Apparatus, system, and method for displaying content on a vehicle

• US 9,865,186 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2013
• Issued: 01/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitch Demon, Llc
• Original Assignee: Hitch Demon, Llc
• Inventors: Seal, Trevor
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaawat, Mussa A
• Application Number:
  US13/783,029
• Publication Number:
  US 20130231828A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,775 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 19/18 involving the use of optical projection means, e.g. projection of images on clouds projection apparatus per se G03B
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 21/04 by land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 21/048 Advertisement panels on sides, front or back of vehicles

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatuses for displaying or projecting images on a vehicle are described herein. The methods include receiving location data of a vehicle, determining content corresponding to the location, and providing images corresponding to the content to projectors for display on a side of a vehicle. The systems include a vehicle, projectors mounted on the vehicle such that an image created by the projector is cast on a surface of the vehicle, and a control module configured to provide images to the one or more projectors for display on a side of the vehicle. The apparatuses include a location module that determines a current location of a vehicle, a content selection module that determines a content corresponding to the current location, and a display module that provides images corresponding to the content to one or more projectors for display on a side of a vehicle.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a vehicle towing a trailer, where the trailer comprises a substantially enclosed container having a top, a front end, a rear end, a pair of sides, and a floor;

one or more projectors, each of the one or more projectors coupled, via a mounting mechanism, to the top of the trailer and extends outward such that an image created by the projector is cast on an exterior surface of one of the pair of sides, where the mounting mechanism comprises a selectively extendable arm that extends in a direction that is substantially parallel to a plane of the top;

a movement module configured to determine if the vehicle is stationary;

a content selection module configured to select an image that is static in response to a determination that the vehicle is moving, and select a video in response to a determination that the vehicle is stationary; and

a control module configured to provide, in response to the selection, the selected image or the selected video to the one or more projectors for projecting on the exterior surface of the vehicle, where the control module receives power from the vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the control module is configured to provide image information corresponding to the images.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the control module comprises a skew module for compensating for a non-perpendicular angle of projection.

4. An apparatus comprising:

a movement module that determines if a vehicle towing a trailer is one of stationary or moving, where the trailer comprises a substantially enclosed container having a top, a front end, a rear end, a pair of sides, and a floor;

a content selection module that selects an image that is static in response to a determination that the vehicle is moving, and selects a video in response to a determination that the vehicle is stationary;

a control module that provides either the selected image or video to one or more projectors for projecting on an exterior surface of the trailer, where each of the one or more projectors is coupled, via a mounting mechanism, to the top of the trailer and extends outward such that the image or video is cast on an exterior surface of one of the pair of sides, where the mounting mechanism comprises a selectively extendable arm that extends in a direction that is substantially parallel to a plane of the top, and where the control module receives power from the vehicle; and

where the movement module, the content selection module, and the display module each comprise one or more of logic hardware and computer executable code stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the location module receives location information from a global positioning system (GPS) enabled device.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the location module comprises a global positioning system (GPS) enabled device.

7. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the apparatus comprises a phone.

8. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a communication module for communicating with one or more devices.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the communication module is configured to communicate with a phone.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the phone comprises an application for interfacing with the communication module.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the communication module is configured to communicate wirelessly.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a storage module for accessing content data on a storage device.

13. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the display module provides different images to different projectors at substantially simultaneous display.