WO2001088636A1

WO2001088636A1 - Wearable information display devices

Info

Publication number: WO2001088636A1
Application number: PCT/GB2001/002198
Authority: WO
Inventors: Samuel Roden Buxton
Original assignee: Samuel Roden Buxton
Priority date: 2000-05-16
Filing date: 2001-05-16
Publication date: 2001-11-22
Also published as: GB0011621D0; AU2001256538A1

Abstract

Wearable display devices are described, particularly for use as wristwatches. They may consist of an electronics and power package (2) which forms the clasp of a flexible bracelet (1) which has within it individual areas of electroluminescent material. The individual areas may be selectively activated by the electronics so that the item displays a representation e.g. of the time, which is easily read even under reduced lighting conditions because of the use of electroluminescent technology.

Description

WEARABLE INFORMATION DISPLAY DEVICES

This invention relates to wearable information display devices, in particular wrist watches.

Following the development of mechanical watch movements sufficiently small to be worn on the wrist, a wristwatch has become a standard accessory worn by many millions of people in order to enable them to tell the time. For many decades, the wristwatch was a purely mechanical device, but during the 20th century developments in electronics and miniaturisation led first to the "battery powered watch" and subsequently to watches where the battery, instead of driving a mechanical movement, was used to power a suitable electronics package including a visible display.

Originally marketed using light-emitting diode displays, e.g. with four so-called seven-segment displays enabling the four digits on a standard 24 hour clock to be displayed, these were superseded by so-called liquid crystal displays which consumed less power while providing a legible display. The range of functions provided by the electronics expanded, so that watches could show not only time, but date, day and other information. By the to t t NJ I-¹ v-> tπ O tπ O tπ o tπ

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illumination of instrument dials, in particular in the automotive area, and of LCD displays in mobile telephone handsets. Such technology has been suggested for application in wristwatches and US-A-5805533 discloses wristwatches having a dial bearing printed indicia which can be illuminated if desired to assist legibility of the printed indicia by making the entire dial a circular electroluminescent device. US-A-5805533 is directed to an invention relating to being able to read an illuminated date ring incorporated in a watch with greater ease, that likewise being illuminated by the incorporation of an electroluminescent layer underneath pre-printed indicia.

In accordance broadly with the present invention, there is provided a wearable information display device which comprises a bracelet structure adapted to be worn around the wrist having an electrically actuatable display means therein and also incorporating a power supply and electronics to drive the display means to provide a display of information, and characterised in that the display is provided by the selective illumination of separate areas of electroluminescent material.

In one form of such a display device, the electroluminescent material areas are not used as background illumination for other pre-printed information-provided indicia, for example letters or symbols, but rather the shapes of individual electroluminescent devices are formed themselves so as to be selectively illuminated to provide, in combination, intelligible information. Alternatively, different areas of electroluminescent material may be covered by an apertured mark, the aperture corresponding to one or more indicia, in the manner of a stencil.

While the invention is not so restricted, it is of particular value in the production of wristwatches and accordingly in accordance with a preferred feature of the invention there is provided an illuminated wristwatch construction comprising a bracelet structure adapted to be worn around the wrist having electrically actuatable display means therein and also incorporating a power supply and electronics to drive the display means to provide an intellectually perceptible indication of the time of day, characterised in that the display means comprises a plurality of separate areas of electroluminescent material and the electronics is adapted to illuminate a selected number of such areas to provide an illuminated display from which the time can be read.

The configuration of the separate areas of electroluminescent material may vary extremely widely. Thus one approach is to have areas of electroluminescent material in the form of recognisable digits. An alternative is to provide a display consisting of a number of separate segments or sectors, the number of which are illuminated at any time corresponding to the number of hours and/or minutes reflecting that time. Thus the display may be digital with standard numeric representation, or it may be essentially analogue with the amount or position of illuminated areas giving an indication of the time.

The physical construction of wearable information display devices in accordance with the present invention may vary widely, but conveniently the device consists of a flexible band of appropriate length and a clip or housing attached to one end of the band and into which the other end of the band may be clipped or locked to provide a bracelet, e.g. around the user's wrist.

Alternatively, the two ends may be held together by a burr fastening mechanism. The band may be of an appropriate laminated construction and be produced by customary techniques of printing, conventionally screen printing, followed by lamination and possibly encapsulation to provide the final band structure. It is often of value in terms of increasing the flexibility of connection to individual areas of electroluminescent material to construct the band in a form which has a central elongate area which is designed to be the display area and which has either side of it lateral areas including appropriate connective paths which may or may not be electroluminescent. In the case of non-electroluminescent connected paths, e.g. printed conductive inks such as are used in flexible printed circuits, the sides of the band may be folded round to underlie the part of the band which provides the electroluminescent display.

The housing may conveniently contain the necessary power source and electronics, and may additionally carry e.g. one or more actuation buttons operating either mechanically or purely electrically enabling input to the electronics e.g. for the purpose of setting the time. The housing may, if flexible electronic circuits and power storage devices are used, be flexible to conform to the wearer's wrist.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, the housing will contain, in addition to the power source, for example a small button cell, an appropriate microprocessor chip, a timer chip, and an inverter chip to produce the high voltage (high relative to the battery voltage) required to stimulate the electroluminescent areas to give out light.

The circuitry and programming may be varied widely, but can be of a standard and known type. The programming need not be permanent; by suitable choice of memory storage device and input mechanisms of known type, the programming may be varied.

The dimensions of the flexible band which constitutes the display means may be chosen with an appropriate range both as regards length and as regards width. By careful choice of materials and accurate printing of the electroluminescent layers during manufacture, it is possible to provide an encapsulated flexible band consisting of a base strip bearing a plurality of individually stimulatable electroluminescent areas of overall thickness of the assembly, e.g. less than 2 millimetres .

In addition to the provision of electroluminescent display areas cooperating to provide intelligible display, other areas of electroluminescent material may easily be incorporated in such a band, e.g. for purely decorative effect. Such areas may be continuously stimulated, or selectively stimulated to provide an attractive and eye-catching display.

As indicated above, although a major area of application of the present invention is envisaged as embodied in wristwatch type time indicator devices, the present invention may also be applied to wearable items which do not necessarily include any time function, but which nevertheless act by the selective illumination of areas of electroluminescent material to give an information display. Thus, for example, it is applicable in the area of events, particularly events which take place wholly or partially in low illumination conditions, e.g. at night, where event organisers need to identify legitimate event goers. Thus, for example, in a music festival, attendees may be provided with a wristband which can be pre-programmed on arrival and registration to identify the owner and e.g. provide a simple display of those parts of the event for which they have paid to gain access. An analogous use is in identification of conference-goers .

The invention is illustrated by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings in which

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic descriptive view of a wristwatch in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a view of the wristwatch of Figure 1 from the clasp side;

Figure 3 is a view of the wristwatch of Figure 1 with the clasp unclasped and the item laid out flat;

Figure 4 is an exploded view showing the layer structure of part of the band of the watch shown in Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a conceptual block diagram showing a typical circuit arrangement for the watch of Figure 1; and

Figures 6 to 10 are diagrammatic views showing alternative displays.

Referring first to Figure 1, this shows a wristwatch in accordance with the present invention which consists of a flexible band 1 held in a circle by a clasp unit 2. Band 1 is around 2 millimetres thick and 20 millimetres broad.

In Figure 1, four lines can be seen, each of which is illuminated in use and each of which terminates in an area shaped as an Arabic numeral. As can be seen, the illuminated numerals in Figure 1 are a 1 and an 8 forming 18 reading from left to right, while the other two areas terminate in slightly lower size figures 4 and 2, to be read as 42 from left to right. Thus the wristwatch of Figure 1 is displaying the time 18:42 on the 24 hour clock.

This selective display thus provides a clear, correct indication of the time in an instantly readable fashion.

Referring to Figure 3, this shows the complete layout of tracks of electroluminescent material terminating in Arabic number shaped areas of the same. The arrangement of the individual tracks and of the numerals on the end of them is chosen with care to enable the desired range of numbers to be displayed, i.e. from 01 to 24 for the hours and 01 to 59 for the minutes. Which tracks and their associated numbers are displayed is determined by the electronics which is located in the clasp. As shown in Figure 2, the clasp is a thickened area of the band at one end having a housing which contains the various necessary circuits. Purely diagrammatically indicated in Figure 2 is the general physical location of an inverter chip 5, a timer chip 6, a processor chip 7 and a battery 8.

As shown in Figure 3, to the left of the areas of numerals are two spots of electroluminescent material which, for example, may illuminate alternately, e.g. at one second intervals showing that the device is working.

The detailed construction of the band and housing may vary widely, but a typical layered construction of the band is shown exploded in Figure 4.

As can be seen in that Figure, the electroluminescent areas are provided by printing areas of phosphor 10 on to a ceramic layer 11 which is sandwiched between a rear electrode 12 and an upper transparent electrode 13, for example one made of indium tin oxide coated on a suitable substrate in standard fashion. Either side of this arrangement is a sheet of acetate film 14 which provides adequate stability while retaining flexibility, and the entire laminated stack is covered by an outer protective layer 15 e.g. of transparent electrically insulative plastics or rubbery plastics material. The outer cover 15 serves to encapsulate the whole of the flexible display device as well as to provide an outer "feel" to the device which is comfortable when worn against the wrist. If desired, the inside part of the cover, i.e. the lower of the two layers 15 shown in Figure 4, may be textured so that it feels more comfortable against the user's wrist.

Figure 5 shows a typical diagrammatic circuit for use in the wristwatch of Figure 1. It is highly simplified, but the design and programming of such items is straightforward and their integration into a compact package within the housing may be achieved using standard micro assembly techniques.

Central to the operation is a programmed microchip 20 which is associated with a timer chip 21 in standard fashion. A battery 22 provides power to the microchip 20, but also to an inverter chip 24 which generates from the battery power supply an increased voltage sufficient to drive the electroluminescent layers into light- emitting activity. As shown in Figure 5, the output of the inverter chip is fed to an area of electroluminescent material 25 and to a switch 26 which is under the control of microchip 20. If switch 26 is turned on, then the necessary voltage is applied to electroluminescent area 25 and it lights up. In a practical embodiment of this invention, there are numerous switches 26 and electroluminescent areas 25.

The programmed microchip may have one or more "time adjust" input buttons schematically indicated at 27 associated therewith in order to enable the time displayed to be adjusted. Additionally, the casing may include a photovoltaic cell 28 so that the battery 22 can be recharged e.g. by the user leaving the wristwatch in the sun with the casing facing an appropriate way. Alternatively, the housing may contain contacts which match contact pads in a base station into which the unit may be placed for recharging, e.g. at night.

Figure 1 shows a particular way of indicating the time, in the specific illustration, 18:42. It is not, however, necessary to indicate the time purely in that way, and alternative approaches may be envisaged. Some of these are shown in Figures 6 to 10.

Referring first to Figure 6, it can be seen that, in this particular case, the band is constructed with two rounded sections 30, 31, each of which has a set of twelve generally wedge-shaped segments printed on it in a circle. Each of the wedge-shaped segments is made of electroluminescent material and each is connected via a strip to the driver electronics in the clasp (not shown in Figure 6 for the sake of simplicity) .

As can be seen, segments 30 are of greater radial extent than segments 31, so it is easy to recognise that one may be used representative of the position of an hour hand and the other of a minute hand of a conventional mechanical watch. Depending upon the designer's desire, the electronics may be arranged to illuminate only one of the segments in each of the rings of segments 30 and 31, or, for example, one segment of segments 31 may be illuminated to indicate 5 minutes past the hour, 2 for 10 minutes past, 3 for 15 minutes past and so on.

Referring now to Figure 7, this shows diagrammatically an alternative approach where the time is indicated by the selective illumination of number areas each associated with a schematic representation of a footballer, the footballers being distributed along the length of the band and the band additionally bearing markings evocative of a football pitch as defined by white lines and with a "goal" indicated at each end. A typical "player" is denoted 32 and is associated with the number .

By the use of appropriate numbers and positions and selective time illumination, the "players", or rather those which are illuminated, constitute a representation of the time.

^By appropriate sophisticated programming and appropriate means to switch over that programming, the "players" can be selectively illuminated and at the same time a number of additional areas each denoted in Figure 7 by a small circle can likewise be illuminated, these small circular areas being representational of a football. It is thus conceivable for the appearance of the watch to simulate a number of football players moving a football around. This may if desired run as a "default" operational mode, with the wearer actuating an appropriate switch, for example a proximity switch, when he or she wants to know the time which can then be displayed for a preset period such as 10 seconds, whereafter if the proximity switch is no longer actuated, the item may default to an apparent "game" mode.

Figure 8 shows a wholly different approach where the individually illuminatable areas are simple blocks, but masked in the fashion of a stencil so as to produce an intelligible word. As can be seen by studying Figure 8, the selective illumination of different areas of electroluminescent material may produce a sentence, read from top to bottom, such as "the time is six twentythree" .

Figures 9 and 10 are diagrammatic views of a further alternative construction, Figure 9 essentially being a view of the composite band made up from registering the two bands shown overlapped in Figure 10. As seen in Figure 10, the upper band has an aperture 35 and surrounding that aperture a ring of segments pre-printed in electroluminescent material 34. Blacked-in segments are meant to indicate ones which are illuminated, the other outlined segments being considered as non- illuminated. Visible through aperture 35 in the assembled construction as shown in Figure 9 is an inner ring of segments which can be representative of the position of an "hour hand". As in the construction shown by way of example and described with reference to Figures 1 to 3 above, the two bands have areas 33 and 36 containing (though these are not illustrated in the drawing) a set of parallel conductive tracks which lead down to enable appropriate electrical contact to be made with the respective electroluminescent area. No tracks are shown in Figures 7, 9 and 10 for the sake of clarity.

The graphic and pictorial design may be varied very widely as desired. In addition to the elements representative of the time, purely ornamental elements, such as a motif or pattern, or a representation of an animal or the like may be provided. If desired, a sequence of animals may be shown, for example appearing to leap around the band. The electroluminescent materials used may be coloured all the same or differently coloured as desired. Techniques for producing different coloured electroluminescent layers are well-known in the art.

Claims

1. A wearable information display device which comprises a bracelet structure adapted to be worn around the wrist having an electrically actuatable display means therein and also incorporating a power supply and electronics to drive the display means to provide a display of information, and characterised in that the display is provided by the selective illumination of separate areas of electroluminescent material.

2. An illuminated wristwatch construction comprising a bracelet structure adapted to be worn around the wrist having electrically actuatable display means therein and also incorporating a power supply and electronics to drive the display means to provide an intellectually perceptible indication of the time of day, characterised in that the display means comprises a plurality of separate areas of electroluminescent material and the electronics is adapted to illuminate a selected number of such areas to provide an illuminated display from which the time can be read.

3. A device or wristwatch construction according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein at least some parts of the areas of electroluminescent material are in the form of recognisable digits.

4. A device or wristwatch construction according to Claim 1 or 2 wherein at least some parts of the areas of electroluminescent material are in the form of separate segments or sectors, the number of which illuminated at any time corresponding to the number of hours and/or minutes reflecting that time.

5. A device or wristwatch construction according to one of the preceding Claims and incorporating a flexible band of appropriate length and a housing attached to one end of the band and into which the other end of the band may be clipped or locked to provide a bracelet.

6. A device or wristwatch construction according to Claim 5 wherein the housing contains the necessary power source and electronics.

7. A device or wristwatch construction according to Claim 6 wherein the housing contains, in addition to the power source, a microprocessor chip, a timer chip, and an inverter chip adapted to produce the high voltage, relative to the battery voltage, needed by the electroluminescent material.

8. A display device or wristwatch according to any one of the preceding Claims and including, in addition to the electroluminescent display areas cooperating to provide an intelligible display, other areas of electroluminescent material.