GB2525176A

GB2525176A - System and method for lucky draw using photos submitted by users using smartphones or tablets at an event`

Info

Publication number: GB2525176A
Application number: GB1406619.5A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Dingheng Duan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2014-04-14
Filing date: 2014-04-14
Publication date: 2015-10-21
Also published as: SG10201402825PA; GB201406619D0

Abstract

A method of carrying out a lucky draw, or lottery, using photos submitted by users using smart-phones or tablets at an event where an event identifier is selected and personalized data, which is associated to the event identifier, is retrieved from an event participant daÂtabase. The data sets of the personalized data are randomly selected until a counter has reached a pre-determined disÂplay number, and steps of displaying a data set of the randomly selected data sets on a display screen and of incrementing the counter are repeatedly executed. The snapshot display system 10 comprises a participant database 24, mobile unit 20-22, such as a mobile phone or tablet, network interfaces, and display 15, such as a projection unit.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR A LUCKY DRAW USING PHOTOS SUBMITTED BY

USERS USING SMARTPHONES OR TABLETS AT AN EVENT

BACKGROUND

During meetings, conferences or other events the participants often identify themselves with stickers or name cards. While the stickers are intended for use on a piece of clothing of the participant, name cards can be multiplied and distributed to anyone. In order to provide quick identification and auto-mated processing, an organizer of a conference may distribute unique barcodes to the participants of a meeting. For exam-ple, the patent document EP 2332323 A2 discloses scanning in of a barcode with a portable device of a conference attendee and thereby updating a profile list to facilitate social net-The US 2O1O/OO8372 discloses a conference networking system that facilitates networking among participants of an event.

The conference networking system allows a user to submit per-sonal data such as name, address and profile picture, to log in using a Windows Live ID and to select an event using a calendar application.

The present specification provides a lucky draw system that is also referred to as "photo lucky draw system", wherein photos of event participants, who have registered for the event online, are displayed in a randomized order during a lucky draw. The term "lucky draw" is another word for a lot- tery drawing. The event participants may register online pri-or to or during the event, for example by using a special purpose software application on their mobile devices or by filling out an electronic form provided by an internet serv-er.

In a further aspect, the present specification discloses, among others, a snapshot display system, a system and a meth-od for storing personal information of the snapshot display system, a system and a method for displaying personal infor-mation of the snapshot display system, a computer program product with computer executable instructions for capturing personalized data and for forwarding the personalized data to a database of the snapshot display system, and a mobile ter-minal unit comprising computer readable code.

The lucky draw system according to the present specification typically includes customized products for two different groups of persons: website and/or database administrators, event organizers, who display the personalized data, such as photo messages, of the event participant database, and event participants that use a mobile device to make use of the snapshot display system.

In a first aspect, the present specification discloses a method for storing personal information in a snapshot display system for display photographic snapshots of event partici-pants.

According to this method, a snapshot picture is taken with a camera of a mobile terminal unit, such as a mobile phone, a phablet, a tablet, a desktop, a PDA or similar device, or it is downloaded or saved to the mobile terminal unit from an external source. According to the present specification, an event identifier, which serves to identify the event uniquely for which the event participant is registered in an event da-tabase, is derived by automatically generating the event identifier or by retrieving the event identifier from a user.

The event identifier is associated to a gathering of people, also known as an event, which is organized by an event organ-izer.

Personalized data is sent or transmitted to the event data-base over a wide area network, such as the internet. An event participant may transmit the personalized data during the registration for the event or, if the event participant has previously registered for another event and the personalized information is still present in the event database, it may be retrieved from the event database.

The personalized data comprises at least the snapshot picture and a name of an event participant but may also comprise fur-ther information or contact data of the event participant such as phone nurrJoer, e-mail address, address etc. The per-sonalized data and the event identifier are stored in data sets of an event participant database.

In particular, the method may comprise displaying a list of events in a graphical user interface of the mobile terminal unit, selecting the event from the list of events and associ-ating the snapshot picture with an event identifier of the selected event. In one embodiment, there is no selection of event from the mobile terminal unit. The user can enter the event identifier once during the login screen which appears when he starts the respective application software.

According to one embodiment, the event identifier is generat-ed by an event identifier generator. The identifier generator may be located on a web server that is connected to the wide area network or as part of a database management system of the event participant database. The event identifier may be a sequential number such as auto-counter, a globally unique identifier (CIJID) or other unique identifier, a code or num-ber supplied by an administrator.

In one embodiment, the event identifiers are user defined or selected and they are checked against the database for uniqueness before they are accepted by the system. According to another embodiment the event identifiers are generated us-ing characteristic information such as daytime, MAC number of the device, MAC number of the network card, IP-address. In particular, the event identifiers may be generated such that they are unique even if they are separately generated in event databases that are not synchronized among each other.

Furthermore, the present specification discloses a computer software product with executable code for executing the steps of the aforementioned method. The software product may com-prise modules, which are stored in separate locations that may be separated by external network connections.

Moreover, the present specification discloses a computer readable storage medium with the aforementioned computer pro- gram product. The computer readable storage medium may com-prise several memory units which are spatially separated and which are associated to different computers. For example, a first portion may reside in the MTU, a second portion on a web server and a third portion in the DBMS of the event data-base.

According to a further aspect, the present specification dis-closes a method for displaying personal information in a snapshot display system which is provided for displaying pho-tographic snapshots on an event. An event identifier, which corresponds to an event, is selected and personalized data, which is associated with the event identifier, is retrieved from an event participant database.

During a lucky draw, data sets of the personalized data in the event database, which are associated with the event iden-tifier, are randomly selected. Herein, a random selection may refer to a random selection according to a pre-determined probability distribution or also to a randomized selection which is only partially random, for example in that only a portion of the data sets is selected randomly and another portion of the data sets is selected according to a predeter-mined order. Until a counter has reached a pre-determined display number of snapshot images to be displayed, the steps of displaying a data set of the randomly selected data sets on a display screen and incrementing the counter are repeat-ed.

The data sets of personalized data may be associated with the event identifier in different ways, for example by providing an event identifier in a column of a database table that con-tains the personalized data or by providing a data set of the personalized data with a data link to the event identifier.

In one embodiment, the random selection of data sets is car-ried out during the execution of the display loop and for each data set separately in the sense that in each iteration of the display loop, a data set is picked randomly according to a pre-determined procedure. According to another embodi-ment, a random selection of the data sets is performed first, for example by creating a list of data sets in a randomized order, and the display loop is executed thereafter. According to this embodiment, the display loop accesses the previously generated random selection of data sets, for example by trav-ersing the previously generated list of data sets according to a pre-determined order of the list. The list of data sets may be traversed one time or multiple times.

According to a further embodiment, the total number of ran- domly selected data sets is egual to the pre-determined dis-play number. In particular, the pre-determined display number may be generated by a random generator.

According to the present specification, there are various different methods to automatically determine a final winner of the lucky draw. According to one method, the display loop stops when a list of randomly selected data sets is traversed to the end, and the last displayed data set is determined as the final winner. According to another embodiment, the dis-play loop stops after a pre-determined number of iterations, and the last displayed data set is determined as the final winner. According to a further embodiment, the display loop stops after a random number of iterations, and the last dis-played data set is determined as the final winner.

According to one embodiment, the randomly selected data set is displayed on a digital projector. The digital projector may be of various types such as a LCD projector, a DMD pro- jector, a cathode ray projector, a LED projector, a LCoS pro-jector or a laser projector.

The projector may be an absorption type projector, an emis- sion type projector or a combination of both. In an absorp-tion type projector, one or more projection rays travel through a surface whose transmissibility is controlled ac-cording to a digital signal that represents an image to be displayed. In an emission type projector, such as a cathode ray projector, a LED projector a LCoS projector or a laser projector, the light intensity of light emitting elements is controlled according to the digital signal.

Compared to & sufficiently big screen, which can be seen by a large number of event participants, a projector can provide a higher mobility as the projection surface for the projector and the projector itself can be moved around easily. The pro-jector may also be used to display other information, such as presentation slides, commercials, movies etc. According to one embodiment, the same steps of the display loop are repeated. According to another embodiment, the last displayed data set is identified as "used" after the pre- determined display number is reached and the randomly select- ed data set is displayed. For example, the last displayed da-ta set may be identified by providing the last displayed data set with a marker, by removing it from a list of data sets to be displayed or by adding it to a list of data sets not to be displayed. After that, the counter is re-initialized and the steps of the display loop are repeated for those data sets which have not been identified as "used".

Furthermore, the present specification discloses a computer program product with executable code for executing the steps of one of the aforementioned snapshot display methods and a computer readable storage medium, which comprises computer readable instructions for executing the steps of one of the aforementioned display methods. The computer readable storage

S

medium may comprise several memory units which are spatially separated and which are associated to different computers.

According to a further aspect, the present specification dis-closes an event data management system for managing data of participants to an event. The event data management system comprises a participant database, a mobile terminal unit for collecting and sending personalized information of an event participant over a wide area network. The personalized data comprises at least a snapshot picture and a name of an event participant but may also comprises further information relat-ed to the event participant. According to one embodiment, the mobile terminal unit comprises a camera for taking the snap- shot. Furthermore, the MTLJ may comprise software for receiv-ing an event identifier.

Furthermore, the event data management system comprises a first network interface unit such as a modem, a corrmunication protocol soft-/hardware, an application specific cornmunica-tion software, an network access point or others, for sending the personalized data from the mobile terminal unit over a Furthermore, the event data management system comprises a second network interface unit such as a modem, a cornmunica- tion protocol soft/hardware, an application specific communi-cation software or a network access point, for receiving the personalized data from the first interface unit over the wide area network and for sending the received personalized data to the participant database.

The event data management system further comprises a database management system (DBMS) for creating an event participant data set in the participant database from the received per-sonalized data. The participant data sets which are stored by the DBMS in the event database comprise at least the snapshot picture and the name of the event participant and an event identifier which uniquely identifies the event. By way of ex- ample, the event identifier may be provided by an auto coun-ter, a GUID or a user defined code which uniquely identifies the event. In particular, the system for managing event par-ticipant data may comprise generator unit for generating an event identifier.

According to another embodiment of the event data management system the data management system comprises an event partici-pant database, a network interface unit such as a modem, a corrmunication protocol soft/hardware, an application specific corrmunication software or a network access point, for receiv- ing personalized data over a wide area network and for send-ing the received personalized data to the event participant database, and a database management system for the event par-ticipant database.

Herein, the personalized data comprising at least a snapshot picture and a name of an event participant, and the database management system is operative for creating an event partici-pant data set in the participant database from the received personalized data, the participant data set comprising the snapshot picture and the name of the event participant and an event identifier.

Similar to the previously mentioned embodiment, the system for managing event participant data may comprise a generator unit for generating the event identifiers. As mentioned above, the event identifiers may for example be realized as auto counter, as a GUID or as a user defined event code.

In a further aspect, the present specification discloses a system for displaying event participant data. The snapshot display system comprises a participant database for storing personalized data of event participants. data set of the personalized data comprises at least a snapshot image, a name of an event participant and an event identifier. Herein, a data set does not need to be stored as a single database ob- ject, data structure or table. For example, the event identi-fier may also be stored in a second database object, data structure or table, which is linked to the first database ob-ject, data structure or table.

Furthermore, the display system comprises an interface unit for retrieving a subset of the personalized data from the participant database. The interface unit may comprise, for example, a network access point, a modem, or a wireless/wired communication channel. The subset of the personalized data relates to a pre-determined event identifier.

Moreover, the display system comprises a computer system that is communicatively connected to the interface unit. The com- puter system comprises a first processing unit that is opera- tive for retrieving a data set from the subset of the person-alized data, the data set comprising a snapshot picture and a name of an event participant.

Furthermore, the display system comprises a second processing unit that is operative for generating a digital representa-tion of a screen image from the data set, an image generator for converting the digital representation of the screen image into an input signal for a display device and a display de-vice for displaying the input signal cf the image generator, the display device. The display device is communicatively connected to the computer system. According to one embodi-ment, the display device comprises a projector, and according to another embodiment it comprises a display screen. The pro-jector may be realized as a digital projector which receives digital signals or as an analog projector receiving analog signals.

In one embodiment, the snapshot display system comprises a generator unit for generating an event identifier.

According to one embodiment, the first processing unit is op- erative to randomly select a data set from the subset of per- sonal data. Furthermore, the first processing unit may be op-erative to select a pre-determined number of data sets from the subset of personalized data. The random selection as well as the generation of the pre-determined number as random num- ber can serve to heighten a sense of excitement and expecta- tion in an event participant who watches the personalized da-ta sets being displayed.

Furthermore, the first processing unit may be operative to randomly select the data sets of the pre-determined number of data sets or to derive the pre-determined number of data sets from a random number. Moreover, the first processing unit may be operative to select a pre-determined data set from the subset of personalized data. The selected pre-determined data set is then displayed after the pre-determined number of data sets has been displayed.

The data structure in which the data sets to be displayed are organized may be provided by a queue that is ordered in the order in which the data sets are to be displayed. The queue comprises storage locations on a computer readable storage medium that are associated with the data sets or with point-ers to the data sets. A queue member may comprise pointers to the next queue member and/or to the previous queue member for easier traversal of the queue.

The data sets may comprise a statistical weight such that da-ta sets with a higher statistical weight are displayed more often. The statistical weight may be related to criteria such as an amount of money paid by the participant of the partici-pant data set, to a time when the participant has registered him/herself, or to further criteria. Hence, when the display stops at the pre-determined number there is a higher likeli-hood that the participant will be displayed as the last data set if the data set has a higher statistical weight. The sta- tistical weight may be stored in the event participant data- base or it may be determined after retrieving the event par-ticipant data from the event participant database.

According to a further embodiment, the snapshot display sys-tem comprise an interface unit for retrieving a subset of personalized data from a participant database, a computer system that is communicatively connected to the interface unit and that comprises a first processing unit, which is op- erative for retrieving a data set from the subset of the per-sonalized data, the data set comprising a snapshot picture and a name of an event participant, a second processing unit, which is operative for generating a digital representation of a screen image from the data set and an image generator for converting the digital representation of the screen image in-to an input signal for a display device.

The subset of the personalized data relates to a pre-determined event identifier and a data set of the subset of the personalized data comprises at least a snapshot image and a name of an event participant.

In particular, the snapshot display system may comprise a generator unit for generating the pre-determined event iden-tifier that uniquely identifies the event.

For convenient display of the personalized data, the display device may comprise a projector or projector device, which may be provided by a digital or also an analog projector.

Similar to the aforementioned embodiment of a display system, the first processing unit may be operative to randomly select a data set from the subset of personal data and it may be op-erative to select a pre-determined number of data sets from the subset of personalized data. The first processing unit may furthermore be operative to randomly select the data sets from the pre-determined number of data sets for subsequent display on a display device. Furthermore, the first pro-cessing unit may be operative to derive the pre-determined number of data sets from a random number.

In a further embodiment, the first processing unit is opera-tive to select a pre-determined data set from the subset of personalized data which is to be displayed after the pre-determined number of data sets.

According to a further aspect, the current specification dis-closes a computer program product with computer executable instructions. The computer executable instructions are opera- tive to cause a mobile terminal unit upon execution to cap- ture personalized data and to forward or send the personal- ized data to a database. Herein, the personalized data com- prise at least a snapshot picture and a name of an event par-ticipant.

According to one embodiment, the computer executable instruc-tions may be operative to generate an event identifier on a mobile terminal unit. According to another embodiment, the computer executable instructions are operative to receive an event identifier. According to another embodiment, the com-puter executable code is operative to receive a multiplicity of event identifiers and to display a list with list entries, each of the list entries being associated with an event iden-tifier of the multiplicity of event identifiers.

Furthermore, the present specification discloses a computer readable storage medium, the computer readable storage medium comprising the computer executable instructions.

Furthermore, the present specification discloses a mobile terminal unit with the compute: readable storage medium. The computer readable storage medium is connected to a transmit-ter for sending or receiving data and to a snapshot camera of the mobile terminal unit for receiving image data.

According to a further aspect of the application, using pho- tographs taken by the user as a ticket of a lucky draw pro-vides that the reguired ticket to be produced by the winner picked is unique in a senses that it cannot easily be dupli-cated on short notice. The uniqueness of each photo taken by the user as the ticket provides that it is not easily possi-ble for another user to claim himself to be the winner of the lucky draw as he cannot reproduce the winning photo.

The subject of the present specification is now explained in further detail with respect to the following Figures in which Figure 1 illustrates a first embodiment of a snapshot dis-play system, Figure 2 illustrates a second embodiment of a snapshot dis-play system, Figure 3 illustrates a third embodiment of a snapshot dis-play system, and Figure 4 illustrates a method of providing and displaying data of a snapshot display system, Figure 5 shows a detailed view of the input loop of Fig. 4, Figure 6 shows a detailed view of the display loop of Fig. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, details are provided to de-scribe the embodiments of the present specification. It shall be apparent to one skilled in the art, however, that the em-bodiments may be practised without such details.

Fig. 1 shows a snapshot display system 10 according to a first embodiment.

In the context of the present specification, an event is un-derstood as a social gathering, including, but not limited to, a conference, a talk, a trade show, a public lottery, a charity event, an election campaign event, a cultural event or an educational training event. By contrast, an event ac-cording to the current specification does not refer to a purely virtual gathering in which the participants only ex-change messages over a network hut are not physically present at a corrimon location. In addition to those participants, which are physically present at the common location, the event participants may also include remote participants.

The snapshot display system 10 comprises a database 11 for storing a data list 12 of snapshots and corresponding person-alized data from participants of an event. The database 11 is maintained by a database management system (DBMS) 24. The DBMS 24 comprises components such as a storage device and a processing unit for controlling read and write access to the storage device, which are not shown in Fig. 1.

Furthermore, the snapshot display system 10 comprises a com- puter system 13, which is communicatively connected to a dis- play device 14 by a connection 25. The display device 14 com- prises a projector 15 and a projection screen 16. In one em- bodiment, the computer system 13 is a component of the dis-play device 14, while in another embodiment a portion of the computer system 13 is external to the display device 14.

The computer system 13 comprises a processing unit for pro- cessing incoming data and for generating a digital input sig-nal and a converter unit for converting the digital input signal to a display signal.

The database 11 of the snapshot display system 10 is communi-catively connected to a network access point of a wide area network 17, such as the internet, via a web application serv-er 18 and via connections 26, 27. Likewise, the computer server 13 of the snapshot display 10 is communicatively con-nected to a network access point of the data network 17 via a connection 28. A mobile cell phone operator 19 is communica-tively connected to a network access point of the wide area network 17 via connection 29. Herein, "mobile cell phone op-erator" refers to communication devices and data processing facilities of a cell phone company. In one embodiment, the communication is carried out via a protocol that supports a graphical user interface, such as HTTP.

Moreover, the snapshot display system 10 comprises one or more mobile terminal units (MTUs) 20, 21, 22. The MTUs 20, 21, 22 are eguipped with a camera device and with a software application for forwarding snapshots of the camera device to the database 11, which are not shown in Fig. 1. According to the present specification, the MTUs 20, 21, 22 may be provid-ed by general purpose cell phones, smartphones, tablets, PDAs and the like.

The MTUs 20, 21, 22 are communicatively connected to the cell phone operator 19 via cell phone base stations 23, which are communicatively connected to the mobile cell phone operator 19 via a connection 30.

In the embodiment of Fig. 1, communicative connections 25 - between elements of the snapshot display system 10 and be-tween elements of the snapshot display system 10 and network access points are shown as wired connections. In other embod- iments, the communicative connections 25 -30 may also be re-alized partially or entirely by wireless connections.

During an operation of the snapshot display system, users of the MTUs 20, 21, 22 provide pictures and personalized data to the database 11 via the web application server 18, the wide area network 17 and connections 29, 27, 26. The computer sys-tem 13 pulls required data from the database 11 via the web application server 18, the wide area network 17 and connec-tions 26, 27, 28.

According to the present specification, the data provided by a MTU is 20, 21, 22 is tagged with an event identifier that identifies an event location of the MID 20, 21, 22. Likewise, the computer system 13 is provided with an event identifier that identifies an event location of the display device 14.

The event identifier allows the computer system 13 to selec-tively request data from the database 11 by comparing the event identifier of the display device 14 with the event identifiers in the database 11 and requesting data for which the event identifier of the display device 14 matches with the stored event identifiers in the database 11. By way of example, the event identifier may comprise a unique event code or it may comprise time and location of the event.

The event identifier may be provided in various ways, for ex- ample by scanning in a QR code with a MTU 20, 21, 22, by se-lecting an event from an event list that is displayed on a display of the MTU 20, 21, 22, by reading out time and loca-tion information of the MTU 20, 21, 22, or by responding to a text message of the event organizer. If the corrmunication with the MTU 20, 21, 22 is provided by a short range wireless connection, such as a WLAN, the event identifier may also be provided by a WLAN access point.

Fig. 2 shows a second embodiment of a snapshot display system 10' which is similar to the snapshot display system 10. Dif-ferent from the snapshot display system 10, a communicative connection between the MTLJs 20, 21, 22 and the wide area net-work 17 is provided by a WLAM access point 32. By using a short range wireless network like the WLAN of Fig. 2 it is possible to customize the communication with the MTUs 20, 21, 22, to provide a control over the data flow and to avoid net-work charges of a mobile phone operator.

Moreover, a bidirectional communicative connection 31 is pro- vided between the computer system 13 and the DBMS 24. The bi- directional connection 31 may comprise a cable link, a wire-less link, a local area network, another type of network or even the wide area network 17. By using a bidirectional con- nection 31 according to the embodiment of Fig. 2, the web ap-plication server 18 and/or the network 17 can be bypassed, thereby providing faster response times.

A bidirectional connection between the computer system 13 and the DBMS may also be provided in the embodiment of Fig. 1 Fig. 3 shows a third embodiment of a snapshot display system 10'' which may be combined with the embodiments of Fig. 1 or Fig. 2. According to the embodiment of Fig. 3, the computer system 13 and the DBMS 24 are components of a data center 33.

According to one embodiment, the data center 33 is provided by a computer 33, wherein the computer system 13 and the DBMS are provided by components of the computer 33. According to another embodiment, the computer system 13 and the DBMS 24 are located within the same building but are spatially sepa-rated and connected via cables, for example by an Ethernet connection.

Fig. 4 shows a method for storing data in the database 11 and for displaying the data with the display device 14. One exam- ple for using the method of Fig. 4 is the gathering of par-ticipant data in a lottery and the subsequent display of the lottery participants and/or of the lottery winners.

In an input loop 40, personalized data from a MTU 20, 21, 22 is received by the DBMS 24 and stored in the database 11 in a step 41. By way of example, the personalized data includes a picture, a contact phone number, a name, an event identifier, a company name and an email address. In a step 42, the per- sonalized data is stored in the database 11. The data collec-tion steps 41 and 42 are repeated until a pre-determined time is reached in step 43. The steps of the input loop may be carried out by the DBMS 14, the web application server 18 and/or application specific software that is stored in the MTU 20, 21, 22.

Upon a trigger event, which may be provided manually or auto- matically, and the supply of an event identifier, the person-alized data, which was previously collected in the steps 41, 42 of the input 1oop 40, is displayed by the display device 14 in a display loop 44.

In a selection step 45, a data set of personalized data cor-responding to one of the participants and to the event with the given event identifier is randomly selected. In a display step 16, the personalized data of step 45 is displayed on the display device 14. In the example of Fig. 4 the displayed da-ta consists of the participants picture and name. The steps and 46 are repeated in a 1oop. When a previously generated pre-determined random number of displayed pictures is reached, the display loop is interrupted and a pre-determined picture and personal information is displayed in a display step 47.

The display screen for displaying the personal information with the snapshot image is sufficiently big and positioned in such a way that it can be seen by many participants of the event at the same time. To this end, the event organizer may also provide a plurality of display screens.

In particular, the pre-determined personal information may correspond to a winner of the lottery that was previously de-termined. In another embodiment, the winner is determined by the randomized display method itself instead of being deter-mined beforehand. For example, a winner may be identified by the personal information that is displayed when the random number is reached. When the personal information of the se-lected participant is displayed, additional information such as the lottery prize may be displayed as well.

After displaying the pre-deterinined picture, the display method may be continued with step 45 or it may terminate. In one embodiment, the termination condition is a maximum number of lottery winners.

In particular, the display and selection loop may be config-ured such that no personal information is displayed for a second time in the display loop or such that there is a mini- mum time interval for displaying the personal information an-other time. Furthermore, the display method may be configured such that no pre-determined personal information is displayed twice in step 47.

Fig. 5 shows in more detail the input loop of Fig. 4. In a step 48, an event identifier is generated. In a step, 49 per-sonalized data is collected with a mobile terminal unit using a software for collecting and transmitting the personalized data, which is installed in a computer readable memory of the MTU. In a step 50, the MTU is used to transmit the personal-ized data over a wide area network, such as the networks 17 shown in Figs. 1 to 3.

In the step 41, a database management system receives the personalized data via a network connection point and, option- ally, via a web server program. In a step 51, the personal-ized data is associated with the event identifier. In a step 52, the personalized data is stored together with the event identifier in a participant database. In a decision step 52, it is checked whether a pre-determined time has been reached.

If the pre-determined time is reached, the input ioop is stopped. Otherwise, it loops back to the data acquisition step 49.

Fig. 6 shows in more detail the display loop of Fig. 4. In a step 53, an event identifier is provided to a computer of a snapshot display system. In a step 54, a counter n is ini- tialized to 0. In a step 55, the data in a participant data-base is filtered according to the event identifier provided in step 53 such that only data pertaining to that event iden-tifier is retrieved. In the step 45, a personalized data set is randomly selected from the data pertaining to the event identifier. In the step 46, a snapshot image and a name from the personalized data set are displayed on a screen. In a step 56, the counter n is incremented by one. In a decision step 57, it is determined whether the counter n equals a pre-determined random. If it does, then the display loop is stopped and a pre-determined data set of the personal data is displayed in the step 47. Otherwise, the display loop loops back to step 45 and another personalized data set is randomly selected.

In one embodiment, the data sets all have an equal probabil-ity to be selected at random. In another embodiment, the data sets have an associated statistical weight and data sets with a higher statistical weight are displayed more often. The statistical weight may be related to pre-determined criteria.

For example, the statistical weight may be related to an amount of money paid by the event participant or to a time when the participant has registered him/herself, or to fur-ther criteria. Hence, when the display loop stops after a pre-determined number of displayed data sets there is a high-er likelihood that a data set of an event participant with a higher statistical weight will be displayed as the last data set.

A random display of personalized data according to the pre- sent specification can increase an expectation of a partici-pant as the participant does not know in advance when his or her snapshot picture will be displayed on a screen.

ITEMS

The embodiments can aiso be described with the following lists of elements being organized into items. The respective combinations of features which are disclosed in the item list are regarded as independent subject matter, respective- ly, that can also be combined with other features of the ap-plication.

Although the above description contains much specificity, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments but merely providing illustration of the foresee-able embodiments. Especially the above stated advantages of the embodiments should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments but merely to explain possible achieve-ments if the described embodiments are put into practise.

Thus, the scope of the embodiments should be determined by the claims and their eguivalents, rather than by the examples given.

Reference snapshot display system 29 communication connec- 10' snapshot display system tion 10'' snapshot display system 30 communication connec- 11 database tion 12 list of personalized 31 bidirectional connec-data tion 13 computer system 32 WLAN access point 14 display device 33 data center projector 40 input loop 16 projection screen 41 receiving step 17 wide area network 42 storing step 18 web application server 43 interruption step 19 cell phone operator 44 display and selection MTU loop 21 MTU 45 random selection step 22 MTU 46 display step 24 database management 47 display step system 48 ID generation step communication connec-49 data collection step tion 50 data transmission step 26 communication connec-51 data association step tion 52 decision step 27 communication connec-53 id provision step tion 54 counting step 28 communication connec-55 filtering step tion 56 counting step 57 decision step

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method for displaying personal information of a snap-shot display system on an event, the method comprising: -selecting an event identifier; -retrieving personalized data from an event participant database, the data being associated to the event identi-fier; randomly selecting data sets of the personalized data; until a counter has reached a pre-determined display number repeating the steps of -displaying a data set of the randomly selected data sets on a display screen; incrementing the counter.
2. The method according to claim 1, comprising generating the pre-determined display number by a random generator.
3. The method according to claim 1 or claim 2, comprising displaying the randomly selected data set on a digital projector.
4. The method according to one of the claims 1 to 3, com-prising: after the pre-determined display number has been reached and the randomly selected data set has been displayed: -identifying the last displayed data set as "used"; -re-initializing the counter; -executing the steps of the method according to one of the claims 6 to 8 for the data sets which have not been identified as "used".
5. Computer software product, the computer software product comprising executable code for executing the steps of a method according to one of the claims 1 to 4.
6. Computer readable storage medium with a computer soft-ware product according to claim 5.
7. A method for storing personal information for a snapshot display system, the method comprising: -capturing a snapshot picture with a mobile terminal unit; -deriving an event identifier; -sending personalized data over a wide area network to an event database, the personalized data com-prising at least the snapshot picture and a name of an event participant; -storing the personalized data and the event identi-fier in an event participant database.
8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising -displaying a list of events in a graphical user in-terface of the mobile terminal unit; -selecting the event from the list of events; -associating the snapshot picture with the selected event.
9. The method according to claim 7 or claim 8, wherein the step of deriving the event identifier comprises -generating the event identifier by an event identi-fier generator on a web server that is connected to the wide area network.
10. Computer software product, the computer software product comprising executable code for executing the steps of a method according to one of the claims 7 to 9.
11. Computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable instructions for executing a method according to one of the claims 7 to 9.
12. An event data management system for managing data of participants to an event, the event data management sys-tem comprising: -a participant database, -a mobile terminal unit for collecting and sending per-sonalized information of an event participant over a wide area network, the personalized data comprising at least a snapshot picture and a name of an event partici-pant, -a first network interface unit for sending the person-alized data from the mobile terminal unit over a wide area network, -a second network interface unit for receiving the per-sonalized data from the first interface unit over the wide area network and for sending the received personal-ized data to the participant database, -a database management system for creating an event participant data set in the participant database from the received personalized data, the participant data set comprising the snapshot picture and the name of the event participant and an event identifier.
13. The system for managing event participant data according to claim 12, the system for managing event participant data according comprising a generator unit for generat-ing an event identifier.
14. The system for system for managing event participant da-ta according to ciaim 13, wherein the event identifier is an auto counter.
15. The system for system for managing event participant da-ta according to ciaim 13, wherein the event identifier is a GUID.
16. The system for system for managing event participant da-ta according to ciaim 13, wherein the event identifier is a user defined event code.
17. An event data management system for managing data of participants to an event, the data management system comprising: -a participant database, -a network interface unit for receiving personalized data over a wide area network and for sending the re-ceived personalized data to the participant database, the personalized data comprising at least a snapshot picture and a name of an event participant, -a database management system for creating an event participant data set in the participant database from the received personalized data, the participant data set comprising the snapshot picture and the name of the event participant and an event identifier.
18. The system for managing event participant data according to claim 17, the snapshot display system comprising a generator unit for generating an event identifier.
19. The system for system for managing event participant da-ta according to claim 17, wherein the event identifier is an auto counter.
20. The system for system for managing event participant da-ta according to claim 17, wherein the event identifier is & GUID.
21. The system for system for managing event participant da-ta according to claim 17, wherein the event identifier is a user defined event code.
22. A snapshot display system, the snapshot display system comprising: -a participant database for storing personalized data of event participants, the personalized data comprising at least a snapshot image and a name of an event partic-ipant and an event identifier, -an interface unit for retrieving a subset of the per-sonalized data from the participant database, the subset of the personalized data relating to a pre-determined event identifier, -a computer system that is cormaunicatively connected to the interface unit, the computer system comprising -a first processing unit for retrieving a data set from the subset of the personalized data, the data set comprising a snapshot picture and a name of an event participant, -a second processing unit for generating a digital representation of a screen image from the data set, -an image generator for converting the digital representation into an input signal for a display device, -a display device for displaying the input signal of the image generator, the display device being corrmunica-tively connected to the computer system.
23. A snapshot display system according to claim 22, the snapshot display system comprising a generator unit for generating an event identifier.
24. Snapshot display system according to claim 23, the dis-play device comprising a projector device.
25. Snapshot display system according to one of the claims 22 to 24, wherein the first processing unit is operative to randomly select a data set from the subset of person-al data.
26. Snapshot display system according to one of the claims 22 to 25, wherein the first processing unit is operative to select a pre-determined number of data sets from the subset of personalized data.
27. snapshot display system according to claim 26, wherein the first processing unit is operative to randomly se-lect the data sets of the pre-determined number of data sets.
28. snapshot display system according to claim 26 or claim 27, wherein the first processing unit is operative to derive the pre-determined number of data sets from a random number.
29. Snapshot display system according to one of the claims 22 to 28, wherein the first processing unit is operative to select a pre-determined data set from the subset of personalized data.
30. A snapshot display system, the snapshot display system comprising: -an interface unit for retrieving a subset of personal-ized data from a participant database, the subset of the personalized data relating to a pre-determined event identifier, the subset of the personalized data compris-ing a snapshot image and a name of an event participant, -a computer system that is communicatively connected to the interface unit, the computer system comprising -a first processing unit for retrieving a data set from the subset of the personalized data, the data set comprising a snapshot picture and a name of an event participant, -a second processing unit for generating a digital representation of a screen image from the data set, -an image generator for converting the digital representation into an input signal for a display device
31. The snapshot display system according to claim 30, the snapshot display system comprising a generator unit for generating the pre-determined event identifier.
32. Snapshot display system according to claim 30 or 31, the display device comprising a projector device.33. snapshot display system according to one of the claims to 32, wherein the first processing unit is operative to randomly select a data set from the subset of person-al data.34. snapshot display system according to one of the claims to 33, wherein the first processing unit is operative to select & pre-determined number of data sets from the subset of personalized data.35. snapshot display system according to one of the claims 32 to 34, wherein the first processing unit is operative to randomly select the data sets of the pre-determined number of data sets.36. snapshot display system according to claim 35, wherein the first processing unit is operative to derive the pre-determined number of data sets from a random number.37. snapshot display system according to one of the claims 32 to 36, wherein the first processing unit is operative to select a pre-determined data set from the subset of personalized data.30. computer program product, the computer program product comprising computer executable instructions the computer executable instructions being operative to capture per-sonalized data and to forward the personalized data to a database, the personalized data comprising at least a snapshot picture and a name of an event participant.39. The computer program product according to claim 38, wherein the computer executable instructions are opera-tive to generate an event identifier.40. The computer program product according to claim 38, wherein the computer executable instructions are opera-tive to receive an event identifier.41. The computer program product according to claim 38, wherein the computer executable code is operative to re-ceive a multiplicity of event identifiers and to display a list with list entries, the list entries being associ-ated with the multiplicity of event identifiers.42. A computer readable storage medium, the computer reada- ble storage medium comprising computer executable in-structions according to claims 38 to 41.45. A mobile terminal unit, the mobile terminal unit com-prising the computer readable storage medium according to claim 44.