Abstract:
This disclosure generally relates to a multimedia display equipped with a proximity sensor. The display is made of a device equipped with a proximity sensor and a computing device to better create and manage multimedia presentations. The display allows owners to insert a panel equipped with an LCD screen inside an enclosure with an opening in either a landscape or portrait orientation. Owners may use their computers to prepare, manage, and store audio and visual information. The display allows owners to better customize and use the device by using known computing, cabling, and display technology in conjunction with a robust enclosure. Finally, the display allows owners to rotate the LCD screen from a portrait orientation to a landscape orientation, or vice versa.

Description:
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE  
       [0001]     The present disclosure relates to an assembly and method for use of an electronic display, and more particularly, to an electronic display device equipped with a computing device and a proximity sensor to activate the device when needed to convey a visual message and possibly an auditory message to a recipient.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     Purveyors of services have long sought better ways to advertise and offer their services in a manner that increases their overall productivity. A key feature of the service industry is to convey selected information to a target audience under optimal circumstances. Use of multimedia presentations, such as the display of images in association with sound at the point of sale, has been shown to create a better overall impression, improving the quality of the service and optimize productivity. Museums add screens next to selected exhibits to create interactive archaeological and sociological stations and enhance an exhibit&#39;s overall experience. Retail stores allow suppliers to place televisions and DVD players next to products to increase sales. Corporations at retail shows appreciate the need for a multimedia display to draw potential clients to their booths to market their corporation, sell their new products, or advertise their latest services. Museums, retail stores, or even corporations benefit from improved multimedia displays. These are only examples of the myriad applications of a multimedia display. The usefulness of multimedia joint audio and video displays in the marketplace, as well as any other possible uses, is well known to one of ordinary skill in this art.  
         [0003]     The technical requirements of a multimedia display device depend on the intended use of the display. Generally, most message conveying devices need to be durable, user friendly, robust, and affordable. The devices may also work without the help of a sales representative, and attract the attention of a user without contributing excessively to ambient auditory pollution. Often, a display device is left unattended on a stand or in a store. For this reason, the device must not be portable and must offer some level of theft protection. These devices must also be attractive enough to enhance the service experience while allowing flexibility in the creation and use of visual and possibly an audio message. The devices must ultimately capture the attention of an end user long enough to cause him/her to see and hear the entire message.  
         [0004]     The needs of the purchasers and owners of multimedia display devices may differ from the needs of the ultimate consumer of the service. Owners need display devices that can be modified easily and that convey a wide range of audio and video messages in a plurality of formats, systems of exploitation, and transmission protocols. Owners also benefit from the acquisition of a display device that uses existing technology known to employees of the purchasing corporation and can be adapted to be displayed in different orientations.  
         [0005]     Several devices already exist for conveying a message at a point of purchase of goods or services consisting of a video and possibly an audio display. One discloses a device where six pictures are arranged on a flat retro-lit panel shown over a tape-recorded narrative. Another discloses a point-of-purchase advertising system that utilizes an ultrasonic transducer to sense the presence of a person in the vicinity of the display and uses an endless tape playback unit for playing prerecorded advertisements on a speaker. Yet another discloses a display device equipped with an infrared sensor and an audio speaker that activates a retro-illuminated display made of two nonoverlapping transparencies.  
         [0006]     More recently, devices have evolved to include digital displays such as flat screen monitors or plasma televisions. One discloses a blind, fixed audio and visual, waist-high terminal display station able to connect to the Internet and display different types of presentations. Another discloses an interactive advertising system where a user is able to retrieve information stored on a display device via a touch screen system. Neither is equipped with a proximity sensor to activate the device when the user is nearby or deactivate the device when the user is absent. Yet another discloses a public restroom system where an audio speaker and a video display screen are activated by a proximity sensor connected to a single control apparatus with limited audio and visual data processing capacity.  
         [0007]     Although many of these devices are able to perform their intended functions in a workmanlike manner, none of them solve all of the drawbacks described above. What is needed is a display device that allows a display owner to broadcast to a user a variety of visual data and possibly complementary audio data from a computer to a user using a multi format screen, benefiting from simple and standardized connectors and cables technology, functionally grouping a proximity sensor technology along with the audio and video technology, offering owners the use of known hardware to reduce investment and limiting costs associated with maintenance, management, and display modifications.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0008]     This disclosure generally relates in one embodiment to a durable, user-friendly, and robust multimedia display assembly equipped with a proximity sensor and a method of use thereof. The display assembly in another embodiment may be made of a display device equipped with a proximity sensor that may be used in tandem with commonly used computing devices to better create and manage multi media presentations as seen and possibly heard by display viewers. The display device in another embodiment may also allow owners to insert a single panel equipped with the proximity sensor and possibly a speaker and a display surface such as a LCD screen or a plasma screen inside of an enclosure with an opening for the display surface in a landscape, a portrait orientation, or a other possible display orientation.  
         [0009]     The disclosure may, in another embodiment, allow owners to use their computers to prepare, manage, and store audio and visual information to be broadcast, and to optimize services of the display assembly based on the information received from the proximity sensor located on the display device. The display assembly in another embodiment may also allow owners to better customize the use of the display device by using known computing, cabling, and display technology in conjunction with a robust enclosure and remote user detection technology. Finally, in another embodiment, the display assembly may allow owners of a single type of display to change from a portrait orientation to a landscape orientation, or vice versa, simply by changing the enclosure and rotating the display surface inside the display device. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the electronic display assembly.  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of the electronic display device in the landscape orientation.  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view of the electronic display device in the portrait orientation.  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram showing the interconnection of the components of the electronic display assembly.  
         [0014]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart that schematically illustrates the steps of the method for providing display of visual data and possibly audible transmission of audio data.  
         [0015]      FIG. 6  is a flow chart that schematically illustrates the steps of the further defined method for providing display of visual data and possibly audible transmission of audio data.  
         [0016]      FIG. 7  illustrates a typical computer system in which part of the present invention operates.  
         [0017]      FIG. 8  is a flow chart that schematically illustrates the steps of the method for changing a landscape oriented display assembly to a portrait oriented display assembly or vice versa. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0018]      FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of the overall electronic display assembly  1 . The electronic display assembly  1  is composed of five main elements: an electronic display device  2 , an enclosure  3 , a power supply  4 , at least one speaker  8 , and a computing device  5 . In the preferred embodiment, the display assembly  1  comprises of at least one speaker  8 , but it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the display assembly  1  can be operated without the at least one speaker or with the at least one speaker silent. The power supply as shown in  FIG. 1  is an input socket connected to existing common outlets types. It is understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art that while a single power outlet for the supply of the electronic display assembly  1  is shown in  FIG. 1 , use of several other power input sockets or either alternative current (AC) or direct current (DC) for each of the main components or the use of a relay power supply within one of the main component is contemplated. In one preferred embodiment, a 12-volt DC current may be used to power the sensor  7  and the speaker  8 . The power supply  4  is operatively coupled  15  to the display device  2  which is in turn coupled to all of the elements that need energy to operate properly, namely, at least one speaker  8 , a proximity sensor  7 , and the computing device  5  as shown on  FIG. 4 . Again, it is understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that all elements within the computing device  5 , such as the system to operate software  23 , access video data  17 , the possible audio data  18 , or the elements of the electronic display device  2  as associated to the computing device  5 , such as the input and output USB port  20  or any other appropriate connector, are appropriately energized.  
         [0019]     The electronic display device  2  is equipped with a display surface  6 . In the preferred embodiment, the display surface  6  is oriented in either a landscape orientation  14  or a portrait orientation  13  as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , respectively. It is understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that while the display surface width-over-height ratio shown and disclosed are those most commonly used in the industry, namely the ratios 4:3 or 16:9, any possible ratio is contemplated. While the use of a flat screen of either Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) or Plasma Display technology is disclosed as the current best mode, it is understood that other display technology standards such as Cathode Ray Tube (CRT), Digital Light Processing (DLP), Surface-conduction Electron-emitter Display (SED), Field Emission Display (FED), or any other new display technology may be used. A single display surface may be rotated and used in either a landscape orientation  14  or a portrait orientation  13  in two different enclosures, each designed for its specific type of display. It will also be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that while rectangular 4:3 and 16:9 display surfaces are preferred in this art, other types of surface geometries of a display screen can be used based on user preferences and market availability such as the use of flexible screens and displays of irregular shapes.  
         [0020]     Continuing with  FIG. 2 , the enclosure  3  is adapted to house the display surface  6 , a proximity sensor  7 , and possibly at least one speaker  8  both preferably mounted on a control panel  12 . The enclosure  3  may be made of any material suitable to house the display surface  6  and the control panel  12 , and may be equipped with any mounting or attachment means commonly used to permit a user to effectively position the enclosure at a display location. The enclosure is equipped with three effective openings, a first opening  9  to provide a view of the display surface  6  from outside the enclosure when the display surface  6  is mounted in the enclosure  3 , a second opening  10  to provide access to the outside of the enclosure to the proximity sensor  7  when the proximity sensor  7  is mounted in the enclosure  3 , and a third opening  11  sized to provide access to the outside of the enclosure to at least one speaker  8  when the speaker  8  is mounted to the enclosure. In an other embodiment where no speaker  8  is used, the enclosure will only be equipped with two openings. It is understood by one of ordinary skill in the design of enclosure openings that access is provided to a display surface  6  when light is allowed to pass through the enclosure allowing a user to perceive the display surface  6 . Also, access is provided to a speaker  8  when sound waves are able pass the enclosure in the ambient medium, or that access is provided to a sensor  7  if the detection technology of the sensor is able to pass the enclosure. In the preferred embodiment, sensor  7  detects light waves at an infrared wavelength. The second opening  10  is either a physical opening or an effective opening in the enclosure material that allows infrared light waves to reach the sensor  7 . Illustratively, the enclosure  3  is illustrated in  FIGS. 1-3  as having a physical opening for all three openings. It is understood by one or ordinary skill in the art that, for example, if the enclosure were used in an underwater environment, the first opening may be transparent material, and the second opening would be made of a material able to allow the passage of sonar-type waves.  
         [0021]     In one preferred embodiment, the infrared sensor  7  and two speakers  8  may be mounted on the control panel  12  in such a way as to allow the second opening of the enclosure  10  to be aligned with the sensor  7  and the third opening  11  to be aligned with the two speakers  8  when the control panel  12  is mounted. The control panel  12  is mounted within the enclosure  3  using any normal fixation means. The use of a single control panel  12  facilitates removal of the control panel  12  and the associated display surface  6  in order to place the panel and the display surface in a second enclosure  3  equipped with a different first opening  9  orientation.  
         [0022]     In one preferred embodiment, the electronic display device  2  may further include a cover bezel  24  equipped with a series of corner openings  27  and a center opening  26  to provide access to the display surface  6 . Corner openings  27  are made as in the enclosure  3  to allow the corner tabs  25  to be inserted in the associated corner tabs  25  on the cover bezel  24 . This system allows a user who owns a single LCD screen or other display surface  6  to use his display surface  6  either in association with an enclosure  3  equipped with a first opening  9  in the portrait orientation  14  as illustrated in  FIG. 2 , or in association with an enclosure  3  equipped with a first opening  9  in the landscape orientation  13 , as illustrated in  FIG. 3  by rotating the display surface by ninety degrees and changing enclosure  3 . It will also be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that while the display assembly  1  is described using a rectangular display surface  6  with appropriately rectangular shaped enclosure openings, it will be apparent that a plurality of possible geometries used in association with a plurality of enclosures may be use at appropriate angle once rotated appropriately.  
         [0023]     In  FIG. 4 , the sensor  7  is set to release an output  16  relayed to a computing device  5  via a connector  20 . In the preferred embodiment, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) type connector is used, but the use of any type of connector  20  for a computing device  5  is contemplated.  FIG. 4  illustrates a typical computing device  5  in which the video data storage  17  and possibly the audio data storage  18  operates, the preferred embodiment of which is implemented on a personal computer of IBM-type technology. In general, such computing devices generally shown in  FIG. 4  as functionally illustrated in  FIG. 7  comprise a bus  201  for communicating information, a processor  202  coupled with the bus  201  for processing information, main memory  203  coupled with the bus  201  for storing the information and instructions for the processor  202 , a display device  205  coupled with the bus  201  for displaying information for a computer user, an input device  206  coupled with the bus  201  for communicating information and command selections to the processor  202 , and a mass storage device  207 , such as a magnetic disk or flash memory and associated disk drive, coupled with the bus  201  for storing information and instructions. A data storage medium  208  containing digital information is configured to operate with the mass storage device  207  to allow processor  202  to access to the digital information on data storage medium  208  via the bus  201 .  
         [0024]     In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the software  23  may be implemented in the computing device  5  in a conventional manner. Using well-known techniques, the video data  17  and the audio data  18  are stored in the data storage medium  208  and subsequently accessed by the software  23  as executed by the computing device  5 . The information is processed and managed by the software  23  through the processor  202 , and possibly the selected audio data  18  is sent to the speaker  8  while the video data  17  is sent to the display surface  6 . The management of the video data and possible audio data to be processed is regulated by the software  23  in conjunction with the sensor output  16  received via the connector  20 . The sensor output is calibrated to provide the software with proximity sensing data  22  converted from a trigger input set by the electronic display assembly 1 owner. In one of the preferred embodiments, a trigger detection of a configurable distance ranging from approximately 6 inches to approximately 15 feet is calibrated to relate to a certain proximity sensing data  22  level. It is understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the sensor may be of a type to issue a signal output sensing data  22  as a voltage to be calibrated by the appropriate software  23 , or the sensor is equipped with a cut-off trigger output to be set on the sensor and produces an all-or-nothing signal to the software  23 .  
         [0025]     Returning to  FIG. 4 , a user located at first position A may move moves closer to the sensor  7 . A trigger sensor output  16  is set to trigger at a second position B and sends a signal through a cable to a connector  20 . The computing device  5 , with the use of the software  23 , initiates the broadcast of a multimedia presentation to the user now located in position B. The software  23  retrieves video data  17  and possibly audio data  18  from the storage device  207  and sends the information to the display device  2  for display on the display surface  6  and possibly via the speaker  8 . Once the user moves away from the position B, the trigger sensor output  16  changes, the computing device  5  changes or terminates the multimedia presentation. It is understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the sensor output allows for the management of the video data  17  and possibly audio data  18  sent to the display device  2 , including for example the termination or pause of the part of the multimedia presentation, a change in the parameters of the video and audio information such as lowering the level of the speaker output, changing the multimedia presentation to attract users from a more distant position, or any other possible and contemplated use of the electronic display device  2  by one of ordinary skill in the art.  
         [0026]      FIG. 5  contains a flow diagram illustrating the steps performed by an embodiment of the present invention for providing display and visual data and audible transmission of audio data. This method comprises a first step of sensing  100  an object or a user in the proximity of a display assembly  1  having an enclosure  3 , the enclosure housing a display surface  6 , at least one speaker  8 , and a proximity sensor  7 . The display assembly  1  may be installed at any location and in any fashion compatible with allowing a user to stand in front of the display assembly in such a way that allows the proximity sensor  7  to create a proximity sensing signal  22 . The second step consists of sending  101  the proximity sensing signal  22  to a computing device  5  responsive to sensing the object in the proximity to the display device assembly  1 . Third, the computing device  5  receives the proximity sensing signal  102 , sends  103  visual data  17  to the display device  2  responsive to receiving of the proximity sensing signal  22 , and sends  104  audio data  18  to at least one speaker  8  responsive to the receiving the proximity sensing signal  22 . Finally, the visual data  17  and the audio data  18  are displayed  105  and audibly transmitted  106  to a user.  
         [0027]     In a further embodiment, as illustrated in  FIG. 6 , the display device  2  serves as a housing  107 , this step further comprises the steps of mounting the display device  2  in the enclosure  3  at a first opening  9  sized to provide a view of the display surface  6  of the display device  2  from the outside of the enclosure, mounting the proximity sensor  7  in the enclosure  3  at a second opening  10  sized to provide access to the outside of the enclosure to the proximity sensor  7 , and mounting at least one speaker  8  to a third opening  11  sized to provide transmission of audio information  18  from the at least one speaker  8  to the outside of the enclosure.  
         [0028]     The software may select the video information  17  to be sent to the display device  2  responsive to the computing device  5  receiving the proximity sensing signal  22  to be displayed  105 . The software may also select the audio information  18  to be sent to the speaker  8  responsive to the computing device  5  receiving the proximity sensing signal  22  to be audibly transmitted  106 .  
         [0029]      FIG. 8  illustrates a flow diagram showing the steps performed by an embodiment of the present invention for transforming a landscape oriented display assembly  14  as described herein into a portrait oriented assembly  13  or vice versa. This method allows a owner to transform his display assembly  1  from a first orientation to a second orientation by changing the enclosure  3  equipped with one type of opening with a second type of opening. The method comprises the steps of, using an electronic display assembly  300  comprising an enclosure, and a cover bezel each in the landscape orientation, the cover bezel including corner tabs inserted in a series of associated corner openings in the enclosure; removing the enclosure from the cover bezel  301 ; using a second enclosure adapted for the portrait orientation with a series of associated corner openings in the enclosure  302 ; rotating the cover bezel  303 ; and placing the second enclosure over the cover bezel by inserting the tabs of the cover bezel within the associated corner openings in the enclosure  304 . It is understood by one of ordinary skill in this art that the location of the corner tabs  25  on the cover bezel  24 , is based on the ratio and geometry of the display surface  6 , the position of the corner tabs  25  and in turn mandates the location of the associated corner openings  27  on the enclosure  3 . If an irregular shaped display surface  6  is used with an associated irregularly shaped cover bezel  24 , then an associated plurality of possible enclosures may be designed each with corner openings placed according to the successive rotation of the irregular shaped display surface  6 .  
         [0030]     It is understood that the preceding is merely a detailed description of some examples and embodiments of the present invention and that numerous changes to the disclosed embodiments can be made in accordance with the disclosure herein without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. The preceding description, therefore, is not meant to limit the scope of the invention but to provide sufficient disclosure to one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention without undue burden.