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Modular protective structure for floor displayModular protective structure for floor display description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060192683, Modular protective structure for floor display. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/454,631, filed Jun. 5, 2003. U.S. application Ser. No. 10/454,631 claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119(e) of U.S. provisional application 60/385,579 filed Jun. 5, 2002. Further, U.S. application Ser. No. 10/454,631 is a continuation-in-part of co-pending application Ser. No. 10/438,923, filed May 16, 2003, application Ser. No. 10/438,923 is a continuation-in-part of co-pending application Ser. No. 10/285,639, filed Nov. 1, 2002, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10/137,357, filed May 3, 2002, and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,507,285 on Jan. 14, 2003. Application Ser. No. 10/137,357 is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/767,846, filed Jan. 24, 2001, and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,417,778 on Jul. 9, 2002. Application Ser. No. 09/767,846 is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/418,752, filed Oct. 15, 1999, and now abandoned. Application Ser. No. 09/418,752 is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 09/304,051, filed May 4, 1999, and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,219,876 on Apr. 24, 2001. All of the above-identified applications are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to a floor display system, and more specifically to a modular protective structure for the floor display system. BACKGROUND [0003] A number of media are known for publicly conveying information, such as advertising information. Most commonly, such media utilize "vertical space." That is, the media are typically such things as billboard displays, displays mounted on walls or ceilings, and displays on electronic devices such as television screens and computer monitor screens that are substantially vertical. [0004] However, there is a vast amount of "horizontal space" that is largely unused for publicly conveying information. This horizontal space includes floor space in areas of public traffic, such as commercial establishments or other public buildings. [0005] U.S. Pat. No. 6,417,778, which is fully incorporated herein by reference, discloses a system for electronically conveying information via a floor display. The present disclosure relates to a modular structure for such a floor display. Among other advantages disclosed for such a structure are its effectiveness in protecting the display from damage associated with a floor environment, and its convenience in sizing the display (expanding or shrinking the area of the display). A very thin form factor may be maintained for the modular structure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0006] FIG. 1 shows a floor display system comprising an electronic display assembly including a modular protective structure according to embodiments of the present invention; [0007] FIG. 2 shows a cross-section of the floor display system of FIG. 1; [0008] FIGS. 3A and 3B show an enlarged view of a portion of the cross-section of FIG. 2; [0009] FIGS. 4-6 show three different views of an electronic display assembly according to embodiments of the invention received within a floor; [0010] FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate increased segmentation of an electronic display assembly as compared to that illustrated in FIGS. 1-6; and [0011] FIGS. 9, 10, 11A, 11B and 12 are plan views illustrating alternative embodiments for vertical supports of an electronic display system according to the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0012] Embodiments of the present invention relate to a floor display system. The floor display system may be arranged in a public place, such as a commercial establishment or other public building, and be configured to display electronically modifiable arbitrary content, such as advertising or other informational content. Because of its environment when it is in use, the floor display system may be exposed to possible damage from the impacts of foot traffic, wheeled objects and the like. Accordingly, embodiments of the present invention relate to a modular protective structure for the display that effectively distributes forces applied to the display among a system of vertical supports, to prevent forces from being focused in one place and thus possibly damaging the display. The modular structure may further provide for a very thin form factor for the floor display system. [0013] As noted above, U.S. Pat. No. 6,417,778 discloses a system for electronically conveying information via a floor display. More specifically, the floor display may incorporate a modifiable electronic display surface presenting for example, a liquid crystal display. The display could be connected to a computer and a computer generated image could be displayed on the display. Thus, the image displayed on the display could be modified by generating a different computer image and displaying that computer image on the display. The display could be associated with a base portion of a floor covering, such as included within a recess thereof, or could be included on a bottom surface, facing upward, of an insert portion of the floor covering. Alternatively, the display could be integrally formed with either of the base portion or the insert portion. The modifiable display could utilize a plurality of different graphics that can be displayed in any of a variety of manners on the display. For example, the graphics could be displayed in a generally fixed position on the display or could scroll across the display, with both exemplary methodologies displaying multiple graphics either individually or in combination. [0014] Other alternatives for modifying graphics displayed on the floor covering include using light emitting polymers to create, and thus change, the graphics. The light emitting polymers can be either applied to, attached to, or woven into the floor covering. The light emitting polymers may be utilized on any portion of floor covering, for example, on either the base portion or the insert portion, or on any other portion of the different embodiments for the floor covering. Light emitting polymers are known and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,945,502, 5,869,350, and 5,571,626, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. [0015] Other options for a display are to use electronic ink or electric paper. Electric paper is available from Xerox and is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,723,204, 5,604,027, 4,126,854, and 4,143,103, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Electric paper employs thousands of tiny, electrically charged beads, called Gyricon, each about the width of a human hair, to create pixels. The two-tone beads are embedded inside a liquid-filled plastic sheeting that forms the surface of the paper. Each bead, half-black, half-white, gyrates in response to an electric field. Whether the beads are black- or white-side up determines the image. Because there's no need to refresh the image, and because the screen isn't backlit, electric paper uses only a fraction of the power used by conventional electronic displays. Electromagnetic styluses and printer-like devices can be used for getting images onto the paper. [0016] Electronic ink is available from E Ink Corp., at 45 Spinelli PI., Cambridge, Mass. 02138. Electronic ink uses a microencapsulated micromechanical display system. Tiny microcapsules are captured between two sheets of plastic to create pixels. Alternatively, the capsules may be sprayed on a surface. The result is a flexible display material. The tiny capsules are transparent and contain a mixture of dark ink and white paint chips. An electric charge is passed through the capsules. Depending on the electrostatic charge, the paint chips float at the top or rest on the bottom of each capsule. When the paint chips float at the top, the surface appears white. When they rest at the bottom, and thus under the ink, the surface appears black. Each of the two states is stable: black or white. A transparent electromagnetic grid laid over the sheet's surface controls the shape of the image. The display may be wirelessly connected to, for example, a computer and thus, the World Wide Web by utilizing, for example, a Motorola paging system. Text on all displays, if multiple displays are used, can be changed at once by a single editor, through a Web page. [0017] According to embodiments of the present invention, additional or alternative technologies to those described above may be used to implement a floor display system. A floor display system 100 according to embodiments of the present invention is shown in FIG. 1. The floor display system 100 includes an integrated electronic display assembly 120 associated with a floor covering 110. More specifically, the display assembly 120 may be at least partly connected to, supported by, received within or otherwise associated with the floor covering 110. The floor covering 110 and associated electronic display assembly 120 may take many structural forms and be constructed from various types of materials, and are not limited to the specific forms illustrated herein. The floor covering could include, for example, shoe-cleaning materials such as carpet, rubber, plastic and the like. The floor covering 110 may be affixed to a floor or may be portable so that it can be easily moved to different places. In embodiments, the floor covering 110 and electronic display assembly 120 are designed to be used in places where there is foot traffic or other (for example, wheeled shopping cart) traffic, such as entry ways to stores, public buildings or homes. In such environments, strong forces may be imparted to the floor covering and electronic display assembly. Accordingly, the floor covering and electronic display assembly may be sturdy and durable enough that they may be repeatedly stepped on, walked over, or have a wheeled shopping cart or other rolling or sliding object traverse them, with negligible adverse effect on the floor covering and display assembly. [0018] To this end, the electronic display assembly 120 may comprise a plurality of display modules. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, there are four display modules 125, 130, 135 and 140, each associated with a modular protective enclosure as described in more detail further on. The invention is not limited to four display modules; there may be more or fewer. A coherent display may be presented on the plurality of display modules. That is, while individual display modules may present only fragments of a display, in the aggregate the plurality of display modules may present a complete or unified display. For example, in FIG. 1 a coherent text message, "On Sale Today Only Men's Cotton T-Shirts", is displayed across the four modules, though each module individually only presents a portion of the complete message. On the other hand, each of the modules could be configured to display unrelated images and/or text. [0019] More specifically, a display module may be an electronic display device incorporating any display technology, including those disclosed herein, and others not specifically disclosed. A display module may be configured to electronically display graphical images and alphanumeric data in either a static (not moving or changing) or dynamic (e.g., scrolling or otherwise moving or changing) format. More specifically, a display module may be coupled by wired or wireless means to a controller (not shown) and modifiable via the controller to display any content chosen by a user. For example, a display module may be coupled to the controller via a display driver circuit such as a video graphics adapter card. The controller may include any kind of electronic logic circuit, for example, a general microprocessor configurable with software, or an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit). A driver of a display module may be integrated with the controller or built into an ASIC. The controller may also be in the form of a single board computer with a processor and memory and with one or more display driving circuits built onto the board, as well as wireless components for communicating with the outside world or for loading data into memory. The controller may be coupled to a storage medium, which could be any form of medium suitable for storing digital data, including RAM (random access memory), ROM (read-only memory), flash or other non-volatile solid-state electronic storage, EEPROM (electronically erasable and programmable read only memory), or magnetic and/or optical disk storage. The storage medium may store, for example, control software for execution by the controller and video content of choice for display, under the control of the control software, by a display module. Continue reading about Modular protective structure for floor display... 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