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  Device for covering or displaying an objectUSPTO Application #: 20060170315Title: Device for covering or displaying an object Abstract: The device comprises a U-shaped holding device (3) with three limbs, namely a base limb (a), a joining limb (b) and a supporting limb (c) of different dimensions. A wall covering is fixed by means of joining elements (5) or track elements to the front side of the supporting limb (c) in an manner that enables the wall covering to be displaced, and the base limb (a) is mounted on a supporting element (e.g. a wall) by means of connecting elements (6) or track elements of the device in a manner that enables the base limb to be displaced. The corners of the device can be provided with rotating axes whereby permitting a space-saving displacement of the covering. For heavy or large coverings, a number of devices can be coupled to one another by connecting elements. The direction of motion of the device can be freely selected (360°) according to assembly and can be controlled mechanically or in an electronic-hydraulic manner by installing micro-electrical units, if desired, by remote control. (end of abstract) Agent: J Michael Boggs Kilpatrick Stockton - Winston-salem, NC, US Inventor: Daniel Hoss USPTO Applicaton #: 20060170315 - Class: 312319700 (USPTO) The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060170315. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
[0001] The present invention refers to a device by means of which a flat object attached to the wall, such as an electronic flat screen or a picture, can be covered or intentionally exposed. [0002] High-resolution flat screens for displaying electronically stored information of all kind in public locations, in offices, stations, airports, museums or in business premises as well as in private rooms are very popular nowadays. The distribution of such flat screens has been increasing rapidly. Flat screens of this type provide a favourable picture quality, they are lightweight and they can easily be mounted on a wall or another portable means. [0003] In a sales room or exhibition room, such as a gallery or a museum etc. with a large amount of customers or visitors, such flat screens provide more meaningful and up-to-date information and leave a more permanent impression than printed information material does. Freeze images, video clips or computer animations also enable a dynamic marketing and visual messages whose effect is by far superior to a presentation of mere printed matter. [0004] The large, clear and bright pictures and the wide angle of vision of flat screens ensure an optimum readability and visibility. In conferences or meetings the monitors provide any presentation with a professional touch. Moreover, a flat screen can be mounted to almost any audiovisual device within a few seconds--be this a notebook or a DVD player. Moreover, video conferences can be made more lively, personal and productive when using such monitors. They offer versatile connection alternatives, useful control functions and a conventional, also wireless, remote control. [0005] The high resolution monitors usually have standard width-to-height ratios of 16:9, wherein the diagonal varies, e.g. from 82 cm to 127 cm. Such flat monitors may be hung up the wall either in landscape format or in portrait format or they may be placed at any other position. The format of these screens is in principle not defined. Custom products may have sizes of several square meters. Commercially available, normal models have formats similar to those of oil paintings, graphics, maps etc. [0006] A great advantage of the flat screens is its very flat construction. Modern flat screens are today not wider than 5 to 7 cm. Due to the flat structure, they can be mounted on the wall or other portable objects in a very simple and space-saving manner. [0007] One problem in connection with the use of the monitors is, however, not solved. There are situations in which the electronic messages shall not be shown on the flat screens. Time periods frequently occur during which the electronic screen is not used, is switched off or is disturbing in any other way. Flat screens that are increasingly used for multimedia purposes in a gallery or a museum are disturbing when they are not used next to oil paintings or other pieces of art. In public places such as stations, airports, hotels or stores it regularly occurs that flat screens are not used during a certain period of time. During these "dead times" these screens are often disturbing and they do not match with the overall picture or the atmospheric situation. Flat screens also occupy their space on the wall even in times they are not used and they are normally not dismounted. This wall surface therefore lies idle. In public places this unused surface costs money, which is not economical and not efficient. A flexible use of the wall surface is not possible. The space relations on public walls, in galleries and museums as well as in private living room walls are often limited or shall consciously not look flamboyant. A flat screen or generally a wall panelling such as a wall picture, a painting, photo, poster or hangings of different materials such as fabric, paper, glass wood, plastics, stone needs a certain surface that could also be used by other wall claddings and therefore always competes with alternative hangings and wall covers. [0008] Thus, it is the object of the present invention to provide a device for covering or exposing an object, such as a flat screen, which can be used if needed depending on the situation and in a flexible way. [0009] This object is solved by the subject matters of claims 1, 2, 10 and 14. Preferred embodiments are subject matter of the dependent claims. [0010] The present invention is basically based on the idea that flat screens usually have a sophisticated design but that they are considered to be disturbing after some time due to their fixed attachment on a wall and that they can in the long run not contribute to a high quality room decoration. [0011] Thus, the present invention suggests a technical solution by means of which such a flat screen can be made to disappear from the viewpoint of the observer, namely in that a mechanically and/or electrically movable cover is brought from a position in which it does not cover the flat screen to a position in which the flat screen is fully covered by the cover. [0012] According to a preferred embodiment, the relative movement required for this can be achieved in that the flat screen is moved relative to the cover, i.e. in that the flat screen is moved forward by mechanical and/or electric displacement from the area of a fixedly installed cover. [0013] According to a preferred embodiment, the flat screen used comprises devices provided by the manufacturer, which serve for attachment and for the displaceability of the cover. Particularly, the flat screen may comprise for this purpose pre-mounted rails, which are conveniently integrated into the design of the flat screen so that such portions are not regarded to be disturbing in the state in which the flat screen can be seen. Flat screens that have such accessory means that enable a later attachment of the required construction for displacing the cover, have an especially simple structure in their overall construction, since less parts must be assembled, and the fundamentally carrying construction was already connected to the flat screen by the manufacturer. [0014] The cover is preferably a wall picture, wherein paintings, prints etc. can be used. The use of wall paintings for covering a flat screen leads to an especially aesthetic effect and the integration of the flat screen into an interior is perfectly enabled at a high decorative value. [0015] Depending on the type of aesthetic creation shown on the cover, this cover may in a state in which the flat screen can be seen by the observer deploy an additional aesthetic effect in that the objects that can then commonly be seen mutually supplement one another decoratively. A displacement of the cover downwards may for instance lead to the observer's impression that the cover also forms the column for the flat screen which even increases the aesthetic effect of the flat screen itself. [0016] According to a preferred embodiment, the construction, which enables the relative displacement of the cover with respect to the flat screen, enables a displacement of the wall cover in various directions, preferably in four directions that are orthogonal with respect to each other, to achieve a maximum flexibility for the displacement of the cover. The cover may particularly be displaced into a range that is still free or at which the wall cover acts especially nicely with the decoration, e.g. an oil painting or may thereby again cover an object. [0017] The construction preferably enables a mechanical displacement or a displacement effected by an electromotor. When using an electronic solution, the desired displacement may be achieved by the aid of a remote control or by the aid of switches on the wall. [0018] Such a solution also leads to the fact that a displacement profile can be pre-adjusted so that depending on the user of the room, different displacements must be adjusted and thus a flat screen can be visible or covered. For the case that several flat screens of this kind or other objects shall be covered, the desired covering pattern can be adjusted according to personal taste and can at the same time be changed or retracted at the push of a button. [0019] From the mechanical point of view, the displacement may be achieved by a rigid construction, e.g. by rails in which the cover is displaced. However, more filigree solutions are also suitable, such as rope constructions at which the cover may almost invisibly be displaced. This gives the observer an especially interesting impression, since the cover is moved almost by "ghost hand". The rope construction is preferably made of transparent threads made of silk or plastics so that this construction does almost not become visible to the naked eye. Metal ropes may also consciously be used to achieve an especially technical impression. [0020] According to a preferred embodiment, the cover may also be part of a piece of furniture, which is built up on a stationary location. The relative movement between the cover and the flat screen is implemented in this case by moving the flat screen out of the piece of furniture by means of a suitable construction. In the simplest case, this might be some sort of telescopic rod which moves the screen from the piece of furniture into the visible area. Preferably, such a construction also allows a turning and/or inclination of the flat screen to ensure an optical viewing angle for the observer. This angular setting as well as the moving-out itself may be controlled by a remote control. Profile settings can also again be made so that fixedly programmed viewing angles can be pre-set according to the present use of the room. [0021] To install a flat screen into such a solution, this flat screen is provided by the manufacturer with respective accessory means, particularly for attachment with a telescopic rod or another carrier, which effects the relative displacement. [0022] According to a further preferred embodiment, the flat screen is already installed into a wall, i.e. it is inserted into a recess of the wall. The flat screen does preferably not project over the plane defined by the wall in this solution. Such a solution allows especially elegant constructions by means of which the cover is moved over the flat screen, since then the cover may directly be guided over the surface of the wall. In the case that the cover is a picture, the observer has the impression after moving the picture of the flat screen that actually a normal picture hangs on the wall. In such a construction, the holder that carries the cover and enables the mechanical and/or electrical displacement of the cover of the screen is attached to the wall and not to the flat screen. Of course, constructions are also conceivable in which the holder is connected to the flat screen, however, the attachment on the wall in this case is preferred differently than in the above-mentioned solutions. In such a solution the total construction always consists of the flat screen, a wall into which the flat screen is sunk and a holder attached to the wall and carrying the cover and which comprises suitable devices which enable a displacement of the cover over the flat screen and out of the area of the flat screen. [0023] According to a further aspect of the present invention, the cover according to the invention is used to selectively expose or cover a painting or other decorative means. According to an especially preferred embodiment, this is again a painting so that a first painting may selectively cover a second, different painting. Such an employment is particularly interesting for galleries that only have a limited exposition area and which are given the opportunity by the present invention to double the amount of works exhibited. By using a suitable control device, which may again be a remote control, the observer may selectively view the one or the other picture. One picture is preferably fixedly connected to the wall and the other one is selectively brought to a position in which it covers or exposes this picture. According to a preferred embodiment, several of such paintings are arranged in stacked fashion so that several paintings may selectively cover a painting fixedly attached to the wall, whereby the exposition surface cannot only be doubled but multiplied many times. [0024] Those paintings that are not currently moved into focus, i.e. which are in a "resting position" may fully disappear behind a cover fixedly connected to the ground, e.g. a wall. The observer does not see that further pictures are available that may be moved to a position of the currently viewed picture. This further cover fixedly connected to the ground may also be designed in the form of a container, into which the pictures that are not shown disappear so that a protective function is also achieved thereby, and according to a preferred embodiment even a security container effect can be achieved in which the pictures that are not shown are fully encapsulated. Continue reading... Full patent description for Device for covering or displaying an object Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Device for covering or displaying an object patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. 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