AU2002100338A4 - Advertising real estate - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Applicant(s): IAN SAWICZ NEIL KIRBY Invention Title: ADVERTISING REAL ESTATE The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: 2 ADVERTISING REAL ESTATE Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of advertising real estate, an advertising board for advertising real estate and apparatus for advertising real estate.

Background to the Invention Currently, a mixture of techniques are used to advertise real estate. These include newspaper advertising, advertising on the Internet, advertising at the premises of real estate agents and the production and distribution of real estate brochures. Commonly, these advertising methods are accompanied by placing a sign in the form of an advertising board at or close to the property which is being advertised. This is commonplace when a property is for sale but also occurs when a property is for lease or rent.

A disadvantage of such advertising boards is that they are only capable of delivering a limited amount of information because of space constraints. Therefore, there are limited opportunities to encourage persons who see an advertising board to take an interest in the property.

Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide an alternative technique of advertising real estate.

Summary of the Invention According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of advertising real estate involving: transmitting a radio signal in the proximity of at least a part of a property, said radio signal containing an advertising message relating to said property; and providing a sign associated with said property, \\melb_files\homes \RBell\Keep\P45611.doc 29/04/02 3 said sign indicating a frequency to which a radio receiver can be tuned to receive said radio signal containing said advertising message.

Preferably, said transmitting step is performed from within premises located on said property to thereby increase the security of the transmitting step.

Typically, the sign will be an advertising board.

In a second aspect of the invention there is provided an advertising board for advertising real estate, the advertising board having: an audio output device capable of emitting an audible advertising message; and an actuator for causing said audio output device to emit said advertising message.

Preferably, said audio output device is a radio receiver, and said actuator causes said radio receiver to receive a radio signal from a radio transmitter located in the proximity of said advertising board to thereby cause it to emit said advertising message.

In a third aspect of the invention, there is provided apparatus for advertising real estate including: a randomly accessible storage medium having recorded thereon advertising messages relating to a plurality of different properties; a media player which can be controlled to produce an output signal corresponding to a selected advertising message of said advertising messages; and a radio transmitter which receives said output signal from said media player and transmits a radio signal based on said output signal.

Preferably, a controller is provided for controlling the media player to select an advertising message.

Preferably, the said controller also controls the radio frequency at which the radio signal is broadcast.

Preferably, the randomly accessible storage medium is an optical storage medium and the media player \\melbfies\hme$\RBell\Keep\P45611.doc 29/04/02 4 is an optical media player.

Preferably, the optical storage player is configured to only play optical storage media containing a security code.

Preferably, said radio transmitter is an FM transmitter.

Preferably, said media player can be controlled to produce an output signal corresponding to a plurality of selected advertising messages.

Preferably, at least one of said advertising messages relates to the property and at least one other advertising message relates to a real estate agent.

Other features of the invention will become apparent from the following description.

Brief Description of the Drawings A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described in relation to the following drawings in which: Figure 1 shows apparatus for advertising real estate for the first preferred embodiment; and Figure 2 shows an advertising board incorporating a speaker for playing an advertising message.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments In the first preferred embodiment there is provided a method of advertising real estate. The method involves transmitting a radio signal containing an advertising message in the proximity of a property which is for sale, lease or rent and providing a sign which is associated with the property which indicates the frequency to which a radio receiver can be tuned in order to receive the radio signal so that a potential buyer, lessee or renter of the property can listen to the advertising message.

Typically, the sign will be in the form of an advertising board with instructions such as "Tune your \\melbfiles\home$\RBell\Keep\P45611. doc 29/04/02 5 radio to 88.OFM to hear more about this property." Thus, for example a person who sees the advertising board while driving past the property can tune the radio receiver in their car to the radio signal and listen to the advertising message.

The radio signal is typically a low power radio signal which is only transmitted in the immediate proximity of the property. It may only be transmitted in the proximity of a small part of the property, for example in the vicinity of the advertising board.

Typical apparatus for transmitting the radio signal is illustrated schematically in Figure 1. The apparatus comprises a system controller 1 having several control buttons 3, and an alphanumeric display 5 for displaying information to a user of the device. The controller 1 is in communication with a compact disc player 9 by way of control lines 7 which enable information to be exchanged between the controller 1 and the disc player 7. The audio output 11 of the compact disc player 9 is connected to an FM stereo transmitter 13 which broadcasts a radio signal using antenna 14. The controller 1 is connected to the FM stereo transmitter by control line 15. Alternative power supplies in the form of a battery 17 and mains power connector 19 are provided so that the apparatus can be used irrespective of whether mains power is available.

In use, a compact disc is prepared which has recorded thereon a plurality of advertising messages, each of which relate to the different properties being sold by a real estate agent in relation to which the apparatus is being used. By recording all of the messages on the same disc, the potential problems of taking the wrong disc to a property are avoided. The disc also has recorded thereon at least one message relating to the real estate agent.

The controller 1 is used to control which of the messages are played in order to select the correct message(s) for the property as well as any additional \\melb_files\home$\RBell\Keep\P45611 doc 29/04/02 I 6 message. For example, a user can select a track relating to a particular property, a second track relating to inspection hours on the next weekend and a third track relating to the real estate agent who should be contacted for further information.

The controller 1 can also be used to select when the advertising message is broadcast. For example, one set of messages may only be broadcast outside of office hours while during office hours an alternative message may refer the user to the real estate agent.

The apparatus is typically located within the premises on the property to prevent interference with the apparatus.

The controller is also capable of controlling the FM stereo transmitter to vary the frequency on which the radio signal is transmitted. Thus, for example if a real estate agent is selling neighbouring properties, their advertising messages can be broadcast on different frequencies to avoid interference.

Various modifications to this embodiment will be apparent. For example an alternative media storage device can be used or an AM transmitter can be used. Further, a dedicated disc can be used for each property despite the deficiencies discussed above.

In a second preferred embodiment there is provided an advertising board 25 as shown in Figure 2.

The advertising board has a number of areas for displaying different types of information. Area 26 displays pictures of the property, area 27a contains a written description of the property and area 27b contains details of the real estate agent responsible for selling the property.

In the second preferred embodiment, the advertising board 25 also incorporates a speaker 28 and an actuator in the form of a button 29.

In the second preferred embodiment when the button 29 is pressed, a turn on signal is sent to the system controller of Figure 1 which then broadcasts the \\melb-fies\homeS\RBell\Keep\P45611.doc 29/04/02 7 advertising message to a receiver contained within the board (not illustrated). The speaker then emits the advertising message.

It will be apparent that various different techniques may be used in order to turn on the transmitter. For example, the button could be a switch or can actuate an RF transmitter which turns on the controller or similar. Further, in some embodiments the media player may be built into the advertising board so that there is no need for radio transmission of the advertising message. However, radio transmission of the advertising message is preferred because of the reduced prospect of damage to the equipment or interference with the advertising message. In one variation, the button 29 may simply turn on a radio receiver for a time period sufficient to allow a receiver to receive the advertising message.

Various other modifications will be apparent to persons skilled in the art and should be understood as falling within the scope of the invention.

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Claims (3)

1. 2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said transmitting step is performed from within premises located on said property to thereby increase the security of the transmitting step.
2. 3. An advertising board for advertising real estate, the advertising board having: an audio output device capable of emitting an audible advertising message; and an actuator for causing said audio output device to emit said advertising message.
3. 4. An advertising board for advertising real estate as claimed in claim 3, wherein said audio output device is a radio receiver, and said actuator causes said radio receiver to receive a radio signal from a radio transmitter located in the proximity of said advertising board to thereby cause it to emit said advertising message. Apparatus for advertising real estate including: a randomly accessible storage medium having recorded thereon a plurality of advertising messages relating to respective ones of a plurality of different \\melb files\hme\RBell\Keep\P4561i.doc 29/04/02 9 properties; a media player which can be controlled to produce an output signal corresponding to a selected advertising message of said plurality of advertising messages; and a radio transmitter which receives said output signal from said media player and transmits a radio signal based on said output signal. Dated this 29th day of April 2002 IAN SAWICZ AND NEIL KIRBY By their Patent Attorneys GRIFFITH HACK Fellows Institute of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys of Australia \\melb-fies\home$\RBell\Keep\P4561.doc 29/04/02