FR2589272A1 - Dynamic display apparatus with programmable control - Google Patents

Abstract

This apparatus is constituted by a modular assembly of several freestanding elements 1 each comprising a first mechanical device 4, 6 for horizontal movement of a support strip 8 adapted to carry images or parts of images, a second mechanical device 10, 12, 17 for vertical winding and unwinding of a strip 13 for concealing the said images, means for driving these devices, and an electronic control box 19, in combination with a programmable electronic unit 29 for overall control of the said boxes 19. The control box 19 is linked to sensors 21a, b, c adapted to read a coding carried by the support strip 8, to sensors 22a, 22b sensitive to the position of the concealing strip 13 and to sensors 23 sensitive to the rotation of the first mechanical device 4, 6. The overall control unit 29 is a computer.

Description

The present invention relates to an apparatus

automatic display.

  We already know public display devices

  citaire comprising means making it possible to scroll vertically a strip carrying advertising messages, wound on horizontal cylinders arranged in a

glazed casing.

  These devices allow you to display

  static age, in the sense that each passage is exposed during

  for a given duration, then is replaced by the following message: these devices therefore only allow exposure

successive fixed messages.

  The invention aims to provide an apparatus

  display of dynamic advertising messages,

  that is to say views presenting subjects in successive different positions and scrolling one after the other in the horizontal direction from left to right or vice versa, thus making it possible to provide an observer with the vision of an animated subject, this apparatus being in additionally provided with a

  automatic mechanism with programmable control.

  The dynamic display device according to the

  vention is of the type comprising a glazed casing containing rollers carrying a scrolling band facing the glass and is characterized in that it is constituted by a

  modular set of several independent elements including

  each providing a mechanical horizontal scrolling device

  tal of a support strip adapted to carry images or parts of images, drive means for this

  device and an electronic control unit, in

  pairing with a programmable electronic control unit

  general control of said boxes, connected to said assembly.

  The apparatus further comprises a second arrangement

  mechanical winding and vertical unwinding

  a band of occultation of the images and means of

  dragging of this device connected to the control box in combination with the programmable electronic control unit

  of general control of the boxes.

  According to another characteristic of the invention,

  the first mechanical device comprises two green rollers

  ticals on which said support strip is wound, two

  vertical cylinders for guiding said strip and a plate

  that support for it, the second mechanical device

  comprising a horizontal roller extending between the cy-

  guide rails and biased in rotation in one direction by a spring and means for driving said roller

  in the opposite direction against the action of the said jurisdiction, the agency

  cement being such that said blocking tape wound on the roller of the second device is unwound by said

  means between said support strip and the window of the casing.

  Advantageously, the means of driving

  provided in each element include an electric motor

  for each roller of the first mechanical device, a third electric motor for the second device, a power source for these motors, and a housing

  electronic control of these.

  According to a preferred embodiment, said electronic control unit is connected to first sensors sensitive to marks carried by the support strip, to second sensors sensitive to the rotation of the rollers of the first mechanical device, and to switches

  limit switches sensitive to the position of the blind strip

tation.

  Preferably, the electronic control unit

  Mande includes a power semiconductor circuit,

  a loop circuit for controlling the drive motors

  rolls of the first mechanical device and a

  microprocessor having a ROM memory and a RAM memory.

  Thus, the servo has the originality of having an electronic system which ensures the tension of the message tape during its movements, this tape tension

being itself programmable.

  According to yet another characteristic, said programmable central electronic control unit

  of said housings, combined with said assembly is an or-

  dinator. r Preferably also, it is provided in combination

  naison with the set a boot of manual control.

  Other features and advantages of the

  vention will appear during this description which follows

  vre made with reference to the accompanying drawing given solely by way of example and in which the single figure is an exploded perspective view with partial cutaway of a

  element of a display device according to the invention.

  Referring to the drawing, the reference 1 desi-

  as a whole an element intended to form in combination

  born with a certain number n of identical elements, a

  dynamic display assembly according to the invention.

  Element 1 comprises an opening casing 2 of generally parallelepipedal shape, for example of sheet metal or

  made of a synthetic material, supported by a framework

  both uprights, beams and crosspieces 3 and one of the large faces of which is constituted by a window, not

  represented for the sake of clarity of the drawing.

  A first mechanical device, mounted in the casing 2, comprises two parallel rollers 4 mounted on vertical axes journalled in bearings 5 carried for example in elements of the framework 3 to

  near the ends of the housing 2.

  Each roller 4 is rotated by means of an electric motor 6, for example by means of a

toothed belt 7.

  A support strip 8 of a flexible material suitable for

  priére is fixed by its ends on the rollers 4 and is wound on these so as to extend parallel

  to the glazed wall of the casing 2 and it is held in place

  immediate glazing of this window by two guiding cylinders

  dage 9 mounted mad on vertical axes in the housing.

  Preferably, a vertical support plate P is provided behind the support strip 8, extending

  vertically and carried by the frame.

  A second mechanical device, also mounted

  in the casing 2, comprises a hollow roller 10 mounted rotatably

  tif on a horizontal axis 11 fixed in the frame along

  from one of the front edges of the housing, according to the example shown

  felt, along its lower edge.

  A helical spring 12 disposed around the axis 11 is fixed by one end to the roller 10 and by its

  other end on the fixed axis 11.

  A flexible strip 13 of a suitable material is wound on the roller 10 on which it is fixed

  by one of its ends, while its end op-

  installed is fixed along a rigid rod 14 at the ends

  moths from which two flexible cords are attached 15.

  The cords 15 are guided by rollers 16 so as to extend to a winding device

  17 driven by a motor 18 and arranged at the upper part

  of the frame 3 in the casing 2, the arrangement being such that when the motor 18 is actuated, the cords 15 pull the rod 14 and thus unwind the flexible strip 13 against the elastic resistance of the spring 12 in extending it vertically upward between the glass

  of the casing and the support strip 8 in order to hide the latter.

  An electronic control unit 19 for controlling the

  teurs 6, 18 of the two mechanical devices described above is mounted in the casing 2 and is connected to these motors by conductors, not shown, in order to control these

devices.

  The electronic unit 19 is also connected

  sensors as well as a supply voltage source

  tation of motors 6 and 18, consisting of a battery

supported by the framework 3.

  The control unit 19 includes a device

  electronic including a power circuit, a micro-

  processor, random access memory (RAM) and read only memory

  (ROM) and a loop circuit for controlling the voltage

  support band 8 between the rollers 4, in a

known lesson.

  To control motors 6 and 18 from both

  mechanical devices, the electronic device of the gearbox

  tier 19 receives information provided to it by

  the various sensors to which it is connected and which

  take: a) three photocells 21a, 21b

  and 21c mounted in the middle of the support plate P and desti-

  born to read marks or coding marks (not shown

  tés) affixed to the back of the support strip 8 at these cells; b) two limit switches 22a, 22b actuated by the rod 14 when the latter is in the high or low position, respectively;

  c) two photoelectric detectors 23 available

  seated in front of the pulley teeth 24 integral with the rollers

  4 and with which the toothed belts mesh 7.

  The cells 21a, 21b and 21c provide the housing 19 with information on the scrolling and the position

of the support strip 8.

  The switches 22a, 22b inform the shoemaker

  19 of the position of the concealment strip 13, and the

  tectors 23 provide him with information on rota-

rollers 4.

  The power circuit of the electronic device

  that the boot 19 is intended for controlling the motors

  6, 18 which preferably include reducers (not shown

presented).

  RAM and ROM memories allow programming

  sea and manage the actuation of the various devices,

  and the microprocessor coordinates the operation of the

  seems according to the instructions received from a central

  general command, as will be explained later.

  The electronic device circuits of the gearbox

  tier 19 ensuring these different functions are conventional and do not form part of the invention, consequently they

  will not be described here in detail.

  Each element finally comprises lateral means

  channels -25, 26 for connection with adjacent elements and with the general control unit, means 27 of internal ventilation, and means 28 of handling constituted, for example, by housings suitable for

  the fork of a forklift.

  The general control center of the assembly,

  shown schematically at 29, consists of pre-

  reference by a computer of a known type, not making

no longer part of the invention.

  We understand that thanks to its arrangement described

  above each element 1 is autonomous and can therefore

  can be used both alone and in combination with

n other identical elements.

  Images or parts of images, or advertising messages, are formed on flexible sheets or panels (not shown) removably attached to

  the support strip 8 by means of pieces 30 of self-adhesive tape

  edge, Velcro type, fixed on these and on these sheets

  them, allowing easy assembly and replacement

and fast on the backing strip.

  The operation of an element as described

  above is provided, in autonomous mode, by the electrical box

  control unit 19 and by the battery 20. The program in the RAM memory controls the operating sequence, for example the winding of the concealment strip 13 to discover the messages carried by the support strip 8, then

  scrolling it one way or the other. -

  Cells 21a, 21b, 21c read the codes

  affixed to the back of the backing strip and provide the information

  corresponding to the housing 19 which reacts in function

  tion of these, and the loop circuit reacts in function

  tion of the information provided by the detectors 23 which control the immobility of the rollers when stopped. The power circuit controls the gearboxes of the motors

  6, 18. At the end of the tape sequence

  support, the occultation strip 13 can be raised; linen-

  limit switch 22a causing the device to stop

  positive winding and unwinding 17. It will be noted that the strip 13 can also carry an advertising message itself, fixed on it removably by means of Velcro. The cells 23 detect the position of the teeth of the pulleys 24 and thus provide the loop circuit

  the information necessary to ensure the desired tension

read from the backing strip.

  The device consists of a set of several elements 1 connected in series and to the central

  general control electronics 29. The computer

  killing the latter is used for storing a pro-

  gram of display sequences to control the various elements, detect operating anomalies and a

  generally "manage" the actuation of the whole.

  If desired, or if necessary, the center

  the general control 29 can be replaced by a box

manual control tier.

  In either case the set described per-

  puts extreme flexibility of operation with a very wide variety of combinations of sequences, scrolling of messages, simultaneously or successively, at constant or variable speed, from right to left or vice versa and intercalate at will the messages contained in the band

  occultation. It is thus possible to carry out

  animated advertising wise men, showing for example a car moving between successive elements by scrolling images showing different positions, characters or animals or any other subject, thus giving a new dimension to advertising display due to the infinite diversity of possible combinations of codings affixed to the back of the carrier tape with

25892T2

  different programming of the random access memories of the control boxes of each element, which can also be

  controlled at will by the computer of the central

  general command and the ROM memories of each element.

  The blackout strip 13 allows the display

  of a message hiding the rewinding of the support strip

  port 8. As a variant, this strip 13 may also have a length greater than the height of the element and carry different messages on its front face and on its back a coding read by additional sensors, thus making it possible to control its speed of unwinding and to immobilize it

  in different positions to expose the different messa-

  ges. The concealment strip 13 also makes it possible to mask at least one device 1 independently of the other devices, for example, to mask part or all of a message. We can thus give the impression

  that access to the message is random.

  All orders can be made

  killed in automatic or manual mode or mixed mode.

  The support strip 8 could be constituted by

  posters fixed one after the other.

  Of course, the invention is not limited

  to the embodiment which has just been described and represented

  smelled. Many modifications can be made

  detail without departing from the scope of the invention.

25892? 2

Claims (8)

R E V E N D I C A T I O N S   1 - Dynamic display device of the com- type   taking up a glazed casing and means making it possible to scroll a flexible strip carrying advertising messages wound on rollers, characterized in that it is cons-   formed by a modular set of several self-contained elements   nomes (1) each comprising a mechanical device (4, 6) for horizontal movement of a support strip (8) adapted to removably carry images or parts   of images, drive means (6.18) for this arrangement   tif and a control boot (19), in combination with a programmable electronic control unit (29)   general of said bootmakers (19), connected to said assembly.   2 - dynamic display device according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a second   mechanical device (10, 12, 17) for winding and unwinding   vertical rolling of a band (13) for obscuring the ima-   ges and means of driving this connected device   to the control boot (19) in combination with the central   the programmable general control electronics (29) for said bootmakers (19).   3 - Dynamic display device, according to   claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the first   mechanical device comprises two vertical rollers (4) on which said support strip (8) is wound, two vertical cylinders (9) for guiding said strip and a   support plate (P) for this, the second device   canique comprising a horizontal roller (10) extending between the guide cylinders (9) and biased in rotation in one direction by a spring (12), and means (17) for driving said roller in opposite direction against of the action of said spring, the arrangement being such that said concealment strip wound on the roller (10) of the second device is unwound by said means between said   support strip (8) and the casing glass.   4 - dynamic display device according to claim 3, characterized in that said drive means provided in each element comprise an electric motor (6) for each roller (4) of the first mechanical device, a third electric motor (18 )   for the second mechanical device, a power source   tation (20) for these motors, these being connected to said   electronic control unit (19).    - dynamic display device, according to claim 1, characterized in that said housing   electronic control (19) is connected to first caps   teurs (21a, 21b, 21c) sensitive to benchmarks carried by   the support strip (8), to second sensors (23) sensitive   the rotation of the rollers (4) of the first device   mechanical, and limit switches (22a, 22b)   sensitive to the position of the concealment strip (13) o 6 - Dynamic display device, according to   claim 5, characterized in that the electrical housing   control circuit (19) comprises a power semiconductor circuit, a loop control circuit for   motors (6) for driving the rollers (4) of the first device   positive mechanical, and a microprocessor having a memory (ROM) and memory (RAM).   7 - dynamic display device according to claim 1, characterized in that said central   programmable electronic (29) for general control of   said boxes (19), combined with said assembly, is a computer   nator. 8 - dynamic display device according to claim 1, characterized in that said central   control unit is a manual control unit.   9 - Dynamic display device, according to   any one of the preceding claims, character-   risé in that the advertising messages consist of sheets or panels removably attached to the support strip (8) by means of self-adhesive tapes (30). - Dynamic display device, according to claim 5, characterized in that said sensors (21a, 2lb, 21c) are mounted in the middle of the support plate (P), and in that the support strip (8) bears coding marks or marks arranged so as to be read by them- so-called sensors.   11- Dynamic display device, according to   any one of the preceding claims, character-   laughed at in that each element includes means of con-   fitting (25). to cooperate with complementary means   elements of an adjacent element, and connection means   (26) with said control unit (29).   12 - dynamic display device according to claim 1, characterized in that each element comprises means (27) of internal ventilation and handling means (28).