GB2434908A

GB2434908A - Vehicle sign apparatus

Info

Publication number: GB2434908A
Application number: GB0624644A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Mcgrouther
Original assignee: VIP System Ltd
Current assignee: VIP System Ltd
Priority date: 2006-02-04
Filing date: 2006-12-11
Publication date: 2007-08-08
Also published as: GB0624644D0; GB0602273D0

Abstract

A vehicle sign 1 is adapted for mounting externally on the vehicle, said sign incorporating a sign plate (21, Fig 3) and tactile and/or audible methods (28, 29, 30 Figs 4 and 5) for presenting a message. The tactile method could use raised relief lettering or Braille and can be provided through a series to tiles each displaying a character (letters, numbers or words) that can be secured to the sign. The connection may be achieved through a frame or by flanges on the tiles and grooves on the sign 1. The sign 1 preferably has electronic sound generation and can be powered from the vehicle battery and can reproduce a plurality of messages. The tiles can have identification patterns on the rear surface that can be used to generate an audible message corresponding to the character(s) via a sensor in the sign 1. Switches may be mounted either inside or outside to control the generation of the audio message. The sign 1 is preferably of moulded plastics material and may have electroluminescent material and an RFID tag and may be mounted on the roof or door of a vehicle, which may be a taxi or a private hire car.

Description

"Vehicle Sign Apparatus' This invention relates to a vehicle sign

apparatus, which allows for the display of information on a vehicle. The invention relates in particular to a roof sign apparatus, which is adapted for providing information relating to the vehicle to a visually impaired individual.

It is a legal requirement for hire vehicles to display their hire licence number on the exterior of their vehicles in the form of a licence plate mounted commonly but not exclusively on the rear of the vehicle. Whilst this requirement provides a measure of security to most people in allowing the identity of the hire vehicle to be checked, the information is not readily available in an easily readable form for the visually impaired.

It is known to provide information relating to hire vehicles in the form of tactile or audible message signs within the vehicle in order to alleviate these problems. However, such signs are provided internally within the hire vehicle and do not address the problem of identification for the visually impaired prior to entering the vehicle.

Furthermore, should the visually impaired user wish to report an incident concerning a hire vehicle, such as where the visually impaired person is denied carriage by the vehicle, this information is not available to them, It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a sign which is mounted externally upon the hire vehicle at a convenient location to allow a visually impaired user to verify the identity of the hire vehicle prior to entering the vehicle.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a vehicle sign adapted for mounting externally on the vehicle, said sign incorporating a sign plate and tactile and/or audible means for presenting a message.

Preferably the tactile means comprises one or more characters in raised relief mounted on the sign plate.

Preferably the audible means comprises a speaker mounted on the sign and electronic sound generation means.

In a preferred embodiment the vehicle sign is a roof sign adapted for mounting on the roof of the vehicle.

This allows the visually impaired to approach the vehicle and locate the roof sign which is provided at a convenient height for a user to extend their hand in order to read the information on the sign where this is conveyed in a tactile manner or alternatively to active an audible signal to convey the required information presented on the sign.

In an alternative is a door sign which is adapted for mounting on a door or side wing of the vehicle which also enables a visually impaired user to approach the vehicle and locate the sign at a convenient height.

In the preferred embodiment, one or more tiles are mounted on the sign plate, the or each tile having a character provided thereon.

Preferably also, the or each character presents a tactile surface to the visually impaired user.

Advantageously, the character may be a letter from the Braille alphabet.

Alternatively, the character on the tile may be an alphabetic character, a symbolic character, a numeral, a word, a series of words, or any combination of these.

Advantageously, means are provided to secure the one or more tiles to the sign plate.

Preferably, the securing means comprises a frame mounted on the sign plate which overlies a part of the or each tile.

Alternatively the sign plate and tiles are provided with corresponding means securing the one or more tiles to the sign plate.

Preferably, the corresponding means comprises a flange on the tile and a groove in the surface of the sign plate for receiving the flange of the tile to secure the tile in position upon the surface of the sign plate.

Conveniently, the sign is formed of a plastics material.

Preferably, the sign is formed of a moulded plastics material.

In one preferred embodiment the sign plate is formed of an electroluminescent material.

Electroluminescence is an optical and electrical phenomenon where a material emits light in response to an electric current passed through it, or

in response to a strong electric field.

Examples of electroluminescent materials include zinc suiphide doped with copper or silver; natural blue diamond (diamond with boron as a dopant); and Ill-V semiconductors such as Indium Phosphide (lnP), Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) and Gallium Nitride (GaN).

Preferably said electronic sound generation means comprises electrical power supply means and operating means adapted to cause the electronic sound generation means to generate a sequence of audible messages.

Advantageously the electrical power supply means is a 9v or 1 2v battery.

Conveniently the battery is the vehicle battery.

Advantageously, the electronic sound generation means generates a plurality of audible messages.

Conveniently, the electronic sound generation means further comprises control means adapted to control which of said plurality of audible messages are generated in said sequence of audible messages.

Preferably, each tile is provided with a pattern on the surface of the tile opposite the character, the pattern identifying the character on the tile and the sign is further provided with detection means adapted to read the pattern and provide electronic data to said control means which corresponds to the character on the tile.

Advantageously manually operated switch means are provided on the sign apparatus to initiate the electronic sound generation means.

Alternatively, the switch means may be provided within the vehicle to allow the driver to operate the electronic sound generation means as the visually impaired person approaches the vehicle to aid in identification.

Conveniently, the roof sign further comprises a radio frequency identification tag.

Specific embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-Fig. l shows a perspective view of a sign apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention; Fig.2 shows a partially exploded view of the sign apparatus of fig. 1; Fig.3 shows a perspective view of a sign plate of the sign apparatus of fig.1; Fig.4 shows a perspective view of the front surface of a tile of the sign of fig.1; Fig.5 shows a perspective view of the rear surface of the tile of Fig.4; Fig.6 shows a perspective view of the sign plate with tiles mounted thereon; Fig.7 shows an exploded view of the sign plate; Fig 8 shows a schematic view of the sign apparatus in use by a visually impaired user; Fig.9 is a close up view of the sign of Fig. 1 in use, and Fig.10 is a schematic view of an alternative embodiment of a sign apparatus adapted to be mounted on the door or wing of a vehicle.

Turning now to the figures and particularly to Fig. 1 and Fig.2 there is shown a vehicle sign 1 according to one aspect of the present invention.

The sign is adapted for mounting on the roof of a vehicle and compnses front and rear panels 2, 3 for displaying information to the public about the vehicle, side panels 4 and base 5.

In the case of a private hire vehicle, the information on the front and rear panels may include information relating to the company providing the hire vehicle for example the name and telephone number together with the licence number of the vehicle.

The front and rear panels 2,3 are generally rectangular and the side panels 4 are generally triangular such that when the when the panels are mounted together they form a hollow shell having a generally dome shaped appearance with the front and rear panels sloping towards each other.

The upper and lower edges of the front and rear panels have inturned flanges 6,7 which are provided at an angle of greater than 90 degrees to the panel. The upper and lower flanges project in a plane perpendicular to one other. In the embodiment shown, the lower flange 6 is deeper than the upper flange 7.

A portion 8 of the front and rear panels projects outwardly from the surface of the panels. This projecting portion 8 provides a forward or rearward facing surface 9 upon which information can be mounted. In the embodiment shown, the projecting portion is generally square and the surface 9 of the projecting portion expends generally parallel to the lower inturned flange 6.

The upper edge 10 of the projecting surface is connected to the respective front or rear panel 2,3 by an integral rectangular shoulder 11 and the side edges 12 of the projecting panel are connected to the respective front and rear panel by an integral triangular shoulder 13.

Side panels 4 connect the front and rear panels 2,3 together. The side panels are formed as a generally truncated triangular panel with an integral rectangular section 14 formed at the lower end thereof. The height of the rectangular section is substantially similar to that of the lower flange 6 of the front and rear panels. The length of the sloping sides 15 of the side panels are substantially similar to the width of the front and rear panels between the upper to the lower flanges.

The side panels are provided around the side and upper edges with an inturned flange 16 as will be described more fully below.

Base 5 is a generally planar, rectangular platform which has a downturnecl flange 17 extending along each of the front and rear edges 18,19 of the base. A plurality of LEDs 20 are mounted in the base to illuminate the sign internally.

The front, rear, base and side panels are all formed of a moulded plastics material. When the sign is constructed, the front and rear panels 2,3 are mounted around the base panel 5, with the down turned flanges 17 of the base panel being received within the lower flanges 6 of the front and rear panels. The free ends of the upper flanges 7 of the front and rear panels, meet to form a clamshell construction. The side panels 4 are mounted against the side edges of the front and rear panels, the flange 16 of the side panels overlying the edges of the front and rear panels to hold the.

panels in position.

Means (not shown) are provided for mounting the roof sign 1 onto a vehicle. This may be a magnetic mount provided on the underside of the base of the sign.

A sign plate 21 is mounted onto the lower rectangular section 14 of the side panel 4 and can be fixed in position by suitable means as described further below.

As shown in Fig. 3 and Fig.7, the sign plate 21 comprises a generally planar body 22 and a frame 23 both of which are formed of a moulded plastics material.

The body of the sign plate has a longitudinal slot 24 provided in the centre thereof and an upstanding integral rim 25 which surrounds the slot.

The frame 23 is secured to the body 22 over the upstanding rim 25 by suitable releasable fixing means (not shown) which pass through corresponding apertures 26 in the body of the sign plate and the frame.

The frame has an aperture 27 which exposes the central area of the body 22 of the sign plate in order that a sign mounted in the base plate is not obscured by the frame 23.

The sign is made up of one or more tiles 28, one of which is shown in Fig. 4. The or each tile is adapted to be mounted on the sign plate 21 and is secured in position between the planar body 22 and the frame 23 when the frame is presented to the sign plate. In Fig.4, the tile is shown carrying an alphabetic character 29 in relief. Alternatively, the tile could carry a Braille character or any other symbol in relief thus presenting a tactile surface.

Referring back to Fig.1 the sign plate 21 is shown with a series of tiles 28 in place and the frame 23 of the sign plate secured to the sign plate to hold the tiles in position.

In use, the person making up the sign selects the appropriate characters from a set of tiles, and arranges them in the correct order on the sign plate, so that the sign displays the required message. In the example shown in Fig. 1, the message is "P12345", which represents a Private Hire vehicle having a licence number 12345.

The frame 23 is then positioned on the sign plate overlying a portion of the tiles 28 to retain the tiles in position on the sign plate. Fixing means are then passed through the corresponding apertures 26 in the frame and the base plate and the same fixing means may be used to mount the base plate onto the side panel 4 of the roof sign.

When the hire vehicle arrives, the visually impaired user can approach the vehicle and extend their hand to the roof sign 1 of the vehicle, thus bringing their hand into contact with the tiles 28 on the sign plate 21 on the side 4 of the roof sign as shown in close up in Fig.9. This allows the visually impaired person to verify the licence number of the hire vehicle before getting into the vehicle.

In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the message on the sign plate 21 can be delivered as an audible signal rather than by a tactile surface which provides a means for identification where the user cannot read Braille or is unable to read the information in tactile form.

In this embodiment, a speaker (not shown) is provided in the roof sign.

Inside the sign plate is a control means in the form of an electronic circuit (not shown) which controls the operation of electronic sound generation means. The electronic sound generation means consists of the speaker and digitally stored sound information stored in the memory of the electronic circuit. The circuit is powered by an electric power supply means which may also be provided in the sign plate. Switch means may be provided on the roof sign to act as an operating means for the sound generation means.

In this embodiment, as shown in Fig.5 the rear face 30 of each tile contains an identifier which corresponds to the character 29 which is on the front of the tile. The identifier may be a pattern of dots 31 as shown in Fig. 4. The pattern is machine readable for example by a UV reader. The electronic sound generation means includes a means for identifying the pattern of dots on the or each tile and translating this into the appropriate message made up from that set of tiles.

A switch (not shown) on the sign apparatus enables the visually impaired user to activate the electronic sound generation means in order to verify the identity of the vehicle before they get into the vehicle.

A suitable sound generation means which could be used in conjunction with the pattern identification of the present invention is described in GB 2,359,656A.

Whilst the embodiments described above illustrate the delivery of the message on the sign plate 21 by either tactile or audible means, it is envisaged that both could be incorporated into a sign such that if a visually impaired user required clarification of the tactile display then the audible signal generation option would also be available.

In a further embodiment of the invention, a radio frequency identification tag (not shown) is incorporated into the roof sign 1 in addition to the tactile and/or audible means described above for presenting the information on the sign. It is envisaged that such a radio frequency tag would be mounted onto the forward or rearward facing surface 9 of the projecting portion 8 of the sign.

Whilst the embodiments above describe the sign plate 21 mounted on the side panel 4 of the roof sign 1, it is to be understood that the sign plate could be integrally formed with the side panel of the roof sign.

Furthermore, the sign plate and the tiles 28 could be provided with corresponding means to secure the tiles onto the sign plate without requiring a separate frame 23 to hold them in position. In this case, the sign plate may be provided with a groove and the or each tile provided with a flange around the edge of the tile, the flange being slidably received within the groove. Alternatively, tongue and groove formations may be provided on the sign plate and the tiles, the tiles being mounted to the sign plate in a push fit operation.

In a further embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 10, the vehicle sign is adapted for mounting on the door or side wing of a vehicle rather than on the roof of the vehicle. In this embodiment the sign plate 21' is formed of an electroluminescent material (such as zinc sulphide, natural blue diamond or a Ill-V semicoductor) which can be illuminated at night from power supplied by a 9v or 1 2v battery. Preferably the power is supplied by the vehicle battery.

In the embodiment shown, two A4 sign plates 21' are mounted side by side. One of the sign plates, in this embodiment the left hand panel is powered directly from the vehicle battery. Information about the vehicle is laser printed onto a clear film (not shown) and this is mounted between the sign plate 21' and a transparent panel such as a clear window (not shown) which is built into the frame 23' surrounding the sign plate.

Raised tactile tiles 28' similar to those described in relation to the roof sign embodiments are mounted on the sign plate at a convenient height to be accessed by the visually impaired. In the embodiment shown, the tiles provide information about the number of a hire car.

A speaker 100' and electronics package (not shown) for producing an audible signal representing the information provided on the tiles is provided adjacent to the tiles in a convenient location. A switch (not shown) may be provided on the panel to enable the visually impaired to activate the audible message. Alternatively switching means may be provided within the vehicle to enable the driver to active the message on approaching the visually impaired user.

The sign plate 21' also provides a mounting for an active AFID tag 101' and electronic tracking package (not shown) as described in relation to the previous embodiments.

The right hand panel shown in Fig. 10 is an optional panel which can be selectively mounted adjacent the main sign plate 21'. The panel has a similar construction to that of the main panel but may be provided only with laser printed information about the vehicle or the company who operate the vehicle. This is mounted under a transparent cover built into the frame of the panel as described above. It is envisaged that the main panel may be provided with mounting means to enable a supplementary panel to be mounted adjacent thereto. The supplementary panel is not self powered but it is envisaged that the mounting means will include electrical connections which will enable the supplementary panel to be powered from the main panel.

Each of the embodiments described provide a simple and effective means which would enable a visually impaired person to verify the identity of a hire vehicle prior to entering the vehicle. The sign can be easily retro fitted to vehicles and requires no modification of the vehicle and so the sign can be used on any vehicles within a fleet operated by a company. Therefore the company does not have to allocate specific vehicles for the carriage of the visually impaired.

These and other modifications and improvements can be incorporated without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS

1. A vehicle sign adapted for mounting externally on the vehicle, said sign incorporating a sign plate and tactile and/or audible means for presenting a message.

2. A vehicle sign according to claim 1, wherein the tactile means comprises one or more characters in raised relief mounted on the sign plate.

3. A vehicle sign according to claim 2, wherein, one or more tiles are mounted on the sign plate, the or each tile having a character provided thereon.

4. A vehicle sign according to claim 2 or 3,wherein, the or each character presents a tactile surface to the visually impaired user.

5. A vehicle sign according to any one of claims 2-4, wherein, the character(s) is a letter from the Braille alphabet.

6. A vehicle sign according to any one of claims 2-4, wherein, the character on the tile is an alphabetic character, a symbolic character, a numeral, a word, a series of words, or any combination of these.

7. A vehicle sign according to claim 3, wherein, means are provided to secure the one or more tiles to the sign plate.

8. A vehicle sign according to claim 7, wherein, the securing means comprises a frame mounted on the sign plate which overties a part of the or each tile.

9. A vehicle sign according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the sign plate and tiles are provided with corresponding means securing the one or more tiles to the sign plate.

10. A vehicle sign according to claim 9, wherein the corresponding means comprises a flange on the tile and a groove in the surface of the sign plate for receiving the flange of the tile to secure the tile in position upon the surface of the sign plate.

11. A vehicle sign according to claim 1, wherein said audible means comprises a speaker mounted on the sign and electronic sound generation means.

12. A vehicle sign according to claim 11, wherein said electronic sound generation means comprises electrical power supply means and operating means which are adapted to cause the electronic sound generation means to generate a sequence of audible messages.

13. A vehicle sign according to claim 12, wherein the electrical power supply means is a 9v or 1 2v battery.

14. A vehicle sign according to claim 13, wherein the battery is the battery of the vehicle.

15. A vehicle sign according to any one of claims 12-14, wherein the electronic sound generation means generates a plurality of audible messages.

16. A vehicle sign according to claim 15, wherein the electronic sound generation means further comprises control means adapted to control which of said plurality of audible messages are generated in said sequence of audible messages.

17. A vehicle sign according to any one of claimsi 1-16, wherein one or more tiles are mounted on the sign plate, the or each tile having a character provided thereon and the or each tile is provided with a pattern on the surface of the tile opposite the character, the pattern identifying the character on the tile and the sign is further provided with detection means adapted to read the pattern and provide electronic data to said control means which corresponds to the character on the tile.

18. A vehicle sign according to any one of claims 11-17, wherein manually operated switch means are provided on the sign apparatus to initiate the electronic sound generation means.

19. A vehicle sign according to claim 18, wherein, the switch means are provided within the vehicle.

20. A vehicle sign according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the roof sign further comprises a radio frequency identification tag.

21. A vehicle sign according to any one of claims any one of the preceding claims, wherein the vehicle sign is a roof sign adapted for mounting on the roof of the vehicle.

22. A vehicle sign according to any one of claims 121, wherein the vehicle sign is a door sign which is adapted for mounting on a door or side wing of the vehicle.

23. A vehicle sign according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the sign is formed of a plastics material.

24. A vehicle sign according to claim 23, wherein the sign is formed of a moulded plastics material.

25. A vehicle sign according to any one of claims 1-22, wherein the sign plate is formed of an electroluminescent material.

26. A vehicle sign substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in Figs. 1-9 of the accompanying drawings.

27. A vehicle sign substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in Fig. 10 of the accompanying drawings.