WO2003067492A1

WO2003067492A1 - System and method for offering advertisement by transportation card reader

Info

Publication number: WO2003067492A1
Application number: PCT/KR2003/000267
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sang-Ho Lee
Original assignee: Sang-Ho Lee
Priority date: 2002-02-07
Filing date: 2003-02-06
Publication date: 2003-08-14
Also published as: KR20030077952A; AU2003211291A1

Abstract

Advertisement system for offering advertisement according to user type and discharging user transportation fare is provided. The system includes: card reader, with a memory which stores various advertisement data discerned by user type, the card reader reading card identification number from user transportation card; and server computer, with a database which stores information on user type by the card identification number, the server computer transmitting to the card reader output-control signal on the basis of the information on user type, and the card reader accessing the memory, reading specific advertisement data selected by the output-control signal and outputting the advertisement data.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OFFERING ADVERTISEMENT BY TRANSPORTATION CARD READER

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for offering advertisement by transportation card reader; and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for offering advertisement through transportation card reader by exempting user's transportation fare.

The category of transportation user includes not only users who are using public transportations like buses or subways but also vehicle drivers who are using highway or tunnel .

Background Art

Lately, transportation cards are broadly used for settling transportation fare. A transportation card has an inducted coil and a capacitor. The inductor coil and the capacitor are activated by electromagnetic wave from the transportation card reader. When the transportation card is within the predetermined distance from transportation card reader, an induced current arises in the inductor coil of the transportation card by the electromagnetic wave that was transmitted from transportation card reader and electrical energy stored in the capacitor of the transportation card.

The transportation card extracts fare account information and card ID information from an IC chip by

"using the electrical energy stored in the capacitor of the transportation card and settles the account of the transportation fare.

Transportation companies charge transportation fare to transportation card issuing companies by total boarding record stored in the transportation card. In case of IC chip cellular phone card, transportation companies charge transportation fare to mobile communication companies.

Public transportation users broadly "use IC chip transportation card because users do not need to prepare boarding passes or coins.

Recently, as advertisement technology develops, various advertising materials are introduced. One of those materials is the apparatus for offering advertisement by transportation card reader. The apparatus for offering advertisement by transportation card reader is published in Republic of Korea Utility Patent No. 277061. According to the disclosed patent, users can see advertisement banner that is attached to transportation card reader. However, it is not efficient that advertising apparatus according to^' the disclosed patent advertises the same advertisement to every transportation card user. Various user-types according to time and kinds of- transportation limit the enhancement of advertising effect by the disclosed patent.

Therefore, a targeted and adequate advertisement according to various user types is necessary in order to enhance advertising effect.

Disclosure of Invention

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for advertising by a transportation card reader instead of getting exempted from transportation fare to enhance the effectiveness of advertisement .

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention-, there is provided a system for providing advertisement to a user based on user information, including a transportation card reader which has a memory that stores a lot of advertisement information, for extracting a card identification (ID) number from user's transportation card; and a server computer which has a database that stores user information corresponding to the - card ID number, for processing data based on the card ID number from the transportation card reader, wherein the server computer determines exemption of transportation fare of the user and in case of fare exemption, generates and transfers an advertisement control signal according to user type information of user information stored on the database, wherein the transportation card reader extracts advertisement information from the memory in response to the advertisement control signal and outputs ^• the advertisement .

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing advertisement to a user based on user information, including the steps of: a) receiving a card identification (ID) number through the transportation card reader from user's transportation card; b) determining exemption of transportation fare; c) extracting the user type information according to the card ID number from the database that ^■ stores user information in case of transportation fare exemption; and d) generating and transferring a advertisement control signal according to the user type information to the transportation card reader to output different advertisement according to the user type information.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for outputting advertisement based on information, including: a user

"information database (DB) for storing the user information corresponding to a card identification (ID) number, wherein the user information is classified by the user type information; a DB management unit for managing the user information DB; a receiving unit for receiving the card ID number from transportation card reader; an exemption determining unit for determining exemption of transportation fare of the user; and a transferring unit for transferring an advertisement control signal to the transportation card reader. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for providing advertisement based on user information, including: a memory unit for storing a lot of advertisement information; a first communicating unit for receiving card ID number from a transportation card; a second communicating unit for transferring card ID number to a server computer and receiving an advertisement control signal that is differentiated by the user type information from the server computer in case of fare exemption; an output unit for outputting the extracted advertisement information from the memory unit according to the advertisement control signal; and a control unit for controlling a series of process according to a programmed operation.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for advertising by transportation card reader, including the steps of: a) extracting a card ID number from user' s transportation card and transferring the card ID number to a server computer; b) receiving an advertisement control signal from the server computer, wherein the advertisement control signal is differentiated by the user type information in the server computer; and c) extracting and outputting the advertisement information according to the control signal from the memory that stores a lot of advertisement information.

Brief Description of Drawings

The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiments given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing overall network in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a transportation card reader;

Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing a server computer;

Fig. 4 is a flow chart showing a process of offering advertisement in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and Fig. 5 is a flow chart showing a process of registering advertisement information by advertiser in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Other objects and aspects of the invention will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, which is set forth hereinafter. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing overall network in accordance with the present invention. Referring to Fig. 1, network includes a transportation card reader 100, a transportation card 150, a server computer 200 and a communication network 300. The transportation card reader 100 is a terminal that carries out settlement process of transportation fare from the transportation card 150. The transportation card reader 100 provides advertisement when transportation fare of transportation card user is exempted. The transportation card reader 100 can be installed at the entrance of buses or subways, or at the toll gates of highways of tunnels.

The transportation card 150 includes a prepaid IC ch p transportation card, an IC chip credit card and an IC chip cellular phone card. The transportation card 150 has functions of settling accounts of transportation fare and transferring a card identification (ID) number to the transportation card reader 100.

A server computer 200 receives the card ID number and determines exemption of transportation fare. If the user is exempted from transportation fare, the server computer 200 generates an advertisement control signal based on user type information and transfers the same to the transportation card reader 100 to output advertisement which is differentiated by user type. The server computer 200 is a high capacity computer system including a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, a terminal interface, and a data storing unit. A typical personal computer or a workstation having high capacity of memory and processing ability can be used as a server computer 200. The sever computer 200 executes heavy mathematical computation in data processing and database searching. For example, Pentium microprocessor produced by Intel Inc. is used for CPU of the server computer 200.

The communication network 300 is a network between the transportation card reader 100 and the server computer 200.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a transportation card reader 100. Referring to Fig. 2, the transportation card reader 100 includes a memory unit 102 that stores various advertisement information in accordance with user types, a first communicating unit 104 that receives a card identification (ID) number from a transportation card 150, a second communicating unit 106 that sends the card identification (ID) number to a server computer 200 and receives an advertisement control signal from the server computer 200, an output unit 108 that produces voice, video, and text data by extracting advertisement information from the memory unit 102 by the advertisement control signal and a control unit 110 for controlling each unit.

The output unit 108 includes a speaker unit that outputs voice, a display unit that outputs video or text data and a coupon issuing unit. When a user closes the transportation card 150 to the transportation card reader 100, the card ID number is transferred to the transportation card reader 100.

The control unit 110 receives the card ID number from the first communication unit 104 and transfers the card ID number to the server computer 200.

The server computer 200 receives the card ID number from the transportation card reader 100 and determines exemption of transportation fare based on the card ID number. When the transportation fare is exempted, the server computer 200 analyzes the user type corresponding to the card ID number and transfers an advertisement control signal, which is differentiated based on the user type to the transportation card reader 100. After the second communicating unit 106 receives the advertisement control signal and extracts the advertisement information according to the advertisement control signal from the memory unit 102, the second communicating unit 106 outputs advertisement through the output unit 108. The speaker unit outputs voice data of the

' advertisement and the display unit outputs video or text data.

The coupon issuing unit issues coupons which can be used to buy items or services. Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing a server computer.

As shown in Fig. 3, the server computer 200 includes a system operating unit 202, a database (DB) management unit

204, a transceiver unit 206, an internet access unit 208, an exemption estimating unit 210 and a fare settlement unit 214. The server computer 200 further includes a user

* information database (DB) 204a, a transportation information DB 204b and an advertisement information DB

204c as databases.

The system operating unit 202 controls the server computer 200.

The DB management unit 204 extracts or stores necessary data by accessing the database.

The transceiver unit 206 communicates through the communication network 300. The transceiver unit 206 receives a card ID number from a transportation card reader 100 and transfers an advertisement control signal which is differentiated according to every user type.

The internet access unit 208 receives data transferred from advertisers and transportation companies through Internet. The transportation type information from transportation companies is stored in the transportation information database (DB) 204b and the advertisement information from the advertisers is stored in the advertisement information DB 204c.

The exemption determining unit 210 picks user who will be exempted from transportation fare settlement by a predetermined interval, random extraction, or card ID number .

The fare settlement unit 214 settles a user's account of transportation card issuing companies or mobile communication companies.

The user information DB 204a is a database having several fields including a card ID number field, a user type field, e.g., adult, college student and student, and exempted transportation fare. An additional field can store cyber-money information that is deposited in the transportation card 150.

The transportation information DB 204b is a database with several fields including user types according to time they use, bus stops, or subway stops. A field storing other useful information, e.g., users' occupation, life-

* style or life-pattern can be added.

The advertisement information DB 204c is a database storing a lot of advertisement information and having several fields including a user type and an advertisement information field. The advertisement information is also differentiated by time. Fig. 4 is a flow chart showing a process of offering advertisement in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention. The details are explained in the aspect of bus passenger but the present invention is certainly not limited to the aspect of bus passenger.

Referring to Fig. 4, at step S42, passenger boards on a bus at a bus stop and closes the transportation card 150 to the transportation card reader 100 that is installed at the entrance of the bus to request transportation fare settlement. At step S44, the transportation card reader 100 receives a card ID number from the transportation card 150.

At step S46, the transportation card reader 100 determines whether the transportation card 150 is inoperable or has enough remaining balance. At step S47, if the transportation card 150 is not operable or does not have enough remaining balance, the transportation card reader 100 outputs "inoperable" message.

^■At step S48, when the transportation card is operable, the transportation card reader 100 transfers the card ID number to the server computer 200. At step S50, the exemption estimating unit 210 of the server computer 200 determines exemption from transportation fare of user according to the card ID number. Exemption from transportation fare is - determined by the predetermined interval, random extraction, or a card ID number.

After the determination, when the transportation fare is not exempted, the system operating unit 202 transfers a settlement signal of the transportation fare to the

* transportation card reader 100 and the transportation card reader 100 settles account of user with a predetermined amount of money.

Because the transportation card operability check, the balance check and the process of transportation fare settlement are typical process of the transportation card system, detailed explanations are omitted.

At step S54, when the transportation fare is exempted at step S52, the DB management unit 204 extracts user type information according to the card ID number from the user information DB 204a and stores information of exempted transportation fare into the related field.

At step S55, the system operating unit 202 generates an advertisement control signal according to the extracted user type and transfers the advertisement control signal through the transceiver unit 206 to the transportation card reader 100.

At step S56, the control unit 110 of the transportation card reader 100 receives the advertisement control signal and extracts advertisement information based on the advertisement control signal information from the memory unit 102.' The advertisement information is classified according to user type, time, etc. For example, in case of a college student, information of "English conversation institute" is extracted. It is recommended that the memory unit 102 stores different advertisement information according to various user types by time so as to output differentiated advertisement .

At step S58, the control unit outputs the advertisement information through speaker unit or display unit. Also, a coupon issuing unit issues coupons which is used to buy items or service that are related to the advertisement according to time even if the same user boards . With the process above, bus passengers can be exempted

^* from the transportation fare by watching or listening to advertisement, or getting issued coupons. Particularly, it is very effective advertisement method because the advertisement is differentiated by the user types. The fare settlement unit 214 settles account to transportation card issuing companies or mobile communication companies according to exempted transportation fare information. The fare settlement unit 214 can settle account by paying transportation fare from cyber-money according to the usage record of transportation card 150. The cyber-money record is stored in user information DB 204a according to the card ID number. In this manner, users can use cyber-money as transportation fare.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart showing a process of registering advertisement information by an advertiser in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention.

At step S60, the internet access unit 208 of the server computer 200 provides the advertiser homepage access by using the advertiser's computer. At step S62, various transportation information that are stored in the transportation information DB 204b of the server computer 200 are delivered to the advertiser's computer through appropriate interface. The transportation information that' is information of bus stops or subway stops, or the time they use is provided by the transportation companies ._...Other information useful to advertisers, for example,^' occupation, life-style or life-pattern can be added.

At step S64, the advertiser inputs advertisement information into the server computer 200 according to the transportation information. It is recommended that the advertisement information is differentiated by time. That way even though it is the same passenger, different advertisement can be produced by the time they use.

The advertisement information is stored in the advertisement information DB 204c.

The advertisement information according to the user type is stored in the memory unit 102 of the transportation card reader 100. The advertisement for the fare-exempted user is extracted from the memory unit 102. While the present invention has been described with respect to certain preferred embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A target advertisement system for providing advertisement to a user based on user information, comprising: a transportation card reader, which has a memory means that stores a lot of advertisement information, for extracting a card identification (ID) number from user's transportation card; and a server computer, which has a database that stores user information corresponding to the card ID number, for processing data based on the card ID number from the transportation card reader, wherein the server computer determines exemption of transportation fare of the user and in case of fare exemption, generates and transfers an advertisement control signal according to user type information of user information stored on the database, wherein the transportation card reader extracts advertisement information from the memory means in response to the advertisement control signal and outputs the advertisement information.

2. The target advertisement system as recited in claim 1, wherein the user type information is classified into adult, college student and student.

3. A target advertisement method for providing advertisement to a user based on user information, * comprising the steps of: a) receiving a card identification (ID) number through a transportation card reader from user' s transportation card; b) determining exemption of transportation fare; c) extracting user information corresponding to the card ID number from the database that stores user information in case of transportation fare exemption; and d) generating and transferring an advertisement control signal according to user information to the transportation card reader to output different advertisement according to the user information.

4. The target advertisement method as recited in claims 3, wherein at step b) , the transportation fare exemption is determined by a predetermined interval, random extraction, or a card ID number.

5. The target advertisement method as recited in claims 4, wherein at step c) , the user type information is classified into adult, college student and student.

6. The target advertisement method as recited in claims 5, further comprising the step: e) deducting cyber-money that is deposited in the user's transportation card.

7^'. A target advertisement apparatus for providing advertisement to a user based on user information, comprising: a user information database (DB) for storing the user information corresponding to a card identification (ID) number, wherein the user information is classified by user type information; a DB management means for managing the user information DB;

* a receiving means for receiving the card ID number from a transportation card reader; an exemption determining means for determining exemption of transportation fare of the user; a system operating means for extracting the user information according to the card ID number from the database and generating an advertisement control signal according to the user information; and a transferring means for transferring the advertisement control signal to the transportation card reader.

8. The target advertisement apparatus as recited in claim 7, wherein the user information DB further stores cyber-money information which is deposited in the transportation card, said apparatus further comprising: a fare settlement means for deducting a predetermined amount of cyber-money from the cyber-money information.

9. The target advertisement apparatus as recited in claim 8, wherein the user information is classified into adult, college student and student.

10. A target advertisement apparatus for providing advertisement based on user information, comprising: a memory means for storing a lot of advertisement information; a first communicating means for receiving a card ID number from a transportation card; a second communicating means for transferring the card ID number to a server computer and receiving an advertisement control signal that is differentiated by user information from the server computer in case of fare exemption; an output means for outputting advertisement * information extracted from the memory means according to the advertisement control signal; and a control means for controlling a series of processes according to a programmed operation.

11. The target advertisement apparatus as recited in claim 10, further comprising: a coupon issuing means for issuing a printed coupon that is provided by the advertiser while the advertisement information is outputted.

12. The target advertisement apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein user information is classified into adult, college student and student.

13. A target advertisement method for providing advertisement based on user information, comprising the steps of: a) extracting a card ID number from a user's transportation card and transferring the card ID number to a server computer; b) receiving an advertisement control signal from the server computer, wherein the advertisement control signal is differentiated by user information in the server computer; and c) extracting advertisement information according to the advertisement control signal from a memory means that stores a lot of advertisement information and outputting the advertisement information.

14. The target advertisement method as recited in claim 13, further comprising the step of: d) printing a coupon that is provided by the advertiser while the advertisement information is outputted.

15. The target advertisement method as recited in * claim 14, wherein user information is classified into adult, college student and student.