Traffic display with viewing distance control

• US 9,972,230 B1
• Filed: 11/29/2016
• Issued: 05/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DeLorean, LLC
• Original Assignee: DeLorean, LLC
• Inventors: DeLorean, Jack Z.
• Primary Examiner(s): Swarthout, Brent
• Application Number:
  US15/363,540
• Time in Patent Office: 532 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/052 with provision for determining speed or overspeed speed measuring in general G01P
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/095 Traffic lights
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096 provided with indicators in which a mark progresses showing the time elapsed, e.g. of green phase
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 27/005 Signs associated with a sensor

Abstract

A sign displays moving, still, or blank images. In one aspect the sign is mounted over a roadway for viewing by occupants of vehicular traffic and pedestrians. In another aspect the sign is mounted on a vehicle. An associated sensor senses the motion of traffic in the vicinity of the sign. When traffic moves at less than a predetermined speed, the sign displays moving or changing information. At greater speeds the display on the sign is either still or blank, so as to avoid distracting nearby drivers. An electronic system provides various aspects that augment sign operation such as GPS, reception of signage information for use in particular locations, advertiser billing information based on sign usage, and collection and reporting of demographics that aid advertisers in maximizing their impact.

Claims

1. A roadway signage system, comprising:

at least one motion sensor;

a directional viewing sign including a display, the display having limited viewing angles in which the display is viewable to observers in at least two vehicles at a range of distances from the directional viewing sign;

memory communicatively connected to the directional viewing sign, the memory storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

determining, based at least in part on receiving data from the at least one motion sensor, an average speed of the at least two vehicles within the limited range of vertical viewing angles;

outputting for display on the directional viewing sign and based at least in part on the average speed of the at least two vehicles being less than a threshold speed, a dynamic image; and

outputting for display on the directional viewing sign and based at least in part on the average speed of the at least two vehicles being greater than the threshold speed, a static image.

2. The roadway signage system of claim 1, wherein the directional viewing sign comprises at least one of a single-view sign, a multi-directional viewing sign, a sign with a privacy filter thereon, or other directional viewing signs that are located and arranged such that viewing of the directional sign is limited to occupants of vehicles within the limited vertical viewing angles.

3. The roadway signage system of claim 1, wherein the static image includes at least one of static advertising, static roadway informational images, static emergency information images, blank images, or dark images.

4. The roadway signage system of claim 1, wherein the at least one motion sensor comprises at least one of radar, sonar, lidar, infrared, video, magnetic, vibration, RFID, pressure sensors, or other optical or magnetic sensor.

5. The roadway signage system of claim 1, wherein the directional viewing sign further includes a traffic control signal with an integrated timer coordinated display.

6. The roadway signage system of claim 1, further comprising an interface, and wherein the one or more processors further perform operations comprising broadcasting, via the interface, an audio signal associated with at least one of the static image or the dynamic image, wherein the audio signal is broadcasted over one or more of FM, AM, television, satellite, on line, or a cellular network.

7. The roadway signage system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of shutters attached to the directional viewing sign, wherein the plurality of shutters are arranged to block a portion of the display from view of vehicles that are outside the range of distances from the directional viewing sign while not blocking the portion of the display from view of vehicles that are within the range of distances from the directional viewing sign.

8. The roadway signage system of claim 1, further comprising a drive assembly coupled to the directional viewing sign and configured to tilt the directional viewing sign a predetermined amount to adjust the display, and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform operations comprising instructing the drive assembly to tilt the directional viewing sign the predetermined amount.

9. The roadway signage system of claim 1, further comprising at least one camera, and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform operations comprising determining, based at least in part on receiving data from the at least one camera, at least one of facial recognition of the observers in the at least two vehicles, license plates of the at least two vehicles, or make and model of the at least two vehicles.

10. The roadway signage system of claim 1, further comprising a transponder communicatively coupled to the one or more processors, and wherein the one or more processors further perform operations comprising sending, by the transponder and to a data resource external to the directional viewing sign, demographic information of an occupant of at least one of the at least two vehicles.

17. The roadway signage system of claim 1, the operations further comprising determining a number of vehicles within the limited range of vertical viewing angles, and wherein:

outputting the dynamic image is based at least in part on a predefined number of vehicles having a speed less than the threshold speed, wherein the predefined number of vehicles is at least two vehicles; and

outputting the static image is based at least in part on the predefined number of vehicles having a speed greater than the threshold speed.

11. A roadway signage system, comprising:

a directional viewing sign mounted over a roadway, the directional viewing sign including a display having viewing angles;

a privacy filter coupled to the directional viewing sign, wherein the privacy filter limits the viewing angles of the directional viewing sign so as to display at least a first image that is viewable at a predetermined range of vertical viewing angles from the directional viewing sign such that an occupant of at least one vehicle that is within the predetermined range of vertical viewing angles from the directional viewing sign is able to view the first image, but occupants of vehicles not within the predetermined range of vertical viewing angles from the directional viewing sign are not able to view the first image;

a data resource providing at least the first image;

an electronic control system comprising a memory and a computer for communicating between the directional viewing sign, the data resource, and the memory, the electronic control system configured to cause the directional viewing sign to display the first image;

at least one motion sensor arranged to detect speed of the at least one vehicle on the roadway within the predetermined range of vertical viewing angles from the directional viewing sign, wherein when no vehicle within said predetermined range has a speed greater than a predetermined rate, the directional viewing sign displays a dynamic image, and wherein when at least one vehicle has a speed greater than the predetermined rate, the directional viewing sign displays a static image.

12. The roadway signage system of claim 11, wherein the at least one motion sensor includes at least one of radar, sonar, lidar, infrared, video, magnetic, vibration, RFID, pressure sensors, or other optical or magnetic sensor.

13. The roadway signage system of claim 11, further comprising a drive assembly coupled to the directional viewing sign and configured to tilt the directional viewing sign a predetermined amount to adjust the display, and wherein the drive assembly, when instructed by the electronic control system, tilts the directional viewing sign the predetermined amount.

14. A method for displaying information on a display that is in a vicinity of a vehicular roadway, the method comprising:

determining that there are vehicles within a limited range of vertical viewing angles relative to the display;

determining speeds of multiple vehicles on the vehicular roadway that are within the limited range of vertical viewing angles;

identifying a first number of vehicles from the multiple vehicles that have speeds less than a threshold speed and a second number of vehicles from the multiple vehicles that have speeds greater than the threshold speed;

causing, based at least in part on the first number of vehicles being greater than a first predefined number of vehicles and the second number of vehicles being less than a second predefined number of vehicles, the display to display a first image; and

causing, based at least in part on the second number of vehicles being greater than the second predefined number of vehicles, the display to display a second image, the second image being different than the first image.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein at least one the first image or the second image includes advertising content, and the method further comprises:

determining an amount of time that the advertising content was displayed; and

processing, for payment, a cost associated to display the advertising content.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the speeds of the multiple vehicles is based at least in part on input from at least one radar, sonar, lidar, infrared, video, magnetic, vibration, RFID, pressure sensors, or other optical or magnetic sensor.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising adjusting the privacy filter to change the limited range of vertical viewing angles.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising receiving, from a remote computing device, data representing content to be displayed, wherein the data includes at least one of the first image or the second image.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein determining that there are vehicles within the limited range of vertical viewing angles is based at least in part on input from at least one of an optical sensor, magnetic sensor, force sensor, pressure sensor, or vibration sensor.