NETWORK-BASED NAVIGATION SYSTEM HAVING VIRTUAL DRIVE-THRU ADVERTISEMENTS INTEGRATED WITH ACTUAL IMAGERY FROM ALONG A PHYSICAL ROUTE

• US 20090125226A1
• Filed: 11/11/2008
• Published: 05/14/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/06/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Callahan Cellular LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Rialcardo TICE BV LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Laumeyer, Robert A., Retterath, Jamie E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,941,269 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/200
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/30 Map- or contour-matching
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/047 Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0215 Including financial accounts
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

A network-based navigation system includes a user interface and a computer server system that can access a map database, an actual imagery database and an advertisement database in order to provide visual route guidance information having virtual drive-thru advertisements integrated with actual imagery from along a physical route. The user interface permits a user to submit a request for navigation information, receive visual route guidance information in response to the request and initiate a drive-thru presentation of at least a portion of a route. The computer server determines at least one route from the map database based on the request from the user and provides route guidance information to the user interface in response. The computer server also identifies actual imagery from the image database associated with the at least one route and selectively replaces at least one polygon region identified in the actual imagery associated with the at least one route with at least one advertisement from the ad database to create a drive-thru presentation with at least one virtual advertisement. At least a portion of the drive-thru presentation is presented to the user interface. In one embodiment, the computer server records a drive-thru charge for the virtual advertisements present in the portion of the drive-thru presentation provided to the user interface.

Claims

1. A method of implementing a network-based navigation system having virtual drive-thru advertisements integrated with actual imagery from along a physical route from a user interface connected to the network, the method comprising:

providing a computer server system connected to the network, the computer server system operably connected to;

a map database storing cartographic data for physical routes in a geographic region,

an image database storing actual imagery captured from at least one camera traversed along the physical routes, the actual imagery having a generally horizontally oriented perspective and regions in the actual imagery identified as suitable for ad placement, and

an ad database storing advertisements and related information; and

using the computer server system to;

receive a user request via the network from the user interface;

determine at least one route from the map database based on the user request;

identify actual imagery from the image database associated with the at least one route;

selectively replace at least one region suitable for ad placement identified in the actual imagery associated with the at least one route with at least one advertisement from the ad database to create a drive-thru presentation with at least one virtual advertisement; and

send at least a portion of the drive-thru presentation with the at least one virtual advertisement via the Internet to the user interface.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing the user interface to notify the computer server system subsequent to the user viewing the at least one virtual advertisement during a display of the portion of the drive-thru presentation that the at least one virtual advertisement has been displayed on the user interface.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising generating a first rate billed to an advertiser based upon notification of the user viewing of a virtual advertisement during a drive-thru presentation.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising causing the user interface to allow the user to stop the drive-thru presentation to click on a virtual advertisement and to notify the computer server system that the virtual advertisement was clicked by the user.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising generating a second rate billed to an advertiser based on a number of times the virtual advertisement was clicked by users.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing the user interface to track each time a user navigates past a virtual advertisement in the drive-thru presentation.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing the user interface to associate a virtual advertisement with a website and allow the user to hyperlink to the website from the virtual advertisement.

8. A method of implementing a network-based navigation system having virtual drive-thru advertisements integrated with actual imagery from along a physical route provided by a computer server system operably connected to a map database storing cartographic data for physical routes in a geographic region, an image database storing actual imagery captured from at least one camera traversed along the physical routes, the actual imagery having a generally horizontally oriented perspective and regions in the actual imagery identified as suitable for ad placement, and an ad database storing advertisements and related information, the method comprising:

sending a user request via the network from a user interface to the computer server system, the user request causing the computer server system to;

determine at least one route from the map database based on the user request;

identify actual imagery from the image database associated with the at least one route; and

selectively replace at least one region suitable for ad placement identified in the actual imagery associated with the at least one route with at least one advertisement from the ad database to create a drive-thru presentation with at least one virtual advertisement; and

receiving at least a portion of the drive-thru presentation with the at least one virtual advertisement from the computer server system via the Internet at the user interface in response to the user request.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising notifying the computer server system subsequent to the user viewing the at least one virtual advertisement during a display of the portion of the drive-thru presentation that the at least one virtual advertisement has been displayed on the user interface.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising allowing the user to stop the drive-thru presentation to click on a virtual advertisement and notifying the computer server system that the virtual advertisement was clicked by the user.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising tracking each time a user navigates past a virtual advertisement in the drive-thru presentation.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising associating a virtual advertisement with a website and allowing the user to hyperlink to the website from the virtual advertisement.

13. A method of implementing a vehicle-based navigation system having virtual drive-thru advertisements integrated with actual imagery from along a physical route, the method comprising:

providing a computer system in a vehicle, the computer system having a user interface;

providing a computer readable medium operably connected to the computer system, the computer readable medium storing;

a map database storing cartographic data for physical routes in a geographic region;

an image database storing actual imagery captured from at least one camera traversed along the physical routes, the actual imagery having a generally horizontally oriented perspective and regions in the actual imagery identified as suitable for ad placement; and

an ad database storing advertisements and related information;

receiving a user request originating at the user interface at the computer system;

determining at least one route from the map database based on the user request;

identifying actual imagery from the image database associated with the at least one route;

selectively replacing at least one region suitable for ad placement identified in the actual imagery associated with the at least one route with at least one advertisement from the ad database to create a drive-thru presentation with at least one virtual advertisement; and

sending at least a portion of the drive-thru presentation with the at least one virtual advertisement via the computer system to the user interface.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising recording a drive-thru charge for the virtual advertisements present in the portion of the drive-thru presentation provided to the user interface.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising causing the computer system subsequent to the user viewing the at least one virtual advertisement during a display of the portion of the drive-thru presentation to record an indication that the at least one virtual advertisement has been displayed on the user interface.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising allowing the user to stop the drive-thru presentation to click on a virtual advertisement and recording an indication that the virtual advertisement was clicked by the user

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising causing the user interface to track each time a user navigates past a virtual advertisement in the drive-thru presentation.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising updating the information contained in at least one of the map database, image database, and ad database over a wireless network operably connected to the computer system.

19. A vehicle-based navigation system having virtual drive-thru advertisements integrated with actual imagery from along a physical route, the system comprising:

a computer system installed in a vehicle and having a user interface operably coupled to the computer system, the user interface including;

means for submitting a request for navigation information;

means for receiving visual route guidance information in response to the request; and

means for initiating a drive-thru presentation of at least a portion of a route as part of the visual route guidance information;

a computer readable medium operably connected to the computer system and containing;

a map database storing cartographic data for physical routes in a geographic region;

an image database storing actual imagery captured from at least one camera traversed along the physical routes, the actual imagery having a generally horizontally oriented perspective; and

at least one region suitable for ad placement, and an ad database storing advertisements and related information;

means for determining at least one route from the map database based on the request from the user for navigation information;

means for identifying actual imagery from the image database associated with the at least one route;

means for selectively replacing at least one region suitable for ad placement identified in the actual imagery associated with the at least one route with at least one advertisement from the ad database to create a drive-thru presentation with at least one virtual advertisement; and

means for causing the display of at least a portion of the drive-thru presentation on the user interface optionally with route associated information, the drive-thru presentation and the route associated information comprising the step of providing route guidance information to the user in response to the user request.

20. A method of implementing a network-based navigation system having virtual drive-thru advertisements integrated with actual imagery from along a physical route may comprise:

providing a computer system capable of executing instructions resident on the system or provided to the system from an external source, the computer system equipped with means to accept user input information and output computed information;

providing a user interface operably coupled to the computer system, the user interface providing a means for a user to submit a request for navigation information, receives visual route guidance information in response to the request and initiates a drive-thru presentation of at least a portion of a route as part of the visual route guidance information;

providing a computer readable medium containing a map database storing cartographic data for physical routes in a geographic region, an image database storing actual imagery captured from at least one camera traversed along the physical routes, the actual imagery having a generally horizontally oriented perspective, and an ad database storing advertisements and related information, the computer readable medium suitable for interacting with the computer system;

receiving a user request originating at the user interface and arriving at the computer system;

determining at least one route from the map database based on the request from the user for navigation information;

identifying actual imagery from the image database associated with the at least one route;

selectively replacing at least one polygon region identified in the actual imagery associated with the at least one route with at least one advertisement from the ad database to create a drive-thru presentation with at least one virtual advertisement;

causing the display of at least a portion of the drive-thru presentation on the user interface optionally with route associated information; and

recording a drive-thru charge for the virtual advertisements present in the portion of the drive-thru presentation provided to the user interface.

21. A method of identifying ad-spots within geo-referenced imagery by utilizing sign-ness characteristics of the portions of an image frame that depict suitable advertisement locations, the method comprising:

providing an image database containing actual imagery captured from at least one camera traversed along a physical routes, the actual imagery having a generally horizontally oriented perspective;

storing the sign-ness characteristics in a database as discrete data structures containing one or more information fields relating to the suitable advertising location;

creating records for image-portions that exhibit detectable unique sign-ness;

extracting image portions depicting suitable ad-spots from image frames having an appreciable level of sign-ness;

categorizing image frames with an unappreciable level of sign-ness as background imagery;

processing image frames containing an appreciable level of sign-ness, such that the suitable advertisement locations are categorized as road signs or potential advertisements; and

identifying the region of an image frame containing a potential advertisement and assigning a unique identifier to the region, wherein multiple successive image frames containing the region comprises an ad-spot.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising conditioning an image frame to increase the desirability of an ad-spot.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising linking an ad-spot to non-navigation related attributes.

24. The method of claim 21, further comprising determining metrics for the ad-spot.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising making the ad-spot available to potential advertisers for leasing.

26. A system for the identification of ad-spots within geo-referenced imagery by utilizing sign-ness characteristics of the portions of an image frame that depict suitable advertisement locations, the system comprising:

an image database containing actual imagery captured from at least one camera traversed along a physical routes, the actual imagery having a generally horizontally oriented perspective;

a database containing the sign-ness characteristics as discrete data structures containing one or more information fields relating to the suitable advertising location;

means for creating records for image-portions that exhibit detectable unique sign-ness;

means for extracting image portions depicting suitable ad-spots from image frames having an appreciable level of sign-ness;

means for categorizing image frames with an unappreciable level of sign-ness as background imagery;

means for processing image frames containing an appreciable level of sign-ness, such that the suitable advertisement locations are categorized as road signs or potential advertisements; and

means for identifying the region of an image frame containing a potential advertisement and assigning a unique identifier to the region, wherein multiple successive image frames containing the region comprises an ad-spot.