WO2006002855A1

WO2006002855A1 - A method and an apparatus for providing context specific information based on identifiers of information providers and articles or elements

Info

Publication number: WO2006002855A1
Application number: PCT/EP2005/006910
Authority: WO
Inventors: Henrik Thorsager Andersen; Thomas Steen Mikkelsen
Original assignee: Barcu Aps
Priority date: 2004-06-25
Filing date: 2005-06-27
Publication date: 2006-01-12

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for providing context specific information from a plurality of information providers each providing information independently of the others. This may be individual advertising monitors in a shop. The information to be provided on a monitor may be determined from an ID of the monitor and an ID of an article or element in the vicinity of the monitor or to be positioned in the vicinity of the monitor.

Description

A METHOD AND AN APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING CONTEXT

SPECIFIC INFORMATION BASED ON IDENTIFIERS OF INFORMATION

PROVIDERS AND ARTICLES OR ELEMENTS

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for providing information, and in particular for providing, at a number of positions, such as within a predetermined area, different information relating to different contexts or contents.

Systems of this type may e.g. be seen in shops where different monitors are positioned in different locations throughout the shop. Each monitor advertises for one or more products in its immediate vicinity, and most monitors provide information (normally video) different from that of the other monitors.

Normally, such monitors have been independent in the sense that the information to be provided by a monitor is provided to the monitor in the form of a video tape or DVD. The monitor thus plays the tape/DVD and "rewinds" when required. No central control of this type of setup is possible.

However, it is desired to be able to centrally be better able to control the providing of the information. It is desired to be better able to facilitate the providing of new information when this should be provided and in the context for which it was conceived. The replacement of video cassettes/DVD's is prone to errors, whereby the information may be provided wrongly or may not be provided at all.

Thus, a first aspect of the invention relates to a system for providing information to a plurality of information providers, each providing receiving information relating to a context specific for that provider and independent of the context of the other providers, the system comprising:

means for outputting the information to each information provider, means for determining, for each information provider, a pair of: o the identity of the information provider and o information relating to the context specific for the information provider and the outputting means being adapted to output information to each information provider on the basis of the determined pairs,

wherein the determining means are adapted to derive the context information from an article or element present in or to be positioned in a vicinity of the information provider. In the present context, an information provider may provide any type of information understandable by a person, such as a video feed, audio, still images, live images, information receivable by a portable device, such as a PDA, a radio, a telephone, a monitor or the like carried by a person for whom the information is meant.

Naturally, the information relating to the context of the provider may be an identity of the article/element, the identity of a group of articles/elements to which the article/element belongs, a position of the article/element within e.g. a predetermined area, or the like.

The vicinity of the provider would normally be a distance from the provider in which the information provided thereby may be received by the user or e.g. a handheld information receiver of the user. In addition, the vicinity may be defined or delimited by an area around the provider within which the user is able to see or identify articles/elements relating to the information provided by the provider.

The identity of a provider may be obtained from the provider itself or e.g. from a position thereof, such as within a predetermined area. Seldom, more than one provider is positioned at each location, whereby the position itself may uniquely identify the provider.

Context specific information may be specific for the actual position of the information provider within a predetermined area, may be specific for a specific point in time, or may be specific for one or more articles/elements in the vicinity of the provider.

In one example, the provider is positioned in a shop, where it may provide information specific for articles or products in a vicinity of the provider so that a customer may receive the information from the provider while being able to identify and evaluate the pertaining product(s).

Naturally, it is not required that the information relating to the product/element/article is determined at the provider. The information may be derived from the article/element/product at any position. However, the possibility of obtaining that information at the provider makes the pairing of information more fool proof.

Normally, the information may be stored and output on electronic, such as on digital, form. In the present context, an article or element would normally be an article or element relating to the context of the context specific information. Thus, the context specific information may describe, advertise for, show or illustrate, or otherwise relate to the article/element, such as the use thereof, products obtained thereby, and/or a producer thereof.

Preferably, the determination of the identity of the provider and the determination of the information relating to the element/article is performed using the same type of technology. This may e.g. be obtained when:

the information providers and the articles/elements each has a bar code and the determining means comprises a bar code scanner,

- the information providers and the articles/elements each has an electronic tag and the determining means comprises a reader for electronic tags, and/or

the information providers and the articles/elements each has a radio tag and the determining means comprises a receiver for radio tags.

Preferably, the outputting means comprises means for holding/storing a plurality of pieces of context specific information, the determining means being adapted to identify a piece of context specific information on the basis of the information determined from an article or element.

Naturally, the context specific information may relate to a context concerning a single article or element solely, but a piece of context specific information may alternatively be identified on the basis of the information determined from each of a plurality of articles/elements. This may be the situation where the information relates to all of the plurality of articles/elements or wherein the information relates to a group of articles/elements to which the plurality of articles/elements belongs.

Preferably, the outputting means comprises the context specific information and a plurality of outputting means each adapted to output information to one information provider, the determining means being adapted to determine, from the determined pairs, which piece of context specific information to output to which outputting means.

Thus, a pair of ID/information will be able to determine both the information to be provided and the output on which the information is output. This may require a simple table in the outputting means in order to determine this correlation. An interesting embodiment is one wherein the determining means are provided in one or more providing means, the providing means comprising means for storing the identity of the pertaining providing means. In that manner, the information identifying the providing means may be kept or stored therein, and the only information required is the context/ product information which may be read or received in any normal manner. Thus, the providing means may comprise a bar code reader or a tag reader (optical, electromagnetic, magnetic, radio or the like) adapted to determine the identity of a bar code or tag fixed to, attached to or merely provided in the vicinity of the product/context. This pair of information now in the normal manner is transmitted to the electronics then determining the correct information to be provided and forwarding that information to the information provider.

In another aspect, the invention relates to a method of providing information to a plurality of information providers, each providing receiving information relating to a context specific for that provider and independent of the context of the other providers, the method comprising:

determining, for each information provider, a pair of: o the identity of the information provider and o information relating to the context specific for the information provider and outputting the information to each information provider on the basis of the determined pairs,

wherein the determining step comprises deriving the context information from an article or element present in or to be positioned in a vicinity of the information provider.

As mentioned above, preferably:

the information providers and the articles/elements each has a bar code and the determining step comprises determining the pairs using a bar code scanner,

- the information providers and the articles/elements each has an electronic tag and the determining step comprises determining the pairs using a reader for electronic tags, and/or

the information providers and the articles/elements each has a radio tag and the determining step comprises determining the pairs using a receiver for radio tags.

Also, the determining step preferably comprises identifying one piece of context specific information among a plurality of pieces of context specific information on the basis of the information determined from an article or element. In fact, the same piece of context specific information may be identified on the basis of the information determined from each of a plurality of articles/elements.

In addition, the outputting step could comprise outputting information to each information provider via a separate outputting port, the determining step comprising determining, from the determined pairs, which piece of context specific information to output to which outputting means.

As mentioned above, an interesting embodiment is one wherein:

the step of determining the information relating to the contents comprises presenting the information to an information reader or receiver of the information provider,

- the step of determining the identity of the information provider comprising reading, from a memory thereof, the identity of the information provider.

Thus, the providing means is adapted to directly receive the information relating to the context and then output this together with the identity of the providing means, as is stored in the providing means. Apart from that, the providing means may function as described elsewhere in this application.

A third aspect relates to an information provider, such as for use in the above method and system, adapted to receive and provide information, the provider comprising means for determining an identity of a context or a product comprising an identity providing means, the information provider being adapted to output a pair of the identity of the context or product and information identifying the information provider. In this manner, the product/context is simply presented to the provider, which then outputs this pair of information. Subsequent to that, when used in the above system, the provider may receive information relating to the context.

The advantage of providing the determining means in the provider is that it makes production and handling of the information easier. Now, the product/context is simply presented to the provider, and the rest of the process may be automatic. Also, the provider may react to products passing by, whereby the provider may be more dynamic and react to products carried by customers passing by. Alternatively, the provider may present additional or other products suitable for the products carried by the customer (sauces suited for meat carried by the customer, belts suitable for pants etc. etc.). In the following, the invention will be described with reference to the drawing, illustrating the overall set-up of the system.

A usual use of the present system is in a shop, such as a clothes shop where a number of monitors are positioned in different positions each running a video, such as a commercial, relating to products positioned at or in the vicinity of the individual monitor. Consequently, different monitors illustrate different videos.

The information to be provided may be any type of information, such as video, images, audio, or combinations thereof. Normally, the information will be context dependent, such as dependent on the surroundings of the monitor or display - or loud speaker - providing the information.

In the figure, a server 20 holds the information and feeds it to a number of monitors 30, 32, 34, and 36 each positioned at or in relationship to a product 50, 52, 54, and 56, respectively.

Depending on the hardware of the monitors 30-36, these may require intermediate electronics 40-46 in order to convert the data, such as in the form of media files, streaming media (video) or the like, from the server 20 to e.g. analogue signals useful in the monitors.

The skilled person will know that a number of manners exist of receiving, handling, storing and providing video/image/audio information, such as as media files (.wav, .gif, .pdf, .jpg, .mpg etc. etc), as streams of images/audio/video. Presently, it is preferred that new video/audio/images are streamed to the server 20 from e.g. a central provider using the Internet - such as at night. Naturally, updates may also be provided by issuing CD-ROMs or the like from the central provider to the server.

Preferably, the server is a standard PC storing the information on a hard disc and communicating with the monitors 30-36 or the electronics 40-46 using standard network cards and the Ethernet protocol. However, any other type of server, such as mainframes or even streaming from a central server handling a large number of stores, may be used. Any type of storage may be used, such as magnetic tapes, optical storage, CD-ROM or the like, and any type of monitor may be used, such as touch screens, CRT's, projectors, or the like.

In addition, the system 10 comprises a bar code reader 60. Each monitor comprises a unique bar code 35 identifying the individual monitor, and each product 50-56 also comprises a bar code 55 which may be the normal price tag of the product. When initially setting up the system 10, a correspondence between the identity of each monitor and an output port (not illustrated) of the server 20 is determined.

Subsequently, the providing of the correct information/video feed to each monitor is simply obtained by determining, using the bar code reader 60, pairs of a bar code 55 of a product and a bar code 35 of the pertaining monitor. Thus, an employee may simply change the "set up" of a monitor by scanning the ID of the monitor and scanning the ID of a product (for which an advertisement is to be provided) nearby.

Feeding those pairs into the server 20 will enable the server to determine which video feed relates to the product and which output port to feed that information to.

Naturally, a certain video feed may relate to a number of products or product categories, whereby any of a number of products may be used for identifying the same video feed.

Consequently, when entering a new video feed in the server 20, this will be correlated with one or more products, where after the introduction, using the bar code reader 60, will cause this feed to be fed to the monitor identified with the product(s) independently of the position or the monitor in the shop.

Also, when re-arranging the shop, the monitors and the products may be rearranged (keeping the relationship between monitor and output port on the server), where after this providing of the pairs of ID's will again provide the correct providing of the video feeds.

Instead of the bar codes 35 and 55, electronic tags, radio tags or the like may be used in order to identify the monitor and product. The only difference is the actual technology used for obtaining the information represented by the bar code/tag.

Another alternative is to actually provide the determining means 60, the bar code reader or reader for electronic tags, radio tags or the like, in the providing means 30-36, such as the monitors 30-36, so that presenting the product 50-56 with the tags/bar codes 55 to the providing means will result in the providing means now knowing the identity of the product. This identity will, together with the identity of the monitor 30-36 as may be stored in a memory of the monitor 30-36, may be forwarded the server 20 which again may feed the desired information to the monitor 30-36 on the basis of this pair of identities. In this manner, each monitor may have a reader/receiver for the identity of the products.

In this context, the monitor may additionally comprise means for storing a product identity, the information relating to which is to be provided by the monitor. Alternatively, the monitor may receive the identity of a plurality of products presented to the monitor, such as when sensing products carried by customers in a shop and passing by the monitor, so that the monitor will present information relating to the products passing by. Using the storing means and not requesting the server 20 to provide information relating to the products passing by, the monitor may continuously present information relating to products presented on a display at the monitor.

Claims

1. A system for providing information to a plurality of information providers, each providing receiving information relating to a context specific for that provider and independent of the context of the other providers, the system comprising:

- means for outputting the information to each information provider, means for determining, for each information provider, a pair of: o the identity of the information provider and o information relating to the context specific for the information provider and the outputting means being adapted to output information to each information provider on the basis of the determined pairs,

wherein the determining means are adapted to derive the context information from an article or element present in or to be positioned in a vicinity of the information provider.

2. A system according to claim 1, wherein:

the information providers and the articles/elements each has an electronic tag and the determining means comprises a reader for electronic tags, and/or

3. A system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the outputting means comprises a plurality of pieces of context specific information, the determining means being adapted to identify a piece of context specific information on the basis of the information determined from an article or element.

4. A system according to claim 3, wherein a piece of context specific information may be identified on the basis of the information determined from each of a plurality of articles/elements.

5. A system according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the outputting means comprises means for holding or storing the context specific information and a plurality of outputting means each adapted to output information to one information provider, the determining means being adapted to determine, from the determined pairs, which piece of context specific information to output to which outputting means.

6. A method of providing information to a plurality of information providers, each providing receiving information relating to a context specific for that provider and independent of the context of the other providers, the method comprising:

determining, for each information provider, a pair of: o the identity of the information provider and o information relating to the context specific for the information provider and - outputting the information to each information provider on the basis of the determined pairs,

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein:

the information providers and the articles/elements each has an electronic tag and the determining step comprises determining the pairs using a reader for electronic tags, and/or

8. A method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the determining step comprises identifying one piece of context specific information among a plurality of pieces of context specific information on the basis of the information determined from an article or element.

9. A method according to claim 8, wherein the same piece of context specific information may be identified on the basis of the information determined from each of a plurality of articles/elements.

10. A method according to any claims 6-9, wherein the outputting step comprises outputting information to each information provider via a separate outputting port, the determining step comprising determining, from the determined pairs, which piece of context specific information to output to which outputting means.

11. A system according to any of claims 1-5, wherein the determining means are provided in one or more providing means, the providing means comprising means for storing the identity of the pertaining providing means.

12. A method according to any of claims 6-10, wherein:

the step of determining the identity of the information provider comprising reading, from a memory thereof, the identity of the information provider.

13. An information provider adapted to receive and provide information, the provider comprising means for determining an identity of a context or a product comprising an identity providing means, the information provider being adapted to output a pair of the identity of the context or product and information identifying the information provider.