Method and vehicle for sending electronic advertisements

• US 20060116070A1
• Filed: 10/25/2005
• Published: 06/01/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Swisscom Mobile AG (Government of Switzerland)
• Inventors: Lauper, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 7,397,345 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/3.10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0265 Vehicular advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 2027/002 Advertising message recorded in a memory device
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 21/04 by land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 21/049 giving information to passengers inside the vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 21/06 by aeroplanes, airships, balloons, or kites
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 27/00 Combined visual and audible advertising or displaying, e.g. for public address
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service

Abstract

A method and a vehicle (11) for sending electronic advertising announcements, information news or voice messages are described. A controllable, moving, unmanned vehicle (11) moves in a network of communication devices (9, 20) in a direction. When the vehicle (11) moves close to a communication device (9, 20) the sending of an electronic advertising announcement, information news or voice message to the communication device (9, 20) is triggered by the vehicle (11) itself or by another communication device (1), for example by a message server (1) within a telecommunication network (8). The vehicle (11) itself has a memory area (14) for storing the electronic advertising announcements and at least one interface for sending these messages to another communication device (9, 20).

Claims

1. Method for sending electronic advertising announcements, information news or voice messages by means of a controllable, moving, unmanned vehicle, the method including the following method steps:

the vehicle moves in a network of communication devices in one direction and

when the vehicle moves close to a communication device the sending of an electronic advertising announcement, information news or voice message to the communication device is triggered by the vehicle itself or by another communication device.

2. The method of claim 1, characterized in that the vehicle sends the electronic advertising announcement, information news or voice message by means of an interface such as Bluetooth, DECT, WLAN, RFID or another suitable interface to electronic communication devices located in the vicinity, such as computer, portable computer, headphones, mobile telephone, Bluetooth, play consoles or PDAs.

3. The method of claim 1, characterized in that the vehicle is identified by a message server as said other communication device within a telecommunication network, wherein the message server detects the position of the vehicle and of the mobile devices located in the vicinity of the vehicle as said communication devices and wherein the message server and/or the vehicle sends said advertising announcement, information news or voice message over the telecommunication network to these mobile devices.

4. The method of claim 3, characterized in that the message server and/or the vehicle sends the advertising announcement, information news or voice message to all mobile devices located in the vicinity of the vehicle or only to the mobile devices located in the vicinity of the vehicle whose users have subscribed a certain service, who have a certain user profile or who have a certain characteristic.

5. The method of claim 2, characterized in that the message server or the vehicle sends the advertising announcement, information news or voice message as SMS, USSD, e-mail, IP packets, files or web pages.

6. The method of claim 3, characterized in that the message server and/or the vehicle sends the advertising announcement, information news or voice message by means of an available telecommunication network such as GSM, UMTS or another suitable network.

7. The method of claim 2, characterized in that the user of a mobile device or of a communication device must pay or is paid for receiving an advertising announcement, information news or voice message from the message server and/or from the vehicle.

8. The method of claim 2, characterized in that a user of a mobile device or of a communication device sends an advertising announcement, information news or voice message to the vehicle or to the message server for forwarding, and this is billed to the sender of this message.

9. The method of claim 2, characterized in that the vehicle searches for an advertising announcement, information news or voice message in a communication device and downloads it and forwards it to other communication devices.

10. The method of claim 2, characterized in that the vehicle sends to other vehicles located in the vicinity and/or receives from other vehicles located in the vicinity an advertising announcement, information news or voice message.

11. The method of claim 8, characterized in that a received advertising announcement, information news or voice message is stored upon receipt in the message server or in the vehicle.

12. The method of claim 2, characterized in that the vehicle moves along a predefined and preprogrammed route.

13. The method of claim 2, characterized in that the vehicle moves in a direction or along a route that changes or is adapted after certain events.

14. The method of claim 13, characterized in that the vehicle stores and processes certain recurring events and adapts its route or direction of movement accordingly.

15. The method of claim 13, characterized in that the vehicle changes its route or direction upon instruction of a sender of an electronic message.

16. The method of claim 13, characterized in that the vehicle moves in a direction or along a route where the density of the mobile or communication devices remains constant or increases.

17. The method of claim 13, characterized in that the vehicle moves in a direction or along a route where certain characteristics of the mobile or communication devices change.

18. The method of claim 1, characterized in that an airplane or micro aircraft, a helicopter or micro helicopter, a balloon, a car or a toy car, a boat or a robot moves as a vehicle along said route or in said direction.

19. The method of claim 1, characterized in that the vehicle draws attention to itself continuously or at certain pints in time during its movement with acoustic or optical means.

20. The method of claim 1, characterized in that the vehicle is powered with petrol, hydrogen, gas, by solar energy, batteries or accumulators or another fuel and/or that the vehicle, to refuel, returns to a service station.

21. Vehicle for sending electronic advertising announcements, information news or voice messages, said vehicle having a memory area for storing the electronic advertising announcements, information news or voice messages and at least one interface for sending the electronic advertising announcements, information news or voice messages to another communication device.

22. The vehicle of claim 21, characterized in that it is provided with an interface such as Bluetooth, DECT, WLAN or RFID working at close range.

23. The vehicle of claim 21, characterized in that it is provided with a sending station with which the electronic advertising announcements, information news or voice messages can be sent within a telecommunication network to other mobile devices.