WIRELESS ELECTRONIC VEHICLE WINDOW DISPLAY SYSTEM

• US 20080300988A1
• Filed: 05/30/2008
• Published: 12/04/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cdmdata LLC
• Original Assignee: Cdmdata LLC
• Inventors: Lucas, Scott, Hoang, Tony
• Granted Patent: US 8,510,155 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0265 Vehicular advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

The invention of the wireless electronic vehicle window display system employs the latest technology in electronic paper and low power consumption wireless networking devices. One contemplated embodiment of the present invention consists of three main components: A vehicle information portal, an electronic vehicle window display system subscriber, and the electronic paper. The invention is intended to provide an effective method of displaying pricing, vehicle specifications, promotions, and warranties on vehicles at the dealer'"'"'s lot. The invention removes the time-consuming and costly tasks of updating information on the current paper-based window sticker.

Claims

1. An electronic vehicle window display system for marketing vehicles on a automobile dealership, the system comprising:

a vehicle information portal including a server and a database of a dealer'"'"'s inventory;

a plurality of electronic window displays communicatively connected with the vehicle information portal via a network;

an information subscriber having a signal sending unit, and the information subscriber is connected to the vehicle information portal via the network;

wherein the electronic window display includes a wireless signal receiving unit that receives wireless signal regarding the vehicle from the information subscriber; and

wherein the wireless signal is send via at least one of Wi-Fi, WiMax, and radio frequency.

2. The vehicle window display system of claim 1, wherein the electronic window display is an electronic paper.

3. The vehicle window display system of claim 2, wherein the network is at least one of Internet, cellular network, satellite network.

4. The vehicle window display system of claim 3 further comprising a client system having a user interface for the information subscriber to utilize a vehicle information received.

5. A method of displaying vehicle information for vehicles at a dealership, the method comprising:

providing a client system with user interface and signal-sending unit;

providing a plurality of electronic papers with window attachment elements, each electronic paper having a signal-receiving unit for receiving signals sent from the client system wirelessly;

wherein each electronic paper has an identifier so that signals are selectively sent to each electronic paper;

wherein the signals sent to the electronic papers changes an image being displayed on the electronic paper.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising the steps of:

under the control of a server system, receiving a vehicle information from a Vehicle information portal;

under the control of a software, processing the vehicle information to determine what information to display on vehicles within in dealership; and

under the command of the client system, sending a signal to the electronic papers.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the client sends the signal wirelessly to the electronic paper via at least one of Wi-Fi, WiMax, and radio frequency.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the electronic paper has a rechargeable battery, embedded software application.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the signal-sending unit is a low-power base transmitter hosted at the dealership.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising the steps of displaying multiple pages of information on the electronic paper, and wherein the low-power transmitter compresses and encrypts data before sending to electronic papers.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the electronic paper has attachment element to attach to an inside of a vehicle'"'"'s window.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the signal is sent via Wi-Fi.

13. The method of clam 12, wherein the information shown on the electronic paper is specifically related to the vehicle to which the electronic paper is attached.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the information shown on the electronic paper includes at least one of pricing information, vehicle specifications, and promotional information.

15. A method of marketing vehicles for sale, the method comprising the steps of:

replacing a vehicle window sticker with an electronic paper;

displaying a relevant information about the vehicle on the electronic paper; and

wherein the relevant information about the vehicle is sent to each electronic paper in each vehicle by a client system having a transmitter.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of retrieving an information from a vehicle information portal over the Internet.

17. The method of claim 16 furthering comprising updating the relevant information displayed on the electronic paper based on the information from the vehicle information portal.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the electronic paper is self-powered.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the electronic paper has a flexible display substrate.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising integrating the client system with a dealer management system so that the relevant information about the vehicles are dynamically updated when the dealer management system is updated.