GB2415080A

GB2415080A - Advertising device for sanitary appliance, particularly urinal.

Info

Publication number: GB2415080A
Application number: GB0412848A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Scott Winstanley; Lee Robinson
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2004-06-09
Filing date: 2004-06-09
Publication date: 2005-12-14
Also published as: GB0412848D0

Abstract

An advertising device for a sanitary appliance, in particular for a urinal, comprises a display device 21 and a sensor which outputs a signal representative of the presence or absence of urine. Advertising material is displayed when the sensor detects urine. The sensor and display device may be integrated into the structure of the appliance or into an insert that is positioned within it. The sensor may be adapted to sense a stream of urine at a particular location within the receptacle 141, 142, 143 and that particular location is preferably a location other that the location of the display device. A method of advertising using the device is also disclosed.

Description

24 1 5080 Advertising Medium

Background

To be effective, advertising media must satisfy a number of conditions. Principal amongst these are that the medium must be capable of' reaching the target market, and that the mes- sage it conveys should be interesting, eye-catching and amusing. For those reasons and others, television has become the preferred advertising medium in developed countries.

One shortcoming of television advertising is that, generally speaking, it requires the target to be at home. Whilst many people do spend a lot of time at home watching television, so television is a very effective way of reaching the target market, the fact that they are at home means that they may not have the opportunity immediately to make a purchase. By the time they do have that opportunity, maybe a day or so later, the positive effects on them of the television advertisement may have worn off.

Point-of-salc advertising gets around this problem. By advertising at the point-of:sale, vendors are putting people in the position of being able to make an immediate purchasing decision. The shortcoming of this approach is that point-of-sale advertising will in general reach only those people who have already made the decision that they wish to buy a par .

ticular kind of product, or those people who make a habit of browsing through stores with . no clear intention of buying anything. A wider reach would be an advantage. .

.. Recently, advertising has begun to appear in toilet facilities, such as those in motorway service stations, usually taking the form of small posters attached to the wall above a bat . tory of gents' urinals. These posters tend to advertise condoms, prostate cancer clinics or . . . 25 other goods and services relevant in some way to the task in hand. In motorway service stations, one also sees advertisements for recovery services membership, car tracker de vices or other motoring goods and services. In some ways, these posters are effective, bc cause they are addressed to, arc positioned in the place most commonly frequented by, men. In other ways, they are less so: it is not necessarily a good idea to take a man's cyc off the ball. Indeed, studies have shown that if a man is encouraged to aim at a particular spot in a urinal, which is often done by means of a picture of a fly at the appropriate posi- tion, then he will splash less. Any device that makes him look elsewhere, will inevitably have the opposite effect, which has implications for hygiene and for the regularity with l which the toilet t'acilitics must be cleaned and hence the amount of money to be paid to contract cleaners.

Summary of the Invention

This invention improves existing toilet-facility-based advertising media and in so doing deals with the hygiene problem just discussed. Indeed, a toilet facility using the advertising medium of this invention may be more hygienic than one in which no advertising is pre- sent at all. One form of advertising medium according to this invention is an insert for use within a receptacle of a sanitary appliance, such as a gents' urinal. The insert includes a sensor that outputs a signal representative of the presence or absence of urine and a display device that displays advertising material, in response to a signal from the sensor represen- tative of the presence of urine. Because the whole of the insert, including both the sensor and the display device, is located within the receptacle of the sanitary appliance, for exam- ple within the bowl of a gents' urinal, there is no need to take one's eye off the ball. In deed, the interactivity of the insert means that one will be aiming for the sensor in the hope of activating the display.

. A second form of advertising material according to this invention is the sanitary appliance ë itself, such as a gents' urinal. The appliance includes a receptacle, a sensor that outputs a I..

signal representative of the presence or absence of urine within the receptacle and a display .

.... device within the receptacle that displays advertising material, in response to a signal from :. the sensor representative of the presence of urine. Here again, the display device is located within the receptacle of the sanitary appliance. ... . .

'I'his invention can also be put into effect as a method of advertising. In the method of the invention, an indicator signal is generated in response to the presence of urine within a re- ceptacle of a sanitary appliance and, in response to the indicator signal, advertising mate- rial is displayed within the receptacle.

'I'here are any number of ways in which the presence of urine can be detected. Sensors that physically detect the presence of urine, for example by using it to close an electrical circuit between two terminals in a channel through which the urine flows, may be used. In this case, it may be advantageous for the channel to be choked, so that the flow of urine is re striated. This allows a head of urine to build up in the channel before the electrical circuit is closed. Temperature sensors Can be used. Pressure sensors can be used. In one imple- mentation, the invention uses a touch-sensitive TFT screen as a display device, and detects a stream of urine and the position at which it impinges on the screen by means of the inte gral touch-sensitive matrix of the screen. Sensors that detect the impingement of a stream of urine at a particular position, rather than sensors that just detect the existence of urine within the receptacle, are preferred in this invention, since they will allow for greater inter- activity, even games-playing.

For reasons which become apparent after only a moment's thought, it is desirable for the advertising material to be displayed at a position in the receptacle that does not coincide with the position of the urinestream sensor. Otherwise, one would find oneself aiming straight at the advertising material being displayed; whilst this may give one a modicum of grim satisfaction, the symbolism would be such as possibly to deter an advertiser from making use of this particular advertising medium. Where use is made of a touch-sensitive screen as a combined sensor and display, the same effect would be achieved in software, which is to say that the advertising material will be displayed on a part oi the screen that does not coincide with the position at which the integral touch-sensitive matrix detects the urine stream. A. .

A, To reflect the importance of this aspect of the invention, it may be broadly stated in any of .. the following ways. As an insert, this aspect of the invention comprises a display device that, in response to the detection of a stream ol urine at a particular location, displays ad vertising material at a location other than the particular location at which the stream of . . 25 urine is detected. As a sanitary appliance, it comprises a receptacle and a display device within the receptacle that, in response to the detection of a stream of urine at a particular location within the receptacle, displays advertising material al a location other than the par ticular location at which the stream of urine is detected. As a method, it comprises, in re sponse to the presence of a stream of urine at a particular location within a receptacle of a sanitary appliance, displaying advertising material at a location within the receptacle other than the particular location at which the stream of urine is detected.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Examples of the invention will now be described with reference to the drawings, in which: figs. 1 to 3 are schematics of electrical circuits used in the invention; figs. 4 and S are schematic drawings of a simple urine stream detector; and S figs. 6 to 8 are schematics of a urinal insert.

Detailed Description

Figure I is an electrical schematic of a first example of the invention. This circuit is to be used in conjunction with a display that is simply illuminated from behind to allow the ad vertising material it carries to be read; when the display is not illuminated, the advertising material cannot be discerned. The illumination of the window is achieved by a white or coloured LED 12 that either turns on and stays on, or flashes, for a period of time after the presence of urine is detected by a urine sensor 14. The behaviour of the LED 12 is deter- mined by the programming of the custom microprocessor 16. A battery 17 or other internal 1 S source provides the power needed by the microprocessor l6 and LED 12. As shown, a cur- rent limiting device 18 is connected in series with the LED 12. In some examples of the invention, the circuitry is integrated into the structure of an insert that is then placed in the . receptacle of a sanitary appliance; for example, it can be integrated into a splash mat that is . designed to be emplaced in a gents' urinal. .

. One example of a urine sensor 14 will now be described with reference to figs. 4 and S. but : many other forms of sensor could be used. The sensor 14 of figs. 4 and 5 is designed to detect a flow of urine. It consists of a funnel-shaped inlet 20, a body 22 into which are in tegrated a pair of electrical contacts 24, 26, designed to be bridged by urine present within .

the body, and a funnel-shaped outlet 28 that includes a flow adjuster 30. Urine that enters the inlet 20 at a rate that is greater than the rate at which it can exit via that flow adjuster will gradually back up inside the body until it bridges the electrical contacts 24, 26.

As is shown in fig. 5, the flow adjust consists of a pair of discs 32, 34, one of which over lies the other and one or both of which can be rotated relative to the body 22 ot the sensor 14. Each disc includes a cut-out sector 36, 38, and the relative position of the discs lhere fore defines the size of the exit from the flow adjuster 30. In this way, the flow rate re quired, and the time it needs to be maintained, before the sensor 14 is triggered can be ad- justed. The parts of the sensor 14 are made of injection moulded plastic.

I'he system of I;g. I uses a single sensor and will only produce one indicator signal. The system of fig. 2, on the other hand, uses multiple sensor 141. 143, multiple I,EDs 121 126 and multiple current limiting devices 181... 186. In all other respects, it is similar to the system of'fig. 1. This allows multiple sensors 141... 143 to be spatially distributed and allows a variety of effects to be achieved by sequencing the illumination of the Imps 121 126, or tying their illumination to the sequential activation of the sensors 141... 143.

More sophisticated designs will allow gaming functionality to be introduced, such as a game of"darts", in which the insert is printed to represent a dartboard and, say, two treble twenties followed by a bull'seye are needed to illuminate the LEDs, or some subset of them. The possibilities are virtually endless. In another example, the longer the sensor re- mains active, the more LEDs will flash sequentially, Nor example indicating a increments of 5 seconds.

In fig. 3, a somewhat more sophisticated system is shown. It utilizes the same microproc . essor 16 and sensors 141 143, but has a dot-matrix display 21. 'this allows various ad . vertising messages to be shown on one and the same screen. The system includes an induc .e tively-couplcd data transmission coil 19 via which the different messages can be uploaded. .

There are other ways of doing this, for example using a Short Message Service, or even an :. interact connection if the circuitry is integrated into the body of the sanitary appliance it sell; which is always a possibility contemplated by this invention. As shown, the screen covers an area of 3 cm x 4 cm, with 32 x 24 pixels. This will allow a message to be made . of 8 characters on 3 lines, or a moving animated black and white or coloured graphic. The screen can also be illuminated so that it can be seen in low light conditions, in which case it would be illuminated in much the same way as the windows are illuminated in the prcvi-

ous examples.

This design allows for various advertising messages to be stored in a non volatile memory 21, which can be updated remotely. This is very flexible and means there is no need to clean the device before the messages are updated. The microprocessor 16 of any of these i examples can be programmed to record the number of sensor "hits", and allow this information to be downloaded for marketing purposes.

In the examples shown in figures I and 2, the advertising message can be changed only by swapping out the window, which must be constructed as a removable item. The examples that use multiple LEDs 121... 126 can in addition use multiple windows, each illuminated by its respective LED. Such multiple-window examples of this invention can use either a single sensor 14 or multiple sensors 141... 143, each resulting in the display of a different advert or logo, or even a sequence of logos to be determined at the time of production. The example of figure 3 can be fitted with multiple dot-matrix displays, resulting in a particu- larly flexible system.

Figs. 6 to 8 are schematic illustrations of a number of oval urinal inserts 40. In fig. 6, there are three sensors 141. .. 143 and a single window 42 behind which one or more I,EOs may be positioned. In fig. 7, there are three sensors 141 143 and a single window 42 behind which one or more LEDs may be positioned. In addition, a line of extra 1,EDs 122... 126 is provided that can be used Nor gaming or other functionality. In fig. 8, there are again three sensors 141 143 and a dot-matrix display 21, behind which one or more LEDs .

may be positioned. .e

As has already been mentioned, the display and sensors may be integrated into a single .. unit, such as a touch-sensitive TFT screen. In that case, the microprocessor can be suitably programmed to display any advertising message at a position other than the position at which the impact of a stream of urine is detected.

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Claims

Claims 1. For use within a receptacle of a sanitary appliance, an insert

comprising: a sensor that outputs a signal representative of the presence or absence of urine; and a display device that displays advertising material, in response to a signal from the sensor representative of the presence of urine.
2. A sanitary appliance comprising: a receptacle; a sensor that outputs a signal representative of the presence or absence of urine within the receptacle; and a display device within the receptacle that displays advertising material, in response to a signal from the sensor representative of the presence of urine.
3. A sanitary appliance according to claim 2 in which an insert according to claim I comprises the sensor and the display device and is positioned within the receptacle of the sanitary device. ë.

.
4. An insert according to claim I or a sanitary device according to claim 2 or claim 3, . in which the sensor is adapted to sense the presence of a stream of urine at a particular lo - cation within the receptacle. :.
5. An insert or a sanitary device according to claim 4, in which the particular location I..

A. at which the presence of the stream of urine is sensed by the sensor is a location other than .

the location of the display device.
6. For use within a receptacle of a sanitary appliance, an insert comprising: a display device that, in resEonsc to the detection of a stream of urine at a particular location, displays advertising material at a location other than the particular location at which the stream of urine is detected.
7. A sanitary appliance comprising: a receptacle; and a display device within the receptacle that, in response to the detection of a stream of urine at a particular location within the receptacle, displays advertising material at a lo- cation other than the particular location at which the stream of urine is detected.
8. A method of advertising comprising: in response to the presence of urine within a receptacle of a sanitary appliance, generating a indicator signal; and in response to the indicator signal, displaying advertising material within the recep tacle.
9. A method according to claim in which: the indicator signal is generated by a sensor that outputs a signal representative of the presence or absence of urine within the receptacle; and the advertising material is displayed on a display device within the receptacle, in response to a signal from the sensor representative of the presence of urine.
10. A method according to claim 9 in which an insert according to claim I comprises .the sensor and the display device and is positioned within the receptacle of the sanitary de vice. ë

..
11. A method of advertising comprising: :. in response to the presence of a stream of urine at a particular location within a re ceptacle of a sanitary appliance, displaying advertising material at a location within the re A. ceptacle other than the particular location at which the stream of urine is detected.

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