Abstract:
Apparel that incorporates an electronic display. A controller is associated with the electronic display and includes a driver and a memory holding data representative of an image to be displayed. The controller generates commands for the display elements based on the data. Various monochromatic, or color images of real or imaginary objects as well as alphanumeric characters may be shown on the display. Additionally, the images may include static or dynamic images. The invention can be adapted to a wide range of clothing including shirts, vests, jackets, caps, ties, belts, suspenders, umbrellas and so on. The invention may also be incorporated into an apparatus used for war games, whereby sensors included in or disposed adjacent to the display can be used to detect “hits” from other participants.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    A. Field of Invention  
           [0002]    This invention pertains to articles of clothing incorporating various images consisting of alphanumeric characters and/or graphic elements and, more particularly, clothing apparel bearing monochromatic or polychromatic images which may be changed at will. The invention further pertains to apparel that display images that may include static elements or dynamic (i.e., moving) images.  
           [0003]    B. Description of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    Many casual articles of clothing such as hats, T-shirts, jackets and so, worn today by the average consumer, bear decorations which consist of alphanumeric characters , graphic elements, or both. Sports fans wear clothing with images identifying the names and logos of their favorite teams, or the name and the picture of their favorite player. Music fans typically wear clothing bearing the names of rock stars and/or the emblems of their favorite band. Tourists buy T-shirts and hats emblazoned with the names of cities and images of attractions all over the world. Many companies and organizations provide their employees, and/or the public at large, with clothing bearing their names and logos. Additionally, policemen, highway construction workers and military and law enforcement personnel frequently wear clothing bearing symbols or other images and characters rendering them highly visible and readily identifiable.  
           [0005]    Until now, clothing bearing images could be made only by: (1) embedding, e.g., by weaving or knitting, the images into the fabrics; or (2) applying appliques with the images to the clothing.  
           [0006]    These methods have one characteristic in common: they give rise to images which are permanent and therefore difficult to remove or change.  
         OBJECTIVES AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    In view of the above, it is an objective of the present invention to provide apparel bearing an electronic display which is adapted to show different images.  
           [0008]    A further objective is to provide a display which can be incorporated into or attached to clothing, the display being capable of showing electronic images including alphanumeric elements and/or graphic elements.  
           [0009]    A further objective is to provide clothing which is combined with a display and speakers for reproducing sounds and images for multi-media presentations.  
           [0010]    Other objectives and advantages of the invention shall become apparent from the following description.  
           [0011]    Briefly, a display for apparel is made in accordance with this invention from a flexible material such as a light emitting polymer, or similar material which can be electronically activated to show images in response to electronic signals. The display is coupled to a control circuit which includes a driver generating signals for the electronic display, a memory for storing data corresponding to the images to be displayed, and a power supply for powering the circuitry and the display itself. The display may be used to show an image consisting of alphanumeric characters and other graphic elements. These elements may be changed selectively by the wearer, at regular intervals, at predetermined times (for example, different times of the day), or in response to various other stimuli. The images may be either static or dynamic, and may be in black-and-white or color.  
           [0012]    The circuitry may include coupling means for receiving data from the outside world. These coupling means may include standard computer interfaces, RF, IR or ultrasonic couplings, or other similar data transmission devices.  
           [0013]    The displays may also be incorporated into shirts, vests, hats, suspenders, belts, ties, umbrellas and so on. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]    [0014]FIG. 1 is a front view of a vest with a display constructed in accordance with the invention;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2 is a partial cross-sectional view of the display of FIG. 1;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the control circuit  20  of FIG. 1;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 4 shows a front view of a T-shirt with a display constructed in accordance with the subject invention;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 5 shows a side view of a sports cap with a display constructed in accordance with the subject invention;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 6 shows a front view of a neck tie with a display constructed in accordance with the subject invention;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of a belt with a display constructed in accordance with the subject invention;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 8 shows a pair of suspenders with a display constructed in accordance with the subject invention;  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 9 shows a vest with a display constructed in accordance with an alternative embodiment of the subject invention and other equipment adapted to be used in a war game; and  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 10 is a block diagram of the control circuit  204  of FIG. 9. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0024]    In the embodiment of FIG. 1, the vest  10  may be worn, for example, by a police officer directing traffic. In this embodiment, motorists and emergency/service personnel are advised that an accident occurred in the right lane. The vest  10  includes a front panel  12  having a display  14  and a pair of straps  16  holding the vest in place on the body of the wearer. The vest  10  further includes a back panel (not shown). The back panel may include its own display area or it may be a standard fabric panel without a display. The front panel  12  may be made integral with the vest or it may be attached to the vest by snaps  17  or other fastening means, as discussed more fully below.  
         [0025]    Provided with vest  10  there is a control box  20  used to control the message or images shown on the display  14 . Details of the control box  20  are discussed below in connection with FIG. 3.  
         [0026]    As shown in FIG. 2, display  14  on front panel  12  consists of three layers: a base  22  which may be any typical woven, non-woven or knitted fabric, a layer  24  made of a light emitting polymer (LEP) material, and a transparent or translucent protective layer  26  extending over layer  24 . A suitable LEP material is available from Cambridge Display Technology of Cambridge, U.K.  
         [0027]    An image is generated on the display  14  as follows. Control box  20 , as indicated in FIG. 3, includes a microprocessor  30 , a display driver  32  and a memory  34 . An optional keyboard  36  is also included in the Figure to represent a means of entering information and/or selecting various images stored in memory  34 . These images may include alphanumeric characters forming a message (as shown in FIG. 1) and/or various esthetic and ornamental designs.  
         [0028]    When the user selects an image using keyboard  36 , the microprocessor  30  retrieves the data corresponding to the selected image and provides appropriate commands to the display driver  32 . Display driver  32  then sends signals to the display  14  to cause the selected image to appear thereon. Typically, the display  14  may be formed of a two dimensional array of pixels  14 A. It should be understood that for the purposes of this invention, the term “image” is used broadly to indicate any desired effect on the display  14 . For example, the display  14  can be rendered to be completely red, white, yellow or any other color by rendering on the display a featureless image of the desired color.  
         [0029]    Alternatively, or in addition to keyboard  36 , control box  20  may also be provided with an interface  38  to couple the control box  20  to an external device such as a laptop or a personal computer. For this purpose, the interface  38  may be a parallel port, a serial port, a USB port, etc. The interface  38  may even be a radio receiver.  
         [0030]    Power to the circuitry of the control box  20  shown in FIG. 3, as well as to display  14 , is provided by a battery  45 .  
         [0031]    In the embodiment of FIGS.  1 - 3 , the display  14  is utilized to show a simple image consisting of an alphanumeric message. A similar arrangement may be used to display other, more complex, images. For example, FIG. 4 shows a T-shirt  110  having a front panel  112  with a display  114 . Attached to one side of the T-shirt is a small control box  120  similar to control box  20  of FIG. 3. The display may be used to show the name and logo of a team, a picture of a team player, and other monochromatic or color images.  
         [0032]    The T-shirt  110  differs from the vest  10  in that its display normally shows only a single image which cannot be changed by the wearer, or one that is changed by the wearer at infrequent intervals. For this purpose, the control box  120  may be provided with a replaceable memory element such as a flash ROM  40  (see FIG. 3). In one embodiment, the control box  120  is sealed so that T-shirt  110  can show only a single ornamental and/or alphanumeric image on its display  114 . In another embodiment, the control box  120  is arranged to allow its ROM  40  to be changed. Each ROM  40  then provides a different image  122 .  
         [0033]    Each image on the display  14  of vest  10  or T-shirt  110  can be static or dynamic, monochromatic or in color, of live persons or scenery. Additionally, a sequence of images may be shown to generate moving images including a feature animation.  
         [0034]    Using the technology disclosed herein, images may be generated on other parts of the T-shirt, including, for instance, the sleeves, as illustrated in FIG. 4 at  130 ,  132  . The images for these displays can be generated by the single control box  120 , or if necessary, by several different circuits.  
         [0035]    Moreover, the disclosed structure and arrangement is not limited to T-shirts or vests but can be used on jackets, shirts, and other apparel. For example, FIG. 5 shows a baseball cap  160  with a display  162 , FIG. 6 shows a tie  180  with a display  182 , FIG. 7 shows a belt  190  with a display  192 , and FIG. 8 shows a pair of suspenders  200  with displays  202 .  
         [0036]    FIGS.  1 - 8  represent just some of the apparel that may incorporate displays. Other apparel may include shirts, shorts, umbrellas and so on.  
         [0037]    In FIGS.  1 - 8 , the depicted displays are shown as covering the respective apparel only partially, but importantly, the displays can be large enough to completely cover the visible portions of these apparel. In this latter configuration, the color of clothing can be changed at will, or automatically. The images generated on the displays discussed above may be controlled and changed by the control box  20  in accordance with certain predetermined criteria. For example, the control box  20  may include a timer  42  which can be set to define certain intervals. A different color, pattern or image can be assigned to each time interval. The microprocessor  30  then selects the respective color, pattern or image for each time interval and causes the same to be shown at the appropriate time on display  14 .  
         [0038]    Alternatively, the control box  20  may include a light sensor  44 . When the sensor  44  detects daylight, one color, color scheme or image is shown on the display, while a different color, color scheme or image is displayed at night.  
         [0039]    Another area in which apparel bearing images may be used is in the field of athletics.  
         [0040]    Participants in athletic activities as well as spectators and fans wear apparel bearing the team names and sponsors. A T-shirt as shown in FIG. 4 worn by a fan with one or more displays is ideally suited to show either sequentially or simultaneously the name of a team, the name of a sponsor, the names of several products of the sponsor and so on. In fact, the display  114  can run a short advertisement made up of moving images.  
         [0041]    One popular recreation activity is a war game played between teams in which team members are equipped with laser beams or other light sources and their clothing is equipped with sensors which detect when a participant is ‘hit’ with the laser beam from a member of another team. The present invention is readily applicable for use in this kind of activity. Referring to FIG. 9, the equipment for playing a war game includes a vest  200  with several displays  202 , a control box  204  and a gun  206 . The control box  204  includes the standard components discussed above for showing images on displays  202 , selected to attract or detract attention from the wearer. The displays  202  may also be provided on the back of the vest  200 , the arms, the legs and other body parts as well.  
         [0042]    The gun  206  is constructed to generate signals having predetermined characteristics. For example, the gun  206  may generate a laser beam of a preselected wavelength and intensity, a high intensity light beam, etc. The gun  206  may be coupled to control box  204  so that the control box  204  can control and monitor the operation of the gun  206 . For example, the control box  204  may be used to activate the gun  206  at the beginning of a play period, and to deactivate the gun  206  at the end of the play period.  
         [0043]    The vest  200  includes not only one or more displays  202 , but also one or more sensors  208  disposed on or attached adjacent to corresponding displays  202  and arranged to register a ‘hit’ by another player.  
         [0044]    Referring now to FIG. 10 the control box  204  for this embodiment includes a microprocessor  210  associated with a display driver  212  for generating signals for a representative display  202 , a memory  214  and a keyboard  216 . The memory  214  is used to store data for various images to be shown on display  202 . The keyboard  216  or other similar means may be used to select the images to be shown by displays  202  and to enter various control parameters required to operate the equipment. The control box  204  further includes an interface  218  receiving signals from sensors  208  and transmitting signals to the microprocessor  210 . In response to a hit, the microprocessor  210  may determine whether the player is permanently or temporarily disabled. For example, a hit on the chest area may result in a determination that the wearer has been “fatally” hit, while a hit on an arm or a leg may result in a temporary disablement. The sensors  208  may include light (IR and/or laser) sensors, proximity sensors, and so on, and can be highly localized.  
         [0045]    The control box  204  further includes a speaker  220 , a counter  222 , a gun interface  224 , and a transceiver  226 . The speaker  220  may be used to generate various sound effects indicative, for example, of the wearer being hit as indicated by the sensors  208 . The counter  222  may be used to indicate each time the wearer has been hit and/or when he has scored a hit on another player. The gun interface  224  is used to control the gun  206  as discussed above.  
         [0046]    The transceiver  226  may be used to communicate with a central location and/or other players and exchange various messages regarding hits by or on the wearer, the start and end of a game and so on. The transceiver  226  may also be used to download images to be stored in memory  214 . The speaker  220  may be an internal speaker or may be a flat external speaker mounted on the vest  200 .  
         [0047]    It should be noted that many of the components shown in FIG. 10, such as the speaker  220 , can be used in any of the previously described embodiments as well.  
         [0048]    In summary, the present invention pertains to apparel which incorporates a display, preferably making use of a light emitting polymer. The display is either integral with the apparel, or is selectively attached to the apparel by snaps, Velcro® fasteners, or other similar means. The size of the display area, and hence the images that can be displayed, is dependent on the apparel itself. For a relatively large apparel such as a jersey, T-shirt or jacket, the display can be up to 11×16″ or even larger, and comprise 640×480 pixels. Moreover, the display can be used to show either static images or dynamic images. For example, if memory  34  or  214  is a 1 Mbyte memory, it can hold enough data to show a five-second color video.  
         [0049]    The data for defining the images can be downloaded into the memory using either an RF link, an IR link or a direct serial, parallel or USB port. Alternatively, a replaceable memory unit such as a flash ROM can be used to select the images to be displayed.  
         [0050]    Obviously numerous modifications may be made to this invention without departing from its scope as defined in the appended claims.