Patent Publication Number: US-2012038602-A1

Title: Advertisement display system and method

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     1. Technical Field 
     Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to advertisement displays, and more particularly, to an advertisement display system and method. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     Columnar electronic billboards are widely used for advertising. Most typical columnar electronic billboards can only display one typical image of an object and cannot change different images of the object being displayed according to location of an individual, which restricts the effectiveness of the advertisement. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of one embodiment of an advertisement display system including a computing device, an image capturing unit, and a billboard. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating one example of a plurality of cameras that are substantially equidistantly mounted on a top edge of the billboard of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a flowchart of one embodiment of an advertisement display method using the system of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram illustrating one example of the advertisement display system displaying images of a car according to a position of a person. 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic diagram illustrating one example for creating an image database of a car by capturing a plurality of images of the car based on different shooting angles. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The disclosure, including the accompanying drawings, is illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation. It should be noted that references to “an” or “one” embodiment in this disclosure are not necessarily to the same embodiment, and such references mean at least one. 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram of one embodiment of an advertisement display system  100  including a computing device  1 , an image capturing unit  2 , and a billboard  3 . In the embodiment, the computing device  1  is electronically connected to the image capturing unit  2  and the billboard  3 . The computing device  1  includes a storage system  11 , a processor  12 , and a control unit  10 . In one embodiment, the computing device  1  may be a computer, a server, or a device for controlling the billboard  3 . It should be apparent that  FIG. 1  is only one example of the computing device  1  that can be included with more or fewer components than shown in other embodiments, or a different configuration of the various components. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , the billboard  3  is a columnar electronic billboard in which an image of a car is displayed. The image capturing unit  2  may be composed of a plurality of cameras (e.g., A, B, C, D, E shown in  FIG. 2 ) that are substantially equidistantly mounted on a top edge of the billboard  3  to form a circle. Each of the cameras captures images of an area near the billboard  3  so a 360-degree view can be captured and be viewed. The captured images may be transmitted to the computing device  1  and analyzed by the computing device  1 , details are provided below. 
     The storage system  11  stores one or more programs, such as programs of an operating system, and other applications of the computing device  1 . In one embodiment, the storage system  11  may be random access memory (RAM) for temporary storage of information, and/or a read only memory (ROM) for permanent storage of information. In other embodiments, the storage system  11  may also be an external storage device, such as a hard disk, a storage card, or a data storage medium. The processor  12  executes computerized operations of the computing device  1  and other applications, to provide functions of the computing device  1 . 
     The control unit  10  may include a plurality of functional modules comprising one or more computerized instructions that are stored in the storage system  11  or a computer-readable medium of the computing device  1 , and executed by the processor  12  to perform operations of the computing device  1 . In the embodiment, the control unit  10  includes a creation module  100 , a capturing module  101 , a detection module  102 , an extraction module  103 , a determination module  104 , and a display module  105 . In general, the word “module”, as used herein, refers to logic embodied in hardware or firmware, or to a collection of software instructions, written in a programming language, such as, Java, C, or Assembly. One or more software instructions in the modules may be embedded in firmware, such as EPROM. The modules described herein may be implemented as either software and/or hardware modules and may be stored in any type of computer-readable medium or other storage device. 
     The creation module  100  is operable to capture a plurality of reference images of an object to be advertised based on different shooting angles using the image capturing unit  2 , and store the reference images in the storage system  11  to create an image database of the object. In one example, as shown in  FIG. 5 , assuming that the object to be advertised is a car, each of the cameras A, B, C, D, and E of the image capturing unit  2  may capture a reference image of the car based on different shooting angles. Then each of the captured reference images may be named and can be stored in the storage system  11 . For example, a frontal image of the car captured by the camera A may be stored in the image database and named as M 0 , a left side image of the car captured by the camera B may be stored and named as M 1  correspondingly. Thus, an image database of the car is created. The shooting angles may denote that the reference images of the object have been shot by the image capturing unit  2  from different locations. 
     The capturing module  101  is operable to capture scene images around the billboard  3  using the image capturing unit  2  in real-time. In the embodiment, each of the scene images is an image of an area near the billboard  3 , which includes objects in the area. 
     The detection module  102  is operable to analyze the scene images to detect whether there are people nearby the billboard  3  using a person detection method. In one embodiment, the person detection method may be a template matching method using neural network training algorithm and adaptive boosting (AdaBoost) algorithm. 
     When a person is detected nearby the billboard  3 , the extraction module  103  is operable to extract image data of the person from one of the scene images in which the person is detected, and temporarily store the image data in the storage system  11 . In one embodiment, the image data may be, for example, color characteristics, texture characteristics, facial features such as nose, eyes and mouth data, and width and height of the person. 
     The determination module  104  is operable to consecutively determine a position of the person according to the image data. In the embodiment, the determination module  104  may determine the position of the person according to which camera of the image capturing unit  2  captures the person. For example, if the image data is included in a scene image that is captured by the camera A, the determination module  104  determines that the person is in a coverage range of the camera A. 
     The display module  105  is operable to select a reference image from the image database of the object according to the position of the person, and display the selected reference image on a corresponding area of the billboard  3  towards the position of the person. In one example, as shown in  FIG. 4 , if the person stands in a coverage range of the camera A, the display module  105  selects a frontal image of the car (e.g., “M 0 ”) from the image database of the car, and displays the frontal image “M 0 ” on an area of the billboard  3  under the camera A. If a person stands in a coverage range of the camera B, the display module  105  selects a left side image of the car (e.g., “M 1 ”) from the image database, and displays the left side image “M 1 ” on an area of the billboard  3  under the camera B. As a result, when a person walks along the billboard  3 , the person may watch different reference images of the car based on different shooting angles (e.g., M 0 , M 1 , M 2 , M 3 , and M 4 ) wherever a person stands nearby the billboard  3 . Furthermore, the display module  105  may constantly display a default image (e.g., “M 0 ”) of the object on the billboard  3  when no person is detected nearby the billboard  3 . 
     The determination module  104  is further operable to determine whether the person moves away the billboard  3  by consecutively checking whether the image data of the person is included in the real-time scene images captured by the image capturing unit  2 . If the image data is included in the real-time scene images, the determination module  104  determines that the person has not moved away from the billboard  3 . Otherwise, if the image data is not included in the real-time scene images, the determination module  104  determines that the person has moved away from the billboard  3 . Upon the condition that the person has moved away from the billboard  3 , the determination module  104  is further operable to delete the image data of the person from the storage system  11 . 
     In the embodiment, the cameras of the image capturing unit  2  are prioritized according to a predetermined order of the cameras. Thus, when two or more of the cameras simultaneously captures a person nearby the billboard  3 , the reference images of the object may be displayed on the billboard  3  according to position of a person captured by one of the cameras having a higher priority. 
       FIG. 3  is a flowchart of one embodiment of an advertisement display method using the system  100  of  FIG. 1 . Depending on the embodiment, additional blocks may be added, others removed, and the ordering of the blocks, may be changed. 
     In block S 01 , the creation module  100  captures a plurality of reference images of an object to be advertised based on different shooting angles using the image capturing unit  2 , and stores the reference images in the storage system  11  to create an image database of the object. 
     In block S 02 , the capturing module  101  captures scene images around the billboard  3  using the image capturing unit  2 . 
     In block S 03 , the detection module  102  analyzes the scene images to detect whether there are people nearby the billboard  3  using a person detection method. If there are people nearby the billboard  3 , block S 04  is implemented. Otherwise, if there are no people nearby the billboard  3 , block S 02  is repeated. 
     In block S 04 , the extraction module  103  extracts image data of a person from one of the scene images in which the person is detected and temporarily stores the image data in the storage system  11 . The image data may be, for example, color characteristics, texture characteristics, facial features such as nose, eyes and mouth data, and width and height of the person. 
     In block S 05 , the determination module  104  determines a position of the person according to the image data. Details of determining the position are described as the paragraph [0017]. 
     In block S 06 , the display module  105  selects a reference image from the image database of the object according to the position of the person, and displays the selected reference image on a corresponding area of the billboard  3  towards the position of the person. Details of the image selection and display are described as paragraph [0018]. 
     In block S 07 , the determination module  104  determines whether the person moves away from the billboard  3  by checking whether the image data of the person is included in the real-time scene images captured by the image capturing unit  2 . If the person moves away, block S 08  is implemented. Otherwise, if the person does not does not moves away, block S 05  is repeated. The determination module  104  may determine whether the person moves away using the method as described in paragraph [0019]. 
     In block S 08 , the determination module  104  deletes the image data of the person from the storage system  11 . 
     In the embodiment, the cameras of the image capturing unit  2  are prioritized according to a predetermined order of the cameras. Thus, when two or more of the cameras simultaneously captures a person nearby the billboard  3 , the scene images of the object may be displayed on the billboard  3  according to position of a person captured by one of the cameras having a higher priority. 
     Although certain embodiments of the present disclosure have been specifically described, the present disclosure is not to be construed as being limited thereto. Various changes or modifications may be made to the present disclosure without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure.