Interactive video distribution systems – Program – message – or commercial insertion or substitution
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-28
2004-04-20
Miller, John (Department: 2614)
Interactive video distribution systems
Program, message, or commercial insertion or substitution
C725S012000, C725S033000, C725S034000, C725S035000, C725S036000, C725S022000, C725S095000, C725S096000, C725S100000, C725S110000, C725S122000, C725S134000, C725S142000, C725S086000, C725S114000, C725S009000, C348S722000, C345S215000, C345S215000, C709S206000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06725460
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a system including a center system, terminal systems, and communication lines for the purpose of delivering and displaying contents, and particularly relates to a multi-media-automatic-delivery system in which data of moving-picture contents such as commercial advertisement is transmitted from a center system to a plurality of terminal systems via communication lines so as to display the contents on screens of the terminal systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Surface-radio broadcasting, satellite broadcasting, and cable broadcasting are widely used to simultaneously send the identical information to general audience residing in a wide range of areas.
When information of a local nature such as local commercials or local whether information needs to be delivered to a particular local area, however, restricting the areas of delivery is rather a difficult task.
In recent years, cable television, which is directed to providing service to a local area, has made a certain progress in market. Installation, however, is required in advance with respect to dedicated adaptors, cables, and the like. Further, cable television also has a difficult technological challenge to overcome in order to deliver information to a selected area within the area of service.
An effort to overcome these problems in the related art has resulted in certain schemes. An example of such schemes is found in a Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 10-4379 (title of the invention: Advertisement Device, Date of Filing: Jun. 14, 1996). This scheme is hereinafter called a first related-art scheme.
FIG. 16
is an illustrative drawing showing a configuration of the first related-art scheme.
The first related-art scheme includes a center
102
A having a host
10
A connected to a PHS terminal. This scheme further includes transit antennas
101
A used for communications between the center
102
A and a public telephone network, and advertisement devices
30
A establishing connection with the public telephone network via the transit antennas
101
A.
In this hardware configuration, information is delivered from the host
10
A to the advertisement devices
30
A based on telephone numbers of the advertisement devices
30
A, and intervals of the delivery may be, or may not be, constant. The delivered information is displayed or output as audio information in an order of receipt of data (i.e., in an order of received records of the delivered data). Once all the delivered information is displayed or output as audio, the same operation is repeated by going back to the beginning of the data until next information arrives from the host
10
A.
The advertisement devices of the first related-art scheme are supposed to be able to provide a diligent advertisement service at a low cost by use of the PHS terminal
20
A and the public telephone network.
These advertisement devices may be installed at convenient stores or super markets where POS registers are located. In such locations, advertisement of sales goods, notices from a local community, traffic information, a local weather forecast, or the like can be provided in a sophisticated manner at a low cost. These features are disclosed in the above-identified document.
Another example of the schemes directed to overcoming the related-art shortcomings is use of recording media such as magneto-optical memory medium (e.g., MO disk) and magnetic disks (hard-drive disks). In this scheme, data is recorded in memory media at the host
10
A, and, then, the memory media are delivered to client places where the advertisement devices
30
A are located. The memory media are loaded to reading devices of the advertisement devices
30
A so that the advertisement devices
30
A can read the data delivered in the form of recording media. This scheme is hereinafter referred to as a second related-art scheme.
In the first related-art scheme, the load on the advertisement devices
30
A is relatively light when a relatively small amount of data such as still-image information or character information is sent to the advertisement devices
30
A. In such a case, a high performance is not an absolute requirement for the advertisement devices
30
A.
In some cases, however, moving-picture information or high-definition images having a large amount of multi-media data in the range of several hundreds-mega-bytes may need to be transmitted from the host
10
A to the advertisement devices
30
A when commercials on sales goods, notices from a local community, traffic information, a local weather forecast, or the like is to be delivered. In such cases, a transmission time for the delivery of information becomes unduly lengthy, resulting in an exorbitant fee being required for a lengthy use of the communication network.
In detail, 500-Mbit data, which corresponds to one minute's worth of MPEG2 video contents comprised of moving pictures and high-definition images, may be transmitted from the PHS terminal at a data rate of 32 kbs. In this case, even if the advertisement devices run almost at their full capacity, it will take at least 4 hours and 20 minutes to complete the data transmission.
In the first related-art scheme, when moving-picture information or high-definition images having a large amount of multi-media data in the range of several hundreds mega-bytes is to be transmitted from the host
10
A to the advertisement devices
30
A for the purpose of delivering commercials on sales goods, notices from a local community, traffic information, a local weather forecast, or the like, the load on the advertisement devices
30
A is quite heavy, resulting in a need for high performance devices. Also, the communication network is required to have a high data-transfer capacity. Enhancing the speed of the advertisement devices
30
A leads to a cost increase, and use of a high-speed communication network means an increase in a communication-line-usage fee. Because of this, it is difficult to adapt the first related-art scheme to multi-media applications which employs moving pictures and high-definition images.
In the second related-art scheme, data is recorded in memory media such as magneto-optical recording media or magnetic disks (hard-drive disks) at the site of the host
10
A, and the memory media are delivered to client places where the advertisement devices
30
A are located. The memory media are loaded to reading devices of the advertisement devices
30
A so that the advertisement devices
30
A can read the data delivered in the form of recording media. This configuration requires excessive time and labor, which are spent on recording and reading of the data as well as delivery of the memory media.
Moreover, the first and second related-art schemes do not provide the host
10
A with a function of remote monitoring to monitor operation conditions of the advertisement devices
30
A. This configuration makes it difficult for the transmission side to check whether the advertisement devices
30
A are actually displaying the delivered data.
In the first and second related-art schemes, the host
10
A is not provided with a function of remote control for controlling operations of the advertisement devices
30
A. Because of this, it is difficult to check operations of the advertisement devices
30
A individually with an aim of providing diligent delivery control, remote diagnosis, remote maintenance, etc.
Further, the first and second related-art schemes do not have a function to control a schedule regarding displaying of delivered data. This makes it difficult to customize the contents of the delivered data in accordance with such particulars as seasons, date, day, and locations where the advertisement devices
30
A are installed.
Since the first and second related-art schemes do not provide a function to control a schedule regarding displaying of delivered data, it is difficult to give priority to delivered data of an urgent nature such as earthquake information, a railway accident, etc., over other delivered data.
T
Nishiyama Kiyoharu
Tsuda Kunikazu
Hoye Michael W
Miller John
Ricoh & Company, Ltd.
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