CA2959050A1 - Legibility-enhanced traffic and road signs against solar glare - Google Patents

Abstract

The legibility of road and traffic signs is important for road safety, as it allows drivers to obtain necessary information. However, at dawn and dusk, glare from the sun makes these signs illegible for drivers driving in the direction towards the sun - a problem this patent resolves. The solution that this patent proposes is to create an arrangement of holes in forms of the letters and symbols of the sign in order to increase the visible brightness of the sign's content to augment contrast against the background glare and its sign, thus enhancing legibility. Increased brightness is achieved by using the light coming from the sun to illuminate the content of the sign through the aforementioned holes, which is possible due to the sun's convenient placement behind the sign relative to the driver. In addition, a light scattering-material that would prevent exposure to direct glare and widen the viewing angle of the illumination can be either laid onto the rear of the sign as either a single sheet or multiple smaller sheets. Alternatively, that light-scattering material can even be used to fill the holes of the sign.

Description

DEFINITIONS
The following definitions are applied only after this Definitions section.
= Sign(s) For comprehensive purposes, the patent will use the term 'Sign,' or 'Signs' in plural form, under the context that a 'Sign' (and its plural counterpart) refers to any signs used for traffic purposes, namely road or traffic signs, in reference not to the full structure of the typical road sign; not the mechanical structure of poles with one or more mounted board(s) with information printed on said board(s), but just the board(s) itself/themselves that contain information for road drivers. This definition is inferred at all times.
= Driver(s) For comprehensive purposes, the patent will use the term 'Driver,' or 'Drivers' in plural form, under the context that a 'Driver' (and its plural counterpart) refers to any human person(s) who pilot(s) one or more vehicle primarily used on roads, such as a car.
= The Sign This patent document, for all intents and purposes, will use the term 'The Sign' as the mechanical embodiment of any board that carries information for road vehicle drivers.
= The Content By understanding that 'Content' refers to the information content conveyed to drivers by signs, this patent document uses, for all intents and purposes, the term 'The Content' as the embodiments of the visual, 2-dimensional visual data printed onto signs that is designed for drivers to read.
= The Hole(s) By understanding that 'Hole,' or 'Holes' in plural form, refers to the holes that have been specifically made as described by this patent and not any other holes unrelated to the technology that this patent proposes that may be involved in signs, meaning that holes created for screw mounts on The Sign are not considered under this patent document's usage of the terms, 'Hole' or 'Holes,' for example. This patent document uses, for all intents and purposes, the terms 'The Hole' or 'The Holes' as the embodiments of the carefully planned hole(s) that this patent claims which enhance the legibility of The Content.
= The Layout(s) By understanding that the 'Layout,' or 'Layouts' in plural form, refers to the formation of The Holes, in that the Layout will determine how the holes are arranged in relatively relevant relation to one another. This patent document uses, for all intents and purposes, the term 'The Layout,' or 'The Layouts' in plural form, as the embodiment of the planned pattern of how The Holes are arranged.
= Light-Scattering Material This patent document uses, for all intents and purposes, the term `Light-Scattering Material' as the embodiment of any material used to refract light particles that are moving or will be moving through The Holes through optical refraction of any method.
This is likely to be completed by either using a material that is semi-translucent, describable as foggy, cloudy, frosted, frosty, etc. or by using a material that has a rough or bumpy surface that refracts transmitted light.

BACKGROUND
Signs are a technology serving as navigational beacons. The present day adaptation of this technology is typically a Sign, mounted on a rising structure, with printed navigation information: alerts for upcoming highway exits, street names, stop signs, et cetera. With road networks being important to both intra-national and inter-national transit.
Signs are essential to tlaitc/rt of a-Driv4t's View of an Unmodified Sign and Its Content without the Suns Glare 4:44' ' , $.0 , () EAST
;?- Three - Rivers . Downtown Quebec 1182/ 600m the present-day functioning of developed societies. Signs, however, are not perfect.
During dusk and dawn, on roads headed in the direction of Sun, Drivers are faced with an intolerable sum of sunlight which prevents them from properly seeing the Signs they need to read. This is a problem caused by the human eye protecting itself from overexposure to intense lights by contracting, squinting, and thereby darkening the environment sufficiently so that it may view the environment without taking in too much light. Consequentially, this means that Signs become too dark for Drivers to read when they are exposed to sunlight as their eyes have darkened the scenery to the point where The Content printed on The Sign cannot be discerned from The Sign itself because the Sign, now a silhouette to the eyes of the Drivers, has little to no aiapot,o.2,-Artcoficeptuatization of a Driver s View of an Unmodified Sign and its Content with the Sun!, GI ire "0:2#N4 I.
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visible contrast between itself and The Content. Thus, when the Sun is glaring in front of Drivers, they are unable to read the information they need from Signs.
Thus far there has been no solution applied to resolve this problem, likely due to costs with applying a change to traffic and road signs that would resolve the issue.
This patent, 041.0*-0,3 -Art tonceptuailzation of a Drivers View of a Sign and its Content with a Configuration of the Paten es Upgrade with the Sun's Glare r µ14164. I
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'Fits however, will change that by introducing a solution that is cheap and applicable - hopefully to resolve this problem once and for all.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
This patent comprises of two claims that are essentially (1) The Sign with The Holes, and

(2) The Sign with The Holes further adding on Light-Refracting Material. This section will provide you, the reader, with additional details with regards to the characteristics of these claims.
1. The enhanced Sign comprising of The Sign and The Holes requires that The Holes be specifically arranged in the form of The Content of the Sign so as to allow light from the rear of the sign to pass through and create an illuminating effect for The Content. To clarify, the form of The Content is any piece of potentially useful visual shape/figure information differentiable from The Sign itself through colour that a Driver can collect from The Sign, be it (A) letters , such as "EAST," "Three-Rivers," "Downtown," "Quebec," and "m" in Diagram 0.1; (B) numbers, such as "42," "182," and "600" in Diagram 0.1; (C) symbols, such as the hyphen in "Three-Rivers" in Diagram 0.1; (D) or all other shapes (polygons), such as white outline of the sign of Diagram 0.1, the highway-shield containing "42," or the trapezoid containing "182" in Diagram 0.1. All of the above examples are differentiable from their sign because of different colour in that the base colour of The Sign in Diagram 0.1 is green while The Content in Diagram 0.1 comes in the colours of white, black, red, blue, or even yellow. The Holes are to be arranged in the form of The Content of The Sign in order to enhance legibility of The Signs in the situation described in the Background section of this patent, as seen in Diagram 0.3. The Holes can be further organized as either Outlining Layouts, Filling Layouts, or Path Layouts for each form of Content, independently. The manufacturer is to decide which layout he, she, or they will use for each piece of Content. The patent does recommend, however, the usage of Outlining Layouts as often as possible as they effectively convey all forms of Content, though Path Layouts are sufficient for letters, numbers, and symbols should cost reduction be of priority while Filling Layouts are be effective at conveying complicated shapes, given a sufficiently high density, or "resolution," of The Holes in each of The Layouts.
2. The further-enhanced Sign comprising of The Sign and The Holes further adding a Light-Scattering Material requires that a Light-Scattering Material be either (A) laid onto the rear of The Sign as one or more plate(s) or sheet(s) that cover The Holes or (B) filled into The Holes.
The purpose of this Light-Scattering Material is to prevent a direct beam of sunlight reaching the Driver's eyes and to spread light travelling through The Holes to a wider area, thus increasing the size of the area in which drivers can see the light passing through The Holes. Using one or =
more plate(s) or sheet(s) of the Light Scattering Material has the advantage of being easily manufactured and easy to apply, but should only be applied on (i) The Signs that are very thin or (ii) The Sign that have The Holes in larger sizes in order to ensure the effectiveness of this Light-Scattering Material. Alternatively, using the Light-Scattering Material as a fill in The Holes works well on all of The Signs with The Holes as it ensures that traversing light has a medium that will definitely grant them passage from the rear of the sign to the front of The Sign.
The Light-Scattering Material does not necessarily have to be inherently light-scattering as a foggy, cloudy, frosty, translucent material; a clear material can also be used so long as the front and or rear surfaces - orientation based on that of The Sign on which the Light-Scattering Material is applied onto ¨ are not smooth. If the Light-Scattering Material is inherently light-scattering as a foggy, cloudy, frosty, translucent material, then the surface of the Light-Scattering Material can be either smooth or rough.
The Diagrams section following the Detailed Description will provide many embodiments of the usage of the claims. They are, however, to be used for purposes of better understanding the patent, though not limiting it as they are mere embodiments.

Claims (2)

1. An enhanced Sign comprising:
The Sign and The Holes, wherein The Holes are punctured into the sign, outlining with dotted lines Layouts or filling with grid arrangement array Layouts the forms of The Content; thereby allowing light behind The Sign to pass through and illuminate The Content in their recognizable forms.

2. The Sign of Claim 1 further comprising:
a Light-Scattering Material, wherein said material either is either (A) installed onto the rear of the aforementioned Sign as one or more plate(s) or sheet(s) that either cover the full rear side of the Sign as a single plate or sheet, or partially cover the rear side of the Sign as one or more plate(s) or sheet(s); or is (B) used to fill The Holes from Claim 1, thus ensuring that light passing through the Sign will be dispersed and will not provide direct glare to any Driver in front of The Sign.