GB2276063A

GB2276063A - In-vehicle display of locally relevant information

Info

Publication number: GB2276063A
Application number: GB9404606A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Joaquin Oliete Artal; Antonio Escorihuela Perez; Enrique Segui Pastor; Vicente M Segui Pastor
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1993-03-10
Filing date: 1994-03-09
Publication date: 1994-09-14
Also published as: ES2073980A2; ES2073980B1; GB9404606D0; ES2073980R

Abstract

Roadside transmitters (1) transmit coded signals to vehicles (3) provided with a receiver (4). The received signals are passed to a multimedia computer system (6) which retrieves from memory (7) (e.g. CD-ROM) a message corresponding to the coded signal for display on a monitor (9), with sound provided by loudspeakers (12). The messages provide information pertinent to the location of the transmitters (1). <IMAGE>

Description

DATA TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION SYSTEM The present invention relates to a facility for the broadcasting of audio-visual messages in vehicles in motion, with general application to public or private transport and the purpose of which is to benefit the users thereof who will receive precise information relating to cultural, social and commercial matters arising in the neighbourhoods or vicinities through which the vehicle is travelling at any moment.

In the current state of the art applied to this type of facility, use has already been made in public transport vehicles of electronic screens arranged so as to broadcast advertising or commercial messages which appear written in an intermittent manner on the screen and which the user must read in order to receive the information.

Very often, the advertising message transmitted is lost without managing to capture the attention of the possible recipients to which it is directed, since the public transport user has difficulty in reading the written messages with the vehicle in motion, and besides which disappear very quickly from the screen, thus preventing the information from being pertinent.

On the other hand, the facilities designed for broadcasting advertising messages inside a public vehicle do not envisage the information being precise and referring to the place which the vehicle is passing through, rather they deal with indiscriminate information about the different commercial enterprises which have contracted the advertising slots.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a system for providing data to a vehicle including at least one transmitter located in the vicinity of a road for transmission of data to a receiver located in or on a vehicle; and display means for display of the data within the vehicle.

Other features of the present invention are given in the dependent claims.

Thus the present invention aims to provide a system for broadcasting audible messages displayed on screens, and which have greater impact and can be better picked up by the users of the vehicle in motion, the desired information being made to coincide with points specified beforehand so that the public is advised of the message whose content will have a direct connection with the place through which the vehicle is travelling.

These messages programmed beforehand, on the basis of the various transport runs, may be activated from outside the vehicle by a suitable directional or electronic system with the aim of synchronizing the broadcasting of the message on the screen with the point or area through which the vehicle is moving.

Thus, the facility for the broadcasting of audio-visual messages in vehicles in motion, offers a greater attraction for citizens to use public transport to the benefit of the community and to their own benefit since besides having a suitable transport service, they will have precise information about stops, monuments or museums near these stops, sociocultural advice, direct information from the council to the citizens, festive events, etc.

To this end, the invention may be characterized in that the facility comprises a coded transmitter of external signals which, situated at strategic points of the public highway, such as poles, vehicle-stop shelters, or else on the frontages of buildings near these stops or of the highways through which the vehicle travels, advantageously transmits coded signals when the vehicles pass by.

The said signals are picked up by the vehicle which to this end includes a coded exterior receiver e.g. of the laser, infrared or radio type, whose coded information is forwarded to e.g. a multimedia computer system, with picture and sound, installed in the vehicle itself.

The multimedia computer system may be composed basically of a processor with video resolution and an audio-digital system with its corresponding amplifier and acoustic cabinets. The processor stores its information on a magneto-optical or CD-ROM hard disc with sufficient capacity for it even to be possible for the broadcast messages to be animated.

The powering of the system and monitors or screens where the messages are displayed in colour may be effected from the battery of the vehicle itself via 12 to 220 volt converters.

The multimedia computer system may be managed by an intelligent program which, tailored beforehand to each vehicle's run, continuously monitors the message to be broadcast depending on the code received by the receiver.

The whole may be arranged such that the facility, mounted in the vehicle, enables the coded signal which the transmitter situated at a stop or the like transmits from outside, to be gathered by the vehicle's receiver and forwarded to the computer equipment of said vehicle, activating the program which enables the message to be displayed and listened to via the screens and loudspeakers installed therein, the information from which will advantageously be connected through its proximity or vicinity to the place through which it is travelling at that moment.

In this way, the same coded signal picked up by the receivers of each of the vehicles following a distinct route, will transform the said signal by way of its corresponding computer equipment into distinct displayed messages since they will activate codes of distinct programs tailored to the routes of the vehicles.

The present invention may comprise a facility for the broadcasting of audio-visual messages in vehicles in motion, which enables the users to receive precise information about commercial and socio-cultural matters of public interest, comprising a coded transmitter of external signals which transmits from strategic points of the public highway or road so as to be picked up by a coded receiver situated in the vehicle and whose information forwarded to a multimedia computer system, with picture and sound resolution and which, managed by an intelligent program, continuously monitors the message to be broadcast depending on the code received, the messages being displayed on colour audio monitors which will inform the public of precise matters and immediate events of interest through their proximity or vicinity to the place through which the vehicle is travelling at any moment.

For better understanding of the above, the present description is accompanied by a set of drawings showing the subject of the invention, without it being implied that the aforesaid graphical representation constitutes a limitation of the specific characteristics of this application.

Figure 1 represents the diagram of a vehicle travelling along a public highway or road, and incorporating a receiver which receives the signal from a transmitter situated outside.

Figure 2 shows a block diagram of the facility for the broadcasting of audio-visual messages inside a vehicle in motion and an outside transmitter.

Having detailed the figures which form the set of drawings we shall list the various elements which make up an embodiment of the invention.

The facility for the broadcasting of audiovisual messages in vehicles in motion comprises a transmitter -1- of coded signals, connected to the network and provided with an antenna -2- situated near the highway or road along which the vehicle will travel.

The said vehicle -3- includes a receiver -4-, likewise coded, and antenna -5- which picks up the signals transmitted by the outside transmitter or transmitters arranged along its run.

The receiver -4- forwards the received signal to the processor -6- installed in the vehicle, which will be provided with a magneto-optical or CD-ROM memory -7-.

The system will be provided with a video resolution -8- connected to the colour monitors -9distributed around the vehicle and with an audiodigital system -10- with its corresponding sound amplifier -11- and acoustic cabinets -12-.

The powering of the multimedia computer system and of the monitors or screens where the messages will be displayed in colour will be effected from the battery of the vehicle itself via 12 to 220 volt converters -13- and -14-.

The said processor, which has been programmed beforehand for the broadcasting of coded blocks of messages according to the vehicle's routes, when it receives the signal, activates the programme which is to be broadcast at that moment and which will be displayed and heard through the monitors -9- and loudspeakers -12-.

The broadcasting of these commercial or sociocultural messages will be precise and pertinent to the place through which the vehicle is travelling at that moment, informing the user of everything concerning the commercial or cultural route through which the vehicle will pass and thereby making the message more effective.

The invention has been described in accordance with the illustrated embodiment. It is possible to supply modificatory details and/or to replace certain elements or provisions by other equivalent ones or add complementary devices of known type, without however departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A system for providing data to a vehicle including: at least one transmitter located in the vicinity of a road for transmission of data to a receiver located in or on a vehicle; and display means for display of data within the vehicle.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein the transmitter includes means for encoding the data, and the receiver includes means for decoding the encoded data.

3. A system according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the display means includes a multimedia computer having visual and audible output means.

4. A system according to claim 3 wherein the computer includes memory for storage of a plurality of predetermined messages, a selected one of the messages being displayed on the display means upon receipt of corresponding data from a transmitter.

5. A system according to any of the above claims including a plurality of transmitters located at different locations, each for transmission of different data to the vehicle.

6. A system for providing data to a vehicle substantially as any one embodiment herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

7. A method of providing data to a vehicle including the steps of: (i) transmitting data to a receiver located in or on a vehicle from a transmitter located in the vicinity of a road; (ii) displaying the data within the vehicle on display means.