Cooperative wireless luminescent imagery

• US 20030017823A1
• Filed: 10/10/2001
• Published: 01/23/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Varia Holdings LLC
• Original Assignee: Wildseed LLC
• Inventors: Engstrom, G. Eric, Nash, Paul R., Mager, Gary N.
• Granted Patent: US 6,965,785 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3888 Arrangements for carrying or protecting transceivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0283 for providing a decorative aspect, e.g. customization of casings, exchangeable faceplate
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/22 Illumination; Arrangements for improving the visibility of characters on dials
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7246 by connection of exchangeable housing parts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4228 in networks
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/155 Coordinated control of two or more light sources
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/19 via wireless transmission

Abstract

A wireless communication device having luminescent display capabilities in accordance with various embodiments is provided with a machine accessible medium including instructions to receive data representing a set of one or more picture elements of an audience assisted image to facilitate coordinated display of a luminescent representation of a portion of the audience assisted image by the wireless communication device in cooperation with one or more additional wireless communication devices, as well as a processor to execute the instructions.

Claims

1. In a wireless communication device, a method comprising:

receiving data representing a set of one or more picture elements of an audience assisted image, the data transmitted to the wireless communication device to facilitate coordinated display of a luminescent representation of a portion of the audience assisted image by the wireless communication device in cooperation with one or more additional wireless communication devices; and

generating the luminescent representation based at least in part upon the received data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining which of said set of picture elements are to be displayed by the communication device and which of said set of picture elements are to be displayed by said one or more additional wireless communication devices, if said data represents more than one picture element.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said data is received wirelessly from a communication server.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said data representing the set of one or more picture elements is received based upon feedback provided by a user to the communication server.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein said data is received in digital form.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said data is received through at least one of an electrical, a magnetic, and a mechanical coupling.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said data is received from an interchangeable covering equipped to be communicatively coupled with said wireless communication device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein generating comprises:

illuminating in accordance with a predetermined pattern, one or more LEDs disposed upon said wireless communication device to visually convey the set of one or more picture elements.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein at least a subset of the one or more LEDs illuminate in multiple colors.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a second luminescent representation based at least in part upon the received data.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving second data representing a second set of one or more picture elements, said second set of picture elements to facilitate coordinated display of a second luminescent representation of at least a portion of a second audience assisted image by the wireless communication device in cooperation with said one or more additional wireless communication devices; and

generating the second luminescent representation based at least in part upon the received second data.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said synchronization signals comprise periodic radio frequency based signals.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving one or more synchronization signals further comprises receiving a location component identifying a relative location of said communication device relative to said one or more additional wireless communication devices.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining which of said plurality of picture elements corresponds to the relative location of said wireless communication device and generating the luminescent representation to visually convey said corresponding picture element.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said data comprises real time data.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the audience assisted image comprises a single crowd pattern.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the audience assisted image comprises a sequence of crowd patterns synchronized to convey a luminescent animation.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said location of the first wireless communication device is a relative location provided with respect to at least a subset of said plurality of wireless communication devices.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the location of the first wireless communication device is indicated to the communication server in the form of a seating identifier.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the location of the first wireless communication device is determined by way of triangulation.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the location of the first wireless communication device is determined by way of a global positional satellite system.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein said data representing one or more constituent luminescent patterns are received from the communication server based at least in part upon said relative location of the first wireless communication device.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein illuminating one or more of said light emitting devices further comprises successively illuminating one or more of said light emitting devices to facilitate visual conveyance of two or more constituent luminescent patterns sequentially to express said image as being animated.

27. The wireless communication device of claim 26, further comprising:

display means of a second type, in addition to said light emitting means, for displaying alphanumeric data.

28. The wireless communication device of claim 26, wherein the wireless communication device comprises a wireless mobile phone.

29. The wireless communication device of claim 26, wherein the wireless communication device comprises a wireless PDA.

12. The method of claim I, wherein receiving data further comprises:

receiving one or more synchronization signals to facilitate synchronized display of said luminescent representation between said wireless communication device and said one or more additional wireless communication devices.

19. In a first wireless communication device having a plurality of light emitting devices, a method of displaying a portion of a luminescent image, the method comprising:

establishing a communication session with a communication server equipped to communicate with a plurality of wireless communication devices including said first wireless communication device;

indicating to the communication server, a location of the first wireless communication device;

receiving from the communication server based upon said location, data representing one or more constituent luminescent patterns of said luminescent image;

and

illuminating one or more of said light emitting devices based at least in part upon said received data such that the illuminated light emitting devices facilitate visual conveyance of the luminescent image by the first wireless communication device in cooperation with said plurality of wireless communication devices.

26. A wireless communication device comprising:

light emitting means for emitting light;

visualization control means coupled to the light emitting means to selectively activate and deactivate the light emitting means as requested; and

visualization client means coupled to the visualization control means to request the visualization control means to selectively activate and deactivate the light emitting means to display a luminescent pattern to be synchronized with respect to other luminescent patterns displayed by one or more other wireless communication devices together with the wireless communication device conveying a luminescent image.

30. A wireless communication device comprising:

a machine accessible medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, which when executed, cause the wireless communication device to

receive data representing a set of one or more picture elements of an audience assisted image, the data transmitted to the mobile communication device to facilitate coordinated display of a luminescent representation of a portion of the audience assisted image by the mobile communication device in cooperation with one or more additional mobile communication devices, and

generate the luminescent representation based at least in part upon the received data; and

a processor to execute said instructions.

31. The wireless communication device of claim 30, further comprising instructions to

determine which of said set of picture elements are to be displayed by the communication device and which of said set of picture elements are to be displayed by said one or more additional mobile communication devices, if said data represents more than one picture element.

32. The wireless communication device of claim 30, wherein said data is received wirelessly from a communication server.

33. The wireless communication device of claim 32, wherein said data is received based upon feedback provided by a user to the communication server.

34. The wireless communication device of claim 32, wherein said data is received in digital form.

35. The wireless communication device of claim 30, wherein said data is received through at least one of an electrical, a magnetic, and a mechanical coupling.

36. The wireless communication device of claim 35, wherein said data is received from an interchangeable covering equipped to be communicatively 3 coupled with said mobile communication device.

37. The wireless communication device of claim 30, wherein said plurality of instructions further comprise instructions to

illuminate in accordance with a predetermined pattern, one or more LEDs disposed upon said mobile communication device to visually convey the set of one or more picture elements.

38. The wireless communication device of claim 37, wherein at least a subset of the one or more LEDs illuminate in multiple colors.

39. The wireless communication device of claim 30, wherein said plurality of instructions further comprise instructions to generate a second luminescent representation based at least in part upon the received data.

40. The wireless communication device of claim 30, wherein said plurality of instructions further comprise instructions to

receive second data representing a second set of one or more picture elements, said second set of picture elements to facilitate coordinated display of a second luminescent representation of a portion of a second audience assisted image by the mobile communication device in cooperation with said one or more additional mobile communication devices;

and

generate the second luminescent representation based at least in part upon the received second data.

41. The wireless communication device of claim 30, wherein said plurality of instructions to receive data further comprises instructions to receive one or more synchronization signals to facilitate synchronized display of said luminescent representation between said mobile communication device and said one or more additional mobile communication devices.

42. The wireless communication device of claim 41, wherein said synchronization signals are received periodically by said mobile communication device.

43. The wireless communication device of claim 41, wherein said plurality of instructions to receive one or more synchronization signals further comprises instructions to receive a location constituent identifying a relative location of said communication device relative to said one or more additional mobile communication devices.

44. The wireless communication device of claim 43, further comprising instructions to determine which of said plurality of picture elements corresponds to the relative location of said mobile communication device, and generate the luminescent representation to visually convey said corresponding picture element.

45. The wireless communication device of claim 30, wherein said data comprises real time data.

46. The wireless communication device of claim 30, wherein the audience assisted image comprises a single crowd pattern.

47. The wireless communication device of claim 30, wherein the audience assisted image comprises a sequence of crowd patterns synchronized to convey a luminescent animation.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein at least one of the first location information and the second location information comprise seating location information.

50. The method of claim 48, wherein transmitting further comprises:

determining one or more portions of a second audience assisted image; and

transmitting the one or more portions of the second audience assisted image to each of a plurality of wireless communication devices including the first and the second wireless communication devices.

51. The method of claim 50, further comprising:

transmitting synchronization information to the plurality of wireless communication devices to facilitate synchronized display among the one or more portions of the second audience assisted image.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the one or more portions of the second audience assisted image are transmitted in association with the synchronization information.

53. The method of claim 50, wherein at least a subset of the one or more portions of a second audience assisted image are determined based at least in part upon feedback provided by the plurality of wireless communication devices.

54. The method of claim 50, wherein at least a subset of the one or more portions of a second audience assisted image are transmitted based at least in part upon feedback provided by the plurality of wireless communication devices.

55. The method of claim 48, further comprising:

receiving from a camera, a camera image; and

generating the audience assisted image based at least in part upon the camera image.

56. The method of claim 48, further comprising transmitting timing information to at least the second communication device, the timing information causing the second communication device to display the second portion of the audience assisted image at a period of time after the first communication device displays the first audience assisted image.

57. The method of claim 48, further comprising transmitting the second portion of the audience assisted image at a period of time after the transmitting of the first portion of the audience assisted image to cause the second communication device to display the second portion of the audience assisted image at approximately the period of time after the first communication device displays the first audience assisted image.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein the first portion of the audience assisted image is substantially similar to the second portion of the audience assisted image.

59. The method of claim 48, wherein the second wireless communication device is located approximately between the first wireless communication device and a third wireless communication device, the method further comprising transmitting at least a third portion of the audience assisted image to the third wireless communication device to display an appearance of movement of an image from the first wireless communication device to the second wireless communication device to the third wireless communication device.

48. In a server, a method comprising:

receiving first location information corresponding to a location of a first wireless communication device;

determining, based at least in part upon the first location information, a first portion of an audience assisted image to be transmitted to the first wireless communication device;

receiving second location information corresponding to a second location of a second wireless communication device;

determining, based at least in part upon the second location information, a second portion of the audience assisted image to be transmitted to the second wireless communication device; and

transmitting at least the first portion of the audience assisted image to the first wireless communication device and the second portion of the audience assisted image to the second wireless communication device to facilitate cooperative display of the audience assisted image by the first and the second wireless devices.

60. A communication server comprising:

a machine accessible medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, which when executed, provide support services to a plurality of wireless communication devices, the services including

services to receive location information from the wireless communication devices,

services to identify at least one audience assisted image to be cooperatively displayed by at least a participating subset of the wireless communication devices,

services to determine, based at least in part upon the location information, which of a plurality of constituent portions of the audience assisted image are to be transmitted to each of the participating wireless communication devices,

services to transmit the determined constituent portions of the audience assisted image to the participating wireless communication devices to facilitate coordinated display of the audience assisted image; and

a processor to execute said instructions.

61. The communication server of claim 60, wherein the location information comprises seating location information.

62. A wireless communication device comprising:

at least one light emitting device;

a microprocessor; and

means to selectively activate and deactivate the at least one light emitting device to display a luminescent pattern to be synchronized with respect to other luminescent patterns displayed by one or more other wireless communication devices together with the wireless communication device displaying a luminescent pattern.