Technical Field

The present invention is a system and method for identifying a vehicle for the purpose of displaying custom/private visual (still and/or video image) data (with or without sounds) preloaded by individual system users, to the driver and all passengers in that vehicle while set to parking position for refuelling at a service station, in order to deliver them private visual shows produced during, i.e. a special day celebration like a birthday party.

Current State of the Art

The demand has recently grown immense for applications that welcome individuals entering areas like a service station, or a parking lot, to turn this encounter of theirs into an amazing visual show.

In the current state of the art, the only mention of a vehicle recognition system refers to a system and method that automatically recognises and displays diagnostic information to the driver. The said system, apparently employs installed video cameras to recognise each vehicle entering a particular service station and display the information retrieved on the display located above the pump to which the vehicle heads, to insure that its tank receives fuel that perfectly matches its nameplate. Yet, this system offers a visual display of vehicle information, only. Therefore, it consistently fails and, after all, proves insufficient to deliver surprising video packages or unsolicited shows of entertainment prepared by individuals for demonstration purposes. on exclusive use of dome cameras for vehicle recognition and information display purposes. However, the cameras presently employed in service stations are usually located at area entrance. Judging by their positioning and technologies, these cameras often fail to provide just enough sight for recognition of a vehicle. This is why, delays occur recurrently in displaying the vehicle information on dedicated monitors.

In the current state of the art, the application, which is used by the vehicle recognition system in question for insuring acquisition of vehicle-specific data and their subsequent display on dedicated monitors is only enabled for a certain number of pumps at service stations. This results in lengthy queues formed by vehicle drivers who wish to make use of the application. Accordingly, growingly more numbers of drivers disfavour this option, mostly due to the prolonged waiting times caused by such limited offer and delays occurring in practical implementation of the system.

Another exemplary embodiment found in the current state of the art, when search is extended to cover local applications filed in relation to a vehicle recognition system is the patent application filed with application number TR/2016/20094, with the title“A vehicle recognition system”. This application shortly refers to a vehicle recognition system (A)“that allows for full and unrestricted access by the driver/owner of any particular passenger type or commercial vehicle designed for use in land transportation to appropriate / matching personal and private information stored in its database on the vehicle and the driver, which is comprised of a magnetic card (1 ) affixed to the vehicle for constantly recording and storing such information that are personal to the driver and/or specific to the vehicle as the make and model, servicing and maintenance status, outstanding tax obligations and open tickets, history of traffic violations, first (given) and last names, blood type of the driver etc.; a transponder module (2) that reads the information stored on such magnetic card (1 ) and sends them to the designated GPS satellite; and, a data processing and control subsystem (4) that saves and processes the data obtained immediately and then authorities to access and use the same”. As clearly suggested by the above description, this invention offers a system and method that enables access to vehicle and driver specific information, only. Accordingly, it lacks any content or offer for any video or still image output, except vehicular data.

Finally, the vehicle recognition and video-image display projection system, which constitutes the subject of our invention is expected to fill in the gaps caused by the prescribed odds and adversities, as well as the increasing extra cost burden on customers in the examples cited above until this point, by its nature and capability to properly address and effectively respond all noted issues.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention relates to a vehicle recognition and video image display projection system, which, in addition to fulfilling the above requirements, totally removes all predictable disadvantages and drawbacks, while bringing certain additional advantages, in implementation.

The first and foremost purpose of this invention is to provide a gateway for visual presentations in order to perform and share funny shows at special days and celebrations with the loved ones.

A further purpose of this invention is to allow for visual output and thereby presentation of still and video images that are optionally loaded into the system on displays installed on top of the pumps to which vehicles approach for fuelling purposes, thanks to an application pre-installed on a smart phone and a PC. analysis of still and video images either transferred from such technological devices as smart phones or PCs, PDAs or tablets or through the dedicated website, following a compatibility check.

A further purpose of this invention is to allow for visualisation of those still and video images which have undergone compatibility checks on dates and at times of desire.

A further purpose of this invention is to allow for the sending of warnings to the central mainframe computer of the system through presentation of images stored on the smart phone or other device that runs the customer application from within a vehicle by the time a certain distance or location specified by certain geographical coordinates is achieved by that vehicle relative to a target service station using the GPRS function located on the phone device.

A further purpose of this invention is to allow for identifying the pump, towards which a recognised vehicle has approached, by means of the mainframe computer receiving the vehicle approach information to the service station and the cameras installed on each pump with licence plate recognition functionality.

A further purpose of this invention is to allow for the creation of images on displays installed above the pump to which a particular vehicle enters, upon submission of the identity of the pump to which the vehicle has been detected to enter from the station mainframe PC to the central mainframe PC.

Another purpose of this invention is to allow individuals easy and fast access for downloads of the mobile app, by its nature and quality of being compatible for any Blackberry and etc.

Another similar purpose of this invention is to strengthen the webs require for running the system.

Another similar purpose of this invention is to allow the entrance of the licence plate information to the master PC manually in case license plate reader is not used.

Another similar purpose of this invention is to enable each vehicle to present different visuals by configuring each of their licence plates in the system, which can run through processors at pump islands.

Since various structural and characteristic features of, and all benefits that this invention has to offer are revealed to the slightest detail on the illustrative drawings, a brief description of which is provided below, in combination with cross-references made in the lexical context hereof to these drawings for convenience and ease of reference, it is highly recommended for the readers to consider both these drawings and the detailed explanations together, before making an overall assessment to draw a final judgement on patenting eligibility and genuineness of this invention.

Brief Description of Drawings Supplied as An Aid for a Better Understanding of the Invention

The“vehicle recognition & video-image display projection system”, which forms the subject of this application, is fully illustrated on the drawings attached, consisting of: recognition & video-image display projection system” forming the subject of this invention.

It should be noted that the drawings should not necessarily fit with actual scale of a fully functional system and unnecessary details might have been eluded/ignored to assure a proper insight to the invention in its presented embodiment. Apart from this, components that are, or, at least have functions identical with one another are marked with identical numbers to bring about unity between the textual and visual contents.

Explanation of Part References

1. Vehicle recognition & video-image display projection system

2. Cell phone

2.1. Mobile application

3. Central Mainframe PC

3.1. Application

4. Master PC

5. Terminal Description of the Invention in Detail

This section describes the preferred embodiments of the vehicle recognition & video- image display projection system, in such a manner that guarantees a better insight to the concept, while avoiding to imposing any limiting, restraining effect upon the readers.

As shown in Figure-1 , the vehicle recognition and video-image display projection system (1 ) comprises a mobile application (2.1 ) that handles the uploads and transfer installed on the mainframe PC (3) to enable automatic downloading of the same images into the system, a master PC (4), which allows for system operation and automatic detection of warnings, and a whole station as establishment area where the camera network used for licence plate recognition is set up and operational.

As Figure-1 illustrates, the vehicle recognition and video-image display projection system forming the subject of the present invention is loaded and installed on smart phones (2) running such operating systems as android, IOS, blackberry, etc., by means of an ad hoc mobile application (2.1 ). Once the user registration process is over with designation by the user of a name and a password, the user is asked to provide information on him/herself as well as on his/her vehicle. Any video film, photographic image, clip etc. that an individual would wish to have displayed across the system can then be uploaded to the mobile application (2.1 ). While the upload is in progress, the user is further asked to specify the date and time by which he/she wishes the video/image in transfer to be displayed. Once the fuel tank of the vehicle is filled completely, the pump hose will be removed and a short while after the vehicle’s leaving the establishment, video/image projection will end. The uploaded image is then transferred by the application (2.1 ) to the master PC (4). Upon receipt, the master PC (4) checks the transferred video/image for compatibility, assuring that the date and time information input by the sender during the uploading process are correctly received. Once compatibility of the video/image received is either proved or disproved, the master PC (4) sends an SMS of the result to the smart phone (2) that originated the upload through the mobile application (2.1 ).

The mainframe PC (3) will receive installation of the application (3.1 ) as suitable for the OS it runs. Once the user name and password is registered for use within the application (3.1 ), the authenticated user will be required to configure his/her personal information. Once after the video/images thus uploaded either via the mobile application (2.1 ) are checked and analysed for compatibility with the system through the master PC (4), the latter will transmit a ‘confirmation’ signal to the central displayed by the system. Thereby the desired video/images are prepared for broadcast in synchronisation with the expected time of the target vehicle’s showing up at the entrance gate of the service station (5).

In order for the master PC (4) to gain access to the distance coordinates of the vehicle, the smart phone (2) running the mobile application (2.1 ) should have its GPRS feature enabled. The actual distance of the vehicle to the service station (5) is communicated to the master PC (4), which triggers the transmission of a warning signal by that computer to the central mainframe PC (3), for timely preparation of video/images to be displayed, before the vehicle enters the service station (5). Each vehicle making its entrance to the service station (5) is reported to the central central mainframe PC (3) following identification of the pump island it takes by the master PC (4) through the cameras provided with licence plate reading functionality on top of every pump island. In cases where a licence plate reader is not used by the host establishment, licence plate information is allowed to be entered to the mainframe PC (3) manually. Thereby the central mainframe PC (3) will mediate and insure that the relevant bunch of video/images are displayed on the screen located on top of the related pump island.

Once after the vehicle enters the station (5) and the video/image displayed on island screens, the pump hose is removed from the vehicle and the vehicle is allowed to proceed its motion off the establishment for a while, by the end of which the video/image fades out and screen turns black. If the user cancels any desired video/image output by tapping an associated button on the mobile application (2.1 ), then the auto-infotainment system prevents any further broadcast thereof at pump islands configured in it.

The working principle of the vehicle recognition & video-image display projection system (1 ) forming the subject of the present invention involves the uploading and transfer of the desired visuals such as video films, still images, etc. through the transmission begins, the receiving subsystem will check and verify the video/image batch for compatibility. Following this, the files thus checked and verified will be sent to the central mainframe PC (3) along with a notice demanding preparations to be finished on or before the desired deadline (user specified date). The confirmation of the visuals for compatibility is transmitted to the smart phone (2) running the mobile application (2.1 ) as an SMS. On the desired date and time, information on the exact geographical location of the vehicle on the road of approach to the station (5) is automatically communicated to the master PC (4), thanks to the mobile tracking feature enabled on Global Packet Radio Service module of the smart phone running mobile application (2.1 ). On receipt of the said information, the master PC (4) will convey the same to the central mainframe PC (3) to initiate the preparation procedure for visuals. Next, by the time the target vehicle enters the station (5), the pump-top video cameras with licence plate reading functionality identify the pump island to which the vehicle directly heads. Following this identification, the pump island information so generated is transferred to the master PC (4), for origination of the (3)‘play’ command signal to the central mainframe PC (3). Thereby the central mainframe PC (3) will mediate and insure that the relevant bunch of video/images are displayed on the screen located on top of the related pump island. This is how the vehicle recognition & video-image display projection system actually works.