Communications: electrical – Miscellaneous
Utility Patent
1997-07-16
2001-01-02
Pope, Daryl (Department: 2736)
Communications: electrical
Miscellaneous
C340S539230, C340S870030, C340S870030, C455S018000, C455S066100, C369S031010, C369S070000
Utility Patent
active
06169498
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention relates generally to methods and devices for communicating messages, and more particularly to methods and devices for presenting messages that are specific to locations within a particular facility.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
There are numerous occasions for which access to geographically based messages relating to a particular facility is important to a visitor of the facility. Within an airport, there are both fixed information, such as the directions to gates, and time-dependent information, such as the arrival and departure times of flights. The fixed information is presented as location-specific messages on overhead signs, while the time-dependent information is often presented on a monitor. Access to geographically based information is also important to visitors of museums, conference halls, and other facilities having an arrangement of different exhibits and displays.
One known method of presenting location-specific messages is to attach a plaque at each display. For example, each site within a museum may include a plaque that provides background information relevant to the display at the site. A concern with this method is that space considerations place limits on the depth of the commentary at each display.
Another known method is to broadcast an announcement of the location-specific message at each display. The announcement may be provided by an employee of the facility or may be a prerecorded announcement that is periodically repeated. A simultaneous announcement to a group of visitors operates well if the visitors arrive simultaneously, but a late-arriving visitor must wait for the message to restart in order to hear the beginning of the message.
As noted in U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,003 to Poch, each visitor may be equipped with a portable tape recording apparatus, such as a cassette player, that includes prerecorded narratives. The visitor is instructed to follow a set path that permits the location-specific messages to be played sequentially. An advantage of this method is that the user can start and stop the apparatus as desired. Another advantage is that facilities having visitors from various countries may dispense cassette tapes in accordance with the native language of the visitor. A disadvantage is that the recordings require that the visitor follow a predetermined order of displays. That is, the method is not responsive to the desires of the visitor, unless the visitor is willing to hunt for the location-specific messages when the prescribed order of displays is not followed.
The solution proposed in Poch is to provide each visitor with a receiver having a number of receiving channels. Each channel is associated with a different frequency. When a visitor of a museum or other tourist attraction is equipped with the receiver, messages relating to exhibits may be received in the sequence determined by the visitor. The messages are transmitted on different frequencies of the FM commercial broadcast band (88.1-107.9 MHz). When a receiver is tuned to a particular frequency (e.g., by pressing a particular key on a keyboard that is part of the receiver), the receiver announces a message. Low-power message transmitters are utilized, so that frequencies may be reused in different locations of the museum or tourist attraction. While this method provides message presentation without regard for the sequence of the demand of the user, i.e. the user may visit displays in any order, the method is subject to the disadvantages of message looping. The messages are regionally transmitted, so that latearriving users must wait until the message loop returns to the beginning in order to fully appreciate the message. That is, the user cannot change the timing of the message presentation. Moreover, there are limitations as to how many different channels can be used within the broadcast band. This limitation is more problematic if the message specific to a display is broadcast in a number of different languages, with each language being assigned a different channel.
A similar approach is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,155 to Griffin et al. Each display or exhibit in an art gallery, museum, zoo, or fair is associated with a fixed unit that is designed to provide a commentary in response to a request transmitted by a portable unit. Each visitor of the facility has a portable unit that includes an emitter that transmits the request for the start of a particular commentary. In response to the request, the fixed unit at a particular display transmits the selected commentary via a set FM channel. A single display may be associated with a number of messages, so that a user may select a particular language or may select among depths of commentary. An advantage of the Griffin et al. method is that it permits time-shifted transmissions of the same commentary, since the commentary is transmitted to different visitors on separate channels. The start time of a transmission is determined by the request received from the portable unit of the visitor. However, there are a limited number of available channels. The patent notes that if a visitor requests a commentary when all of the channels of a particular display are in use, the portable unit of the visitor may be programmed to provide an audible “busy” signal.
What is needed is a method and apparatus for communicating location-specific messages within a facility in a manner that enables each visitor to freely determine the timing of message presentation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A method and portable device for communicating location-specific messages include storing a library of such messages within the portable device having the capability of providing automated random access to the messages within the library. Each location-specific message has a content that is related to a particular geographical location within a facility. Moreover, each location-specific message has a correspondence with an identifier. At each of the geographical locations within the facility, there is a device-readable identification of the identifier that corresponds to the location-specific message having a content related to the geographical location. In one embodiment, the device-readable identification is implemented by transmitting a signal that is indicative of the identifier. The wireless transmission is received at the portable device and the indicated identifier is displayed at the device in response to the wireless reception. In another embodiment, the device-readable identification is implemented by attaching a barcode at each of the geographical locations, with each barcode uniquely identifying only location-specific messages having content related to the geographical location at which the barcode is attached.
In one embodiment, the invention is utilized to provide audible commentaries relating to exhibits, displays, or artwork within a facility such as a museum. There is a one-to-one relationship between identifiers and the messages of the message library, but there may be more than one message having content relating to a specific exhibit, display, or artwork. Thus, a visitor may select among messages distinguished by depth of audible commentary or by language. If there is more than one message specific to a location, all of the identifiers for the messages are presented.
In the preferred embodiment, the message library is contained on a recording medium that facilitates automated random access, such as a compact disk. The portable device may be a personal digital assistant (PDA) owned by the user. However, the portable device may be distributed by the operators of the facility.
In another embodiment, the portable device is used to store map information relating to various sites within a facility. The map information is fixed data that is supplemented or complemented with time-dependent information downloaded from a source to the portable device. The fixed map information and the time-dependent information may then be accessed to locate a particular site specified by the time-dependent information. For example, th
Beyda William J.
King Neal J.
Pope Daryl
Siemens Information and Communication Networks Inc.
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