1.0 Introduction
An electronic fast food menu or chart is a display that shows the lists of food available and their prices respectively. However, an electronic fast food menu can be LED based moving message display that is becoming popular for transmitting information to large group of people quickly. This can be used indoors or outdoors and apart from using it in hostels/restaurants, it can still be used in some other places like airports, banks, shops, nightclubs, railway plat-forms, public offices and training institutions.
Compared to LEDs, liquid crystal displays (LEDs) are easy to interface with microcontroller for displaying information as they have many in — built functions but they cannot be observed from a distance while displaying and large size LCDs are very costly.
Meanwhile, LED — based displays can be of two types;
1) Dot — matrix:
This involves the use of single LEDs connected one after the other to form columns and rows. In this case, all the LEDs in a particular row i.e. anode (A) are connected to a common point while the columns i.e. cathode (K) are equally connected to the respective points.
2) Segmental (7 — segment and 16-segment displays):
This comprises of multiplexed LEDs. The seven segments does not display all the English letters (alphabets) but 16 — segment displays everything which made it to be called alpha-numeric display and the cost of obtaining it is high.
3) LED-based 7-segment display with the 16 hex digits:
The seven segments are arranged as a rectangle of two vertical segments on each side with one horizontal segment on the top, middle, and bottom. Additionally, the seventh segment bisects the rectangle horizontally. There are also fourteen-segment displays and sixteen-segment displays (for full alphanumeric). However, these have mostly been replaced by dot-matrix displays.
The segments of a 7-segment display are referred to by the letters A to G, as shown to the right, where the optional DP (decimal point) is used for the display of non-integer numbers.
The animation to the left cycles through the common glyphs of the ten decimal numerals and the six hexadecimal “letter digit” (A-F). It is an image sequence of a “LED” display, which is described technology-wise in the following section. Notice the variation between uppercase and lowercase letters for A-F; this is done to obtain a unique, unambiguous shape for each letter.
Seven segments are, effectively, the fewest required to represent each of the ten Hindu Arabic numerals with a distinct and recognizable glyph. Bloggers have experimented with six-segment and even five-segment. However, these often require complicated and/or non-uniform shape and sometimes create unrecognizable glyphs.
1.1 Implementations
An incandescent light type early seven — segment display. A mechanical seven — segment displaying automotive fuel prices. Seven — segment displays may use a liquid crystal display (LCD), arrays of light-emitting diodes (LEDs), or other light-generating or controlling techniques such as cold cathode gas discharge, vacuum fluorescent, incandescent filaments, and others. For gasoline price, tolems and other large signs, vane displays made up of electromagnetically flipped light-reflecting segments (or “vanes”) are still commonly used. An alternative to the 7-segment display in the 1950s through the 1970s was the cold-cathode, neon-lamp-like nixie tube. Starting in 1970, RCA sold a display device known as the Numitron that used incandescent filaments arranged into a seven-segment display.
Ina simple LED package, typically all of the cathodes (negative terminals) or all of the anodes (positive terminals) of the segment LEDs are connected together and brought out to a common pin. This is referred to as a “common cathode” or “common anode” device. Hence a 7-segment plus decimal point package will only require nine pins.
Integrated displays also exist with single or multiple digits. Some of these integrated displays incorporate their own internal decoder, through most to not — each individual LED is brought out to a connecting pin as described. Multiple-digit LED displays as used in pocket calculators and similar devices used multiplexed displays to reduce the number of IC pins required to control the display.
For example, all the anodes of the A segments of each digit position would be connected together and to a driver pin, while the cathodes of all segments for each digit would be connected. To operate any particular segment of any digit, the controlling integrated circuit would turn on the cathode driver for the selected digit, and the anode drivers for the desired segments; then after a short blanking interval the next digit would be selected and new segments lit, in a sequential fashion. In this manner, an eight digit display with seven segments and a decimal point would require only 8 cathode drivers and 8 anode drivers, instead of sixty-four drivers and IC pins.
Often in pocket calculators, the digit drive lines would be used to scan the keyboard as well, providing further savings. However, pressing multiple keys at once would produce odd results on the multiplexed display.
Seven segment displays can be found in patents as early as 1908 (in US Patent 974, 943, FW Wood invented an 8-segment display, which displayed the number 4 using a diagonal bar), but did not achieve widespread use until the advent of LEDs in the 1979s. They are sometimes even used in unsophisticated displays like cardboard for sale. Signs where the user either applies colour to pre-printed segments, or (spray) paints colour through a seven-segment digit template to compose figures such as product prices or telephone numbers.
For many applications, dot-matrix LCDs have largely superseded LED displays, though even in LCDs, 7-segment displays are very common. Unlike LEDs, the shapes of elements in an LCD panel are arbitrary since they are formed on the displays, though even in LCDs 7-segment displays are very common. Unlike LEDs, the shapes of elements in an LCD panel are arbitrary since they are formed on the display by a kind of printing process. In contrast, the shapes of LED segments tend to be simple, which rectangles, reflecting the fact that they have to be physically moulded to shape, which makes it difficult to form more complex shapes than the segments of 7-segment displays.
However, the high common recognition factor of 7-segment display, and the comparatively high visual contrast obtained by such displays relative to dot-matrix digits makes seven-segment multiple digit LCD screens very common on basic calculators.
1.2 Statement of Problem
This research is also designed to investigate the achievement, problem and prospect of electronic fast-food menu display. Many fast-food joints don't have electronic display because;
1) Low capital available to most fast-food companies because some of them are located in remote places where sales are not adequate.
2) The cost of building electronic display.
3) Another problem can also be the problem of site. Many people might have the idea of running a fast-food joint and also using display menu.
1.3 Objective of the Study
The general objective of this study is to present an overview of electronic display board especially of this study are;
- To examine the importance of electronic fast-food menu as regards to menu display boards.
- To identify the relationship between manual menu and electronic menu display.
1.4 Research Questions
- Has global financial crisis affected the use of display menu by fast-food companies?
- Has the invention of electronic display menu helped fast-food companies in terms of getting more customers?
- Can the confidence and interest of the investors in the fast-food company be restored?
1.5 Significance of the Study
The study is meant to contribute an additional knowledge to the existing one in the area of study as it enriches the reader with the knowledge of electronic fast-food menu display.
- The study serves as a guide to fast-food owners as reference material.
- Other companies like hotels, schools, hospitals etc. Also considered to benefit in terms of serving as a guide to take promotion desicion.
- The study is aimed at adding new knowledge concerning the subject of the research. This invariably, will create room for future studies on the issues.
1.6 Scope of Study
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved learning system and method. In accordance with a primary aspect of the present invention, a learning system comprises a prohram to display a subject to be learned in a highly visible moving fashion for stimulating interest and concentration.
1.7 Limitations of the Study
The limitations encountered in the course of researching this project include;
- Privacy of data and information
- Time constraints
- constraints
These limitations stated above did not allow me to fully go in-depth in this research.
This material contains electrical diagrams, circuits, illustrations and more (Very detailed)
