WO2002051180A1

WO2002051180A1 - Advertising billboard with short range radio device

Info

Publication number: WO2002051180A1
Application number: PCT/GB2001/005619
Authority: WO
Inventors: Leigh Banham
Original assignee: Symbian Limited
Priority date: 2000-12-20
Filing date: 2001-12-18
Publication date: 2002-06-27
Also published as: GB0130226D0; GB2370468B; GB2370468A; GB0031044D0

Abstract

An advertising billboard comprises a short range radio operable to transmit signals to a wireless information device to enable a user of the wireless information device to enter into a commercialtransaction, relating to a product, service or event advertised by the billboard.

Description

Advertising billboard with short range radio device

Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an advertising billboard with a short range radio device, such as a Bluetooth™ or 802.11 device. The short range radio device can be any kind of device with one-way broadcast or two-way communications capabilities based on short range radio.

Description of the Prior Art

Advertising billboards or hoardings are a common feature of the urban environment. The term 'advertising billboard' used in this specification covers any device used for advertising purposes; it may, without limitation, include printed matter such as posters of whatever size, or be designed to have such printed matter applied to it. It may, for example, also be a multi-media terminal displaying advertising images or short advertisements such as occur on television. The common feature of advertising billboards is that they use images (and occasionally sound) to promote a product, service or event. Billboards are usually fixed and immobile, but they can also be fixed to cars, buses, taxis etc. Advertising billboards can also be used at point of sale locations: for example, a simple automated vending machine will likely have a large advertising sign fixed on or near it.

Advertising billboards can be an effective way of promoting a product, service or event in that they may build consumer demand for that product, service or event. However, where the advertising billboard is not in proximity to the point of supply of the product/service being advertised (or the place where an advertised event occurs), then the possibility of translating interest generated by the billboard into an actual sale (or applicable commercial transaction) will atrophy severely over time. Hence, although billboards have been shown to be extremely effective in raising consumer awareness of a product, service or event, they rarely directly generate sales, usually because of the geographical separation between the billboard and the actual location from where sales can take place. For example, imagine a billboard advertising a rock concert; the tickets are perhaps only available at ticket stores some distance from the billboard or from a web site, neither of which a person passing the billboard has immediate access to. Likewise, imagine a billboard for a consulting firm at an airport; someone seeing the billboard may at that moment seriously contemplate contacting a local representative, but the mood soon alters as the billboard is passed by and other stimuli take its place. Hence, billboards fail to capitalise on the interest they generate and hence can only indirecdy lead to sales.

Short range radio transceiver devices, exemplified by Bluetooth and 802.11 enabled products, allow wireless communications to take place between different electronic devices over distances approaching 100m or less. For example, a Bluetooth enabled laptop computer could communicate using Bluetooth short range radio with a modem, enabling wire-free Internet access. Equally, that laptop could communicate with a keyboard, mouse or any other peripheral using Bluetooth radio. The wide-spread adoption of such short range radio communications technology across many different device categories is seen as an important element in pervasive computing. The term 'short range radio device' used in this specification should be expansively construed to cover any kind of electronic device with reception or two-way communications capabilities utilising short range radio. Such devices can be both fixed (e.g. a Bluetooth 'pod') and also portable. The term 'wireless information device' used in this specification covers any kind of portable electronic device which can present information to a user; it includes mobile telephones (e.g. WAP enabled mobile telephones), smart phones, communicators, laptop computers, PDAs. The wireless information device is a short range radio device and may include a long range radio communications systems, such as a GSM or UMTS radio telephone.

Bluetooth enabled devices can automatically detect the presence of other Bluetooth enabled devices within range. Hence, a Bluetooth enabled mobile telephone could detect that it is within range of a Bluetooth pod offering a telephone landline interface: it could then operate using the landline as opposed to a wireless protocol such as GSM or UMTS. Similarly, it can detect when it is not in range of such an interface and can then automatically switch to operating as a cellular mobile telephone.

Reference may be made to US 5835861 to Lucent Technologies Inc., which shows a billboard that can transmit information to a mobile telephone over a rf link — e.g. the telephone number of the advertiser or other kinds of information. The billboard in effect operates as an information conduit. This exemplifies the limitations of traditional billboards as essentially promotional devices which cannot directly generate sales. The interest a passer-by may have in buying , e.g. tickets for a concert advertised on the billboard, may quickly diminish even though the user may be able to download information about the concert from the billboard.

Summary of the Invention

In a first aspect of the invention, there is an advertising billboard comprising a short range radio device operable to transmit signals to a wireless information device to enable a user of the wireless information device to enter into a commercial transaction, relating to a product, service or event advertised by the billboard, the product, service or event not being available, provided or occurring in proximity to the billboard.

Hence, the present invention inter alia facilitates end to end purchasing at the physical location of the actual billboard, taking full advantage of the impact of the advertising message of the billboard to capture a sale. This approach is an advance over the prior art, particularly US 5835861 to Lucent Technologies Inc., because that prior art does not disclose the concept of using the billboard to allow products etc. to be actually purchased (e.g. to act as the point of sale), but merely as an information conduit. In one implementation, the billboard includes an infra-red transceiver and the wireless information device includes an infra-red transceiver; the billboard and the device exchange radio messages only if they have previously exchanged an infra-red message. The approach of including an IR port speeds the discovery process since a user can set up communications between a wireless information device and a billboard each with IR capabilities simply by pointing the device at the billboard and using the line of sight IR beam to initiate selection and possible communication; if only radio was available, then in any environment where there were several radio enabled billboards and other devices, the user would need to typically navigate through a potentially long and, in the case of Bluetooth, a not very descriptive list of the names of the Bluetooth devices and then select the required target. That approach can be slow and inconvenient. Using a separate IR channel also simplifies authentication, removing the need for passwords which arises with some short range radio protocols, such as Bluetooth.

The billboard sends data to the wireless information device to enable the device to present the user with a list of one or more advertisements. When a user selects an advertisement, this causes the billboard to send data to the wireless information device enabling the device to present one or more of the following options to the user:

(i) to find out more about the product, service or event advertised; (ii) to give personal information relating to the user to the billboard;

(iii) to store in the device information relating to the product, service or event for later review by the user; (iv) to initiate a commercial transaction; (v) to complete a commercial transaction.

The user may define a profile of products, services and events of interest to the user in the wireless information device; the wireless information device may then automatically detect when it is in range of an advertising billboard advertising a product, service or event satisfying the user's profile. The user may then be automatically alerted by the device (e.g. an on-screen prompt or an audio prompt) and can then choose whether to take any further steps.

The back channel employed to communicate the user's choice is typically the channel ordinarily used by the wireless information device (e.g. GSM) or can be the back channel operated by the advertising billboard (e.g. wired IP connection). Because the source of a particular sale or enquiry can be associated with a specific billboard, the effectiveness of different billboards and their advertising campaigns can be precisely monitored. Differential, premium pricing for billboards sited in high quality locations can therefore be justified.

The advertising billboard can also transmit to the wireless information device signals defining an url. Hence, where the wireless information device include a browser, the user can automatically receive a relevant url and open the Web/WAP page of interest. This feature is particularly useful where the product/service or event advertised on the billboard can be found in a web site through conventional searching of that site, but is deeply buried or perhaps relatively inaccessible by virtue of the size of the web site. With this feature however, an interested user can be taken immediately straight to the required part of the site.

In a second aspect, there is a wireless information device programmed to inter-operate with a billboard as defined above.

In a third aspect, there is computer software programmed into a wireless information device to enable the device to inter-operate with a billboard as defined above.

In a fourth aspect, there is a method of promoting a product, service or event comprising the steps of:

(i) providing an advertising billboard as defined above; and

(ii) receiving data relating to a commercial transaction for a product, service or event from a wireless information device receiving signals or communicating with the billboard over short range radio. Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention will be describe with reference to Figure 1 which shows a an advertising billboard in accordance with the present invention and Figure 2 shows a mobile telephone communicating with that billboard to purchase tickets for the event advertised on the billboard.

Detailed Description

An implementation of the present invention called the 'Bluetooth Advert' system will be described. Its operation is best understood by giving a possible use scenario: imagine that John is walking down the high street and passes a Bluetooth Advert advertising billboard, shown in Figure 1; this includes a printed poster showing the latest music concerts at his local concert hall; the Rolling Stones are playing on the 12 March 2001. The billboard itself is also a Bluetooth transceiver and is connected to the internet over a broadband cable. John has a Bluetooth enabled wireless information device (a mobile telephone with additional functionality), shown in Figure 2, and initiates a search for the advert. When the advert appears in his Bluetooth device list he can select it and initiate a communication with the billboard with the advert. The communication link that this opens enables him to find out more information about the events and to request tickets for one of the events, as shown in Figure 2. Additional screens (e.g. requesting the number of tickets to be bought, showing available seat location, other merchandising for sale (e.g. T shirts etc.), password for verifying a transaction, confirming a transaction etc) are also displayed by the handheld device as the transaction proceeds. Electronic tickets could be delivered to the device itself, or conventional tickets sent to the user.

Any device that supports both Bluetooth and connectivity will be able to take advantage of the Bluetooth Advert and facilitate end to end purchasing at the physical location of the Bluetooth Advert. The system enables a passer by to immediately purchase something advertised on the billboard. It is effective not only in maximising impulse purchasing, but also is very convenient for users as well. Bluetooth Adverts enable advertisers to offer an immediate point of sale at the advert location. When a user is in the vicinity of a Bluetooth Advert he can search for the Bluetooth Advert using the standard Bluetooth Service Discovery Protocol, initiate a pairing (assuming such authentication is required) and then proceed to interrogate the purchase service provided by the advertiser via the billboard. Transactional information is synchronised between the advertiser's main server and the user's device using remote connectivity solutions. Privacy and device/billboard negotation issues may be handled by the system conforming to the P3P standard.

Bluetooth Adverts will often occur close together; this would conventionally require the user to perform a search of all Bluetooth enabled devices within range and then to set up a connection with the required device, in this case a particular billboard. In environments where there are many Bluetooth devices, even discovering the correct billboard from a list of ten or twenty nearby Bluetooth enabled devices can be time consuming and off-putting. The Bluetooth Advert system requires that billboards and wireless information devices include an infrared port. If a user wants his device to connect to a particular billboard, he just points the device at the billboard and does a search. The billboard is immediately discovered over infrared; all future communications happens via Bluetooth. The idea of integrating an infrared port into a device can be used not just in billboards, but in any Bluetooth device. An advantage to including a infrared port is improved authentication: when linking with a device over Bluetooth it can be hard to prove that you are talking to the correct device; it could be a similarly named device that you have discovered by mistake. To combat this, a 1 -16 digit passcode conventionally needs to be entered on both devices. This is very cumbersome and can slow down a simple operation. If infrared is used, the user knows they are communicating with the correct device as the infrared ports have to be pointing at each other. Because of this the need for a passcode can be dropped.

Claims

1. An advertising billboard comprising a short range radio device operable to transmit signals to a wireless information device to enable a user of the wireless information device to enter into a commercial transaction, relating to a product, service or event advertised by the billboard, the product, service or event not being available, provided or occurring in proximity to the billboard.

2. The advertising billboard of Claim 1 in which the billboard includes an infra-red transceiver and the wireless information device includes an infra-red transceiver and the billboard and the device exchange radio messages only if they have previously exchanged an infra-red message.

3. The advertising billboard of Claim 1 or 2 in which the billboard sends data to the wireless information device to enable the device to present the user with a list of one or more advertisements.

4. The advertising billboard of Claim 3 in which a user selecting an advertisement from the list causes the billboard to send data to the wireless information device enabling the device to present one or more of the following options to the user:

(i) to find out more about the product, service or event advertised;

(ii) to give personal information relating to the user to the billboard;

(iii) to store in the device information relating to the product, service or event for later review by the user;

(iv) to initiate a commercial transaction;

(v) to complete a commercial transaction.

5. The advertising billboard of any preceding Claim in which the user can define a profile of products, services and events of interest to the user in the wireless information device.

6. The advertising billboard of Claim 5 in which the wireless information device can automatically detect when it is in range of an advertising billboard advertising a product, service or event satisfying the user's profile.

7. The advertising billboard of any preceding Claim in which the wireless information device presents the user with a list of possible e-commerce transactions relating to a product, service or event advertised by the billboard and the back channel employed to communicate a choice of the user is the channel ordinarily used by the wireless information device.

8. The advertising billboard of Claim 1 - 6 in which the wireless information device presents the user with a list of possible e-commerce transactions relating to a product, service or event advertised by the billboard and the back channel employed to communicate a choice of the user is a back channel physically or wirelessly connected to the advertising billboard.

9. The advertising billboard of any preceding Claim in which the advertising billboard transmits to the wireless information device signals defining an url.

10. A wireless information device programmed to inter-operate with a billboard as defined in Claims 1 - 9.

11. Computer software programmed into a wireless information device to enable the device to inter-operate with a billboard as defined in Claims 1 - 9.

12. A method of promoting a product, service or event comprising the steps of: (i) providing an advertising billboard as defined in Claims 1 - 9;

(ii) receiving data relating to an e-commerce transaction for a product, service or event from a wireless information device receiving signals or communicating with the billboard over short range radio.