EP0053880B1 - Dispositif de présentation d'information - Google Patents

Dispositif de présentation d'information Download PDF

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Publication number
EP0053880B1
EP0053880B1 EP19810305374 EP81305374A EP0053880B1 EP 0053880 B1 EP0053880 B1 EP 0053880B1 EP 19810305374 EP19810305374 EP 19810305374 EP 81305374 A EP81305374 A EP 81305374A EP 0053880 B1 EP0053880 B1 EP 0053880B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
matrix
heads
panel
display elements
rows
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired
Application number
EP19810305374
Other languages
German (de)
English (en)
Other versions
EP0053880A1 (fr
Inventor
Hassan Paddy Abdel Salam
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Unisplay SA
Original Assignee
Unisplay SA
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Unisplay SA filed Critical Unisplay SA
Publication of EP0053880A1 publication Critical patent/EP0053880A1/fr
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP0053880B1 publication Critical patent/EP0053880B1/fr
Expired legal-status Critical Current

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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
    • G09F—DISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS
    • G09F9/00—Indicating arrangements for variable information in which the information is built-up on a support by selection or combination of individual elements
    • G09F9/30—Indicating arrangements for variable information in which the information is built-up on a support by selection or combination of individual elements in which the desired character or characters are formed by combining individual elements
    • G09F9/37—Indicating arrangements for variable information in which the information is built-up on a support by selection or combination of individual elements in which the desired character or characters are formed by combining individual elements being movable elements
    • G09F9/375—Indicating arrangements for variable information in which the information is built-up on a support by selection or combination of individual elements in which the desired character or characters are formed by combining individual elements being movable elements the position of the elements being controlled by the application of a magnetic field

Definitions

  • This invention concerns information display devices of the kind in which a "writing" head carrying a set of actuators such as electromagnets is moved relative to a stationary matrix of correspondingly actuatable display elements, such as magnetically actuatable elements, so as to alter the appearance of selected elements, as disclosed, for example, in Salam U.S. Patent No. 3,562,938.
  • U.S. Patent No. 3,562,938 discloses an information display apparatus including on opaque member with a matrix of transparent areas.
  • An individual shutter associated with each aperture is movable between two stable positions in which it respectively exposes and occults that aperture.
  • the shutter is moved by electrical means which applies directly to the shutter forces moving it from one to the other of the stable positions. These forces may be electrostatic or electromagnetic.
  • a high density of display elements for example 50-100 per square inch, and the invention facilitates the manufacture of large matrices with such high densities.
  • Another object of the invention is to provide accurate registration between the actuating electromagnets and the display elements.
  • the present invention provides a display device, comprising a matrix panel containing a plurality of display elements arranged in horizontal and vertical rows to define said matrix, each of said display elements having first and second contrasting states, actuating means operable to alter the state of said display elements, and drive means operable to displace said actuating means, characterised in that said actuating means comprises at least two actuating heads arranged adjacent one side of said panel for controlling groups of said display elements, respectively, said groups being arranged relative to each other in a first direction corresponding with one of said horizontal and vertical rows of said matrix, each of said heads being further operable to individually selectively control the state of each element of its corresponding said group; said drive means displacing said heads relative to said panel in a second direction normal to said first direction; in that there is provided resilient means for coupling said heads with said drive means, whereby said heads are displaced in unison by said drive means, said resilient coupling means affording relative displacement between said heads in said first direction; and in that there are provided at least two guide means connected with said
  • the arrangements described hereinafter provide improved means of registration between the actuating electromagnets of the writing head and the magnetically actuatable display elements, as well as improved timing of actuation of the electromagnets with reference to their actual positions in relation to the display elements.
  • the information display apparatus includes a base plate 2 that is formed from a suitable opaque synthetic plastics material, such as acetal or polyethylene, in which are integrally moulded a plurality of small cell chambers 4 each having a light-transmitting aperture 6, as shown in Figure 2.
  • a suitable opaque synthetic plastics material such as acetal or polyethylene
  • an electromagnetically actuatable shutter member 8 mounted for displacement between bistable light-transmitting and light-blocking positions relative to the aperture 6 of each cell chamber 4 is an electromagnetically actuatable shutter member 8.
  • a transparent or translucent sheet 10 secured to the rear face of the base plate 2 retains the shutter members in their respective cell chambers 4.
  • the cells are of relatively small size and are arranged in horizontal rows and vertical columns. Thus, light emitted from the light source L arranged to the rear of the matrix passes through those apertures 6 that are not obstructed by the associated shutter members 8, and consequently a visual array is presented on the front surface of the matrix base plate 2.
  • Electromagnetic head means 16 for selectively operating the shutter members between their light-transmitting and light-blocking positions are mounted for horizontal displacement by improved guide means. More particularly, in the embodiment of Figures 1-4, a pair of electromagnetic heads 16 are provided that are guided for horizontal linear displacement upon flat horizontal projections 18 that extend rearwardly from the rear surface of the matrix base plate unit 2 as shown in Figures 1-3. For slidably mounting the electromagnetic head means on the guide projections 18, the head means are provided with lateral extensions 16a of generally U-shaped cross section, thereby to receive the guide projections 18 as shown in Figure 3. Each electromagnetic head contains a plurality of electromagnets 22 each of which is disposed opposite the corresponding horizontal row of cells 4, the electromagnets being selectively energizable via conventional coil energizing circuits, as is known in the art.
  • a common drive operator bar 26 is provided, as shown in Figures 3 and 4.
  • the common drive bar 26 is resiliently connected with the electromagnet head bodies 16 via resilient connecting springs 28, thereby coupling them together and permitting a degree of movement between the drive bar 26 and the electromagnet heads 16, which heads are guided against vertical displacement by the horizontally arranged projections 18.
  • the connecting springs 28 are fastened to the drive bar 26 by screws 30, and at their other ends, the springs have projecting foot portions 28a that extend into corresponding slots 32 contained in the rear surface of the electromagnet heads 16. The springs 28 press the heads 16 lightly against the matrix panel 2.
  • the energizing cables 34 containing the conductors leading to the coil energizing circuits extend through corresponding openings 36 contained in the common drive bar 26.
  • the spaces 19 between the uniformly-spaced horizontal guide projections 18 constitute index marks for accurately determining the column positions being scanned by the electromagnet heads 16 along the guide means, and to this end the lateral extensions 16a of the head members include light sources 40 and light receivers 42 arranged on opposite sides of the rearwardly extending guide projections 18, whereby light pulses may be detected by the light receivers 42 for indexing the electromagnet heads 16 relative to the matrix 2.
  • each of heads 16 traverses a column of display elements 4 its light receiver 42 provides a timing signal for the head which is independent of the positions of the other heads.
  • This timing signal is used to control the timing of energisation of the electromagnets on the head.
  • drive bar 26 is slightly skewed relative to the columns of the matrix causing the heads to be out of line with each other the skew will not affect the correct timing of energisation of the coils in the different heads.
  • Projections 18 are made thin to enable the distance between the row immediately above them and that immediately below them to be substantially the same as the distance between adjacent rows elsewhere. They are arranged so that they protrude from the rear surface of base 2 by a distance that is less than the distance from the centre of a cell to that of the one above it and so that the gaps between them are in line with the columns of apertures 6 in the cells (see Figure 2), so as to maintain substantially uniform illumination of the apertures.
  • the back illumination L can be by means of elongate fluorescent lamps or tungsten bulbs.
  • the guide means for each head 116 comprises a tongue and groove connection, the tongues being defined by lateral extensions 116a attached to head 116 that are slidably received in a corresponding groove 118 contained in the rear surface of the opaque base plate 102.
  • the rear surface of the matrix base plate 102 is provided with a metallized strip 140 that contains uniformly spaced openings 142 that define the index marks.
  • the metallized areas on opposite sides of the gaps 142 are sensed by a metal detector sensing element 144 that is carried by the indexing head 116.
  • a support sheet 250 is provided for removably supporting a plurality of modular matrix units 202 which may be formed by injection moulding.
  • the relatively thin support sheet 250 contains apertures 252 for receiving horizontal rearwardly extending projections 218 extending from matrix units 202, thereby affording a plug-in connection by means of which a plurality of the matrix units 202 may be mounted in co-planar fashion upon the front face of the support sheet 250.
  • the length of the guide projections 218 is greater than the thickness of the support sheet 250, so that the projections extend completely through and terminate at their rearward ends beyond the apertures 252 in the support sheet, whereupon the free rear extremities of the projections define the guide means upon which the channel portions 216a of the electromagnet heads 216 are guided.
  • the sheet 250 may be formed of a transparent material (for example, a synthetic plastic transparent sheet), or may be formed as an opaque material provided with transparent areas 254 directly opposite the respective cells 204, whereby light from the light source L will pass through the transparent zones 254 and through those cells in which the shutter elements are in the light-transmitting positions.
  • the matrix units can be adapted to plug into support sheet 250 from the rear instead of from the front.
  • Figure 8 shows a matrix unit 202a adapted for this purpose. It has protrusions 220, opposite protrusions 218, that plug into apertures 252. The moving head rides on protrusion 218, as in Figure 6.
  • the matrix units 302 are removably connected with the rear surface of a transparent support sheet 350 by means of opaque guide rails 318 having a T-shaped cross-section forming grooves 319 into which matrix units 302 are slid from the side.
  • the guide rails 318 also provide surfaces upon which the electromagnet heads 316 are slidably mounted. More particularly, the matrix units 302 are mounted between the electromagnet heads 316 and the support sheet 350, which matrix units are accurately supported in place by means of shallow or removable pins 353 that are adapted to extend forwardly from the matrix units 302 through locating slots 352 contained in the support sheet 350.
  • the rear surfaces of the matrix devices 302 are provided with a plurality of equally spaced metallized portions 340 that define indexing marks that are sensed by a metal detector sensor 344 carried by each electromagnet head 316.
  • the matrix units are provided at their lateral edges with overlapping flange portions 302a.
  • a plurality of interchangeable matrix units may be removably connected with fixed support sheets for operation by the electromagnet heads to selectively place the shutter elements of the various cells in either the light-transmitting or light-blocking positions as desired.
  • the matrix units can be permanently bonded to the support sheet.
  • each matrix unit has two or more guide rows, just as the matrix unit in Figure 1 can have multiple guide rows.
  • the moving heads are sprung towards the matrix, as in the case of Figure 1.
  • they can be sprung or alternatively guide means 316a attached to heads 316 and rail 318 can be modified to provide a sliding arrangement, such as that already described with reference to Figure 5, which prevents relative motion between head 316 and matrix unit 302 in the direction normal to the plane of the matrix.
  • each locating slot 352 is a long vertical slot and is arranged to receive a pin 353, the vertical position of the slots 352 relative to the rails 318 is not very critical. In this way manufacturing tolerances can be relaxed and consequently manufacturing costs reduced.
  • head section 316 it is not necessary for head section 316 to be guided along a single central rail; it can have guide means top and bottom and run between a pair of guide rails.
  • Electromagnetic actuator heads are mechanically coupled together by resilient couplings so as to move in unison and actuate selected display elements.
  • the couplings are arranged to allow limited movement in a direction normal to that of the travel of the actuator heads across the matrix panel, thereby allowing for slight misalignment in the panel.
  • Each actuator head contains a number of individual electromagnets and is responsive to a respective indexing track which provides signals indicative of actual position of the individual head so as to improve the timing of the actuation of the electromagnets in the head.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
  • Devices For Indicating Variable Information By Combining Individual Elements (AREA)

Claims (16)

1. Appareil d'affichage comprenant un panneau matriciel (2, 102, 202, 302) contenant des éléments d'affichage (4, 104, 204, 304) agencés en rangées horizontales et verticales pour définir une matrice, chacun des éléments d'affichage présentant un premier état et un second état qui sont contrastants, un dispositif d'actionnement (16, 116, 216) pour changer l'état des éléments d'affichage, ainsi qu'un moyen d'entraînement (26) pour déplacer le dispositif d'actionnement, caractérisé en ce que le dispositif d'actionnement comporte au moins deux têtes d'actionnement (16, 116, 216, 316) placées à proximité d'un côté du panneau pour commander des groupes correspondants d'éléments d'affichage, les groupes étant placés l'un par rapport à l'autre suivant une première direction correspondant à l'une des rangées horizontales et verticales de la matrice, chacune des têtes permettant en outre la commande individuelle sélective de l'état de chaque élément de son groupe correspondant; le moyen d'entraînement (26) déplaçant les têtes par rapport au panneau dans une seconde direction normale à la première direction; en ce que des moyens élastiques (28) sont prévus pour accoupler les têtes au moyen d'entraînement, de sorte que les têtes sont déplacées conjointement par le moyen d'entraînement; les moyens élastiques d'accouplement permettant un déplacement relatif des têtes suivant ladite première direction; et en ce que l'appareil comporte au moins deux dispositifs de guidage (18, 118, 218, 318) qui sont fixés au panneau matriciel en étant espacés l'un de l'autre et qui s'étendent suivant ladite seconde direction, chacun des dispositifs de guidage permettant de guider indépendamment une tête correspondante, pendant le mouvement des têtes suivant ladite seconde direction, de manière que les dispositifs de guidage maintiennent les têtes en alignement les groupes respectifs d'éléments d'affichage agencés suivant ladite première direction pendant le mouvement des têtes suivant cette seconde direction.
2. Appareil selon la revendication 1, dans lequel l'un au moins des dispositifs de guidage (18,118, 218, 318) est placé entre une paire de rangées de la matrice et possède une épaisseur, à sa liaison avec le panneau matriciel (2, 102, 202, 302), qui est plus petite que la distance entre les axes de deux rangées consécutives quelconques de la matrice, de sorte que la matrice peut être rendue sensiblement uniforme.
3. Appareil selon la revendication 1 ou 2, dans lequel le panneau matriciel (2, 102, 202, 302) comporte une rangée de repères d'indexage (142, 340), détectés par un détecteur (40, 42, 144, 340, 342, 344) coordonné à un dispositif d'actionnement.
4. Appareil selon la revendication 3, dans lequel le panneau (2, 102, 202, 302) comporte plusieurs rangées de repères d'indexage (142, 340), qui sont explorées chacune par un détecteur correspondant (40, 42, 144, 340, 342, 344).
5. Appareil selon l'une quelconque des revendications prédédentes, dans lequel un dispositif d'actionnement (16, 116, 216, 316) comporte un élément de support (16a, 116a, 216a, 316a) qui glisse sur le dispositif de guidage (18, 118, 218, 318).
6. Appareil selon la revendication 5, dans lequel le despositif de guidage (18, 118, 218, 318) présente des fentes (142, 340, 19) constituant des repères d'indexage et dans lequel un détecteur (40,42,144,340,342,344) détectant ces fentes est couplé à un dispositif d'actionnement.
7. Appareil selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel le dispositif de guidage (18, 118, 218, 318) est placé entre une paire de rangées.
8. Appareil selon la revendication 7, dans lequel la distance entre la paire de rangées situées de part et d'autre du dispositif de guidage (18, 118, 218, 318) est sensiblement égale à la distance entre les autres paires de rangées.
9. Appareil selon l'une quelconque des revendications précédentes, dans lequel le panneau matriciel (2, 102, 202, 302) comporte un ensemble d'unités matricielles individuelles (202, 302) qui présentent chacune une disposition d'éléments d'affichage.
10. Appareil selon la revendication 9, dans lequel le panneau (2, 102, 202 302) comporte une disposition bidimensionnelle d'unités matricielles (202, 302).
11. Appareil selon la revendication 9 ou 10, dans lequel les unités matricielles (202, 302) comportent des éléments de guidage (218, 318) faisant partie du dispositif de guidage.
12. Appareil selon l'une quelconque des revendications 9 à 11, dans lequel une unité matricielle (202, 302) comporte une rangée de repères d'indexage (340, 19).
13. Appareil selon l'une quelconque des revendications 9 à 12, comprenant une feuille de support commune (250, 350) et des moyens pour fixer plusieurs unités matricielles (202, 302) à cette feuille.
14. Appareil selon la revendication 13, dans lequel les moyens de fixation comprennent des éléments semblables à des chevilles (220, 18) qui s'ajustent à travers la feuille de support.
15. Appareil selon la revendication 14, dans lequel des parties desdits éléments en forme de chevilles (218) constituent un dispositif de guidage (218).
16. Appareil selon la revendication 13, dans lequel au moins les parties de la feuille (250, 350) situées en regard des éléments d'affichage (4, 104, 204, 304) sont transparentes.
EP19810305374 1980-11-17 1981-11-12 Dispositif de présentation d'information Expired EP0053880B1 (fr)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB8036782 1980-11-17
GB8036782 1980-11-17

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP0053880A1 EP0053880A1 (fr) 1982-06-16
EP0053880B1 true EP0053880B1 (fr) 1986-04-09

Family

ID=10517349

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EP19810305374 Expired EP0053880B1 (fr) 1980-11-17 1981-11-12 Dispositif de présentation d'information

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EP (1) EP0053880B1 (fr)
JP (1) JPS57150878A (fr)
DE (1) DE3174345D1 (fr)

Families Citing this family (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3148276A1 (de) * 1981-12-05 1983-06-16 Friedrich Merk-Telefonbau GmbH, 8000 München Anzeigeeinrichtung
CN111710258B (zh) * 2020-07-15 2022-06-14 杭州艾普莱标识制造有限公司 一种可循环使用的标识牌

Family Cites Families (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB1194597A (en) * 1967-09-27 1970-06-10 Universal Telewriters Pty Ltd Improvements in or relating to Matrix Display Devices
US3624647A (en) * 1969-12-04 1971-11-30 Ferranti Packard Ltd Translatable display sign
US4163332B2 (en) * 1976-10-05 1995-09-05 Unisplay Sa Matrix display device
US4215338A (en) * 1979-02-12 1980-07-29 Guenther Selig Module for presenting alpha numeric information

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
JPS57150878A (en) 1982-09-17
DE3174345D1 (en) 1986-05-15
EP0053880A1 (fr) 1982-06-16

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