Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09F—DISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS
  • G09F27/00—Combined visual and audible advertising or displaying, e.g. for public address

Definitions

• the present invention relates to an informing system, in particular to a system for displaying information on one or more mobile device, said information being associated with preferred points of an area.
• the informing system according to the present invention may be used e.g. for sightseeing or visiting an exhibition.
• Providing information associated with selected objects in a room, e.g. paintings of an exhibition by applying an information system is generally carried out by using a tape recorder, a CD player or any other device capable of replaying stored information.
• Said device is arranged at the location of the selected object and provided with a start button. By pushing the start button, visitors may start replaying the information, and may listen to the replayed information via a loudspeaker or an earphone while seeing the art objects exhibited in the room.
• a column arranged in the room, said column being provided with earphones and a list of objects. From the list visitors may select objects, and by entering the code of a selected object they may listen to the information associated with said object.
• US Patent No. 5,861,881 discloses an interactive computer system for teaching and entertainment.
• this computer system which may operate on a computer network
• sets of entertainment programs are stored at the location of the service provider or in the computer of the user subscribing to the service.
• a subscriber may select information or a set of programs according to his/her interest, and after entering a respective selection code, he/she may watch and/or listen to the selected program on a monitor immediately or later, on a predetermined time.
• the main disadvantage of the above-mentioned solutions is that during a sightseeing tour or visiting an exhibition, one has to know and input the identification code of the selected object to retrieve information about it.
• an exhibition for example, one has to read and enter the code indicated adjacent to a painting or statue.
• each building should be provided with an identifying code which is to be read and entered by the visitors for retrieving the corresponding information.
• Eye-catching indication of the codes on buildings is disadvantageous from the point of appearance.
• the present invention is an informing system for displaying information on one or more mobile device, said information being associated with preferred points of an area, wherein the informing system comprises a means for storing or receiving information packages for mobile informing devices, each information package identified by a code associated with the respective preferred point of said area, the informing system further comprising a means for selecting the information package according to the code and for replaying the selected information package, and a means for displaying the replayed information package.
• a code transmitter with limited range of action is arranged in the immediate vicinity of each preferred point, said code transmitter transmitting signals for the mobile informing devices.
• the mobile informing devices comprises a receiver unit.
• the informing system further comprises a control unit for selecting the information package according to the code received from the code transmitter being closest to the mobile informing devices.
• the means for storing the information packages comprises a replaceable storage means.
• the replaceable storage means is preferably a flash memory.
• the replaceable storage means is a compact disk (CD)
• the means for replaying the information package is a CD player
• the means for displaying the information package is an earphone.
• the replaceable storage means is a digital versatile disk (DVD)
• the means for replaying the information package is a DVD player
• the means for displaying the information package is an earphone and a pair of monitor glasses.
• the mobile informing device preferably comprises a broadband receiver means and a means for selecting one of the received signals according to the amplitude thereof.
• the informing system according to the present invention preferably further comprises code transmitters using radio frequency waves.
• the mobile informing device may comprise code transmitters using infrared waves.
• the mobile informing device preferably comprises an operating device for starting reception of the codes or for starting replay of the information package according to the received code.
• the informing system according to the present invention preferably further comprises a central unit capable of generating and downloading the information packages.
• the central unit may comprise a transceiver unit and a storage means for storing all of the information packages and the mobile informing device may comprise a transceiver unit capable of providing data communication connection with the central processing unit.
• - Fig. 1 is a simplified block diagram of a first, preferred embodiment of the informing system according to the present invention
• - Fig. 2 is a simplified block diagram of a second embodiment of the informing system according to the present invention
• FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram of a third embodiment of the informing system according to the present invention.
• - Fig. 4 is a block diagram of the code transmitter
• - Fig. 5 is a block diagram of the receiver of the mobile informing device
• FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the control units of the mobile informing device.
• the present invention relates to an informing system for displaying information on one or more mobile device, said information assigned to preferred points of an area, e.g. to the location of a painting or other art objects.
• the informing system of the present invention may be preferably used for sightseeing or visiting an exhibition.
• the informing system has the advantage that the user to be informed need not to know the name or any other identification code of the objects, e.g. art objects such as paintings, buildings, etc., situated at the visited points. Instead, it is enough to stand in front of the visited object and the information associated with the object may be watched and/or listened to by the user via the mobile device.
• code will mean the identification code of the information package assigned to the preferred locations or art objects.
• the informing system comprises at least one code transmitter CT for each preferred point, a mobile informing device MD for each visitor or user, and a central unit CT.
• the code transmitter CT radiates low power signal code characteristic to the preferred point or to the art object arranged thereon in such a way that the radiated signal code can be only received in a limited region around the preferred point.
• the mobile informing device MD receives the signal code, selects an information package corresponding to the received signal code from the stored information packages, and replays the selected information package.
• the central unit CU assigns a code to each respective information packages, stores these assignments, and when needed, downloads said information packages into the memory of the mobile informing device MD.
• the central unit CU may perform interactive communication with the mobile informing device MD, wherein the central unit CU radiates the selected information package to the mobile informing device MD in response to a request for the information package associated with said code.
• the mobile informing devices MD of the informing system shown in Fig. 1 comprises an infrared or radio-frequency receiver 2 for receiving signals from the code transmitter CT, a control unit 3 for processing the codes and controlling the replay, a memory unit 4 for storing a set of information packages, and an output unit 5 for replaying information packages selected from a set thereof.
• the output unit 5 is connected to an information display 6, such as an earphone, a LCD display of the mobile informing device MD or, in certain cases, a computer monitor.
• the mobile informing device MD also comprises an manual-operating device 7 having at least a start function.
• the mobile informing device MD receives and detects the code of the code transmitter CT of which received signal is actually the most powerful one. Said code will be transmitted to the control unit 3, the operation of which is permitted by the manual-operating device 7.
• the control unit 3 is responsible for controlling selection and/or replay of the information package assigned to the code.
• the mobile informing device MD further comprises a transmitter unit 9, which can be operated manually through the manual- operating device 7.
• the transmitter unit 9 is capable of transmitting code- retrieving signal for a non-continuous working code transmitter CT.
• the code transmitter CT of Fig. 1 comprises a transmitter unit 1
• the code transmitter CT of Fig. 2 that is designed to receive code-retrieving signals, comprises a transmitter unit 1 and a receiver unit 8 being capable of receiving code-retrieving signals radiated by the transmitter unit 9.
• the receiver unit 8 is connected to the transmission control input of the transmitter unit 1.
• the transmitter unit 1 comprises a transmitter stage 15, a code generator 16 connected to the transmitter stage 15, and a code input means 17, such as a switchboard or a flash memory.
• the transmitter stage 15 is preferably a surface acoustic wave (SAW) control transmitter having a carrier frequency of 433.92 MHz and an output power of 8 mW.
• the receiver unit 8 of the code transmitter CT is connected to the transmission control input of the transmitter stage 15 and designed to transmit the code for a short time enough to a single and secure reception of the code, said transmission being started by the mobile informing device MD.
• SAW surface acoustic wave
• Fig. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of the receiver unit 2 of the mobile informing device MD.
• the receiver unit 2 comprises a preamplifier 18, an oscillator 19, an amplifier 20, a pulse shaping stage 21 and an output means for displaying the code received from the code transmitter CT.
• the receiver unit 2 is a supreg receiver, the suppressed and saturable resonant oscillator 19 of which, in response to the received signal, will get excited only if the input signal exceeds a threshold value.
• the oscillator 19 automatically processes the most powerful signal from the signals received simultaneously.
• the transmitter unit 1 of the code transmitter CT and the receiver unit 1 of the mobile informing device MD has a known construction, and their design an operation are obvious to a person skilled in the art.
• the receiver unit 2 may be in the form of a broadband, multi-channel receiver as well.
• Fig. 3 illustrates a block diagram of the third embodiment of the informing system of the present invention.
• the embodiment of Fig. 3 differs from the embodiment of Fig. 2 in that the set of information packages is not stored in the memory unit 4 of the mobile informing device MD, but it is transmitted by the central unit CU to the mobile informing device MD in response to a request.
• a transceiver unit 10 is connected to the output of the receiver unit 2 of the mobile informing device MD, wherein the transceiver unit 10 is designed to communicate with a transceiver unit 12 of the central unit CU.
• the transceiver unit 12 is connected to a control unit 13, which is, in turn, connected to a storage means 14.
• control unit 13 in response to the received code, selects the information package assigned to the code from the set of information packages, and reads the selected information package out.
• the information package readout is radiated by the transceiver unit 12 to the mobile informing device MD, received by the transceiver unit 10 of the mobile informing device MD, and finally transmitted to the output unit 5for replaying.
• Fig. 6 illustrates a more detailed block diagram of the control unit 3 of the mobile informing device MD shown in Fig. 1.
• the code received by the receiver unit 2 is sent to the input of the control unit 3, which is connected to the manual-operating device 7 in a conventional manner.
• the control unit comprises a memory 25 for storing software drivers and a microprocessor interface 22 for connecting two code storing flash memories 23, 24 to the control unit 3, said flash memories 23, 24 being used to identify the received code.
• the control unit 3 accepts the received code as a valid code, if it equals to the code stored in either of the flash memories 23, 24. In one of the flash memories 23 or 24 music can be stored.
• the output unit 5 of the mobile informing device MD may be an MP3 player or a DVD player; the memory unit 4 for storing information packages may be a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD) or a flash memory; and the information display 6 may be an earphone and/or a pair of monitor glasses.
• the memory unit 4 for storing information packages may be a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD) or a flash memory; and the information display 6 may be an earphone and/or a pair of monitor glasses.
• the mobile informing device MD may play music or may provide other information.
• One of the CDs or sectors contains music, whereas the other one contains information packages associated with the preferred points of an area or the art objects situated there.
• the code transmitters CT are arranged at preferred points of an area, such as an exhibition hall.
• the preferred points are situated for example under paintings or statues.
• the code transmitters CT periodically repeat their stored codes, wherein the time period is less the one second.
• the code transmitters CT may transmit practically continuously (see Fig. 1) or they may be switched on, for example, for one second by receiving a code-retrieving signal (see Fig. 2 and 3).
• the efficient region of the code transmitters CT is limited within the area, e.g. the signals of the code transmitters CT can be only received if the user stays no more than a few meters from the object or location, for example the user stands in front of the art object.
• the limitation may be achieved in several ways.
• the efficient region may be limited to a single line, or with a code transmitter CT using infrared waves and special shielding, the efficient region may be limited to a narrow beam. Furthermore, in the case of a code transmitter CT using radio frequency waves, the efficient region may be limited by the application of corresponding aerials and reduced power.
• the receiver unit 2 may receive more than one code signal from the code transmitters CT simultaneously.
• the receiver unit 2 makes a selection based on the signal levels, whereas the selection always results in the most powerful received signal. Due to the supreg receiver, the selection is quite easy because the over-excitable oscillator 19 gets saturated only by the received signal of greatest amplitude.
• the receiver unit 8 of the code transmitter CT is in the form of a passive infrared motion detector or a microwave detector, all of which start transmission of the code when somebody enters the detection region of said detector.
• the user of the mobile informing device MD may determine the starting time of replaying the information package assigned to the received code. This is necessary because it may occur that the information package associated with an art object is still being replayed when the visitor passes the respective art object and goes to a next one. In this case, the instant start of replaying the information package of the next object would brake replay of the previous one. Therefore, each received code is stored in the control unit 3 until a next code is received, said next code canceling the previous code. Selection and replay of the information package according to the code stored in the control unit 3 may be started by pushing a corresponding button of the operating device 7.
• the manual- operating device 7 may also have other functions, like operative functions for an MP3 player.
• the codes are identified by comparing them to the set of codes stored in the flash memories 23, 24 of the control unit 3. If the received code equals to one of the stored codes, the control unit 3 will consider it as a recognized code and uses it to select the corresponding information package.
• the above-mentioned functions of the control unit 3 and the memory unit 4 are involved in the central unit CU, while the connection between the mobile informing device MD and the central unit CU is provided by the connection between the transceivers 10 and 12.
• the connection between the transceivers 10 and 12 is provided by the connection between the transceivers 10 and 12.

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Publications (1)

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Citations (6)

• 2000
  • 2000-07-17 HU HU0002646A patent/HUP0002646A2/hu unknown
• 2001
  • 2001-07-16 WO PCT/HU2001/000080 patent/WO2002007136A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2001-07-16 AU AU2001276572A patent/AU2001276572A1/en not_active Abandoned

Patent Citations (6)

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