SELECTION OF INFORMATION FOR TRANSFER

Abstract: A method of targeting information consumers with relevant information efficiently and cost effectively, and a system carrying out the method. A service provider is supplied with conditions that are used to select information which is relevant for one or more information consumers. The conditions are transferred to one or more information consumers where the selection is done of what information is relevant for an information consumer in question. The information and conditions can preferably be broadcasted to the information consumers.

Description: Selection of information for transfer FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to a method and a system for transferring information to one or more information consumers from one or more content providers, especially transferring and presenting selected information to one or more information consumers in an efficient manner. BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION The degree of success that advertisement, and other information to be presented to a population, has depends largely on the interest the receiving individuals of the population have for the advertisement and/or information in question. Many factors play a part of heightening an individual's interest in a particular piece of information. A major factor is the relevance a piece of information has for an individual. WO 97/17774 discloses a method of distributing information by broadcasting advertisements to a population of receiving devices, which devices each comprise an individual user profile which is compared with a target profile of the broadcasted information. Users are then presented with advertisements that correspond to the user profile of the receiving device that is used. Unfortunately relevancy of an advertisement to an individual does not only depend on a user profile but also on such conditions as where the user is located, what time of day it is and if the user is stationary or travelling and if the user is travelling, where the user is travelling. US 5,664,948 discloses a method of loading presentation devices with advertising information associated with one or more presentation conditions causing, when detected, automatic presentation. The conditions are to be detectable at the presentation devices. It could be considered a disadvantage that every presentation manager needs to be able to detect the relevant conditions making the cost for each user very high. Both of the mentioned methods could also be considered to put an unnecessarily heavy burden on the transfer systems that have to transfer every possible information and/or advertisement to presentation/receiving devices, making the transfer cost very high. There is thus a need to optimize the information transfer to end-users in a cost efficient manner. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the invention is to define a method for reducing the complexity and thus also cost of each end user presentation device. A further object of the invention is to define a method for reducing the bandwidth necessary to transfer the desired information to end user presentation devices. Another object of the invention is to define a cost efficient information transfer system for presentation of information to one or more end users. The aforementioned objects are achieved according to the invention by a method of targeting information consumers with relevant information efficiently and cost effectively, and a system carrying out the method. A service provider is supplied with conditions that are used to select information which is relevant for one or more information consumers. The conditions are transferred the one or more information consumers where the selection is done of what information is relevant for an information consumer in question. The information and conditions can preferably be broadcasted to the information consumers. The aforementioned objects are also achieved according to the invention by a method of transferring information, to be displayed at one or more information consumers, from one or more information/content providers by means of a service provider via a transfer system. According to the invention the method comprises a number of steps. A first step of tagging the information with one or more tag conditions thus creating tagged information. A second step of the service provider transferring the tagged information to the one or more information consumers. A third step of determining one or more conditions within a predetermined area. A fourth step of the service provider transferring the one or more determined conditions to the one or more information consumers. A fifth step of the one or more information consumers comparing at least one of the one or more determined conditions with at least one of the one or more tag conditions of the tagged information to thereby determine a match, a sufficient correspondence, or neither. And a sixth step of the one or more information consumers displaying information with one or more tag conditions that at least match or have a sufficient correspondence to the one or more determined conditions. Thus according the invention information is distributed and displayed, information which is relevant for conditions present within the predetermined area at one or more information consumers. Suitably the method further comprises the step of the service provider receiving the one or more determined conditions. Advantageously the step of determining one or more conditions within the predetermined area, comprises the substep of determining one or more sensor values of one or more sensors within the predetermined area, and the step of providing the service provider with the one or more determined conditions, comprises the substep of transferring the one or more determined sensor values to the service provider. In some versions the step of determining one or more conditions within the predetermined area, can comprise the substep of a condition provider determining one or more conditions within the predetermined area, and the step of providing the service provider with the one or more determined conditions, can comprise the substep of the condition provider transferring the one or more determined conditions to the service provider. Sometimes it can be suitable that the method at at least one information consumer further comprises a step of determining one or more locally valid conditions, a step of comparing the one or more determined locally valid conditions with the one or more tag conditions of the tagged information to thereby determine a match, a sufficient correspondence, or neither, and a step of displaying information with one or more tag conditions that at least match or have a sufficient correspondence to the one or more determined locally valid conditions. In some versions it is suitable that the method at at least one information consumer further comprises a step of determining one or more locally valid conditions, and a step of transferring the one or more determined locally valid conditions to the service provider. Sometimes the step of determining one or more locally valid conditions at at least one information consumer can comprise the local condition of location of the information consumer in question. Sometimes the step of determining one or more locally valid conditions at at least one information consumer can comprise the local condition of movement of the information consumer in question. The method can further comprise the step of the service provider receiving the information, where the information is untagged information possibly accompanied with particulars on suitable tags for the information, and in that the step of tagging the information with one or more tag conditions is done at the service provider. The step of tagging the information with one or more tag conditions can be done at a content provider which has the information in question, and the method can further comprises the step of the service provider receiving the tagged information. The transfer system can be a broadcasting system transferring information by means of at least one transmitter and the method will then further comprise the step of broadcasting the information to be transferred by the at least one transmitter. Then suitably the predetermined area is at least approximately a transmitter coverage area of the at least one transmitter. The transfer system can otherwise be a point to point transfer system. Then the predetermined area is suitably an area in which the one or more information consumers are expected to be within between transfers of information. The one or more determined conditions can be one or more of traffic density, traffic alarms, public alarms, pollen value, air pollution, air pollution particle count, sun intensity, rain, weather, cloud density, time, location. One or more of the features of the above-described different methods according to the invention can be combined in any desired manner, as long as the combined features are not contradictory. The aforementioned objects are achieved in accordance with the invention also by a system of transferring information, to be displayed at one or more information consumers, from one or more information/content providers by means of a service provider via a transfer system. The system comprises a number of means arranged to carry out the invention. A first means is arranged to tag the information with one or more tag conditions thus creating tagged information. A second means in the service provider is arranged to transfer the tagged information to the one or more information consumers. A third means is arranged to determine one or more conditions within a predetermined area. A fourth means in the service provider is arranged to transfer the one or more determined conditions to the one or more information consumers. A fifth means in the one or more information consumers is arranged to compare at least one of the one or more determined conditions with at least one of the one or more tag conditions of the tagged information to thereby determine a match, a sufficient correspondence, or neither. A sixth means in the one or more information consumers is arranged to display information with one or more tag conditions that at least match or have a sufficient correspondence to the one or more determined conditions. Information is thus distributed and displayed, information which is relevant for conditions present within the predetermined area at one or more information consumers. Different embodiments of the system according to the invention can be reached according to additional features mentioned above in connection with the description of the method according to the invention. The features of the above-described different embodiments of a system according to the invention can be combined in any desired manner, as long as no conflict occurs. The aforementioned objects are also achieved according to the invention by a method of targetting information consumers with relevant information efficiently and cost effectively, and a system carrying out the method. An information consumer is a machine which will present in one way or another to a user, or further transfer, at least selected information that is received by it. An information consumer can also be seen as a user desiring information. An information consumer receives information from a service provider. A service provider usually does not generate any information itself, but is the central connection point which will properly direct information from an external source, a content provider, to an external destination, an information consumer. Information is transferred to a service provider from one or more information or so called content providers. A content provider is a source of information. A service provider collects or is supplied with conditions, from for example a condition provider, that are used to select information which is relevant for one or more information consumers. Preferably at least a part of the selection is done at the service provider. Advantageously a part of the selection is done at the information consumer. The relevant information can preferably be broadcasted to the information consumers. The aforementioned objects are also achieved according to the invention by a method of transferring information, to be displayed at one or more information consumers, from one or more information/content providers by means of a service provider via a transfer system. According to the invention the method comprises a number of steps. In a first step the information is tagged with one or more tag conditions. In a second step the information is transferred to a service provider interface. In a third step one or more conditions within a predetermined area are determined. In a fourth step the service provider is provided with the one or more determined conditions. In a fifth step the one or more determined conditions are compared with the one or more tag conditions of the information to thereby determine a match, a sufficient correspondence, or neither. In a sixth step information with one or more tag conditions that at least match or have a sufficient correspondence to the one or more determined conditions is displayed at one or more information consumers. Thus distributing and displaying information, which is relevant for conditions present within the predetermined area at one or more information consumers. In some versions of the method the transfer system is a broadcasting system transferring information by means of at least one transmitter. In these versions the predetermined area is preferably a transmitter coverage area, or at least approximately the transmitter coverage area, of the at least one transmitter. The service provider interface can in some versions advantageously reside at the content provider and the method can advantageously then further comprise the step of transferring the information from the service provider interface to the service provider, and the step of broadcasting information to be broadcasted provided by the service provider by the at least one transmitter. In other versions the service provider interface is a virtual interface residing at the content provider and the method then advantageously further comprise the step of broadcasting information to be broadcasted provided by the service provider interface by the at least one transmitter. In still further versions of the method the service provider interface resides at the content provider and then the method preferably further comprises the step of broadcasting information to be broadcasted provided by the service provider, by the at least one transmitter. In other versions of the method the transfer system is a point to point transfer system. Preferably then the predetermined area is an area in which the one or more information consumers are expected to be within between transfers of information. In some versions the service provider interface resides at the content provider and then the method preferably further comprises the step of transferring the information from the service provider interface to the service provider, and the step of transferring information to be transferred provided by the service provider to one or more information consumers. In some versions the service provider interface is a virtual interface residing at the content provider and then the method preferably further comprises the step of transferring information to be transferred provided by the service provider interface to one or more information consumers. In other versions the service provider interface resides at the content provider and then the method advantageously further comprises the step of transferring information to be transferred provided by the service provider to one or more information consumers. The information to be transferred is sometimes information comprising the one or more tag conditions that match, at least in part, the one or more determined conditions. Then the method preferably further comprises the step of transferring at least one of the one or more determined conditions via the service provider, and the step of comparing the one or more determined conditions with the one or more tag conditions of the information to thereby determine a match, a sufficient correspondence, or neither, is then preferably performed in part before transfer and in part at the one or more information consumers. The information to be transferred can advantageously be only information comprising the one or more tag conditions that match the one or more determined conditions. In some versions of the method the step of comparing the one or more determined conditions with the one or more tag conditions of the information to thereby determine a match, a sufficient correspondence, or neither, is preferably performed by the service provider interface before transfer. The method can also further advantageously comprise the step of transferring the one or more determined conditions via the service provider, and then the information to be transferred is all the information irrespective of the one or more tag conditions, and then the step of comparing the one or more determined conditions with the one or more tag conditions of the information to thereby determine a match, a sufficient correspondence, or neither, is performed at at least one of the one or more information consumers. The step of determining one or more conditions within the predetermined area, can advantageously comprise the substep of determining one or more sensor values of one or more sensors within the predetermined area, and then also the step of providing the service provider with the one or more determined conditions, preferably comprises the substep of transferring the one or more determined sensor values to the service provider. The step of determining one or more conditions within the predetermined area, can comprise the substep of a condition provider determining one or more conditions within the predetermined area, and then the step of providing the service provider with the one or more determined conditions, advantageously comprises the substep of the condition provider transferring the one or more determined conditions to the service provider. The method at at least one information consumer can further comprise the steps of determining one or more locally valid conditions, and comparing the one or more determined locally valid conditions with the one or more tag conditions of the information to thereby determine a match, a sufficient correspondence, or neither, and displaying information with one or more tag conditions that at least match or have a sufficient correspondence to the one or more determined locally valid conditions. The method at at least one information consumer can further comprise the steps of determining one or more locally valid conditions, and transferring the one or more determined locally valid conditions to the service provider. The step of determining one or more locally valid conditions at at least one information consumer can advantageously comprise the local condition of location of the information consumer in question. The step of determining one or more locally valid conditions at at least one information consumer can advantageously also comprise, for example, the local condition of movement or direction of the information consumer in question. In some versions the information transferred in the step of transferring the information to a service provider interface is untagged information possibly accompanied with information on suitable tags for the information, and in that the step of tagging the information with one or more tag conditions is done at the service provider. In other versions the step of tagging the information with one or more tag conditions is done at a content provider which has the information in question, and in that the information transferred in the step of transferring the information to a service provider interface is tagged information. One or more of the features of the above-described different methods according to the invention can be combined in any desired manner, as long as the features are not contradictory. The aforementioned objects are achieved in accordance with the invention also by a system of transferring information, to be displayed at one or more information consumers, from one or more information/content providers by means of a service provider via a transfer system. The system comprises a number of means arranged to carry out the invention. A first means is arranged to tag the information with one or more tag conditions. A second means is arranged to transfer the information to a service provider interface. A third means is arranged to determine one or more conditions within a predetermined area. A fourth means is arranged to provide the service provider with the one or more determined conditions. A fifth means is arranged to compare the one or more determined conditions with the one or more tag conditions of the information to thereby determine a match, a sufficient correspondence, or neither. And finally a sixth means is arranged to display information with one or more tag conditions that at least match or have a sufficient correspondence to the one or more determined conditions at one or more information consumers. Thus distributing and displaying information, which is relevant for conditions present within the predetermined area at one or more information consumers. Different embodiments of the system according to the invention can be reached according to additional features mentioned above in connection with the description of the method according to the invention. The features of the above-described different embodiments of a system according to the invention can be combined in any desired manner, as long as no conflict occurs. By providing a method for transferring specific information to one or more information consumers and by providing a system that implements the method, a number of advantages over prior art systems are attained. The required transfer bandwidth can be minimized by not transferring unnecessary information. There is a reduction in the number of necessary sensors as the information consumers does not need to have all the sensors which generate the conditions used for extracting relevant information. Advantageously digital audio broadcasting (DAB), digital video broadcasting (DVB), or other type of digital broadcasting or data communication transmission system can be used as an information transfer medium to the one or more information consumers. DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES The invention will now be described in more detail for explanatory, and in no sense limiting, purposes, with reference to the following figures, in which Fig. 1 shows an overview of an area of interest where the invention is applicable, Fig. 2 shows a block diagram of a system according to the invention, Fig. 3 shows a flow chart of a basic method of transferring information to one or more information consumers according to the invention. DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In order to clarify the system according to the invention, some examples of its use will now be described in connection with Figures 1 to 3. The invention concerns the transfer of information to one or more information consumers, the information being relevant in an area of interest where the one or more information consumers are located. Figure 1 shows an overview of an area of interest 100 where the invention is applicable. For the purposes of illustrating the invention, the area of interest 100 is divided by a separator 102 into a first part 101 and a second part 103. The invention concerns information consumers that are within an area of interest 100, either stationary or mobile. Mobile information consumers can either be passing through the area of interest 100 along a first route 110, be completely within the area of interest 100 for the complete route, as for example a second route 120 and a third route 130 with their corresponding end points 122, 128, 132, or with just one end point within the area of interest and the route passing out of the area of interest 100. The information can, according to one embodiment of the invention, be transferred to an information consumer by means of a broadcasting system using, for example, a first transmitter 105 and a second transmitter 106. In such embodiments, a suitable area of interest 100 is the approximate or the coverage area of the broadcasting system or one or more of the transmitters of the broadcasting system. A preferable broadcasting system is either a digital audio broadcasting system (DAB), a digital video broadcasting system (DVB), or other type of digital transmission system. As an example the description will follow an information consumer travelling in e.g. a train 125, along the second route 120 from one end point 122 to another end point 128 passing between the two parts 101, 103 of the area of interest 100 across the separator 102. An information consumer, in the case that the information consumer is a person, is interested in information, such as advertisements or announcements, that relate to him or her. As mentioned previously, relevancy is dependent on many factors, some of which are the location of the individual, if the individual is stationary or travelling, the direction of travel, the time of day, the weather, etc. Assume that an information consumer is travelling on a train 125 on a route 120 from an airport located at one end point 122 towards a city located at the other end point 128. Just the fact that the information consumer is travelling towards the city will raise the consumer's interest of matters concerning and/or happening in the city, and lower his or her interest in matters concerning and/or happening at the airport. The time of day will play an important part as well, are stores and/or restaurants open for business at the estimated time of arrival? An information consumer will have little or no interest in an advertisement for a store that is closed when he or she arrives at the destination. Time gives another important condition in relation to what type of traveler travels during different times of the day and in the week. Weekday mornings and afternoons will show a very high concentration of business people while weekends will show a high concentration of, for example, tourists. These different categories of people will have different interests. Weather is another important condition that will influence an information consumer's interest. There is a question of whether there is rain or not, what the temperature is, if it is windy, and what the forecast is. The location might also be an important factor in delivering appropriate information to an information consumer. A coarse determination of the location can in many cases be sufficient, such as determining if an information consumer is on a first part 101 or a second part 103 of an area of interest. According to the invention conditions of different sorts are collected by a service provider. In some applications the use of a condition provider for one or more conditions which are supplied to the service provider is appropriate. The service provider will also control information from one or more content providers. Preferably the content providers have tagged the information appropriately as to the conditions used in a specific application of the invention. In some applications all the information is collected by the service provider, which performs all matching of information to conditions before transfer of information is done to one or more information consumers. In other applications at least some of the conditions are matched before transfer of information, this will of course increase the necessary bandwidth to transfer the information to the information consumers as there is more information to transfer and the final matching will be done at the information consumer by means of conditions transferred from the service provider and/or local conditions. In still other applications all the matching is performed at the information consumer which means that the service provider transfers all the collected conditions as well as all the information to the information consumer. This embodiment will put the heaviest load on the transfer system to the information consumers. Especially in these applications there can sometimes be an advantage to put a virtual service provider interface at one or more of the content providers. The content providers with the virtual service provider interface will believe that they are communicating with the service provider and are sending the information there. A virtual service provider interface will preferably sort the traffic of information such that information intended for the information consumers will be transferred directly to the information consumers directly without passing through the service provider, and communication with the service provider is directed to the service provider. This can in some embodiments provide an optimum solution as to information flow, without the delays and possible congestion of the service provider. Figure 2 shows a block diagram of a system according to the invention. A service provider 210 collects conditions on its own or possibly in combination with or only from a condition provider 230 such as a weather service with one or more sensors 261, 262 providing data for the conditions supplied 260 to the service provider 210. One or more content providers 220, 222 are communicatively connected 250, 252 to the service provider 210 to supply the information for one or more information consumers 240, 242. Each information consumer 240, 242, preferably has a respective presentation display 241, 243 for presentation of information that match or sufficiently match the appropriate conditions. The information transfer system 270, 272 from the service provider to the information consumers 240, 242 can preferably be a broadcasting system such as DAB, DVB, or of another data type. In certain embodiments conditions are collected locally at the information consumers, and then transferred back to the service provider 210 for use in the information selection process, an optional back channel transfer system 271, 273 is then needed to the service provider 210 from each information consumer 240, 242 that will use this feature. Figure 3 shows a flow chart of a basic method of transferring information to one or more information consumers according to the invention. It is to be understood that the flow chart is presented in a sequential manner, but as is noted below many of the steps can be performed in parallel or in a different order. In a first step 310, information to be transferred is generated/determined. A content provider will in most applications provide the information and some kind of indication on what tags are suitable for the information. After the first step 310, a second step 320 tags the information appropriately according to one or more criteria. The second step 320 can suitably either be performed at a content provider or at a service provider interface or at a service provider after a third step 330 all depending on the content provider and the specific embodiment of the invention. The third step 330 transfers the information to a service provider interface. A fourth step 340 determines one or more conditions in a predetermined area. After the fourth step 340, a fifth step 350 provides the service provider with the one or more determined conditions. One or more of the conditions can be collected directly by a service provider or through a condition provider. After the second 320 and the third 330 step and the fifth 350 step, a sixth step 360 compares one or more of the tags of the information with one or more of the determined conditions. After the sixth step 360, a seventh step 370 determines if there is a match between the compared tags and conditions or not. If it is determined in the seventh step 370 that there is no match, then the method continues with a further test step 375 which determines if there is a sufficient match between compared tags and conditions. If there is determined a match in the sixth step 370 or a sufficient match in the further test step 375 then the method continues with a ninth step 390 which provides the one or more information consumers with the appropriate information. On the other hand if the further test step 375 does not determine a sufficient match then the method will continue with an eighth step 380, which will perform other appropriate processing. The transfer system to the one or more information consumers can advantageously be a broadcasting system such as digital audio broadcasting (DAB), digital video broadcasting (DVB), or another digital transmission system. Information that is transferred over a broadcasting system, especially if there is no feedback channel (uplink) to ask for specific desired information, is usually transferred with error correction coding continuously or at certain intervals and when there is a change. The repetition rate can be in dependence on the environment, e.g. geographical, and/or the type of information to be transferred. One type of information transfer is based on the assumption that the information to be transferred is divided into many parts that are often and independently updated and therefore needs to be continuously transferred over and over again. This type of information transfer is also suitable when the content provider does not know when a single receiver is turned on and therefore to ensure that all receivers are able to receive all the information of interest. This type of information transfer is often referred to as using data carousels. A service provider could, for example, have a total of 50 pieces of information to broadcast. These 50 pieces of information are then continuously transferred, starting with the first one, then the second one and so on until the fiftieth has been transferred, then the procedure starts all over again with transferring the first piece of information again, and then the second one again and so on. If one piece of information becomes obsolete then it is removed and perhaps replaced by new updated information. Stock market information is suitable for this type of information transfer. Another type of information transfer is based on the assumption that the information is in larger parts that do not change very frequently, e.g. commercials. This type of transfer is also suitable when all interested receivers are more or less continuously tuned in and waiting for new updated information. This type of transfer is often referred to as a file transfer system. A system according to the invention preferably utilizes a combination of carousel transfer and file transfer in dependence on the specific type of information to be transferred. The present invention can be put into apparatus-form either as pure hardware, as pure software or as a combination of hardware and software. If the method according to the invention is realized in the form of software, it can be completely independent or it can be one part of a larger program. The software can suitably be located in a general-purpose computer or in a dedicated computer. As a summary, the invention can basically be described as a method and a system which provide means to enable relevant information such as advertisements, to be transferred to one or more information consumers, individuals which are targeted, based on one or more conditions that are collected by a service provider. The invention is not limited to the embodiments described above but may be varied within the scope of the appended patent claims. T58P13pct SPB 2001-05-06 FIG 1 an overview of an area of interest where the invention is applicable, 100 an area of interest, 101 a first part of an area of interest, 102 a separator between different parts, 103 a second part of an area of interest, 105 a first antenna/transmitter of a broadcasting system, 106 a second antenna/transmitter of a broadcasting system, 110 a first route, 120 a second route, 122 a first end point to the second route, 125 one or more mobile information consumers travelling along the second route in e.g. a train, 128 a second end point to the second route and a first end point to a third route, 130 the third route 132 a second end point to the third route FIG 2 a block diagram of a system according to the invention, 210 a service provider, 220 a first content provider, 222 a second content provider, 230 a condition provider, 240 a first information consumer, 241 a presentation display of the first information consumer, 242 a second information consumer, 243 a presentation display of the second information consumer, 250 an information transfer system between the first content provider and the service provider, 252 an information transfer system between the second content provider and the service provider, 260 an information transfer system between the condition provider and the service provider, 261 sensor data 262 sensor data 270 an information transfer system from the service provider to the first information consumer, 271 an optional back channel transfer system from the first information consumer to the service provider, 272 an information transfer system from the service provider to the second information consumer, 273 an optional back channel transfer system from the second information consumer to the service provider, FIG 3 a flow chart of a basic method of transferring information to one or more information consumers according to the invention, 310 a first step of generating/determining information to be transferred, 320 from the first step: a second step which tags the information appropriately according to one or more criteria, 330 from the second step: a third step which transfers the information to a service provider interface, 340 a fourth step determines one or more conditions in a predetermined area, 350 from the fourth step: a fifth step provides the service provider with the one or more determined conditions, 360 after the third and fifth steps: a sixth step compares one or more of the tags of the information with one or more of the determined conditions, 370 from the sixth step: a seventh step determines if there is a match between the compared tags and conditions, 375 no from the seventh step: a further test step determines if there is a sufficient match between compared tags and conditions, 380 no from the further test step: an eighth step which performs other appropriate processing, 390 yes from the seventh or yes from the further test step: a ninth step displays the information at one or more information consumers.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A method of transferring information, to be displayed at one or more information consumers, from one or more information/content providers by means of a service provider via a transfer system, characterized in that the method comprises the following steps: - tagging the information with one or more tag conditions thus creating tagged information; the service provider transferring the tagged information to the one or more information consumers; determining one or more conditions within a predetermined area; - the service provider transferring the one or more determined conditions to the one or more information consumers; the one or more information consumers comparing at least one of the one or more determined conditions with at least one of the one or more tag conditions of the tagged information to thereby determine a match, a sufficient correspondence, or neither; the one or more information consumers displaying information with one or more tag conditions that at least match or have a sufficient correspondence to the one or more determined conditions; thus distributing and displaying information, which is relevant for conditions present within the predetermined area at one or more information consumers. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the method further comprises the step of the service provider receiving the one or more determined conditions. 3. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that the step of determining one or more conditions within the predetermined area, comprises the substep of: determining one or more sensor values of one or more sensors within the predetermined area; and in that the step of providing the service provider with the one or more determined conditions, comprises the substep of: transferring the one or more determined sensor values to the service provider. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the step of determining one or more conditions within the predetermined area, comprises the substep of: a condition provider determining one or more conditions within the predetermined area; and in that the step of providing the service provider with the one or more deteraiined conditions, comprises the substep of: the condition provider transferring the one or more determined conditions to the service provider. 5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the method at at least one information consumer further comprises the steps of: determining one or more locally valid conditions; comparing the one or more determined locally valid conditions with the one or more tag conditions of the tagged information to thereby determine a match, a sufficient correspondence, or neither; displaying information with one or more tag conditions that at least match or have a sufficient correspondence to the one or more determined locally valid conditions. 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the method at at least one information consumer further comprises the steps of: determining one or more locally valid conditions; transferring the one or more determined locally valid conditions to the service provider. 7. The method according to claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the step of determining one or more locally valid conditions at at least one information consumer comprises the local condition of location of the information consumer in question. 8. The method according to any one of claims 5 to 7, characterized in that the step of determining one or more locally valid conditions at at least one information consumer comprises the local condition of movement of the information consumer in question. 9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the method further comprises the step of the service provider receiving the information, where the information is untagged information possibly accompanied with particulars on suitable tags for the information, and in that the step of tagging the information with one or more tag conditions is done at the service provider. 10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that the step of tagging the information with one or more tag conditions is done at a content provider which has the information in question, and in that the method further comprises the step of the service provider receiving the tagged information. 11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the transfer system is a broadcasting system transferring information by means of at least one transmitter and the method further comprises the step of: broadcasting the information to be transferred by the at least one transmitter. 12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that the predetermined area is at least approximately a transmitter coverage area of the at least one transmitter. 13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the transfer system is a point to point transfer system. 14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that the predetermined area is an area in which the one or more information consumers are expected to be within between transfers of information. 15. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, characterized in that the one or more determined conditions is one or more of traffic density, traffic alarms, public alarms, pollen value, air pollution, air pollution particle count, sun intensity, rain, weather, cloud density, time, location. 16. A system of transferring information, to be displayed at one or more information consumers, from one or more information/content providers by means of a service provider via a transfer system, characterized in that the system comprises: - means arranged to tag the information with one or more tag conditions thus creating tagged information; means in the service provider which means is arranged to transfer the tagged information to the one or more information consumers; means arranged to determine one or more conditions within a predetermined area; means in the service provider which means is arranged to transfer the one or more determined conditions to the one or more information consumers; means in the one or more information consumers which means is arranged to compare at least one of the one or more determined conditions with at least one of the one or more tag conditions of the tagged information to thereby determine a match, a sufficient correspondence, or neither; means in the one or more information consumers which means is arranged to display information with one or more tag conditions that at least match or have a sufficient correspondence to the one or more determined conditions; thus distributing and displaying information, which is relevant for conditions present within the predetermined area at one or more information consumers.

Inventors: BACKLUND LARS, BONDESON ADAM, POHJANVUORI TIMO, SEMMELMANN HANS PETTER, BACKLUND, LARS, BONDESON, ADAM, POHJANVUORI, TIMO, SEMMELMANN, HANS, PETTER
Applicants: BACKLUND LARS, BONDESON ADAM, POHJANVUORI TIMO, SEMMELMANN HANS PETTER, TERACOM AB, BACKLUND, LARS, BONDESON, ADAM, POHJANVUORI, TIMO, SEMMELMANN, HANS, PETTER
Application year: 2001
Main classification: H04N7
IPC codes: H04N5, H04N7