EP1673723A1

EP1673723A1 - Method and system for the remote display of advertising messages

Info

Publication number: EP1673723A1
Application number: EP04790430A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Horacio Josè CASALI
Original assignee: Rete Rad Media Srl
Current assignee: Rete Rad Media Srl
Priority date: 2003-10-17
Filing date: 2004-10-14
Publication date: 2006-06-28
Also published as: WO2005041083A1; ITMO20030282A1

Abstract

A method for the remote display of advertising messages comprising the steps of: receiving, at a central server unit (11), a request to broadcast advertising messages from at least one terminal (13) of a corresponding subscriber, the central unit (11 ) and the terminal (13) being connected to the Internet (12), the broadcast request comprising information related to advertising messages to be displayed; and transmitting the advertising messages to a plurality of units for displaying advertising messages (15) over a wireless cellular communications network (14), so as to allow the display units (15) to display the advertising messages.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR THE REMOTE DISPLAY OF ADVERTISING MESSAGES Technical Field The present invention relates to a method and a system for the remote display of advertising messages. Background Art As it is known, there are many media that allow to promote products or services by way of audio and/or visual messages. The most widespread one is certainly the television medium, which not only reaches much of the population but is also effective because it is possible to display, for example, a product in color, with animated images or with video clips that show its use or highlight its features. Transmission by way of the television medium has several drawbacks for the promoter of the particular product or service that is advertised and for the consumer. The costs for advertising a specific product via the television medium are in fact often very high, especially in nationwide or international television channels. These costs can be excessive for the small manufacturer or merchant who wishes to advertise a product that might be very convenient or might appear interesting to a consumer. However, limited financial resources of the manufacturer or merchant would slow significantly the market launch of the product or service. Another very important drawback of the television broadcasting of advertising messages is that all the consumers tuned to a certain television channel see the same advertising messages, which belong to the most disparate categories. The consumer is accordingly forced to watch promotions of categories of goods or services in which he is not or cannot be interested.

This lack of interest often becomes a refusal, which leads the consumer to change television channel or to be completely distracted during the broadcast of the other advertising messages. Lack of interest can therefore prevent the consumer from watching the advertising messages that instead might interest him, and this entails obvious drawbacks both for the consumer and for the promoter. One attempt to provide the end consumer with promotional messages that are as close as possible to his interests is the broadcasting of promotional messages or banners on Web pages. However, the consumer must have a physical access to the Internet. As it is known, a considerable fraction of consumers does not use the computer frequently or finds it complicated to use. Moreover, consumers who frequently access the Internet by means of a computer may not like the appearance, on their computer screen, of images or animations that slow the loading of the visited Web page or even visually overlap the content of the Web page, preventing it from being read normally. Another solution to try to adapt to the interests of the consumer is the installation of advertising panels or billboards along streets or inside points of sale. However, these panels or billboards need to be updated, and this entails a considerable financial expenditure for removing, producing, distributing and installing the panels or billboards. Moreover, a large number of posters or billboards makes the seller lose an overview of the placement of the advertising messages. Other solutions for presenting the end consumer with advertising messages are provided by the installation of screens connected to the Internet or to a satellite communications network, the illustrative content of which is updated via the Internet or via satellite, respectively. Even in these solutions, however, the costs are considerable, since in the first case the connection to the network must be permanent and the screen that displays the advertising message must be arranged in the vicinity of a network outlet, making it extremely laborious to change the location of a screen. In the second case, the high cost of satellite communication modules in practice makes the investment unfeasible for most merchants. Disclosure of the Invention The aim of the present invention is to provide an improved method and system for reaching potential buyers by way of advertising messages that is more effective and flexible than known systems. Within this aim, an object of the invention is to submit to the attention of a consumer advertising messages that are based on the characteristics or interests of said consumer, preventing the sending of messages that are not among his preferences. Another object is to reduce promotion costs with respect to conventional known media, thus allowing promotion even on the part of small manufacturers or merchants. Another object is to expand the scale of promotion of products or services, so as to reach various user catchments, including catchments that include consumers who usually do not watch television or access the Internet. Another object is to allow easy updating of the remote display system without affecting its architecture and making its updating transparent. Another object is to expand the geographic coverage scale, allowing consumers who have no access to the Internet or to the fixed-line telephone system to benefit from promotional information of interest to them. This aim and these and other objects that will become better apparent from the description that follows are achieved by a method for the remote display of advertising messages, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: receiving at a central server unit a request to broadcast advertising messages from at least one terminal of a corresponding subscriber, the central unit and said at least one terminal being connected to the Internet, said broadcast request comprising information related to advertising messages to be displayed; and transmitting the advertising messages to a plurality of units for displaying advertising messages over a wireless cellular communications network, so as to allow the plurality of display units to display said advertising messages. The aim and objects of the present invention are further achieved by a system for the remote display of advertising messages, characterized in that it comprises a central server unit, at least one terminal of a corresponding subscriber, and a plurality of units for displaying advertising messages, which are arranged remotely with respect to the central unit and the terminal, the central unit and the terminal being connected to the Internet, the central unit and the display units comprising means for communicating over a wireless cellular communications network, the central unit further comprising means for receiving a request to broadcast advertising messages from said at least one terminal over the Internet, said broadcast request comprising information regarding advertising messages to be sent to said plurality of display units over said cellular communications network. Hereinafter, when the expression "advertising message" is used, it is used to mean any representation that can be displayed on a screen or display. In particular, reference is made to graphical messages, images, compositions of images, photographic images, video clips or text messages. Further, when the term "vendor" is used, it is understood that it means the organization interested in promoting a product or service, for example a manufacturer, a merchant, a vendor or a service provider. The term "vendor" will also be used to indicate the physical person who accesses the user terminal to send the advertising messages to be broadcast. Brief Description of the Drawings Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become better apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the system and method for the remote display of advertising messages, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 is a schematic view of a system for the remote display of advertising messages according to the invention; Figure 2 is a view of a detail of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a block diagram of a procedure according to the invention for receiving and sending advertising messages, performed by a central unit; Figure 4 is a block diagram of a procedure according to the invention for receiving and displaying advertising messages, performed by a display unit. Ways of carrying out the Invention Figure 1 is a view of a system for the remote display of advertising messages 10 according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. The system 10 comprises a central server unit 11, to which a plurality of user terminals 13 are connected over the Internet 12. Figure 1, in particular, illustrates three user terminals 13a, 13b, 13c. The system 10 further comprises a plurality of display units 15, which contain known means for displaying images on a screen. In particular, the display units 15 comprise any of the following: a CRT monitor 15a, a touchscreen 15b, an LCD display or a projector 15c, or a combination of a screen with a keyboard or a bar code reader such as the unit 15d, which is designed to interact with consumers, for example in the case of promotions of a competition or of the display of advertising messages or informational messages in general that depend on the information encoded in the bar code printed on a certain product, which is picked up and placed by the consumer in the vicinity of the bar code reader. Each one of the display units comprises a GSM module for receiving data over a GSM network 14 and a motherboard provided with a graphics card. Preferably, the GSM module is a transceiver module, accordingly capable of not only receiving data from the GSM network but also of sending data to the GSM network, particularly toward other display units and/or toward the central unit 11. A preferred display unit comprises a 21 -inch CRT screen with built-in speakers and a compact chassis to accommodate the standard components of a computer, in addition to the above cited GSM transceiver module. In a particular embodiment of the invention, the GSM transceiver module is a GSM card. As an alternative, it is possible to use an ordinary GSM cellular telephone provided with a built-in modem. However, cards capable of accessing the GSM network and of communicating data, such as for example the modules manufactured by FALCOM, are known. The display units are preferably arranged in different points of sale, and a single point of sale can comprise more than one display unit. For example, a supermarket can comprise a display unit for each specific sector, in order to display advertising messages related to the products on display in the respective sector. The display units may be integrated in display stands of various kinds, for example refrigeration units or promotional stands, and can be moved easily from one sector or department to another without any kind of intervention on the fixed network. Preferably, they comprise local memory means, for example a local hard disk, which stores the advertising messages in electronic format received during the various operating sessions of the system, and the operating software of the unit, which can be updated by the central server unit 11 over the GSM communications network. The central server unit 11 comprises suitable software stored therein capable of managing the various functions for connection to the client user terminals 13 and to the display units, for example the functions for checking the subscription status of the calling user, the updating of the customized settings of the caller, the diagnostic utilities for remotely checking the correct operating status of the display units, the updating of the operating software of the display units, or traffic management. These functions can be implemented by the person skilled in the art without any difficulty and therefore are not described in detail. The central server unit 11 further comprises a series of GSM servers 21 dedicated to the transmission of data toward the display units 15; the. servers 21 are shown in Figure 2 as a series of separate units 21a, 21b, 21c connected to the central server 11. Each one of the GSM servers 21 comprises a plurality of GSM modules connected to the respective server preferably according to an RS232 serial interface, which are capable of transmitting data to a cellular network for wireless radio telecommunications, such as for example the

GSM network. The GSM network is preferably of the packet-switching type, which in the current landscape of wireless communications is becoming increasingly important. Moreover, a packet-switching network allows higher efficiency in transmitting data that is not purely voice data. A so-called third-generation network, such as the UMTS or GPRS network, can be used in alternative embodiments. The number of GSM modules 21 that can be connected to the individual GSM server is obviously limited to the maximum number of serial ports that can be installed on the server. By using common multiserial cards, it is possible to have as many as twelve modules for each server. The number of GSM modules depends on the number of display units that the system must manage and on the promptness with which the messages displayed in the display units 15 must be updated. If the maximum number of GSM modules that can be connected to the individual server is reached, it is sufficient to install a new GSM server, without compromising the operation of the system. The central server 11 further comprises storage means 16, for storing information related to the vendors who subscribe to the remote display service, such as subscription data, preferences regarding the location of the display units to which the vendors wish to send the advertising messages, and any sequences of instructions to be performed automatically without requiring the vendor to access his user terminal. Preferably, subscriber information management is performed by means of a database. The storage means 16 are preferably hard disks, capable of storing data regarding all the subscribers, including data related to advertising messages transmitted to the display units selected in previous operating sessions. The central server 11 preferably manages an Internet portal, which allows the vendors to access areas reserved to them, so as to allow maximum customization and confidentiality for the vendors. Access preferably uses an HTTPS protocol. In order to minimize connection costs, automatic procedures for optimizing the times of the calls placed over the GSM network are performed in the central server, and the data sent by the server is compressed appropriately by way of known algorithms. If the advertising message consists of an image, said image can be compressed before transmission to the display units in an image in the JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format, if the vendor has not already performed compression when sending the image to the central server. In a second embodiment of the invention, the server manages the requests that arrive from the various user terminals 13 by means of a server application, and the user terminals 13 access the services of the central server by means of a respective dedicated client application. The user terminals 13 are located at respective vendors, and preferably consist of conventional personal computers, which contain the means necessary to connect to the Internet. The user terminals preferably comprise suitable navigation software, which allows connection to the portal managed by the central server 11. In an alternative embodiment, the user terminals comprise client software that is dedicated specifically to data communication with the central server 11. In said case, software installed in the user terminals 13, which can be programmed easily without excessive effort by the person skilled in the art, is supplied with the subscription to the service for remote display of advertising messages. The software is capable of managing the requests for connection to the Internet and to the central server 11 and of receiving and transmitting data from and toward the central server. The data can be entered and sent by the vendor by using a graphical interface of the software. The software of a user terminal is further preferably capable of automatically sending updated data to the central server 100. For example, the software can send data at predetermined times. The data transmitted by a user terminal 13 to the central server 11 comprises advertising messages, appropriately encoded for transmission over the Internet according to known methods. The messages are preferably sent in the form of images in compressed format in order to minimize the transmission times and the amount of data that the central server 11 must manage. Other transmitted data may comprise update information related to personal data of the vendor, to the advertising messages to be sent (for example, new models of a specific product or technical information or compatibility information related to the advertised product), to display methods (for example particular animations) or to the locations to which the advertising messages must be sent. The display units, too, comprise appropriate installed software, which manages both communication with the GSM network and the storage and display of the images. Preferably, communication with the GSM network occurs bidirectionally, in order to allow chained transmission of information between one display unit and another. The operation of the system is as follows. With reference to Figure 3, in step 300 the central server 11 activates the procedure for receiving and sending advertising messages when a broadcast request is received. The broadcast request comprises advertising messages and/or update data. In step 305, the central server receives the identification data sent by a user terminal over the Internet, and in step 310 starts an authentication procedure. In step 315, the application checks whether the identification data of the client corresponds to the data stored in the subscriber database stored in the storage means 16. If this comparison is successful, in step 325 the application enables the uploading of the data from the user terminal toward the central server. This data comprises any changes to the customized parameters of the user, such as for example the location of the display units to which the advertising messages are to be sent. If the comparison in step 315 instead fails, in step 320 an error message is sent to the user terminal, inviting the user to enter correct identification data or to subscribe to the service, and the procedure is terminated. In step 330 it is checked whether the data sent by the user terminal comprises new advertising messages, i.e., advertising messages that have not already been sent to the remote display units indicated by the vendor in a previous operating session. If so, in step 345 the new messages are attached in their entirety to the update information that shall be sent by means of an updating message or display request to the remote display units. If in step 330 it is found that an advertising message being considered is not new, in step 335 only the identification name of the particular advertising message is attached to the update message, said name being unambiguously recognizable by the display units, without having to send the entire advertising message. Then, in step 340, the procedure then checks whether there are other advertising messages whose new content must be checked by the central computer 11. If so, the procedure returns to step 330. Otherwise, in step 350 the messages received and/or retrieved from the storage means and the identification data of the non-new messages are compressed into a single update message, which optionally comprises other update data selected by the vendor in his broadcast request. The update message is also termed "display request" herein. In step 355, the update message is then sent to the GSM server that serves the location of the display units indicated in the remote display request and then to the various display units selected by the vendor in his request. The procedure then ends at step 360. With reference to Figure 4, when a display unit is not switched off, it is preferably in a standby state 400 or waits for new requests. A display request, sent by a GSM server or another display unit, is received in step 405. The display request comprises an update message, which in turn can comprise one or more new advertising messages and updating information as described earlier. When the request is received, in step 420 it is checked whether the display request contains a request to forward the messages and parameters to another display unit, referenced here as "destination unit". If this is not so, in step 410 the advertising messages contained in the request are stored permanently in the display unit, so that they can be displayed without keeping the GSM connection active. The step 410 can also be skipped in the procedure, if the display request consists simply of a change in the display mode of the advertising messages currently displayed by the display unit, for example a change in the visualization sequence. The update information is then stored in step 415 and comprises parameters related to the advertising messages, such as for example the timing, the organization in the display sequence, the display mode or the forwarding mode. The display routine is then started in step 425 and updates the screen display status according to the parameters and/or advertising messages received with the request and/or to the advertising messages that are already stored in the display unit before the update message is received. The system then reaches a state in which it waits for new requests. Preferably, at step 430 it is checked at predefined time intervals whether a new request has been received by the GSM module; if so, the system returns to step 405. Otherwise, the display unit continues to display the advertising messages according to the programmed and stored settings until, in step 435, an operator manually switches off the unit and accordingly closes the procedure in step 440. If the display unit finds that there is a forwarding request in step 420, in step 445 the display unit forwards the display request to a destination display unit, preferably by using the same GSM module by means of which the request was received. At the end of the request forwarding procedure, in step 450 the display unit sends to the central server a confirmation that forwarding has occurred, again via the GSM module. At step 455 it is checked whether the forwarding request comprised a request to update with the new data the display of the display unit that performed the forwarding. If this check is positive, the received data is stored permanently in the display unit and the procedure continues starting from the step 425 described above. Otherwise, in the optional step 460, the temporarily stored data of the request is deleted from the memory of the display unit that performed the forwarding, in order to save space. Finally, in step 470 the display unit then returns to its status of waiting for calls or to the display status in which it was when it received the update message. The person skilled in the art clearly understands that the steps described above can be performed by any hardware component of a computer and/or software and telecommunications means programmed by way of conventional methods in order to take into account the information data and the additional procedures required by the present invention. It has thus been shown that the present invention achieves the intended aim and objects. Various modifications are clearly evident to the person skilled in the art, who can perform them promptly without abandoning the scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, the scope of the claims shall not be limited by the illustrations or preferred embodiments given in the description by way of example, but rather the claims shall include all the patentable novelty characteristics that reside in the present invention, including all the characteristics that would be treated as equivalent by people skilled in the art. The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. MO2003A000282 from which this application claims priority are incoφorated herein by reference.

Claims

CLAIMS 1. A method for the remote display of advertising messages, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: (a) receiving at a central server unit a request to broadcast advertising messages from at least one terminal of a corresponding subscriber, said central unit and said at least one terminal being connected to the Internet, said broadcast request comprising information related to advertising messages to be displayed; (b) transmitting said advertising messages to a plurality of units for displaying advertising messages over a wireless cellular communications network, so as to allow said plurality of display units to display said advertising messages.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that said transmission step comprises the step of checking, before transmitting, whether said broadcast request comprises at least one advertising message that has already been transmitted to said plurality of display units in a previous operating session.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that it comprises the step of: if said broadcast request comprises at least one advertising message that has already been transmitted to said plurality of display units during a previous operating session, transmitting to said plurality of display units only an identification data item for each advertising message already transmitted to said plurality of display units in a previous operating session, so that each display unit recognizes said at least one advertising message on the basis of said identification data item and retrieves it from local storage means.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said transmitting step further comprises the step of transmitting to at least one display unit a request to forward said advertising messages to a second display unit.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized, in that said broadcast request further comprises information regarding the display parameters of said at least one advertising message.

6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises the step of forwarding to at least one second display unit a request to forward said at least one advertising message, said request being received and forwarded by a first display unit.

7. A system for the remote display of advertising messages, characterized in that it comprises a central server, at least one terminal of a corresponding subscriber, and a plurality of units for displaying advertising messages, which are located remotely with respect to said central unit and said at least one terminal, said central unit and said at least one terminal being connected to the Internet, said central unit and said display units comprising means for communicating over a wireless cellular communications network, said central unit further comprising means for receiving a request to broadcast advertising messages from said at least one terminal over the Internet, said broadcast request comprising information regarding advertising messages to be sent to said plurality of display units over said cellular communications network.

8. The system according to claim 7, characterized in that said central unit comprises means for checking whether said broadcast request comprises at least one advertising message already transmitted to said plurality of display units in a previous operating session.

9. The system according to claim 7, characterized in that each display unit comprises local memory means for permanently storing the received advertising messages.

10. The system according to claim 7, characterized in that said means for communicating with said cellular communications network comprised in said display units comprise a GSM transceiver module for receiving said information regarding at least one advertising message from said central unit and for forwarding it to at least one second display unit.

11. The system according to claim 7, characterized in that said cellular communications network is a packet-switching network, selected from the group that comprises GSM, UMTS and GPRS networks.