GB2463253A

GB2463253A - Illuminated advertising sign with variable brightness and colour of illumination

Info

Publication number: GB2463253A
Application number: GB0816150A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Peter Knight
Original assignee: Urban Storm Ltd
Current assignee: Urban Storm Ltd
Priority date: 2008-09-04
Filing date: 2008-09-04
Publication date: 2010-03-10
Also published as: GB0816150D0; WO2010026389A1; GB2463253A8

Abstract

An advertising display 1 is provided, comprising means, e.g. in the form of a sign enclosure 11, 12, for displaying one or more advertisements, and illumination means 14 for providing illumination of the advertisement and/or an area around the display 1. The illumination means is arranged to provide variable illumination in terms of the brightness and colour of illumination. The illumination means is preferably a plurality of LEDs 16 formed as a module 14. The LEDs are connected by wires 15 and are set on a backplate 13. The illumination means is arranged to vary as the advertisements change such that a unique illumination is provided for each advert.

Description

I

ADVERTISING DISPLAY AND METHOD

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to advertising displays and method of displaying advertising.

Background of the Invention

Advertising displays are known in which an advertisement is provided arid displayed.

Such advertising displays may be traditional hoardings in which posters are adhered to a surface. Advertisements may also be placed in a casing and held in place between a transparent front surface and a rear surface of casing. Alternatively, advertisement images may be mounted in a casing and back lit. It is known to mount a series of advertisements on a loop, which is scrolled through so that more than one advertisement may be displayed sequentially in a single display. It is important to ensure that displayed advertisements catch the eye of their intended audience.

The present invention seeks to overcome or ameliorate at least one of the problems

associated with the prior art.

Summary of the Invention

An aspect of the invention provides an advertising display comprising means for displaying a single advertisement or a plurality of advertisements in a sequence and illumination means for providing illumination for displaying the advertisements andlor an area around the display. The illumination means is arranged to provide differing illumination which may be different for different advertisements in the sequence. The particular type, colour, pattern or brighthess, for example, of the illumination emitted from the illumination means may be correlated with one or more advertisements. The

I

illumination means may be arranged to provide a different illumination as the advertisement is changed.

Each advertisement may be associated with a unique illumination from the illumination means.

The illumination means may be arranged to produce a plurality of colours of illumination, each colour being provided together with a different advertisement displayed in the display.

The illumination means may be arranged to illuminate a surround of the advertisement display.

The illumination means may be arranged to illuminate different iterations of the same displayed advertisement differently.

The illumination means may be arranged to vary the illumination during the display of a particular advertisement.

The illumination means may be arranged to display a different variation during the display of different advertisements.

The illumination means may be arranged to provide a period of no illumination during a period in which the advertisement is changed in the sequence. The illumination may be faded in a gradual change in brightness and/or colour.

The illumination means may provide backlighting for the advertisement.

The advertisement may be a static, rather than animated, advertisement, and may be printed on a medium, which may be at least partially transparent.

Detailed description of embodiments of the invention Embodiments of the invention will now be described purely by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure Ia shows an illumination means mounted in an advertising display, with a part of a transparent cover thereof removed; Figure lb shows a cross-section through a part of the advertising display of Figure la; Figure 2 shows an illumination means mounted within an advertising display according to a second embodiment of the invention; Figure 3a shows an advertising display according to a third aspect of the invention; Figure 3b shows a plane section of a part of the advertising display shown in Figure 3a; Figure 3c shows a side-view of a part of an advertising display according to the third embodiment; and Figure 4 shows a fourth embodiment of the invention.

Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown an advertising display 1. The advertising display 1 comprises means 11, 12, in the present embodiment in the form of a sign enclosure and a transparent cover, for displaying an advertisement. The advertising display 1 also includes illumination means 14 for providing illumination of the advertisement andlor an area around the display 1. The illumination means 14 is arranged to provide variable illumination. In the present embodiment, the illumination means is a plurality of LEDs 16 in an LED module 14. In the present embodiment, the LEDs are connected by wires 15, and the LEDs 16 are set on a back plate 13. Although LEDs are described in the present embodiment, it would be apparent that other illumination means can be used, such as incandescent light bulbs, OLEDs, fluorescent lamps, or the like. As shown in Figure ib, the LEDs 16 are mounted on the backing plate 13 arid emit light through the advertisement (not shown) and the transparent cover 11, the advertisement being placed between the transparent cover 11 and the LEDs 16.

In operation, the intensity of the illumination from the LED module 14 can be varied, as required. The LEDs 16 in the LED module can be connected in series, so that the overall intensity of illumination from the LED module 14 varies uniformally.

Alternatively, each LED 16 in the LED module 14 may be individually controlled.

Further, subsets of LEDs 16 in the module 14 may be controlled as separate groups.

The separate groups may, for example, relate to different colours of LED. In this case, the overall colour of the illumination emitted from the LED 16 can be varied by varying the intensity of the illumination provided by the different groups. In one embodiment, three groups are provided, one of red, one of green, and one of blue, LEDs. There may be a fourth group, of white LEDs. Each of these colour groups maybe further divided into groups that can be individually controlled representing different regions of the advertising display. In this way, both the colour and intensity of light emitted from different regions of the advertising display can be varied, as required. In the case where different coloured LEDs 16 are provided, each LED 16 may be individually controlled, if required.

The LEDs may be controlled in a number of ways known in the art. For example, a lighting controller (not shown) may be provided to use information received to select the required lighting effect, sequence or colour pattern. The sequence information can be communicated to the LED module 14 via a databus, for example by the DMX protocol, other databuses would also be suitable. Alternatively, the control information to be sent to the LED module 14 may be in the form of a voltage, a currents or a variable duty cycle pulse with modulated waveform or the like. A decoder may be provided with each LED 16 in the LED module 14. In this way, each decoder can identify instructions provided for the particular LED which is attached thereto. In this way, each LED may be separately controlled via a single, series connection. This information is then relayed to the lighting and power is provided so as to power the lighting.

In a further embodiment an amplifiing device, such as a transistor or other power amplifier is provided which directly drives the LED module. Where each LED 16 is controlled individually, the lighting controller can be configured to do this. Each LED 16 may have a dedicated amplifier in this case.

Figure 2 shows a second embodiment, in which an LED module 14 is mounted on a backing plate 13 inside a ioop of advertisements, which, in turn is mounted within the advertising display. In this case, the advertisements 27 scroll on rollers 25, which are mounted on axes 26 and driven by a motor 3. A sensor 2 detects the position of the advertisement and may also detect which advertisement is currently displayed.

Alternatively, or in addition, a stepper motor may be used as the motor 3, which is controlled to progress the ioop of advertisement 17 by a single advertisement at each activation. In operation, the output from the lighting controller to control the LED module 14 can be controlled to synchronise with the particular advert displayed in the advertisement displayed in the advertising display. This can be done by monitoring the sensor 2 and/or motor 3 to determine which advertisement is currently displayed and outputting the desired illumination from each LED 16. In this way, a different colour, intensity, pattern or sequence of illumination can be provided for each different advertisement. Further, as the advertisements scroll through the advertising display, each occurrence of a particular advertisement may be provided with a different illumination type, intensity, colour andlor sequence each time it is displayed. The particular pattern associated with a particular advertisement may be made to appear to move with the advertisement as the advertisement 27 scrolls within the display, by controlling the LED module 14 to provide that pattern, colour or intensity only to regions of the advertising display where that advertisement is visible as it scrolls.

In a third embodiment, which is shown in Figures 3a, 3b and 3c, the illumination means is a backlighting illumination means. In this embodiment, instead of an LED module being provided as a front lighting illumination means, the LED module is provided in the surround of the advertising display on a rearward facing, overhanging portion surrounding the advertising display transparent cover 11. The edge of the advertising display 13 has a section 18 fitted around the external edge. In this section 18 one or more light sources is provided, in the present embodiment an LED module 18 comprising a plurality of LEDs 20. These LEDs 20 are connected together by wires carrying signals andlor power. As described with regard to the first and second embodiments, each LED 20 can be individually controlled, if required. Further, the control may be by way of individual connection of each LED 20 to a lighting controller (not shown) or by way of an encoding and decoding system, each LED 20 having a decoder (not shown) so that they may be individually controlled, whilst being commonly wired.

The LED module within the section 18 is housed within a transparent weatherproof shell, although alternate solutions to protect the light sources can be applied. As described in relation to the first and second embodiments, the intensity, and colour of the illumination from the LED module can be varied. This may be varied in a uniform way or different regions around the display may be illuminated in a different manner.

This may be dynamic, or static. The dynamic display may change in correintion with the change to the advertisement displayed in the advertising display. Alternatively, the illumination from the LEDs 20 may change in a dynamic fashion while the displayed advertisement is not being scrolled.

Figure 4 shows a further embodiment of the invention, in which a light source 30 is provided in front of the advertising display 32. In this embodiment, the light source 30 comprises a plurality of LEDs, as described in relation to the first, second and third embodiments described above. However, as with all embodiments, alternative light sources may be employed. The LEDs may be controlled together, or individually, or in groups, as discussed above. However, in this embodiment, the light source is mounted in front of the advertising display 32 and illuminates the front of an advertisement mounted in the display, rather than illuminating through the advertisement. The light source 30 is mounted on a post, in the present embodiment above the advertising display. However, other configurations would be possible, for example at other locations around the display. As with the previously described embodiments, the light source illuminates the advertisement in the advertising display and the illumination provided may be changed, either with the change to the advert displayed or while the advertisement remains the same.

In any of the embodiments described above the illumination means may stop illuminating as the advertisement displayed in the display is changed. Alternatively, the illumination means may change to a different illumination intensity, colour or pattern as the advertisement is changed. The change of illumination between advertisements may be gradual, smooth, merged, blended, rapid or a step transition. The change can occur at the start of the advertisement change, during the change, or at the end of the change.

It is also possible that there can be an intermediate state or states (such as all lighting turned off, during the change). In a further possible embodiment, colour filters may be used, rather than colours LEDs, with the colour filters being controlled to change the colour of the illumination from the illumination means.

A user interface may be provided which may indicate the status information, aid in setup of the advertising display, be used for programming, or provide diagnostic or operational information. Further, an optional input device may be provided, which may be a card reader, a modem or some other device to facilitate the programming of the lighting controller with the required sequence or sequence or sequences of illumination.

The lighting controller may receive information to facilitate change in a variety of configurations. In a first configuration, a link is provided with the existing scrolling controller, allowing it and the lighting controller to operate in synchronisation, as is known. Alternatively, the lighting controller may be provided with additional sensors to determine the status of the advertising display and enable the lighting controller to synchronise with the advertisement displayed. The output from existing scrolling sensors may be used by both the scrolling controller and the lighting controller. In a further configuration, the advertising display controller and the lighting controller may be combined, in which case, all functions of the advertising display are controlled with a single controller.

In all of the embodiments described above, a further illuminating means may be provided. This further illuminating means may provide a constant illumination to supplement, or complement the illumination provided by the illumination means. For example, where the illumination means provides a backlighting, or surround lighting effect, the further illumination means may provide the main illumination for the advertisement itself.

In any of the embodiments described above, the brightness emitted from the illumination means may be made to vary by means of an automated timer, to allow the display to vary in brightness, for example in the rhythm of a heart beat.

Further, in all the embodiments described above, as well as, or instead of varying the colour andlor brightness of light emitted by the light sources, one or more filters may be provided as part or all of the illumination means. The filter(s) may be controlled to vary the colour andlor brightness of illumination passing out of the advertising display.

These colour filters may be provided on a front surface of the display, through which an advertisement is viewed, behind the advertisement, from the point of view of one viewing the advertisement, or to illuminate a surround or area around the advertising display.

In a further embodiment, one or more other inputs such as a passive infrared sensor, or timer, or measurement of external light are also provided in order to provide further information regarding how the illumination means should function, for example, to ensure that the appropriate level of illumination is provided.

The present embodiments are exemplary in nature and various omissions, additions or modifications may be made within the scope and spirit of the invention, the invention also extending to any such omissions, additions or modifications.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the inventions. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. An advertising display comprising means for displaying an advertisement and illumination means for providing illumination of the advertisement andlor an area around the display, wherein the illumination means is arranged to provide variable brightness and/or colour of illumination.
2. An advertising display according to claim 1, wherein the displaying means is for displaying a plurality of advertisements in a sequence.
3. An advertising display according to claim 2, wherein the illumination means is arranged to provide differing illumination for different advertisements in the sequence.
4. An advertising display according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the particular illumination emitted from the illumination means is correlated with one or more advertisements.
5. An advertising display according to claim 3 or claim 4, wherein the illumination means is arranged to provide a different illumination as the advertisement is changed.
6. An advertising display according to any of claims 2 to 5, wherein each advertisement is associated with a unique illumination from the illumination means.
7. An advertising display according to any of claims 2 to 6, wherein the illumination means is arranged to produce a plurality of colours of illumination, each colour being provided together with a different advertisement displayed in the display.
8. An advertising display according to any of claims 2 to 7, wherein the illumination means is arranged to illuminate a surround of and/or an area around the advertisement display.
9. An advertising display according to any of claims 2 to 8, wherein the illumination means is arranged to illuminate different iterations of the same displayed advertisement differently.
10. An advertising display according to any of claims 2 to 9, wherein the illumination means is arranged to display a different variation during the display of different advertisements.
11. An advertising display according to any of claims 2 to 10, wherein the illumination means is arranged to provide a period of no illumination andlor a period of fading during a period in which the advertisement is changed in the sequence.
12. An advertising display according to any preceding claim, wherein the illumination means is arranged to vary the illumination during the display of a particular advertisement.
13. An advertising display according to any preceding claim, wherein the illumination means provides backlighting for the advertisement.
14. An advertising display according to any preceding claim, further comprising a second illumination means, for illuminating the displayed advertisement.
15. An advertising display according to any preceding claim, further comprising means for determining the ambient light level around the advertising display, the illumination means being arranged to vary the illumination based upon the determined ambient light level.
16. An advertising display according to any preceding claim, wherein the illumination means comprises filter means for controlling the brightness and/or colour of the illumination emitted from the advertising display.
17. An advertising display according to any preceding claim, wherein the illumination means comprises one or more light emitting diodes.
18. A method of displaying a plurality of advertisements, the method comprising: displaying an advertisement in a display and providing illumination together with the advertisement; and varying the brightness andlor colour of illumination provided.
19. A method according to claim 18, wherein a plurality of advertisements are displayed in sequence.
20. A method according to claim 19, wherein the change in the displayed advertisement and the change in the illumination occurs at substantially the same time.
21. A method according to claim 19 or claim 20, wherein the illumination provided with the changed displayed advertisement is associated with that advertisement.
22. A method according to any of claims 19 to 21, wherein the illumination provided is associated with the advertisement with which it is displayed.
23. An advertising display comprising means for displaying an advertisement and illumination means for providing illumination of the advertisement andlor an area around the display, wherein the illumination means comprises one or more light emitting diodes.
24. An advertising display, substantially as hereinbefore displayed with reference to any of the accompanying figures.
25. An method of displaying an advertisement, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any of the accompanying figures.