Targeted information display

• US 20020008626A1
• Filed: 05/18/2001
• Published: 01/24/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/20/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Wilcock, Lawrence, McDonnell, James Thomas Edward, Waters, John Deryk
• Granted Patent: US 6,535,132 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 3/00 Labels, tag tickets, or similar identification or indication means medals or badges A44C3/00; making labels B31D1/02; sheets temporarily attached together B42F; labelling B65C; labels on record carriers G11B23/38, G11B23/40; Seals; Postage or like stamps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 345/902 Menu display

Abstract

The proximity of potential customers to a shop is detected, for example, by detecting short-range communication devices carried by passers-by. The interests of the detected passers-by are then determined by reference to specific interests transmitted by the passer-by devices and/or by reference to customer profile data. The discovered interests of the current passers-by are then used to select content for display on a shop-window electronic display during a next display slot. Passers-by who may be particularly interested in the displayed content are preferably sent an alert. In other embodiments, the targeted audience is a static group, such as train passengers, with the targeted information being displayed at a station.

Claims

1. A method of targeted information display, comprising the steps of:

(a) detecting the presence of persons passing through a presence zone on the basis of transmissions made from mobile communication devices carried by such persons;

(b) checking for interest indicators associated with the detected persons;

(c) selecting content for display having regard to interest indicators found in step (b) for persons recently detected as in the presence zone; and

(d) displaying the selected content on a display;

steps (a) to (d) being carried out on an on-going basis with the displayed selected content being periodically changed in dependence on the interest indicators of the most recently detected persons.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein step (d) further involves sending an alert to at least one detected person who has an associated indicated interest relevant to the content being displayed, this alert being sent to the mobile communication device of the person.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein said alert indicates whether the person being alerted should look to the left or right to view the display.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein step (b) involves receiving interest indicators from said detected persons via said mobile communication devices.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein step (b) involves receiving identity information directly or indirectly originating from said mobile communication devices and using this identity information to look up interest indicators in a database.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein step (c) involves selecting content for display in dependence on any one or more of the following criteria:

the most common indicated interest of the recently detected persons;

the best fit of indicated interests to a set of promotional offers covered by content available for display;

the most specific indicated interest relevant to a set of goods and/or services covered by content available for display;

the interests of the detected person with a highest spend rating as recorded in a customer profile database.

7. A method according to claim 1, further involving detecting whether the detected persons are moving towards the display, priority being given in step (c) to the indicated interests of such persons.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the display is located in a shop window, the presence zone being a zone located in front of the shop.

9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the presence zone and display are both located in the interior of a shop.

10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the display is located at a roadside and the presence zone is situated upstream, in the sense of traffic flow past the display.

11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the presence zone is at a fixed location and the display is located on or in a vehicle.

12. A method according to claim 1, wherein the display is located in a display zone which is spaced from the presence zone but through which at least a substantial proportion of the persons passing through the presence zone will subsequently pass.

13. A method according to claim 1, wherein in step (a) the mobile communication devices are short-range wireless devices, step (a) involving picking up transmissions from devices in the presence zone using a short-range wireless receiver located in or near the presence zone.

14. A method according to claim 1, wherein in step (a) the mobile communication devices are cellular mobile radio devices communicating with a cellular radio infrastructure equipped with a location-determining sub-system, step (a) involving using the location-determining sub-system of the cellular radio infrastructure to detect persons in the presence zone.

15. A display system comprising:

a detection arrangement for detecting the presence of persons passing through a presence zone on the basis of transmissions made from mobile communication devices carried by such persons;

an interest-determination sub-system for obtaining interest indicators associated with the detected persons;

a content selector for selecting content for display having regard to the interest indicators obtained by the interest-determination sub-system; and

an output arrangement comprising a display for displaying the content selected by the content selector;

the display arrangement being arranged to operate on an on-going basis with the displayed selected content being periodically changed in dependence on the interest indicators obtained by the interest-determination sub-system for the most recently detected persons.

16. A display system according to claim 15, wherein the output arrangement further comprises an alert generator for sending an alert to at least one detected person who has an associated indicated interest relevant to the content being displayed by the display, this alert being sent to the mobile communication device of the person.

17. A display system according to claim 16, wherein said alert indicates whether the person being alerted should look to the left or right to view the display.

18. A display system according to claim 15, wherein the interest-determination sub-system is operative to receive interest indicators from said detected persons via said mobile communication devices.

19. A display system according to claim 15, wherein the interest-determination sub-system is operative to receive identity information directly or indirectly originating from said mobile communication devices and to use this identity information to look up interest indicators in a database.

20. A display system according to claim 15, wherein the content selector is operative to select content for display in dependence on any one or more of the following criteria:

the most common indicated interest of the recently detected persons;

the best fit of indicated interests to a set of promotional offers covered by content available for display;

the most specific indicated interest relevant to a set of goods and/or services covered by content available for display;

the interests of the detected person with a highest spend rating as recorded in a customer profile database.

21. A display system according to claim 15, further comprising an arrangement for determining whether the detected persons are moving towards the display, priority being given by the content selector, when selecting content for display, to the indicated interests of such persons.

22. A display system according to claim 15, wherein the display is located in a shop window, the presence zone being a zone located in front of the shop.

23. A display system according to claim 15, wherein both the display and the presence zone associated with the detection arrangement, are located in the interior of a shop.

24. A display system according to claim 15, wherein the display is located at a roadside and the presence zone associated with the detection arrangement is situated upstream, in the sense of traffic flow past the display.

25. A display system according to claim 15, wherein the presence zone associated with the detection arrangement is at a fixed location and the display is located on or in a vehicle.

26. A display system according to claim 15, wherein the display is located in a display zone which is spaced from the presence zone but through which at least a substantial proportion of the persons passing through the presence zone will subsequently pass.

27. A display system according to claim 15, wherein the detection arrangement is arranged to receive transmissions from short-range wireless devices that constitute the said mobile communication devices.

28. A display system according to claim 15, wherein the detection arrangement is arranged to receive information about persons in the presence zone from a location-determining sub-system of a cellular radio infrastructure, the said mobile communication devices being cellular mobile radio devices.