Apparatus and method for delivering information to an individual based on location and/or time

• US 6,912,398 B1
• Filed: 04/10/2000
• Issued: 06/28/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/10/2000
• Status: Expired

• Current Assignee: CDN Innovations, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: David Domnitz
• Inventors: Domnitz, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Corsaro, Nick
• Assistant Examiner(s): GANTT, ALAN T
• Application Number:
  US09/546,851
• Time in Patent Office: 1,905 Days
• Field of Search: 455/461, 455/456, 455/457, 455/456.3, 455/314, 705/26, 705/14, 701/209, 701/211
• US Class Current: 455/461
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements

Abstract

A time/location information delivery system that provides focused advertising and/or other information to individuals based on the time and their location. A wireless identification device is carried by an individual and can be read from or written to when the individual passes by interrogators in a specific geographic location. The detectors read ID information embedded in the wireless identification device. A computer uses the ID and location information to select, from a list of information providers, those information providers which provide information content identifiable or correlated to a location and/or time, and is of interest to the individual. The information content can be forwarded to the individual by a variety of information channels. One channel uses conventional Internet email to deliver advertisements and other information to the individual'"'"'s Internet mailbox. The email can be delivered to a conventional PC, a portable computer, a PDA, an intelligent telephone, pager or other suitable device. For ease of discussion, a pager and a PDA will be referred to collectively as a PDA. The wireless identification device can be an RFID tag embedded in a card, or even a wireless telephone. The RFID tag is read or written to by fixed interrogators and the location of the wireless telephone is detected by triangulating information from cell towers or by embedding the GPS receiver in the wireless telephone thereby providing the location information directly from the telephone. Of course, other nearly identical location determination means, such as quadrangulation could also be used. The location determination can be performed through similar means with other devices such as PDAs, laptops, pagers, etc.

Claims

1. A time/location based information delivery system, comprising:

a computer system, further comprising;

means to communicate with a computer network;

storage means for storing information related to individuals;

means to communicate with information providers;

input means to accept time/location information related to an individual, the times/location information having unique identifying information or an individual and information defining the location of the individual at a particular time;

means to select user specific information from the information providers based on the location of the individual at a particular time; and

means to communicate the user specific information to information output means;

an identification device, further comprising;

storage for storing unique identifying information;

means to transfer the unique identifying information to an information retrieval device; and

an information retrieval device, further comprising;

means to wirelessly detect the presence of an identification device at a particular time and location;

means to wirelessly retrieve the unique identifying information from the identification device;

means to communicate the unique identifying information and the time and location of detection to the computer system;

information output means, further comprising;

means to receive the user specific information; and

means to display specific information;

whereby information is automatically selected and communicated to an output device based on the location of the identification device at a specific time.

2. A system, as in claim 1, wherein the unique identifying information includes identification information and demographic/preference information.

3. A system, as in claim 2, wherein the demographic/preference information includes information describing types of information the individual does or does not want to receive;

whereby the individual can selectively filter received information.

4. A system, as in claim 1, wherein the identification device is an RFID device.

5. A system, as in claim 4, wherein the RFID device is embedded in a credit card.

6. A system, as in claim 4, further comprising means to remotely update the unique identifying information in the identification device.

7. A system, as in claim 4, wherein the RFID device is encased in a credit card sized container.

8. A system, as in claim 7, wherein the identification device further comprises;

at least two RFID devices; and

each RFID device operates on a different frequency or band.

9. A system, as in claim 4, wherein the identification device further comprises;

at least two RFID devices; and

each RFID device operates on a different frequency or band.

10. A system, as in claim 1, wherein the information related to individuals includes information provided by an individual regarding demographic and personal preferences.

11. A system, as in claim 10, wherein the selected user specific information is filtered by predetermined criteria.

12. A system, as in claim 11, wherein the predetermined criteria used to filter information from the information provider is based on the location of an individual, and/or the time that the individual is at that location.

13. A system, as in claim 12, wherein the information from the information provider is further filtered by the individual'"'"'s personal preferences.

14. A system, as in claim 13, wherein the individual'"'"'s personal preferences are entered by the individual.

15. A system, as in claim 13, wherein the individual'"'"'s personal preferences are automatically determined based on the individual'"'"'s choices, purchases and/or activities.

16. A system, as in claim 11, wherein the information from the information provider is further filtered by the individual'"'"'s personal preferences.

17. A system, as in claim 16, wherein the individual'"'"'s personal preferences are entered by the individual.

18. A system, as in claim 16, wherein the individual'"'"'s personal preferences are automatically determined based on the individual'"'"'s choices, purchases and/or activities.

19. A system, as in claim 10, wherein the information related to individuals is used to select information provided by information providers.

20. A system, as in claim 19, further comprising means to detect the activities of an individual, the detected activities of the individual further used as the information provided by the individual regarding demographic and personal preferences.

21. A system, as in claim 19, further comprising means to remotely update the unique identifying information in the identification device.

22. A system, as in claim 19, further comprising:

means to include advertisements from the information providers in the user specific information; and

means to dynamically select the advertisements based on the location of the individual and the time and/or location.

23. A system, as in claim 19, further comprising:

means to detect when an individual is in proximity to a visual or audio output device;

means to determine which program is being presented on the visual or audio output device; and

means to use information related to the program to select user specific information to be presented to the individual.

24. A system, as in claim 19, wherein the identification device is an RFID device.

25. A system, as in claim 24, wherein the identification device further comprises;

at least two RFID devices; and

each RFID device operates on a different frequency or band.

26. A system, as in claim 25, wherein the RFID device is embedded in a credit card.

27. A system, as in claim 25, wherein the RFID device is encased in a credit card sized container.

28. A system, as in claim 19, wherein the identification device is a wireless telephone.

29. A system, as in claim 28, further comprising:

means in the computer system to direct dial the wireless telephone;

means to output user specific information directly to the wireless telephone.

30. A system, as in claim 29, further comprising:

means to include advertisements from the information providers in the user specific information; and

means to dynamically select the advertisements based on the time and/or location of the individual.

31. A system, as in claim 29, further comprising means to detect the activities of an individual, the detected activities of the individual further used as the information provided by the individual regarding demographic and personal preferences.

32. A system, as in claim 19, wherein the identification device is a PDA.

33. A system, as in claim 32, further comprising:

means to include advertisements from the information providers in the user specific information; and

means to dynamically select the advertisements based on the time and/or location of the individual.

34. A system, as in claim 32, further comprising means to detect the activities of an individual, the detected activities of the individual further used as the information provided by the individual regarding demographic and personal preferences.

35. A system, as in claim 19, wherein the identification device is a computer.

36. A system, as in claim 35, further comprising:

means to include advertisements from the information providers in the user specific information; and

means to dynamically select the advertisements based on the tire and/or location of the individual.

37. A system, as in claim 35, further comprising means to detect the activities of an individual, the detected activities of the individual further used as the information provided by the individual regarding demographic and personal preferences.

38. A system, as in claim 1, wherein the identification device is a wireless telephone.

39. A system, as in claim 38, further comprising:

means in the computer system to direct dial the wireless telephone;

means to output user specific information directly to the wireless telephone.

40. A system, as in claim 1 wherein the identification device is a PDA.

41. A system, as in claim 1, wherein the identification device is a computer.

42. A system, as in claim 1, wherein the information output device further comprises:

means to detect an identification device; and

means to initiate contact with the computer system, and download and display user specific information related to the identification device;

whereby an individual can access information related to that individual by using the identification device to identify the individual to the computer system.

43. A system, as in claim 1, wherein the selected user specific information is filtered by predetermined criteria.

44. A system, as in claim 43, wherein the predetermined criteria used to filter information from the information provider is based on the location of an individual, and/or the time that the individual is at that location.

45. A system, as in claim 44, wherein the information from the information provider is further filtered by the individual'"'"'s personal preferences.

46. A system, as in claim 45, wherein the individual'"'"'s personal preferences are entered by the individual.

47. A system, as in claim 45, wherein the individual'"'"'s personal preferences are automatically determined based on the individual'"'"'s choices, purchases and/or activities.

48. A system, as in claim 1, wherein the information from the information provider is further filtered by the individual'"'"'s personal preferences.

49. A system, as in claim 48, wherein the individual'"'"'s personal preferences are entered by the individual.

50. A system, as in claim 48, wherein the individual'"'"'s personal preferences are automatically determined based on the individual'"'"'s choices, purchases and/or activities.

51. A system, as in claim 1, wherein the identification device can be an RF device, a smart card, a near field tag, a bar code, a magnetic strip, an ultrasonic transducer or an infrared device.

52. A system, as in claim 1, further comprising:

a buddy list identifying related individuals for at least a first individual;

means to detect when related individuals on the buddy list are in a predetermined location or area; and

means to notify the first individual and each detected related individual of the presence of each other in the predetermined location.

53. A system, as in claim 1, further comprising means to detect the activities of an individual, the detected activities of the individual further used as the information provided by the individual regarding demographic and personal preferences.

54. A system, as in claim 1, further comprising:

means to include advertisements from the information providers in the user specific information; and

means to dynamically select the advertisements based on the location of the individual and the time and/or location.

55. A system, as in claim 1, further comprising:

means to detect when an individual is in proximity to a visual or audio output device;

means to determine which program is being presented on the visual or audio output device; and

means to use information related to the program to select user specific information to be presented to the individual.

56. A system, as in claim 1, further comprising:

an information provider identification device, the information provider identification device having information identifying a particular information provider;

means to detect the movement information provider identification device as it moves through specific geographic locations, the movement of the information provider identification device defining a geographic area for which information from the information provider will be distributed;

means to distribute information provided by information providers only if an identification device is in a specific geographic area defined by the information provider identification device after the information provider has walked the area;

whereby an information provider can selectively determine the locations where information provider information can be distributed.

60. A system, as in claim 39, further comprising:

means in the computer system to direct dial the wireless telephone;

means to output user specific information directly to the wireless telephone.

57. A time and location based information delivery system, comprising:

a computer system, further comprising;

means to communicate with a computer network;

storage means for storing information related to individuals;

means to communicate with information providers;

input means to accept time/location information related to an individual, the times/location information having unique identifying information or an individual and information defining the location of the individual at a particular time;

means to select user specific information from the information providers based on the location of the individual at a particular time; and

means to communicate the user specific information to information output means;

an identification device, further comprising;

storage for storing unique identifying information;

means to wirelessly transfer the unique identifying information to an information retrieval device; and

an information retrieval device, further comprising;

means to wirelessly detect the presence of an identification device at a particular time;

means to receive position information from GPS satellites;

means to wirelessly retrieve the unique identifying information from the identification device;

means to communicate the unique identifying information, the time information, and the GPS satellite position information to the computer system;

information output means, further comprising;

means to receive the user specific information; and

means to display specific information;

whereby information is automatically selected and communicated to an output device based on the location of the identification device at a specific time.

58. A system, as in claim 57, wherein the identification device is a wireless telephone.

59. A system, as in claim 58, further comprising:

display means in the wireless telephone;

means to receive the user specific information; and

means to display the user specific information on the display means in the wireless telephone.

61. A system, as in claim 57, further comprising:

an information provider identification device, the information provider identification device having information identifying a particular information provider;

means to detect the movement of the information provider identification device as it moves through specific geographic locations, the movement of the information provider identification device defining the perimeter of a geographic area for which information from the information provider will be distributed;

means to distribute information provided by information providers only if an identification device is in a specific geographic area defined by the information provider identification device after the information provider has walked the area;

whereby an information provider can selectively determine a geographic area where information provider information can be distributed.

62. A system, as in claim 57, wherein the information output device further comprises:

means to detect an identification device; and

means to initiate contact with the computer system, and download and display user specific information related to the identification device;

whereby an individual can access information related to that individual by using the identification device to identify the individual to the computer system.

63. A system, as in claim 57, further comprising:

a buddy list identifying related individuals for at least a first individual;

means to detect when related individuals on the buddy list are in a predetermined location or area; and

means to notify the first individual and each detected related individual of the presence of each other in the predetermined location.

64. A system, as in claim 57, further comprising:

means to include advertisements from the information providers in the user specific information; and

means to dynamically select the advertisements based on the time and/or location of the individual.

65. A system, as in claim 57, further comprising means to detect the activities of an individual, the detected activities of the individual further used as the information provided by the individual regarding demographic and personal preferences.

66. A system, as in claim 57, further comprising:

means to detect when an individual is in proximity to a visual or audio output device;

means to determine which program is being presented on the visual or audio output device; and

means to use information related to the program to select user specific information to be presented to the individual.

67. A method of delivering focused information based on time and location, including the steps of:

storing information related to individuals;

acquiring information from information providers;

using an identification device to store unique identifying information related to an individual;

using an information device to wirelessly detect an identification device when the identification device is within a predetermined geographic area;

wirelessly transferring the unique identifying information to the information retrieval device;

transferring time/location information related to the time and location of the information retrieval device when the information retrieval device is detected; and

selecting user specific information from information providers based on the unique identifying information and the time and location information and transmitting that information to an output device associated with the identification device;

whereby information is automatically selected and communicated to an output device based on the location of the identification device at a specific time;

moving an information provider identification device which has information identifying a particular information provider through a geographic area;

detecting the information provider device as it moves through the geographic area;

defining the geographic area for which information from the information provider will be distributed based on the movement of the information provider identification device as it moves through the geographic area; and

distributing information provided by information service providers only if an identification device is in a specific geographic arc defined by the information provider identification device;

whereby an information provider can selectively determine the location where the information provider information can be distributed.

68. A method, as in claim 67, including the additional step of using an RFID device as the identification device.

69. A method, as in claim 67, including the additional step of embedding the RFID device in a credit card.

70. A method, as in claim 68, including the additional step of remotely updating the unique identifying information in the identification device.

71. A method, as in claim 68, including the additional step of encasing the RFID device in a credit card shaped container.

72. A method, as in claim 68, including the additional steps of:

using at least two RFID devices; and

operating different frequency or bands in each RFID device.

73. A method, as in claim 67, including the additional step of using a wireless telephone as the identification device.

74. A method, as in claim 73, including the additional steps to:

using the output device to detect an identification device;

initiating contact with the computer system from the output device when the identification device is detected; and

downloading and displaying user specific information related to the identification device;

whereby an individual can access information related to that individual by using the identification device to identify the individual to the computer system.

75. A method, as in claim 67, including the additional step of using a PDA as the identification device.

76. A method, as in claim 67, including the additional step of using a computer as the identification device.

77. A method, as in claim 67, including the additional steps of:

using the output device to detect an identification device;

initiating contact with the computer system from the output device when the identification device is detected; and

downloading and displaying user specific information related to the identification device;

whereby an individual can access information related to that individual by using the identification device to identify the individual to the computer system.

78. A method, as in claim 67, including the additional step of using predetermined criteria to filter the selected user specific information.

79. A method, as in claim 78, including the additional step of using the location of an individual, and/or the time that the individual is at that location as the predetermined criteria used to filter information from the information provider.

80. A method, as in claim 79, including the additional step of using the individual'"'"'s personal preferences to fixer filter the information from the information provider.

81. A method, as in claim 80, wherein the individual enters the individual'"'"'s personal preferences.

82. A method, as in claim 80, including the additional step of automatically determining the individual'"'"'s personal preferences based on the individual'"'"'s choices, purchases and/or activities.

83. A method, as in claim 67, including the additional step of using the individual'"'"'s personal preferences to filter the information from the information provider.

84. A method, as in claim 83, wherein the individual enters the individual'"'"'s personal preferences.

85. A method, as in claim 83, including the additional step of automatically determining the individual'"'"'s personal preferences based on the individual'"'"'s choices, purchases and/or activities.

86. A method, as in claim 67, including the additional step of using an RF device, a smart card, a near field tag, a bar code, a magnetic strip, an ultrasonic transducer or an infrared device as the identification.

87. A method, as in claim 67, including the additional steps of:

creating a buddy list identifying related individuals for at least a first individual;

detecting when related individuals on the buddy list are in a predetermined location or area; and

notifying the first individual and each detected related individual of the presence of each other in the predetermined location.

88. A method, as in claim 67, including the additional steps of:

including advertisements from the information providers in the user specific information; and

dynamically selecting the advertisements based on the time and/or location of the individual.

89. A method, as in claim 67, including the additional steps of:

detecting when an individual is in proximity to a visual or audio output device;

determining which program is being presented on the visual or audio output device; and

using information related to the program to select user specific information to be presented to the individual.

90. A method of delivering time and location based information to an individual, including the steps of:

storing information related to individuals;

detecting presence of an identifying device, the identifying device having unique identifying information;

obtaining information from information providers;

using GPS position information data to determine the location of the identifying device;

determining time/location information related to an individual, the times/location information having unique identifying information or an individual and information defining the location of the individual at a particular time;

selecting user specific information from the information providers based on the location of the individual at a particular time, and based on the unique identifying information; and

outputting the user specific information to an output device;

whereby information is automatically selected and communicated to an output device based on the location of the identification device at a specific time;

moving an information provider identification device which has information identifying a particular information provider through a geographic area;

detecting the information provider device as it moves through the geographic area;

defining the geographic area for which information from the information provider will be distributed based on the movement of the information provider identification device as it moves through the geographic area; and

distributing information provided by information service providers only if an identification device is in a specific geographic are defined by the information provider identification device;

whereby an information provider can selectively determine the location where the information provider information can be distributed.

91. A method, as in claim 90, including the additional step of using a wireless telephone as the identification device.

92. A method, as in claim 91, including the additional step of using a display in the wireless telephone as the output device.

93. A method, as in claim 90, including the additional step of using a PDA as the identification device.

94. A method, as in claim 90, including the additional step of using a computer as the identification device.

95. A method, as in claim 90, including the additional steps of:

including advertisements from the information providers in the user specific information; and

dynamically selecting advertisements based on the time and/or location of the individual.