Integrated Building Display and Shading System

Abstract

An integrated building display and shading system formed of a plurality of exterior building panels arranged in an array, each exterior building panel representing one pixel. A given pixel resides in a first state when a first excitation state is applied to the exterior building panel and can be changed to reside in a second state when a second excitation state is applied to the exterior building panel, thus allowing an image to be presented on the array. The excitation states are controlled by an electronic control system including a frame buffer and an illumination source. Different types of variable property glass can be used such that a first state is a transparent state and the second state is an opaque state or color state (e.g. red, green, blue). The integrated building display and shading system can be illuminated via natural light, or via UV light, or via a projector.

1 . An integrated building display and shading system, comprising:
 a plurality of exterior building panels of a building arranged in an array, each exterior building panel representing one pixel and the pixel resides in a first state when a first excitation state is applied to the exterior building panel and resides in a second state when a second excitation state is applied to the exterior building panel, thus allowing an image to be presented on the array;   an electronic control system including a frame buffer to control the panels to switch between the first state and the second state to display the image on the array.   
     
     
         2 . The display and shading system of  claim 1 , wherein the first state is a transparent state and the second state is an opaque state. 
     
     
         3 . The display and shading system of  claim 1 , wherein the second state is at least one of, (1) a white color, (2) a grey color, and (3) a black color. 
     
     
         4 . The display and shading system of  claim 1 , wherein the second state is at least one of, (1) a red color, (2) a blue color, a (3) green color, and (4) a color combination of red color, green color and blue color. 
     
     
         5 . The display and shading system of  claim 1 , further comprising a mirror placed behind the array of panels to reflect the image projected on the array onto a distant surface. 
     
     
         6 . The display and shading system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the panels is made of electrically switchable glass using one of (1) a suspended particle device material and (2) a polymer dispersed liquid device material sandwiched between two sheets of glass. 
     
     
         7 . The display and shading system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the panels is made of electrically switchable glass using one of (1) a suspended particle device material, and (2) a polymer dispersed liquid device material applied to a glass panel. 
     
     
         8 . The display and shading system of  claim 1 , wherein when a contiguous region of the panels are in the second state, the array functions as a projection screen. 
     
     
         9 . The display and shading system of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one photocell, the photocell disposed within the spatial bounds of a grid panel. 
     
     
         10 . The integrated building display and shading system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of exterior building panels comprises:
 at least one first layer of a first variable property glass; and   at least one second layer of a second variable property glass.   
     
     
         11 . The building display and shading system of  claim 10 , wherein the first layer is a suspended particle devices layer. 
     
     
         12 . The building display and shading system of  claim 10 , wherein the first layer is a polymer dispersed liquid crystal devices layer. 
     
     
         13 . The building display and shading system of  claim 10 , wherein the first layer is a photo-chromic layer. 
     
     
         14 . The building display and shading system of  claim 10 , further comprising a third layer of a fixed property glass. 
     
     
         15 . The display and shading system of  claim 10 , further comprising a projector placed behind the array to reflect the image projected on the array onto a distant surface. 
     
     
         16 . The display and shading system of  claim 10 , further comprising a projector placed behind the array to reflect the image projected on the array into free space. 
     
     
         17 . The display and shading system of  claim 10 , further comprising a mirror placed behind the array to reflect the image projected on the array onto a distant surface. 
     
     
         18 . The building display and shading system of  claim 10 , further comprising an acrylic tile layer. 
     
     
         19 . The building display and shading system of  claim 18 , further comprising an RGB LED. 
     
     
         20 . The building display and shading system of  claim 18 , further comprising a UV LED.