Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Message storage or retrieval
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-02
2001-04-24
Vo, Nguyen T. (Department: 2682)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Message storage or retrieval
C455S517000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06223027
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image data transmission system and method in which mobile vehicles equipped with transceivers, i.e., mobile transceivers, are used as a transmission line for transmitting image data to respective stationary transceivers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An image data transmission system for a conventional electronic advertisement panel is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-55513 and is described briefly below.
FIG. 1
is a block diagram of a conventional image data transmission system schematically illustrating transmission in a subway yard. The system includes an information transmission center
1
having a production system A and a transmission system B. The production system A includes a character information production system
2
, an image and sound production system
3
, and a production console
4
to which the character information production system
2
and the image and sound production system
3
are connected. The production console
4
is connected to a transmission selecting console
9
in the transmission system B and to a monitor
5
.
The transmission system B comprises a converter
6
, a decoder
7
, and a head end device
8
to which the converter
6
and the decoder
7
are connected. The transmission selecting console
9
, connected to the head end device
8
, selects and transmits information. A modulator
10
is connected to the transmission selecting console
9
. An E/O dependent exchange device
11
is connected to the modulator
10
and to an O/E dependent exchange device
16
in a station supervisory center
15
through an optical fiber, and an automatic program controller
12
is connected to the transmission selecting console
9
. The transmission selecting console
9
is also connected to the monitor
5
.
The converter
6
receives radio waves from an existing television broadcasting station
13
. The decoder
7
converts information entered at a newspaper company and news agency
14
. The station supervisory center
15
in each railroad station comprises the O/E dependent exchange device
16
connected to the E/O dependent exchange device
11
in the information transmission center
1
through the optical fiber, a distribution supervisory console
17
connected to the O/E dependent exchange device
16
, an image distributor
18
connected to the distribution supervisory console
17
to distribute advertisement data to respective electronic advertisement panels
19
a
and
19
b
, and a monitor
19
c
, including a video projector or the like, in the subway yard. An inductive wireless information transmission system
20
is connected to the image distributor
18
and the distribution supervisory console
17
to transmit information to electronic advertisement panels
21
a
and
21
b
in moving trains. The distribution supervisory console
17
is connected to a monitor line
23
. In this drawing, T indicates a train and S indicates a subway station.
FIG. 4
is a block diagram illustrating a second conventional transmission system including a display device
24
, i.e., a signboard, a display control
25
, a mobile transmitting station
26
, and a fixed transmitting station
27
. The display control
25
comprises a receiver
28
for receiving advertisement data transmitted from the transmitting station
26
or from the fixed transmitting station
27
, a transmitter
29
for transmitting information to the mobile transmitting station
26
or to the fixed transmitting station
27
, a data processor
30
for processing the received data, a memory
31
for storing the processed data, and a control section
32
for controlling the receiver
28
, the transmitter
29
, the data processor
30
, and the memory
31
. The data is transmitted by means of radio waves or light. The display device
24
and the display control
25
constitute an electronic signboard device
36
.
FIG. 5
is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the transmitting station
26
or the fixed transmitting station
27
of the second conventional data transmission system. In this drawing, there are shown a transceiver
38
, an image data memory
39
, an image data input
40
, and a control
41
. Compressed image data is written from the image data input
40
to the image data memory
39
. The transceiver
38
reads out the contents of the image data memory
39
based on an instruction from the control
41
, and then an antenna sends out radio waves modulated with the memory contents.
Data transmitted from the transmitting station
26
or the fixed transmitting station
27
is compressed image data, and data is received at the receiver
28
.
The received data is restored in the data processor
30
.
Data transmitted from the transmitter
29
to the mobile transmitting station
26
or to the fixed transmitting station
27
is a response signal for reporting completion of a reception or resending of a request or the like to the mobile transmitting station
26
or to the fixed transmitting station
27
. The restored image data is stored in the memory
31
and its contents are displayed on the display device
24
.
FIG. 6
is a diagram of the operation of a second conventional transmission system, illustrating operation with a single mobile transmitting station
26
shown in two locations. The mobile transmitting station
26
moves on a road while transmitting display information in the neighborhood of an electronic signboard device
36
installed on a roof of a building
33
or a independent electronic signboard device
36
a
. The transmissions change the contents of the display simultaneously or sequentially. Two different positions of the mobile transmitting station
26
are shown in FIG.
6
.
As described, in the first conventional transmission system, an optical fiber is used as a transmission line for transmission of advertisement information (image information) from a transmitting means to a receiving means. This apparatus, however, requires installing optical fibers between the transmitting means and the receiving means, which is costly.
In the second conventional transmission system, advertisement information (image information) is transmitted from the transmitting means to the receiving means with a single mobile vehicle (car) used as the transmitting means that distributes advertisement information to the receiving means. The amount of advertisement information that can be stored in a memory of a car is limited, however. Therefore, if the car distributes advertisement information to a plurality of receiving means, separate cars are needed for respective receiving means. For example, in order to change advertisements in railroad stations, a plurality of cars must carry advertisement information to be displayed on the receiving means installed in the respective railroad stations, so there is a significant cost in distributing advertisements. In addition, when using a car, advertisement information may not be distributed at a desired time due to traffic conditions, creating a reliability problem.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a data transmission system and method for distributing image information to receiving means, such as electronic advertisement boards located in places where numerous displays are present, for example, in railroad stations, at low cost and with high reliability.
According to one aspect of the present invention, an image data transmission system comprises a plurality of mobile transceivers, each mobile transceiver including a memory for storing image data organized in sequential blocks; a stationary transceiver including a memory for storing image data received from the mobile transceivers; and control means connected to the stationary transceiver for determining which blocks of image data have been transmitted from the mobile transceivers to and stored in the stationary transceiver.
In a second aspect of the invention, the transmission system includes arrival detection means for detecting arrival and pausing o
Ashizaki Yoshihiro
Kaneko Koji
Kotani Akira
Kubota Hitoshi
Ono Fumitaka
Leydig , Voit & Mayer, Ltd.
Mitsubishi Denki & Kabushiki Kaisha
Vo Nguyen T.
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