GB2197520A

GB2197520A - Jukebox display unit

Info

Publication number: GB2197520A
Application number: GB08723996A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Bernhard O Williams; Arthur R Harth
Original assignee: Seeburg Corp
Current assignee: Seeburg Corp
Priority date: 1986-10-31
Filing date: 1987-10-13
Publication date: 1988-05-18
Also published as: DE3736370A1; GB8723996D0

Description

1 1 GB2197520A 1

SPECIFICATION

Jukebox display unit Description Technical Field The present invention relates to jukeboxes, and more particularly to display units for the musical selections available for playing on a 10 jukebox.

Background Art

Jukeboxes are, of course, well known in the art. Commonly these have involved singles (re cords having single songs on each side) which 80 can be played by a user entering an appropri ate code in the jukebox. These jukeboses have commonly listed the song titles and art ists' names only, and a user browses through that list to find a song he wishes to hear, and 85 to find the code which will play that song.

This type of jukebox display can, however, "lose business" since potential users fre quently will not recognize a song which they like by its title alone, and space constraints limit the amount of information which has been provided.

The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.

Summary of the Invention

In one aspect of the present invention, a CD jukebox display unit is disclosed for displaying the program information on CD covers. The unit includes a housing adapted for mounting to a jukebox and having a transparent front portion. A plurality of frames adapted to sup port a compact disc cover are supported within the housing for pivoting about spaced 105 and substantially parallel axes slanted rear wardly in the rear of the housing. A horizontal track is provided adjacent the housing front portion and supports a slide member which carries a knob biased forwardly therefrom. A 110 finger is secured to the knob and projects rearwardly therefrom so that when the knob is pushed rearwardly, the finger engages a se lected one of the tabs provided on each of the support frames.

The present invention allows a jukebox user to browse through numerous CD covers in or der to determine what music is available for hearing and to determine how to request a particular selection. The present invention is extremely easy to use, which is a particularly important feature inasmuch as many individu als will use the jukebox only a few times (since these jukeboxes are commonly not owned by individuals in their homes). Further, 125 while providing simple use, the structure al lows for a large number of disc covers to be displayed in a compact area, still another im portant feature with jukeboxes inasmuch as only limited space can typically be provided for such displays.

With the recent advent of the compact disc technology, high quality sound can now be provided through a jukebox. However, the compact discs which are available for use in such jukeboxes are usually complete albums (that is, each disc will commonly have eight to ten songs by a single artist). With the present invention, each compact disc cover can be fully displayed to show information on all of the artists' songs on a particular disc. Additionally, the present invention provides an indexing feature so that a user can initially identify many covers without being forced to blindly flip through them all. Further, the eyecatching graphics used to sell the compact disc is also therefore used to attract the attention (and business) of a potential jukebox user. Still further, the complete information provided by the covers serves to increase a potential user's recognition of a particular song title, and thereby enhance the chance of each song being selected.

Brief Description of the Drawingsz

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a compact disc jukebox having two display units; Figure 2 is a partial front view of the display unit; Figure 3 is a top view of the display unit illustrating its operation; and Figure 4 is a partial cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment

A compact disc jukebox 10 having a design as shown in U.S. Patent Application No. D-918,805, filed October 14, 1986 and entitied "Jukebox Design", is shown in Fig. 1. The jukebox 10 includes a control panel 12, speakers 14, and display units 16, these display units 16 being the subject of this application.

The display units 16 are mounted within the jukebox and include a transparent front face 18 (made of, e.g., suitable glass or plastic). This enables a jukebox user to view the various CD covers 20 mounted therein to determine what music is available for hearing and to determine how to request a particular selection.

Each display unit 16 is preferably mounted in its own housing 22, which can be mounted in the jukebox 10 as a unit. The top of the housing 22 may include a translucent portion (not shown) through which lighting, may be provided to appropriately light the unit.

Each display unit 16 includes a plurality of C-shaped frames 26, each having channels 28 defined in the upper and lower legs 30, 32 to support two CD covers 20 back-to-back therein. A rigid backing plate 36 (see Fig. 4) is also preferably provided in each frame 26 to provide adequate support to prevent the covers 20 (which are typically single page il- 2 GB2197520A 2 lustrations with program information thereon) from sagging. Still other frames suitable for supporting CID covers 20 (using, for example, tabs instead of channels) could also be used within the scope of the present invention.

Numbers 38 or other suitable identifying data are preferably provided on the frames 26 to allow a user to interface the information on the covers 20 with the jukebox control panel 12.

The frames 26 are suitably supported for pivoting about axes defined by, e.g., shafts 40 mounted in the rear of the housing 22. These shafts 40 are preferably uniformly spaced and substantially parallel for proper functioning of the display unit 16.

Preferably, the shafts 40 should be slanted rearwardly (with the shaft top rearward from the shaft bottom) so that weight of the frame 26 will bias the frame 26 toward pivoting to one side or the other. This also allows the frame 26 to be tipped so that the covers 20 face up as well as forward in the jukebox 10, and thus are more easily seen (since most users' eyes are higher than the unit 16). A slant for the shaft 40 of around 30' has been found to work well, although other angles might be chosen depending on the particular jukebox involved.

The display unit 16 accordingly supports the 95 CID covers somewhat like a large book, and two covers 20 can be displayed at any one time by simplying flipping "pages".

Each frame 26 has a downwardly depending tab 44. An appropriately positioned rod 48 100 (see Fig. 3) is preferably mounted in the hous ing 22 so as to engage the tabs 44 to pre vent the covers 20 and frames 26 from bang ing into each other when the "pages" are flipped.

Inasmuch as the transparent front face 18 is provided to prevent users from touching the covers 20 (both preserving the covers 20 and preventing theft), a structure enabling a user to pivot the frames 26 is provided as hereinafter described.

A track 50 is suitably supported adjacent the front of the housing 20. The track 50 is essentially a longitudinal bar with a rectangular cross-section. A slide member 52 (consisting essentially of a U-shaped bracket 54) rides on the track 50. The downwardly depending legs 56 of the bracket 54 have matched openings therein through which is slidably received one leg 58 of an L-shaped bracket 60.

A end member 64 is suitably secured to the end of the one leg 58 of the Lshaped bracket 60. The longer leg 66 of the end member 64 is connected by a tension spring 68 of a flange 70 on the slide member 52 so that the L-shaped bracket 60 is biased forward (to the right in Fig. 4). The shorter leg 72 of the end member 64 acts as a stop to limit forward travel of the L-shaped bracket 60.

The other leg 76 of the L-shaped bracket is substantially upright and has a handle or knob 78 thereon, the knob 78 Projecting forwardly to give a user access. The upright leg 76 of the L- shaped bracket 60 supports a rearwardly projecting finger 80 which will en- gage the frame tabs 44 (which are effectively spaced by the spacing of their supporting shafts 40) when moved rearwardly and slid sideways.

Accordingly, a jukebox user can browse through the numerous covers 20 by sliding the knob 78 to the tab 44 associated with a selected frame 26, push the knob 78 in, and then slide the knob 78 to turn the frame 26 (the finger 80 engaging the tab 44 when the knob 78 is pushed in).

Further, inasmuch as the program information (i.e. artist and titles) on the CID covers 20 is generally printed down one side margin (in- dicated generally by reference no. 82 in Figs. 2 and 4), the configuration of the unit 10 provides an indexing feature allowing a user to initially identify many covers 20 other than the two open "pages". That is, as best seen in Fig. 2, the covers 20 on the left identified by the odd identifying numbers less than "45" have their program information exposed so that a user could flip immediately to, e.g., identifying numbers -31" and -32" knowing that -31 " is a Tina Turner CID.

It will be noted, particularly from Fig. 3, that in the mid-point of turning pages, the finger 80 will remain engaged with the tab 44 (due to the forward portion of motion of the tab 44 during pivoting) so that a "page" will not slip free even if the user should slip and not keep the knob 78 pushed in.

Accordingly, this structure enables a large number of disc covers to be displayed in a compact area, where operation of the display is extremely simple for the user.

Other aspects, objects and advantages of the invention can be obtained from a study of the drawings, the specification and the ap- pended claims.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A display unit for the selections available for hearing on a

jukebox, comprising: 115 a housing adapted for mounting to a jukebox and including a transparent front face; a plurality of frames adapted to interchangeably support graphic displays of available selections, each frame having a tab thereon; 120 spaced and substantially parallel shafts slanted rearwardly in the housing, each shaft pivotably supporting one of the frames; a track extending substantially horizontal and slidably supporting a slide member; and 125 a knob biased forwardly from the slide member and carrying a rearwardly projecting finger adapted to engage a selected tab when said knob is pushed rearwardly against the forward bias. 130
2. The display unit of claim 1, wherein

3 GB2197520A 3 said shafts are slanted rearwardly at substantially a 30' angle.
3. The display unit of claim 1, further comprising a rod mounted in the housing and adapted to engage the frame tabs to limit their pivoting.
4. The display unit of claim 1, further comprising a translucent portion in the housing adapted to diffuse lighting into the unit.
5. The display unit of claim 1, wherein the frames defines upper and lower channels for supporting graphic displays along their edges with substantially all of the graphic displays exposed.
6. A CD jukebox display unit for the program information on compact disc covers, comprising:

a housing with a transparent front portion, said housing adapted for mounting to a CD jukebox; a plurality of support frames, each frame having a tab projecting therefrom and adapted to support a compact disc cover with the program information thereon exposed; means for supporting said frames within said housing for pivoting about spaced and substantially parallel axes slated rearwardly at the rear of the housing; and means for allowing manual pivoting of said frames, including a track extending substantially horizontal adjacent the housing front portion, a slide member movable along said track, a control knob carried by said slide member and biased forwardly therefrom, and a finger secured to the knob to project rearwardly therefrom, said finger engaging a selected tab when said knob is pushed rearwardly against the forward bias.
7. The display unit of claim 6, wherein the slide member slidably receives a bracket leg secured to the knob, and further comprising means for biasing said bracket leg forwardly relative to said slide member.
8. The display unit of claim 7, wherein the track is substantially rectangular in cross-section and the slide member is a U-shaped bracket thereon.
9. The display unit of claim 6, wherein said axes are slanted rearwardly at substantially a 30' angle.
10. The display unit of claim 6, further comprising a rod mounted in the housing and adapted to engage the frame tabs to limit their pivoting.
11. The display unit of claim 10, wherein the pivot limit prevents the frames from covering selected side margins of adjacent frames,
12. The display unit of claim 6, further comprising a translucent portion in the housing adapted to diffuse lighting into the unit.
13. The display unit of claim 6, wherein the frames defines upper and lower channels for supporting graphic displays along their edges with substantially all of the graphic displays exposed.

Published 1988 atThe Patent Office, State House, 66/71 High Holborn, London WC1R 4TP. Further copies may be obtained from The Patent Office, Sales Branch, St Mary Cray, Orpington, Kent BR5 3RD. Printed by Burgess & Son (Abingdon) Ltd. Con. 1/87.