Systems and methods for conveying weather reports

• US 6,496,780 B1
• Filed: 09/12/2000
• Issued: 12/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: DTN, LLC (TBG AG)
• Original Assignee: WSI Incorporated
• Inventors: Cote, Peter Douglas, Harris, Ronald Alan, Medling, Clifford Edward Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): McElheny, Jr., Donald E.
• Application Number:
  US09/659,911
• Time in Patent Office: 826 Days
• Field of Search: 702/3, 702/4, 706/930, 706/931, 342/26, 342/640
• US Class Current: 702/3
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/04 giving only separate indications of the variables measured
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/10 Devices for predicting weather conditions computers per se G06; display devices G09

Abstract

A system for conveying a weather report includes a television transmitter, cable head-end or other broadcast device and a television receiver or other display device. A sequence of images broadcast by the transmitter and displayed by the receiver depict sun, sky, clouds, rain and other weather conditions superimposed on a landmark associated with a city, county or region which the report covers. To provide a temporal perspective of the report, a clock face, time line and/or rising/setting sun are superimposed on each of the images, indicating the hours at which the depicted weather conditions are forecasted to occur.

Claims

1. A system for reporting a weather forecast, comprising:

a display device that displays an image depicting a landmark and that concurrently displays a sequence of plural weather images depicting weather conditions at a geographic region associated with the landmark,

wherein each of the plural weather images

(i) depicts a respective weather condition for the region at a respective selected time, and

(ii) indicates that respective selected time,

such that the concurrent display of the image depicting the landmark and the sequence of plural weather images conveys a weather forecast for the region.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the display device displays the sequence of plural weather images superimposed on the image that depicts the landmark.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the display device displays the sequence of plural weather images so as to depict the weather conditions in animation.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the sequence of plural weather images depicts the weather conditions and the landmark in three dimensions.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the display device displays, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, at least one weather indicia selected from the group consisting of sun, clouds, rain, snow, hail, lightening, fog, haze, wind, and rainbows.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the display device further displays, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, a weather measurement selected from the group consisting of temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity, wind velocity, wind chill, and heat index.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the display device further displays, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, an icon depicting an instrument with which the weather measurement is associated.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plural weather images indicates the respective selective time via the depiction of at least one time indicia.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein each of the at least one time indicia is selected from the group consisting of a clock face, a time line, a numeric time display, sun presence, sun position, moon presence, and moon position.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the landmark is selected from the group consisting of a sports venue, a tourist attraction, an airport, a skyline, a water view, a nature view, and a landscape.

11. A system for reporting a weather forecast, comprising:

a broadcast device that broadcasts

(i) an image depicting a landmark associated with a geographic region, where the image depicting the landmark can be photorealistic, and

(ii) a sequence of plural weather images depicting weather conditions at a geographic region associated with the landmark,

wherein each of the plural weather images depicts a respective weather condition for the region at a respective selected time, and indicates that respective selected time,

such that the concurrent display of the image depicting the landmark and the sequence of plural weather images conveys a weather forecast for the region; and

a display device in electromagnetic communication with the broadcast device that receives the broadcast images and that concurrently displays the the image depicting the landmark and the sequence of plural weather images to convey a weather forecast for the region.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the broadcast device broadcasts and the display device displays the sequence of plural weather images superimposed on the image that depicts the landmark.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the broadcast device broadcasts and the display device displays the sequence of plural weather images so as to depict the weather conditions in animation.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the sequence of plural weather images depicts the weather conditions and the landmark in three dimensions.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the broadcast device broadcasts and the display device displays, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, at least one weather indicia selected from the group consisting of sun, clouds, rain, snow, hail, lightening, fog, haze, wind, and rainbows.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the broadcast device further broadcasts and the display device further displays, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, a weather measurement selected from the group consisting of temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity, wind velocity, wind chill, and heat index.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the broadcast device further broadcasts and the display device further displays, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, an icon depicting an instrument with which the weather measurement is associated.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein each of the plural weather images indicates the respective selective time via the depiction of at least one time indicia.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein each of the at least one time indicia is selected from the group consisting of a clock face, a time line, a numeric time display, sun presence, sun position, moon presence, and moon position.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the landmark is selected from the group consisting of a sports venue, a tourist attraction, an airport, a skyline, a water view, a nature view and a landscape.

21. A method for reporting a weather forecast, comprising the steps of:

displaying an image depicting a landmark and that concurrently displays a sequence of weather images depicting weather conditions at a geographic region associated with the landmark,

wherein each of the plural weather images

(i) depicts a respective weather condition for the region at a respective selected time, and

(ii) indicates that respective selected time,

such that the concurrent display of the image depicting the landmark and the sequence of plural weather images conveys a weather forecast for the region.

22. The method of claim 21, comprising the step of displaying the sequence of plural weather images superimposed on the image that depicts the landmark.

23. The method of claim 21, comprising the step of displaying the sequence of plural weather images so as to depict the weather conditions in animation.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the sequence of plural weather images depicts the weather conditions and the landmark in three dimensions.

25. The method of claim 21, comprising the step of displaying, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, at least one weather indicia selected from the group consisting of sun, clouds, rain, snow, hail, lightening, fog, haze, wind, and rainbows.

26. The method of claim 25, comprising displaying, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, a weather measurement selected from the group consisting of temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity, wind velocity, wind chill, and heat index.

27. The method of claim 26, comprising displaying, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, an icon depicting an instrument with which the weather measurement is associated.

28. The method of claim 21, wherein each of the plural weather images indicates the respective selective time via the depiction of at least one time indicia.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein each of the at least one time indicia is selected from the group consisting of a clock face, a time line, a numeric time display, sun presence, sun position, moon presence, and moon position.

30. The method of claim 21, wherein the landmark is selected from the group consisting of a sports venue, a tourist attraction, an airport, a skyline, a water view, a nature view and a landscape.

31. A method for reporting a weather forecast, comprising the steps of:

broadcasting (i) an image depicting a landmark associated with a geographic region, and (ii) a sequence of plural weather images depicting weather conditions at a geographic region associated with the landmark, wherein each of the plural weather images depicts a respective weather condition for the region at a respective selected time, and indicates that respective selected time,

such that the concurrent display of the image depicting the landmark and the sequence of plural weather images conveys a weather forecast for the region; and

concurrently displaying the the image depicting the landmark and the sequence of plural weather images to convey a weather forecast for the region.

32. The method of claim 31, comprising broadcasting and displaying the sequence of plural weather images superimposed on the image that depicts the landmark.

33. The method of claim 31, comprising broadcasting and displaying the sequence of plural weather images so as to depict the weather conditions in animation.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the sequence of plural weather images depicts the weather conditions and the landmark in three dimensions.

35. The method of claim 31, comprising broadcasting and displaying, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, at least one weather indicia selected from the group consisting of sun, clouds, rain, snow, hail, lightening, fog, haze, wind, and rainbows.

36. The method of claim 35, comprising broadcasting and displaying, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, a weather measurement selected from the group consisting of temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity, wind velocity, wind chill, and heat index.

37. The method of claim 36, comprising broadcasting and displaying, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, an icon depicting an instrument with which the weather measurement is associated.

38. The method of claim 31, wherein each of the plural weather images indicates the respective selective time via the depiction of at least one time indicia.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein each of the at least one time indicia is selected from the group consisting of a clock face, a time line, a numeric time display, sun presence, sun position, moon presence, and moon position.

40. The method of claim 31, wherein the landmark is selected from the group consisting of a sports venue, a tourist attraction, an airport, a skyline, a water view, a nature view and a landscape.

41. A system for reporting a weather forecast, comprising:

a server that generates a weather forecast information,

a client device in communication with the server, the client device responding to the weather forecast information to display

(i) an image depicting a landmark associated with a geographic region, and

(ii) a sequence of plural weather images depicting weather conditions at a geographic region associated with the landmark, wherein each of the plural weather images depicts a respective weather condition for the region at a respective selected time, and indicates that respective selected time,

such that the concurrent display of the image depicting the landmark and the sequence of plural weather images conveys a weather forecast for the region.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the client device responds to the weather forecast information to display the sequence of plural weather images superimposed on the image that depicts the landmark.

43. The system of claim 41, wherein the client device responds to the weather forecast information to display the sequence of plural weather images so as to depict the weather conditions in animation.

44. The system of claim 41, wherein the sequence of plural weather images depicts the weather conditions and the landmark in three dimensions.

45. The system of claim 41, wherein the client device responds to the weather forecast information to display, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, at least one weather indicia selected from the group consisting of sun, clouds, rain, snow, hail, lightening, fog, haze, wind, and rainbows.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein the client device responds to the weather forecast information to display, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, a weather measurement selected from the group consisting of temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity, wind velocity, wind chill, and heat index.

47. The system of claim 46, wherein the client device responds to the weather forecast information to display, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, an icon depicting an instrument with which the weather measurement is associated.

48. The system of claim 41, wherein each of the plural weather images indicates the respective selective time via the depiction of at least one time indicia.

49. The system of claim 48, wherein each of the at least one time indicia is selected from the group consisting of a clock face, a time line, a numeric time display, sun presence, sun position, moon presence, and moon position.

50. The system of claim 41, wherein the landmark is selected from the group consisting of a sports venue, a tourist attraction, an airport, a skyline, a water view, a nature view and a landscape.

51. A method for reporting a weather forecast, comprising:

generating weather forecast information,

responding to the weather forecast information to display

(i) an image depicting a landmark associated with a geographic region, and

(ii) a sequence of plural weather images depicting weather conditions at a geographic region associated with the landmark, wherein each of the plural weather images depicts a respective weather condition for the region at a respective selected time, and indicates that respective selected time,

such that the concurrent display of the image depicting the landmark and the sequence of plural weather images conveys a weather forecast for the region.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the responding step includes responding to the weather forecast information to display the sequence of plural weather images superimposed on the image that depicts the landmark.

53. The method of claim 51, wherein the responding step includes responding to the weather forecast information to display the sequence of plural weather images so as to depict the weather conditions in animation.

54. The method of claim 51, wherein the sequence of plural weather images depicts the weather conditions and the landmark in three dimensions.

55. The method of claim 51, wherein the responding step includes responding to the weather forecast information to display, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, at least one weather indicia selected from the group consisting of sun, clouds, rain, snow, hail, lightening, fog, haze, wind, and rainbows.

56. The method of claim 55, wherein the responding step includes responding to the weather forecast information to display, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, a weather measurement selected from the group consisting of temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity, wind velocity, wind chill, and heat index.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein the responding step includes responding to the weather forecast information to display, concurrently with the image depicting the landmark and with at least one image in the sequence of plural weather images, an icon depicting an instrument with which the weather measurement is associated.

58. The method of claim 51, wherein each of the plural weather images indicates the respective selective time via the depiction of at least one time indicia.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein each of the at least one time indicia is selected from the group consisting of a clock face, a time line, a numeric time display, sun presence, sun position, moon presence, and moon position.

60. The method of claim 51, wherein the landmark is selected from the group consisting of a sports venue, a tourist attraction, an airport, a skyline, a water view, a nature view and a landscape.