Abstract:
The present invention relates to a method of displaying of content on a display, the method comprising: determining at least one active user equipment of a wireless telecommunication network being located in the proximity of the display, selecting content depending on a user profile being assigned to a user of the at least one active user equipment, displaying the content on the display.)

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The invention is based on a priority application EP 03 292 906.9 which is hereby incorporated by reference.  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to the field of displaying of content, and more particularly without limitation, to displaying of advertisements.  
         [0003]     Electronic display boards, in particular light emitting diodes (LED) display boards are used for various purposes, such as for outdoor advertising, shopping malls, stadiums, and live events.  
         [0004]     LED display boards, which are also referred to as outdoor electronic billboards, are capable of performing like a real outdoor television, even under direct sunlight. LED display boards are animated, giant, outdoor advertising video screens which grab peoples attention on a busy street, whether pedestrians or inside a car or a bus, stuck in the traffic jam. Other applications of LED display boards include large stadium video and score board displays, side line banner displays, information, news, exchange rate, time and temperature displays etc.  
         [0005]     Usually an LED display board has a controller which serves as the LED boards ‘brain’. The controller is a computer which is installed nearby the LED board. The computer may supply text, graphics, animations, scanned images and video clips for display on the LED board. Alternatively a video-in source is coupled to the controller, such as a DVD, CDV, VCR, live video, television or cable television video-in source. Such LED display boards are commercially available from Electromedia (http://www. 1-billboards-advertising.com/billboard.html) and others.  
         [0006]     U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,933,811 and 6,385,592 disclose a system and method for delivering customised electronic advertisements in an interactive communication system. The customised advertisements are selected based on consumer profiles and are then integrated with offerings maintained by various content providers. Whenever a consumer directs one of the consumer computers to access an offering existing in one of the content provider computers, an advertising request is sent to the advertisement provider computer.  
         [0007]     It is a common disadvantage of prior art LED display boards that there is no interaction with the viewers regarding selection of content, and therefore no directly targeted advertising.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     The present invention provides for a method of displaying of content on a display, such as a LED display board, in particular for outdoor usage. The active user equipments, e.g. mobile phones, wireless personal digital assistants (PDA) and/or other wireless mobile computing or communication devices of a given wireless telecommunication network, within the proximity of the display are determined. The user profiles assigned to users of the active user equipments within the proximity of the display are accessed and content is selected depending on the user profiles.  
         [0009]     In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention the display is located within a radio cell or in close proximity to a radio cell of the wireless telecommunication network. The active user equipments within that radio cell are considered to be in the proximity of the display and the user profiles of the corresponding users are used for the selection of the content. Examples for such wireless telecommunication networks include GSM, UMTS, CDMA, IEEE802.11 networks. In this instance the user profile information can be retrieved from a corresponding server computer.  
         [0010]     In accordance with a further preferred embodiment of the invention the geographical position of the user equipments is provided by location based services of a radio access network, such as a mobile cellular telecommunication network. In the case of a cellular network the cell-ID, mobile location information (MLI), location area identifier (LAI) or the routing area identifier provide geographical position data. In case of a wireless area network (LAN) the SSID or the AP&#39;s MAC address or any other AP identifier, provides such geographical position data. Based on the location information of the active user equipments a determination is made which ones of the active user equipments are within the proximity of the display.  
         [0011]     In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention a location-enabling GSM or UMTS network is used as a radio access network. Such a network contains serving mobile location centres (SMLCs) which serve to precisely determine the geographical position of active user equipments. For example Alcatel&#39;s intelligent location service (iMLS) can be used for location-based services, and in particular for determining the actual geographical positions of user equipments and providing the actual geographical positions to the user equipments. Another suitable commercially available product is Alcatel 8602 location server/gateway mobile location centre (GMLC) which also enables the positioning of active end user equipments. Based on such location based services the active user equipments within the field of vision covered by the display are determined.  
         [0012]     Alternatively or in addition the display itself has a radio interface for direct communication with the active user equipments within its proximity. The controller of the display receives user profile information from the active user equipments within the proximity of the display via that radio interface. In this instance the user profile information is available on the individual user equipments and no database access to a central database is required. This embodiment is especially useful if bi-band mobile phones are used such as mobile phones supporting both the Bluetooth and GSM; or IEEE802.11 and GSM standards. Preferably the radio interface of the display is a short range interface, e.g. in accordance with the Bluetooth or IEEE802.11 standards.  
         [0013]     In accordance with a further preferred embodiment of the invention different categories of contents are displayed in a time sequence in proportion to the distribution of the user interests as indicated by the user profile information. Alternatively or in addition multiple content is shown at the same time on the display. For this purpose a picture-in-picture or picture-outside-picture mode can. be used in order to show two or more windows with different contents on the display.  
         [0014]     Many modern television sets have two tuners for receiving two different television signals at the same time. Such television sets include the ability to display a small auxiliary image in addition to a larger main image for simultaneous display of the two television programmes. The smaller auxiliary image may be displayed within the boundaries of the larger main picture, in which case, such a television system is termed a picture-in-picture (PIP) system, or the smaller auxiliary image may be located outside (e.g. to the left or right side of the main image), in which case the system is termed a picture-outside-picture (POP) system. Such PIP and POP television systems are known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,623,915, 5,598,222, 5,237,246, 6,008,860, 6,307,597 and European Patent Application No. 0550911A1.  
         [0015]     In order to enable simultaneous display of multiple content the display of the invention can be operated in PIP and/or POP mode.  
         [0016]     In accordance with a further preferred embodiment of the invention an advertising metrics is used to generate a point value which is indicative of the commercial value of the advertisement which has been shown on the LED display board. For example the advertisement metrics can be based on the duration of an advertisement and the number of active user equipments having matching interest profiles. A corresponding point value is transmitted to a billing server for corresponding billing of an advertiser.  
         [0017]     In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention the content is selected from a content server on the basis of the user profile information. The content is then transmitted to the controller of the display which renders the content on the display.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0018]     In the following preferred embodiments of the invention will be explained in greater detail by making reference to the drawings in which:  
         [0019]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a first embodiment of a display system,  
         [0020]      FIG. 2  is a flow chart being illustrative of an embodiment of a method of the invention,  
         [0021]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a second preferred embodiment of a display system. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0022]      FIG. 1  shows display unit  100  which has display  102 . For example display  102  is an LED display board for outside usage, in particular for outdoor advertising in shopping malls, stadiums and/or during live events. Display unit  100  has controller  104 . Controller  104  can be implemented by a personal computer which is coupled to display  102 . Controller  104  has program module  106  for performing a statistical evaluation of user profile information. Further controller  104  has program module  108  for performing content selection based on the statistical evaluation performed by program module  106 .  
         [0023]     Base station  110  provides radio coverage for radio cell  112 . A number of active user equipments (UE)  114 ,  116 ,  118 , . . . are located within radio cell  112 . The active user equipments  114 ,  116 ,  118 , . . . are known to base station  110  as the active user equipments are registered with the wireless telecommunication network to which radio cell  112  belongs.  
         [0024]     Antenna  120  is coupled to base station  110  in order to provide an air interface for coverage of radio cell  112 . Antenna  120  is located in close proximity to display  102 .  
         [0025]     Base station  110  is coupled both to controller  104  of display unit  100  and to database server  122 . Database server  122  stores database  124  which contains user profiles of user equipments.  
         [0026]     Controller  104  of display unit  100  is coupled to content server  126  and to billing server  128  via network  130 . For example network  130  is the Internet.  
         [0027]     In operation user equipments  114 ,  116 ,  118 , . . . are switched on and registered in the wireless telecommunication network by means of base station  110 . For example the registration procedure is performed on the basis of the mobile subscriber identification numbers (MSISDN) of the user equipments.  
         [0028]     Base station  110  transmits the MSISDNs  132  of the active user equipments  114 ,  116 ,  118 , . . . of radio cell  112  to database server  122 . In response database server  122  performs a database query of database  124  in order to access the respective user profiles being assigned to the active user equipments  114 ,  116 ,  118 , . . . of radio cell  112 . Corresponding user profile information  134  is provided from database server  122  to base station  110  from where it is forwarded to controller  104  of display unit  100 . Alternatively user profile information  134  is directly provided from database server  122  to controller  104 .  
         [0029]     User profile information  134  is evaluated by means of program module  106 . Program module  106  performs a statistic evaluation of the user profile information  134 . For example program module  106  determines the percentages of users being interested in various categories, such as sports, culture, politics, news, gardening, cars and/or other kinds of products or activities.  
         [0030]     The respective percentages being indicative of the distribution of the users interests are provided from program module  106  to program module  108 . In response program module  108  sends content request  136  to content server  126  for selection of content corresponding to the distribution of the users interests.  
         [0031]     In response to content request  136  content server  126  delivers content  138  to controller  104 . Controller  104  renders content  138  on display  102 . This can be done sequentially, i.e. only one category of content is rendered at a given point of time on display  102 . Preferably controller  104  allocates a display time to each content category in proportion to the distribution of the users interests.  
         [0032]     Alternatively or in addition display  102  is split into a number of windows in a PIP or POP mode. The size of the individual windows is chosen by controller  104  in proportion to the distribution of the users interests. For example if 90% of the users are interested in sports in accordance with user profile information  134  but only 5% are interested in politics and 5% in the weather report, three windows are shown on display  102 , i.e. a large window covering 90% of the surface of display  102  for displaying of sports related information and/or sport related advertisement and two small windows each covering 5% of display  102  for displaying of politics and weather related information, respectively.  
         [0033]     Controller  104  implements an advertisement metrics in order to calculate a point value which is indicative of the commercial value of the advertisement which has been rendered on display  102 . For example the point value is calculated based on the number of active user equipments within radio cell  112  which have user profiles that match the rendered advertisements. This point value  114  is communicated from time to time from controller  104  to billing server  128 . Billing server  128  has program module  142  which generates bill  144  which is sent to advertiser  146 .  
         [0034]     The display system of  FIG. 1  is particularly useful for targeted advertisement. For example display  102  and antenna  120  are located in close proximity within a shopping mall. Hence the surroundings of display  102  are covered by radio cell  112  in which users are located which may already view display  102  or may potentially pass by display  102 . Based on the user profile information  134  which is obtained from the corresponding active user equipments within radio cell  112  advertisement content can be selected in a targeted way and rendered on display  102 .  
         [0035]     Alternatively display unit  100  has an RF interface for direct wireless communication with the active user equipments within the proximity of display  102 . Preferably the RF interface is a short range RF interface. In this instance display unit  100  directly receives user profile information from the active user equipments which are located within the reach of the short range RF radio interface.  
         [0036]      FIG. 2  shows a corresponding flow chart. In step  200  the active user equipments in the proximity of the display are determined. This can be done either through the intermediary of a cellular wireless telecommunication network or by direct radio frequency communication between the display unit and the user equipments within its proximity.  
         [0037]     In step  202  the user profiles of the active user equipments determined in step  200  are provided to the display unit. This can be implemented by accessing a database server in order to perform a database query for the user profiles. Alternatively the user profiles are transmitted directly form the active user equipment to the display unit.  
         [0038]     In step  204  a content selection is performed based on the user profile information. The content may be selected locally from the controller of the display unit or from another local content source and/or from a remote content server. In step  206  the selected content is displayed.  
         [0039]      FIG. 3  shows another preferred embodiment of a display system. Elements of the display system of  FIG. 3  which correspond to elements of the display system of  FIG. 1  are designated by the same reference numerals.  
         [0040]     Display system depicted in  FIG. 3  has additional display units  148  and  150 . The display units  100 ,  148  and  150  are coupled by means of a so called ad-hoc network. This way information can be interchanged between display units  100 ,  148  and  150 . Like display unit  100  the additional display units  148  and  150  are located within the coverage of radio cell  112 . For example radio cell  112  covers a football stadium and display units  100 ,  148 ,  150 , . . . are located at various places within the football stadium. In the example considered here controller  104  of display unit  100  acts as a master, i.e. controller  104  determines the content to be rendered on the display units  100 ,  148 ,  150 , . . . of the ad-hoc network.  
       List of Reference Numerals  
       [0000]    
       
           100  display unit  
           102  display  
           104  controller  
           106  program module  
           108  program module  
           110  base station  
           112  radio cell  
           114  user equipment  
           116  user equipment  
           118 user equipment  
           120  antenna  
           122  database sensor  
           124  database  
           126  content server  
           128  billing server  
           130  network  
           132  MSISDN  
           134  user profile information  
           136  content request  
           138  content  
           140  point value  
           142  program module  
           144  bill  
           146  advertiser  
           148  display  
           150  display unit