Automated billboard tagging and selling
First Claim
1. A method of marketing billboards, comprising:
- receiving a first set of images from a plurality of capture devices each positioned with respect to a vehicle in order to capture the images along a route of travel of the vehicle, each of said first set of images being tagged with geographical information corresponding to a location of the vehicle when the image was captured;
extracting, by one or more computing devices, from the first set of images a second set of images each determined to contain a polygonal shape that potentially corresponds to a billboard;
analyzing, by the one or more computing devices, at least one attribute of each of the second set of images to remove images having an attribute value that corresponds to an object other than a billboard;
providing for display to at least one user each of the second set of images and receiving from the at least one user content information indicating whether each image contains a representation of a billboard and, for each image containing a representation of a billboard, a content of the billboard;
storing the content information to at least one data store, wherein one or more advertisers are able to access billboard listing information based at least in part on the content information to determine at least one billboard on which to place an advertisement;
for each image of one or more images indicated by the content information to contain a representation of a billboard, obtaining multiple images of the billboard that were captured at different times over a time period;
analyzing, by the one or more computing devices, the obtained multiple images to at least determine whether the billboard is available for use by a new advertiser; and
modifying, when determined that the billboard is available for use, the billboard listing information to include information that indicates that the billboard is available for use by a new advertiser when determined that the billboard is available for use by a new advertiser.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Information pertaining to billboards and similar advertising spaces can be obtained using a plurality of capture devices positioned in vehicles traveling along various roadways. Information regarding the advertising spaces is determined from the images and stored in at least one data store. Image analysis and manipulation can be used to isolate images or image portions that potentially correspond to the advertising spaces, and these image portions can be presented to users who are able to quickly identify whether the image portion contains a billboard and, if so, the contents of that billboard. The information then can be analyzed in order to provide a billboard advertising system wherein advertisers can view billboard information and purchase advertising space without having to contact a broker or other intermediary.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method of marketing billboards, comprising:
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receiving a first set of images from a plurality of capture devices each positioned with respect to a vehicle in order to capture the images along a route of travel of the vehicle, each of said first set of images being tagged with geographical information corresponding to a location of the vehicle when the image was captured; extracting, by one or more computing devices, from the first set of images a second set of images each determined to contain a polygonal shape that potentially corresponds to a billboard; analyzing, by the one or more computing devices, at least one attribute of each of the second set of images to remove images having an attribute value that corresponds to an object other than a billboard; providing for display to at least one user each of the second set of images and receiving from the at least one user content information indicating whether each image contains a representation of a billboard and, for each image containing a representation of a billboard, a content of the billboard; storing the content information to at least one data store, wherein one or more advertisers are able to access billboard listing information based at least in part on the content information to determine at least one billboard on which to place an advertisement; for each image of one or more images indicated by the content information to contain a representation of a billboard, obtaining multiple images of the billboard that were captured at different times over a time period; analyzing, by the one or more computing devices, the obtained multiple images to at least determine whether the billboard is available for use by a new advertiser; and modifying, when determined that the billboard is available for use, the billboard listing information to include information that indicates that the billboard is available for use by a new advertiser when determined that the billboard is available for use by a new advertiser. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method in a computer system of marketing billboards, comprising:
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receiving images from a plurality of capture devices, each of the images captured by one of said capture devices and tagged with geographical information; determining, by one or more computing devices of the computer system, from the images a set of images each containing at least one representation of at least one billboard; generating, by the one or more computing devices, information about the billboards by at least; for each image of a set of one or more images determined to contain a representation of a billboard, obtaining multiple images of the billboard that were captured at different times over a time period; analyzing the obtained multiple images to at least determine whether the billboard is available for use by a new advertiser; and modifying, when determined that a billboard from the at least one billboard is available for use, the generated information to include information that indicates that the billboard is available for use by a new advertiser when determined that the billboard is available for use by a new advertiser; storing the generated information about the billboards in a data store; searching the data store for billboards according to at least one user-selected criterion; and providing search results to the user, the search results including information about billboards matching said at least one user-selected criterion. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A billboard marketing system, comprising:
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a communication device configured to receive a plurality of images each captured by an image capture device positioned with respect to a vehicle; a data store configured to store data associated with a plurality of billboards; one or more processors; and a memory device including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to collectively; generate information about the billboards by at least; for each image of one or more images determined to contain a representation of a billboard, obtaining multiple images of the billboard that were captured at different times over a time period; analyzing the obtained multiple images to at least determine whether the billboard is available for use by a new advertiser; and modifying, when determined that a billboard from the at least one billboard is available for use, the generated information to include information that indicates that the billboard is available for use by a new advertiser when determined that the billboard is available for use by a new advertiser; storing the generated information about the billboards in a data store; execute a search of the data store for billboards according to at least one user-selected criterion; and provide search results to the user, the search results including information about billboards matching said at least one user-selected criterion. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method in a computer system for marketing outdoor advertising spaces, comprising:
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receiving a plurality of images, each image being captured adjacent a respective thoroughfare; for each image determined to contain a representation of an outdoor advertising space, obtaining multiple images of the outdoor advertising space that were captured at different times over a time period; analyzing, by one or more computing devices of the computer system, the obtained multiple images to at least determine whether the outdoor advertising space is available for use by a new advertiser; modifying, when determined that the outdoor advertising space is available for use, data relating to the outdoor advertising space in a data store to include information that indicates that the outdoor advertising space is available for use by a new advertiser when determined that the outdoor advertising space is available for use by a new advertiser; receiving from an advertiser at least one criterion for executing a search on the data stored in the data store in order to locate outdoor advertising spaces matching said at least one criterion; receiving a bid to use at least one outdoor advertising space included in results of said search; and making the bid available to an operator of the at least one outdoor advertising space. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A system for marketing advertising spaces, comprising;
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a communication device configured to communicate with a plurality of capture devices of a plurality of vehicles each configured to capture images from the vehicles and provide geographical data for each of the images; a data store; one or more processors; and a memory device including instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to collectively at least; select, from the images, a subset of images containing representations of advertising spaces; generate information about the advertising spaces by at least; for each advertising space of at least a subset of the advertising spaces, obtaining multiple images of the advertising space that were captured at different times over a time period; analyzing the obtained multiple images to at least determine whether the advertising space is available for use by a new advertiser; and modifying, when determined that the advertising space is available for use, the generated information to include information that indicates that the advertising space is available for use by a new advertiser when determined that the advertising space is available for use by a new advertiser; cause the generated information about the advertising spaces represented in the subset of images to be stored in the data store; and based at least in part on the information stored in the data store, cause instructions for capturing additional images to be communicated to at least one of said capture devices. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification