Apparatus and method for delivering information to an individual based on location and/or time
First Claim
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.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
-
Citations
101 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. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 60)
-
-
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. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66)
-
-
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. - View Dependent Claims (68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89)
-
-
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. - View Dependent Claims (91, 92, 93, 94, 95)
-
-
96. A method of delivering time and location based information to an individual, comprising:
-
storing information related to individuals;
detecting presence of an identifying device, the identifying device having unique identifying information;
obtaining information from information providers;
determining the location of the identifying device using GPS position information data;
determining time/location information related to an individual, the time/location information having unique identifying information of 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;
detecting movement of an information provider identification device as it moves through a 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 through the geographic area; and
distributing information provided by information providers only if an identification device is in a specific geographic area defined by the information provider identification device. - View Dependent Claims (97, 98, 99, 100, 101)
-
Specification