System permitting retail stores to place advertisements on roadside electronic billboard displays that tie into point of purchase displays at stores

• US 6,430,605 B2
• Filed: 10/12/1999
• Issued: 08/06/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DHP Media AB
• Original Assignee: World Theatre, Inc.
• Inventors: Hunter, Charles Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Peeso, Thomas R.
• Application Number:
  US09/416,333
• Publication Number:
  US 20010013016A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,029 Days
• Field of Search: 709/207, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/227, 709/234, 709/238, 709/240, 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 709/207
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 27/00 Combined visual and audible advertising or displaying, e.g. for public address
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 33/10 Indicating arrangements; Warning arrangements G11B15/04, G11B19/04, G11B27/34, G11B27/36 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41415 involving a public display, viewable by several users in a public space outside their home, e.g. movie theatre, information kiosk
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8153 comprising still images, e.g. texture, background image
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Commercial advertisers, such as a chain of retail stores, directly access a network of thousands of large, high resolution roadside electronic displays and directly send their own advertisements electronically to the network to be displayed at locations and times selected by the advertisers, while tying the advertising content into the content of point of purchase displays in the advertiser'"'"'s store(s).

Claims

1. A system permitting a commercial advertiser with retail stores to place video or still-image advertisements at selected times and locations on a network of multiple electronic roadside displays, and to tie the roadside advertisements into point of purchase displays at the advertiser'"'"'s retail stores, said system comprising:

a network including a plurality of roadside electronic displays;

means permitting a commercial advertiser with retail stores to place video or still-image advertisements at selected times on selected ones of the network'"'"'s roadside electronic displays; and

point of purchase displays at selected ones of the commercial advertiser'"'"'s retail stores displaying content that ties into the content of the video or still-image advertisements run on the roadside electronic displays.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said means permitting a commercial advertiser to place advertisements includes a central processing station that permits a commercial advertiser to transmit its advertising content to the station from which it is routed for display at the customer-selected roadside electronic displays.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the point of purchase displays at selected ones of the commercial advertiser'"'"'s retail stores are electronic point of purchase displays, said network of electronic displays includes the point of purchase displays and the content of the point of purchase displays is transmitted by the advertiser through said central processing station.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the point of purchase displays at selected ones of the commercial advertiser'"'"'s retail stores are electronic point of purchase displays.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein said electronic point of purchase displays comprise electronic ink displays.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein the electronic point of purchase displays are part of a network of point of purchase displays in multiple stores, said network being independent of said roadside electronic display network and controlled by the commercial advertiser.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the roadside advertisements display information concerning special value or promotional items for sale at the advertiser'"'"'s retail stores and the point of purchase displays repeat the special value or promotional sale information.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the roadside advertisements include information concerning the locations of area stores of the commercial advertiser.

9. A method permitting a commercial advertiser with retail stores to place video or still-image advertisements at selected times and locations on a network of multiple electronic roadside displays, and to tie the roadside advertisements into point of purchase displays at the advertiser'"'"'s retail stores, said method comprising:

permitting a commercial advertiser with retail stores to place video or still-image advertisements at selected times on selected roadside electronic displays; and

providing point of purchase displays at selected ones of the commercial advertiser'"'"'s retail stores displaying content that ties into the content of the video or still-image advertisements run on the roadside electronic displays.

10. A system for presenting video or still-image content at selected times and locations on a networked connection of multiple electronic displays, said system comprising:

a network interconnecting a plurality of electronic displays provided at various locations, and a plurality of point of purchase displays provided at places of business;

means enabling said business to schedule presentation of video or still-image content at selected time slots on selected electronic displays of said network, said means receiving said video or still-image content from a content provider; and

transmission means in communication with said receiving means for communicating scheduled content to server devices, a server device associated with a selected electronic display of said network for initiating display of said video or still-image content at a selected time on a selected display of said network, a server device additionally coordinating display of content associated with the video or still-image content presented on the selected electronic displays at point of purchase displays located at a selected businesses.

11. The system of claim 10, further including a central processing server for scheduling and for receiving said video or still-image content from said content provider, said central processing server initiating communication of said video or still-image content at the selected electronic displays at the selected times.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the point of purchase displays at selected ones of the places of business are electronic point of purchase displays, said network of electronic displays including the point of purchase displays and the content of the point of purchase displays is transmitted by the content provider through said central processing server.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the point of purchase displays at selected ones of the places of business are electronic point of purchase displays.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said electronic point of purchase displays comprise electronic ink displays.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein said network comprises a first network comprising said plurality of electronic displays provided at various locations, and a second network comprising a plurality of point of purchase displays located at one or more places of business, said first and second networks capable of being controlled by an agent of said business.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the content for display includes advertisements directed to special value or promotional items for sale at the places of business, said point of purchase displays receiving a separate transmission for repeating the special value or promotional sale information.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the displayed advertisements include information content providing locations of the places of business.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein a content provider includes an agent of said business, said central processing server comprises means for enabling said agent to view and schedule of times and electronic display locations that are available for placement said content, and additionally enabling said agent to purchase one or more available time slots at selected electronic display locations for presenting said content.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising means in connection with said central processing server for enabling a review of received transmitted video or still image content prior to transmission to the selected electronic display, said content being transmitted to said selected electronic display upon reviewer approval of said content.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein said content includes one or more of public service announcements, news, or sporting events.

21. The system of claim 18, further including an interface server device for providing Internet access to said central processing server and enabling remote viewing, scheduling and purchasing from remote locations.

22. The system of claim 21, further including a security device for enabling said agent to obtain and enter security code and billing code information to identify said agent prior to accessing said system.

23. The system of claim 22, further including dedicated high-speed connection to said security device for enabling high-usage agents to access the system.

24. The system of claim 11, wherein said content is transmitted to said central processing server according to a mechanism selected from the group comprising:

on-line through the Internet, a direct phone line, and, a high speed information transfer line.

25. The system of claim 11, wherein said still image or video advertising content is formatted according to one format selected from the group comprising:

NTSC, PAL, SECAM, YUV, YC, and VGA.

26. The system of claim 19, further including one or more high speed server devices associated with each electronic display providing functionality for driving said electronic displays, said content being transmitted to a server device associated with a selected display upon approval of said content to be displayed.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said transmission means is selected from the group comprising:

high speed cable, a satellite link, a dedicated phone connection, a high-speed communications line, a cellular or PCS data transmission device, the Internet, a radio or radio pulse transmission device, a high speed optical fiber, and physical delivery of a medium storing said content.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein said medium storing said content includes one of CD ROM, zip drive, DVD ROM or DVD RAM.

29. The system of claim 27, further including a video converter/scaler mechanism associated with said high speed server devices for each display, said video converter/scaler mechanism enabling any required reformatting of said content according to said transmission means implemented.

30. The system of claim 26, further including:

means linked to each electronic display for verifying that advertisements for the intended display are displayed at the intended time at the intended display and generating verification information pertaining thereto; and

,

means for receiving and storing said verification information generated by each said verification means.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein said verifying means includes a digital camera for recording the content appearing at its respective display.

32. The system of claim 30, further including a traffic count recorder means linked to each electronic display for counting amount of traffic passing an electronic display during a particular time slot and generating traffic count information for receipt and storage by said archival means.

33. The system of claim 32, further including a means for receiving said stored verification and traffic count information, analyzing said information and generating demographic information for reports to be sent to said business after their content is displayed.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein said demographic information for reports comprises information including:

a time of the advertisement, the content of the advertisement, the traffic count, and residence/median income information about those who may have viewed the advertisement.

35. The system of claim 30, further including means for generating bills capable of being transmitted by phone lines to said businesses.

36. The system of claim 18, further including auction sub-system for enabling previously purchased time slots and all unsold time slots to be auctioned through a bid process.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein said auction sub-system enables the purchase of time slots for a set price, and all time not purchased at the set price becomes available through said auction sub-system at a fixed time before the run time.

38. The system of claim 18, further including means for preselecting time slots for display of the agent'"'"'s content at a “

best available rate”

pricing for those high volume agents having establish a monthly budget to purchase a portion of the available time slots.

39. The system of claim 38, further including means for optimizing pre-selection of time slots for display of the agent'"'"'s content in accordance with needs of said agent and said system.

40. A method for presenting video or still-image content at selected times and locations on a networked connection of multiple electronic displays, said method comprising:

a) providing a network including plurality of electronic displays provided at various locations, and a plurality of point of purchase displays located at one or more places of business;

b) enabling an agent of said business to schedule video or still-image content at selected times on selected electronic displays of said network and receiving said video or still-image content from a content provider;

c) providing a plurality of server devices, each server device associated with a corresponding electronic display;

d) communicating received video or still-image content to the associated server devices of corresponding selected electronic displays of said network, said associated server devices initiating display of said video or still-image content at selected times on selected electronic displays of said network; and

,

e) coordinating display of content associated with the video or still-image content presented on the selected displays at point of purchase displays at selected ones of the places of business.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein prior to placement of video or still-image advertisements at selected times on selected electronic displays, the steps of:

enabling an agent to view a schedule of times and electronic display locations that are available for placement of advertising content; and

,

enabling an agent to purchase one or more available time slots at selected electronic display locations for placement of their content.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein prior to placement of video or still-image advertisements at selected times on selected electronic displays, the steps of:

providing an appropriateness review of transmitted video or still image content; and

transmitting said content to said selected electronic display upon approval of said content.

43. The method of claim 41, further comprising the step of providing said agent with Internet access for enabling remote viewing, scheduling and purchasing from remote locations.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein prior to enabling agent access to said schedule of times and available electronic display locations, the step of providing security code and billing code information for identifying said agent and authorizing agent access to said system.

45. The method of claim 44, further including providing dedicated high-speed connection to a security device for enabling high-usage agents to access the schedule of times and available electronic display locations.

46. The method of claim 44, further including the step of transmitting said content to a central processing server for receipt thereof according to a mechanism selected from the group comprising:

on-line through the Internet, a direct phone line, and, a high speed information transfer line.

47. The method of claim 44, further comprising the step of formatting said still image or video advertising content according to a format selected from the group comprising:

NTSC, PAL, SECAM, YUV, YC, and VGA.

48. The method of claim 42, wherein an associated server device includes one or more high speed server devices for driving said electronic displays, said content being transmitted to a server device associated with a selected display upon approval of said content to be displayed.

49. The method of claim 46, further including the step of transmitting said content to a server device associated with a selected display by a transmission means selected from the group comprising:

high speed cable, a satellite link, a dedicated phone connection, a high-speed communications line, a cellular or PCS data transmission device, the Internet, a radio or radio pulse transmission device, a high speed optical fiber, and physical delivery of a medium storing said content.

50. The method of claim 49, further including the step of enabling any required reformatting of said content according to said transmission means implemented.

51. The method of claim 49, further including the steps of:

verifying that advertisements for the intended display are displayed at the intended time at the intended display and generating verification information pertaining thereto; and

,

receiving and storing said verification information generated.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein said verifying step includes implementing a digital camera for recording the content appearing at its respective display.

53. The method of claim 51, further including the steps of:

counting amount of traffic passing an electronic display during a particular time slot; and

generating traffic count information for receipt and storage by an archival means.

54. The method of claim 52, further including the steps of:

receiving said stored verification and traffic count information;

analyzing said information; and

,

generating demographic information for reports to be sent to agents after their advertisements are displayed.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein said demographic information for reports comprises information including:

a time of the advertisement, the content of the advertisement, the traffic count, and residence/median income information about those who may have viewed the advertisement.

56. The method of claim 51, further including the steps of:

generating bills associated with purchased time slots; and

,

transmitting said bills via phone lines to an agent representing said business establishment.

57. The method of claim 51, further including the step of auctioning previously purchased time slots and all unsold time slots through a bid process.

58. The system of claim 57, wherein said auctioning step includes:

enabling the purchase of time slots for a set price, and enabling all time slots not purchased at the set price to become available through said auction sub-system at a fixed time before the run time.

59. The method of claim 57, further including the step of:

preselecting time slots for display of the agent'"'"'s content at a “

best available rate”

pricing for those high volume agents having establish a monthly budget to purchase a portion of the available time slots.