WO2012057600A1

WO2012057600A1 - An illuminated seat for visual display

Info

Publication number: WO2012057600A1
Application number: PCT/MY2010/000224
Authority: WO
Inventors: Timothy Rowand Barr
Original assignee: Ferco Seating Systems (M) Sdn Bhd
Priority date: 2010-10-28
Filing date: 2010-10-28
Publication date: 2012-05-03

Abstract

The present invention pertains to an illuminated seat (1) for visual display characterized by a seat (2) including a built-in compartment (3) and a lighting means mounted within said compartment (3). A plurality of said illuminated seats (1) is positioned in any formations forming a matrix and each of the illuminated seats (1 ) represents a pixel of said matrix. The lighting means of each said seats (2) are electrically connected to a power source (26) and a processor means for determining the flow of electricity to each lighting means.

Description

AN ILLUMINATED SEAT FOR VISUAL DISPLAY

Background of the invention

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus for LED illuminated visual display; more particularly, an apparatus for manipulating desired lighting signal to seats embedded with LED thereof to emit light for allowing visual display.

Description of Related Arts

There are significant number of seats in a public seating area which normally have been arranged in rows, grouped in banks and levels. Said seats are normally arranged in groups of one color for a specific area. However, through the combination of different groups of seats, words or picture can be created over rows and groups of said seats.

There are times when all seats are occupied, but there are times when there are still plenty of empty seats still worth watching. The seats can become a billboard with pictures, logos and advertisement that can be seen during times when seats are not occupied. In accordance to this idea, an invention has been created to utilize the seats in stadium where the seats are used as a visual display when the seats are empty or not seated, or even when the seats are seated. Therefore, it could fully utilize the seats and at the same time saving cost and space rather than building a massive billboard in the stadium. In the prior arts, there are numerous of large size display devices that are available. For instance, a display device that is applied to a signboard attached to a ceiling, a wall surface or the like of a building. A conventional method of displaying still images as large side images on a display device such as Q board is recognizable. Other than that, a conventional method for displaying arbitrary still images or video images as large size images with a large-sized image panel is also familiar. All these large size display devices are widely used for decoration, advertisement, animation, information, entertainment and comparable applications in the public places or open air area.

According to one of the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 6,817,123 B2 discloses one type of display device which could apply to signboard attached to a ceiling, a wall surface or the like of a building. The display device is capable of taking advantage of a posting display device and an automatic light emitting display device so as to serve as a posting signboard making use of sunlight in the daytime and as an automatic light emitting display device for displaying images at night, thereby improving expressive power of the display device.

Another type of LED illuminated image display as discloses in U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,616 relates to displays illuminated by LED lighting and particularly to flat panel displays having such lighting. The LED illuminated image display comprises of one or more thin, integral panels of light transmitting material with each panel having at least one LED imbedded in an edge thereof. However, the said patent is only applicable for non-randomized image and separately perceptible for the predetermined specific configurationally appearance on each panel.

Although the above mentioned prior arts are all related to display devices, the concept and applications are different. The present invention applies the concept of displaying an output in a plurality of visual display devices where each of the visual display devices represents a pixel of an output image; whereas the mentioned prior arts use to display an output image having plurality of pixels in a single display device. Furthermore, the present invention utilizes the existing space for the display device in which saves space, cost, material and manpower during the set up. Summary of Invention

It is an objective of this present invention to provide an illuminated seat which represents a pixel of a predetermined output. It is a further objective of this present invention to provide an illuminated seat in a public seating area for visual display.

It is also an objective of the present invention to provide a plurality of the illuminated seats arranged in any formations forming a matrix for displaying output.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide a matrix of illuminated seats connected in rows by cable housing. It is a further objective of the present invention to provide an illuminated seat having a plurality of light emitting diodes mounted on a light module as the light source.

It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide an illuminated seat controlled by a centralised control assembly including a program, and a local display unit.

Accordingly, these objectives may be achieved by following the teachings of the present invention. The present invention relates to an illuminated seat for visual display. The illuminated seat characterized by a seat including a built-in compartment and a lighting means mounted within said compartment. A plurality of said illuminated seats is positioned in any formations forming a matrix and each of the illuminated seats represents a pixel of said matrix. The lighting means of each said seats are electrically connected to a power source and a processor; whereby the processor is means for determining the flow of electricity to each light source. The processor comprises a centralised control assembly and a local display unit; wherein the centralised control assembly predetermines the signal of light by a program and traversing the signal of light to each of the light source of the seats via the local display units of each matrix. Brief Description of the Drawings

The features of the invention will be more readily understood and appreciated from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates an exploded view of a seat with its accompanied visual display apparatus in accordance to the preferred embodiment of present invention. Figure 2 illustrates an exploded view of the preferred embodiment of present invention as illustrated in Figure 1 accompanied by a pair of cable housing.

Figure 3 illustrates a perspective view of the electrical connection between two seats in accordance to the present invention.

Figure 4 illustrates a perspective view of the boundary connection of a matrix of a plurality of seats in accordance to the preferred embodiment of present invention. Figure 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of an entire system for displaying an output having a plurality of illuminated seats, local display units, power source, and a centralised control assembly.

Detailed Description of the Invention

As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting but merely as a basis for claims. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention is to cover all modification, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims. As used throughout this application, the word "a" or "an" mean "at least one" and the word "plurality" means one or more, unless otherwise mentioned. Where the abbreviations of technical terms are used, these indicate the commonly accepted meanings as known in the technical field. For ease of reference, common reference numerals will be used throughout the figures when referring to the same or similar features common to the figures. The present invention will now be described with reference to Figure 1 to Figure 5.

Figure 1 is an exploded view of a seat with its accompanied visual display apparatus in accordance to a preferred embodiment of present invention. Since, the seat illuminates with a visual display apparatus, the illuminated seat (1) for visual display characterized by a seat (2) including a built-in compartment (3) and a lighting means mounted within said compartment (3). In accordance to said embodiment, the seat (2) with said compartment (3) at the seat (2) is preferably a foldable seat with the built-in compartment (3) positioned at the bottom surface of the seat (2). Hence, the illuminated seat (1) may be used to display an output when the seat (1) is not seated. The illuminated seat (1) is particularly suited for the use in stadium which the chairs are foldable and at the time when the seats are not seated or not fully seated during certain events. Therefore, the design of the illuminated seat (1) is able to utilise the non-seated seats, at the same time to form a matrix to display desired output such as Words and images. In addition, the present invention saves the space compared to building a large panel or billboard at the desired area in the stadium. As shown in Figure 1 , the lighting means may comprises a lighting source (5) coupled to a reflecting means (4) for reflecting means and a translucent cover (6) for diffusing means. The illuminated seat (1) is arranged by mounting the reflecting means (4) at the bottom portion of the compartment (3), followed by the lighting source (5) mounted within said compartment (3) and the translucent cover (6) coupled to the compartment (3). The lighting source (5) is placed in between the reflecting means (4) and the translucent cover (6) in which lights are reflected by the reflecting means (4) when the lighting source (5) illuminates. The reflected light will then diffuse via the translucent cover (6) for displaying the output. The translucent cover (6) preferably made of a semi-transparent cover and the lighting source (5) is preferably having a plurality of light emitting diodes (LED) mounted on a lighting module, wherein the colour of the lighting source (5) is changeable. A plurality of the illuminated seats (1) is positioned in any formations forming a matrix. Each of the illuminated seats (1) represents a pixel of said matrix. In order to display a desired output via a matrix of pixels, the lighting source (5) of each illuminated seats (1) which is preferably mounted on a lighting module is connected in rows using a cable housing (7) coupled to both left side and right side of illuminated seat (1). One of the preferred embodiment as shown in Figure 2, the cable housing (7) comprises of a cable housing cover (8), a hollow tube (9), a base (10), a seat holder (11), a pivot (12), a fastener (13) and a steel lever (14). The components of cable housing (7) mounted to the left side and right side of the illuminated seat (1) are arranged according to the sequence by firstly the steel lever (14) mounted to the seat, followed by the fastener ( 3), the pivot (12), the seat holder (1 ), the base (10), the hollow tube (9) and lastly the cable housing cover (8). The hollow tube (9) at both left side and right side of the seat are joinable to each other and the lighting module of the illuminated seat (1 ) may be connected to another lighting module of another illuminated seat (1) by lifting off the cable housing cover (8) and joining the hollow tube (9) of the left side of the seat to the hollow tube (9) of the right side of the seat of another illuminated seat (1), as illustrated in Figure 3. As a result, the connection of the lighting module of each illuminated seats (1) allows an electrical connection of the lighting source (5) to a power source (26) and to a processor (21) for processing a predetermined output. As shown in Figure 4, the connection for the row is terminated at the edge of the matrix by covering the cable housing (7) with the cable housing cover (8).

Figure 5 illustrates a system for displaying an output at the stadium using via the lighting means of the illuminated seats (1). The lighting means of each illuminated seats (1) are electrically connected to the power source (26) and the processor for determining the flow of electricity to each lighting source (5). The processor is preferably comprises of a centralised control assembly (21 ) having a computer including a program for determining signal of light of the illuminated seats (1), a central display controller (23) electrically connected to the computer (22) for providing a centralised display for each matrixes, and a data distribution controller (24) for allocating the predetermined signal of light to each of a local display units (25). The said local display unit (25) is electrically connected from the centralised control assembly (21 ) to each individual matrix for traversing signal of light across the lighting source (5) of each seats of the matrix. Each of the matrix of the illuminated seats (1 ) is electrically connected to one power source (26) and one local display unit (25); wherein a plurality of local display units (25) are electrically connected to the centralised control assembly (21) for controlling the output of the display to each of the matrix. The output to the illuminated seats (1) in multiple matrixes can be controlled by firstly inputting an input file into a computer (22) having a program to process the input file. The program is preferably a windows based sequence editor software. Then, the input file is adjusted to suit to the lighting resolution of the lighting source (5) on the illuminated seats (1 ). Lastly, the signal of light is traversed across the lighting source (5) of the illuminated seats (1) through the individual local display unit (25).

Claims

Claims I/We claim:

1. An illuminated seat (1) for visual display in mass seating characterized by: a seat (2) including a built-in compartment (3); and

a lighting means is mounted within said compartment (3);

wherein a plurality of said illuminated seats (1) is positioned in any formations forming a matrix and each of the illuminated seats (1) represents a pixel of said matrix;

wherein the lighting means of each said seats (2) are electrically connected to a power source (26) and a processor means for determining the flow of electricity to each light means.

2. An illuminated seat (1) according to claim 1 , wherein the lighting means, comprising a lighting source (5) coupled to a reflecting means (4) for reflecting means and a translucent cover (6) for diffusing means.

3. An illuminated seat (1) according to claim 1, wherein the seat (2) is preferably a fordable seat.

4. An illuminated seat (1) according to claim 1, wherein the compartment (3) is preferably positioned at the bottom surface of a seat (2).

5. An illuminated seat (1) according to claim 1 , wherein the lighting source (5) is preferably but not limited to a plurality of light emitting diodes (LED) mounted on a lighting module.

6. An illuminated seat (1) according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is preferably comprises of.

a centralised control assembly (21) having a computer (22) including a program for determining signal of light of the illuminated seats (1), a central display controller (23) electrically connected to the computer (22) for providing a centralised display for each matrixes, and a data distribution controller (24) for allocating the predetermined signal of light to each of a local display units (25);

wherein the local display unit (25) is electrically connected from the centralised control assembly (21 ) to the matrix for traversing signal of light across the light source (5) of each seats of the matrix.

7. An illuminated seat (1) according to claim 6, wherein the program is preferably a windows based sequence editor software.

8. An illuminated seat (1) according to claim 6, wherein the output of the illuminated seat (1) can be controlled by the steps which comprising of: inputting an input file into a computer (22) having a program;

then adjusting the input file to suit to the lighting resolution of the light source (5) on the illuminated seat (1); and

then traversing the signal of light across the lighting source (5) of the illuminated seat (1) through the individual local display unit (25).