Assembly and method for use thereof

Abstract

 A signage assembly comprising: a first signage component (5) defining a first surface and displaying a first sign and viewable from an intended viewing position, a second signage component (6) defining a second surface and displaying a second sign, wherein the second signage component (6) is arranged relative to the first signage component (5) such that the first and second surfaces are non-parallel, and the second sign comprises a manipulation of an original image, the manipulation being arranged such that, when the signage assembly is viewed from the intended viewing position, the original image appears in a plane extending at an angle to the second surface.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a signage assembly. More particularly, but not exclusively the invention relates to a signage assembly of a type used to display advertising materials at sporting events.

[0002] At many sporting events spectators are located about a periphery of a field of play. Typically, the spectators are seated in tiered seats around the periphery of the field of play. There is often a barrier separating the spectators from the field of play so as to allow effective spectator management and to ensure the safety of the spectators and the sportspeople involved in the sporting event. Such arrangements are common in sports including football, soccer, and rugby amongst many others.

[0003] It is now commonplace to site advertising boards at the location of the barrier. Advertisements are placed on such advertising boards so as to face the field of play and so as to be visible to spectators located at an opposite side of the field of play. On the basis that the display of advertisements on such advertising boards generates income for organisers of sporting events, it is advantageous that the advertising boards should be as large as possible so as to maximise both the number of individual advertisements and the size of those advertisements. In practice, the height of advertising boards is limited by the likely eye-line of spectators sitting in the seats located closest to the field of play - the advertising boards clearly cannot extend above the eye-line of those spectators or else those spectators would be unable to view the sporting event. As such the location (particularly the height) of seating represents a restriction on the height of the advertising boards and therefore the available advertising space

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate at least some of the problems set out above.

[0005] According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a signage assembly comprising a first signage component defining a first surface displaying a first sign viewable from an intended viewing position and a second signage component defining a second surface displaying a second sign. The second signage component is arranged relative to the first signage component such that the first and second surfaces are non-parallel and the second sign comprises a manipulation of an original image, the manipulation being arranged such that, when the signage assembly is viewed from the intended viewing position, the original image appears in a plane extending at an angle to the second surface.

[0006] The invention therefore provides a method whereby the second sign is depicted on a second surface extending from the first surface. The second sign is a manipulation of original artwork such that the original image appears to extend out of the second surface. For example, by appropriately transforming the original image the original image may appear to extend out of the second surface so to appear as to be co-planar with the first sign. That is, the first sign may appear within the plane. In this way the provision of the second signage component (which is non-parallel with the first signage component) allows the original image to be viewed as co-planar with and above the first sign even though it does not, in physical terms, extend above the first signage component. It is therefore possible to increase space for the display of advertisements without increasing the overall height of a signage assembly.

[0007] In use, the first signage component may be positioned so as to extend generally perpendicularly from a ground surface such that the first signage component has a first edge adjacent to the ground surface and a second edge distal to the ground surface and wherein the second signage component is arranged adjacent to the second edge of the first signage component. The original image may appear in a plane extending at an angle to the second surface and above the first signage component.

[0008] Either or both of the first and second signage components may be generally planar. Either or both of the first and second signage components may define respective planes in which the first sign and second sign are respectively located.

[0009] The plane (i.e. the plane in which the original image appears) may extend from said first surface at an angle of 0 to 45 degrees. That is, the original image may appear to extend directly upwards from the first signage component or may be angled relative to the first signage component at an acute angle. The plane may extend from the first surface at a small angle. For example an angle of less than 10 degrees, or in some embodiments an angle of less than 5 degrees.

[0010] The first surface may be located in the plane (i.e. the plane in which the original image appears). Each of the first and second surfaces may define a respective plane.

[0011] The first and second surfaces may be generally perpendicular to one another. That is, put another way, an angle measured from the first surface displaying the first sign to the second surface displaying the second sign may be 270 degrees. Alternatively, the angle measured from the first surface to the second surface may be a reflex angle, for example an angle of more than 180 degrees but less than 270 degrees.

[0012] The first surface may extend generally perpendicularly to a ground surface, and the second surface may extend generally perpendicularly to the first surface such that the second surface extends generally parallel to the ground surface.

[0013] The manipulation of the original image may comprise one or more of an inverse perspective transformation, a stretching process and a skewing process.

[0014] The first signage component may comprise a plurality of image elements, the image elements being programmable so as to cause display of the first sign. Such image elements may be LEDs. The first signage component may generally be an electronically programmable signage component which is configured to receive data defining an image and display such received data. The first signage component may take other forms in some embodiments of the invention.

[0015] The second signage component may comprise a print carrier on which the second sign is printed. Additionally or alternatively the second signage component may comprise a plurality of image elements, the image elements being programmable so as to cause display of the second sign, for example the image elements may be LEDs. Where the signage components are programmable the second sign may be modified in real time, for example based upon an actual viewing position. For example, during a sporting event the camera that is used to capture the sporting event may change or the position or orientation of a camera used to capture the sporting even may change such that the actual viewing position of the sign will also change. In such an embodiment the actual viewing position may be fed back to the second signage component and the image displayed on the second signage component may be updated in real time using the actual viewing position as the intended viewing position to generate manipulated image data that is optimised for viewing from the actual viewing position.

[0016] The first signage component may be located at or near the periphery of a playing field for a sporting event. The first signage component may extend generally perpendicularly to a surface of said playing field.

[0017] The intended viewing position maybe a position of a moving picture camera. In this way the original image maybe visible in the plane in images generated using the moving picture camera.

[0018] The first sign may be an advertisement or informational message. The original image may be an advertisement or informational message.

[0019] The first sign may comprise a first portion of an overall image. The second sign may comprise a manipulated form of a second portion of the overall image (i.e. the original image may be the second portion of the overall image). In such a case when the signage assembly is viewed from the intended viewing position, the overall image may be perceived to lie in a single plane and may appear to be contiguous.

[0020] An embodiment of the present invention is now described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic plan-view of a stadium for a sporting event;

Figure 2 is a three-dimensional view of a signage assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of the signage assembly of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is an illustration of an original image to be applied to part of the signage assembly of Figure 3;

Figures 5 and 6 are illustrative manipulated forms of the original image of Figure 4.

[0021] Referring to Figure 1, there is illustrated a stadium 1 designed to hold sporting events. The stadium provides a field of play 2 in its centre, and spectator areas 3 about its periphery in which spectators typically sit to watch a sporting event taking place on the field of play 2. Advertising boards 4 are typically located between the field of play 2 and the spectator areas 3. The advertising boards are oriented such that advertisements are displayed on a side of the advertising board adjacent to the field of play 2 so as to be visible to spectators located on an opposite side of the stadium 1.

[0022] Figures 2 and 3 show one of the advertising boards 4. The illustrated advertising board takes the form of a signage assembly comprising a first signage component 5 and a second signage component 6. The first signage component is positioned so as to extend vertically from and perpendicularly to a ground surface 7 of the stadium 1. In the illustrated embodiment the first signage component 5 takes the form of an LED sign. The LED sign comprises a plurality of LED image elements and is arranged to receive image data from a controller device and display the image data by appropriate illumination of the LED image elements. The image data received may be a still image or may alternatively be a moving image. The image data typically represents one or more advertisements.

[0023] The second signage component 6 is a planar signage component which is arranged perpendicularly to the first signage component 5. It can be seen that an angle between a display surface of the first signage component and a display surface of the second surface component is 270 degrees. In alternative embodiments, described below, different arrangements of the first and second signage components relative to one another may be provided.

[0024] In one embodiment the second signage component is a print carrier carrying an image which is placed on a generally horizontal surface mounted to and extending from the first signage component 5. In other embodiments the second signage component is adapted to be affixed to the first signage component 5 so as to generally perpendicularly extend therefrom.

[0025] The second signage component is arranged to display a second sign. The second sign is a manipulated form of an original image, the manipulation being arranged to create an illusion that the original image extends from and out of a surface of the second sign. For example, the original image may be seen to extend perpendicularly from an edge 8. That is, to spectators the original image may appear directly "above" the first signage component 5.

[0026] The manipulation of the original image can take any form which has the result that the original image extends out of the surface of the second sign. Such manipulations often involve a manipulation so that the original image has a desired appearance (e.g. to extend from the edge 8) from a particular viewing position. Suitable manipulations include stretching and skewing operations and inverse perspective transformations as are now described with reference to Figures 4, 5 and 6.

[0027] The original image of Figure 4 to be transformed comprises text "3D IMAGE 3D IMAGE" and Figures 5 and 6 show transformations of the text of Figure 4 using stretching and skewing as shown in Figure 5 and inverse perspective, sometimes referred to as reverse perspective, as shown in Figure 6.

[0028] Referring first to Figure 5, the text of the manipulated image has been stretched and skewed relative to the text of the original image. In particular, as illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, the image data of the original image lies in a plane having a first dimension 10 and a second dimension 11 with an angle of 90° between the first and second dimensions. The image data of the original image is manipulated such that a line in the original image extending at an angle of 90° to the second dimension in the original image, that is extending parallel to the first dimension 10, extends at an acute angle β to the second dimension in the manipulated image. The first dimension in the manipulated image can therefore be considered as angled acutely relative to the first dimension in the original image. The angle β is generally determined based upon the intended viewing position.

[0029] Furthermore, the manipulation of the image data of the original image lengthens the image data in the first dimension 10 such that a line extending in the (acutely angled) first dimension in the manipulated image has a length greater than that of a corresponding line extending in the first dimension in the original image. The stretching and skewing therefore manipulates generally rectangular shapes in the original image to generally rhomboid shapes that are stretched in the direction of the first dimension 10 in the manipulated image and has a corresponding effect on other shapes in the original image.

[0030] Referring to Figure 6, the text of the manipulated image has been transformed according to an inverse perspective transformation based upon an intended viewing position. In particular, the manipulation of the original image of Figure 4 to generate the manipulated image of Figure 6 is based upon a projection from the intended viewing position through the original image which is such that points of the original image that are relatively far from the intended viewing position are scaled so as to be larger in the manipulated image than points of the original image that are relatively close to the intended viewing position. For example, the manipulated image of Figure 6 is based upon a projection from an intended viewing position to the front left of the manipulated image such that the number "3" in the image that lies relatively close to the intended viewing position is relatively small as compared to the final letter "E" of the image that lies relatively far from the intended viewing position and is therefore relatively large. Inverse perspective transformations are described in further detail in expired European Patent Publication Number 0968495.

[0031] It has been explained in the preceding description that the second signage component 6 is arranged perpendicularly to the first signage component 5. That is, the angle α (Figure 3) is 90 degrees (or, put another way, an angle between the display surfaces of the first signage component 5 and the second signage component 6 is 270 degrees). However in some embodiments the angle α may be greater than 90 degrees (i.e. the angle between the display surfaces may be less than 270 degrees. The arrangement of the second signage component 6 at an angle greater than 90 degrees may increase the visual effect that the original image is co-planar with the first signage component 5. It will be appreciated that there is a trade off between the overall height of the signage assembly (which increases as the angle α increases) and effectiveness of the image manipulation. It may be possible to achieve a sufficient visual effect by allowing the second signage component to extend at 90 degrees and this may be preferred to minimise the overall height of the signage assembly and thereby minimise the effect of the signage assembly on the spectator seating. In some cases it may be desired to limit the overall height of the signage assembly so that it does not obstruct the view of spectators seated in the spectator seating. In such cases the angle α can be chosen so as to balance the overall height with the effectiveness of the image manipulation.

[0032] While embodiments of the invention have been described above it will be appreciated that various modifications can be made to the described embodiments.

Claims

1. A signage assembly comprising:

a first signage component defining a first surface and displaying a first sign and viewable from an intended viewing position;

a second signage component defining a second surface and displaying a second sign;

wherein the second signage component is arranged relative to the first signage component such that the first and second surfaces are non-parallel; and

the second sign comprises a manipulation of an original image, the manipulation being arranged such that, when the signage assembly is viewed from the intended viewing position, the original image appears in a plane extending at an angle to the second surface.

2. A signage assembly according to claim 1, wherein, in use, the first signage component is positioned so as to extend generally perpendicularly from a ground surface such that the first signage component has a first edge adjacent to the ground surface and a second edge distal to the ground surface and wherein the second signage component is arranged adjacent to the second edge of the first signage component; and the original image appears in a plane extending at an angle to the second surface and above the first signage component.

3. A signage assembly according to claim 1, wherein the plane extends from said first surface at an angle of 0 to 45degrees or preferablyat an angle of 0 to 5 degrees.

4. A signage assembly according to claim 1, wherein the first surface is in said plane.

5. A signage assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein each of the first and second surfaces defines a respective plane.

6. A signage assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the first and second surfaces are generally perpendicular to one another.

7. A signage assembly according to any preceding claim wherein the manipulation of the original image comprises one or more of an inverse perspective transformation, a stretching process and a skewing process.

8. A signage assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the first signage component comprises a plurality of image elements, the image elements being programmable so as to cause display of the first sign.

9. A signage assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the second signage component comprises a print carrier on which the second sign is printed.

10. A signage assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the first signage component is located at or near the peripherary of a playing field for a sporting event.

11. A signage assembly according to claim 10, wherein the first signage component extends generally perpendicularly to a surface of said playing field.

12. A signage assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the intended viewing position is a position of a moving picture camera.

13. A signage assembly according to any preceding claim, wherein the first sign is an advertisement or informational message and/or the original image is an advertisement or informational message.

14. A method for displaying first and second signs, the method comprising:

displaying the first sign on a surface of a first signage component of a signage assembly such that the first sign is viewable from an intended viewing position;

displaying the second sign on a surface of a second signage component of the signage assembly, the second signage component being arranged relative to the first signage component such that the first and second surfaces are non-parallel, the second sign comprising a manipulation of an original image, the manipulation being arranged such that, when the signage assembly is viewed from the intended viewing position, the original image appears in a plane extending at an angle to the second surface.

15. A kit of parts for making a signage assembly comprising:

a first signage component defining a first surface and displaying a first sign viewable from an intended viewing position; and

a second signage component defining a second surface and displaying a second sign comprising a manipulation of an original image, the manipulation being arranged such that, when the signage assembly is viewed from the intended viewing position, the original image appears in a plane extending at an angle to the second surface, the second signage component being adapted for location relative to the first signage component such that the first and second surfaces are non-parallel.

Drawing