Multi-screen virtual billboard

• US 9,466,257 B1
• Filed: 04/15/2013
• Issued: 10/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CSC Holdings LLC (Altice USA, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CSC Holdings LLC (Altice USA, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dolan, James, Hildenbrand, Wilton J., Donoghue, Patrick J.
• Primary Examiner(s): HICKS, CHARLES V
• Application Number:
  US13/862,897
• Time in Patent Office: 1,275 Days
• Field of Search: 345/1.2
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1446 display composed of modules, e.g. video walls
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2356/00 Detection of the display position w.r.t. other display screens
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for the display of a multi-screen virtual billboard. The virtual billboard utilizes individual mobile devices as portions of a display screen (e.g., as individual pixels or groups of pixels). Each mobile device is configured to display a portion of the virtual billboard corresponding to a location of the mobile device. The mobile devices forming the virtual billboard are triggered in order to display a graphic or other visual information in synchronization with the other mobile devices.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a virtual billboard at a venue or stadium, the method comprising:

receiving location information corresponding to a location at the venue or stadium from a mobile device;

correlating the location with display data comprising at least a portion of a graphical element to be displayed by the virtual billboard;

providing to the mobile device the display data correlated with its location for storage and subsequent display;

triggering display of the display data by the mobile device in synchronization with display of additional display data by an additional mobile device using audio from a public address (PA) system, wherein the triggering is unique to the mobile device or common to the mobile device and the additional mobile device depending on the graphical element to be displayed by the virtual billboard; and

synchronizing the mobile device and the additional mobile device using the audio from the PA system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

synchronizing the mobile device and the additional mobile device to a common clock.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio is music.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein triggering the display of the display data comprises:

introducing a delay upon triggering based on the location of the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an administrative interface configured to associate portions of the graphical element with corresponding mobile device locations within the venue or stadium.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein providing the administrative interface further comprises:

providing the administrative interface configured to display a visualization of the mobile device within the venue.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the display data comprises:

providing the display data comprising a portion of a static graphic, full-motion video, or programmatic graphical display information corresponding to the location of the mobile device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the location information comprises:

receiving, from an application executing on the mobile device, a seat location within the venue or stadium corresponding to the location of the mobile device.

25. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

compensating for clock drift using the audio from the PA system.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device having instructions stored thereon, execution of which, by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving location information corresponding to a location at a venue or stadium from a mobile device;

correlating the location with display data comprising at least a portion of a graphical element to be displayed by a virtual billboard;

providing to the mobile device the display data correlated with its location for storage and subsequent display;

triggering display of the display data by the mobile device in synchronization with display of additional display data by an additional mobile device using audio from a public address (PA) system, wherein the triggering is unique to the mobile device or common to the mobile device and the additional mobile device depending on the graphical element to be displayed by the virtual billboard; and

synchronizing the mobile device and the additional mobile device using the audio from the PA system.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 9, the operations further comprising:

synchronizing the mobile device and the additional mobile device to a common clock.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 9, wherein the audio is music.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 9, wherein triggering the display of the display data comprises:

introducing a delay upon triggering based on the location of the mobile device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 9, the operations further comprising:

providing an administrative interface configured to associate portions of the graphical element with corresponding mobile device locations within the venue or stadium.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 13, wherein providing the administrative interface further comprises:

providing the administrative interface configured to display a visualization of the mobile device within the venue.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 9, wherein providing the display data comprises:

providing the display data comprising a portion of a static graphic, full-motion video, or programmatic graphical display information corresponding to the location of the mobile device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 9, wherein receiving the location information comprises:

receiving, from an application executing on the mobile device, a seat location within the venue or stadium corresponding to the location of the mobile device.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

compensating for clock drift using the audio from the PA system.

17. A system for displaying a virtual billboard at a venue or stadium, the system comprising:

a mobile device comprising;

a display; and

a memory device;

an administrative tool comprising;

a receiving module configured to receive location information corresponding to a location at the venue or stadium from the mobile device;

a correlating module configured to correlate the location with display data comprising at least a portion of a graphical element to be displayed by the virtual billboard;

a providing module configured to provide to the mobile device display data correlated with its location for storage in the memory device and subsequent display;

a triggering module configured to trigger display of the display data by the mobile device on the display in synchronization with display of additional display data by an additional mobile device using audio from a public address (PA) system, wherein the triggering is unique to the mobile device or common to the mobile device and the additional mobile device depending on the graphical element to be displayed by the virtual billboard; and

a synchronizing module configured to synchronize the mobile device and the additional mobile device using the audio from the PA system.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the synchronizing module is further configured to synchronize the mobile device and the additional mobile device to a common clock.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the audio is music.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the triggering module is further configured to introduce a delay upon triggering based on the location of the mobile device.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the administrative tool further comprises:

an administrative interface module configured to associate portions of the graphical element with corresponding mobile device locations within the venue or stadium.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the administrative interface module is further configured to display a visualization of the mobile device within the venue.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the providing module is further configured to provide the display data comprising a portion of a static graphic, full-motion video, or programmatic graphical display information corresponding to the location of the mobile device.

24. The system of claim 17, wherein the receiving module is further configured to receive, from an application executing on the mobile device, a seat location within the venue or stadium corresponding to the location of the mobile device.

27. The system of claim 18, wherein the mobile device further comprises:

a clock drift compensating module configured to compensate for clock drift using the audio from the PA system.