FR2820571A1 - Hypermarket/commercial centre/shopping street animated pictures/sound having central command with animate picture/sound installation and local station programming sample agenda messages and generating local set. - Google Patents

Abstract

The evolving animation system is personalised and sectorised providing music programmes, messages, perfume transmission, digital images and lights. There is a central command (C) connected to a local station with associated animation and sound installation. The central command has a microprocessor, music bank, programme file , and message animation. Local station (Sti) programme an agenda of samples and messages from the central command and generate locally a set of animation and sound programmes requested.

Description

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 The invention relates to a customizable, upgradeable sound system for transmitting a music and message program according to preset but scalable programs.

 Sound animation, in particular at points of sale, either in hypermarkets, shopping centers or shopping streets, can be an important element to boost trade. However, sales areas do not effectively exploit these possibilities for sound animation because the solutions currently available do not offer the qualities, characteristics and possibilities that are appropriate.

 There are currently, in addition to the known systems consisting of scrolling through a prerecorded loop, various more advanced but nevertheless unsatisfactory systems.

 A first existing solution consists in replacing the magnetic tape by an engraved CD, renewed periodically for example every month. This solution is frozen because it does not allow modifications in the interval of CD replacements. In addition, direct intervention is certainly possible but requires the intervention of the personnel of the point of sale which is not always easy or successful if the personnel is not sufficiently prepared for such interventions.

 Finally, this rigid system does not allow modifications in the short term, in the interval of a day or a few hours.

 There is another computerized system with satellite transmission of announcement messages.

 Finally there are animation companies with the presence of an animator and a technician on the place where the animation takes place.

 This solution can only be envisaged in an exceptional manner and not systematically for reasons of high costs.

 In addition to the rigidity of known systems, their high cost if they have to offer a certain flexibility of adaptation, one of the main drawbacks is the fatigue.

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 study that can cause the systematic replay of the same sound messages or musical pieces broadcast in a loop and little diversified, the weariness of the staff who undergoes this sound system.

 This discomfort can even exist at the level of the buyers because the sound diffusion is often random and noisy with perceptible or even brutal differences in sound level of the different musical pieces or even the unexpected interruption of a presenter who makes a communication on a promotion.

 However, sound animation, in particular sales outlets, could be a considerable asset in boosting sales.

 The present invention aims to develop a personalized and scalable sound system, for the animation of points of sale whether it be shopping centers, supermarkets or city centers.

 To this end, the invention relates to a system of the type defined above characterized in that a central management and control unit connected to at least one local station associated with a sound installation to supply it with the sound signals to be transmitted A ) the control unit comprising * a managing microcomputer - a music bank containing the musical samples available to establish musical programs to be broadcast, - a file of sample programs, - a file of messages to be broadcast, - an agenda file containing the distribution grids (period of emission of the sample programs and messages) according to the days and times of the day, - a file of the customers and the local stations associated with the central, * of the means of entry for

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 - musical information to complete and renew the music bank by adding or removing samples, - information relating to customers, - information updating customer information, * means of access direct for intervention in a local station, as a priority to its programmed operation, * a means of compressing sound data, * a modem at the output of the central unit to communicate with local stations, B) At least one local station comprising * a central unit and at least one hard disk receiving - the compressed samples, the compressed messages, and the sample programs associated with the local station, - a means of decompression on leaving the station, - a modem with l input of the local station to communicate with the central, C) The central establishing for each local station or group of local stations, * a program of samples and messages con keeping the references of the samples and the messages * an agenda of the samples and the messages (dates of emission), the program of samples being established according to the information describing the site in which the sound installation is located, the control unit transmitting at each local station - the samples and compressed messages, the sample and message programs and the agenda for recording them in the local station, the transmission of signals to the public address system being managed locally by the 'central unit of the local station according to the program of samples and messages and the agenda,

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 the sound signals being decompressed at the station exit before attacking the sound installation.

 Because of its flexibility of adaptation, such an animation system allows not only the animation of shopping malls, city centers, supermarkets, hypermarkets or department stores, but also other places welcoming public such as administrations, public services such as hospitals, stations, parking lots, airports, meeting or event places.

 This system allows a transformation, an adaptation, and an almost instantaneous evolution of the information transmitted (musical samples and messages) without requiring travel to the local station.

 The musical programs are established according to the data concerning the place of their diffusion, taking into account the public to whom the sound signals are addressed, according to the time of the day, the type of commercial surface.

The messages can concern the public but also the staff of the place. The broadcast can be scheduled to start before the opening to the public and continue after it to broadcast messages to staff who prepare the site or put it in order at the end of the day.

 Direct access based on unforeseeable events is also possible.

 The system is particularly interesting for the user, that is to say the site where the local station is installed because no intervention is necessary, the management being done from the central unit which acts remotely on the unit equipping the local station, either by the program and the agenda or by direct access.

 The present invention will be described below in more detail using an embodiment shown schematically in the accompanying drawings in which: - Figure 1 is an overview of the system, - Figure 2 shows a system block diagram.

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 According to the figures, the invention relates to a sound system or sound animation, personalized. This system is scalable to send a series of music samples and messages according to pre-established but scalable programs, that is to say not fixed and which can be modified almost instantaneously.

 This system consists of a central C and local stations STi linked to the central.

 The control unit C prepares the sound information to be broadcast by the local stations STi and transmits this sound information to them in a compressed state. The local station STi records this sound information and transmits it according to a defined program, specific to the local station STi, but established by the central office according to definition criteria depending on the local station and on the requirements which the messages to be transmitted by the local station.

 The different sound information is stored after compression in the local station STi to be sent after direct decompression through the SONO sound installation equipped with the local station STi.

 In the following description, the musical pieces to be broadcast will be called musical samples or simply samples. They represent sites or complete musical works and messages in their entirety.

 According to Figure 2, the central C managing the system consists of a microcomputer p. P. This microcomputer controls a BMUS music bank containing all the ECHi music samples available in the system. The microcomputer u. P also manages a file of F-PRECH sample programs associated with each customer or local station STi, a file of messages to broadcast F-MESS, also associated in a personalized manner with each local station STi or group of local stations and finally a F-AG agenda file containing the distribution grids. These are the periods for sending the sample and message programs. This file is established according to the days and hours of the day,

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 that is to say mainly depending on the type of public frequenting the site at different times of the day or on different days of the week.

 Finally, the control panel includes an image of files necessary for managing the local F-CL / -STi stations associated with control panel C.

 The central unit C includes input means E1, E2, E3, E4 for receiving the various information necessary for establishing the files and the programs and for updating them.

 A first entry El relates to customers and local stations STi.

 The expression customer may correspond to a single local station or to a group of local stations, depending on whether the customer is an independent site or a site dependent on a chain such as a department store chain or a station even belonging to to a channel should be treated differently from another station in the same group. Depending on the case, the information will be strictly individualized for the site or certain sites belonging to the same chain will have common information (musical samples and messages).

 This input El thus transmits information INF / CL to the microcomputer iP. This transmitted information identifies the customers and the sites and also defines the parameters of the public being on the site at a given time, of the customer's wish on the atmosphere to create, and all the demographic and commercial information to allow establishing the musical sample programs.

 A second entry E2 corresponds to the musical pieces constituting the BMUS music bank. The music tracks are entered with their identification information in the music bank. This recording of musical samples is done in the music bank in the compressed state.

 The bank can receive, for example, around 5 to 10,000 musical samples, each corresponding to

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 medium to a variety musical piece (3 to 5 minutes duration).

 These samples are updated according to their publication and their interest. The renewal of the music bank is periodic.

 A third entry E3 of control unit C is that of the messages and the program schedule. The messages are requested by the client. These messages are frozen for a given period. They can also be issued in an exceptional and unique manner.

 E3 messages are entered in the form of message updates; after the first messages associated with a station, the following messages are considered to be updates (deletion of old messages and creation of new messages).

 The messages are entered in the F-MESS message file in the control panel C. The messages and the musical samples to be transmitted by a local station STi are defined in time by a grid. This grid is also entered in the central C in a FAG agenda file which contains the date of the events (day and time of broadcast of a musical sample or a message).

 This grid is also subject to update to modify the schedule or the day of the broadcast or the deletion of an event in the event of the deletion of the corresponding message.

 Finally, the central unit C has an input E4 for direct access allowing the transmission of an ACCDIR message directly to the local station for the transmission of an unscheduled message, without this message being previously recorded in the local station.

 Depending on the information received, the microcomputer P established, either automatically or assisted, the music editing program, that is to say the continuation of the samples, the list of messages and the agendas for each local station.

 When all the elements associated with a local station STi are ready, it is transmitted to this station

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 via the MEDS modem of the control panel, for example using the PSTN switched telephone network.

compression COMP, à travers le modem MODS et la ligne de transmission jusqu'à la station locale STi destinataire. The non-audio information of the program files, possibly also the messages, is transmitted directly by the modem while the musical samples ECHi are transmitted from the BMUS music bank after

COMP compression, through the MODS modem and the transmission line to the destination local STi station.

 The central C communicates with different stations STi / STj whose configuration is identical. Only the structure of the STi station has been explained in Figure 1.

 The STi station consists of a microcomputer or microprocessor J. Pi, associated with a MODE modem connected to the modem of the central C. The station also includes at least one hard disk DDi (depending on the volume of information to be received) . Each hard drive or partition on the same DDi hard drive contains ECHi samples, tablets, messages, and editing programs.

 The station STi also includes a decompression means DECOMP at the output. The compression / decompression is done for example according to the MP3 process.

 The STi station is linked to the SONO sound system.

 After receiving the various installations and its operating program, the local station STi operates autonomously. The various events are triggered by the clock which, depending on the program, calls the ECHi musical samples one after the other, inserting the message at the right moment. The musical samples are transmitted to the sound installation after being decompressed live, that is to say at the time of their emission.

 The different functions for the design of musical programs, the occupation of the time available, the creation of programs or even the broadcast grid and all the functions related to it as well as program management and broadcast management, all operations provided by the central will be detailed below.

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 The music bank has different functions. It designs musical programs based on a diagnosis resulting from the analysis of the questionnaire submitted to the client on its public or commercial environment, filled in by the latter and corresponding to the site for which the program is intended and corresponding to the site for which the program. Depending on this, the musical program is carried out.

These programs These programs are designed according to criteria and after analysis of the questionnaire according to the client's requirements. The number of programs the bank can manage is virtually unlimited.

In the design of the programs, a division of time by time slot is made according to the different criteria
It is assigned to each time slot, the choice of musical rhythm (Bit Per Minute) on a scale for example from one to five levels, desired by the client and resulting from the diagnosis. A finer distribution can be envisaged.

 In the design of musical programs, the musical genre chosen by the customer also depends on the musical coloring he intends to give to the sound system.

 The design of the bank also manages the rate of circulation according to certain rules such as French, international, or thematic titles or the rate of circulation of new releases compared to musical standards.

 The repetition rate of the same title in the same program is also defined. In the same vein, the minimum interval for the appearance of the same title in the same program is defined. Finally, the sound volume is managed on a scale, for example from 1 to 19 in the program or in each time slot.

 You can automatically generate a number of programs that meet a catalog of criteria.

 In this program creation phase, you enter a radical to which is automatically added a suffix corresponding to the program numbers. The elements required

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saires au programme sont copiés sur l'unité de stockage du client. En fin de génération automatique des programmes, une liste du contenu de chaque programme est créée avec les titres, interprètes et la durée, exploitable au travers d'un tableur classique.

The program elements are copied to the customer's storage unit. At the end of automatic program generation, a list of the content of each program is created with the titles, performers and duration, usable through a standard spreadsheet.

 The calendar function establishes a distribution grid containing programs and messages. This grid is organized by day and by hour with a distribution of 3-minute sections over 24 hours. The agenda automatically integrates the daily musical programs over a given period with selection of the typical days during which the programs must be broadcast. The agenda creates masks for fixed messages intended to be repeated daily and at a fixed time. It also automatically generates message programs, which may appear randomly during the broadcast period.

 The diary also has the functions of repeating and canceling an operation as well as the stop function which makes it possible to position a breakpoint of the musical program.

 This calendar function generates two distribution lists: - a list classified by titles and messages informing of the day and time of diffusion of each title and messages, - a list classified by day of diffusion by forming titles and messages diffused by day.

 The program manager allows the creation, that is to say the composition of programs not automatically but manually, editing, modification and deletion of a program or a sample in a program.

 The programs are established manually from the music bank and messages classified in particular by performers, titles, rhythms, styles, languages and durations; the search is done intuitively according to the given criteria.

 This manager manages the database according to the titles found in the disks and directories.

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 The distribution manager contains all the titles and messages classified as in the program manager with intuitive search. This manager contains all the programs. It manages the volume and the interruption modes, that is to say when a title is interrupted by a message, a sample or a program, the title is resumed according to the mode chosen either at the location of the 'interruption, either by skipping to the next track, or by stopping the program. This manager also provides direct reading of titles or programs launched manually or automatically depending on the agenda.

 The management of the music bank is carried out using a spreadsheet containing the criteria relating to each sample such as the performer, the title, the name of the file, the format, the internal reference of the title, the size of the file. , the date of insertion of the title in the bank, the style, the language, etc.

 In the music bank, we remove the intervals of silence called blanks from a title or sample or between messages.

 The sound levels of the different samples are also adjusted with respect to each other according to a predefined sound level curve depending on the time (time of day, attendance rate, etc.); the bank also contains, in the form of a sample, a sound introduction set called either classical or personalized jingles, possibly specially designed.

 The communication for the exchange of data between the central and the local stations is done as indicated by modems either by the traditional telephone network PSTN using the PPP protocol (Point-to-Point Protocol) and the FTP protocol. It is also possible, even very interesting, to use Internet transmission, which allows the automation of most of the information processing. Thus the customer can formulate his requests directly by applications available on Internet with protected accesses. These applications are:

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 - ordering messages or samples with the corresponding instructions, - pre-listening to messages or samples online for validation, modifying the content of current or future programs, - consulting mailing lists; the interpreters, titles, diaries with possible prints, - the follow-up of his customer account, - the correspondence by e-mail between the customers and JBS, - the Hot Line service on line, the statistics in line of his account , the automation of your online account, - control robots verifying the integrity of the data and the proper functioning of the terminal present at the customer.

 This module allows permanent monitoring of the proper functioning of each active terminal with immediate alerts to technicians in the event of malfunctions.

 Each client has personalized access to the Internet. This access is secure.

 Thus the customer can access permanently without discontinuity, directly on the site of the central.

The permanent access of the customer is preferably made with broadband Internet CABLE, ADSL or BLR (Local Radio Loop).

Claims (1)

 CLAIMS 10) Personalized, upgradeable public address system for transmitting a music and message program according to preestablished but evolving programs, characterized in that it comprises a central management and control unit connected to at least one local station associated with a sound installation to provide the sound signals to be transmitted A) the central (C) comprising * a microcomputer (P) managing - a music bank (BMUS) containing the musical samples (ECHi) available to establish programs music to be broadcast, - a sample program file (F-PRECH),

 - a file of messages to be broadcast (F-MESS), - a calendar file (FAG) containing the distribution grids (period of emission of the sample programs and messages) according to the days and times of the day , - a file of customers (F-CL / -STi) and local stations associated with the central (C), * input means (E1E2E3) for - musical information to complete and renew the music bank by l 'addition or deletion of samples, - information relating to customers, - information for updating customer information, * direct access means (ACCDIR) for intervention in a local station (STi) , as a priority to its programmed operation, * a means of compression (COMP) of the sound data, * a modem (MODS) at the output of the control panel (C) to communicate with the local stations (STi), B) At minus a local station (STi) comprising * a central unit (p. PI) and at least one disk hard (DDI) receiving <Desc / Clms Page number 14>

 - compressed samples, compressed messages, and sample programs associated with the local station, - decompression means at the station exit, - a modem (MODE) at the entrance to the local station (STi) to communicate with the central unit (C), C) The central unit (C) establishing for each local station (STi) or group of local stations, * a program of samples and messages containing the references of samples and messages * an agenda of samples and messages (dates of issue), the sample program being established on the basis of information describing the site in which the sound installation is located, the control unit transmitting to each local station - samples and compressed messages, sample and message programs and the agenda for recording them in the local station, the transmission of signals to the sound system (SONO) being managed locally by the cen unit trale (UPI) of the local station (STi) according to the program of samples and messages and the agenda, the sound signals being decompressed at the station exit before attacking the sound installation.  20) Personalized sound system according to claim 1, characterized in that the central unit (C) transmits the information and the files to a local station (Sti) by the telephone network (PSTN).  30) Personalized sound system according to claim 1, characterized in that the central unit (C) transmits the information and the files to a local station (STi) via the Internet. <Desc / Clms Page number 15>  40) Personalized sound system according to claim 1, characterized in that the access to the central unit (C) is via the Internet.  50) Personalized sound system according to claim 1, characterized in that the central unit (C) generates two distribution lists - a list classified by titles and messages informing of the day and time of diffusion of each title and messages, - a classified list per broadcast day by forming titles and messages broadcast per day.