FIELD

The invention relates to a customisable face plate, and a method for creating such a face plate.

BACKGROUND

The day to day use of computers and other media centres, both in the workplace and in homes, has increased greatly in recent years. A consequence of this is that people are viewing display screens more often than in the past. Some users also find it desirable to be able to personalise the appearance of their electrical equipment, including personal music devices, mobile telephones and computers.

Home computer systems and other electronic display devices are now being developed to incorporate decorative design and user selection of colour and design. Further, manufacturers of computers are beginning to incorporate individual choice in order to allow users to create a unique look for their computer. The majority of these solutions have been permanent selections, for example, giving consumers a choice of colours when ordering a laptop computer, such choices cannot be easily changed throughout the life of the product. US Patent No. 6,437,976 describes a decorative face plate for attaching to a housing for a computer system. The face plate described does not contain any customisable prefabricated markings, and also is not suitably shaped for fitting to an area surrounding a display. The face plate also uses snap-fit clips for connecting the face plate to the housing, which are prone to failure if the face plate is repeatedly attached and detached from the housing (e.g. when user preference changes).

Some computer systems have been developed with interchangeable covers. For example, US Patent No. 7,280,349 describes a method for a transparent clip-on cover for a computer system. The cover is shaped to retain an interchangeable image fitted between the cover and the body of the computer system. Another example is US Patent No. 7,206,618, which describes the use of a transparent face plate shaped to retain a removable insert to the body of an electronic device to customise its appearance. The systems described in US Patent No. 7,280,349 and US Patent No. 7,206,618 do not expressly disclose the ability for users to customise the appearance of the area surrounding a display using a face plate with customisable prefabricated markings.

Existing housings for a display (e.g. a LCD or CRT display unit) are typically plain, and are not designed for other things to be attached to the housing (e.g. to enhance its appearance). A challenge is therefore to find a simple and adaptable way to change the external appearance of such displays, which can provide a more aesthetically harmonious fit with the user's surrounding environment or can provide a manner for expressing personal taste.

It is desired to address one or more of the above problems concerning existing systems and methods for customising the appearance of a display device, or to at least provide a useful alternative to such system.

SUMMARY

The present invention is directed to a customisable replaceable face plate that can be attached to and removed from a display.

In one representative embodiment, a user who wishes to purchase a new personal computer or laptop computer can go online to order the computer. At the time of ordering, the user can select an option to purchase one or more face plates according to the present invention, and at that time, customise the design of the one or more face plate. For example, the user may design a face plate that includes the user's favourite colours, a logo for the user's business, and photographs of the user's grandchildren. Thus, the face plate is personally designed by the user. The face plate is then created according to the user's specifications, and delivered to the user. The user can then attach and remove the face plate to the display as the user wishes. The user can design and use more than one face plate, with different designs, and change face plates according to moods or location. The user can use the computer without the face plate. The user may create face plates for others, such as for family members, as corporate gifts or for co-workers. A user could design a face plate to include advertising, or computer help instructions, or humorous pictures. Face plates according to the present invention can be designed and purchased by a user before or after the user has purchased a computer. Ideally, the face plate will attach to the edge of the display, so that the viewable part of the display is not blocked from view. Thus, the frame or edge of the display, around the perimeter of the viewable section, is covered by the face plate. The face plate may be smaller than the edge of the display, so that some of the edge can be seen. The face plate may be the same size or larger than the edge of the display, so that none of the edge can be seen when in front of the display.

According to one representative embodiment, the invention relates to a face plate (typically of rectangular shape to match the shape of a display) that is attachable and detachable to any part of the body surrounding the display (e.g. a computer monitor or a television display). The face plate may be shaped to form a frame completely or partially surrounding the display. The face plate is removably attachable to the body, and can therefore be attached to or removed from the body of the display at any time. One advantage is that the face plate can have customised markings representing graphical arrangements (which can be used to aesthetic, personalisation, utility, branding or other purposes).

According to the present invention, there is provided a face plate having customisable prefabricated markings representing a graphical arrangement, said face plate being removably attachable to at least a part of an exterior surface of a body surrounding a display, wherein said face plate includes coupling means that when allowed to engage said exterior surface resists detachment of said face plate from said surface.

The present invention also provides a method for applying markings to a face plate including:

receiving selection data representing a selected face plate;

receiving layout data representing a graphical arrangement for applying to said selected face plate;

generating, based on said selection data and layout data, control data for controlling a device to apply said graphical arrangement to said selected face plate. The present invention also provides a method for remotely personalising a display used in conjunction with a user computer, the display being substantially rectangular in shape, comprising the steps of:

at the user computer, selecting a face plate that corresponds to the size and shape of the edge of the display;

electronically transmitting said selection to a central order processing computer;

at the user computer, personally designing a customised graphical arrangement;

electronically transmitting said customised graphical arrangement to the central order processing computer;

under the instruction of the central order processing computer, creating a face plate that corresponds to the user's selection with the customised graphical arrangement applied thereto; and

providing the customised face plate to the user;

wherein the user can attach and remove the face plate to the display without damaging the display or face plate.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Representative embodiments of the present invention are herein described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a block diagram of the components of a face plate customisation system;

Figure 2 is a flow diagram showing a customisation process performed under the control of the face plate customisation system;

Figure 3 is diagram of one embodiment a face plate;

Figure 4 is a diagram of a second alternative embodiment of a face plate;

Figure 5 is a diagram of Detail A shown in Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a diagram of a third alternative embodiment of a face plate; Figure 7 is a diagram of a fourth alternative embodiment of a face plate;

Figure 8 is a diagram of a fifth alternative embodiment of a face plate;

Figure 9 is a diagram of a sixth alternative embodiment of a face plate;

Figure 10 is a diagram of a seventh alternative embodiment of a face plate;

Figure 11 is a diagram of a sheet for processing by the production system;

Figures 12A ₃ 12B, 12C ₅ 12D and 12E are diagrams of different types of face plates for attaching to different parts of a body around a display;

Figure 13 is a diagram of an eighth alternative embodiment of a face plate; and

Figure 14 is a diagram of a ninth alternative embodiment of a face place.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE REPRESENTATIVE EMBODIMENTS

A display unit 300 as shown in Figure 3 includes a body 302 that surrounds a display 304. The display 304 refers to any means that could be used for generating a graphical display, and for example, the display 304 may include a liquid crystal display panel, light-emitting diode array or cathode ray tube display that generates a graphical display under the control of a processor. The processor controlling the display 304 may be part of the display unit 300, or may be part of an external device for controlling the display operations of display 304. In a representative embodiment, the display unit 300 is a display for use with a standard personal computer.

The face plate 306 is a member that is removably attachable (e.g. by a user) to a portion of the body 302 surrounding the display 304. In a representative embodiment, as shown in

Figure 3, the face plate 306 is substantially flat in form, and has an opening 310 so that the face plate 310 minimises obstructing a user's visibility of the display 304. The face plate

306 may be made from any material, including generally rigid materials (such as metal, acrylic and timber veneer) as well as flexibly deformable materials (such as paper, card or sheet plastic). The face plate 306 has a marking surface onto which one or more marking can be made to represent a graphical arrangement. A marking refers a substance or material applied or transferred onto the marking surface to create a persistent (e.g. permanent) graphical arrangement. For example, a marking may be created by applying ink (e.g. by way of drawing or printing) onto the marking surface of the face plate 310.

In a representative embodiment, the markings on a face plate 306 are customisable by a user of the display unit 300. For example, the markings on the face plate 306 may represent one or more of the following features (which may be arranged or selected by a user):

a) a photograph;

b) a graphical design including one or more shapes, patterns or colours;

c) a graphical symbol;

d) text; and

e) artwork (e.g. including user created combinations or arrangements of text, graphics and/or illustrations) .

The marking surface may be part of an exterior surface 308 of the face plate 306 that faces away from the display unit 300. Alternatively, the marking surface may be part of an interior surface of the face plate 306 that faces towards the display unit 300. For example, the face plate 306 may be made of a transparent or translucent material, and the markings that are made on the interior surface of the face plate 306 can be seen through the transparent or translucent face plate 306 from the exterior side.

The face plate 306 has coupling means that enable the face plate 306 to be removably attached to a portion of the body 302. When the coupling means of the face plate 306 is allowed to engage with a portion of the body 302 (e.g. an exterior surface of the body 302) the coupling means form an engagement to resist detachment of the face plate 306 from the body 302. Figures 3 to 10 show examples of different types of coupling means for attaching the face plate 306 to the body 302.

In the representative embodiment shown in Figure 3, the face plate 306 is shaped so as to fit within an exterior portion of the body 302 defined by a border 312 formed around the body 302. The face plate 306 may form a tight fit with the border 312 so that the frictional engagement form between the face plate 306 and the border 312 resists disengagement of the face plate 306 from the body 302. An optional bezel frame 314 (which may be made of transparent material, such as clear acrylic or glass) may be fitted over face plate 306 to minimise damage (e.g. scratching) to the face plate 306.

In the representative embodiment shown in Figure 4, the face plate 402 has one or more projecting members 404a, 404b, 404c and 404d positioned around a peripheral edge of the face plate 402. The body 400 of the display unit has one or more corresponding recesses 406a, 406b, 406c and 406d, each of which can receive a different respective one of the projecting members 404a, 404b, 404c and 404d. When the projecting members 404a, 404b, 404c and 404d are received into the corresponding recesses 406a, 406b, 406c and 406d, the projecting members engages with the recesses (e.g. by forming a snap-fit or other interference fit engagement) to resist disengagement of the face plate 402 from the body 400. Figure 5 is a detailed view of one of the projecting members 404a corresponding to Detail A as shown in Figure 4.

In the representative embodiment shown in Figure 6, the vertical proportions of the face plate 602 is slightly longer than the vertical distance defined by the border 608 formed around the body 600. However, the top edge 606a and bottom edge 606b of the border 608 has a slot for receiving a portion of the face plate 602. When the face plate 602 is fitted to the body 600, an upper portion of the face plate 602 is received into the slot along the top edge 606a and a lower portion of the face plate 602 is received into the slot along the bottom edge 606b. In this way, the face plate 602 is securely held to the body 600, such that the engagement between the face plate 602 and the slots along the top and bottom edges 606a and 606b resist disengagement of the face plate 602 from the body 600.

The arrangement shown in Figure 6 could be modified so that the face plate 602 has slightly longer horizontal proportions, and which the left and right edges of the face plate 602 are received into corresponding slots formed on the left and right edges of the border 608. An example of this alternative configuration is shown in Figure 10, where the face plate 1002 includes two lateral flange portions 1004 and 1006 for fitting into respective grooves and 1008b formed at the left and right edges 1008a and 1008b of the border of the body 1000. A further alternative to the representative embodiments shown in Figures 6 and 10 is that the border of the body 600 has only one slot or groove for receiving an extended portion along one side of the face plate 602. In the representative embodiment shown in Figure 7, the body 700 includes an adhesive portion 702 containing an adhesive. When the face plate 704 comes into contact with the adhesive portion 702, the adhesive resists disengagement of the face plate 704 from the body 700.

In the representative embodiment shown in Figure 8, the body 800 includes one or more protruding lock members 804a, 804b, 804c and 804d for securely engaging with corresponding recesses 806a, 806b, 806c and 806d formed on one side of the face plate 802. For example, each of the protruding lock members 804a, 804b, 804c and 804d may have an enlarged head portion for forming an interference fit when placed into a respective recess 806a, 806b, 806c and 806d that resists disengagement of the face plate 802 from the body 800.

In the representative embodiment shown in Figure 9, the body 900 includes one or more vacuum forming members 904a, 904b, 904c and 904d for securely engaging with different area 906a, 906b, 906c and 906d of the face plate 902. For example, each of the protruding lock members 804a, 804b, 804c and 804d may be a suction cup that forms a vacuum when engaging with a portion of the face plate 802, which resists disengagement of the face plate 902 from the body 900.

Figure 11 is a diagram of a piece of sheet material 110 used for creating a face plate. Figures 12A to 12E show different types of face plate arrangements relative to a display 1200. Figure 12A shows a face plate (shown with shading) that completely surrounds a display 1200. Figures 12B to 12E show a face plate (shown with shading) that around only parts of the display 1200.

In the representative embodiment shown in Figure 13, the body 1300 has one or more grooves along the upper edge 1304a and/or the lower edge 1304b. The face plate 1302 has one or more projecting flange portions 1306a, 1306b, 1306c and 1306d located around a peripheral portion of the face plate 1302. When the projecting flange portions 1306a, 1306b, 1306c and 1306d are received into the grooves along the upper and/or lower edge 1304a and 1304b of the body 1302, the engagement formed between the groove and the flange portions 1306a, 1306b, 1306c and 1306d resists disengagement of the face plate 1302 from the body 1300. Figure 14 shows another embodiment of the coupling means between a body 1400 and a face plate 1402. The face plate 1402 has a plurality of projecting flange members 1404 that are received into corresponding recesses 1406 formed on the body 1400 so that the engagement formed between the projecting flange members 1404 and the recesses 1406 resist disengagement of the face plate 1402 from the body 1400.

The present invention also provide a face plate customisation system 100 for creating prefabricated user-customised face plates from a material (e.g. a sheet material as shown in Figure 11).

The face plate customisation system 100, as shown in Figure 1, includes a client device 102 that communicates with a customisation server 106 via a communications network 104

(such as the Internet, Local Area Network or a wireless network such as a mobile network or IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n network). The client device 102 may be a standard personal computer (such as that provided by IBM Corporation) running a standard operating system

(such as Windows or Linux). The client device 102 has a communications module 112 (e.g. a web browser application) that enables a user of the client device 102 to communicate with and control one or more operations performed by the customisation server 106.

The customisation server 106 is a standard computer configured to operate as a web server. The customisation server 106 includes various modules (not shown in Figure 1) that control the operation of the customisation server 106 (e.g. by executing commands or instructions). The customisation server 106 communicates with a database 108, which stores data including face plate configuration data and user account data. The customisation server 106 also communicates with an application device 110 for applying a graphical arrangement to a material for producing a face plate. For example, the application device 110 may be a printer.

The communications module 112 and other modules of the customisation server 106 may be implemented in software. Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the processes performed under the control of these modules can also be executed at least in part by dedicated hardware circuits, e.g., Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) or Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). Figure 2 is a flow diagram of the steps of a face plate customisation process 200 performed under the control of the customisation server 106.

When the face plate customisation system 100 is in use, the client device 102 generates a request that is transmitted to the customisation server 106 via the network 104. The customisation server 106 responds to the request by providing data representing options (e.g. in the form of a menu or selection fields in a webpage) for the user of the client device 102 to select or define attributes of a customised face plate for the user. The parameters that the user can define may include features such as the size of the face plate, the shape or design of the face plate, or an identifier corresponding to a template (or preset settings or parameters) stored in the database 108 that can be used by the user to create a customised face plate. The client device 102 generates selection data including data representing the user selected attributes of the customised face plate.

In a representative embodiment, the graphical user interface for the user to select or define parameters for the customised face plate may also allow the user to define parameters relating to a graphical arrangement to be applied to the customised face plate. For example, the graphical user interface may allow the user to transmit data representing a photograph, or an arrangement of one or more shapes, patterns, symbols, text and/or colours to be positioned on to the customised face plate. The client device 102 generates layout data including data representing the parameters corresponding to the graphical arrangement to be applied to the user's customised face plate.

At steps 202 and 204 of the face plate customisation process 200, the client device 102 sends the selection data and layout data to the customisation server 106 via the network 104.

At step 206, the customisation server 106 generates control data for instructing the application device 110 to apply one or more markings to a face plate of the type selected by the user. For example, the control data may represent instructions for a printer to print markings onto a sheet material (that corresponds to the face plate) in accordance with the graphical arrangement defined by the user. The control data may include data for controlling other application devices 110, such as a cutting device for cutting the sheet material into the correct size and shape as defined by the selection data. At step 208, the application device 110 carries out actions (e.g. applying the markings and cutting) in accordance with the control data.

Modifications and improvements to the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Such modifications and improvements are intended to be within the scope of this invention.

In this specification where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge; or known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned.

The word 'comprising' and forms of the word 'comprising' as used in this description and in the claims does not limit the invention claimed to exclude any variants or additions.