Patent Publication Number: US-2009237353-A1

Title: Computer display capable of receiving wireless signals

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a display, and more particularly to a computer display capable of receiving wireless signals. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     It is generally known that a television (TV) set is required for watching TV programs. The TV set has an internal image receiving unit to receive and convert the received external audio/video (A/V) signals. In the future, almost all the TV programs and TV broadcasting A/V signals would be transmitted wirelessly. Meanwhile, with the advancements in scientific technologies, most people have a computer used at home on a long-term basis. Therefore, the display of the computer may be utilized to watch TV programs and save the space originally occupied by the conventional TV set.  FIG. 1  shows a conventional way of using a computer display to watch TV programs. For this purpose, the conventional computer display  12  is connected to a TV box  10 . The TV box  10  is connected to a power supply  14  to obtain the required power for operation, and includes an antenna  16  for receiving TV signals. The display  12  outputs the TV signals received and transmitted to the display  12  by the TV box  10 . The display  12  also includes built-in or external loudspeakers to output sounds. A disadvantage of using the TV box  10  to receive TV signals is that the TV box must be connected to a power supply to be self-powered, and must have an antenna and a display panel for displaying receiving channels and operating status thereof. 
     The TV box also has the disadvantage of having a big volume to occupy additional space. The TV box must be externally connected to the computer display without the possibility of being directly combined with the computer display, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), and would therefore occupy an independent space without the benefit of saving the valuable space. 
     It is therefore tried by the inventor to develop a computer display capable of receiving wireless signals to solve the problems existed in the conventional ways of watching TV programs on a computer display. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     A primary object of the present invention is to provide a computer display capable of receiving wireless signals that has an internal antenna assembly for receiving wireless digital signals, and the received signals are demodulated and converted by an external demodulating device, and then transmitted to a computer for operation, so that images could be played on the display. The conventional TV box externally connected to the display may therefore be omitted to effectively save the space that would be otherwise occupied by the TV box. 
     Another object of the present invention is to provide a computer display capable of receiving wireless signals that uses an external demodulating device connected thereto to demodulate wireless signals received by the display, and uses a computer host to operate the demodulated signals. It is not necessary to connect the external demodulating device to any external power supply to effectively save power energy. 
     A further object of the present invention is to provide a computer display capable of receiving wireless signals that includes an antenna assembly having the same specification as that of an external demodulating device connected to the display, so that the external demodulating device may be used with any computer display having the same specification to demodulate wireless signals received by the display. 
     To achieve the above and other objects, the computer display capable of receiving wireless signals according to the present invention includes a display provided with an antenna assembly for receiving wireless digital and analog A/V signals; and a female connector provided in the display for connecting the signals received via the antenna assembly to an external demodulating device connected at a male connector thereof to the female connector in the display. The signals received by the antenna assembly are demodulated and converted by the external demodulating device, and then transmitted to a computer host via a transmission device for operation. The external demodulating device and the antenna assembly have a uniform specification for use with any computer displays having the same specification to demodulate wireless signals received by the display. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings, wherein 
         FIG. 1  shows a conventional way of using a computer display to watch TV programs; 
         FIG. 2  shows a computer display capable of receiving wireless signals according to a first embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 3  shows a computer display capable of receiving wireless signals according to a second embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Please refer to  FIG. 2  that shows a computer display capable of receiving wireless signals according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the display in the first embodiment of the present invention includes two major parts, namely, a computer display  18  and an external demodulating device  20 . The display  18  is provided with an antenna assembly  22  for receiving wireless audio/video (A/V) signals. The antenna assembly  22  in the first embodiment is a telescopic antenna fixedly located outside the display  18  to receive wireless digital or analog A/V signals. The received signals are transmitted to a female connector  24  provided in the display  18 . The external demodulating device  20  is provided at a front end with a male connector  26  for connecting to the female connector  24  in the display  18 , so that the wireless signals received via the antenna assembly  22  may be transmitted via the connected female connector  24  and male connector  26  to the external demodulating device  20  for demodulation. The external demodulating device  20  demodulates the received wireless signals, and the demodulated signals are connected to a computer host  30  via a display connector  34  at an end and a transmission device  28  at the other end, so that the demodulated signals are operated by the computer host  30 , and images are finally transmitted via a display card  32  in the computer host  30  to the display  18  for showing audio/visual pictures. 
       FIG. 3  shows a computer display capable of receiving wireless signals according to a second embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the second embodiment of the present invention also includes a computer display  18  and an external demodulating device  20 . The display  18  of the second embodiment is internally provided with an antenna assembly  22 , which is a built-in flexible antenna, for receiving wireless A/V signals. The built-in flexible antenna  22  may receive either wireless digital or analog A/V signals, and transmits the received signals to a female connector  24  provided in the display  18 . The external demodulating device  20  is provided at a front end with a male connector  26  for connecting to the female connector  24  in the display  18 , so that the wireless signals received via the antenna assembly  22  may be transmitted via the connected female connector  24  and male connector  26  to the external demodulating device  20  for demodulation. The external demodulating device  20  demodulates the received wireless signals, and the demodulated signals are connected to a computer host  30  via a display connector  34  at an end and a transmission device  28  at the other end, so that the demodulated signals are operated by the computer host  30 , and images are finally transmitted via a display card  32  in the computer host  30  to the display  18  for showing audio/visual pictures. 
     The wireless signals received by the antenna assembly  22  may be DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial) signals, or ATSC (Advanced Television Systems Committee) digital broadcasting signals. And, in the present invention, the male connector  26 , the female connector  24 , and the transmission device  28  are of a USB 2.0 high-speed serial connection interface or a 1394 high-speed serial connection interface. 
     As having been mentioned above, in the past, when a TV box is utilized to watch TV programs on a computer display, the TV box must be externally connected to the computer display, so that the TV box receives external wireless A/V signals, converts the received signals, and transmits the converted signals to the display for playing. The TV box must also be connected to an external power supply and could not be combined with the computer display, and would therefore occupy an independent space without the benefit of saving the valuable space. However, the computer display capable or receiving wireless A/V signals according to the present invention is applicable to general computer displays, and the internal antenna assembly and the external demodulating device have a uniform specification and may be used with any computer displays having a matching specification. With the internal antenna assembly  22  and the external signal demodulating device  20 , wireless A/V signals may be received via the display  18  of the present invention and operated by a microprocessor of the computer  30 , allowing a consumer to watch A/V programs on the display  18 . The display  18  of the present invention does not occupy extra space and meets the new trends of displays. 
     The present invention has been described with some preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications in the described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.