Personalized presentation system and method

• US 6,931,254 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2000
• Issued: 08/16/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nortel Networks Limited (Nortel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Egner, Will A., Gottipati, Radhika, Sawhney, Vibhu, Kaylor, Scott O., Heyaime, Cesar G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Trost, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ewart, James D
• Application Number:
  US09/675,997
• Time in Patent Office: 1,782 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/457, 455/558, 455/566, 455/456, 701/200, 701/207, 701/211, 701/213, 701/216, 701/300, 342/357.01, 342/457, 340/825.72, 340/988, 235/380, 235/383, 705/14, 705/26
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings

Abstract

A communications system includes a facility that has a tracking system and a central control system. The tracking system tracks locations of users within the facility. Based on the locations of such users and their user profiles, targeted advertising information (and other types of information) may be presented on displays or other presentation devices in the proximity of each user. Also, user activity within the facility may be tracked, including purchases made by the users and visits to various retail outlets. Such information is collected, which can be used to update the profile the user or communicated to entities, such as retail entities, that are interested in the collected information. Also, to enable virtual visits to the facility, cameras are dispersed throughout the facility. A remote user can thus perform a virtual visit of the facility by viewing images collected by the cameras. Also, a remote user may choose to accompany a companion that is physically in the facility. The location of the companion may be tracked so that video images of the companion'"'"'s environment may be collected and transmitted back to the remote user.

Claims

1. A method of communications in a geographic region having a plurality of fixed presentation devices that are located at respective fixed positions, comprising:

determining a location of a user;

sending information to present to the user on one of the fixed presentation devices in the proximity of the user based on the determined location;

determining from a user profile advertising information of interest to the user,

wherein sending the information comprises sending the advertising information of interest to the user based on the user profile; and

updating the user profile based on actions of the user, wherein determining the advertising information of interest to the user is based on the updated user profile;

wherein updating the user profile comprises updating based on retail purchasing actions of the user, wherein determining the advertising information of interest to the user is based on the user profile updated based on retail purchasing actions of the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the location of the user comprises using information from a local tracking system within the geographic region.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the location of the user comprises determining the location within a facility.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the location is based on a location of a tracking device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the location is based on communication of signals between the tracking device and a network of antennas.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein sending the information comprises sending information to present on a presentation device separate from the tracking device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a location of at least another user; and

determining one or more common interests of the users;

wherein sending the information comprises sending information based on the one or more common interests.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving data collected from one or more input devices of activities of the user.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the data comprises receiving data collected from one or more input devices in the proximity of the user.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the data comprises receiving data collected using one or more video cameras.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing the received data collected by the one or more video cameras in a video album that is accessible by the user.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein updating the user profile based on retail purchasing actions of the user comprises updating the user profile based on retail purchasing actions of the user in a facility, and

wherein sending the advertising information based on the user profile comprises sending the advertising information to present to the user on one of the fixed presentation devices in the facility.

13. A system for controlling communications in a geographic region having a plurality of fixed presentation devices that are located at respective fixed positions, comprising:

a controller adapted to retrieve information relating to a location of a user and to communicate information to present on one of the fixed presentation devices in the proximity of the user as determined by the location information,

wherein the controller is adapted to retrieve a user profile associated with the user, the communicated information based on the user profile,

wherein the information to present on the one of the fixed presentation devices comprises advertising information targeted to an interest of the user based on the user profile,

wherein the controller is adapted to update the user profile based on purchasing activities of the user in the facility, and to present the advertising information on one of the fixed presentation devices in the facility based on the user profile updated based on purchasing activities of the user in the facility.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the information to present on the one of the fixed presentation devices comprises one of video data and image data.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the controller is adapted to retrieve the location information from a location tracking system having a plurality of antennas covering different areas.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the location information is based on communication between one or more of the antennas and a tracking device carried by the user.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the controller is adapted to retrieve location information of a plurality of users.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the controller is adapted to communicate information based on one or more common interests of the plurality of users.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the location information identifies the location of the user in a facility selected from the group consisting of an entertainment facility, a retail facility, a business facility, an educational facility, and a governmental facility.

20. The system of claim 13, further comprising an interface adapted to communicate over a network with a sub-system comprising the device.

21. A data signal embodied in a carrier wave and containing instructions that when executed cause a system to:

track a location of a user as the user changes location;

receive video data collected from plural cameras in the proximity of the user based on tracking the location of the user, the received video data including video images of the user as the user roams about locations in a facility, including locations away from an entrance and exit of the facility;

store the video images of the user roaming about locations in the facility, including locations away from the entrance and exit of the facility, in a video album; and

send a notification to the user that the video album is available to the user.

22. The data signal of claim 21, wherein the instructions when executed cause the system to collect video images of the user as the user performs various activities, and to store the collected video images into the video album.

23. The data signal of claim 22, wherein tracking the location of the user comprises tracking the location of the user based on tracking a tag carried by the user.

24. A system comprising:

a controller adapted to identify a location of a person and to receive video images of at least one of the person and an environment in the proximity of the person,

the controller adapted to communicate the received video images to a remote node, and

a sub-system to track the location of the person, the controller adapted to receive video images from different ones of a plurality of video cameras based on tracking the person,

the controller adapted to receive an indication that the person has registered to have a video album created,

the controller adapted to create the video album containing the received video images in response to the indication that the person has registered to have the video album created,

the controller adapted to further send a notification to the person that the video album is available to the person.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the controller is adapted to create the video album by interposing the received video images into a pre-existing theme album containing a description of various points of interest within a facility being visited by the person.

26. An article comprising at least one storage medium containing instructions that when executed cause a system to:

identify a location of a user within a predetermined geographic region;

send information to one of plural fixed presentation devices located at respective fixed locations in the geographic region, the one fixed presentation device selected based on the location of the user, the information containing advertising information of interest to the user based on a user profile of the user;

track activities of the user; and

update the user profile based on the tracked activities;

wherein sending the advertising information comprises sending advertising information of interest to the user based on the updated user profile,

wherein the instructions when executed cause the system to update the user profile based on purchasing activities of the user.

27. The article of claim 26, wherein the user profile is updated based on purchasing activities of the user in a facility, and the advertising information sent comprises advertising information of interest to the user based on the user profile updated based on the purchasing activities of the user in the facility.

28. A method of communications in a geographic region having a plurality of fixed presentation devices that are located at respective fixed positions, comprising:

determining a location of a user;

sending information to present to the user on one of the fixed presentation devices in the proximity of the user based on the determined location;

determining from a user profile advertising information of interest to the user;

wherein sending the information comprises sending the advertising information of interest to the user based on the user profile;

developing the user profile based on activities of the user within a facility and based on video images of the user collected by video cameras in the facility; and

tailoring the advertising information to be sent to the user based on the developed user profile;

wherein sending the advertising information comprises sending the tailored advertising information to one of the fixed presentation devices in the proximity of the user based on the determined location of the user.

29. A system for controlling communications in a geographic region having a plurality of fixed presentation devices that are located at respective fixed positions, comprising:

a controller adapted to retrieve information relating to a location of a user and to communicate information to present on one of the fixed presentation devices in the proximity of the user as determined by the location information,

wherein the controller is adapted to retrieve a user profile associated with the user, the communicated information based on the user profile,

wherein the information to present on the one of the fixed presentation devices comprises advertising information targeted to an interest of the user based on the user profile,

wherein the controller is adapted to;

develop the user profile based on activities of the user within a facility and based on video images of the user collected by video cameras in the facility; and

tailor the advertising information to be sent to the user based on the developed user profile,

wherein the advertising information sent to present on one of the fixed presentation devices in the proximity of the user as determined by the location information includes the tailored advertising information.

30. An article comprising at least one storage medium containing instructions that when executed cause a system to:

identify a location of a user within a predetermined geographic region;

send information to one of plural fixed presentation devices located at respective fixed locations in the geographic region, the one fixed presentation device selected based on the location of the user;

the information containing advertising information of interest to the user based on a user profile of the user;

develop the user profile based on activities of the user within a facility and based on video images of the user collected by video cameras in the facility; and

tailor the advertising information to be sent to the user based on the developed user profile,

wherein sending the advertising information comprises sending the tailored advertising information to one of the fixed presentation devices in the proximity of the user based on the determined location of the user.