Information displaying system, information providing apparatus, and information providing method

• US 6,882,348 B2
• Filed: 01/16/2002
• Issued: 04/19/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Hirono, Chiharu
• Primary Examiner(s): Razavi, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): HARRISON, CHANTE E
• Application Number:
  US10/050,369
• Publication Number:
  US 20020063723A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,189 Days
• Field of Search: 345/619, 345/440, 701/201, 709217-219
• US Class Current: 345/619
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0256 User search
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

An information displaying system for displaying information corresponding to a geographical location includes a display commanding unit pre-assigned with a unique ID, an information displaying unit for displaying information corresponding to a command received from the display commanding unit, a first data storing unit for storing map drawing element data for drawing a map, a second data storing unit for storing a geographical location corresponding to contents which are displayed corresponding to the command received from the display commanding unit and first attribute information in such a manner that the geographical location and the first attribute information are correlated with the ID, a map drawing commanding unit, linked from the display commanding unit, for searching the first data storing unit so as to draw the map corresponding to the location searched from the second data storing unit corresponding to the ID, wherein the map corresponding command received from the map drawing commanding unit is displayed by the information displaying unit.

Claims

1. A method for sending a plurality of advertisements and a map, over a network, to a user terminal in response to a single request sent from the user terminal via the network, comprising the steps of:

receiving the single request from the user terminal;

searching and transmitting the map information corresponding to the received request;

searching and transmitting the plurality of advertisements corresponding to the received request by searching a database storing the plurality of advertisements to be displayed, wherein the database stores the plurality of advertisements in association with date/time information, the date/time information indicating a temporal period wherein an associated advertisement is enabled to be displayed, and the date/time information is included in the received request; and

enabling the display of both the map and the plurality of advertisements on the user terminal, wherein

the single request sent from the user terminal includes a unique identification code that is associated with the geographical location and with a type of business, and

the type of business is associated with the plurality of advertisements to be displayed with the map, and each of the plurality of advertisements is stored in the database in association with a geographical range wherein an associated advertisement is enabled to be displayed.

2. A method for sending a plurality of advertisements and a map, over a network, to a user terminal in response to a single request sent from the user terminal via the network, comprising the steps of:

receiving the single request from the user terminal;

searching and transmitting the map information corresponding to the received request;

searching and transmitting the plurality of advertisements corresponding to the received request by searching a database storing the plurality of advertisements to be displayed, wherein the database stores the plurality of advertisements in association with date/time information, the date/time information indicates a temporal period wherein an associated advertisement is enabled to be displayed, and the date/time information is included in the received request; and

enabling the display of both the map and the plurality of advertisements on the user terminal, wherein

the single request sent from the user terminal includes a unique identification code that is associated with the geographical location and with a type of business,

the type of business is associated with the plurality of advertisements to be displayed with the map, and

each of the plurality of advertisements is stored in the database in association with at least one type of business corresponding to potential types of businesses indicated by the received request, and

each of the plurality of advertisements is stored in the database in association with a geographical range wherein an associated advertisement is enabled to be displayed.

3. A method for sending a plurality of advertisements and a map, over a network, to a user terminal in response to a single request sent from the user terminal via the network, comprising the steps of:

receiving the single request from the user terminal;

searching and transmitting the map information corresponding to the received request;

searching and transmitting the plurality of advertisements corresponding to the received request by searching a database storing the plurality of advertisements to be displayed, wherein the database stores the plurality of advertisements in association with date/time information, the date/time information indicates a temporal period wherein an associated advertisement is enabled to be displayed, and the date/time information is included in the received request; and

enabling the display of both the map and the plurality of advertisements on the user terminal, wherein

the single request sent from the user terminal includes a unique identification code that is associated with the geographical location and with a type of business,

the type of business is associated with the plurality of advertisements to be displayed with the map, and

each of the plurality of advertisements is stored in the database in association with a geographical range wherein an associated advertisement is enabled to be displayed.

4. An information displaying system for sending a plurality of advertisements and a map, over a network, to a user terminal in response to a single request sent from the user terminal via the network, comprising:

means for receiving the single request from the user terminal;

means for searching and transmitting the map information corresponding to the received request;

means for searching and transmitting the plurality of advertisements corresponding to the received request by searching a database storing the plurality of advertisements to be displayed, wherein the database stores the plurality of advertisements in association with date/time information, the date/time information indicates a temporal period wherein an associated advertisement is enabled to be displayed, and the date/time information is included in the received request; and

means for enabling the display of both the map and the plurality of advertisements on the user terminal, wherein

the single request sent from the user terminal includes a unique identification code that is associated with the geographical location and with a type of business, and

the type of business is associated with the plurality of advertisements to be displayed with the map, and

each of the plurality of advertisements is stored in the database in association with a geographical range wherein an associated advertisement is enabled to be displayed.