CONTENT DISTRIBUTION PLATFORM FOR BEVERAGE DISPENSING ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20140372505A1
• Filed: 06/23/2014
• Published: 12/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tappy Technologies Limited
• Original Assignee: Tappy Technologies Limited
• Inventors: ROBINSON, James, CALLAHAN, Joseph M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,253,264 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0252 based on events or environment, e.g. weather or festivals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0268 at point-of-sale [POS]
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 13/00 Coin-freed apparatus for controlling dispensing or fluids, semiliquids or granular material from reservoirs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

A system configured to manage the distribution of content to one or more cooperating media/substrates in beverage dispensing environments, wherein the system receives data representative of environment conditions for one or more cooperating media/substrates adapted to display digital content, where the media/substrates may be located in beverage environments (e.g., bar/restaurants, hotels, or event venues), and where the system compares the received data representative of environment conditions regarding the purchase of a beverage with selection criteria to identify content for distribution to the media/substrates such that the selected content is distributed to the one or more cooperating media/substrates.

Claims

1. A content management and distribution system for use in beverage dispensing environments, comprising:

at least one computing processor; and

a computing memory communicatively coupled with the at least one computing processor, the computing memory having stored thereon computer executable instructions that cause the content management and distribution system to perform operations, comprising;

selecting by the content management and distribution system, based upon at least one display system factor comprising at least one of (i) a location of the at least one display system, (ii) a physical size of the at least one display system, (iii) a physical orientation of the at least one display system and (iv) an operating status of the at least one display system, a set of selection criteria to be used in identifying information for display at the at least one display system;

receiving by the content management and distribution system data representative of at least one environment conditions that is collected by one or more environment condition sensing devices operatively cooperating with the at least one display system, the environment conditions comprising at least one physical environment condition relating to dispensing a beverage, the at least one display system being operatively connected to a communications network providing at least one data service comprising one of voice service, television service and broadband connectivity service, and at least one physical environment condition occurring within a predetermined distance from the at least one display system comprising;

a number of people, an occurrence of a commercial transaction, an occurrence of at least one physical gesture from at least one person, an utterance of spoken words, a movement of the at least one person, an interaction with at least one data element on the at least one display system, a shape of the at least one person, an amount of hair on the at least one person, a presence of facial hair on the at least one person, a height of the at least one person, a skin tone of the at least one person, a presence of makeup on the at least one person, a length of time the at least one person looks at the at least one display system, a number of beverages being dispensed, and a type of beverage being dispensed;

applying by the content management and distribution system the selected set of selection criteria and the data representative of the at least one environment condition in querying content data residing on the data store to select content for distribution; and

communicating the selected content to at least one display system.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the selected content comprises at least one of text content, graphic content, video content and audio content.

3. The system as recited in claim 2, wherein the at least one display system comprises an existing display unit.

4. The system as recited in claim 2, wherein the at least one display system comprises at least one of a mobile phone, a smartphone, a kiosk, a directory display unit, an emergency information display unit, an electronic billboard, an electronic bulletin board, a television, an interactive ordering unit, a tablet computing device, a personal computer, a wearable computer, a smartphone, a smartwatch and a mobile-enabled watch device.

5. The system as recited in claim 4, wherein the at least one environment condition sensing device is integrated within at least one cooperating component comprising the at least one display system and at least one beverage dispensing apparatus.

6. The system as recited in claim 5, wherein the digital communications network comprises a wireless communications network.

7. The system as recited in claim 5, wherein the selected content is overlaid over other content displayable on the at least one display system comprising at least one television content and public notice content.

8. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein the selected content is selected based on the at least one environment condition comprising a connectivity to a selected subscription-based data service, the subscription-based data service comprising a user interface application.

9. The system as recited in claim 8, wherein the selected content is selected based on the at least one environment condition comprising interactivity with a user interface application.

10. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the computing memory includes computer executable instructions stored thereon that cause the content management and distribution system to perform further operations comprising at least one instruction for tracking content that is distributed to the at least one display system and for storing data representative of the tracked content.

11. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the computing memory includes computer executable instructions stored thereon that cause the content management and distribution system to perform further operations comprising at least one instruction for generating reporting data from data representative of the tracked content.

12. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one display system is configured to receive content in accordance with at least one instruction provided by the content management and distribution system and display the received content.

13. The system as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

at least one integrated computing processor operative to cooperate with the at least one environment condition sensing device and operative to execute at least one computing instruction to process data representative of the at least one environment condition sensed by the at least one environment condition sensing device.

14. The system as recited in claim 13, wherein the at least one environment condition sensing device comprises at least one of cameras, at least one motion sensor, at least one people counter, a communications network router, a credit card terminal, a weather station, a thermostat, a flow meter, an electric meter, an audio microphone, a gaming console controller, a remote control, a smart-phone, a tablet computing device, a keyboard, a pointing device, and a touch display panel.

15. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one display system comprises a display panel for displaying content.

16. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein the at least one display system comprises at least one of a light emitting diode display, a liquid crystal display, and a display pane having a first portion comprising a light emitting diode display panel and a second portion having a liquid crystal display portion.

17. The system as recited in claim 16, wherein the at least one display system is configured to electronically receive content from the content management and distribution system.

18. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one display system comprises a display configured to display content, a computing processor operable to cooperate with the at least one environment condition sensing device configured to sense the at least one environment condition, and a communications component configured to communicate with the content management and distribution system.

19. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein the at least one display system further comprises a data store.

20. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the at least one display system is configured to receive input from an operator, the input comprising at least one of voice, text, biometric data, payment data, gesture data, demographic data, and beverage identification data.

21. The system as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

at least one data store operable to store data comprising at least one of content for distribution, guidelines for distributing content, tracking data identifying content previously distributed, and reporting data.

22. A computer implemented method for managing and/or distributing content, comprising:

selecting, at a computing system, by a content management and distribution system, based upon at least one display system factor comprising at least one of (i) the at least one display system, (ii) a physical size of the at least one display system, (iii) a physical orientation of the at least one display system, and (iv) an operating status of the at least one display system, a set of selection criteria to be used in identifying information for display at the at least one display system;

receiving, at the computing system, by the content management and distribution system data representative of at least one environment condition that is collected by at least one environment condition sensing device operatively cooperating with the at least one display system, the environment conditions comprising at least one physical environment condition relating to dispensing a beverage, the at least one display system being operatively connected to a communications network providing at least one data service comprising one of voice service, television service and broadband connectivity service, and at least one physical environment condition occurring within a predetermined distance from the at least one display system comprising;

a number of people, an occurrence of a commercial transaction, an occurrence of a one or more physical gestures from at least one person, an utterance of spoken words, a movement of the at least one person, an interaction with at least data element on the at least one display system, a shape of the at least one person, an amount of hair on the at least one persons, a presence of facial hair on the at least one person, a height of the at least one person, a skin tone of the at least one person, a presence of makeup on the at least one person, a length of time the at least a person looks at the at least one display system, a number of beverages being dispensed, and a type of beverage being dispensed;

applying, at the computing system, by the content management and distribution system the selected set of selection criteria and the data representative of the at least one environment condition in querying content data residing on the data store to select content for distribution; and

communicating, at a computing system, the selected content to the at least one display system.

23. The method as recited in claim 22, further comprising:

associating an identifier with the at least one cooperating display system.

24. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein receiving data representative of the at least one environment condition of the at least one cooperating display system comprises receiving data representing dispensing at least one beverage.

25. The method as recited in claim 22, further comprising:

receiving selection criteria from a cooperating content provider.

26. The method as recited in claim 22, further comprising:

tracking content that is distributed to the at least one cooperating display system and storing data representing the tracked content.

27. The method as recited in claim 26, further comprising:

generating reporting data from the data representing the tracked content.

28. The method as recited in claim 22, wherein receiving data representative of environment conditions comprises receiving data representative of environment conditions according to a schedule.

29. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer readable instructions that, when executed by a computing system cause the computing system to perform operations, comprising:

selecting, at a computing system, by a content management and distribution system, based upon at least one display system factor comprising at least one of (i) a location of the at least one display system, (ii) a physical size of the at least one display system, (iii) a physical orientation of the at least one display system (iv) and an operating status of the at least one display system, a set of selection criteria to be used in identifying information for display at the one or more display systems;

receiving, at the computing system, by the content management and distribution system data representative of at least one environment condition that is collected by at least one environment condition sensing device operatively cooperating with the at least one display system, the environment conditions comprising at least one physical environment condition relating to dispensing a beverage, the at least one display system being operatively connected to a communications network providing at least one data service comprising one of voice service, television service and broadband connectivity service, and at least one physical environment condition occurring within a predetermined distance from the at least one or more display systems comprising;

a number of people, an occurrence of a commercial transaction, an occurrence of at least one physical gesture from at least one person, an utterance of spoken words, a movement of at least one person, an interaction with at least one data element on the at least one display system, a shape of the at least one person, an amount of hair on the at least one person, a presence of facial hair on the at least one person, a height of the at least one person, a skin tone of the at least one person, a presence of makeup on the at least one person, a length of time the at least one person looks at the at least one display system, a number of beverages being dispensed, and a type of beverage being dispensed;

applying, at the computing system, by the content management and distribution system the selected set of selection criteria and the data representative of the at least one environment condition in querying content data residing on the data store to select content for distribution; and

communicating, at a computing system, the selected content to the at least one display system.