Interactive display unit for refrigerated foods

[0002] The present invention relates to a display unit for the distribution of products, in particular to a refrigerated display unit for food products such as ice cream and the like.

[0003] More specifically, the subject of the invention is a display unit which comprises a cabinet in the form of a chest defining an environment intended to contain the products and having an access aperture at the top.

[0004] Cabinets of the above type are widely used for the distribution of products, in particular ice cream and the like, for example in supermarkets and other points of distribution/sale such as cafes and other commercial premises.

[0005] Prior art cabinets are essentially containers for conserving the products which, in use, are either removed directly by the customer or by a sales or distribution assistant.

[0006] In the case of products such as ice cream and the like, the climate in such cabinets is regulated by thermostat-controlled refrigeration systems of a type known per se.

[0007] Until now, the design of such cabinets has generally been aimed at merely fulfilling the essential functional requirement of containing the products, and possibly keeping them at a given temperature, and enabling them to be removed more or less easily.

[0008] In a few cases, while fulfilling the basic functional requirements, attention has been given to the aesthetics of the design, so as to give the cabinet a more attractive and pleasing appearance.

[0009] The functional characteristics of such units have, however, remained essentially unchanged.

[0010] With the above in mind, a main object of the present invention is to provide a display unit of the type described above which, in addition to fulfilling the aforesaid essential functional requirements, encourages interaction with the customer, thereby making it generally more “appealing” and thus more likely to promote the purchase of the products.

[0011] This and other objects are achieved according to the invention by providing a unit for the distribution of products having a cabinet which defines an environment for containing the products and which has a top access opening. This unit includes an electric or electronic display panel arranged near the top access opening and operable to generate a plurality of predetermined visual displays. A control means operable by a user, generates these visual displays on the display panel, which also presents static images of the products contained in the unit along with associated luminous devices that can be selectively activated by commands from a user in operating the control means. This display unit is particularly useful for refrigerated products such as ice cream and the like.

[0012] Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows, provided purely by way of non-limitative example, with reference to the appended drawings, in which:

[0013] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an example of an embodiment of a unit according to the invention,

[0014] FIG. 2 is a partially sectioned view taken on the line II—II of FIG. 1,

[0015] FIG. 3 is a section taken on the line III—III of FIG. 1 and shows an example of the structure of a display panel forming part of a unit according to the invention,

[0016] FIG. 4 is a partial side view of a unit according to the invention, showing various possible positions of the display panel,

[0017] FIG. 5 is a partially sectioned side view showing a detail of a unit according to the invention,

[0018] FIG. 6 is a partial front view of the detail indicated VI in FIG. 5, and

[0019] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of the electric/electronic components of a cabinet according to the present invention.

[0020] In FIG. 1, a display unit for the distribution of products, in particular a refrigerated unit for ice cream and the like, is generally indicated 1.

[0021] This unit comprises a container 2 in the form of a cabinet, defining therein an environment 3 (FIG. 2) intended to contain the products (not shown). At the top, the container 2 has an opening 4 giving access to the environment 3.

[0022] In the embodiment illustrated by way of example, two lids 5 and 6 are associated with this opening 4, constituted essentially by two sheets of transparent material, slidable in respective, parallel planes. Each of these lids extends for about half the extent of the opening 4 of the cabinet 2.

[0023] Other lid arrangements or equivalent closure elements are of course possible.

[0024] The display unit 1 shown in the drawings also includes an electric or electronic display panel, generally indicated 7. This panel is arranged along one side of the top opening 4 of the cabinet 2 and may, in particular, be hinged or otherwise pivoted on this side of the aperture 4, as shown in FIG. 4.

[0025] As will be explained better later, the display panel 7 is generally designed to offer a plurality of predetermined visual presentations.

[0026] For preference, though not necessarily, the display panel 7 has essentially the same dimensions as the top opening 4 of the cabinet 2 and may be arranged in a raised, presentation position, shown in FIG. 1, or in a reclining or lowered position in which is acts as an additional lid closing the said opening 4, as illustrated in FIG. 4.

[0027] The unit 1 also includes a control panel which in the embodiments illustrated by way of example in FIGS. 1, 5 and 6 is generally indicated 8. This panel can include a control keypad 9, for example of a sensitive membrane type. Light-emitting diodes or similar luminous devices may conveniently be associated with the keypad (see FIG. 7).

[0028] The unit 1 can also include a temperature indicator, such as that indicated 11 in FIGS. 5 and 6, connected to a thermometer arranged in the environment 3 to indicate the temperature inside the cabinet.

[0029] The unit 1 may also include a proximity sensor, such as that indicated 12 in FIG. 1 and in FIGS. 5-7, operable to detect the presence or the passage of a person in the vicinity of the unit and to emit a corresponding signal.

[0030] For convenience, though not necessarily, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the keypad 9, the temperature indicator 11 and the proximity sensor 12 may be mounted in a common casing (indicated 13 in the said drawings) fixed to the front portion of the rim of the cabinet 2, as shown in particular in FIGS. 1 and 5.

[0031] The unit 1 may conveniently be equipped with at least one electro-acoustic transducer, such as a loudspeaker or the like, for the generation of acoustic signals and/or sound and/or vocal messages. In the embodiment illustrated by way of example, the unit 1 includes a loudspeaker 14 arranged in the lower portion of the display panel 7 (see FIGS. 1, 2 and 3).

[0032] The display panel 7 may be constructed, for example, as described hereafter, with particular reference to FIGS. 1 and 3.

[0033] In this embodiment, the panel 7 includes a casing or shell 15, of plastics material or sheet metal for example, with a front opening 16 in which is mounted a plate 17 of transparent material such as polycarbonate, A second plate 18, also made, for example of polycarbonate, is arranged inside the shell 15, behind the protective plate 17. The plate 18 carries a plurality of iconographic images of the products contained in the unit 1, similar, for example, to the images indicated 18 to 23 in FIG. 1. These images or illustrations may be applied to the plate 18 by screen printing for example. The plate 18 has corresponding light-emitting diodes, indicated 29-33 in FIG. 1, next to the images 19-23 of the products.

[0034] An additional plate or sheet 24 of plastics material can also be arranged inside the shell 15, carrying a plurality of light bulbs or the like, indicated 39-43 in FIG. 3, each of which is arranged in correspondence with a respective product image 19-33.

[0035] The plate 18 may also carry at least one display device of an alphanumeric type 26 (see FIGS. 1 and 3), for displaying messages to the users or customers.

[0036] The various electrical/electronic devices included in the display panel 7 are connected to a control unit, indicated 50 in FIG. 7, arranged in a special housing (not shown) preferably positioned in the rear portion of the cabinet 2.

[0037] The control panel 8 and the keypad 9, the light-emitting diodes and the proximity sensor 12, as well as the loudspeaker 14, are also connected to the unit 50.

[0038] With a display unit 1 according to the invention, equipped with the control keypad 9 the user or client can operate the buttons of the keypad in order to choose from the categories of products contained in the unit and shown on the display panel. In this event, the control unit 50 is pre-set to control the selective activation of the bulbs and the light-emitting diodes on the panel 7 which correspond to the category of products selected. In addition to this visual presentation of the selected products, in accordance with the command given by the customer using the keypad 9, the control unit 50 can cause the loudspeaker 14 to give out predetermined acoustic signals or sound and/or vocal messages.

[0039] If light emitting diodes 10 are connected to the keypad 9, the control unit 50 may be regulated so as to activate them according to predetermined instructions, either in a stand-by condition, that is when there are no users near the unit 1, or upon a command given by means of the keypad 9. In the same way, the control unit 50 can be regulated so as to activate the light bulbs and the diodes on the panel 7 according to instructions which could be different, for example, for a stand-by condition and for responding to a command on the keypad from a user.

[0040] If the display panel 7 includes an alphanumeric display, the control unit 50 can be regulated so as to generate messages to “attract” customers in stand-by conditions and to issue predetermined messages in response to commands given by a user by means of the keypad 9.

[0041] The display panel could also be activated and/or acoustic signals or sound and/or vocal messages could be generated on detection by the proximity sensor 12 of the presence or passage of a user near the unit 1, instead of by a command on the keypad 9.

[0042] A unit according to the invention can also be manufactured without the keypad 9 and the associated light-emitting diodes but with only a proximity sensor to activate the display panel and/or emit acoustic signals or sound and/or vocal messages.

[0043] The display panel 7 may be made differently from the one described above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3. In particular, this panel may be constituted by a video terminal of the type used, for example, for personal computers, for showing static and/or dynamic images. In this event, the electronic control unit 50 may be set up so as to control an interactive video game or the like, in which a customer can intervene by operating one or more push-buttons arranged for this purpose in the keypad 9 of the control panel.

[0044] The control unit 50 could also be equipped with a memory device in order to retain data or signals which could be used to reproduce musical tunes which could be selected by the customer by means of the keypad 9 of the control panel.

[0045] These tunes could then be reproduced by means of the electroacoustic transducer, or transducers, arranged in the display unit, such as the loudspeaker 14 described earlier.

[0046] A display unit according to the invention may also be set up so as to operate a pseudo-random sequence and give a user a free product.

[0047] This can be achieved, for example, by means of a device, incorporated in the control unit 5, which generates a pseudo-random sequence of signals, and operable to emit a corresponding message, which may be visual, for example by means of the display panel 7, or acoustic or vocal by means of the loudspeaker 14.

[0048] Alternatively, the device for generating pseudo-random signals may be set up so as to print, in a pseudo-random sequence, a message offering a free product by means of a printer (indicated 28 in FIG. 7) associated with the unit 1.

[0049] According to a further variant, the keypad 9 of the control panel of the display unit 1 may be used by the customer to transmit a code and the control unit 50 may include a generator of pseudo-random signals, set up to generate a randomly variable code each time a customer punches out a code, and a comparator for comparing the code punched out by the customer with that generated by the generator. Should the two coincide, the control unit 50 would control the emission of a visual, acoustic or vocal image announcing that a free product has been won.

[0050] Instead of the keypad 9, the user could use a bar-code reading device to enter a code, such as that indicated by block 38 in FIG. 7, connected or otherwise associated with the display unit 1 and operable to read a code which would be carried by a support such as a card or a ticket which would, for example, be given to the user at the entrance to the commercial premises housing the display unit.

[0051] A display unit according to the invention may also have an electric motor (such as that indicated 37 in FIG. 7) for controlling, by appropriate transmission means, the opening and closing of the lids 5, 6 associated with the cabinet 2. For convenience, this motor is controlled by the control unit 50 and a user may turn it on by means of the keypad 9 of the control panel of the display unit.

[0052] Naturally, the principles of the invention remaining unchanged, the embodiments and manufacturing details thereof may vary widely from those described and illustrated purely by way of non-limitative example, the invention extending to all realisations which achieve the same utility by the same inventive concept as defined in the annexed Claims.