of said substantially reciprocal motion over said stroke range on the basis of said detection signal of said motion detecting means, and by an internal clock provided therein, derives a line shifting interval on the basis of said stroke range and said cycle period.

21. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 19, wherein said control means defines a blanking zone, in which no images are displayed, and a displaying zone, in which one field of the display image is displayed, in said stroke range, and derives said line shifting interval for shifting a given number of scanning lines corresponding to one field within said displaying zone.

22. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 21, wherein said control means detects the leading end of said displaying zone by means of said internal clock and triggers said light emitting elements for initiation of the display operation.

23. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 18, wherein said motion detecting means generates said detection signals, the characteristics of which signal vary depending upon behaviors of said movable member in motion and said control means detects a current mode of motion out of a plurality of predetermined motion modes, in which the behaviors of said movable member are mutually distinct from one another, on the basis of the signal characteristics of said detection signal.

24. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 23, wherein said data storage means stores the display data for a plurality of fields, in which the display data for each field is associated with said plurality of motion modes of said movable member, and said control means selects the display data of one field corresponding to the current motion mode.

25. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 18, wherein said motion detecting means generates said detection signals, the characteristics of which signal vary depending upon orientation of said movable member in motion, and said control means detects a current mode of motion out of a plurality of predetermined motion modes, in which the orientations of said movable member are mutually distinct from one another, on the basis of the signal characteristics of said detection signal.

26. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 23, wherein said data storage means stores the display data for a plurality of fields, in which the display data for each field is associated with said plurality of motion modes of said movable member, and said control means selects the display data of one field corresponding to the current motion mode.

27. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 18, wherein said motion detecting means comprises means for movement oscillating in response to the acceleration of motion of said movable member over a given stroke, and a detector for detecting said movement in oscillation.

28. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 27, wherein the position of said detector is so selected as to detect the movement in oscillation between both terminating ends of said given stroke.

29. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 28, wherein said position of said detector is selected to detect the movement in oscillation at a position corresponding to a substantially intermediate position of said movable member in the stroke range.

30. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 29, wherein said control means defines a displaying zone centered at said intermediate position of motion, in which one field of the display image is displayed, and blanking zones, in which no images are displayed and in said stroke range, derives said line shifting interval for shifting a given number of scanning lines corresponding to one field within said displaying zone.

31. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 28, wherein the path of said movement is defined in the oblique relative to an axis along which said light emitting cells of said light emitting cell array are aligned, so as to differentiate signal characteristics of said detection signal depending upon the orientation of said movable member in motion.

32. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 31, wherein said control means detects a current mode of motion out of a plurality of predetermined motion modes, in which the orientations of said movable member are mutually distinct to one another, on the basis of the signal characteristics of said detection signal.

33. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 32, wherein said movement is supported by a guide member rigidly fixed on said movable member so that said movement may oppose said detector at a given clearance therebetween.

34. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 18, wherein said motion detecting means comprises an acceleration sensor producing said detection signal variable depending upon the magnitude of an acceleration induced by motion of said movable member.

35. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 34, wherein said control means detects the peaks of said detection signal to detect said movable member at the substantially intermediate position in said stroke range.

36. An aerial display system as set forth in claim 29, wherein said control means defines a displaying zone centered at said intermediate position of motion , in which one field of the display image is displayed, and blanking zones, in which no images are displayed and in said stroke range, derives said line shifting interval for shifting given a number of scanning lines corresponding to one field within said displaying zone.

37. A swing type display system comprising:

an elongated hand-held movable body carrying a light emitting cell array including a plurality of light emitting cells arranged in alignment for reciprocally swinging on a desired surface by manual swing motion at an arbitrary speed to scan said light emitting cell array thereon and form a visual image utilizing an effect of residual image;

display data storage means for storing display data in the form of a bit map;

display data reading out control means for reading out display data from said display data storage means in a given order at a given speed, said display data including a plurality of sets of display data for respective light emitting cells associated with angular positions of said hand-held movable body;

driver means adapted to said light emitting cell array, for receiving given bits of said display data read out by said display data reading out control means and for driving each of said light emitting cell arrays ON and OFF;

swing detecting means for producing a detection signal on the basis of the acceleration of the swinging motion of said movable body,and

timing control means responsive to said detection signal for deriving a trigger signal so as to control said display data reading control means such that respective sets of display data for respective light emitting cells are read out at the substantially same angular positions of said hand-held movable body for arbitrary swing speeds.