Apparatus, methods, and computer programs for displaying information on mobile signs

• US 6,701,143 B1
• Filed: 07/18/2000
• Issued: 03/02/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: VERT Inc.
• Original Assignee: VERT Inc.
• Inventors: Porter, Edward W., Dukach, Semyon, Harkavy, Brad, Mankins, Matt W. D., DʼAgostino, Salvatore A., Fridman, Leonid
• Primary Examiner(s): Trost, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ewart, James D
• Application Number:
  US09/618,862
• Time in Patent Office: 1,323 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456, 455/414, 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455/456.1, 455/456.4
• US Class Current: 455/414.2
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/127 to a central station ; Indicators in a central station

Abstract

A system of advertising information on one or more mobile vehicles as a function of the vehicle'"'"'s location. The system comprises mobile units and a central system for controlling the displays on the mobile units. The mobile units include displays visible from the outside of the vehicle, a controller, and a wireless communication system for repeatedly transmitting a locator signal to and receiving display-selection messages from the central system. The central system includes a wireless communication system for receiving locator signals from the mobile units, a memory and a processor. The central system determines a zone in which the mobile unit is located, selects a display to be shown by the mobile unit based on the zone that the mobile unit is located, and transmits a display-selection message to the mobile unit identifying a selected display message to be shown on the mobile unit'"'"'s display.

Claims

1. A system for displaying messages on one or more mobile units as a function of the mobile units location, said system comprising:

at least one mobile unit in the form of a vehicle capable of moving in geographic space which includes;

a display visible from outside the vehicle;

a wireless communication system including;

a transmitter for repeatedly transmitting messages, said messages including a locator signal which enables a central system to determine the mobile unit'"'"'s location;

a receiver for receiving display messages from a central unit and for receiving display-selection messages which do not contain advertising information; and

a controller programmed to;

control the contents shown on said display;

read display messages received by the wireless receiver; and

read and respond to the display-selection messages which do not contain advertising information from the central system by causing said display to show the selected display message identified in said display-selection message;

a central system including;

a wireless communication system including;

circuitry for receiving wireless messages from mobile units, said messages, including said locator signals;

circuitry for sending the wireless display messages and for sending the display-selection messages which do not contain advertising information to mobile units;

a memory for storing a plurality of geographic zone definitions and a indication of which of a plurality of display messages is to be displayed by one or more of said mobile units in each of said zones;

a processor programmed to;

associate a geographic location with a given mobile unit based on information derived from the receipt of a locator signal from the given mobile unit;

determine which of a plurality of geographic zones the geographic location associated with the given mobile unit is located;

selecting a given display message from a plurality of display messages to be displayed by the given mobile unit based on the geographic zone in which the given mobile unit'"'"'s associated geographic location is located;

sending the wireless display-selection message which does not contain advertising information to the given mobile unit identifying the selected display message to be shown on the given mobile unit'"'"'s display.

2. A system as in claim 1 wherein the mobile unit'"'"'s display is mounted on the exterior of the mobile unit'"'"'s vehicle.

3. A system as in claim 1 wherein:

said mobile unit further includes a memory storing a plurality of display messages; and

said mobile unit'"'"'s controller is programmed to respond to a display-selection message from the central system by causing the identified selected display message to be read from memory and shown on the display.

4. A system as in claim 3 wherein the processor of the central system is programmed to:

select a sub-set of a larger set of display messages which are to be cached by storage in the memory of a given mobile unit; and

send a wireless caching message to the given mobile unit causing the given mobile unit to cache the selected sub-set of display messages.

5. A system as in claim 4 wherein said caching selection is made as a function of one or more of said geographic locations which have been associated with the given mobile unit at one or more times.

6. A system as in claim 5 wherein:

a given mobile unit includes an input device enabling a user of the mobile unit'"'"'s vehicle to input an intended destination for the mobile unit;

the given mobile unit'"'"'s controller is programmed to cause a wireless message to be sent informing the central system of the intended destination; and

said caching selection is also made as a function of an intended destination communicated to the central system by the given mobile unit.

7. A system as in claim 4 wherein:

the central system includes a broadcast transmitter which broadcasts one or more data streams which can be simultaneously received by multiple mobile units, each of which data streams contains one or more display messages; and

the caching message sent to a given mobile unit instructs the given mobile unit to cache one or more selected messages from said one or more of the broadcast streams.

8. A system as in claim 7 wherein said broadcast transmitter is a UHF television station.

9. A system as in claim 4 wherein the caching message includes the sub-set of display messages which the central system has selected for caching by the given mobile unit.

10. A system as in claim 1 wherein:

the central system includes a broadcast transmitter which broadcasts one or more data streams which can be simultaneously received by multiple mobile units, each of which data streams contains one or more display messages; and

a display-selection message is addressed to a subset of one or more of said mobile units instructing the members of the subset to display a selected one of the display messages contained in said one of said broadcast data streams;

the mobile units includes a data-stream receiver capable of receiving a selected display message from one of said broadcast data streams; and

the mobile unit'"'"'s controller is programmed to respond to the receipt of a display-selection message by;

causing the data-stream receiver to receive the display message identified in the selected-display message; and

causing the identified display message to be shown on the mobile unit'"'"'s display.

11. A system as in claim 10 wherein said broadcast transmitter is a UHF television station.

12. A system as in claim 10 wherein said mobile unit'"'"'s controller is programmed to cause the identified display message to be shown on the mobile unit'"'"'s display in real time as it is received from a data stream.

13. A system as in claim 1 wherein:

said mobile unit includes a GPS system for determining the geographical coordinates of said mobile unit; and

said locator signal contains geographical coordinates information derived from said GPS system.

14. A system as in claim 1 wherein:

the locator signal broadcast by a mobile unit does not contain encoded geographical location information; and

the central system associates said geographical location with a given mobile unit based on information about the receipt of the locator signal obtained by the wireless communication system which receives such signals.

15. A system as in claim 1 wherein:

said mobile unit has a plurality of displays visible from outside its vehicle;

the processor of the central system contains programming to separately select a given message from a plurality of messages to be displayed on each of said plurality of displays;

said display-selection message can include information informing a mobile unit to display different selected messages on each of its plurality of displays; and

the mobile units controller contains programming to cause it to respond to a display-selection message from a central system identifying a separate display message to be shown on each of said plurality of displays by causing each of said identified display messages to be shown in a corresponding one of said displays.

16. A system as in claim 1 wherein the central system'"'"'s processor is programmed to select the display message to be shown by a given mobile unit based not only on the geographic zone in which the given mobile vehicle is located but also as a function of the current time.

17. A system as in claim 16 wherein:

the central system contains a memory storing a schedule which indicates which messages are to be displayed in which geographic zones at what times; and

the central system'"'"'s processor is programmed to use the information stored in said schedule when making the selection of which display message is to be shown a given mobile unit as a function of both its geographic zone and the current time.

18. A system as in claim 16 wherein:

the central system'"'"'s processor records information on how much one or more messages have been shown by one or more mobile units within one or more geographic zones during one or more time periods; and

the central system'"'"'s processor is programmed to use said information when making the selection of which display message is to be shown by a given mobile unit in a given zone at a given time.

19. A system as in claim 1 wherein the central system'"'"'s processor is programmed to perform record keeping, including keeping record of which display messages are shown by mobile units and when such messages are so shown.

20. A system as in claim 19 wherein said record keeping tasks further include keeping record of where individual display messages are so shown.

21. A system as in claim 19 wherein said record keeping tasks further include generating billing information from said information about which messages have been displayed at which times.

22. A system as in claim 1 wherein the central system'"'"'s processor is programmed to record information about the location of each of a plurality of said mobile units, derived from the locator signals transmitted by such mobile units, at each of successive times, so as to record a history of the travel of each such mobile unit.

23. A system as in claim 1 wherein:

the central system'"'"'s processor is programmed to;

determine, based on the receipt of a locator signal from a given mobile unit, how close the given mobile unit is to the boundary of the geographic zone in which is located;

calculate how long it should be before the given mobile unit transmits each of one or more subsequent locator signal as a function of how close the given mobile unit is to the boundary of the geographic zone in which it is located; and

send a wireless locator-signal-period message to the given mobile unit containing the results of said calculation; and

the controller of the given mobile unit is programmed to respond to the receipt of one of said locator-signal-period messages by causing the timing of the subsequent transmission of one or more of the given mobile unit'"'"'s locator signals to be controlled as a function of information contained in said locator-signal-period message.

24. A system as in claim 23 wherein said calculation of how long it should be before the given mobile unit transmits each of one or more subsequent locator signal is also made as a function of the speed of the given mobile unit.

25. A system as in claim 1 wherein:

the mobile unit includes a sensor for measuring the speed of the mobile unit;

the mobile unit'"'"'s controller is programmed to vary the time between the transmission of locator signal'"'"'s as a function of the speed of the vehicle as measured by said sensor.

26. A central system for use as part of a larger system for displaying mobile messages on each of one or more mobile units, said central system comprising:

one or more wireless receivers for receiving a locator signal broadcast by one of said mobile unit;

a wireless communication system including;

circuitry for receiving wireless messages from mobile units, said messages including locator signals transmitted by individual mobile units to enable the central system to determine the individual location of such mobile units;

circuitry for sending wireless display messages and for sending display-selection messages which do not contain advertising information to mobile units;

a memory for storing a plurality of geographic zone definitions and a indication of which of a plurality of display messages is to be displayed by one or more of said mobile units in each of said zones; and

one or more processors programmed to;

associate a geographic location with a given mobile unit based on information derived from the receipt of a locator signal from the given mobile unit;

determine which of a plurality of geographic zones the geographic location associated with the given mobile unit is located;

selecting a given display message from a plurality of display messages to be displayed by the given mobile unit based on the geographic zone in which the given mobile unit'"'"'s associated geographic location is located;

sending the wireless display-selection message which does not contain advertising information to the given mobile unit identifying the selected display message to be shown on the given mobile unit'"'"'s display.

27. A mobile unit for use in a system for displaying messages on each of one or more such mobile units under command from a central system, said mobile unit comprising:

a vehicle capable of moving in geographic space which includes;

a display visible from outside the vehicle;

a wireless communication system including;

a transmitter for repeatedly transmitting a locator signal which enables a central system to determine the mobile unit'"'"'s location;

a receiver for receiving display messages from a central unit and for receiving display-selection messages which do not contain advertising information; and

a controller programmed to;

control the contents shown on said external display;

read the display messages received by the wireless receiver; and

read and respond to the display-selection messages which do not contain advertising information from the central system by causing said display to show the selected display message identified in said display-selection message;

wherein said mobile unit has no knowledge of at what geographic boundaries it should change displays of messages.

28. A method for displaying messages on one or more mobile units as a function of the mobile units location, said method comprising:

having one or more mobile units travel through geographic space;

having each mobile unit repeatedly transmitting a locator signal which enables a central system to determine the mobile unit'"'"'s location;

having the central system;

associate a geographic location with a given mobile unit based on information derived from the receipt of a locator signal from the given mobile unit;

determine which of a plurality of geographic zones the geographic location associated with the given mobile unit is located;

select a given display message from a plurality of display messages to be displayed by the given mobile unit based on the geographic zone in which the given mobile unit'"'"'s associated geographic location is located; and

sending a wireless display-selection message which does not contain advertising information to the given mobile unit identifying a selected display message to be shown on the given mobile unit'"'"'s display; and

having the given mobile unit respond to the receipt of said display-selection message which does not contain advertising information sent to it by causing said publically visible display on the given mobile unit show the selected display message identified in said display-selection message.