WO2014043818A1

WO2014043818A1 - System and method for controlled distribution of information to a mobile communications device

Info

Publication number: WO2014043818A1
Application number: PCT/CA2013/050727
Authority: WO
Inventors: Donald Matthew Rankin FERGUSON; Allen George BROOKE; Timothy James MURPHY
Original assignee: Text2 Systems Inc.
Priority date: 2012-09-24
Filing date: 2013-09-24
Publication date: 2014-03-27

Abstract

A method is provided for controlled distribution of messages for delivery of information of a prescribed category to preselected mobile communication devices. The method comprises: establishing a system application for governing distribution of keycodes and associated passwords; on request, providing a keycode to register and identify an entity as a community administrator together with an associated password; supplying said keycode to each of a plurality of second entities to enable such second entities to associate their information with the keycode and thereby the community; providing at least one mobile communication device of a respective end user with a secondary keycode or application software associated with the first keycode to enable communication with the system application and enable distribution of at least some of said information of the second entities to the mobile communications device.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLED DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION TO A MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from United States provisional patent application No. 61/705,093.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to network communications and, more specifically, to the control and distribution of messages to a mobile communication device. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to proactive ("push") delivery of context- specific messages to a mobile communications device based on one or more of geographic location of the device, on-device messaging rules, date, time of day, intent, manual selection by an administrator, and so on.

The speed and high capacities of digital communications combined with the continuous outbound flow of blended information, advertisements and subject specific information, detracts from and complicates the ability for a person to locate and focus on the information pieces they are or should be interested in. A basic search for a particular factual item using a certain commonly-used on-line search engine may present a limited number of legitimate "hits" but a myriad of commercial advertisements often of no relevance but generated by sponsored links to text items associated with the search.

One way to obtain information of interest is to subscribe to certain newsletters or social media groups, for proactive delivery of messages based on time or through manual controls, notably done using the standard email systems. With the regular sharing of email addresses, however, email distribution lists have become a commodity for sale. This practice has created a breach in the purpose for email, resulting in unwanted spontaneous messages being delivered.

It would be desirable, therefore, for a user to have more control over information received in a proactive manner. On the other hand, there are situations where purveyors of information, for example about services available to select groups of potential users, may wish to communicate such information to such select groups. There are many such purveyors of information but one specific example relates towns, cities, tourist regions, and so on wishing to provide information to potential visitors.

As an example, a small community, such as Smiths Falls in Ontario, Canada may have an abundance of tourism "gems", e.g., venues and/or events, that are not well advertised, not easily discovered and generally not in the visual path of transient travelers passing through or travelling on nearby highways. These tourism gems could be niche- focused festivals designed to draw people into the community with the intent of helping to stimulate the local economy. Or they could be fixed location attractions with an associated significance. The organized capture and storage of these community details into a common database system renders valuable information for interested people such as travelling visitors or local residents. Having a centralized capture of the information reduces maintenance cost and obsolescence through duplication across other disconnected mediums.

Local print media (flyers or newspapers) and/or local radio spots are tried and tested systems with a proven track record but, from an efficiency and cost perspective, they could be viewed as expensive when looking at price per incidence of visibility and engagement. The usage of road-side signage is commonplace for local institutions to secure traveler awareness; however, such signage is expensive, soon becomes outdated, especially for seasonal events and activities, and may be only partially understood by the passerby, given the limited time of visibility. With the proliferation of mobile

communication devices, a means of communicating such information to select groups of users of such mobile communications devices would be desirable. SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present inventors sought to mitigate these limitations of known

communication, or at least provide an alternative.

Accordingly, there is provided a method for controlled maintenance, of stored information, and distribution of messages for delivery of information of a prescribed category to preselected mobile communication devices comprises:

establishing a system application for governing distribution of key codes and associated passwords;

on request, providing a keycode to register and identify an entity as a community administrator together with an associated password;

supplying said keycode to each of a plurality of second entities to enable such second entities to associate their information with the keycode and thereby the community;

providing at least one mobile communication device of a respective end user with a secondary keycode or application software associated with the first keycode to enable communication with the system application and enable distribution of at least some of said information of the second entities to the mobile communications device.

In some embodiments, a plurality of third entities are provided with said keycode via a first or second entity to enable such third entities to associate their respective information with the keycode and thereby the community. A third entity may associate its information with a first or second entity of a different community. This cascading associative framework can be extended to encompass multiple hierarchical levels of association.

Embodiments also provide systems for deploying the aforesaid methods.

Various objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, of embodiments of the invention, which description and drawings are provided by way of example only. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, identical or corresponding elements in the different Figures have the same reference numeral.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of functional components of a

network/communications system in which an embodiment is deployed;

Figure 2 illustrates high level software sub-system interactions of the embodiment of Figure 1 ;

Figures 3.1 and 3.2 are schematic diagrams illustrating relationships between entities interacting using the system;

Figures 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 illustrate screen views of a mobile phone displaying options;

Figure 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating a sequence of events as the various entities are co-opted into the system;

Figure 6 illustrates a second embodiment in which a plurality of similar systems are deployed in effect in parallel;

Figures 7A and 7B are screen views showing CMS information data entry; and Figure 8 illustrates a screen view of a mobile phone displaying the acknowledgement response when the end user registers a business as a favourite.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENTS

Referring first to Figure 1 , which illustrates schematically network system components involved in the proactive messaging system, the core of the system is a proactive System Application 4 running on a suitable server accessible via the Internet by a system administrator 1 using a web-enabled device 3, shown as a laptop computer, though other devices capable of running a web browser that can be connected to the System Application via the Internet, or by other means, could be used. This System Application provides the means to enter data relevant to Sponsors and stores data for retrieval by Mobile Applications, as will be described later. The System Application communicates with mobile devices (smartphones) 9 of end users 10 by way of the existing communications system comprising SMS Gateway 5, telecommunication company (service provider) 7, and cellphone antenna 8. Control data, and information requested by the end user 10 through the mobile device 9, is exchanged between the System Application 4 and the telecommunications company 7 via a control/data path. Push messages and identification information are correlated by a mobile services application 6 connected between System Application 4 and

telecommunications company 7. Mobile Services application 6 may link keycodes with end user identification anonymously.

Using this System Application, personnel enlist/create new first level Sponsors

(Countries, Communities, Businesses, Schools, and other Entity types depending upon the active solution) to whom they sell keycodes, each unique to the particular first level Sponsor who purchased it.

Each first level Sponsor's personnel may add specific data to the System

Application 4 (for convenience, identified as "Text2 Systems Application in the Figures) relevant to that Sponsor by communicating with the System Administrator 1 by way of a second web-enabled device 3.

SMS Gateway 5 provides a means for the System Application to send/receive SMS messages to/from any mobile device 9.

Mobile Services application 6 detects when a user's mobile device 9 has entered a geo-location, which was previously defined by the System Application, and sends a predefined message to the user's mobile device.

Telecommunications Company 7 is the company or service provider that provides specific hardware/software that enables communication to mobile devices.

Cellphone Antenna 8 is the usual antenna that communicates with the mobile device 9.

Mobile communications device 9 may be a so-called smartphone or non- smartphone so long as it is a mobile device that is capable of sending/receiving SMS messages. In the case that it is a smartphone, it may or may not have the special Mobile Application installed, as supplied by the System Application. End user 10 is the user who sends/receives SMS messages to interact with the System Application. In the case that the user has a smartphone and has the Systems Mobile App installed, they may use the Systems Mobile App to interact with the Systems Application. In the event the end user does not have the Systems Mobile App installed, the mobile App can be located, downloaded and installed using platform specific Download Server for Mobile Apps 11.

Figure 2 illustrates the high level software sub-system interactions involved in deploying and using the system, namely:

1. Systems CMS Application— is the custom application written which sends control and data information to the Systems Mobile Application based on configuration and data entered into it by Administrators.

2. SMS Gateway— is any 3^rd party SMS gateway capable of relaying SMS messages between the Systems CMS Application and mobile devices.

3. Mobile Services - is any 3^rd party Service that integrates with the Systems CMS Application to push messages to smartphones and retrieve location updates from the mobile device.

4. Systems Mobile Application— is the custom application which resides on the user's smartphone. It requests and receives information from the Systems CMS Application.

Figure 3.1 illustrates how the CMS Application associates Sponsors of different types. This diagram shows that for the Text2 Visit application multiple Business Sponsors are associated with each Community Sponsor. For convenience, the term Text2 Visit (trademark) and the term "solution" will be used to denote the system components.

Figure 3.2 shows how the Text2 Visit application can be extended to encompass larger regions and extended layered relationships; thus Businesses and Communities can be generic Sponsors and the associations can encompass multiple levels.

Figures 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 illustrate how the mobile app provides structure to control message delivery notifications and search for specific sponsor information;

4.1 Favs— This screenshot shows all the sponsors (Community, Business and more) that a user has added as a favourite (Fav). The Mobile Application will only notify the user about messages that are relevant to Sponsors that have been previously designated as "favourites" and appear in this list.

4.2 Inbox— This screenshot shows all the notifications delivered that are associated with the favourites (Fav) the end user of the Mobile Application has selected to receive and all geo-zone messages sent to the Mobile Application when the device was detected to be within a pre-defined geo-zone.

4.3 Search— This screenshot shows all the structure the Mobile Application provides an end user for searching for a specific key-code (Community, Business or other).

Generally, this embodiment is presented as a solution designed to support the economic development activities or initiatives of a community. In this solution, there are three fundamental entities involved in the sharing of information, namely the community, the local businesses and the mobile device end user. These three entities form a systemic association within the solution, that encapsulates information in a manner that provides structure and flow control. Figure 5 outlines the associations in a graphical format. In order of sequence, a Community establishes a unique Text2 Visit ID. Local businesses then associate with the secure Community (with the permission of the community).

Mobile end users can then associate with both the Community and the local businesses independently.

The establishment of a Community ID, i.e., a keycode, provides the community with a user-account in the Text2 CMS App environment. Within this App environment, the community populates and manages the information and distribution controls for information delivery to the mobile device user community. Figures 7A and 7B each provide a sample of a screen- view of the information capture screen during data entry. Once a Community ID (aka: keycode) is established, the mobile device end users can associate themselves with the community keycode by marking it as a favourite. Figure 8 shows the mobile device screen-view of a system acknowledgement of an end user Favourite registration. This action then sets up a communication permissions portal between the mobile device and the community. This portal opens a dedicated message link between the Text2 CMS App server and the mobile device for messages to be delivered that are associated with that community. These messages could be about events, local news or emergency alerts. The user can enable or disable this portal, at their own free will, which in turn controls the community message flow.

The creation of a business account enables businesses to establish a mobile presence that is associated with a specific community. This association provides the business a visible presence in the local business registry presented to the mobile user as part of the community information. The mobile device end user can then mark any specific business within a community as a favourite. Figure 8 illustrates a screen view of a mobile phone displaying the acknowledgement response when the end user registers a business as a favourite. By doing this action, the user establishes a formal communication portal between their mobile device and the CMS App instance dedicated to the business marked as a favourite. This established portal enables the business, if associated with a unique key code, to send structured messages to this device on command.

Integrated within the Text2 Visit solution are geo-location technologies that allow the CMS App servers to track the location of Text2 Visit enabled devices, maintain a set of user-defined messaging rules and logic for proactively sending messages to users based on these defined rules. This geo-location logic, is the underlying framework that supports the delivery of community welcome messages to transient travelers within a geo-zone of a community.

The Text2 Visit solution is a system designed to support the economic

development efforts of the small communities of Smiths Falls and Carleton Place. This solution is designed to create awareness, provide promotional information and help direct the public to the local locations of interest.

Using the basic cellphone text message service whereby a visitor sends a text message to VISIT/(84748) with the Smiths Falls, or Carleton Place, keycode the response could be a pleasant welcome message with special mention of this event or attraction, combined with a URL pointing to the Text2 Visit App download. Or, if the visitor is traveling with a Text2 Visit App installed, using the 'geo-fence' technology, the user could receive an interactive message that welcomes them to the region, presents them insights on local attractions, displays a map of their locations and provides driving directions to the actual locations from the place where the message is being read. By simply creating On the spot' awareness for people who may be interested, but were not aware, attendance and awareness will rise creating downstream economic benefits for the community.

The message flow involved in setting up and using the embodiment will now be described in more detail with reference to Figure 5 and for a specific community identified with the town Smiths Falls (SF) in Ontario. This embodiment is intended to provide support of small community economic development initiatives, though it will be appreciated that the principles may be applied to other situations and communities or groups with a common interest.

1. Smiths Falls Admin— The Smiths Falls Community personnel (First Level Sponsor Administrator) which is responsible for entering relevant data into the Text2 Visit CMS Application via the Text2 Visit website.

2. Garden Market Admin— The Garden Market Business personnel (Second Level Sponsor Administrator) which is responsible for entering relevant data into the Text2 Visit CMS Application via the Text2 Visit website.

3. Text2 Visit Admin— The Text2 Visit personnel (Text2 Visit System

Administrator) which is responsible for setting up new sponsors

(Community or Business) in the Text2 Visit CMS Application via the Text2 Visit website.

4. Text2 Visit Website— The interface to which Administrator personnel can enter data into the Text2 Visit CMS Application.

5. Text2 Visit Database— The database that stores the Text2 Visit data

entered into the Text2 Visit CMS Application using the Text2 Visit website.

6. Gco-Location Server - The software that works with a 3^rd party server to push messages to smartphones and retrieve the current location of the handheld device.

7. SMS Gateway— The 3^rd party gateway that is capable of relaying SMS messages between the Text2 Visit CMS Application and mobile devices.

8. End User— The person interacting with mobile device.

9. Text2 Visit App— The Text2 Visit Mobile Application that is capable of sending/receiving data to/from the Text2 Visit Database. Sequence of Actions for setup and operation of solution

Setup of First Level Sponsor Communications Framework

101 - Purchase of unique keycode

- A unique keycode identifier is purchased from Text2 Systems.

102 - Setup of unique keycode

Text2 Visit system administrator used Text2 Visit administration systems resident on the Text2 Visit website to setup password protected user account for 'First Level administrator' responsible for the purchased unique keycode.

- Basic information is captured about new account.

103 - Update DB

The Text2 Visit DB is setup with a user account and is populated with First Level

Sponsor information through commands resident in the Text2 Visit website.

104 - Enter First Level Sponsor Data

- The First Level Sponsor administrator enters context specific information using the provided password protected and dedicated user account on the Text2 Visit website.

105 - Update DB

The user account inside the Text2 Visit DB is updated with the information entered by the First Level Sponsor administrator.

106 - Setup Geo-Fence

The geo-fence setup data that is captured when the First Level Administrator is updating the First Level Sponsor account is configured in the Geo-Location Server. Setup of Second Level Sponsor Communications Framework

107 - Purchase Advertising

- A Second Level Sponsor purchases advertisement services from Text2 Systems.

108 - Setup Garden Market (Second Level)

The Text2 Visit system administrator uses the Text2 Visit website to setup a dedicated password protected account for the Second Level Sponsor Administrator.

109 - Update DB The Text2 Visit DB is setup with a user account and is populated with Second Level Sponsor information through commands resident in the Text2 Visit website. Enter Garden Market (Second Level) Data

The Second Level Sponsor administrator access the Text2 Visit website using the provided account and password details.

All information about the Second Level Sponsor is captured through the Text2 Visit website.

Update DB

The Text2 Visit DB is setup with a user account and is populated with Second Level Sponsor information through commands resident in the Text2 Visit website.

Associating the Second Level Sponsor with a First Level Sponsor

112 - Request Association with Smiths Falls

Using the Text2 Visit website, the Second Level Sponsor Administrator completes an association permission request form.

This form details a request to the First Level Administrator to have all Second Level Sponsor information be presented and associated with First Level Sponsor.

113 - Update DB

The Text2 Visit DB is updated with the details for the association through commands resident in the Text2 Visit website.

114 - Accept Association with Smiths Falls

The First Level Sponsor Administrator reviews the captured request using their dedicated Text2 Visit website account.

Approvals and Denials are managed through website commands.

115 - Update DB

The decision for approval or denial of the association request is updated in the Text2 Visit DB through commands resident in the Text2 Visit website.

The First Level Sponsor administrator enters specific information to setup the geo- fence, or fences, that surround the geographic region, or regions, associated with the First Level Sponsor. Retrieval of First Level Sponsor Information and Discovery of Mobile App, Using Unique Keycode

116 - Advertise SF keycode

Owners and supporters of the First Level Sponsor keycode promote a

commercially unique keycode for public use.

117 - Sees Sign for SF

End user spots commercial advertisement and decides to take action as described by advertisement.

118 - Text SF to VISIT

End user with mobile device with App capabilities sends a simple text message to

VISIT short-code (84748) with unique keycode as message text.

Sent message is delivered by mobile device and captured by the SMS Gateway.

119 - Inform of SF Text

The SMS Gateway network element receives text message and determines message is to be routed to Text2 Visit website systems.

Message is forwarded as data packet to Text2 Visit website systems.

120 - Check SF Response

The Text2 Visit website validates message text and confirms it is a Text2 Visit keycode.

Website executes database commands and confirms a valid message is stored in the Text2 Visit DB.

121 - SF Response

The associated message is retrieved from the Text2 Visit DB and captured in the Tcxt2 Visit website.

122 - Response to send

The Text2 Visit sends a concatenated message containing the response and the address information for the Text2 Visit App.

This message is sent to the SMS Gateway.

123 - Smiths Falls Info + App Download Link

The SMS Gateway then interacts with the telecommunications network to deliver the text message to the end user with the Mobile device. Application Retrieval and Installation

124 - Download App

Smartphone device installs Text2 Mobile App from standard distribution channels (e.g.: iTunes App Store, Google Play, Blackberry App World).

Text2 App starts on mobile device.

125 - Launch App

- App registers device with Geo-Location Server providing a unique Text2 App identifier.

- Text2 App initializes data store on mobile device.

126 - Synchronize App Data

Text2 App sends a synchronization request to Text2 Visit DB.

127 - App Data

- All App specific data stored in Text2 Visit DB is sent directly to the end user's mobile device.

128 - Update Location

Background processes within the mobile device, capture the longitude and latitude location of the device.

- Location information is sent as a message to Geo-Location Server on a regular basis.

129 - Smiths Falls Message

Geo-Location Server determines device is within a defined geographic zone associated with the First Level Sponsor.

This zone was defined by the First Level Sponsor Administrator.

- Stored within the Geo-Location Server is a corresponding message.

This message is retrieved from the DB and sent to the Text2 Visit App as a notification.

130 - Welcome to Smiths Falls

- The Text2 Visit App triggers a notification on the end user's handheld mobile device. The end user acknowledges the notification and receives the message sent from the First Level Sponsor.

The end user looks further into First Level Sponsor information and information provided by the Text2 Visit DB includes advertisements from the approved associated Second Level Sponsors.

Text2 Visit Sequence of Events for device notifications based on end user favourite selections

Inside mobile App, user selects a business (or sponsor) as a favourite.

- This action sends a unique identifier of that sponsor to Geo-Location Server.

Geo-Location Server associates the provided sponsor identifier with the registered mobile device ID.

Sponsor administrator (of all level types) triggers message send request using administrator Text2 Visit web-access account.

Text2 Visit website initiate send request using Geo-Location Server system interfaces by providing the Geo-Location Server system the message data and the Text2 Visit Sponsor identifier.

Geo-Location Server system captures the provided message data and sends the data to all devices that have an associated Sponsor identifier that equals the Sponsor identifier provided by the Text2 Visit content management system.

Figure 6 illustrates alternative embodiments which extend beyond a single purpose or instance, as will now be described.

1. Text2 Systems Application - This shows how a single instance of the Text2 Systems Application (for example: Tcxt2 Visit) can be replicated (for example: Text2 Skool & Text2 Health) to interact with the same set of Text2 Databases.

2. Users with Smartphones - This shows how a single Text2 Systems Mobile Application represents all the different Text2 Systems products within a single App. It only loads information from the Text2 Database relevant to the Text2 Systems Product(s) that they are interested in. 3. Cluster of Text2 DBs - This is the Text2 Systems Database which is clustered to allow scaling to many users with many Text2 Systems Products (for example: Text2 Visit, Text2 Skool, Text2 Health, etc). Text2 Visit is a unique system that enables businesses to reach out to current and prospective clients with a new medium that has guaranteed visibility, is inter-active, provides regular marketing metric reports and is able to send location based messages. When a community keycode is purchased, all local businesses that purchase a Text2 Visit advertisement package can associate themselves with that specific community keycode. When people visit a town and look at the Text2 Visit business registry, all businesses with an association to that community will be presented in the listing. Using the interactive features of the Text2 Visit App, the user can then seek out further details of the business and even be provided driving directions to its location. In short, the basic purchase of a Smiths Falls, or Carleton Place, keycode provides all local businesses a virtual mobile anchor point for increased visibility and overall community representation.

Text2 Visit is designed to help support small communities by supporting its local residents. Many times there are urgent situations that arise which require radio and TV broadcasts and local announcements or similar such awareness campaigns. With the provision of a keycode for Smiths Falls, or Carleton Place, the Text2 Visit system enables all interested residents, or non-residents, the ability to directly associate themselves with the community through their mobile device. In the case of simple cellphones that support basic text messaging, a simple text message sent to VISIT with a special Smiths Falls, or Carleton Place, notify registration keycode, will immediately associate that device with the community of interest. For Text2 Visit App users, the user can simply mark Smiths Falls, or Carleton Place, as a favourite. These two association activities enable the community to immediately notify all associated devices with any message they choose in a single instance. This type of notification system enables the community to easily and efficiently react to health and safety issues, or share details of local town events and activities.

Although the foregoing describes embodiments which use smartphones with installed Text2 mobile application software, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the use of smartphones but embraces the use of more traditional mobile phones with text messaging capabilities. For example, such a traditional mobile phone could use the Text2 Visit short code 84748 described hereinbefore and special keycode derivatives. For example, to designate a community, e.g. Smiths Falls, as a "favourite", the user could text to that number the text message "SF Fav". The server will interpret and save that information and, when sending messages out to associated "favourites", send them to that traditional phone too.

It is to be kept in mind that the foregoing description of specific embodiments is presented by way of example only and should not be construed as limiting the inventive concept to any such physical configuration.

Although embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated in detail, it is to be clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and not to be taken by way of limitation, the scope of the present invention being limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for controlled distribution of messages for delivery of information of a prescribed category to preselected mobile communication devices comprises:

establishing a system application for governing distribution of keycodes and associated passwords;

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of third entities are provided with said keycode via a first or second entity to enable such third entities to associate their respective information with the keycode and thereby the community.

3. Λ method according to claim 2, wherein at least one of said third entities associates its information with a first or second entity of a different community.

4. A system for controlled distribution of messages for delivery of information of a prescribed category to preselected mobile communication devices comprising:

a system application for governing distribution of keycodes and associated password;

the system application configured to receive and respond to requests from first entities to provide a keycode to register and identify an entity as a community

administrator together with an associated password; the system application supplying said keycode to each of a plurality of second entities to enable such second entities to associate their information with the keycode and thereby the community;

the system application providing at least one mobile communication device of a respective end user with a secondary keycode or application software associated with the first keycode to enable communication with the system application and enable distribution of at least some of said information of the second entities to the mobile communications device.

5. A system according to claim 4, wherein the system application provides a plurality of third entities with said keycode via a first or second entity to enable such third entities to associate their respective information with the keycode and thereby the community.

6. A system according to claim 5, wherein said system application provides at least one of said third entities with a keycode of more than one first entity to enable the at least one third entity to associate its information with a first or second entity of a different community.

7. A system according to claim 6, wherein said system application provides a plurality of entities without said keycodes to associate their respective information with other entities with said keycodes.

8. A computer readable medium storing instructions for performing, in a mobile communications system, the method steps of any one of method claims 1 to 3.

9. A computer readable medium storing instructions for configuring a mobile communications device to receive information as specified in any one of claims 1 to 3.

10. A computer readable medium storing instructions for configuring a mobile communications device to receive information in a system as specified in any one of claims 4 to 7.