Interactive system using tags

• US 20050140504A1
• Filed: 02/03/2003
• Published: 06/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Marshall, Christopher Brian, Rankin, Paul John, Davie, Alan James
• Granted Patent: US 7,183,925 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/480
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/00 Methods or arrangements for effecting co-operative working between equipments covered by two or more of main groups G06K1/00 - G06K15/00, e.g. automatic card files incorporating conveying and reading operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/0008 General problems related to the reading of electronic memory record carriers, independent of its reading method, e.g. power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/387 Payment using discounts or coupons relating to marketing G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/0036 Checkout procedures

Abstract

An interactive system in which information read from two or more tags (10, 12 or 10, 12′) jointly determines a process to be carried out. One of the tags may identify a user by for example his/her store loyalty card number or by a personal identifying tag (or card) in a cordless RF terminal and the other of the tags may be a RF-ID tag storing details of an action to be performed such as the number of credit points to be given to the loyalty card in response to a transaction or provide promotional information to the user. The process may comprise issuing a command to an action server (28, 30) to provide, or instruct the sending of, output information to a user, by for example over a radio link to a cellular telephone apparatus (18, 34, 36) or PDA, or displayed to the user on a video display unit (38).

Claims

1. A method of operating an interactive system, comprising obtaining within a specified time period first information from a first tag and second information from a second tag, and using the first and second information to jointly determine a process to be carried out.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein information about a user is derived by reading a first tag, in that the details of an action is derived by reading a second tag, and in that the reading of the first and second tags is carried out within a specified time period.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the specified time period expires with the reading of the latter (or last) tag.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the first and second tags are provided by different organisations.

5. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein information relating to the identity of tag reading means is also used in determining the process to be carried-out.

6. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein deriving an output signal responsive to the process carried out and relaying the output signal to a user by way of a RF link.

7. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein information is obtained from the first and second tags in a time window selected to associate tags belonging to one user and exclude tags from another user.

8. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, including authenticating the tag identities.

9. A method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the process is a service request which is forwarded by an action server to a client and in that the client remunerates the action server for the service request(s) received.

10. An interactive system in which information read within a specified time period from two or more tags jointly determine a process to be carried out.

15. A system as claimed in claim any one of claims 10 to 14, wherein at least one of the first and second tags comprises a cellular telephone identification tag provided by a cellular telephone network operator or service provider.

17. A system as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 16, wherein the first and second tags are radio frequency tags and in that the tag reading means includes means for communicating by radio with the tags.

18. A tag for use in the interactive system as claimed in any one of claims 10 to 17, comprising means for storing information having a data format which is associated with a predetermined application and means for interacting with a tag reader for enabling the information to be read.

11. An interactive system comprises tag reading means for reading at least a first and a second tag within a specified time period, the first tag containing first information and the second tag containing second information, the tag reading means using the first and second information jointly to determine a process to be carried out.

12. A system as claimed in claim 11, including an action server responsive to the determined process to generate an output signal, and a RF link for supplying the output signal to an output device.

13. A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the output device comprises a cellular telephone terminal.

14. A system as claimed in claim 11, 12 or 13, wherein the tag reading means has means for authenticating the tag identities.

16. A system as claimed in claim 12 or 13, wherein the output device comprises a video display unit.

19. A method comprising generating a service request in response to determining a process to be carried out, forwarding the service request to a client and the client remunerating a supplier of the service requests on the basis of the service request(s) forwarded.

20. A method as claimed in claim 19, characterised in that the service request is generated in response to a conjunction of information derived from reading first and second tags within a specified time period.