INTERACTIVE TARGETED INFORMATION SYSTEM

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure is enclosed in the area of information systems. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for displaying audio, visual and audio-visual contents such as advertising or other types of information.

PRIOR ART

A traditional form of advertising is the billboard wherein a static image or message is displayed. More recently billboards have been improved to use monitor screens to display moving images or messages to the audience.

Mobile advertising and marketing devices, which are usually applicable in vehicles' rooftop, are mainly static and randomly target any audience. The patent application US 2012323648 Al discloses an advertising system for mounting on a vehicle, wherein the advertising system forms an actuated billboard displaying an advertising message on a vehicle. The system is connected to a GPS signal transmitter, GPS receiver/locator and a microprocessor in order to display images based on the location of vehicle. However, the system has very limited interoperability with other modern computer systems and all of advertising messages must be pre-loaded into the microprocessor and are stored within the microprocessor.

In its turn, patent application WO 2006136109 Al discloses a vehiclebased content display system, where the information to be displayed is selected according to a particular location. The system comprises a plurality of vehicles randomly mobile throughout a broad area formed by subsets of local areas cells, each vehicle having an outdoor content display panel for displaying location-based advertisement. The system also comprises a control centre for receiving and processing location information including data identifying target vehicles in a particular cell, and processing/transmission means for wirelessly transmitting said information to only those vehicles in said particular cell for display on the display panel immediately.

However, basing the selection of information to be displayed solely on the geographic location is insufficient to guarantee an effective impact of this information on the target audience. Not only because the information selection process does not include other defining variables of the environment surrounding the exhibition site, but also because said selection process does not consider the dynamism associated with each site, in terms of audience, age groups, time of day, or weather conditions for example.

In fact, this type of solutions has the issue of being limited to one main function that is the display of a selected information, not using its surrounding environment for other purposes such as data collection, and therefore not using it as a decision factor in the selection of the information to be displayed.

In order to circumvent such limitation, document WO 2020081687 Al, discloses a system that allows the dynamic provision of media content based on sensory data related to the environment surrounding the exhibition site. For this purpose, the system comprises a plurality of displaying devices and a central unit. The displaying devices are configured to collect sensory data and to transmit it to the central unit, which will process said sensory data and based on that, it will select the media content to be displayed in the displaying devices.

In fact, in a dynamic scenario, where, for example, a displaying device is installed in a moving vehicle or on a static surface but whose target audience is in continuous motion, as is the case of an airport or shopping centre, the system has to ensure real-time or near real-time operation. In addition, the system should also be able to guarantee the security and privacy of collected environment sensory data, in order to comply with existing data protection regulations.

However, existing solutions fail to provide an effective way to ensure realtime operation, which undermines the efficient operation of the system, as well as disregard the security and privacy of sensory data that are collected and on which their decision mechanisms are based.

The present solution intended to innovatively overcome such issues.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

It is therefore an object of the present disclosure an interactive targeted information system. Such system therefore overcomes the inefficiencies of the state-of- the-art systems by enabling stream information based on data, such as location, time of the day, weather, live events, product launches among others.

For that purpose, the system includes at least one display unit configured to display selected information, at least one data collection unit configured to collect and generate processed sensory data related with the display unit's surrounding environment and at least one dynamic content selection unit for selecting information to be displayed based on at least the generated processed sensory data.

This aspect allows to improve the system actuation speed, in particular when the selection of content to be exhibit on the display units is based on image acquisition and processing. Indeed, by processing images locally, in each data collection unit, prior to its transmission to the dynamic content selection units, allows the system to operate in real time or near real-time mode while ensuring the security and privacy of the sensory data collected. The dynamic information based on sensory data brings a higher level of efficiency to the marketing action and it is adaptive, less expensive and easy to change at any moment. The sensory data collected through the data collection units can include measuring and characterizing audience per location, mapping city areas and infrastructure deficiencies as well as registering weather considerations based on the day, time and location.

It is also an object of the present disclosure, a method for operating the interactive targeted information system now developed.

DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

Figure 1 - representation of an embodiment of the interactive targeted information system of the present disclosure. The reference signs represent:

1 - data collection unit;

2 - dynamic content selection unit;

3 - display unit;

4 - protective box;

5 - interactive targeted information device;

7 - attaching means;

8 - communication unit.

Figure 2 - illustration of an embodiment of the interactive targeted information system of the present disclosure where the dynamic content selection unit (2) is located in an external entity such as a web-based server. The system being comprised by a plurality of interactive targeted information devices (5) that are connected to each other and to the dynamic content selection unit (2) by means of a bidirectional communication data link. Figure 3 - representation of an embodiment of the interactive targeted information system of the present disclosure. The reference signs represent:

3 - display unit;

4 - protective box;

6 - vehicle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates to an interactive targeted information system and respective method of operation.

In the context of the present disclosure the term information shall be interpreted as referring to any content capable of being displayed on an information display device. The content may be in video or audio-visual form. As an example, the information may relate to advertising or public warning contents.

In a preferred aspect of the Interactive targeted information system of the present disclosure, it is comprised by at least one display unit (3), at least one data collection unit (1) at least one dynamic content selection unit (2), at least one communication unit (8) and by a protective box (4).

More particularly, the display unit (3) is configured to display selected information. It may be any output device for presentation of information in audio-visual form. In an example, the display unit (3) may be an electronic visual display. In the context of the present disclosure, display unit shall also be interpreted as being provided with means for provision of sound, in such a way that information in an audio-visual format can be display by synchronizing video/image and sound data. A display unit (3) may comprise at least one 2D display module in order to display two-dimensional information. Alternatively, it may be formed by at least one 3D display or stereo display module, with the advantage of conveying depth perception to the audience. In a preferred aspect, a display unit (3) may be comprised by a combination of both 2D and 3D display modules. In a most preferred aspect of the system, the display module of a display unit (3) is a non-interactive display. In the context of the present disclosure, a non-interactive display allows the audience to observe selected information, being devoid of any input interface to control the operation the system or of the display module/display unit (3) itself.

In one aspect of the system, the display unit (3) comprises attaching means (7) adapted to attach the display unit (3) to a surface.

Regarding the data collection unit (1), it is configured to collect and process sensory data related with the display unit's surrounding environment. For that purpose, the data collection unit (1) comprises a sensory module including all the necessary technical means adapted to execute a process of gathering sensory data on variables of interest. The referred technical means may relate to sensors in the form of a device, module, machine or subsystem, that are adapted to detect events or changes in an environment and to send that data to a computer processor in order to be processed. In this regard, the data collection unit (1) is further comprised by a processing module, configured to process the collected sensory data in orderto generate processed sensory data. In an advantageous configuration of the data collection unit (1), it may be comprised by a GPS module adapted to retrieve display unit's geolocation data, or by a weather module adapted to collect weather data related to, for example, air temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, solar radiation, wind speed and direction. Additionally, the data collection unit (1) may also comprise a camara module adapted to capture sensory data of video and/or image data type. For that purpose, the camera module may comprise at least one high-definition omnidirectional camera or more preferably, it may comprise four high-definition omnidirectional cameras.

In the context of the present disclosure, the term sensory data shall be interpreted broadly, as including all the variables related with the display unit's surrounding environment such as, but not limited to location, time of day, weather conditions, as well as other types of data that may be captured by the cameras of the data collection unit (1). Consequently, the processed sensory data may relate to geolocation data, weather data, audio data, video data and image data or to a data frame including an aggregation of said types of data.

More particularly, the processing module of the data collection unit (1) may be configured to execute image and/or video processing algorithms adapted to extract content information related to at least audience characterization and urban environment and infrastructures. By audience characterization, it shall be understood as sensory data associated to physical characteristics defining traits or features of a viewer's body related to height, skin tone, body hair, hair colour and type, eye colour, body part's shapes, body deformations or other variations such as amputations, scars, burns and wounds. It may also relate to the clothing the viewer is wearing or any accessory that the viewer is carrying. For example, the extracted content information may, after being processed, reveal certain characteristics related to the clothing being worn by a viewer, which will influence the selection of the information to be presented, in particular allowing the selection of an advertising message directed to match the identified characteristic. Said characteristic may relate to any feature that may define the clothing being worn, such as its colour or type of garment. The term audience should not be limited to humans but should also include animals. Regarding the term urban environment and infrastructures, it concerns the collection of information related to the urban environment that surrounds the display unit and its infrastructure. This characterization is especially relevant for the selection of information related to public warnings, due to the occurrence of occasional situations such as road or building maintenance tasks, which are taking place in the surrounding area.

In its turn, the dynamic content selection unit (2) comprises a storage module for storing information to be displayed and processing means configured to process sensory data collected by the data collection unit (1) and to select and/or adapt stored information to be displayed based on at least the processed sensory data generated by the data collection unit (1). By processing sensory data locally, in each data collection unit, prior to its transmission to the dynamic content selection units, allows the system to operate in real time or near real-time mode while ensuring the security and privacy of the sensory data collected. More particularly, it allows to improve the system actuation speed, in particular when the selection of content to be exhibit on the display units is based on image acquisition and processing. This is extremely important in the context of the system's portability and its application in dynamic environments, for example, on top of vehicles or installed on static surfaces but in a scenario where the flow of target people is continuous, since the system has to be able to select and/or adapt the media content to be displayed in a timely-efficient manner to deal with this dynamism.

At the same time, it increases the security and privacy of the sensory data that is collected by data collection units, data that may be subject to general data protection regulation (GDPR), especially data related to image/video acquisition of the surrounding environment. Contributing to this advantage, is the fact that the sensory data is first processed in the data collection unit, in order to generate coded computational data frames, which, by abstractly categorizing the surrounding environment, guarantees the security and privacy of the sensory data collected.

As a result, the system is capable to operating in real-time or near realtime, ensuring the security and privacy of the sensory data collected by the data collection unit, which serve as the basis for selecting the information to be displayed by the display units.

Additionally, the processing module of a dynamic content selection unit

(2) is further configured to select stored information to be displayed based on time data. The communication unit (8) is configured to establish a bidirectional communication data link adapted to transmit processed sensory data and/or information stored in the storage module of a dynamic content selection unit (2), and to receive information to be stored in the storage unit of a dynamic content selection unit (2).

Regarding the protective box (4), as sketched in figure 1, it is used to encapsulate a data collection unit (1) and a communication unit (8) and to provide a surface support for attaching a display unit (3), forming an interactive targeted information device. More particularly, the protective box comprises fixing means adapted to detachably fix the box to a display site.

The dynamic content selection unit (2) may be located in an external entity and the interactive targeted information devices (5) are connected to each other and to the dynamic content selection unit (2) via the bidirectional communication data link. In a particular scenario as sketched in figure 2, the system is comprised by a plurality of interactive targeted information devices (5) which are in wireless communication with each other and/or with a dynamic content selection unit (2) via an IP-based wireless data network. The external entity may be a web-based server which comprises a web platform adapted to receive input parameters. Based on that, the processing means of the dynamic content selection unit (2) is further configured to select stored information and/or to adapt the content of stored information based on said input parameters. The input parameters may be configured by a user of the platform. In this way, the interaction with the content producers is enhanced, both in terms of selecting stored information to be presented and in terms of adapting this information prior to being presented.

The protective box (4) may also comprise fixing means (9) adapted to fix the box (4) to a display site, such as a rooftop of a vehicle (6). Preferably, the fixing means (9) are vacuum suction cups. As illustrated in figure 3, in one embodiment of the system, the protective box integrates a retractable display (3). Said retractable display (3) has an open (top figure) and a closed position (bottom figure) depending on whether the display is in operation or not, respectively.

The present disclosure also relates to a method for operating the interactive targeted information system described.

In a preferred aspect of the method, it is comprised by the following steps: detachably fix a protective box (4) to a display site, the protective box (4) enclosing a data collection unit (1) and a communication unit (8) and providing a support surface for attaching a display unit (3); collecting sensory data related with the display site's surrounding environment, by a data collection unit (1); generating processed sensory data by a processing module of the data collection unit (1), based on the collected sensory data; transmitting, by a communication unit (8), the processed sensory data to a dynamic content selection unit (2); selecting, by the dynamic content selection unit (2), an information to be displayed on the display unit (3), based on at least the processed sensory data; the information being stored in a storage module of the dynamic content selection unit (2);

Displaying the selected information on the display unit (3).

In another preferred aspect of the method, the it also includes the steps of: creating a data report based on the processed sensory data generated by the data collection unit (1); adapting the content of a selected information or selecting the information to be displayed on the display unit (3), by the processing means of the dynamic content selection unit (2), based on the processed sensory data or based on the data report created.

The report is used to gather all the sensory data related to the display unit's surrounding environment and the impact that the displayed information has on the audience. In this way it is possible to have a concrete idea of how a certain information was received by the audience as well as the dynamic factors that may influence its perception. Based on this information, the adaptation of the information to be presented or its selection is done carefully and considering all the dynamic factors.

In another preferred aspect of the method, it is further comprised by the following steps: capturing video and/or image data by a camera module; executing image and/or video processing algorithms by the processing module of the data collection unit (1), to extract content information related to at least human characterization and urban environment and infrastructures; selecting information and/or adapting the content of a selected information to be displayed on the display unit by the processing means of the dynamic content selection unit (1), based on the process sensory data.

Finally, in another preferred aspect of the method, the selection of the information to be displayed on the display unit (3) is based on time data.

As will be clear to one skilled in the art, the present invention should not be limited to the embodiments described herein, and a number of changes are possible which remain within the scope of the present invention.

Of course, the preferred embodiments shown above are combinable, in the different possible forms, being herein avoided the repetition all such combinations.