WO2003017131A1

WO2003017131A1 - System and method for determining audience characteristics

Info

Publication number: WO2003017131A1
Application number: PCT/AU2002/001102
Authority: WO
Inventors: Walter John Adamson
Original assignee: Walter John Adamson
Priority date: 2001-08-15
Filing date: 2002-08-15
Publication date: 2003-02-27
Also published as: AUPR704101A0

Abstract

A system and method for determining the characteristics of consumers located in a region of interest (320). The system includes detection means (140) for detecting the presence of consumers in the region of interest (320), a subscriber database (410b) of a service provider operating a wireless communication network (130) for storing consumer information of consumers subscribed to the network and an affiliation database (146) for storing information on affiliates, such as advertisers, and on consumers in the region of interest (320). The consumer information in the subscriber database (410b) is compared to the information stored in the affiliation database (146) by a comparator (420) to obtain matched consumers. A profile of the matched consumers is then generated according to the characteristics of the matched consumers. The system subsequently makes a selection, based on a set of rules, as to what promotional information of an affiliate is transmitted to the matched consumers, or a subset thereof, and displayed on an electronic display means (310) to the matched consumers in the region of interest (320).

Description

"SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING AUDIENCE CHARACTERISTICS"

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method for determining the characteristics of consumers located in a region of interest. Having determined characteristics of the consumers, the system may transmit promotional information to the consumers that is most likely to be relevant to the consumer's needs.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Advertising companies are searching for ways to make advertising more relevant to specific audiences. Various demographic analysis systems exist to analyse databases of consumer information and habits, in order to more specifically target the most relevant consumers with product service information.

Additionally, in both indoor and outdoor settings, electronic signs are a new and dynamic solution to brand marketers. The key challenge is to target the right message to the right audience. Electronic signs can take advantage of content management^ programmed to try to match an audience with an advertiser's desired market. This can be done by geo-demographic analysis, that is knowing when and where certain demographic groups are, or more particularly when they^' can be reached by an electronic advertising medium. Previously, electronic advertising mediums analyse and customise advertising programs and display them according to a schedule. This can be very useful in areas in which the patterns of the audience are regular and predictable. However, in many cases the audience pattern is difficult to predict.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the present invention provides a system for determining the characteristics of consumers located in a region of interest comprising: means for detecting the presence of consumers in said region of interest; -31/13

a subscriber database of a service provider operating a wireless communications network for storing consumer information of consumers subscribing to said wireless communications network; an affiliation database storing information on affiliates and on consumers in said region of interest, including information on regions of interest nominated by each affiliate; wherein said consumer information in said subscriber database is matched to the information stored in said affiliation database to obtain matched consumers, whereupon a profile of the matched consumers is generated according to characteristics of each of the matched consumers; said system subsequently making a selection according to a set of rules as to what promotional information of an affiliate is to be transmitted to said matched consumers or a subset of said matched consumers; said system further comprising electronic display means for displaying to said matched consumers in said region of interest the selected promotional information.

Preferably, having determined the characteristics of consumers in the region of interest, advertising is displayed to the consumers on a medium that may be controlled with respect to the contents of the display. In a preferred embodiment, the advertising display is a computer controlled display that may dynamically display any one of a range of advertisements under the control of the computing means. Of course, the means for displaying advertisements to consumers may comprise any means of displaying advertisements including the visual display of a consumer's mobile communications device! The presence of consumers in a region of interest may be determined by use of the mobile communications device of each consumer. In: particular, for consumers carrying a mobile telephone handset, their location may be determined by a telecommunications service provider as a result of the signals transmitted by that mobile telephone handset. Alternatively, other mobile communications devices may be used to determine the location of consumers such as personal digital assistants that are connected to a local area computer communications network. Having determined the location of a consumer, the presence of that consumer in a region of interest may then be determined.

The size of the region of interest may vary depending upon many factors. In the instance where the region of interest relates to a fixed advertising display, the size of the region of interest will depend upon the visual range for which consumers may view the advertising display. Alternatively, where the region of interest relates to a particular shop or a shopping mall, the region of interest is most likely to be comparatively larger.

The characteristics of an individual consumer may be predetermined as a result of the consumer completing a questionnaire designed to identify the consumer's purchasing characteristics. This information may be stored in a database for subsequent reference. Alternatively, in one embodiment, the characteristics of consumers are derived from existing databases of information relating to the consumption characteristics of a consumer. For example, the consumption characteristics of consumers may be derived from records held by the consumer's telecommunications service provider. In this respect, the consumption habits of telecommunication services may be analysed in an attempt to determine other likely consumption habits of consumers.

By determining the characteristics of a collection of consumers including their purchasing habits, the system may determine or assess whether the consumers, or any one particular consumer, is of interest to particular suppliers of goods or services. In this respect, the system preferably includes a database of suppliers of goods and/or services and an indication of the characteristics of a consumer that are of interest to the individual suppliers. Accordingly, once consumers in a predetermined region of interest have been identified, and the characteristics of those individual consumers has been analysed, the system may select advertising to be displayed to those consumers taking into account their characteristics.

Instead of selecting advertising to be displayed to consumers whilst they are in a region of interest, the system may transmit specific⁵ Offers to consumers via their mobile communications device.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of determining the characteristics of consumers located in a region of interest comprising the steps of: detecting the presence of consumers in said region of interest; storing consumer information of said consumers in a subscriber database of a service provider operating a wireless communications network, said consumers subscribing to said wireless communications network; storing information on affiliates and on consumers in said region of interest in an affiliation database, including information on regions of interest nominated by each affiliate; -29/13

matching said consumer information stored in said subscriber database to said information stored in said affiliation database to obtain matched consumers; generating a profile of said matched consumers according to characteristics of the matched consumers; subsequently selecting, according to a set of rules, promotional information of an affiliate to be transmitted to said matched consumers or a subset of said matched consumers; and displaying the selected promotional information to said matched consumers in said region of interest. In an alternative embodiment, the method includes the subsequent step of transmitting a specific offer to a consumer whilst they are in the region of interest taking into account the consumer's characteristics.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will hereinafter be described in preferred embodiments, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating the main components of an embodiment of a system according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a block diagram of a wireless mobile telephone system including location and proximity determination systems;

Figures 3A, 3B and 3C illustrate various geographic regions proximal to an electronic advertising display;

Figure 3D is a flow chart showing examples of one implementation of the invention; Figure 4A is a block diagram of an offer display system;

Figure 4B is a schematic drawing illustrating a comparator method- Figure 5 is a schematic of an affiliation control database; Figure 6 is a schematic of a location offer database; Figure 7 is a schematic of a telephone operator subscriber database; Figure 8 is a flow-chart of an offer display processing system;

Figure 9 is a schematic of a master schedule database; Figure 10A is a block diagram of an alternative offer display system; Figure 10B is a schematic of mobile identifier list extracted from the affiliation control database; Figure 11 is a block diagram similar to Figure 1 but including a LAN and in-building network; and -28/13

Figure 12 is a flow-chart of an alternative offer display processing system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS It is to be understood that although the words electronic sign, and electronic advertising are used in this description, the invention is not limited in its application to any particular form of programmable advertising in response to the determined characteristics of an audience. For example, the invention could be used to determine the characteristics of an audience in a theatre and advertising displays selected in response to those characteristics. The invention could be applied to a concert hall, a sporting arena, or a large-scale shopping mall display, or a small-scale display in a specialised service area such as a medical clinic.

Figure 1 illustrates a system used to determine the characteristics of consumers located in a region of interest. Once the characteristics have been determined, the system transmits promotional information, such as advertisements, to consumers based on selection criteria.

More particularly, Figure 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a wireless cellular telephony network 130 incorporating a means to locate a mobile station 150 within one of its cells 205. This function is usually initiated by a control message, such as in the GSM system a CALL TRACE message, which gathers channel information and call related information. This information is supplied to location determination equipment 240 that then generates location information with respect to the mobile station 150 based^" upon input received from the control channels in communication with the station via the Mobile Service Centre 230 (MSC). Other forms of cellular wireless systems, other than GSM, have similar functions and capabilities. ^'

The location determination equipment 240 may also take information from a plurality of other location determining sources, internal to and external to the normal control channels (not illustrated). For example it ^"may be in communication with a GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) means of location determination with respect to a mobile station 150. There may be several sources of location information, which are then integrated to provide the best or most accurate raw location information about the location of the mobile device. The location determination equipment 240 cross-references the location information with service and user information associated with the -27/13

mobile station 150. The location information can then be accessed and beneficially utilised by third-party services such as the proximity resolution system 250.

Preferably, location information of a mobile station 150 can be obtained with a reasonable degree of accuracy. The location determination equipment 240 may also be able to support asynchronous location update (i.e. a request and response) as well as synchronous location update (i.e. timer-based, or event-based updates). The type of mobile station or communications protocols used should not limit the ability of the location determination equipment 240 to provide location information. For example, the mobile station and location determination system may be based upon GSM, or CDMA or other standards, each of which are equally useful for the purpose of implementing this aspect of the system.

Figure 2 illustrates schematically the relationships between a cellular wireless network comprising a mobile device 150, interacting in a cell 205 with a base station 210. The base station 210 feeds into an MSC 230 and the cellular network, through the MSC 230 links to a location determination system 240 capable of determining location for the mobile station 150.

It is to be noted that the location determination equipment 240 may be considered to be integral with the MSC 230 and its service point within the wireless cellular network 130. Figure 2 shows the location determination system 240 separately.

Figure 2 shows the location determination equipment 240 linked to a proximity resolution system 250. The location determination system 240 and proximity^{" "}resolutions system 250 together determine, from a given location of a mobile station 150, whether that location is within a pre-determined region of interest. The predetermined regions of interest, include regions of interest to advertisers and retailers/distributors of goods/services. The location determination system 240 locates the wireless device, and the proximity resolution system 250 then determines if the device is within a particular region. The results of this determination, which may be from a third- party provider, are transferred to the mobile network operator 130.

The location of a mobile station 150 may be identified by geographic coordinates, and represented according to the requirements of the location determination and proximity resolution systems (240 & 250). The frequency of -26/13

location detection cycles may be synchronous or asynchronous, and may be initiated by the operator or an electronic advertising management system 110.

As a result of a location detection cycle implemented by the wireless telephone system and network 130, subscriber information records 155 are extracted from a subscriber database of all subscribers for those subscribers located in a region, or regions, of interest. These records are obtained from the telephone companies who have access to databases of information about their subscribers 410b. Telephone companies must validate and authorise subscribers in their networks, and subscribers with active mobile devices are monitored with respect to their presence and state. Records of subscribers contain details of the cost of calls (e.g. the call plan), and any restrictions, as well as references to account details such as name, age, address, amount spent last billing cycle, credit performance etc. Accordingly, the subscriber account records of telephone companies contain a rich source of information about the characteristics of users which can be used for many purposes including assessing the market segment in which the users reside for various goods or services.

Market segment information can be associated with a subscriber and used for the purpose of targeting advertising and promotional messages to that subscriber. In this instance, whilst an individual is considered to be a subscriber from the point of view of a telephone company, the individual is also considered a potential consumer of goods and/or services from the point of view of advertisers. Figure 4B illustrates a database of records of consumers in regions of interest (450) that is generated by comparing a telephone operator's subscriber database 410b and an affiliation database 146. The affiliation database 146 stores information on affiliates and on consumers in the region of interest. Affiliates may be advertisers and the like.

The information about a subscriber preferably includes characteristics such as age, sex, billing address or postal code, and amount of last invoice from the telephone company.

If additional information is made available such as the average number of telephone calls per period or the number of SMS or instant messages sent per period or the average time per period browsing the Internet from the mobile device then this information may also be used as representative of the characteristics of a subscriber/consumer. -25/13

A consumer analysis subsystem 430 then generates a profile of the consumer according to their characteristics for use by advertisers to determine which advertising programs will have a greater likelihood of success.

In an embodiment, the subscriber information 155 of the telephone operator's database 410b for subscribers with active mobile stations 150 in nominated regions of interest is generated. A region of interest 320 is illustrated in Figures 3A, 3B and 3C as being proximal 320 to the viewing area of an electronic display means such as an electronic advertising sign 310. The subscriber information 155 is analysed to form the "consumer in region of interest" consumer on-location database 450, and preferably contains information relating to characteristics of the subscribers present in the location of interest.

In Figure 3D, there is shown a flow chart comprising a series of sequential steps depicting consumers, who are collectors of cards pertaining to particular sporting events, being targeted by advertisers.

A consumer analysis sub-system 430 analyses the on-location database 450 to determine the most appropriate advertising and promotional message for the consumers at the location of interest. For example in the region of interest, if the number of males older than 40 exceeds 50% of the population of consumers, advertising program A may be activated. Or, if the number of females less than 20 years old is more than 35% of the population of consumers then activate advertising program B. Alternatively, if the population contains more than 100 people who send more than 30 SMS messages per month then initiate advertising program C on a nominated advertising system. Such a determination can be implemented by a rule-based analysis of the database 450. The rules may be ordered, or unordered, and may be applied once or several times on the one population of consumers within a time period, effecting more than one advertising program. This process, and the establishment of this process, would most likely be arranged between an operator of a system according to the present invention and advertising agents who operate the electronic sign. The operators of the sign, and the operators of a system according to the present invention, may in practice be the one and the same.

The consumer analysis sub-system 430 may apply a "rules"-based approach. Such "Business Rules" typically contain a condition rule and a resultant action. The rules, and the resultant action, contain keywords -24/13

recognised by the system. Such keywords preferably refer to items of interest to advertisers from among the consumer characteristics and have an agreed definition. The keywords can form part of the condition, or the action part of an operative rule. For example, in the following example "women" is a keyword, and the word "age" and "advertising pack" are also keywords:

IF there are more than 20 women of age over 35 TRIGGER Advertising Pack A.

The TRIGGER function comprises one or more actions which produce an advertising outcome responsive to the population of consumers, and which may even cause direct communication with all or some of the consumers. In general, actions may be a pure action, a computation (creating new information which may be acted upon) or an inference which creates a new fact. An example of the latter is a complete statement that tests conditions and, upon establishing them to be true, establishes the truth of a new fact (e.g. "If a member of the audience has a gold credit card then the member is of preferred status.")

The keyword "advertising pack" as a resultant action is an action comprising a number of steps, and includes an "advertising program", which can be interpreted by the electronic advertising management system 110.

The TRIGGER function is embodied in the display and messaging subsystem 440 whose function is to communicate to the electronic advertising management system 110 in a format and protocol recognised by that system. This occurs via the advertising offer control channel 180, and the protocol may vary according to the particular embodiment of the system controlling the electronic sign. The logical format of the communication is to initiate an advertising program, thus an illustrative example of such communication would convey:

the advertising program identifier - what is to be displayed; the commencement time, and duration; a link or termination action upon completing the program (e.g. next program).

It may be, according to different electronic advertising management -23/13

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system codes and formats that the program identifier points to a self-contained program, which itself contains all the other variables such as, start time, duration, and successor advertising programs.

Steps executed by the consumer analysis subsystem 430 can be illustrated with example rules, such as:

IF subscribers are more than 80% women,

AND more than 50% women less than 29 years old,

TRIGGER Advertising Pack Number 16B.

10 IF more than half subscribers are more than 45 years old,

TRIGGER Advertising Pack Number 3C.

IF more than 40 subscribers reside in postcodes 3193,3192,3191

TRIGGER Advertising Pack Number 8A.

IF less than 25% of subscribers send less than 10 SMS messages per

15 month

TRIGGER Advertising Pack Number 11 F.

Thus the TRIGGER function requests a particular advertising pack to be displayed on the electronic sign in response to the population of consumers

20 proximal to the sign and with their mobile devices active, according to a determination performed by the method of the invention.

An advertising pack comprises a number of steps including communicating with the electronic advertising management system 110. For_. example, a decision table can represent a pack:

25

The TRIGGER function was invoked, according to a rule or rules, in -22/13

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response to a condition of the population. This condition may apply to the whole population, or may apply to a sub-set of the population. Whichever it applies to this group can be taken as the "active-set" of the population. That is, if the TRIGGER identifies a subset, such as women over 30, then that subset becomes the "active-set", unless otherwise specified by the rules. In general, it is intended that in an embodiment of the invention the population of interest to an advertiser, as selected by the rules, becomes the active-set of consumers - embodied in the consumer on-location database 450.

A TRIGGER function comprises one or more steps, and in one embodiment, an Advertising Pack contains one or more steps, and compound information. For example the TRIGGER function, or the Advertising Pack, incorporates the steps of:

• communicating an advertising program to the electronic advertising management system; and

• communicating a message or offer to the active-set of consumers.

So, in conjunction with a particular advertising program, a second action is taken in response to the characteristics of consumers. This second action is to communicate a further message to the mobile devices of the population or an "active-set" of the population of consumers proximal with the sign. This further message can be in any form acceptable to mobile devices, that is it may be a voice message, an e-mail, a text or SMS message, or a web- based message, or a logo or screen message. The purpose of this message is to bring to the attention of the consumer the advertising program that is to be displayed, or is being displayed, concurrently with the presence of the consumer proximal to the electronic advertising sign.

The message may propose to consumers a wide variety of actions, for example:

• to look at or to view the electronic sign;

• to attend to a store or sale or location during the display period of the current electronic advertising program in order to gain a benefit (e.g. a discount);

• to call back or to send back via a message a response during the display -21/13

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period of the current electronic advertising program in order to gain a benefit;

• to view the electronic display and to note a feature of the display and to call or to send a message indicating that feature in order to receive a benefit (e.g. send an SMS message with indicia of the feature to win something);

• to view the electronic display and to note a feature of the display and to attend a nominated store or sale or location and to quote the feature and receive a benefit.

Thus, the present invention provides for not only electronic advertising in response to characteristics of a population proximal to the display, but also for interaction between the population and the display via mobile device means.

In another embodiment, a system incorporating the invention receives the subscriber information 155 of the telephone operator's database 410b for subscribers with mobile stations 150 active in the nominated location of interest.

In conjunction with subscriber information 155 from the wireless network 130, the location management sub-system 410 passes the relevant location offer database 600 record to the affiliation comparator sub-system 420. The latter sub-system checks the affiliation list 640, and the items, if any, in the list namely affiliation identifier 641 , 642 643 etc. If the list 640 is null then the comparator sub-system 420 passes all subscriber information records through to the consumer analysis sub-system (equivalent to the first embodiment described above). If the affiliation list is not null then^' each item,^' affiliate identifier 641 etc, retrieved and used as a pointer to the affiliation control database. The affiliation control database is essentially the affiliation database 146 with records 500 therein.

At this point in the process a location 510 has been checked, and subscribers 155 found to be active in the viewing coordinates 620 of the sign. In addition, an affiliate 510 has been found to have a registered interest 640 in the location in question.

For each non-null item in the affiliate list 640 the associated affiliate control record is retrieved and interpreted by the affiliation comparator subsystem 420. If the current system date/time is within the window of the affiliate's global date/time 530 then the analysis continues, otherwise the affiliate is dropped from this cycle. The comparator 420 then compares the locations of interest list 520 nominated by the affiliate with the current location identity 610. If the current location 520 does not match a location of interest to the affiliate 520 then the affiliate 510 is dropped from this cycle. Next, for an active location of interest 522 to the affiliate, the current system date/time is compared to the location date/time 526 specified by the affiliate for that location 522. If the current system date/time is within the period 526 then the affiliate 520 remains in the cycle, otherwise the affiliate is dropped from this cycle.

At this point, the affiliates that remain in the cycle have been verified to have a preference for the location 610 & 522 being checked, at the current date and time, and the affiliate identifier 510 is then used by the affiliation comparator sub-system 420 to select the associated affiliation database 146 for the selected affiliate. The comparator sub-system cycle applies this complete process to each affiliate in the affiliate list 640 of the location offer record 600 for the current location. The cycle continues as the subscriber information 155 is then matched to member records 550 in the selected affiliation database 146 by the affiliation comparator sub-system 420. The purpose of this comparison is to find and identify consumers, proximal to the electronic sign, who are of particular interest to the affiliate. The affiliate may be an advertiser, a club, a special interest group, a government body, or any other group who can provide a suitable database.

When a subscriber is matched to a member entry 550 in the affiliation database 146, the affiliation comparator sub-system 420, among other things, appends additional member information 556 from the affiliation database record, while creating the consumer on-location record 460b. Thus the consumer on-location record 460b then contains a Part A 464b sourced from the telephone company's subscriber database, plus a Part B 466b sourced from the affiliation database 146. In this way, the affiliate can attach additional demographic or other information to be later checked by the business rules, to enable a better selection of an active-set of consumers proximal to the sign. The active-set so chosen, may be more precisely chosen, and then once chosen may be more precisely targeted for a specific advertising program to be displayed.

For example, if an affiliate who is a credit card company, appends information about the average amount spent on the card per month, and the average balance remaining per month, then this can be useful to the consumer -19/13

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analysis sub-system 430. In this instance, rules can be written for the consumer analysis sub-system 430 to determine how many people have large amounts outstanding, and then to select an advertising pack which offers refinancing or alternative financing, or an alternative credit arrangement with a more attractive interest rate.

In general, the more demographic and statistical information can be appended to the base subscriber information 464b, the more the consumer analysis rules can find targeted and specific groups, or more relevant groups, as recipients of advertising from the electronic sign 110 & 120. The comparator 420 produces two different output consumer on- location database 450 contents. The incoming records from the telephone operator's subscriber database 410b represent all subscribers active in the location of interest. In a first embodiment the comparator appends selected affiliation database member 550 information with subscriber information 155 when the subscriber is a member of the affiliation database 500. Subscribers who are not members have a null Part B 466b created in the consumer on- location record 460b. The fact that this Part B is null is known to the system, and the rules in the consumer analysis sub-system 430 may be tested. In a second embodiment, only those subscribers who are both received from the telephone operator's database 410b and match a member 550 of the affiliate database 146 are used to create the consumer on-location database 450. Thus the second embodiment must create less than ^"or equal to the numbej of records in the consumer on-location database as the former.

In an alternative embodiment, every subscriber 155 that matches with a member record 550 from an active affiliation ^"database 146 at least has some items added to the associated Part B affiliation information 466b of the on- location record 460b. The information is derived by the comparator sub-system 420 from the affiliation control record 500 of the affiliate being processed. For example, the Part B 466b includes a priority indicator 523 for the location 522, and a bid value 524. Both of these items are set by the affiliate by reference to economic and commercial benefits to be gained by advertising at the location 522. The priority indicator would be in a range set by the operator of a system and could be in a range of 1 to 10, 10 being highest priority. The bid value 524 could contain two components - an absolute bid value 524a and a per customer bid value 524b. This alternate embodiment would append these items to the Part B 466b of the consumer on-location record 460b as the -18/13

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comparator 420 matches the subscriber information to the selected affiliation database.

Advantageously, the above alternate embodiment provides additional information from the affiliate control record 500, with respect to the location of interest, to be associated with consumers relevant to that affiliate. Because the comparator 420 checks the complete list of nominated affiliates 640 for each location 610 and for each subscriber identified 155 in the location, the on- location database 450 may contain Part B 466b content from a number of affiliates. It may also contain multiple records per subscriber, where a subscriber has been identified more than once in more than one membership of an affiliate database 146. In this case the consumer on-location record 460b created by the comparator 420 contains the same Part A 464b for each subscriber, but a different Part B 466b. This is because the Part B reflects appended information from the affiliation database 146 and the subscriber 155 may be included in the database of a plurality of affiliates.

In the case of different Part B 466b components for records associated with one subscriber, the rules of the consumer analysis sub-system 430 would be responsive to the different contents and the potentially different keywords that must be known.

With these more complex records in the consumer on-location database 450, potentially comprising multiple records per consumer, the consumer analysis subsystem can apply more complex rules. For example:

IF more than 5 consumers have Affiliate-1 gold cards,

AND are members of Affiliate-2 club

TRIGGER Affiliate-2 Advertising Pack Number 4.

IF more than 12 women consumers have sent more than 10 SMS messages in the last month, AND spent more than $800 month with Affiliate-3 card

TRIGGER Affiliate-3 Advertising Pack Number 7.

IF more than 6 customers are over 35 and have a housing loan with

Affiliate-4,

AND own shares in Affiliate-5 TRIGGER Affiliate-5 Advertising Pack Number 23B. -17/13

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In a further embodiment the invention provides for resolution of conflicting offers to consumers, which may occur during analysis 430. This is the case where multiple affiliates have attached Part B components to the on- location consumer record 460b. It may be commercially desirable to provide for affiliates to be ranked in order best to allocate the scarce resource of the electronic advertising sign. For example, the affiliation control record 500 contains a location bid value 524. The location bid value 524 exemplary contains an absolute bid value 524a and a per-customer bid value 524b.

In a system incorporating this further embodiment of the invention the determination of a priority affiliate could be determined by various means including:

• select, for analysis 430, only those records belonging to the affiliate or affiliates with the highest location priority as set in the affiliation control record;

• select for analysis the records belonging to the affiliate with the highest absolute bid value 524a for the location 522;

• select for analysis the records belonging to the affiliate with the highest total value when multiplying the number of subscribers matching 420 with the affiliate database 146 of that affiliate 510 times the per-customer bid value 524b set by the affiliate. The affiliate with the highest aggregate total of per- customer bid value 524b times the number of m,e,mbers selected by matching with subscriber information 155 is chosen.

Thus, in this embodiment, the records retained in the consumer on- location database 460b are only those that are selected as illustrated above and these are then the target of the rules of the consumer analysis sub-system 430.

In one embodiment of the invention the affiliates, from their affiliation database 146, provide member information, which includes at least a mobile, identifier for a member. These mobile identifiers extracted from affiliates Figure 10B are used as the mobile number to be used in an outgoing proximity request (refer to Figure 2) to the mobile network 130. The request 1010 to the network 130 contains a location identifier 610 & 910 and a mobile identity 1030. Responses from the network 130 contain subscriber information 155 as expected by the system 400. This embodiment provides for affiliates to -16/13

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specifically check for the presence of their members 550 in an area proximal to an electronic sign. For instance, in a football stadium 320, an affiliate could check for the presence of their members and then according to the response, send a program request to the electronic advertising management system 110 to change the electronic display 310.

In a further embodiment of the invention, there is shown in Figure 8 a flow chart of an offer display processing system. Figure 12 shows an alternative offer display processing system flow chart.

In yet a further embodiment of the invention, the wireless telephone network 130 is more specifically embodied as a Local Area Network (LAN) and in-building network (refer to Figure 11 ). From the local area network, wireless communications are by means 1120 of Bluetooth or other equivalent short wireless communications means to connect mobile devices to a network. The network 1130 maintains subscriber and registered information about wireless devices using the network, including the registered owner and their service plan and access privileges. For example, at an airport, mobile device users could connect wireless communications means 1120 such as Bluetooth to interface points in communication with an in-building network. Via the route of the in- building network the users are validated and by the means and system controlling in-building network the subscriber information 155 is made available to the system. Thus, the ultimate result is that instead of subscriber information being supplied from a wireless telephone network 130 it is supplied from the, LAN and in-building network 1130. The LAN and in-building network is able to locate mobile devices and confirm the presence of a mobile device in a location or area. ^{"" " " ""}*■

Databases

Various databases referred to in the detailed description are now more fully described. One skilled in the art will recognise alterative implementations and the illustrated databases are not to be taken as limiting the scope or utility of the invention.

A Location Offer database 144 & 600 is constructed by the operator of a system incorporating the invention, in cooperation with the operator of the electronic advertising management system 110. Generally the latter system, while containing location data specific to display screens, does not contain geo- spatial data. Even if it did contain such data, it is unlikely to contain the geo- -15/13

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spatial coordinates outlining a viewing area proximal to an electronic advertising screen. Therefore, cooperation is required in order to firstly map out the viewing area for each display, and then to convert these geo-spatial coordinates into a form acceptable to the location and proximity determination systems of the telephone operators wireless system. This latter geo-spatial data - the coordinates 620 - is a key element of the location offer database 600. In addition, other data may be maintained including for example a location identifier 610, a location electronic sign identifier 630, and an affiliation list 640. The latter item, the affiliation list, is used in a particular embodiment which identifies a list of zero or more affiliation groups 641,642,643 as input to the affiliation comparator sub-system 420. The purpose is to be able to check, at a particular location, which affiliation groups have expressed interest in that location. It may be that the location is near an affiliate's main store, or the location is a sporting event, with an electronic sign, which is of particular interest to certain affiliates.

A Master Schedule Database 900 controls the sequence and timing in which the system checks locations by requesting data from the telephone operator wireless network 130. It contains records of locations 910 to be checked, a date/time 920 in which such checking will be active, a cycle sequence 930 (e.g. every 3 hours) and minimum trigger criteria 940. The latter enables a global check, after sending the location identifier 910 to the telephone network 130, and receiving subscriber information 155 in return, some criteria are checked according to the rules set. That is, if there are less than 15 consumers in the location proximal to the sign then^{" "}perhaps that location will be skipped this cycle. Even simpler, on certain dates or .regular times certain locations will not be sent for determinatiqn to the telephone network. This is controlled by an implementation using the master schedule; database 900.

A Telco Subscriber Database 410b and 700 is a complex item, but for illustration purposes an exemplary form is provided in Figure 7. This contains a subscriber mobile number 710, subscriber name 720, address 730, age 740, average monthly bill 750, and nominated interests or affiliations 760. Such information can be obtained from the telephone operator's wireless network in response to determining that a subscriber's mobile devic is active in a nominated location of interest (refer to Figure 3). The nominated interests, or affiliation list 760, is a feature whereby a telephone operator could request -14/13

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subscribers to nominate particular affiliates from whom they would receive offers - an opt-in list. Of relevance to this invention is that this list can be used by the invention to drive electronic signs in response to affiliations of active subscribers proximal to the signs. The affiliate identifiers 761 , 762 etc would be used to match against the affiliation control record 500 and identifier 510.

The Affiliation Control Database 146 (as shown in Figure 5) is maintained by the system for the purpose of matching locations of interest to an affiliate with locations being examined by the system. The affiliate is identified by the key 510, and locations within a locations of interest list 520. The record also contains a global date/time field 530. The purpose of the latter field 530 is to set a date/time period in which the affiliate wishes to be active in the system as a whole. That is, an affiliate may wish to disengage from a system incorporating the invention for a period, and then re-activate at another period. The function and form of the global date/time 530 parameter enables this facility. As for the location list 520, it contains a list with location identifier 522, and location priority 523, location bid value 524 and location date/time 526. The latter date/time 526 controls a period the affiliate is interested in a specific location 522. The priority 523 is used to resolve priorities and conflict between affiliates competing to send a program to a display. The location bid value 524 contains data pertaining to the economic value of the location 522 to the affiliate. In the example of Figure 5, there is an absolute bid value 524a for the location 522, and a bid value per person 524b. These fields are used to resolve conflict and access to displays should such conflict arise.

The Affiliation Database 146 is preferably supplied by an affiliate, with^" access by direct computer means or by communication over a network, and is_. keyed by the subscriber identity from the subscriber information 155 given by the wireless network operator.

It is to be noted that a minimum version of an affiliation database 146 could be just subscriber identification, perhaps a mobile telephone number. In this case an embodiment of the system would work as described above, and select subscribers if they matched the mobile numbers within the reduced affiliation database. The difference is that no extra demographic or commercial information would be able to be extracted from the minimal affiliation database 146 to be appended to the Part B 466b consumer on-location record 460b. Information may be gathered from the affiliation database 146, and added to the information from the telecommunications subscriber database -13/13

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410b, to form the Consumer On-location database 450 as determined by the affiliation comparator sub-system 420. The consumer on-location database contains demographic and other statistics for consumers as selected by the affiliation comparator system which themselves become the object of the rules exercised by the consumer analysis sub-system 430.

The outputs from the consumer analysis sub-system are a series of transaction requests, handled by the display and messaging sub-system 440, and through interface means conveyed to the electronic advertising management system 110. An advertiser, wishing to make an offer to an audience at a specific location, registers by means of the advertiser database 500 (refer to Figure 5). Information registered by the advertiser includes their identification 510, the list of locations of interest 520, and a global advertising content 540. In addition, the advertiser registers a date/time window 530 indicating the window of date and time that the offer is active. A location priority 523 is registered, along with a location bid value 524 and a member list 550.

The member list 550 is a list of zero or more subscribers affiliated with the advertiser and identified by their member name 552 and their member mobile identifier 554. Thus, an organisation wishing to reach its members, registers as an advertiser for as many locations as are of interest, and supplies a list of members whom it wishes to send advertising content to, by an electronic sign.

CONCLUSION Thus it is seen that the offer display system, by acting according to the demographics and affiliations of consumers proximal to an electronic advertising display, offers benefits to advertisers and to consumers. It offers the facility of real-time advertising to selected segments of the population at a moment or location at which the advertising should deliver maximum value. By interfacing to electronic advertising management systems an embodiment of the invention can increase the value of those systems to provide value to their advertising customers.

It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims

-11/1322CLAIMS:

1. A system for determining the characteristics of consumers located in a region of interest comprising: means for detecting the presence of consumers in said region of interest; a subscriber database of a service provider operating a wireless communications network for storing consumer information of consumers subscribing to said wireless communications network; an affiliation database storing information on affiliates and on consumers in said region of interest, including information on regions of interest nominated by each affiliate; wherein said consumer information in said subscriber database is matched to the information stored in said affiliation database to obtain matched consumers, whereupon a profile of the matched consumers is generated according to characteristics of each of the matched consumers; said system subsequently making a selection according to a set of rules as to what promotional information of an affiliate is to be transmitted to said matched consumers or a subset of said matched consumers; said system further comprising electronic display means for displaying to said matched consumers in said region of interest the selected promotional information.

2. A system according to claim 1 wherein said affiliates register a priority value and/or a bid value against said region of interest depending on the priority said affiliates attaches to said region of interest in order- to -transmit promotional information to said matched consumers in said region of interest.

3. A system according to claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said consumer information on consumers in said region of interest are matched against selection criteria to determine consumers in said region of interest that are of interest to said affiliates. -

4. A system according to claim 2 wherein multiple affiliates competing to transmit promotional information to said matched consumers in said region of interest use said priority value and/or said bid value so that said system can select an affiliate from said multiple affiliates. -10/13

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5. A system according to claim 4 wherein said bid value is a single value associated with said region of interest.

6. A system according to claim 4 wherein said bid value is associated with said matched consumers in said region of interest and an aggregate total of all said bid values for all said matched consumers forms a total bid value for an affiliate with interest in said location of interest.

7. A system according to claim 5 wherein said system selects an affiliate from multiple affiliates competing to transmit promotional information to said region of interest by reference to said bid value.

8. A system according to claim 6 wherein said system selects an affiliate from multiple affiliates competing to transmit promotion information to said region of interest by reference to said total bid value.

9. A system according to any one of the previous claims wherein said promotional information is an advertisement or an inducement.

10. A system according to claim 9 wherein said electronic display means is computer controlled so as to dynamically display any one of a range of advertisements.

11. A system according to any one of the previous claims wherein said electronic display means is part of a mobile communications device^" of said consumers.

12. A system according to any one of the previous claims further comprising location determination means for determining the location of a mobile communications device of at least one consumer using signals transmitted from the mobile communications device of said at least one consumer in order to determine the location of each consumer.

13. A system according to claim 12 wherein information on the location of said mobile communications device is transmitted to a proximity resolution means for -9/13

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determining whether said mobile communications device is within said region of interest.

14. A system according to claim 13 wherein said proximity resolution means forms part of said means for detecting.

15. A system according to claim 14 wherein location information on each mobile communications device of said consumers including information on those devices within said region of interest, are forwarded to said service provider.

16. A system according to claim 15 wherein location detection cycles and the frequency of said location detection cycles are initiated by said service provider or by an advertising management system.

17. A system according to claim 16 wherein, as a result of a location detection cycle, consumer information pertaining to consumers whose mobile communication devices have been detected in said region of interest, is retrieved from said subscriber database.

18. A system according to claim 17 wherein the retrieved consumer information from said subscriber database is compared with said information stored in said affiliation database by an affiliation comparator subsystem to generate further consumer on matched consumers for storage in a consumer on-location database.

19. A system according to claim 18 further comprising a consumer analysis^" subsystem for analysing said further information in said consumer-ori-locafion database and generating said profile of a consumer according, to the characteristics of said consumer identified in said consumer-on-location database.

20. A system according to any one of the previous claims wherein said selection of promotional information of an affiliate to be transmitted to said matched consumers is in accordance with said stored information in said affiliation database.

21. A system according to claim 20 wherein said selection of promotional information to be transmitted to said matched consumers is based on a set of rules using keywords recognised by said system. -8/13

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22. A system according to claim 21 wherein each rule in said set of rules contain a condition rule and a resultant action, said resultant action implemented by a trigger function.

23. A system according to claim 22 wherein said trigger function resides in a display and messaging subsystem.

24. A system according to claim 23 wherein said display and messaging subsystem transmits selected identifiers identifying said promotional information to said advertising management system over an advertising offer control link so as to initiate an advertising program to be displayed on said electronic display means to said consumers.

25. A system according to claim 24 wherein said transmitted selected identifiers includes any one or more of an advertising program identifier, commencement time and duration of a program, a link or termination action upon completing the program.

26. A system according to claim 25 wherein said trigger function enables the request of an advertising pack to be displayed on said electronic display means in response to matched consumers located proximal to said display means.

27. A system according to claim 26 wherein a further message is transmitted to mobile communication devices of an active set of consumers within said ^"region of interest so as to alert said active set of consumers to an advertising program, about to be displayed or being displayed on said display means.

28. A system according to claim 27 further comprising a location management subsystem which forwards a record from a location offer database to said affiliation comparator subsystem.

29. A system according to claim 28 wherein said affiliation comparator subsystem checks an affiliation list in said location offer database record for affiliation identifiers in order to determine, at a particular location, which affiliation -7/13

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groups as identified by said affiliation identifiers have an interest in said particular location.

30. A system according to claim 29 wherein if no affiliation identifier exists, said affiliation comparator subsystem passes all retrieved consumer information from said subscriber database to said consumer analysis subsystem.

31. A system according to claim 29 wherein if an affiliation identifier representing a selected affiliate exists, said affiliation identifier is used as a pointer to an affiliation control database to retrieve an associated affiliate control record, said associated affiliate control record having a location of interest list.

32. A system according to claim 31 wherein consumers are checked that their location is within viewing coordinates listed in the location offer database record.

33. A system according to claim 32 wherein said associated affiliate control record is interpreted by said affiliation comparator subsystem which compares the location of interest list nominated by the selected affiliate with a location identifier in said location offer database record.

34. A system according to claim 33 where there is a match between said location of interest list and said location identifier, the current system date and time is compared to date and time control fields associated with the location specified by the selected affiliate in the location of interest list, and if said system date and time is within the date and time window nominated in said affiliate control record, then the affiliate remains in contention to be considered by said system.

35. A system according to claim 34 wherein the affiliate identifier in the affiliation control record is used by said affiliation comparator subsystem to select the associated affiliation database for the selected affiliate.

36. A system according to claim 35 wherein the affiliation comparator subsystem matches the consumer information in the subscriber database to records in the selected affiliation database in order to identify consumers, proximal to said display means, who are of interest to the selected affiliate. -6/13

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37. A system according to claim 36 wherein upon a match between said consumer information and a record in the selected affiliation database, said affiliation comparator subsystem appends additional information from the affiliation database record to part of a consumer-on-location record created from the

5 consumer-on-location database.

38. A system according to claim 37 wherein said appended additional information enables better selection of an active set of consumers proximal to said electronic display means for an affiliate and therefore enables precise targetting to

10 said matched consumers of a specific advertising program by said affiliate.

39. A system according to claim 38 wherein said appended additional information includes said priority value for a location identifier in said list of locations of interest in the associated affiliation control record, said priority value being used

15 to select an affiliate from multiple affiliates competing to send a program to said electronic display means located at said location.

40. A system according to claim 38 or claim 39 wherein said appended additional information includes said bid value for a location identifier in said list of

20 locations of interest in the associated affiliation control record, said bid value being used to select an affiliate from multiple affiliates competing to send a program to a display means located at said location.

41. A system according to claim 40 wherein said bid value represents a bid 25 value per consumer in said location of interest and the sum of all bid values of said matched consumers is aggregated to form a total bid value used, to select an affiliate from multiple affiliates competing to send a program to said electronic display means proximal to said location.

30 42. A system according to any one of the previous claims wherein each affiliate checks for the presence of consumers associated with said each affiliate proximal to said electronic display means by forwarding an outgoing proximity request to the service provider of said wireless communications network, said request containing a mobile identifier and a location identifier representative of said consumer.

35 -5/13

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43. A system according to any one of the previous claims wherein each consumer nominates one or more affiliates from whom each said consumer wishes to receive promotional offers.

5 44. A system according to any one of claims 31 to 43 wherein said affiliation control database is used to match locations of interest to an affiliate to locations being examined by said system.

45. A system according to any one of the previous claims wherein an advertiser 10 makes an offer to an audience at a specific location by registering with an advertiser database.

46. A system according to claim 45 wherein said advertiser registers an affiliation list identifying subscribers affiliated with said advertiser to enable said

15 advertiser to send promotional information to said identified subscribers via said electronic display means.

47. A system according to claim 46 wherein said advertiser registers a global default advertising package in said affiliation list representing promotional

20 information to be sent to said identified subscribers when identified at any said region of interest to said advertiser.

48. A system according to any one of the previous claims wherein said system transmits specific offers to mobile communication devices of those consumers in

25 said region of interest.

49. A system according to any one of the previous claims wherein the location of said electronic display means is adjacent said region of interest.

30 50. A system according to any one of the previous claims comprising a master schedule database for controlling the sequence and timing in which said system checks locations by requesting data from the service provider of said wireless communications network.

35 51. A system according to any one of the previous claims wherein said electronic display means is an electronic sign. -4/13

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52. A method of determining the characteristics of consumers located in a region of interest comprising the steps of: detecting the presence of consumers in said region of interest; storing consumer information of said consumers in a subscriber database of a service provider operating a wireless communications network, said consumers subscribing to said wireless communications network; storing information on affiliates and on consumers in said region of interest in an affiliation database, including information on regions of interest nominated by each affiliate; matching said consumer information stored in said subscriber database to said information stored in said affiliation database to obtain matched consumers; generating a profile of said matched consumers according to characteristics of the matched consumers; subsequently selecting, according to a set of rules, promotional information of an affiliate to be transmitted to said matched consumers or a subset of said matched consumers; and displaying the selected promotional information to said matched consumers in said region of interest.

53. A method according to claim 52 further comprising the step of registering said affiliates in said affiliation database to enable each of the affiliates to send promotional information to said consumers in said region of interest.

54. A method according to claim 53 further comprising the step of said affiliates registering a priority value and/or a bid value against a region of interest depending on the priority said affiliates attach to said region of interest in order to transmit promotional information to said consumers in said region of interest.

55. A method according to any one of claims 52 to 54 further comprising the step of matching said consumer information on consumers in said region of interest against selection criteria to determine consumers in said region of interest that are of interest to said affiliates.

56. A method according to claim 54 further comprising the step of said system selecting an affiliate from multiple affiliates on the basis of said priority value and/or -3/13

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said bid value nominated by each affiliate where said multiple affiliates are competing to transmit promotional information to said matched consumers in said region of interest.

57. A method according to claim 56 further comprising the steps of said system determining an aggregate bid value being said bid value multiple by the number of said consumers in said region of interest and selecting an affiliate from multiple affiliates on the basis of said aggregated bid value where said multiple affiliates are competing to transmit promotional information to said region of interest.

58. A method according to any one of claims 52 to 57 further comprising the step of determining the location of a mobile communications device of at least one consumer using signals transmitted from the mobile communications device of said at least one consumer in order to determine the location of each said consumer.

59. A method according to claim 58 further comprising the step of transmitting information on the location said mobile communications device to a proximity resolution means in order to determine whether said mobile communications device is within said region of interest.

60. A method according to claim 59 further comprising the step of retrieving from said subscriber database consumer information pertaining to consumers whose mobile communication devices have been detected in said region of interest.

61. A method according to claim 60 further comprising the step of comparing the retrieved consumer information from said subscriber database with information stored in said affiliation database to generate further consumer information for storage in a consumer-on-location database.

62. A method according to claim 61 further comprising the steps of analysing said further consumer information stored in said consumer-on-location database and generating said profile of a consumer according to the characteristics of said consumer identified in said consumer-on-location database.

63. A method according to claim 62 further comprising the step of basing the selection of said promotional information on said set of rules using keywords. -2/13

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64. A method according to claim 63 further comprising the step of transmitting selected promotional information identifiers to an advertising management system over an advertising offer control link so as to initiate an advertising program to be displayed on said electronic display means to said matched consumers.

65. A method according to claim 64 further comprising the step of transmitting a further message to mobile communication devices of an active set of consumers within said region of interest so as to alert said active set of consumers to an advertising program about to be displayed or being displayed on said electronic display means.

66. A method according to claim 65 further comprising the step of checking an affiliation list in a record of a location offer database for affiliation identifiers in order to determine, at a particular location, which affiliation groups as identified by said affiliation identifiers have an interest in said particular location.

67. A method according to claim 66 further comprising the step of where an affiliation identifier representing a selected affiliate exists, retrieving an associated affiliate control record from an affiliation control database using said affiliation identifier, wherein said associated affiliate control record has a location of interest list. .

68. A method according to claim 67 further comprising the step of comparing said location of interest list nominated by the affiliate with a location identifier in said^" location offer database record.

69. A method according to claim 68 further comprising the step of selecting an associated affiliation database for the selected affiliate using the affiliate identifier in the affiliation control record when there is a match between said location of interest list and said location identifier.

70. A method according to claim 69 further comprising the step of matching said consumer information in said subscriber database to records in said selected affiliation database so as to identify consumers proximal to said electronic display means who are of interest to the selected affiliate. -1/13

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71. A method according to claim 70 further comprising the step of upon said matching, appending additional information from said affiliation database record to part of a consumer-on-location record created from said consumer-on-location database.

72. A method according to claim 71 further comprising the step of selecting an affiliate from multiple affiliates competing to send a program to said electronic display means located at said location by using said priority value and/or said bid value for a location identifier.

73. A method according to claim 72 further comprising the step of selecting an affiliate from multiple affiliates competing to send a program to said electronic display means located at said location by using another bid value which is a function of said bid value and the number of said identified consumers in said location that are of interest to said multiple affiliates.

74. A method according to any one of claims 52 to 73 further comprising the step of forwarding an outgoing proximity request from an affiliate to the service provider of said wireless communications network to detect the presence of consumers associated with said affiliate proximal to said electronic display means, said request containing a mobile identifier and a location identifier representative of said consumer.

75. A method according to any one of claims 52 to 74 further comprising the step of an advertiser making an offer to an audience at a specific location by registering with an advertiser database.

76. A method according to claim 75 further comprising the step of said advertiser registering an affiliation list identifying subscribers affiliated with said advertiser to enable said advertiser to send promotional information to said identified subscribers via said electronic display means. 0/13

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77. A method according to any one of claims 52 to 76 further comprising the step of transmitting specific offers to mobile communication devices of consumers in said region of interest.

Dated this 15 ;t^ιn day of August 2002

WALTER ADAMSON

Patent Attorneys for the Applicant:

F B RICE & CO