Information distribution system for use in an elevator

• US 6,349,797 B1
• Filed: 12/21/1999
• Issued: 02/26/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Captivate, LLC
• Original Assignee: Captivate Network Incorporated
• Inventors: Duarte, Shawn W., Newville, Todd A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Salata, Jonathan
• Application Number:
  US09/468,504
• Time in Patent Office: 798 Days
• Field of Search: 187/396, 187/391, 187/247, 187/397, 187/395, 187/414, 187/393
• US Class Current: 187/396
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 1/34 Details , e.g. call counting devices, data transmission from car to control system, devices giving information to the control system
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 3/00 Applications of devices for indicating or signalling operating conditions of elevators
• CPC Class Codes: B66B 3/008 Displaying information not related to the elevator, e.g. weather, publicity, internet or TV
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 19/22 Advertising or display means on roads, walls or similar surfaces, e.g. illuminated
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 27/00 Combined visual and audible advertising or displaying, e.g. for public address
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2146 located in mass transportation means, e.g. aircraft, train or bus flight-deck installations for entertainment or communications B64D11/0015; arrangements specially adapted for transportation systems in broadcast systems H04H20/62; moving wireless networks H04W84/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40

Abstract

A method of providing video information to a display monitor within an elevator located in a building, which includes receiving first data defining a category of video information, receiving second data, associated with the category of video information and defining at least one source of the video information; and retrieving from the source, over a data communications path and on the basis of the first data and the second data, the video information to be displayed on the monitor within the elevator.

Claims

1. A method of providing video information to a display monitor within an elevator located in a building, the method comprising:

receiving first data defining a category of video information, the first data being source non-specific;

receiving second data, associated with the category of video information and defining at least one source of the video information; and

retrieving from the source, over a data communications path, and on the basis of first data and second data, the video information to be displayed on the monitor with the elevator.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first data is a generic play list having a plurality of entries, each entry defining a category of video information.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein each entry in the generic play list defines a time segment during which the video information is to be displayed.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the generic play list is selected from one of a plurality of play lists.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the categories of information in the play lists are selected from general information, financial information, and hotel information.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of play lists are selectable from a library across the data communications path.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second data includes path designation information.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the path designation is an FTP or HTML request.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second data is selected from a series of registry keys, a text file and a configuration file.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising generating a local building play list having a plurality of entries including the retrieved video information from each source defined by the second data.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising identifying date information for entries within the second data.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising using the date information to update the entries within the second data.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data communications path is the Internet.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein a server retrieves the first and second data over the data communications path.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the server is located in the building.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein an elevator display unit in the elevator retrieves the first and second data over the communications path.

17. The method according to claim 1, further comprising sampling a directory of source files corresponding to the sources of video information in each category and extracting source file names and date information corresponding to each source file name.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising determining, based on the source file names and date information, whether a file in the source directory qualifies for retrieval to a processor in the building.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein if a file in the source directory qualifies for retrieval , then downloading the file by either of an FTP fetch or a HTTP get operation.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the downloaded file is encapsulated within a protocol header.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the protocol header validates the integrity of the data in the file.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the validation comprises at least one of a security ID validation and a checksum validation.

23. The method according to claim 20, wherein the protocol header provides for placement of multiple files within the protocol.

24. The method according to claim 20, wherein the protocol header provides at least one of an activation time or a deactivation time for the downloaded file.

25. The method according to claim 20, wherein at least one downloaded file is placed in a category file list in the processor.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the files in the category file list are tagged with markers selected from at least one of the file modification date, the presence of the file on the category file list prior to retrieval, file bundle status, file update information, and at least one of file activation and deactivation times.

27. The method according to claim 26, wherein the files are tagged as a bundle and said bundle is placed in the category file list.

28. The method according to claim 26, wherein the validated files are marked individually and placed in the category file list.

29. The method according to claim 25, wherein, if a file in the category file list is not present at the information source, the non-existent file is removed from the category file list.

30. The method according to claim 25, wherein stale files are removed from a local building play list.

31. The method according to claim 30, wherein a stale file is inserted into the local building play list when the files are updated.

32. The method according to claim 25, further comprising filling the categories of video information in the generic play list with file names from the category file list to create a content play list.

33. The method according to claim 32, wherein the filling step is performed in a round robin fashion from file names in the category file list.

34. The method according to claim 32, further comprising adding building information to the content play list to form a local building play list.

35. The method according to claim 34, further comprising distributing the local building play list to the monitors in the elevators in the building.

40. The method according to claim 30, wherein the protocol header provides at least one of activation and deactivation times for the downloaded file.

54. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data and the second data are in a single file.

36. A method for providing video information to a display monitor within an elevator located in a building, the method comprising:

creating a generic play list including categories of video information and time segments associated with each category of information;

associating path information with the categories of information in the generic play list to create a content mapping file;

requesting files accessing data sources using path information in the content mapping file;

downloading requested files to build category file lists with pointers to files accessing the data sources in each category of video information;

placing the categories in the category file lists into the time segments in the generic play list;

filling the files in the category file lists into the categories in the generic play list to create a content play list;

adding local building information to the content play list to create a local play list; and

distributing the video information to the display monitor according to the local play list.

37. The method according to claim 36, wherein the downloaded files are encapsulated into a protocol header.

38. The method according to claim 37, wherein the protocol header validates the downloaded file.

39. The method according to claim 37, wherein the protocol header allows the downloaded files to be placed next to each other in the local play list.

41. The method according to claim 36, wherein the category files list are structured to include modification information for each file.

42. The method according to claim 41, further comprising removing a file from the local building play list based on the modification information.

43. The method according to claim 36, wherein, during the filling step, each file is included or excluded based on activated or deactivated information in the category file list.

44. The method according to claim 36, wherein the files are downloaded to a processor in the building.

45. The method according to claim 44, wherein the processor is a server.

46. The method according to claim 44, wherein the processor is in the elevator.

47. A method for providing video information to a display monitor within an elevator located in a building, the method comprising:

creating a generic play list including categories of video information associated with each category of information;

associating path information with the categories of information in the generic play list to create a content mapping file;

requesting files accessing data sources using path information in the content mapping file;

downloading requested files to build category file lists with pointers to files accessing the data sources in each category of video information, wherein the category file list includes status information for each downloaded file; and

activating, deactivating or removing a file from a local building play list based on the status information in the category file list.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the files are downloaded to a processor in the building.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the processor is associated with the elevator display unit.

50. The method of claim 47, further comprising

placing the categories in the category file lists into a time segments in the generic play list for each category;

filling the files in the category file lists into the categories in the generic play list to create a content play list.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein the filled files are activated or deactivated based on the file status information in the category file list.

52. The method of claim 50, further comprising adding local building information to the content play list to create a local play list.

53. A system for providing video information to a display monitor within an elevator located in a building, the system comprising:

an elevator display unit having a display monitor positioned within the elevator to display the video information to passengers within the elevator;

a processor which retrieves, over a data communications path, the video information from a source, the processor retrieving the video information on the basis of first data defining a category of source non-specific video information and second data which defines a source of the video information defines and is associated with the category of video information.