HK1130580B - System and method for obtaining revenue through the display of hyper-relevant advertising on moving objects - Google Patents

Abstract

A system for obtaining revenue through the display of advertising on fixed or moving objects is disclosed. Such objects receive, store, poll and extract data to present content based on the time of day, locations, and relative movements in a specific environment, where data and information stored in moving or mobile objects within that environment can be transmitted between those objects or to stationary objects, where it is then used to enable and control such displays for which the owners of those objects are then compensated. The system enables the display of hyper-relevant ad content with synchronized remote audio, personal messaging and public service alerts on surrounding objects and provides for the real-time logging and later downloading of data to confirm communications and content deliveries between objects, track and measure consumer engagement, verify consumer's direct responses to ad viewings with accountability systems.

Description

System and method for displaying highly relevant advertisements on moving objects to obtain revenue

Cross Reference to Related Applications

Priority is claimed from U.S. provisional application serial No. 60/783,577 filed on 16.2006, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, and U.S. provisional application serial No. 60/794,006 filed on 21.2006, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

This application is related to U.S. non-provisional application serial No. 11/552,932 filed on 25.2006, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, claiming priority from U.S. provisional application serial No. 60/729,919 filed on 25.2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Statement regarding federally sponsored research or development

Not applicable to

Material filed on optical discs incorporated by reference

Not applicable to

Notice of copyrighted material

A portion of the material in this patent document is subject to copyright protection under the copyright laws of the united states and other countries. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. patent and trademark office publicly available file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. The copyright owner does not hereby waive any right to maintain the patent document secret, including without limitation its subsequent rights.

Background

1. Field of the invention

The present invention relates generally to efficiently providing advertising content regarding the desires of prospective consumers, and more particularly to an integrated system and method for indicating highly relevant content to consumers, including compensating users for providing or viewing the content, by using wireless technology for exchanging information.

2. Description of the related Art

In the advertising industry, there are a few long-sought goals that remain to be achieved. They are: (1) send your advertisement to the appropriate population (age, gender, income level, etc.); (2) send it when its recipient must see it (rather than when he is going out to drink soda or is in a bathroom); (3) to deliver your advertisement to consumers who are really interested in what you sell (rather than wasting advertising fees on people who are not interested); (4) consumers are attracted when they relax and admit advice (rather than focusing on something else); (5) reach viewers that are not reachable by television and do so with a more targeted spot within the day than they see on regular television; (6) contacting the buyer at the appropriate time (i.e., selling their food at mealtimes); (7) get your message to them when they are in a suitable place (e.g., a large restaurant publicizing several blocks away from the residence at mealtime); (8) placing advertisements in a distribution channel in just a few seconds using the internet; (9) basing the bill on the actual content sent and completing it all electronically and automatically; (10) advertisers are given evidence that their advertisements actually propagate and track them on an instantaneous basis; (11) providing feedback to the agency or its clients about consumer usage (engage); (12) when your advertisement is displayed, let the viewer buy (or at least get more information) when the button is pressed. Unlike any existing commercial advertising system, the present invention provides all of these goals, and provides all of them by creating an entirely new type of mobile communication platform and forum.

Advertising

Madison Avenue is dealing with outdated media models and needs to know about emerging media quickly, or suffers from billions of dollars lost to others who will know about emerging media. In the last decade major funds will be put in operation to build an entirely new advertising platform and new ways to reach consumers, which today is a $ 2,500 million industry. In the process, the methods and apparatus of the modern advertising industry will be completely reversed, not so much due to the present invention, but due to the many emerging technologies that have made this possible. For many years, vendors have taken the best efforts with consumers. Many of which are creative guesses of distribution streams that follow available technology and are invented for other purposes. For example, television has evolved as a communications resource and rapidly evolved into a free-entertainment form where a vendor may insert products and services that others would like to sell into the path of a consumer when the consumer is spending happy. It is not important whether those people are really interested in products and services; television is only the best way to expose products and services to consumers because television has traffic (traffic). However, advertising management personnel are beginning to realize how much money is being wasted on stale media plans. For the first time in history, television commercials were the largest loss in 2005 advertising costs, reduced by 9.5% to $ 155 billion, because the viewer "left the building". However, newspapers, magazines, cable television, and syndication (syndication) all show profit, with outdoor advertising rising in category by 9.8% to $ 35 billion.

While consumers are looking for new things to do and new ways to entertain themselves, vendors are looking for viewers. However, viewers are today increasingly sophisticated to avoid advertising messages. What is needed is not just any audience, but an audience who is really concerned about what the advertiser needs to say and what to sell, and those advertising messages must be bright, arrive in short time, and be relevant to the new audience's current interests and lifestyle. Today, the panning is directed to the internet and what is called the "third screen", i.e., those tiny portable displays that are found on portable phones, ipods, and PDAs. Again, vendors want to be involved (and their content) in our daily routine and entertainment. It is estimated that a share of as much as 25% to 30% of the 1000 billion dollars spent annually on brand advertising will soon appear on such mobile screens, but are users who pay for such services willing to accept advertising? Borrowing speech from senior sales industry managers: "if i were a 22 year old male and i downloaded four 3D games to my cell phone within the last 30 days, it is likely that i would be interested in seeing the commercial of Sony PS3 on my device. "he may be correct. Recent research has determined that children like to watch advertisements as long as the advertisements show something they are interested in. Look at Super Bowl, where a large audience first tunes to watch the advertisement. Consumers like this, want to participate, want to talk more, and want to eventually say so they must spend time telling advertisers what kind of content they would like to see. However, today's vendors fail to recognize the advent of technologies today that can open up conversations between consumers and creatives, yet remain open to the field of expression and enforcement by professionals in the field.

A new canvas and the viewers accompanying it are needed, but attract more of them than other tv spot advertisements for tiny screens in the event of an activity. What is needed is a system upgrade for advertising games, including novel applications and performance-focused distribution. But in particular it requires the vendor to be more exposed to consumers who are more exposed to themselves, consumers who express sufficient clarity to tell us at least two things: 1) who they are, and 2) what they want. Technology can achieve this, but consumers need economic reasons to decide to participate in the game. The present invention is conceived to just provide this.

Visual congestion

The united states cities have converged on visual clutter like silver winger (bladefanner), and there are few regulatory braking mechanisms applied to this accelerated aggregation. Electronic displays on taxi crowns compete with sign-covered buses and trailers, advertised bus shelters, lighted store signs, and a large number of billboards, many of which have rotating panels and flashing lights, and many of which now have wirelessly activated audio. The situation is even worse. Nanoscale components promise larger, cheaper high-resolution video screens that must be used on signs, surfaces, and various products. We have been inundated with visual advertisements: our daily sensory diet includes thousands of commercial prints, ranging from pops and animations in web content to full bombings of television 30 second commercial breaks, now with product placements embedded in the rest of the entertainment. As increasingly new technologies and attractive designs compete for driver attention, regulatory agencies, traffic engineers, and lawyers are beginning to question which of these potentially distracting things can also pose a risk of driving. To what extent the business sign may be responsible for the incident? What we know about the nature of attention and distraction? Can this surge be reasonably controlled?

Investigations have shown that signs and billboards do jeopardize traffic safety, especially at intersections and curves. Flickering lights, motion, visual clutter, and novelty (e.g., the times square/las vegas street (strip) effect that replicates so quickly in large cities) are implicated as part of the problem. Furthermore, studies on driver distraction confirm that visual complexity jeopardizes safety by forcing the driver to scan the environment for street signs, turns, or critical landmarks for longer periods of time. Researchers using eye-tracking devices to monitor drivers in traffic have found that video signs are more distracting than static signs and may act as a catalyst, increasing advertising focus of all types, even in unsafe situations. Similar studies document the effects of visual distraction on young and old drivers to determine what constitutes a safe, manageable amount of information, and the effects of animation, video, and moving panels on drivers in an effort to set criteria that make electronic signs and billboards legible without distracting. However, there is no distraction from the general purpose of outdoor advertising, where there is a problem.

There is no doubt that people are easily distracted. Attention theory indicates the relationship between mental stimulation/interest and the ability to perform tasks. We are best somewhere between boredom and over-stimulation. Researchers have found that new or unexpected stimuli trigger involuntary responses, and the more bored or inattentive we are, the more susceptible we are to these surprises. The study also identified patterns of visual perception: focus, or search, narrow and special patterns, and a default ambient pattern that does not focus specifically on anything but has better peripheral awareness. We have recognized that computer users performing search tasks in the center of the screen slow down when objects appear on the perimeter, even when they are not consciously aware of them. The more peripheral the object is, the more distracting it is. Thus, the more we focus on the periphery, the less we focus on something in the middle of the screen or in the middle of the way. Researchers have also found that new, moving, and stealthy appearing objects get attention; the start of the movement triggers the most important or urgent attention, possibly provoking (tap) survival instincts; and changes in color may be noticeable. None of these justifies outdoor advertising as an accident, but the behavior mechanism apparently comes into play when the driver encounters roadside signs. The concept that content is a major factor attracting attention has begun to be examined. Because content and distractions are inevitable, a solution may be to control them and accurately determine how, when, and where they should appear. This is a demanding but also the main object of the present invention.

Physical congestion

Just as advertisements seem to clutter our landscape, so do moving objects. Traffic congestion in our large cities has reached a very prevalent level, calling national research to address this problem. In places like los angeles, in the late fifties, people can drive anywhere to suburban areas in 20 minutes, now taking hours whatever the time of day. According to the 2005 city liquidity study report published in 5 months by the texas transport college at the university of a & M, texas, 67% of peak trips were crowded in 2003 compared to only 32% in 1982; in 2003 59% of the major road systems were congested compared to 34% in 1982. The number of hours per day when congestion is encountered has increased from about 4.5 hours in 1982 to over 7.1 hours today. Traffic congestion is worse in large urban areas than in smaller areas, but even smaller areas cannot keep up with the increased demand. According to this study, 10 years is not an unrealistic time frame from thinking to a complete plan or accepted solution due to the important planning and development required. But at the current rate of growth over a decade, the average congestion value for urban areas will jump to the next highest level, i.e. a medium area in 2013 will have congestion problems with 2003 large areas.

What this means to the consumer in terms of cost? In 2003, crowding (in terms of wasted time and fuel) in the 85 urban areas studied spent about $ 63.1 million for the driver. The average cost per traveler in those 85 urban areas is $ 794. The costs range from $ 1,038 per traveler in a "very large" urban area to $ 222 per traveler in a "small" area-all of which, along with the fuel costs, are far less than today's costs. In 85 urban areas of study, 2.3 billion gallons of fuel were wasted — a quantity that would fill 46 supertankers or 230,000 tank trucks. In urban areas with more than 3 million people, 1.5 billion gallons of fuel are wasted (more than two-thirds of the total |). At $ 2.00 per gallon, that is, the driver has thrown away $ 3 billion in parking and traffic. During this same period, the American outdoor Advertising Association (OAAA) reported that advertisers spent $ 5.5 billion on outdoor advertising. If an outdoor advertiser instead uses the present invention to put $ 5.5 billion into an advertisement, they not only put their funds in a premium advertising platform, they can also compensate for the $ 3 billion that drivers waste, and also $ 2.5 billion to remain spent elsewhere.

Much research has been devoted to understanding what we are dealing with traffic that we are deteriorating, but few specific proposals have emerged. Of course, no suggestion appears to suggest us to compensate for the driver's daily delays. Also, until we have meaningful countermeasures for congestion, the present invention can compensate to some extent for the owner's wasted time and money when the owner is experiencing congestion.

Moving object

Since people advertise on them as long as there are moving objects. Moving objects are the basis for corporate and self-promotion, personal expression, identification and advertising, from early flatbed horses and courier horses to modern trains, subways, buses and airplanes. Today, it is common to see cars, trucks, buses in their entirety, and even independently pulled trailers decorated with packages or advertisements for products and services-many of these are backlit to draw the attention of drivers and pedestrians as they travel nationally along city streets. One of the largest advertisers in the world, ClearChannel outpoor, is distributed to various taxi crowns on taxi roofs in urban traffic. These taxi crowns come in different sizes and in two, three or four sided models, generally backlit to show graphics at eye level to the sidewalk or pedestrian walkway being traversed. Some of these have lenticular screens that produce motion, built-in LED readout pads (readout pads), or larger LED panels that produce scrolling text, or more elaborate displays with flashing type animation. The latter may optionally be linked to an onboard GPS system so it may be programmed to display only on specific streets or within specific areas of a city. On these displays, the customer of the ClearChannel controls the content, not in real time, but well in advance of street exposure. The ClearChannel also provides a 14 "x 16" flat, bolted-on trunk emblem that is more or less positioned at the eye level of the driver of the rear vehicle. The taxi media department of ClearChannel calls these advertisements "tonnage" because the following car will view the same static print advertisement for 5 to 20 minutes (the time it takes for the following car to spend in traffic in places such as new york city).

Another company, MotionLED, sells elongated LED panels that can be attached to the interior of a vehicle window with suction cups, which can scroll text messages horizontally across the window, similar to those displayed in retail stores. These cells can be written in four lengths from 8 to 40 inches and selecting one of the three colors. All of this is a step-by-step effort toward displaying advertising messages in public spaces and behaves indistinguishable from the demographically targeted "shotgun" approach. Advertisers using these technologies may only want them exposed in the appropriate area of a town or at the appropriate time, and to people who may be inclined to their products.

Issue(s)

Madison Avenue (Madison Avenue) is working aggressively to convert the expensive, labor intensive and still largely paper-based process of purchasing and billing media. Even the internet has not developed the important rules of commerce or the real need for an online purchase and sale planning scheme in madison's street. The recently published status report compiled by the American Association of Advertising Agents (AAAA) indicates that the Internet has only implemented one of the 9 basic steps for conducting full electronic advertising, giving it the worst "difference" rate (percentage of advertisement purchases not made in the original order) for any of the primary media. This places the internet at a position comparable to outdoor, radio, and internet television as the least advanced electronic commerce trading partner. Even the largest analog of all media-magazines and newspapers-has made a greater electronic business advance than the internet and today is able to handle orders at least electronically. The advertising community needs to perform a significant amount of joint effort before independence can be required from the labor intensive manual steps of paper processing and human input that drives up the cost of media purchases and creates billing inaccuracies. The present invention provides not only an advertising platform that delivers highly relevant content, but is a completely electronic platform from beginning to end that incorporates creativity, distribution, tracking, measurement, usage, accountability, and compensation into a single verifiable, automated, closed-loop network. A comprehensive and seamless system has not previously been heard in the field of modern advertising.

Television receiver

Advertisers place advertisements everywhere, from overhead text to urinals, and from grocery store checkout dispensers to the fruits and vegetables themselves. However, it is always a complete motion video display that sends the goods. Advances in flat screen technology allow the display to creep into elevators, air pumps and restrooms-wherever some people appear that need to pause for a few seconds. Sellers are constantly tracking consumers in activity. With nearly 200 million us subscribers to wireless services, advertisers want to know whether advertisements broadcast to wireless devices such as cellular phones, blackberries (blackberries) and hybrid devices will evolve into a viable media platform without annoyancing their users. Some devices call GPS cellular telephones "silver bullets" because they hold the promise of having a retailer send retail promotions (pitch) to mobile users who may be in the vicinity of their store. The Chrysler company is offering its own mobile telephone television channel called the "Jeep channel" which actually runs a television style commercial on a cellular telephone.

From tiny screens to huge screens: the outdoor department of ClearChannel and montreal providers of digital advertising and digital screen networks have worked in concert to place hundreds of 4x16 feet video displays in food areas in national shopping malls. Including that these displays will show the same type of 30 second television commercial breaks you can see in your living room. Despite the decline in television viewers due to advertising skipping Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) and media alternatives such as the internet, american viewers still spend between 4 and 8 hours per day sticking in front of their televisions — more than in any other country-but japan is immediately second. If it takes these hours to watch commercial television, a fair guess is that they also watch about 15 minutes of commercials. See again 2005 urban mobility study report. In the "very large" area studied, there was a 61 hour delay per traveler per year, which was 219,600 seconds per year. In the context of television advertising, there are approximately 30 commercial breaks for 30 seconds per day and approximately 60 commercial breaks for 15 seconds per day. In los angeles, the number is even greater. Los angeles each traveler experiences a delay of 93 hours per year or 334,800 seconds per year. This equates to an average of 44.64 television breaks of 30 seconds per day, or nearly 90 breaks of 15 seconds per day.

Measurement of

Handling who views advertisements is extremely important to justify the value of the media platform. The need for evidence has created various devices, programs and companies-some now well known words-whose work is to weigh the existing advertising audience base. ClearChannel is evaluating a proposal request sheet (RFP) looking for new electronic devices to weigh their large radio audience. Arvitron, a company specializing in advertising measurement, developed a device called Portable people measurement Meter (PPM), a passive electronic device intended to replace the old paper journaling method of documents. While the Nielsen media research division plans a "portfolio" strategy for employing devices that improve the accuracy of their television-rated services, which today also measure time-shifted viewing of DVRs, video-on-demand, and other competing platforms such as the internet and mobile media. In 12 months 2005, Nielsen outdoor advertising companies sent their first wave outdoor demographic data to reveal those most likely to see an advertisement on a billboard. Nielsen persuaders responders to wear a GPS equipped pager-sized device called Npod, and then combine their responders' traffic patterns with a map of outdoor advertising sites to determine who passed what type of outdoor advertising and when. Nielsen's data does not provide demographic data on a per user basis for individual outdoor sites; it merely provides the advertiser with a sense of what the consumer may be exposed to and roughly how often. Unfortunately, there is a lack in the industry of methods for aggregating and applying advertising metrics that are otherwise mature and widespread.

The basic principle of advertisement metrics is to define what constitutes an "impression" or "field of view". Special software is generated to measure the billboard view. The television system identifies the number of home prints, the time of day when a Video On Demand (VOD) program was viewed.

The present invention does not have these problems. First, rather than inserting commercials into the entertainment stream, the present invention is directed to displaying advertisements. Second, because each presentation is essentially "requested" by the electronic device on one moving object or another, all such requests and complete transmissions are acknowledged and recorded at the time they occur for later download. Such a complete measurement reveals what was viewed, exactly where it was viewed (based on GPS data), when and by whom it was viewed (with important demographic details), and exactly how long. The system also documents whether any push information is requested, or whether any purchases are made, as a result of the viewing. Finally, the system may track geographic movement on portions of moving objects after content viewing to confirm local area effects — such as driving to a particular hotel or restaurant immediately upon seeing an advertisement. Furthermore, each content request, whether it results in a confirmed transmission or not, is recorded on the hard disk drive of each of the moving objects involved. This means that if you like, a detailed 24-hour map-a "data snapshot" -can be re-created to tell the vendor where the consumer goes, when they go, who may be with them at that time, what they look for when they go, and in some cases whether they find it. To this point, it is best understood that no other organization, system, device, or technology envisions or suggests providing such accurate and automated capabilities to transmit, measure, collect, process, evaluate, recreate, distribute, validate, and then again measure the absolute effectiveness of traditional or highly relevant advertisements and other types of consumer content on such a widespread scale, and additionally reward the average consumer for doing so.

Object determination

Geographic destination targeting is the process of combining IP-based targeting, a very common technique that allows advertisers to target advertisements based on the location of the user, with information about, for example, the city that the user is searching for. For example, if a user in san Francisco is searching for an address in Austin, Texas, the online vendor may target an airline advertisement that advertises inexpensive fares from san Francisco to Austin.

In the same manner, the present invention can query (poll) information from a moving object. For example, by using an onboard GPS navigation system with its selected destination and route and then linking this information to the owner's stored profile, a wide variety of highly directional advertisements can be immediately triggered to be displayed on any moving object it may encounter on the road: retail stores of high interest, restaurants with favorite food, hotels, travel stations of interest or other locations deemed to meet the pre-arranged interests of his or her home. Furthermore, if the on-board data indicates a history when searching out or purchasing a certain product, such as men's shoes, and the traveler is passing a town with a manufacturer specializing in fine shoes, the present invention can "borrow" the display of surrounding objects when the traveler approaches the town or passes it, and make this fact attract his attention. The vendor of these borrowed displays will compensate for their use in real world.

Targeted determination of behaviors

Behavioral targeted advertising is a way for sellers to better understand their buyers. The internet allows researchers to track buyers after facts to gauge what they see, browse, or order. Advertisements that they may be relevant to are "retargeted" when they go back to looking for more, relevant because they have indicated a considerable interest in it or something that might be relevant to it. The target is re-targeted for cross-selling to consumers who have previously purchased something, or again to contact potential customers in an attempt to direct them to a redemption event, such as a sale, download or business correspondence sign-up. This works better for some groups than others, but it is another way for a possible buyer to tell a possible seller who they are and what they want to act on. Why does not adopt the idea to the next level-as with the present invention-where buyers and sellers actually collaborate in such an exchange and where each greatly benefits from the effort?

Scatter (buzz) targeting

Nielsen BuzzMetrics, a company adept at measuring consumer-generated media and verbal dissemination, states that "in the area where verbal dissemination is about steroids, vendors need to focus on negative dissemination exactly as much as on positive dissemination", then continue to characterize most advertisers as "ill-equipped" to respond to fast-acting cyberspace (blogosphere), which is famous for producing bad messages in very fast volumes. A message that is truly "what you speak" is here a message that today's consumers rather like to speak out bold and loud about the service of a better product. In other words, advertisers no longer have to be reactive when starting to understand their consumers, they may be proactive. They can ask. This is something that the vendor usually does not take care to do. It is a key part of the invention to make clear what the buyer really wants and really cares about-what really makes them exciting-and to use it for mutual benefit.

Act against each other

Remember the last item on the list of the target that the advertisement pursued for a long time? Buy when pressing the button? XM satellite radio is preparing to load a portable MP3 player that is doing so, at least for music. A transaction with Napster has users press a button to "mark (bookmark)" songs they listen to, and then automatically purchase those songs on the internet the next time they connect their player to a computer. This may be the beginning of the trend. However, the present invention proceeds in several further steps, thanks to a fully integrated advertising and distribution infrastructure. When users in moving objects in an open field see advertisements that arouse their interest, they can press a button to get immediate information (e.g., pricing and availability), or they can request something else, such as having people send a manual to their computer. However, if they really like what they see and hear, they can buy the product on the spot. There is no need for an internet connection to complete the transaction because both the credit card and the shipment are established in advance, as will be explained later. You can even request one or two days to change their mind before the product is shipped. Imagine you are the main movie studio that releases large movies on weekends. You budget considerable advertising expenditures to start with considerable print and television spot advertising prosperity to produce incentives. How do you like to be able to send an extremely exciting 30 second trailer just in the case of a 100,000 teenage boy with the ambient sound of a 6:00PM drive on friday evening when they try to think what they do on their weekends? Then with a button press to wait in a theater just a few minutes from its exact location with a ticket in possession and a chance of an electronic discount on the nearby Burger King? The invention just allows such promotion to be performed immediately and seamlessly.

New canvas

Computer and display technology is a significant advance over the field of advertising using the same. Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), plasma and Digital Light Processing (DLP) have reached a steady level and, although they are still expensive for many consumers, they are today produced in large quantities and their cost is decreasing. LCDs were invented in about 1963 and were first intended as a reduced volume replacement for bulky CRTs or as a screen for wall-mounted televisions. Unfortunately, scaling up to large surfaces is a problem. Instead, LCDs become the standard display for everything from watches to laptop computers and as is commonly known, quickly replace traditional lighting devices, including brake lights and tail lights on production automobiles.

The newer products pioneered and patented by Kodak/Sanyo, Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs), now presuppose that original images with higher levels of brightness and sharpness are not possible using previous techniques. OLEDs are self-emissive but do not require background illumination, diffusers or polarizers as required for LCDs. OLEDs consist of two charged electrodes sandwiched on top of an organic light-emitting material that eliminates the need for mercury lamps and produces a thinner, lighter display with very low power consumption. These displays are tough enough to be used in portable devices and automobiles, can be viewed at angles up to 160 degrees, and are capable of producing clear, sharp images, even in bright light. OLEDs also produce high image resolution, and because each pixel can be independently turned on or off, they can produce multiple colors on very smooth, smooth edge displays. They are 20% to 50% cheaper than LCD processes, however with plastics that make them tougher and stronger. Manufacturers require a process similar to "printing" of newspapers and expect panels that are flexible and may not form an inherent barrier to large size glass and displays. In other words, these should be very cheap in the future.

Meanwhile, scientists at the franhoff research institute of polymer research (IPA) in poltstan are making OLEDs transparent. Although the metal oxide coatings in earlier OLEDs made them opaque, researchers are investigating the physical properties of transparency. Such displays embedded in normal glazing may be turned on and off to produce on-demand graphics or video. Because these new panels hardly interfere with visible light or images, their development is ideal for such applications as heads-up displays in automotive windshields or for displays of the type contemplated by the present invention. Importantly, under the proposed business model, capital investment will become available to improve the process on a cost effective basis and develop the necessary production equipment for the earlier supply of OLED displays, largely conforming to the established and mature transportation industry.

Government agency

All possible areas of evaluation relating to the united states government and the inventive contacts may be beyond the actual scope of this document. Although the united states government has many ongoing programs related to mobile object telecommunications, this application is not aware of any particular governmental prior art which conflicts with the present invention. We envision the government as a role in responding to and supporting the present invention essentially by preparing or assisting in the development of technical assessments, rule making, new standards and regulations. There are however areas where the united states government independently or with private contractors drill into programs where intentions or results may overlap and lead to similar conclusions or achievement of collaboration. Here are three such examples:

1) The U.S. department of transportation has initiated ITS Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) program designed to improve transportation safety and mobility and enhance productivity through the use of advanced communication technologies. ITS includes a wide range of wireless and wired communication-based information and electronics technologies that, when integrated into the U.S. transportation infrastructure and into the vehicle itself, should alleviate congestion, improve safety and enhance U.S. productivity. One such ITS study involves the establishment of a forward-looking, aft-mounted collision warning system for light vehicles for eventual integration into passenger vehicles throughout the world. This study attempts to establish criteria for establishing a driver warning system that can prevent or reduce a rear-end collision.

In some aspects, the proposed system is similar to the present invention in the sense that it proposes to use forward looking proximity sensing technology to read the speed of the vehicle in its forward path, calculate the range and approach speed, and then issue a "bump warning" or "follow too close warning" if the conditions prove to be valid, which will be non-invasive to the driver of the following (host) vehicle. The ITS properly evaluates valid data about driver attention (some of which were taught previously), but then fails to reconcile recommendations with ITS own and common conclusions. For example, section 3.2.1, background statement of ITS criteria: the "primary cause of a rear-end collision is driver inattention to the driving task (approximately 66% to 77%)". Driver inattention in this context includes inattention and distraction. Drivers often glance at the lane environment (i.e., looking down the road, left, right, looking across the reflectors, and looking to internal and external stimuli). The driver may only focus on one thing at a time because the eyes are focused together. So, for example, when drivers are attending to other stimuli, they may not be able to adequately perceive the lane in front of the vehicle. It is often necessary for the driver to leave his eyes from the lane and "keep track of" other stimuli when operating the in-vehicle controls and possibly talking. Often drivers use multiple glances to keep track of other stimuli, thus taking their eyes off the lane. These glances distract the driver and result in inattention to the driving task. The glances may be transient or of extended duration. Driver distraction accounts for approximately 11% to 24% of driver inattentiveness. Drivers may also exhibit behavior in which they focus on the front lane but do not perceive the change being made. This "seen but not seen" phenomenon also indicates driver inattention. This is similar to the problems previously discussed with distracting advertisements.

Unfortunately, ITS continues to assume in ITS proposals a very common solution that occurs in various moving objects such as airplanes, trains, or other types of machines: the solution of installing a conspicuous visual warning indicator on the instrument panel of the vehicle may be enhanced by audio and tactile (force feedback) warnings or heaviness of the accelerator pedal (thumb). In other words, when a careless driver is expected to be reinvested in his mind and respond to a stressful vehicle situation on his road ahead, his attention is diverted by more visual, audible and physical stimuli according to ITS recommendations. As set forth hereinabove, researchers have determined that new or unexpected stimuli trigger involuntary responses, and the more bored and unfocused we are about specific things, the more sensitive we are to these surprises. Also discussed above is the phenomenon of computer users performing search tasks such that the more their attention is focused around their desired focus, the less they are focused on the middle of their screen or on meaningful objects. Imagine that the warning light is emitted on the instrument panel with an audible warning and heaviness on your right foot. Your natural instinct might be to look at the light first and then perhaps towards the ground until you gather your thoughts and, depending on the study, the likelihood of overreacting by then is high. When your attention should be directed outward on your front car, this indicates an impending crash. We also recognize that new, moving, and stealth appearing objects are being noted; the onset of motion triggers the most important or urgent attention, possibly provoking survival instincts; and changes in color may be noticeable. But this is interpreted as a possible solution that is ignored by the ITS engineers. We have a long and effective history of placing the brake lights in prominent positions on the vehicle that we are likely to stop quickly in front of. This works. Perhaps a more natural and less distracting solution is to utilize a rear face video display on the vehicle in front of us-as taught by the present invention-to provide a color and graphic transition to "follow too closely" with a more intense warning or warning with more effect (supported by audible cues) when there are more potential collisions in the future. Such a warning would audibly alert the driver to a situation supported by accurately directing his visual attention, which should avoid an accident. This would be accomplished by a similar proximity technique being proposed by the ITS, which then adds the returning wireless signal to the preceding vehicle.

When fully implemented, the present invention represents a more effective solution to the ITS proposed collision avoidance and "follow too close" visual warning, as it provides a means to trigger and display clearly attention-attracting color and light changes on the rear surface of moving objects that in certain modes are designed to capture the attention of the operator of a following moving object. The purpose of the present invention is to facilitate many such novel and secure solutions, and these are further explained in the text that follows.

2) The U.S. Emergency Alert System (EAS) is designed by the federal communications commission so that important emergency information can be quickly transmitted to a specific area of a target. EAS alerts not only to broadcast media, but also to cable television, satellite, pagers and new forms of digital technology such as direct broadcast satellite, high definition television and video dial tone. FCC regulations require broadcasters to monitor at least two separate sources of emergency information to ensure that emergency information is received and transmitted to viewers and listeners in a timely manner. However, the technology continues to advance. Today, significant new approaches are available to improve the capabilities of current EAS. Satellites can be used to transmit EAS messages in seconds with a much available level of security without the geographical limitations of EAS today. The internet is a further influential technology because it provides redundant or backup path communications with valuable traceability. However, personal studies on EAS efficiency completed in 2002 identified three major concerns that prevent EAS from becoming a truly effective system. One is that there is no consistent governmental or industry effort to combine EAS and other alerting technologies with existing and new technologies such as wired and wireless internet, cellular phones, PDAs and pagers to form a combined and seamless alerting system. FCC reports from the same time period allocate an increased number of EAS event and location codes so that local emergency administrators and law enforcement officials can plan for greatly improved local emergency public information alerts. These new codes may, according to the report, lead to valuable information displays that are not currently connected to the EAS, such as changeable highway message signs. Each state, county segment, and offshore (marine) area has a specific number and hundreds of assigned numbers are unused. These may effectively identify a dangerous weather condition, a nuclear power plant, a military base, a nearby area, or even a unique area or region of a group of individuals, such as police, fire fighters, FRMA or other personnel, assuming that the equipment is in place to facilitate those communications.

One aspect of the present invention is that any moving object so equipped becomes in fact a rotating billboard well suited to transmit location sensitive real-time information to other moving objects within the area. Weather information such as torrefaction of mountain floods, tornados or hurricanes warnings or information about on-site highways such as traffic conditions, curves, road exits or returns.

3) In a similar effort, motorola recently signed a contract with the state of michigan department of transportation (MDOT) under the name motorola's plan for wireless super highways. This scenario represents an initial development of wireless networks intended to support the previously mentioned U.S. government Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) proposal. Motorola and michigan are studying methods of establishing roadside networks that can reduce accidents and road congestion by wirelessly connecting vehicles to the roadside and other vehicles. MDOT is helping to fund the development of motorola systems in south field, michigan as part of the ongoing investment in real world testing of real vehicle infrastructure integration applications in this state. MDOT also supports research and development efforts by private sector companies as well as original equipment manufacturers. The description of motorola's wireless future lane includes: vehicles that can detect potholes, ice spots, or other road hazards and wirelessly transmit this information to other nearby vehicles so that they can avoid the hazards; and a panic brake warning application that may operate in foggy conditions, and wherein trailing vehicles may receive in-vehicle warnings advising them to brake immediately. Government and private industry programs like this can share, utilize and benefit from the present invention because their concurrent development and large-scale market use will be driven by private investments in commercial advertising and in the development of personal media platforms that promulgate new revenues for consumers or the equivalent of new production vehicles that are less expensive to operate.

Integration

We see that the relatively confusing advertising industry has gone beyond everything to develop new platforms in the end of the declining number of old media (e.g., television), while pursuing new media (cell phones and ipods), such as the new discovery monument (gadget front) of Best Buy locally. The solution is always in front: attract the consumers who drive to work and leave work every day. This may be "screen 4": a unique media platform that is completely dedicated to displaying advertisements. However, for truly dedicated platforms, integration must occur at various levels:

1) and (4) advertising. Advertisers can start by organizing their own actions by a) electronically developing new innovative alliances with the public and by connecting their creative people and administrators to the channel, and b) merging distribution, measurement, consumer feedback, tracking consumer usage, content delivery accountability and compensation into a single automated system.

2) And (4) manufacturing. As explained before, there are today technologies that fully implement the present invention. Making it cost-effective requires acceleration and integration of the manufacturing process for larger volumes of OLED displays to ensure lower cost and allow nationwide, industry-wide mass market installation on moving objects. Even here, proper integration must be deliberate and extremely important. In terms of conventional components, the present invention has the ability to replace or incorporate into a single revenue-generating component for the automated manufacture of the following products from standard automotive production: tail lights, turn lights, brake lights, backup lights, license plate lights and side marker lights including molded/metalized plastic frames thereof, reflectors, lenses, bulbs (or LEDs), gaskets and connector seals (2 on each side), center mounted stop lights, vehicle make and model identification or graphics with accompanying hardware; finished panels with decorative finishes including primers, surface preparations, finishes, molding or plating; the license plate concave structure, the vehicle lamp bracket component, the connecting point and the frame; and finally, independent stamping, painting and distribution of license plates and license plate frames, as well as annual DMV registration label production, distribution and consumer attachment, and all the overhead, shipping, assembly and direct labor associated therewith. How well all can be replaced with a single component opens up not only an industry but also the opportunity to return money to the pocket of new car owners in times of rising fuel costs.

3) Government. As previously discussed, there are many programs in which the development of the present invention may enhance or achieve better solutions to current government programs. Of major importance are government involvement, rule making, legislation and compliance in the proposed standards. The use of the invention as a rich mobile communication resource is exploited beyond pure marketing, for the best benefit of all involved people. It should be developed from the outset as a highway safety system by adjusting the interests of governmental agencies such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the federal highway administration (FHWA), the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), the Research and Innovation Technology Administration (RITA), the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the national climate services sector (NWS), and the traffic statistics office (BTS) as well as other international agencies and committees. This ensures business and system compatibility across the country and across borders, in terms of highway signage, hazard and weather warnings, vehicle identification and signage, vehicle lighting and security systems, and public service announcement and warning networks such as EAS, to name a few. For the same reason, the U.S. military may need to be peripherally involved. Adjusting national and local agencies to incorporate standards for police, fire fighters and similar first responders as part of a universal and fail-safe mobile communication system is just as important as the involvement of the federal government. A high level is necessary in the field of vehicle standards such as crashworthiness, fuel economy and emissions, but this high level is significantly simpler than consistent consent and ease of production to achieve the same level.

4) And (5) financing. The combination of financial benefits is extremely important to initiate a program of this scale. Commercial advertising is clearly a financial driver, so it is reasonable to expect a considerable investment directly or indirectly from the field of large corporate advertisers and their agencies, as well as companies with core shares in communications, transportation or media. As explained later, governments may facilitate the development in areas where they feel the most beneficial to the public or meet their organizational constitution, plan, or objective. The third leg in investment may be from a personal motor company, which will recognize that the sale of moving objects that may also generate revenue to the owner (and thus correspond to products with lower operating costs) may be welcomed by the consumer, and competition may quickly drive acceptance of products incorporating the invention throughout the industry. The last leg of support comes from one or more major communications or outdoor advertising companies that will emerge as gatekeepers for this new platform. True funds are in content distribution and compensation.

5) And (6) compensation. The present invention introduces a novel and powerful means to reward the entire driving population, from junior apprentice drivers to daily commuters, from partnership use motorists to commercial fleet operators, and from the lowest income driver to the richest driver, to convey to the owner the ability to earn income while they are in transit, or alternatively, to reduce their transportation costs by allowing their personal assets to be used in profit-producing public forums. With the present invention, the present application envisions the orderly gradual adoption of video-equipped moving objects in terms of market size, with the ultimate market penetration being limited only by the total number of moving objects produced worldwide.

Compensation

There must be a case where driving people are recruited to advertise and advertise products and services using their individual vehicles for profit. These are limited in scope and technology, are expensive, relatively inconvenient and generally do not conform to the typical consumer lifestyle. This method includes paying drivers to cover their personal automobile with advertisements for products that are spammed, such as ice cream, juice bars, or internet services. The driver's work is simple: drive-on and off duty, pick-up children, work-in-progress-and would like to operate as a mobile billboard. Some companies offer drivers free use of new cars packaged with advertisements, while other drivers are paid $ 300 to $ 400 per month to allow packaging on their own vehicles. Critics call it another evolutionary-and emerging example-business sense. As previously mentioned, taxi owners in some large cities are allowed to place advertisements on the exterior of their taxi cabs. Renting advertising space in this manner provides the rental car owner and driver with additional revenue that helps them compensate for the cost of adding wheelchair-accessible vehicles and similar command requirements. Taxi owners and their rented drivers share revenue from advertising, which is estimated to be around $ 400 per month per car.

As will be seen in the following description of the invention, registered owners of suitably equipped moving objects may be similarly compensated, but through a novel combination of private and public entities that control content and monitor compensation, operate automated billable systems and incorporate a variety of media resources, financial partners and transportation support industries. Ironically, the enormous revenues and personal revenues guaranteed by the present invention result from just the thing of having millions of drivers waste their valuable time and money each day: and (4) traffic congestion.

Conclusion

To date, madison avenue is reactive rather than proactive. It hires other entities to track facts to determine if its content was actually sent and, if so, if it goes to the correct party. There is no efficient procedure for properly judging the "performance" of an advertisement (rather than the evaluation of post-analysis assumptions and sales by creative personnel), if any, to determine what the public considers what they think of being delivered. Madison avenue is a guess about innovation. It is about "following" media technologies rather than directing them. It is particularly advantageous for a vendor to have channels through which consumers can actively or even passively inform advertisers of what they really want to see and hear, for advertisers to fill those channels with content about products and services that the consumers really want and need, and for the content to be provided at times and places of the consumer's choosing. For the first time in advertising history, the present invention enables self-monitoring of mobile networks, where consumers can request specific content; view it; listen to it, accept, reject or approve it; providing immediate and direct feedback on the content to the relevant creative people and administrators; and allowing those creative people to modify and resubmit the content for distribution. The vendor can receive real-time confirmation about the release and inevaluable data about its use, efficiency and acceptance, and the presenter of the content is financially rewarded on a per advertisement, per screen basis for using their platform, as they are partners of the same industry, as they are.

The applicant is unaware of any commercially viable system that is capable of generating revenue for the general driving population by displaying targeted or highly relevant video advertisements on moving objects, wherein the video advertisements are managed and controlled by a database configuration stored in other moving objects. The applicant is also unaware of any single closed-loop advertising platform that allows consumers to request a specific type of content to distribute the content, to validate delivery of the content, to measure its effectiveness, to bill and compensate for such delivery, and to generate new content based on direct consumer feedback and validated live performance. The present invention provides a unique opportunity to reverse states in the field of advertising. It promises a new channel to communicate with consumers, new resources for public and private capital investments, plus an important ROI to have shared revenue for driving people. It further promises the alliance of multiple basic industries for manufacturing unique video displays, improvements in moving object safety and cost efficiency, environmental consolidation of transportation channels, and sharing of equitable compensation for owners and operators of new types of mobile communications and advertising platforms.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention describes a system, apparatus and method for obtaining revenue by displaying traditional, targeted or highly relevant advertisements on moving objects that receive, store, query and extract data to display advertisements and other types of information based on the time of day, its location and its motion relative to other objects in a particular environment, and where data and information stored within moving or movable objects in that environment may be transmitted between the objects, or to stationary objects, on which data and information is then received, queried, extracted and used to enable and control such display, for which the owners of those objects are then compensated. The proposed embodiments describe the development, production, deployment and operation of an integrated audio/video and data communication system capable of displaying highly relevant commercial advertisements with synchronized audio, real-time roadway, weather and emergency alerts, personal, fleet or government communications, mobile signage, and vehicle branding, lighting and safety systems on and between moving objects. The business model section describes means for business development, technical adoption, funding, rule making, authentication, media creation, content distribution, consumer utilization, and user/owner operations and compensation. The device portion defines the placement of a lightweight video display on or integral to the body panel, the exterior trim and/or glazing of moving and stationary objects with electronics for wireless transmission of stored, coded user configurations of advertising viewing preferences of passengers containing one moving object to a receiving system in another moving or stationary object. The system uses synchronized remote audio, personal messaging and public service alerts on surrounding objects to enable the display of highly relevant advertising content and provides real-time recording and later downloading of data to confirm communication and content delivery between objects, track and measure consumer usage, verify consumer direct response to advertisement viewing through an accountability system for mobile owner/operator fair compensation. The present invention further enables a widespread, non-intrusive, configuration-driven ad hoc collection of privacy-compliant (privacy-compliant) data for research purposes related to consumer movement, travel patterns, purchasing habits, interests, needs, and preferences.

The present invention also defines a mass production solution where data and information contained in objects moving within an environment can be transmitted, received, queried, extracted and used to control or modify audio and video output on moving objects being viewed according to the viewer's specific interests, preferences, habits and needs, needs or conditions of the environment, or requirements of the person responsible for monitoring safety and guaranteed motion therein. The invention further describes an apparatus for producing a low cost conversion of a vehicle so that the vehicle can display video and transmit synchronized audio to other vehicles. Considerations with respect to the device include the placement of the video display on or integrated into the body panel of an existing production vehicle, the exterior trim and/or glazing with electronics for receiving, storing, arranging and displaying advertising content, and for wirelessly transmitting the stored audio or audio code to the interior sound system of the viewing vehicle. The present invention also includes a method for compensating owners of moving objects for using their assets as mobile advertising and communication platforms, and further defines a means for generating revenue from a particular set of highly relevant data through the development and use of those platforms.

By allowing an object to learn a bit of information about your individual's history, background, and experience, as well as about your short or long term goals, needs, or desires, and by then providing the object-whether it is small enough to be carried in a pocket or purse, or large enough to be seated inside-to passively transfer this information to other nearby objects at some time or place in your life, you allow those other objects to interact with you or with your own targets and your own lives in a way in which the ultimate experience (net experience) can be enhanced, enriched, or active. Focusing momentarily on a single embodiment of the invention-and on moving objects large enough for a person to ride inside-we can envision situations where an individual (or a group of individuals) rides inside such a moving object that, as just proposed, possesses some information about the person it is carrying-e.g. a little information about "who they are" and "what they want" -and where the object can transmit that information to other nearby objects (whether those objects are moving or stationary). Once those nearby objects receive and process the transmission, they can respond by displaying very specific information of significant value to the individual riding in the first object. Imagine in the above situation, an individual sitting in such a land-based moving object who is looking at the road ahead. Let us assume that he also controls or guides his moving object so his eyes are at the desired places: on roads and on any moving object on his path. Given that the object on which he is sitting now transmits unique information about his personal interests, needs, habits or experiences, then passively, but without revealing any secret information, additionally general data about who he is (age, sex, marital status, education level, occupation, number of children, residential area, etc.) is transmitted to another object or objects nearby, which general data incorporates a small amount of information about the moving object on which he is sitting and its recent movements. If the information is received by a similarly equipped moving object, the object can now process the information and extract data from the internal library of stored data that is of unique interest or value to the individual in another object being followed and viewed. For example, if data stored in a library of previous moving objects is converted to a digital signal containing audio information and wirelessly transmitted to the moving object being followed, individuals inside the following object may be immersed in audible sound that is of real interest and value to the individuals inside. If this library data is processed into video information and then sent to a video display on the rear of a moving object located significantly in front, the individual sitting at the control device of the latter object can also see an image displayed on the object in front of him, which image can be further synchronized with audio information, all of which are derived from information transmitted from his own moving object and which therefore has great personal interest or value. Thus, a carefully prepared set of preferences in the form of personal information transmitted from one moving object to another or to nearby stationary objects can-when combined with data about the environment and the motion of objects therein-trigger or implement many forms of audio visual images that can address the 12 goals previously mentioned in commercials. What if the audio and visual information so transmitted and displayed is based not only on personal preferences and moving objects, but on the conditions of the surrounding environment itself? Again, among the independently controlled land-based moving objects-one that may be traveling on a highway or along an electronic guideway or track-if there is a severe deceleration or other moving object obstruction or danger situation ahead, this information may be received by one or more such moving objects and may then be simultaneously and prominently displayed on stationary objects on or near those other moving objects, thereby alerting all passengers and observers of any local and possibly severe situation. Such a display may simultaneously alert the operator of a moving object in the event of fog, deceleration of multiple vehicles at some distance in front, the occurrence of a curve, one-way traffic, ice, flood bursts or tornados, or a situation such as a landslide, a structure with a bridge extending outward or outward. One way to accomplish this is by displaying graphics and pictorial messages on the display surface of the immediately preceding moving object. In one such example, the information triggering such audio or visual presentations may come from wireless signals targeting a particular geographic point or route, or from a broader signal that may cover the entire town or portion of a city. The trigger information may also come from previously downloaded instructions or from a preprogrammed internal repository that is capable of interacting with the internet or with the navigation system of the individual moving objects. Thus, at predetermined times and locations during travel, moving objects may display critical information, alerts or warnings to or on other moving or stationary objects in the environment, which may then be viewed by passengers of those moving objects or by individuals in the immediate area (e.g., sidewalks or pedestrian streets) or by other devices capable of viewing such moving objects from remote locations (e.g., traffic surveillance cameras). While this latter type of audio visual presentation may initially appear similar to an on-board GPS navigation system that places prerecorded audio/visual content on a display inside a moving object, the visual content of the present invention is displayed on a stationary object on or near the exterior surface of the moving object-typically at eye level or within clear line of sight of the operator of the moving object, as in the case of a land-based vehicle-and thus is typically intended for viewing through the window of another moving object or from the exterior of the moving object. Thus, the location of the display of the present invention may be significantly more efficient and safer than displays located along the curb or on the interior of moving objects, as operators need not take their eyes off other objects moving on their way to focus on the interior of their vehicles or to gaze and track stationary signs, lighting or warnings on the curb. This is why we have placed brake lights on moving objects in front of us rather than warning lights on the instrument panel of our vehicle. Moreover, such video presentations are timely and reflect an immediate situation, as they can be electronically updated, configured, triggered and displayed immediately and in real time wherever there are suitably equipped moving objects. Further, when such images or sounds are generated using the interactive onboard database, they may be modified in real time to incorporate the needs and characteristics of the moving object and its operator. It is important to monitor all such content for safe and timely presentation, as all transmissions are ultimately controlled by the speed and relative motion between the moving objects themselves, the particular location of these objects in the environment, and the conditions of the environment itself.

Moving objects may also display highly personalized messages and personal advertisements, enable personal sponsorship, aid law enforcement or emergency operations, create unique means for branding moving objects, and provide many exciting opportunities for lighting, operational and safety systems for moving objects and their basic registration and identification, if they are able to exchange sufficient data to enable traditional, targeted or highly relevant audio/video commercials and time sensitive, location specific communications. For example, a land-based moving object may display the name or identification of its owner's favorite sports team or political candidates as a type of "electronic bumper sticker". Another owner may display promotions or advertisements for their own small business and do so at the precise time of day or night and at a meaningful place such as near his home or a business or college campus. By adding means for law enforcement to communicate with moving objects and methods for owners of moving objects to communicate with their own property, lost, stolen, or speeding moving objects can foretell their presence and warn others in the vicinity. Importantly, such displays enable manufacturers of moving objects to incorporate and periodically change the names, trademarks, functional designs or styles of their moving objects simply by modifying the electronic data that controls the content of their default displays. Another important improvement is accompanied by the introduction of full electronic systems for registration and licensing of mobile objects. The ability of the display to display powerful, well-lit external graphics and terms on moving objects and further to electronically encrypt and link such data to the moving object itself will result in a system where all moving objects, when acquired by the owner, will be immediately programmed to display the identification number (i.e., license plate) correctly and prominently according to set criteria, and if annual registration is required, such content will be updated annually. All such electronic programs will be encrypted and documented to prevent tampering or hacking without otherwise triggering an accompanying managed monitoring system. We can see that such a system, once again applied in the field of land-based road vehicles, can eventually eliminate completely the need to manufacture, issue, install, maintain, change and/or replace the license plates of the vehicles. Such a system may also prevent theft and fraudulent use of such vehicle identification if it is properly and safely designed. Importantly, annual DMV registration can be done completely online, and the registration being paid for will be sent electronically directly to the vehicle itself over the Internet, eliminating the cumbersome process of printing, issuing and installing new registration tags each year. However, the greatest benefit of using the present invention to date is that it allows operators of moving objects to maintain their eyes, focus and attention on other moving objects that are functioning around them, rather than on a large array of increasingly bright animated billboards, roadside signs and other distractions competing with their visual attention. In fact, the invention offers the obvious possibility of clearing the landscape by achieving a considerable reduction-and quite possibly eventually completely eliminating traditional signs and advertisements in environments where traffic is high.

Using today's prior art, we can easily assemble the operation demonstrator of the described invention. However, it can be more expensive than necessary and clearly lacks the integration, legislation and marketability critical to creating such a laborious and widely distributed program. To be successful, such efforts may require international consensus, but are not limited to such areas, to name a few: proposed range of rule making, legislation, testing, consistency, design, production and performance in the field of product development; coordination of multiple national interests in highway, airway or waterway traffic management, security and infrastructure; general telecommunications, telematics, and technology adoption, as well as the integration of national, state, and local environmental and weather services. Also important are the standards and practices of content, content display, delivery, distribution, usage tracking, accountability and finance in the advertising field, and also the coordinated development in international manufacturing in data processing, displays, telematics, body panels and glazings for mass market production of moving objects. None of these will occur if there is no capital and express incentive to generate the appropriate capital and cash flows to turn the invention into a commercial reality. It is therefore another primary object of the present invention to not only demonstrate the capability and operability of the system technology, but additionally to demonstrate a general business model designed to stimulate capital investment, the application of developed capital, the appropriate investment in R & D and fixed equipment necessary to produce cost-effective end products, the proper monitoring and effective use of those products or services, and finally to establish a means and enable the system to financially reward all participating persons from advertisers and agencies who pay the manufacturers of moving objects to use the advertising platform of the present invention, who will introduce the equivalents of more cost-effective moving objects as a result of incorporating the invention into governments who will ensure better and safer public services by employing the invention to new entities who will profit by virtue of the invention by publishing content to many transportation support industries, these supporting industries through partnerships enable fuel, insurance and other incentives to incentivize acceptance of the present invention and perhaps most importantly to many fleet, business and general mobile population users who will ultimately contribute their private and personal moving objects for profit to serve as public communication and advertising platforms.

Commercial advertisers continue to do business with selected ad agencies and develop creative content in the same manner they do today, but they will do so under new industry standards and practices defined by the present invention. Content producers continue to collaborate with their ad agencies to create end products suitable for the selected media, and then media buyers will purchase commercial breaks and schedule the content, but this will be done over the internet. The submitted content will first be examined to meet standards and practice and technical requirements and then encoded with respect to time, place and relative priority over other predetermined advertising or content types. Once the content is encoded, the best method of distribution (cable, satellite, wireless) is determined, a fee is added, and the predetermined content is uploaded to the network. The distribution method is discussed in the figures, but in practice the final method for transmission may depend on the infrastructure available in the various markets.

Law enforcement and military and government related public service content is uploaded periodically in a similar manner, beginning with quality and consistency criteria for graphical content, followed by similar time, place and priority codes over other types of content. Generally, government or public service content has a higher display priority than advertisements. The triggering of public service alerts is extremely important and is sometimes done by external systems. In the case of a highway building (roadwork) alarm that protects the mother from delays in her trip, typically the audio and visual content is pre-loaded into her hard drive (perhaps at the factory) while the actual triggering of the event is done by an onboard GPS input (a moving object entering a defined area at a certain time of day) with time and location constraints, or by a local broadcast radio signal.

Fleet and business users such as taxis, vehicles, or rental car agencies, or even large commercial carriers, as well as government owned and operated fleets such as U.S. postal service vehicles or GSA partnerships will submit specialized content under their fleet contracts. After similar approval and determination times, fleet and government content is uploaded through the internet and distributed to fleet parks or garage and warehouse areas in the same manner as homes, consumers, and commercial advertisers' content is distributed to businesses, universities, or mall parking garages.

It is anticipated that, under the present invention, law enforcement, fire brigade and perhaps even military users are granted unique access to enable these users to ignore any ongoing on-site content display for the benefit of public safety. For example, if a police officer in a land or air based moving object is able to "possess" a video display on the exterior of the land based moving object that is supposed to be lost or stolen, involved in a car catch, or pose some immediate danger or threat to others or the environment, such possession may release the prerecorded data from the hard disk drives in the moving object-as well as in other nearby moving objects-so that visual warnings and other types of displays may be prominently and simultaneously presented on multiple moving or stationary objects within the area.

It is envisioned that, except in rare cases, all users will pay for the right, privileges and opportunity to distribute content using the present invention, and some of these payments will be paid after expenses to the individual owners or operators of various moving and stationary objects, including advertising platforms, that are involved in the delivery of specific content. The present invention introduces an integrated system of electronic accounting to guarantee this.

Typical consumers pay for the distribution of their own advertisements and personal messages, even when such displays are on their own moving objects, although such personal use may be priced at a discount. Of course, such personal use reduces the chances that these users earn greater revenue by displaying the content of a large brand advertiser on their own moving objects.

Professional advertisers will pay a premium to use the system, especially during the best time and place. This is similar to the standards established in the industry, which are based on arriving at a particular market at some point during the day and delivering a certain number of prints to a preferred group of people in a particular area. Thanks to the invention, the fee charged will be based on the existing price of the media type, content and application, but the payment will only be based on the transmission being confirmed electronically.

Government and public service users may have content distributed under special contracts or circumstances, and such contracts may use public funds.

Financially, the present invention is somewhat like offering stocks to a listed company. The stakeholders of a company have a moving object-its communications platform-which is sometimes used to release the company's products. The financial investment for the stockholder is generated by the purchase, maintenance and operation of its own transportation means. His Return On Investment (ROI) appears in the form of payment for the services rendered or as a dividend based on company performance. The more investments a stockholder invests in a company-purchasing and using more moving objects or by using them more often-the larger his ROI. The larger the number of stakeholders, the larger the issuing network of the company and the greater the likelihood of its revenue.

However, an earlier investment from many resources is required. Seed funds from the union of those key entities most likely to benefit from the new platform may appear first. The advertising industry has strong motivation and is a long-term beneficiary; thus, early investments may come from more entrepreneurs of content producers, media buyers and advertising agencies, as well as their large corporate customers and finally the traditionally competing major media platforms (television, internet and outdoor). Second, federal and local governments are investment candidates primarily in support of R & D, legislation, and in the operational fields of highway traffic safety and public communications. Finally, manufacturers of moving objects invest in their own competitive design and development efforts, as well as investments from governments and transportation support industries such as oil, insurance, banking, computing, electronics, and telecommunications, as well as national transportation agencies and other industries.

The category of mobile objects that will be initiating the system in a land-based implementation may fall into roughly four initial categories: 1) producing a new vehicle; 2) pre-existing vehicles (or aftermarket installations); 3) vehicle retrofit (replacing existing body panels such as rear trunk lids or doors on SUVs, minivans or station wagons and truck tailgates), with original body panels being retrofitted to accept appropriate display technology; and 4) molded "add-on" packages suitable for use on trucks, trailers, RVs, household automobiles, and very old or unusual types of vehicles.

1) In the preferred embodiment of a new vehicle production, a land-based mobile object such as an automobile will include a small electronics package that interfaces with other on-board devices, if any, such as GPS navigation, audio entertainment, and perhaps newer telematics systems. The package includes a transmitter that transmits a wirelessly encoded signal with information about the vehicle type and VIN (or comparable identification information) and an encoded user profile or user code defining preferences and personal interests of each passenger selected to the moving object receivers or stationary object receivers within range. Signals may be broadcast in an omnidirectional pattern depending on the application, but in cases involving automotive applications in traffic, such signals are most likely transmitted in a general forward looking pattern with horizontal or vertical transmissions from 15 to 30 degrees or generally illuminated horizontally by the headlights of the automotive. This propagation can ultimately be controlled through regulatory enactment and further can be automatically adjusted by local roads, personal preferences, or traffic conditions. The electronics package on each vehicle includes an antenna to receive such signals, a motion sensor to measure the speed of the receiving vehicle, a rear-view proximity sensor to measure the approach speed of any following vehicle, and a decoder to process the signals transmitted from such vehicles. The enclosure includes an antenna for wirelessly receiving and transmitting information from a Network Access Point (NAP), an upload/download transceiver, a central processor, and a hard disk drive for storing all information received, either downloaded from the network or recorded in the field as a result of intercommunication between different moving objects. When signals are received from similarly equipped nearby vehicles, they are typically in the form of user codes that define the characteristics of the vehicle's occupants and their content preferences (as in the case of highly relevant advertising), as well as information about the vehicle itself that is related to a particular VIN and includes specifications regarding the physical characteristics of that particular moving object. In most cases, these requests are used to query an on-board hard drive in the vehicle being viewed (or displayed) and then arrange the necessary content of the video display according to a predetermined transmission protocol. Specific instructions to manage the transmission of content are encoded with the content. The content may be stored on the viewed vehicle, or both. Video content stored on a viewed (display) vehicle is typically arranged and displayed from a hard drive storage medium contained within the vehicle itself. However, the video content arranged from the memory in the viewing vehicle must be wirelessly transmitted to the viewed (display) vehicle for display on an external display device of the vehicle (unless it is intended for an in-vehicle display). In contrast, audio content arranged from a memory in the vehicle being viewed (displayed) must be wirelessly transmitted to the vehicle being viewed for reproduction and playback over its internal sound system. Thus, in practice, and to avoid unnecessary short-range transmission of audio and video content, the system will first choose to store all content in all moving objects so that only user/content codes are transmitted between vehicles. In this way, the video content itself is never transmitted to another vehicle, but is only arranged and displayed within the viewed (display) vehicle system. At the same time, any audio content associated with the video presentation is aligned, synchronized and released for audio reproduction on the viewing vehicle's interior sound system. All such displays are controlled by the motion and proximity of the moving vehicle in question, its relative speed, its position and relative position, the time of day and various other factors relating to the subsequent signals received from the vehicle in view, from other vehicles and from the environment, as well as factors generated by the vehicle itself being displayed.

2) The pre-existing vehicle is one that was manufactured before the present invention could be utilized, or simply one that did not employ the present invention; however, the owner or user should be able to purchase, lease, or otherwise add a form of new vehicle production package to such moving objects. Aftermarket enclosures do not need to add the video display portion of the technology unless they wish to earn money from the display of content. If they wish to view highly relevant content and/or use complete technology to control what they see and hear from moving objects, they can purchase and install a simplified version of the complete production system. Such aftermarket forms have the ability to receive, process, store, encode and transmit data including content requests, VIN data, and user/passenger configurations or user codes. It also has the ability to record content requests, information about the content displayed by other vehicles, and the response of its owner to the content being viewed. All of this information remains stored on the hard drive of any preexisting vehicle for later download to the network.

3) Vehicle retrofitting includes installation of new vehicle production packages, but on a panel-by-panel basis, as per the video display. Such installations are perfect for fleets or limited production applications such as taxis or commercial vans, particularly those operating in high density traffic areas. The most cost effective way to accomplish such retrofitting is to isolate the display portion of the technology from the body components that are easily removable or replaceable and are typically housed in their own readily available impact cushioning equipment, such as the rear hatch of an SUV or minivan, the truck tailgate, and the door or trunk lid of a passenger car. The electronics package, proximity sensor, antenna, receiver and transmitter can be easily integrated into existing body structures. Indeed, such retrofitting is contemplated for urban transport and rental fleets as a form of the beta-test and pre-production ramp-up phase and as a development of the market test of the present invention.

4) It is easy to manage a molded "add-on" package that provides full system performance (proximity and motion sensing, data transmission, processing and storage, and display) that can be "bolted" to large, uncommon or older vehicles to allow their owners revenue generating opportunities. Such applications are for trucks or buses, or even fixed roadside signs or billboards of large or medium size where appropriate. It is envisaged to carry a full size search or WALMART truck-trailer rig with a large panel display with company identification, which is also able to read the specific preferences and shopping interests of passing or surrounding motorists and then immediately arrange and display the products that are of real interest to them.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for gaining revenue by displaying advertising content and other types of audio/video information on the exterior surface of moving objects that may receive, store, contain, query, extract and use information transmitted from other stationary or moving objects within their vicinity for this purpose.

It is another object of the present invention to allow data and information stored in one moving object to be transmitted to another moving object or stationary object in the present environment, where the data is received, queried, extracted and used to control the display of advertising content or other types of information on the surface of such other objects.

It is a further object of the present invention to display and allow viewing of such displays at the exact time of day and at the exact geographic location, the viewing being further controlled by the relative speed, angle, proximity or motion of other moving or stationary objects within the present environment.

It is another object of the present invention to control the visual display on moving objects that are in motion so that such display is not distracting to the process of operating the moving objects in the immediate vicinity.

It is a further general object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that compensates the owner of a moving or stationary object for its use of property when the use of the property of such owner is associated with the above-mentioned system.

It is yet another general object of the present invention to allow for the universal use of personal vehicles for revenue generating activities.

It is yet another general object of the present invention to compensate owners and operators of moving objects with the use of the identification of the assets of the owners and operators of moving objects.

It is yet another general object of the present invention to convert time and money wasted by drivers in traffic into income, thereby increasing the base of tax accounting.

It is yet another general object of the present invention to make new vehicle ownership and/or operation substantially free of charge.

It is yet another general object of the present invention to stimulate early adoption of alternative energy vehicles by consumers by incorporating the revenue generating advantages of the present invention into alternative energy vehicles.

It is a further general object of the present invention to allow government agencies or agencies responsible for the safe and proper use of such moving objects to ignore the display of advertisements or lower priority utilization of the present invention to facilitate communications that may be of greater importance in terms of public safety and well-being.

It is another object of the present invention to allow advertisers to submit advertising content as well as transmit information for approval and subsequent distribution to moving objects.

It is a further object of the present invention to allow the general driving population to select the kind of advertising content he would like to view and display and further enter into contracts that define his rights and responsibilities to use the content and to receive compensation for such use.

It is another general object of the present invention to facilitate online communities (communities) by which users of the present invention can register their moving objects, establish membership and submit user profiles containing their personal preferences and user criteria.

It is yet another object of the present invention to allow fleet and government users of moving objects to use the present invention to determine the nature of advertising content or other types of information that they would like to view and display, and enter into contracts that define their fees and compensation for such use.

It is another object of the present invention to facilitate a system in which users can identify "who they are" and "what they want" and then be rewarded with providing that information by being able to control what they see and hear with respect to the advertising content displayed to them.

It is another object of the present invention to allow advertising or sponsored content, private or personal content, and public service or emergency content to be distributed directly and simultaneously to a plurality of moving objects on which the content may be stored, retrieved and displayed when needed.

It is a further object of the present invention to allow encoding of content for unique delivery (e.g., for time and place, under specific conditions and circumstances, or for specific groups of people), and to effect contracts with customers, consumers, and entities wishing to pay for such encoding.

It is a further object of the present invention to allow a user to request a particular kind of content to be displayed on his own or other moving objects on a predetermined or spontaneous basis and optionally pay for the service.

It is a further object of the present invention to allow a user to delete or prevent certain types of content display on moving objects on a scheduled or spontaneous real-time basis and optionally pay for the service.

It is another object of the present invention to enable advertising and sponsored content to be displayed on the exterior surface of moving objects when such objects are parked or not moving, and such content is relevant to the immediate environment and/or controlled by the presence of pedestrians and handheld electronic devices.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a means of storing information and data relating to any transmitted content requests, any "delete" requests or any "block" requests on moving objects, and a means for subsequently uploading that information for tracking, measurement, accounting and compensation purposes.

It is yet another object of the present invention to enable wireless, automatic download of encoded user codes or configurations to moving objects.

It is a further object of the present invention to enable wireless, automatic uploading of encoded public service content (e.g., public alerts and weather warnings) and location-specific or time-specific triggering criteria to the mobile object's onboard storage device.

It is another object of the present invention to enable wireless, automatic download of encoded commercial content and encoded transmission information to an onboard storage device of a mobile object.

It is another object of the present invention to enable the personal content encoded according to a private nationality and the encoded transmission information to be wirelessly, manually, and directly uploaded from a home or personal network to the onboard storage device of a moving object.

It is another object of the present invention to allow a user to spontaneously request additional information, purchase goods or otherwise respond to electronic offers and advertisements while viewing such content from a moving object or while operating a moving object.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a means for recording and storing transmitted information on audio or video public service content including content requests on moving objects and providing for later uploading of such information for tracking, usage metering, billing and compensation purposes.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a means for recording, documenting and storing transmitted information on audio or video advertisements or sponsored content or content requests on moving objects and providing for later uploading of such information to a network for tracking, usage measurement, accounting and compensation purposes.

It is a further general object of the present invention to provide a means for recording, documenting and storing information about the delivery of audio or video personal usage content on moving objects and providing for the later uploading of such information to a network for tracking, usage metering, accounting and compensation purposes.

It is a further object of the present invention to enable video content to be displayed on the exterior surface of one's own moving object, such content being previously generated and stored or spontaneously generated in real time (e.g., instant personal text messages), and optionally to enable and enable the audio portion of the content to be synchronized with the video and wirelessly transmitted to another moving object for its reception and listening.

Another object of the present invention is to achieve an apparatus for owners of current production motor vehicles to easily and cost-effectively exchange certain motor vehicle body panels for revenue-producing video display body panels that allow them to be compensated for the use of their property when their property usage is related to the above-mentioned system.

It is another object of the present invention to enable cost effective fleet retrofit of personal and commercial motor vehicles through the exchange of vehicle body panels and the addition of electronic equipment to allow individual or small business fleet owners to benefit from the use of their vehicles as multimedia communication platforms.

It is a further object of the present invention to enable information and content to be simultaneously uploaded and downloaded from a network to a large number of parked or moving objects for purposes of updating on-board libraries, or for tracking, usage measurement, accounting, and compensation purposes.

It is another object of the present invention to enable the uploading of information stored in moving objects about content, time, place, characteristics and triggers to any recorded transmissions for the purposes of tracking, usage measurement, billing, compensation or billing, and then to process and feed back this information to authorized government users, advertising agencies, advertisers or registered fleets, commercial or individual users.

It is a further general object of the present invention to display conventional, targeted or highly relevant advertisements, public service content and other types of information transmitted to moving objects on the internal video displays of such moving objects.

It is a further general object of the present invention to display conventional, targeted or highly relevant advertising content, public service content and other types of information on the internal video displays of moving objects whose display is governed and controlled by the speed, location, content, time of day, proximity and characteristics of the moving objects within the environment and other nearby moving or stationary objects.

It is another general object of the present invention to allow for the sale, timing and display of highly relevant advertising content as well as public service content, personal content and other types of information on video displays located on the interior of moving objects.

It is another object of the present invention to allow conventional, targeted or highly relevant advertising, public service content, personal content and other types of information to be published, displayed and documented on video displays located on the interior of moving objects and to financially compensate the owner or operator for such display.

It is another object of the present invention to upload user codes that are transmitted on a specific basis between moving objects on-site for the purpose of tracking consumer movements in terms of VIN, demographics, time, location, interests and other factors for research, marketing and planning purposes.

It is another object of the present invention to enable the sale of user codes and information related to the movement of consumers in the field based on VIN, demographics, time, location, interests and other factors for research, marketing and planning purposes.

It is another object of the present invention to convert the enthusiasm of the advertising industry and its need for a unique advertising platform into capital investment in the described invention, stimulating partner investment from private industries and governments.

It is a further object of the present invention to use the ability to generate revenue for the general driving population to stimulate further investments from the industry and government.

Another object of the present invention is to leverage the competitive interests of manufacturers by their ability to generate revenue for the driving crowd, allowing them to incorporate the present invention into their mass production of mobile vehicles, which reduces the cost of manufacture and makes the product more accessible to the driving crowd.

It is a further object of the present invention to implement a system in which a moving object can detect and understand traffic patterns and signal sequences at highway intersections, communicate this information to other moving objects, synchronize the information with the objects, and then calculate the time remaining at a location where the content can be safely displayed.

It is a further object of the invention to achieve a system for enabling geographical tracking for moving objects in a way that does not violate citizenship's freedom, since the tracked data cannot be legally generated in the absence of a citation.

It is a further general object of the present invention to allow its video display to be used for entertainment purposes or for still displays on moving objects when activated by appropriate audio and video equipment.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel system that reduces the spacing between moving objects when such objects are in a stopped or near-stopped mode, thereby saving a significant amount of wasted urban traffic lanes, particularly at traffic signals, intersections, on ramps and turn lanes.

It is a further general object of the present invention to allow law enforcement agencies to remotely override or control the active display of a moving object to confirm identification of the moving object, highlight a lost or stolen moving object, or use the moving object as a moving obstacle (hazard), lighting or communication platform.

It is another object of the present invention to electronically display moving object identities, licenses and registrations at all appropriate times and further to allow the driver population, including law enforcement agencies, to electronically capture and record such identities when needed.

It is a further object of the present invention to incorporate all of the normally required lighting, security, branding, licensing and registration systems into the digital video displays of future moving objects to the greatest extent possible.

One aspect of the invention is a system comprising: a first object; a transmitter in the first object; a second object; a receiver in the second object; and a configuration comprising data about a user associated with the first object; wherein the configuration or the subset of configurations is transmitted from the first object to the second object; wherein the content is displayed to the first object; and wherein at least a portion of the content is based on the configuration or subset of the configuration transmitted from the first object to the second object.

In one mode, the configuration is stored in the first object. Another embodiment of this aspect further includes compensation for a user associated with the second object to display the content. In another mode, the first object is capable of movement. In other modes, the first object is a vehicle, a device in a vehicle, or a handheld device. In other modes, the second object is a vehicle or a stationary or moving sign.

In another mode, the first object is a vehicle; and the configuration further includes data about other users or potential users associated with the first object. In another mode, the first and second objects exchange information about the relative position, velocity, and motion of the first and second objects; information about the characteristics, structure and characteristics of the first and second objects; information about surrounding objects; and information about surrounding locations; or any combination thereof. In another mode, information about the dispatch mode of nearby traffic signals affects the display of content. In yet another mode, the content further includes content that is not based on the configuration.

Another embodiment of this aspect further includes a priority system associated with the display of the content based on the characteristics of the content. In one mode of the present embodiment, the characteristics of the content are classified as emergency content, content related to ambient environmental conditions, registration and identification content related to a second object, public safety content, or a combination thereof.

In another mode, relative motion data from the first and second objects determines whether the content is displayed and whether the displayed content is displayed as animated video, still video, or a combination of both. In another mode, the content includes audio content, video content, or a combination of both; wherein the audio content is displayed by the first object; and wherein the video content is displayed by the first object or the second object.

In another mode, the first object and the second object are vehicles; the content includes positioning information about the first object and the second object; and content indicating the optimal parking position to an operator of the first object. In another mode, speed and positioning information is exchanged between all objects within transmission range; and the content displayed to the first object indicates to an operator of the first object a relative braking condition of any object in front of the first object.

In another mode, the second object has a user associated with the second object; and at least a portion of the content displayed to the first object is generated by a user associated with the second object. In another mode, a third party purchases a right to display content on a second object; and the second object displaying the content according to the preference of the third party. In a further mode, the rights are based on fixed or relative geographic areas, time of day, period of active display time, or any combination thereof.

In another mode, the configuration may be transferred to other objects at the option of any user associated with the first object. In another mode, the content may be viewed by people other than those associated with the first object. In another mode, the content is displayed in a manner that renders the content not viewable by people other than those associated with the first object.

Another embodiment of this aspect further includes a display integrated with the second object; wherein at least a portion of the content displayed to the first object appears on the display. In another mode, the display of the content appears on an exterior portion of the second object.

Another embodiment of this aspect further includes a first storage medium associated with the first object; and a second storage medium associated with a second object; wherein data relating to the display of the content is stored in the first storage medium and the second storage medium. Another mode of this embodiment further comprises a central server wirelessly connected to the first object and the second object; wherein data relating to the display of the content is uploaded to a central server. In a further mode of the present embodiment, the editing of the data uploaded in the central server is provided for sale. In one mode of this embodiment, the data relating to the display of the content includes a display time, a subject of the content, a duration of the display of the content, a subset of the configuration, or any combination thereof.

In one mode, the display of the content appears in an interior portion of the first object. Another embodiment of this aspect further includes compensation for a user associated with the first object to receive the content, view the content, or any combination thereof.

In another mode, information relating to the identity of all nearby and nearby objects is exchanged between the first object and any nearby or nearby objects and stored in these objects. In another mode, the first object and the second object exchange data related to audio played in the first object; and the content displayed to the first object includes video content synchronized with audio. In another mode, the content displayed to the first object is limited by a user associated with the second object.

Another aspect of the invention is a computer-implemented method, comprising: editing the first user's unique configuration based on an analysis of the data provided by the first user; associating the configuration with the first object; transmitting the configuration or the subset of the configuration to the second object; and displaying the content to the first user; wherein the first object is associated with a first user; wherein the content originates from a second object; and wherein at least a portion of the content is based on the configuration or subset of the configuration transmitted to the second object.

Embodiments of the present aspect further include compensating a user associated with the second object for displaying the content to the first user.

Another embodiment of this aspect further comprises prioritizing the display of the content according to the purpose of the content; wherein the content is for advertising, informational, traffic-related, security-related, news-related, region-specific, political, purely boring, or any combination thereof. One mode of the embodiment further includes prioritizing the display of the content according to a surrounding environment of the first object and the second object, presence of an emergency, public interest, or any combination thereof.

Other embodiments of this aspect further include prioritizing the display of content according to preferences of the first user; transferring the configuration to other objects at the selection of the first user; displaying registration and identification information on the second object; or to display content generated by a user associated with the second object on the second object.

Another embodiment of this aspect further includes displaying an indication of optimal traffic and viewing positioning to the first user on the second object; wherein the first object and the second object are vehicles.

Other embodiments of this aspect further include prioritizing the display of content in the presence of external wireless signals for emergency or traffic direction purposes; displaying audio content to a first user using a first object; displaying video content to a first user using a first object, a second object, or a combination of the first and second objects; or exchanging information between the first and second objects regarding the relative position, velocity, and motion of the first and second objects, information regarding the characteristics, structures, and characteristics of the first and second objects, information regarding surrounding objects, and information regarding surrounding locations, or any combination thereof.

Another embodiment of this aspect further includes determining a relative motion of the first object and the second object; and displaying no content or displaying the content as animated video, still video, or a combination of animated and still video according to the relative motion of the first object and the second object.

In other modes, the content is displayed on a display integrated with the second object, or the content is displayed on an exterior portion of the second object.

Other embodiments of this aspect further include storing data related to the display content in the first object and the second object; uploading data related to the display content to a central server wirelessly connected to the first object and the second object; or to provide an edit of the uploaded data from the central server for sale. In another embodiment, the data related to displaying the content includes a display time, a subject matter of the content, a duration of display of the content, a subset of the configuration, or any combination thereof.

Yet another aspect of the invention is a method comprising: populating the source object with content; and displaying content to the recipient object in response to a unique configuration, or portion thereof, associated with the recipient object, the configuration being provided by the recipient object to the source object.

Yet another aspect of the invention is a system comprising: a content storage device; and means for displaying content stored on the content storage device to the recipient object in response to a unique configuration, or portion thereof, associated with the recipient object, the configuration being provided to the source object by the recipient object.

Further aspects of the invention will be set forth in the following portions of the specification, wherein the detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing preferred embodiments of the invention without placing limitations thereon.

Brief description of some aspects of the drawings

The present invention will be more fully understood by reference to the following drawings, which are for illustrative purposes only:

fig. 1 shows a general embodiment and overview of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship of governments and manufacturers with respect to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship of advertisers and manufacturers with respect to the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the relationship of the driving population and fleet or government users with respect to the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram depicting the owner registration process of the present invention.

Fig. 6 illustrates a first embodiment of a land-based moving object using the present invention.

Fig. 7-10 illustrate aftermarket body panel retrofitting to a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV).

Fig. 11-13 illustrate aftermarket body panel retrofitting to a passenger car or taxi.

Fig. 14-16 illustrate aftermarket body panel retrofitting to a recreational vehicle.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram depicting an electronic vehicle package of the present invention.

18A-18B are block diagrams depicting a publish mode of the present invention.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram depicting the compensation mode of the present invention.

Fig. 20-23 are diagrams showing a land-based vehicle and three basic types of displays.

24-27 are diagrams showing four different types of content displays.

FIG. 28 is an illustration showing geographic specific content distribution.

Fig. 29 is a diagram showing content purchase and encoding according to content type.

Fig. 30 is a diagram showing content viewing according to fig. 28.

Fig. 31 is a block diagram showing content protocols and arrangements in a viewed vehicle.

Fig. 32 is a diagram showing geographically specific content distribution in a rural area.

33-34 are diagrams illustrating display interactions between moving objects in urban and highway environments.

Fig. 35 is a diagram of an intersection clock (crossroad) for measuring a time that can be suitably displayed.

Detailed description of the invention

For illustrative purposes, and with more particular reference to the drawings, the present invention is embodied in the systems and methods generally shown in fig. 1 through 35. It will be appreciated that the systems and apparatus may vary as to configuration and as to details of the parts, and that the method may vary as to the specific steps and sequence, without departing from the basic concepts as disclosed herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates a general embodiment and overview of the present invention by showing some basic elements that must interact to launch such a unique advertising and communication platform: first, user base elements (here consisting of government agencies 200, advertisers 300, driving crowd 400, and fleet/government users 500); developers, suppliers, and manufacturers of moving objects 600 (in the present embodiment, automobile products); the issuing entity (or entities) 800, the compensating entity 900 (shown separately here for clarity; in fact, this entity may be merged with the issuing entity), and the owner of the registration and the subject of the operator, indicated at 1000. While a given embodiment may include a large number of such groups, with various forms of interaction between them, the groups listed here are some of the most basic and essential to the general deployment of the invention. Such relationships range from development funding and investment to the manufacture, implementation, operation and maintenance of the system. The basic elements of early planning are the proposed rules formulation shown at 100, followed by design rules, performance and compliance standards for the operational aspects of emerging systems. Such efforts represent mutually yielding goals and creative exchanges between governments and industries, after which decisions will emerge that are recognizable to all parties. Precedent and similar to such efforts exist between the government and the transportation industry, and more stringent standards for establishing automotive performance are well known, such as Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) for vehicle operating standards and department of transportation for crashworthiness, clean air amendment Case (CAAA) or national low emission motor vehicle (NLEV) standards for EPA emitted by motor vehicles, or Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for NHTSA for fuel economy. Such standards are basically negotiated between the transportation industry suppliers and the automobile manufacturers 600 and the appropriate government agencies 200, entered by any other interested party. Content criteria 105 that define how traditional, targeted, and highly relevant advertisements are ultimately displayed to the consumer is most likely established concurrently with the operation and distribution portion of the system. This interaction exists between the advertising community 300, the manufacturing body 600, the publishing entity 800 and its compensation unit 900, input from the relevant government entities, the fleet and government operators 600, and from the driving population.

It is envisioned that very early subsidies for R & D and technology development may come from the investment branches 110, 115 of the advertising and media community in business terms, and from government for research in highway/traffic safety and public services. This early development capital is combined with capital provided by the primary automotive manufacturer and its supplier 600, resulting in a prototype operating system, and ultimately a full production supply 120, which will be integrated with regularly scheduled vehicle production. There are also specific, highly targeted operations niche markets (nichemarkets) suitable for introducing this platform on a controlled basis, such as fleet and taxi operations, which will be explained later. It should be noted that there are many different possible scenarios and models for planning funds, as interests, participation and investments are expected from many private sector entities, funding clubs, research institutes or government agencies. Another possible investment scenario is represented at 128 in the form of a possible investment made in the issuing entity by the transportation manufacturer itself, since its end products are an essential part of this new advertising and communication platform.

Private investments 130 from the user's principal may assume many forms, such as national and local government funds (some of which have been described previously) that support innovative law enforcement applications; direct equity investments from advertisers 300 or from large media owners; private investments (other than their investment in private vehicle ownership) from the general driving population 400 or from fleet and business users 500, perhaps through IPOs, may be in the form of equities in the issuing entity 800. Once the release operates, however, the user agent begins to pay a royalty 140 to place the content on the new platform.

The output side of the distribution unit 800 is the transmission of content directly distributed to vehicles registered in the network through the channels 150, 155 (as discussed in the previous section) and explained later. Content 150 represents traditional, targeted, and/or highly relevant audio and video advertising content, public service content, personal content from fleet or government users, as well as general driving residents, and coded personal profiles. The content 155 represents the transmission of personal preferences to a pre-existing vehicle 655, the vehicle 655 using an aftermarket system sold by a retailer or installed as an upgrade to a car dealership. The preexisting vehicle 655 is capable of wirelessly transmitting the VIN, model data, content request and advertising control signals 750 to the newly manufactured vehicle 652, 654 and then receiving audio and viewing video content derived from data on the mobile object video display 760. Fully equipped newly produced vehicles 652, 654 send similar VIN, content and control requests 740, receive audio content internally and view video content on a display 760, the display 760 being integrated into those vehicles, on an exterior surface or glazing. As explained previously, all such content and control requests are recorded on the new and aftermarket platforms for later wireless download through a Network Access Point (NAP) as shown at 160, 165, which will be discussed in a later section.

The compensation unit 900 collects all data downloaded from the registered mobile objects and compares the content request with the content transmission (discussed more deeply below), and confirms the actual content transmission by matching these data. The validated release information is then returned to the release unit 800 (which may be the same as the compensation unit 900), as shown at 170. The key steps in content delivery measurement, billing and compensation occur at this stage. The applicant believes that it is important that any such system be able to identify and prevent "click fraud" which is becoming well known in the internet advertising industry. This is the process by which a user, entity or software generates fraudulent requests for content to be sent (viewed) in an effort to show interest in a particular advertisement or site, such shown interest being greater than actual interest. In the case of the present invention, this may be done with the effort of an individual who is paid for displaying advertisements that are not actually viewed. At this stage, an exchange of data 170 between the compensation unit 900 (which has downloaded the recorded vehicle data) and the issuing unit 800 occurs, which involves matching of specific VINs on moving objects with the time, location and physical movements of those objects to determine the possibility of fraud. This process is explained in more detail in the following section. Once the on-site content delivery is verified, the compensation unit 900 may approve payment for registered vehicles that have their content displayed confirmed by the mechanism indicated at 170. This applies to all registered production vehicles 652, 654, and in some cases to content-only vehicles, such as vehicle 655 with aftermarket installation. The issue unit 800 may then feed back the field performance metrics to the general user agent, as shown at 180. Among many of the tasks discussed in the later sections, the compensation unit 900 has two key functions: paying financial compensation to the registration platform owner/operator 1000, as shown at 178; and selling the particular collected data to vendors and researchers, as shown at 1100.

Fig. 2 illustrates a possible relationship between a government agency 200 and developers, suppliers and manufacturers 600 related to the funding, regulation and use of the invention. While there are many such possible combinations, several of those institutions that may be associated with some regulatory issues 220 and public service usage issues 240 are enumerated. For example, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)202 has well-defined tasks in establishing vehicle standards, including testing and compliance procedures, as it has in other department of transportation (DOT) programs, some of which were previously mentioned. The federal highway administration (FHWA)204 has prior knowledge of producing the best transportation system in the world. In a cooperative relationship with all highways and transportation communities, its constitution is that it is possible to ensure the safest and most efficient highways and intermodal transportation system, where collisions, delays and congestion are significantly reduced, where roads protect the ecosystem, where pedestrians and cyclists are regulated, and where transportation services are restored immediately after disasters and emergencies. The present invention can make a considerable contribution to all these specific goals. The primary goal of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA)206 is to bring significant growth and change to the national economic, social and political lives by driving the basic task of a marketable based decision that reduces the price to the consumer and encourages innovation, while controlling federally government resources to support spectrum-based technologies that increase efficiency and productivity. Clearly, the widespread use of the wireless spectrum to generate commercial and public communications opportunities is within the constitution of NTIA, which opportunities are also financially beneficial to consumers. Research and Innovation Technology Administration (RITA)208 is dedicated to increasing DOT priority for innovation and research in transportation technology and concepts. Innovations will improve our mobility, promote economic growth, and ultimately provide a better integrated transportation system. The constitution of the organization is to encourage the exchange of ideas and information in a high priority hotbed designed to study and bring innovative ideas from the laboratory into the field. RITA can effectively assess the following capabilities of the invention: the ability to groom distracting highway marking stimuli, the ability to employ more effective direct vehicle collision warning systems, the ability to incorporate sophisticated technologies in the implementation of heavy drinker driving laws and the delivery of emergency medical services, and generally the ability to significantly enhance the design and management of highway safety programs via the present invention. National weather service (NOAA)210 has a current plan, properly termed "flood ahead please turn to not be flooded," which attempts to reduce the substantial loss of life to annual drivers whose vehicles are being hauled away in an attempt to traverse heavily flooded areas. This project previously involved the placement of plastic signs on small metal racks where the road disappeared below the water surface. This plan has limited efficiency, but the deployment aspect on an urgent basis is a logistic nightmare. Tornado, mountain torrents, hurricanes, mountain torrents, wildfires: all of these have similar impacts and unknown solutions at the beginning of protecting the public. The present invention is actually a rotating billboard with instant messaging, however, the content of the communication (including animations, movements, warning signs competing with flashing lights) can be immediately deployed anywhere it is located. Thus, the investment of NOAA in early regulation can prove to be a huge benefit to public safety. The transportation statistics Bureau (BTS)212 is responsible for assessing the relationship between transportation and economics on an ongoing basis, including the share of our transportation system in total domestic production, employment, and transportation expenses. Its operation is very relevant to such previously discussed areas as city congestion and the direct cost to the consumer in wasted fuel and time. This field alone justifies early commissioning and continued tracking of BTSs to document the true long-term benefits of the present invention. Finally, there are many other mechanisms 214 whose capabilities may become relevant to the implementation of the present invention, and whose coordination efforts must be multinational in scope.

Use 240 represents just a few of the possible applications worth funding by the federal government. Such funds 110 are directed, in part, to supporting research and development efforts of automobile developers, suppliers, and manufacturers 600. The main area of development is telematics 610, which is a device for enabling communication between moving objects; data processing 620, which is a method for decoding, storing, querying, extracting, arranging, encoding, and uploading data and content for distribution by the present invention; display 630, which is a cost-effective display that is a development from current or new technologies for incorporation into various mass-produced vehicles; and a panel and glazing 640 that uses the automotive glazing as a platform for content display.

The proposed rule formulation and legislative relationships 100. Upgrades in telecommunications and content processing, operating systems, displays including the hardware and software of the present invention after its initial introduction are shown at 125. The investment is shown at 128, which implies the possibility of the car manufacturer and its suppliers to hold in the issuing entity (or entities). At 142, a royalty, shown at 142, is paid to the issuing entity 800 for the downloading of government or public service content, which is then stored on the vehicle hard drive, indicated at 152. Such fees may be paid in part in advance based on negotiated service contracts between different government agencies and issuing entities. Once the live content delivery is confirmed from the recorded download, the balance is paid out at a later time. A public service content request (and optionally, the sending of a confirmation) to download the record, indicated at 161, is installed from the aftermarket platform. The recorded public service content requests and recorded public service exposure, indicated at 162, are similarly downloaded to the compensation 900 for processing and validation. The confirmed publicly used content, indicated at 182, is revealed back to the distribution, where it can then be translated into valid metrics about the exact time, place, environment of use and content delivery, and regardless of whether the recipient takes specific and appropriate action on a timely basis in response to such content delivery (in other words, do they act on a specific audio/visual display displayed to them in the field. Finally, the documented performance, indicated at 186, is fed back to the appropriate government agency 200. This feedback will vary with the needs of the particular institution involved and may be accomplished under a contract between the issuing entity and that particular government institution. An example of such a measure and feedback is the confirmation of NOAA, i.e. that a certain number of vehicles return from a flood burst zone and are directed on an alternate route just before the actual crisis; and a geo-specific plot showing the location and number of vehicles that are simultaneously (by the present invention) subject to audio/visual alerts; the precise timing and movement of those vehicles (based on recorded GPS data) following the alert, as well as the movement of those vehicles equipped with the present invention that are not aware of the alert, so that the alert validity can be determined.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the relationship of advertisers and manufacturers with respect to the present invention. Although the advertising community 300 is multifaceted, it is collectively defined as three elements: media buyers 305 (the entity responsible for purchasing and scheduling advertisements in various media), advertising agencies and their customers 310, and content producers 315 (the entities typically employed by advertising agencies to author, produce, and complete products for media placement). The applicant envisions groups that individually or collectively influence and guide proposed criteria 106 for creative content and system functionality, with key elements listed in content criteria 320. Note that the development of these standards is enhanced at 100 by cooperation with U.S. and foreign government agencies 200. These combinations, combined with their ability to be creative and marketed per se and their political and legislative experience, form rule sets for such issues as: graphics and animation criteria (e.g., criteria that determine the distracting nature of the animation with respect to driver attention and establish such display); content standards and formats (restrictions on certain types of advertising content relative to a particular demographic group, or the manner in which certain displays may be generated and targeted to a particular demographic group); telematics standards (techniques used to allow moving objects to talk to each other); proximity and locality regulations (determining when and where certain types of advertisements may not be allowed or may be limited in scope or content); methods and schemes for demographic coding (categorizing different types of products and advertisements so they can be configured and appropriately tracked for measurement, billing and compensation in accordance with consumer requests); impulse response (unified approach that allows consumers to request information about products or to safely order and purchase products while using their mobile objects, and to securely link such orders with credit card and shipping information); field uniform (Field Override) standards (standards and procedures that allow law enforcement agencies to control ongoing displays for public safety or needs); ensure compliance with current and expected NHTSA standards; compliance and regulatory (development of testing and compliance programs to ensure standards in manufacture and use); and compensation criteria (development of billing, billing and general compensation procedures and contracts including defining industry fair practices, ownership, taxes, expenses and similar consumer-related business issues). The joint production specification, indicated at 134, is implemented with the manufacturing team 600 and incorporated into the operating system of the network through the distribution unit 800.

Paths 130 and 143 represent two key financial channels of the advertising community. Although many investment scenarios arise, it is most likely that equity, loan, or prepayment, in general, is passed through the advertising or media industry, as these represent important users and beneficiaries. As mentioned above, there is an urgent need for improved tracking of billability, demographic efficiency and usage of advertisements, and certainly, advertisers and large media buyers are not concerned with finding new ways to reach consumers and experiencing the drawbacks of going from commercial television to the internet. With so many risks in the industry, the logical core investors of the present invention are the primary media buyers 305, the advertising agencies and their customers 310, the content producers 315, and of course operators of traditional media and advertising platforms such as commercial televisions. One reason for this to be meaningful is that the advertising community 300 that includes these three entities also becomes the payer of the maximum user and user fees 143 for the network.

Further, 120 represents the supply path for new vehicle production 650, while 153 represents the uploading of advertising content and encoded configuration, upgrade and distribution instructions to the individual vehicles 652, 654, 655 via the internet.

Path 167 represents a recorded content request from a pre-existing vehicle, while path 164 represents an upload path of recorded advertisement requests and recorded advertisement impressions from new vehicle production. When it is used with a confirmed public service, path 173 represents a confirmed advertisement release sent back to the release unit for advertisement performance assessment, usage tracking, measurement, billing, fraudulent exposure and compensation. Once the data is processed by the publishing unit 800, it can provide performance feedback to media buyers, advertising agencies or advertisers in various formats, including data on direct daily delivery to specific groups of people, with the exact time, place and duration for such prints as well as consumer insights and opinions, related information requests, final purchases and other criteria, all of which were previously unavailable in the advertising industry at multiple levels of accuracy and measure.

It is also worth noting that, due to the generation of such widely distributed, flexible and mobile video platforms, it is merely a matter of time at major news and entertainment media companies to recognize that the present invention provides an unusual means of reaching consumers with rich content displays while the consumers are active but receiving such information in a safe and relaxed mode. For cable leaders such as Fox News, the present invention provides a unique mobile forum for sending critical messages and local event alerts, thus representing a huge possible revenue stream for all general media and telecommunications.

Fig. 4 is an illustration of a driving crowd 400 and a fleet/government user 500 in relationship to an issuing unit 800. These user groups will all be discussed in terms of an online community of users, one representing the general driving population at 410 and the other representing fleet enterprises and government users at 510. Examples of these and how they work are described in the preceding text. Over time, such communities may take various forms: however, the applicant envisions that most of these are operated by the various automobile manufacturers, aftermarket manufacturers, or retail merchandiser entities responsible for the design and manufacture of the moving objects themselves. For the purposes of this discussion, the communities are defined in four sections, each representing an online activity. For the driving population, these are: (1) registration 420, which may begin with a record of the vehicle's VIN at the dealership, a process that may be done online at home with the last license; (2) membership 430, where each member of the family may join the community by creating its own username and password; (3) preferences 440, where each new member can easily follow online prompts in a multiple choice, drop down menu, check box or text writing format to define his personal interests, desires, needs, desires, abilities and experiences, these defining "who he is" and "what he wants" as these preferences relate to his personal lifestyle and the type of advertisements he is willing to view or display according to a pair of configurations; and (4) personal use 450, where members-typically upon approval of a registered owner designated as a system administrator-may choose to create or upload various personal messages, sponsorships, or advertisements that they would like to display to others for personal or business purposes, and if they were displayed on their own vehicle they would be billed at a discounted price.

These online portions are similar to those for commercial or fleet enterprise user agents or government users, except that they are designed to be suitable for enterprise and commercial applications and are constructed to accommodate the diversity of moving objects or vehicles: (1) registration 520, where a business or fleet owner may register a number of vehicles that will be driven by drivers under the contract of the business; (2) operator configuration 530, where the enterprise manager is responsible for identifying its drivers and notifying them of the systems and rules of the network; (3) preferences 540, where an enterprise or government fleet manager may establish communication, viewing and display preferences for its own drivers and fleet; and (4) fleet/government officer use 550, where a registered business owner or fleet manager may enter into a contract with the issuing entity 800 to display advertisements, brands, or promotions of their own company. The applicant expects that many personally operated advertising and promotional businesses can be separated from such business platforms where small business owners can purchase dual purpose vehicles with the intent of operating a fleet of mobile advertising platforms around the clock in a key market to train and manage drivers for such businesses and then charge advertisers for displaying content according to a specific location or time that would otherwise be unavailable. This is in contrast to privately operated auction transactions that fall out of the popular Ebay model. Embodiments of such fleet applications are discussed in later sections relating to adoption and production of fleets of moving objects. The consolidated upload path for owner/operator configuration is shown at 114.

As explained previously, the vehicle registration of the present invention is linked to a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and cross-checked with the DMV record of the information, which may preclude membership approval from a legal and business perspective. Such precautions are well known in the industry and follow generally established prudent commercial and legal practices. Owner/operator configuration 530 and preferences 440, 540 may be subject to similar scrutiny; however, the purpose of such a configuration is to define the nature of the content to be viewed by such owners and operators, and to a lesser extent to determine what they will exhaustively display to other members and the public. In light of what is actually shown to the public under the present invention, all matter is thoroughly monitored and approved under strict standards and practices established through joint efforts between governments and businesses, as described in the preceding sections. Approved and coded owner/operator configurations of individual and fleet/government users are uploaded to the particular vehicle at 116 via the VIN, or via an equivalent vehicle identification process that links the registered owner to his vehicle. As previously occurred with advertising and public service content, personal content of the general driving population and fleet or government public services as well as enterprise content are uploaded to new vehicle production at 154. In addition, personal preferences for controlling viewing features from pre-existing vehicles are uploaded to these vehicles at 118.

An important byproduct of the present invention (in addition to its ability to request and confirm highly relevant content of the delivery configuration activation) is the ability to track and measure all such requests and deliveries simultaneously and even passively, including any actions taken by the consumer as a result of such deliveries while in the field, as well as collecting and compiling such data on the consumer's movement in terms of time, location and VIN, all in relation to its demographic and psychographic configuration. This type of information can be readily generated using the present invention through the interaction of moving objects, as well as through the interaction of moving objects with other types of compatible, configuration-activated mobile devices in the field. Each mobile object or mobile device issues coded signals describing THE searcher's essential nature, personality AND interest when communicating with other mobile objects or mobile devices in an effort to match THE transmitted user code "request" with stored content, as in THE case OF THE present invention (or to match user codes disclosed in applicant's non-provisional patent application serial No. 11/552,932, filed on 25.10.2006, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR on-board patent free FROM failure OF high-REVEVANTADVERTISING THROUGH PERMISSIVE MIND READING, PROXIMITYENCOUNTERS AND DATABASE access group, which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety). Regardless of the matching content request, the content being sent, or the attempted or completed live communication, all such moving objects or mobile devices, if so programmed, may receive and store live transmissions from all other such moving objects and devices. Each of these transmissions is time stamped and identified by device and location. The code for any such attempted or completed communications may then be collected and uploaded to the compensation unit 900 and the issuance unit 800 when the mobile objects are linked to the network.

The level of verifiable information about consumer demographics, psychology, and interests, when coupled with their movement and travel, may be of particular value to market researchers and planners. These include: architects and developers, retail stores and mall planners, high school and university, concert and event producers, casino and theme park planners, transportation planners, law enforcement agencies, government legislators, and certainly advertisers and distributors. The sale of this data is shown at 1100 in fig. 1. The downloading of special instructions for the collection of specific studies and planning data according to an independent contract or scale study is shown at 1120 in FIG. 4. The uploading of such specifically collected live data is shown at 1140.

The recorded personal usage authorization (a request signal to allow or prevent personal content from being displayed to the viewing vehicle) is uploaded from all vehicles at 167 to the compensation unit 900. The recorded personal usage exposure (data confirming that personal content is displayed to the viewing vehicle) is uploaded to the compensation unit 900 at 168 through a Network Access Point (NAP) in the same manner as the recorded advertising or public service exposure is uploaded from moving objects. The exposure of such a record is sent to the release 800 where it is matched with the individual and fleet/government usage configurations as shown at 175. Once the content transmission is matched and verified (by confirming that the code for the transmitted content matches the code for the received moving object and also cross-checks with the originally uploaded content), the compensation unit authorizes a fee to be charged to the registered owner 1000 for any personal use exposure that will be billed or subtracted from any compensation that will be paid to the registered owner, as shown at 178.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram depicting a general owner registration process of the present invention. The basic procedures for accomplishing online registration are now generally known, so the purpose of this illustration is to describe the steps and decisions that a consumer may accomplish in engaging with businesses that view and display highly relevant advertisements and personal communications. Two parallel engagement paths are shown, reflecting a preferred embodiment involving land-based vehicles. Both of these paths describe the customer entering the distribution network, starting at 402 for pre-existing (or aftermarket) vehicles, and starting at 404 for newly produced vehicles.

Beginning at 402, a consumer of a pre-existing vehicle assumes responsibility for purchasing, installing, setting up hardware and software through which he participates in the distribution network 800. This may be done by purchasing the electronic package from an automobile dealer (and subsequently installed by the dealer), or it may result from purchasing the package from an automobile aftermarket or aftermarket retailer and may be installed by the owner himself. Regardless, the registration process and the subsequent membership are essentially the same for both user paths.

At 422, using a computer, modem, and online browser that interacts with the aftermarket manufacturer's website, the intended user submits his Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and other required information, such as (pending final registration and contractual requirements) his driver's license number and other necessary information, such as the make, year, make, and model of his vehicle, unless such data is provided in the VIN and credit card information. The physical characteristics of each vehicle-height, width, driver exit point (or eye envelope), number of passengers full, etc. -are pre-encoded as part of the registered VIN, or under each owner's vehicle configuration by make and model. In practice, these specifications are transmitted between moving objects so that an optimal yet minimal separation is always established between the moving objects when parking in traffic, the exact viewing angle of the line of sight being based on different vehicle models. For example, a driver's forward line of sight through the windshield to the rear area of a tall SUV at a height that a sedan or sport car typically has will result in a more upwardly angled line of sight and a vehicle spacing requirement between particular vehicles; conversely, line of sight through the windshield of a taller SUV to the video display on the rear surface of a low motion sedan results in a more extreme downward viewing angle but optimal spacing between different types of vehicles; and finally another SUV where the SUV to a similar height would produce a more level line of sight but another specification for vehicle separation. In other words, because the interacting vehicles talk to each other and exchange VIN numbers, the leading or stopped vehicle can accurately tell the vehicle approaching from behind the best parking position for best viewing its rear mounted display. In each case, the proximity measurements and the spacing between vehicles (discussed further in fig. 17) are controlled by the vehicle code in order to establish the best line of sight for content delivery and in order to ensure the tightest actual spacing between all so equipped vehicle models, which saves traffic lane consumption in actual traffic situations. Lane spacing savings between vehicles achieved by the visual range/stop indicator is a valuable byproduct of the present invention.

Continuing the online registration process at 434, each new user has the opportunity to register or allow other drivers or passengers in the family (or in the enterprise if a fleet application) to register, as well as children or other family members of any age and gender that may be passengers in the vehicle under that VIN. At this point, each family member may establish its own username and password, if desired. If the person is underage, or if preferred by the registered owner (who is typically the system administrator of the VIN), he or she will control access to the system and any configuration that is later completed for such family members.

At 438, these user names (or nicknames) are programmed into the vehicle's user selector 780 (explained in more detail in fig. 7). This control allows the consumer to instantly shift viewing preferences from one person to another, or a combination thereof. However, final control may always be retained to the system administrator of the vehicle. In other words, dad controls who wants to see what when dad's car is taken.

At 443, family members are allowed to select their personal advertisement viewing preferences in their own homes in complete secrecy. Here, each family member (or user authorized in the enterprise) can perform multiple selection, click-through or write-in text box responses, which allows them to define "who they are" and "what they want" in terms of their personal interests, desires, needs and experiences, and in the types of advertisements they are willing to view. This configuration technology is explained in detail and is the subject OF applicants' non-provisional patent application serial No. 11552,932, filed on 25/10/2006, entitled "method and APPARATUS FOR making a recording medium free FROM recording medium OF yield-REVEVANT ADVERTISING method and APPARATUS FOR recording medium MIND READING, PROXIMITY encounter and APPARATUS FOR recording medium, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Using an individual's home or office computer, networked laptop or PDA or even portable phone, the user's personal profile can be updated and periodically submitted from anywhere nearby with network access. Furthermore, because advertising preferences may be highly personal in nature-and because they directly affect the types of products and services, or the types of entertainment and lifestyle that the user is interested in or feels curious-the user may select and control the timing and circumstances of all outgoing content requests at 443. For example, if an individual is interested in certain types of personal products or topics that he prefers to remain secret, when he completes that portion of his personal advertisement viewing preference, he may limit such content requests to only the time he is in his vehicle alone, for example. It is also possible to control the external display viewing angle so that others in the vehicle adjacent to the viewed vehicle are unable or less able to see any of the displayed content.

In a similar manner, the user may block certain types or all types of advertisements from being displayed to him by other objects while he is operating or within his own moving object. If the user finds that a certain content has little or no personal interest, or if he finds it unpleasant or unpleasant, he can prevent it from being exposed to himself and others who may be with him or in the immediate vicinity. The present invention accomplishes this simply by deleting or blocking content requests according to a particular user's stored configuration. When the user prevents such content from being displayed to his person, he also prevents the displaying party from earning any compensation from such display. The invention is thus a very democratic process in many respects.

For parents of young children, the system has great advantages. In a preferred embodiment defining a land-based moving object, parents can prevent certain advertisements or content that they find inappropriate from being displayed on their surrounding moving or stationary objects when the child is traveling in their parent's vehicle. Those advertisements may be switched back or allowed when the child is no longer in the vehicle.

The registered owner of the preexisting vehicle may also determine the viewing agreement of himself or herself or his home at 445. Preferences may be turned on or off depending on whether the occupant of the vehicle or the party responsible for the vehicle wishes to allow or prevent the advertisement from being viewed by any other particular party. Research has revealed that children today do like to watch commercials as long as they are related to the subject of their interest. Parents may only threaten to turn off their advertisement viewing preferences for the remainder of the return trip if the child does not hold properly.

Under the guidelines laid down by the distribution network 800 and the government regulations associated therewith, various manufacturers of moving objects are expected to implement a wide variety of advertisement viewing characteristics. For example, such a feature may allow a user to value each family member's preferences by the time allotted during use (e.g., 20% preference for dad, 30% preference for mom, and the remaining 50% divided equally by children, assuming they performed well). These preferences are translated into signals that are broadcast to other moving or stationary objects in the vicinity, thereby controlling the nature and nature of the advertisements queried and selected for display by such other objects. The application of user preferences may further be controlled automatically or manually according to the time of day and the location of the event, according to the specifications of each automotive manufacturer and the network content criteria. For example, if mom is working through the day, then takes the child between 3:00PM and 4:00PM and returns them home or goes to a friend's house, she may look at her own preference settings up to 3:00PM, then join the child's preferences for one hour, then instruct the vehicle to automatically switch preferences back to her own after the child leaves, or she does this manually. As in the design and implementation of vehicle air conditioning and entertainment control systems, it is the responsibility of each manufacturer to design and incorporate their own forms of these controls for marketing, human factors and user convenience under their own quality control and operational standards, provided of course that they also comply with any federally or more generally approved system standards.

At 455, after completing the membership, viewing and agreement preferences, the newly registered owner of the pre-existing vehicle is presented with the network issuance and compensation contract terms and conditions that he must read and electronically sign. Finally, at 465, he submits his configuration package and the executed contract online to the issuing entity 800 for approval.

In a second engagement path, beginning at 404 (and also in the preferred embodiment using land-based vehicles), the owner purchases or rents a newly manufactured vehicle with built-in advertising display technology. As we see in the home scenario, the franchisee registers the vehicle in advance using the new owner's driver license number linked to the new product's VIN. At 420, the new owner completes his registration process using the automobile manufacturer's home registration community website.

The various possible methods of describing consumer configurations or content coding are beyond the scope of this document, as these are simple processes for those skilled in the art of demographic and psychological analysis, as well as in the field of interpreting subjective elements including human interests and commercial use. Regardless, when the consumer is queried in separate configurations to define "who they are" and "what they want" generally in terms of relative life experiences, expectations, beliefs, interests, and goals for various types of products and services, the process begins at 420 for newly produced vehicles in FIG. 5 (continuing through steps 432, 436, 442, 444, 446) and begins at 422 for aftermarket vehicles (continuing through steps 434, 438, 443, and 445), as the consumer is requested in a separate configuration to define "who they are" and "what they want" generally in terms of relative life experiences, expectations, beliefs, interests, and goals for various types of products and services. This may extend to a particular brand, product brand, company or even political union. Such a configuration is performed in a guided online question and answer dialog that incorporates multiple choice questions and relaxed textual answers designed to encourage individuals to better understand and present themselves and their unique personality. These configurations can later be analyzed for hidden relationship values and significance using private in-depth search software designed to identify personal features that individuals often cannot or do not want to define for themselves. Methods for generating and collecting such personal information by configuration are well known to those skilled in the art of psychology and marketing. Also known are methods of quantifying, weighting, characterizing, prioritizing, integrating and ultimately linking such results to the sale of products and services, as well as methods of encoding and decoding such data as it is generated. Novel is the method of the present invention which directly asks consumers-and in some detail-about the commercial content they are most interested in seeing and hearing, and then enables them to request, query, arrange and display such information through technical structures and systems at the time they are most open and easily accepted for such information on a time and place specific basis.

The following steps are essentially the same as discussed for the pre-existing vehicle registration path: registering other family members (432), assigning a family/user name to the preference selector (436), the family members selecting personal advertisement viewing preferences (442), and the registered owner determining a viewing agreement (444).

At 446, however, the new vehicle owner is given the opportunity to determine that his vehicle shows preferences, i.e., something that the pre-existing vehicles cannot do unless they are equipped with an external or internal video display. Typically, most content scheduling is performed at the media purchase layer. In other words, there is a media exposure hierarchy that determines the value of the print of a given advertisement based on the capabilities of the platform to reach a particular audience at a particular time with a particular and highly relevant message-and for the first time using the invention-at a very exact place. Such media purchases are significantly more valuable to some advertisers, and therefore implement high-price tags for the advertisers. If the registered owner is able to send large volumes of prints in the high value market, he also reasonably shares the revenue generated by that particular platform, in this case his own vehicle's VIN. For this reason, the applicant envisions a small business byproduct including individuals or small companies that may first register large numbers of moving objects to circulate advertisements within high value target markets, such as the business district areas of densely populated cities. Assuming this creates unnecessary traffic flow in these areas, the program may be put in place to prevent such random behavior from increasing.

Because content delivery is automatic in nature and represents a complex media purchase (sensitive to content type, viewer demographics, location, delivery time, etc.), and because most consumers always want to optimize the revenue generated by their delivery platform, consumers prefer to set their display preferences to automatic. The automatic display preferences are designed to generate the maximum revenue by targeting and giving the highest value market priority first. In this regard, at 446, there is no conflict of interests between the consumer and the issuing entity. It may also be relatively selective in determining a person's own display preferences. For example, the arrangement allows registered owners to exclude (or "blacklist") any companies for which they would prefer not to advertise, promote or display their products or services. In doing so, the owner also foregoes revenue from those excluded display advertising opportunities. Examples may include individuals who wish to resist certain products or companies in conjunction. Another example may be a political candidate of a political party or another political party, particularly near the time of election. There is another issue responsibility and an inherent feature of the present invention: political promotions in and around the voting venue can be electronically monitored and blocked. The opposite is also true. If an individual likes a particular company or product, he may request priority for displaying content about that company's product or service. At his choice, he may also purchase the entity's corporate sponsorship. However, each such selection may have a revenue outcome for the registered owner.

At 448, the media platform owner can implement another step in determining the use of their assets: their personal use preferences are selected for their own moving objects. Because the personal advertising engagement decision is also related to the overall ability of the VIN to generate revenue, only the system administrator of the VIN (typically the registered owner) is allowed to approve them. This is easily and confidentially done by consumers following prompts on their user/community website. Such personal use is typically charged at a discounted price because the home or individual will use their own assets, but it is apparent that such use will reduce revenue from the individual displaying content for others.

At 452, family members (or small businesses) are allowed to create and submit their own personal advertising content for display on their own or other moving objects. Such content may range from simple nearby business advertising to a very spontaneous advertising that is impulsively applied to the vehicle, such as displaying high school team logos at game time. At 454, the owner is given the opportunity to create a personal message. These may be posted on the owner's own vehicle, or on other vehicles, immediately and spontaneously or on a scheduled basis, according to a standard price (rate). Such messages may also be accompanied by audio content that is wirelessly transmitted to the vehicle audio system of the viewing vehicle or released from its internal hard drive within the viewing vehicle in accordance with the received code. There are many such examples of personal advertisements, sponsorships, or messages: political candidates may email your animated e-bumper sticker from their election event office, and if you agree, you can then send the email directly to the back of your car when clicking on the mouse. Another such unsolicited message may be a "sell for sale" flag on the rear of the vehicle that is linked to the "impulse request" electronics as a means for obtaining information over the air (components described in more detail at 782 in fig. 7). Another example could be a "just married" sign on perhaps all vehicles present in a wedding party, or a "help needed" alert if a problem is encountered on an open highway. Any number of spontaneously posted personal messages are possible, provided they meet the publishing entity's criteria and conventions for review of personal content, and are approved at 842 in FIG. 8. As explained later, the unit may electronically screen and then block certain graphical content that may be generally considered objectionable in terms of public exposure, or beyond a reasonable speech freedom. Such content is submitted online by registered owners and, once screened, may be scheduled for automatic release, or may be stored on the hard drive of the VIN for spontaneous or manual release by the owner in the field. The display of personal content is accompanied by a standard fee (in terms of time, place and market of prints) for exposure levels for any discount that is expected to be less, and the transaction is displayed on a monthly financial statement for the VIN owner. Personal usage charges are typically discounted and debited against monthly income checks of registered owners. However, the broadcast of personal advertising content to other moving objects will constitute a media purchase. Such purchases are scheduled online at an existing price (again, based on the time, place, and market for the print) and may include discounts to large users or long-term members within the network.

The steps of the registered owner agreement with operational contract terms (456), the agreement with compensation contract terms (458), and the registered owner submission configuration (460) for approval and issuance are similar to those previously described for pre-existing vehicles.

Step 470 represents an ongoing process whereby registered owners can, or are actually encouraged to, periodically update their configuration and membership to viewing highly relevant content and submit any new personal content to the publishing entity 800 for approval.

The purpose of this disclosure is not to teach the way personal configurations should be constructed, but to leave it to the vendor and expert in planning experienced in the field of explanatory investigations for the benefit and response of the consumer. That is, the object of the present invention is to facilitate a means to understand the degree of interest, curiosity or inclination of an individual, purchases in areas such as transportation, food, clothing, real estate, banking, finance, investment, consumer goods, toys, medical, entertainment, social networking, communications, education, advanced technology, sports, politics, current affairs, and the like, as well as details regarding the timing of such interest or prospective purchases, as well as identifying the kind of information linking such interest to a particular type of lifestyle and content delivery. It is also an object of the invention to consider special events, for example when the mother is a teenage son or the husband searches for a birthday plan for the wife's birthday. With the ability to include such highly relevant interests and needs in the system and to alert the user of upcoming events at a later time, the present invention is able to bring a completely new level of performance to highly targeted or highly relevant marketing and promotions automatically and on a timely basis.

Fig. 6 illustrates a first embodiment of a land-based moving object 650 in which the integration of a highly relevant advertising display system can be clearly seen. The illustrated vehicle design and packaging follows an expected design progression timeline and exhibits a rear body surface that can naturally accommodate the display technology. A shaped printed OLED (or optional) display 760 is presented, the surface contoured to conform to the desired tailgate cover and body panel of the target vehicle. Display 760 is seamless and extends along the full width of the rear (fifth) door in this example; however, many configurations are possible. Display 760 is placed on the rear bumper impact area, but may ultimately be considered a replaceable automobile impact component.

It is quite clear from the present illustration that the correct design and integration of the digitized tail end of the car can completely increase the aesthetic quality of the cars produced, while they optimize the function of the components they replace, such as tail lights, turn lights, centrally mounted stop lights, back up lights, license plate lights, recesses, panels, frames and registration (registration). At the same time, single panel lightweight displays provide complete freedom for the make and model of automotive manufacturers, and in fact have for the first time introduced the ability to animate the way vehicles are branded, identified and/or expressed themselves. Most importantly, however, the area of display 760 may extend the full width of the rear hatch and enable full motion video for display of advertising content. A major advantage of using a formable and bendable Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display for automotive applications of the type proposed by the present invention is that such display panels can be formed to conform to the design goals of the original vehicle. By way of example, a conventional flat panel display incorporating the size and panel type shown in the drawings would consume a limited number of interior body panel cavities that are necessary for other vehicle functions. Furthermore, because flat panel displays are not flexible, they cannot be integrated flush with the surface contours of modern automobiles. This means that the display can be read at a reasonable distance, except for a tiny flat panel size that is too small for the display, which will produce undesirable surface reflections and a significantly less finished design appearance. OLED displays, FOLED (flexible organic light emitting diode) displays or PHOLED (phosphorescent organic light emitting diode) displays plus FOLED substrates that can be laminated into various types of automotive glazing, when incorporated, provide the opportunity to produce a body panel surface that is constantly aligned with affordable video displays. Shown here in area 765 is a single company logo (in this case an apple computer) that may be referred to as a "sponsored" model. This mode is typically used when traveling at freeway or highway speeds, is designed to be easy to read from large distances and allows only small color changes or enhancements so that it does not attract the attention of nearby drivers. The background of the display panel may in this example have the same color as the exterior trim of the vehicle to allow full emphasis of the identity (current advertising content) as it is displayed in this example. At the moment the vehicle begins to decelerate, the sign dissipates slightly and the brake light "field" appears on both the right and left sides of the panel 760, and the federally approved center-mounted stop light is just above the apple sign as seen here. At the same time, it is possible that the identification of the license plate appears in a large, easily readable, well-illuminated pattern, perhaps in the center or on one side, depending on the default design of the car manufacturer. It is possible that the brake/turn/marker light part of the tail end of the digitization may change color and change from dark yellow through bright yellow to yellow red, to bright red for the most violent braking. Such transitions in color and brightness, expansion over more time and larger panel areas (while maintaining the usual left/right taillight visual separation, which may help the driver measure distance) provide an increased level of information regarding parking emergencies compared to current brake warnings, which transition between fully on and fully off and may cause over-stimulation and panic parking as they typically do today. It is important in the present invention that the advertising content status be gradually erased during any speed or steering change so as to be completely unobtrusive. At this point, the vehicle lighting, license and FMVSS security and performance systems significantly take precedence over any other visual or graphical image on that portion of the vehicle during virtually any vehicle maneuver. In other words, the invention does not require any new changes to be introduced in the aspect of the moving object being viewed today. When viewing roadside advertising and signs, drivers participating in the present invention do not need to take their eyes off objects moving on their path as they must do today. Indeed, the graphical surface features of moving objects may simply dissipate and change in front of the driver's eyes, but only at predetermined times (typically when stopping completely), and then always by transitioning to a greater level of safety and visual standardization at key moments. The present invention thus not only promises richer, more relevant and meaningful commercial communications, but also promises greater highway of operation and traffic safety through the optimization of unified vehicle lighting and safety systems. The generation of general visual and lighting criteria for motor vehicle braking, steering or hazard warnings, particularly in the form of solutions that can communicate with each other between a plurality of vehicles to more smoothly communicate deceleration or occurring hazard conditions to the following drivers, has a greater positive impact on highway safety than the various unrelated designs and visual subsystems of today. The present invention allows such standardization and functional optimization of road safety and operation while at the same time opening up greater opportunities for vehicle design creativity, product styling, branding, and free market expression. This possibility is unlimited.

One of several possible locations for implementing the electronic package of the present invention is shown at 660. In fact, according to today's technology, the whole unit is roughly the size of a paperback booklet and can be located almost anywhere.

The roof location shown at 712 is a download antenna for receiving content and transmitting instructions from an antenna in a parking garage, residence, or on an open highway. The upload antenna is shown at 715 for transmitting onboard data and information related to live content requests and transmissions to network access points for measurement, billing, validation and compensation. These antennas may be incorporated into a single unit or may be placed individually at many locations on the moving object. Possible locations for the receiver that detects the encoded content request broadcast from the other vehicle, as well as possible locations for rear view proximity sensors (which are further illustrated in fig. 7) are shown at 744. The vehicle spacing technique of the invention described hereinabove enables the display 760 to produce a color "dot" or visual target in the area 765, which then changes color (from green through yellow to red) to encourage the driver to approach and position himself at the optimum distance for viewing content and for the closest actual spacing between vehicles, depending on his exact vehicle type, in an effort to conserve lane area.

The front mounted location is displayed to the code transmitter 742, which the code transmitter 742 transmits the VIN number, the encoded user profile, and the content request, or a combination thereof, to be forwarded to various vehicles or stationary objects, typically for the purpose of selecting and arranging content from its internal or internal system databases. The transmitter 742 may also be used to transmit video data from a requesting (viewing) vehicle for display on fixed or moving objects replicated on or around such other vehicles that are equipped to interact with the present invention.

General location is shown for light sensor 1820, and light sensor 1820 reads traffic signal light color transitions and intersection traffic flow as part of intersection clock 1800. The intersection clock 1800 is a stand-alone system that determines when video content is available for display when a vehicle is paused in traffic and typically when the vehicle is stopped for a traffic intersection. Light sensor 1820 is placed at or above the eye level of the vehicle operator and, in the case of a land-based moving object 650, may be integrated into the rear side of the interior central rearview mirror frame, as is typically the case with headlight sensors in modern passenger cars.

Fig. 7-10 illustrate a low cost tablet embodiment of the present invention in a SUV 651. This application represents a non-optimized form of the invention, suitable only for limited production retrofitting of existing vehicles beyond fully integrated OEM production. The basic elements comprising the aftermarket body face retrofit are shown as: a flat panel video display 761; a sheet metal or composite structural housing or tray 763 that provides structure and protection for the electronic components; and a glass or plastic protective shield 766 that seals and keeps the video display 761 clean and secure. These components are assembled separately and installed in various types of body panels from current production, after which they can be weather tested and finally inspected for electronic performance. The electronic package is shown at 690 and described in more detail in later sections. Additional components may be required and depend on the type of vehicle and installation desired. Fig. 7-10 show four views of a typical installation of an SUV type vehicle. All of the examples shown in fig. 7 through 16 represent existing refitting for producing automotive body panels, as opposed to installation on an original equipment assembly line. The objective is to handle this lower cost, smaller volume market as an intermediate step when the invention is introduced into the market at an earlier stage and at a more affordable development cost.

Two types of SUV installations are shown in fig. 7-10-a vertical bracket in the sheet metal portion of the lower rear hatch (fig. 7-8, 10) and a horizontal bracket viewed through the rear window of the SUV (fig. 9-10). Both are designed to provide excellent line of sight viewing with respect to the occupants of the rear (looking) vehicle without consuming a significant amount of interior space or vehicle utility in the primary SUV. Vertical mounting is shown at 767 and is preferred if there are no internal obstructions such as an externally mounted spare tire (as shown in fig. 9-10). The horizontal video panel rack shown at 768 can be folded out of the way in the event that large cargo must be transported. However, when in place, the display on which the stand 768 is displayed directs its video image up into a partially silvered mirror, in effect a flat glass panel 769, where it is reflected back to be viewed through the SUV rear window. Because the panel 769 is partially silvered at its lower (front) surface, it reflects a clean image and the driver's rear view is unobstructed. The picture image output on the flat screen is of course electronically inverted for the purposes of this application. For cargo access or maintenance, mirror panel 769 is swung aside to near the top of the head, as shown at position 771.

Today's off-the-shelf displays can perform display functions nearly as well as the more advanced displays discussed herein and are implemented in the proposed business model on an approximate cost-effective basis. It is a simple matter to modify the rear hatch of a typical SUV to incorporate a conventional flat panel television or monitor into its non-glass sheet metal portion. It is also quite reasonable to place the flat panel monitor horizontally (on its facing back) and then place a partially silvered mirror generally at a 45 degree angle over the display so that the image can be viewed through the rear window of the SUV without compromising the driver's rear window through the same rear window as shown above and in fig. 12-13 and 15-16. Such mounting retains the display within the vehicle, protects it from weather and vandalism, and does not require modification of the exterior sheet metal surface. The mirror and line-of-sight curvature solution represent a novel installation of large-scale flat panel displays in modern vehicles.

Fig. 11-13 show a general embodiment of the present invention in a passenger sedan or taxi 653. The most common installation for a car or taxi is most likely the vertical trunk support 767. However, until the vehicle license, license plate illumination and registration issues are addressed, the rear license plate needs to be repositioned to provide a full width display, as shown at 773 in fig. 11. In addition, this unit includes a structural panel and video panel assembly 775 and a protective weather-tight glass window 766. These installations are manufactured, fully tested and color matched for vehicles of a particular purchase order. Installation is then performed in only a few minutes by removing the original trunk (which will later be retrofitted to a video display) and by installing the electronics package 690 and wiring within the power and control system of the vehicle. It is contemplated that the display system (which is typically on while the vehicle is operating) may be controlled solely by the driver, and such control is performed by a hand-held remote control that directly interacts with the electronics package 690. As will be seen later, the enclosure includes an upload/download antenna, a central processor and hard drive for content and transmission instruction storage, as well as supporting systems, sensors and drives to control the video display. In fig. 12-13, horizontal interior fittings 768 (like SUVs) are shown below the rear window on what is referred to as a luggage rack. In addition, the partially silvered or one-way mirror 769 allows the inverted video image to be viewed correctly from outside the vehicle without obstructing the driver's view through the rear window of the car.

Fig. 14-16 illustrate a general embodiment of the invention in a ride vehicle 656. Again, the complete assembly 775 of the vertical support before installation in the lower sheet metal of the rear hatch of the ride vehicle is shown with the protective glazing at 766. As a reliable alternative, without having to modify any of the exterior body panels anyway, a flat panel display can be easily mounted on the interior of the ride vehicle, with minimal intrusion into the cargo carrying capacity of the vehicle, with horizontal braces 768 below the window line, in the same configuration as in an SUV. The partially silvered mirror is again shown at 769 (in both side and end views) and is swung aside in the event more interior space is required. Furthermore, interior installations are not as optimal a solution as for fully integrated new vehicle production, but they are feasible for operation in a robust retrofit market that allows users of new or used production vehicles to achieve considerable revenue streams from their own motor vehicles and the present invention at an early stage. As before, electronics package 690 is also shown mounted to drive either display.

In terms of market size of the aftermarket retrofit part of the present invention, the present application envisions an orderly step-by-step adoption of the most popular make and model for currently produced vehicles based on the assembly of interchangeable body panels equipped with video. Later, these panels (e.g., rear hatch and door, trunk lid, and truck tailgate) would likely be offered as an option by new auto dealerships and sold in the same manner as any other high-end auto parts. Finally, while it is apparent that the present invention can generate considerable revenue for all vehicle owners-in fact, can substantially pay for the purchase of the vehicle-the present invention will achieve the full original equipment manufacture of motor vehicles and accordingly be mass-marketed.

The present invention will be protected under conventional automotive and property insurance just as any other automotive component. As a removable panel, the present invention is easily replaced in the event of a crash damage, theft, or other type of loss. Due to the integrated precautions of the network discussed elsewhere, theft is unlikely to succeed for the thief, at least for the purpose of generating revenue for the displayed content. In terms of cost, such products, when fully installed, may conservatively increase $ 2,000 to the base price of the vehicle today. Normally in the automotive field this is completely unacceptable, but it is just a revenue generating component. Using a simple revenue stream previously established and validated for the display of non-video vehicle advertisements-and even without major visual or prominent flexibility of demographics and proximity to highly relevant goals-the present invention can completely repay itself in less than 10 months, and then generate a positive cash flow for its owner. At the same time, vehicles retrofitted to include a system according to the present invention are essentially unobtrusive in monthly financial purchases or rental payments.

The present application is unaware of the existence of any commercially viable low-cost panel retrofit alternatives that can generate revenue for the mass market and general driving population by displaying highly relevant video advertisements on moving objects, not to mention the transmission of audio sounds to the viewing vehicles, the subsequent control of such content by the viewing vehicles, and the subsequent downloading of electronically distributed, measured, usage tracked and specifically collected information for the mass market, along with owner/operator compensation.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram depicting an electronic device vehicle package of the present invention. With respect to land-based vehicles, new vehicle production is indicated at 650 and pre-existing vehicles are indicated at 655. Inside each newly manufactured vehicle is an electronics package 660 that is incorporated into a complement of the vehicle's electronics. Also standard is an external video display 760, which in this embodiment is shown in a rear facing configuration for viewing by a vehicle behind, although side panels or front viewing are contemplated. The video image 764 is viewable by the passengers of the following (viewed) moving objects.

The preexisting vehicle 655 also has an on-board electronics package 680; however, it does not have an integrated video display. As previously discussed, such owners may purchase molded or additional video displays so that they may benefit from advertising display revenue opportunities. However, such displays are not likely to have the high integration of fully produced vehicles.

Looking first at the new vehicle production package, note that a look-ahead signal 740 is transmitted from each vehicle depicted. The signal 740 is typically directed forward from the code transmitter 742 and typically includes a content request (as previously discussed) containing encoded specifications about a particular VIN, including its brand, make, model and year, and thus its physical size, perhaps its color, purchase method (purchase and lease), whether it is a rented car, registered home condition, perhaps even data related to its mile or condition. Many choices are possible and this data can be interpreted as a number of valuable clues to the vendor. The signal 740 also transmits encoded "content requests" based on the user codes and configurations of the driver and passenger who completed the content requests and used their username at the user selector 780, which user selector 780 enables such "requests" to be included in the mobile broadcast of the VIN. Preexisting vehicles 655 can broadcast similar signals shown at 750. Alternatively, however, transmitter 742 may be configured to transmit digital data packets comprising 6, 10, 15, 20, or 30 second commercial video spots over a short distance for immediate alignment and display on the vehicle being viewed. In most cases, the transmitter 742 need only transmit the DMV and user code content request for the purpose of selecting and arranging content from the on-board library of the vehicle being viewed (displayed). However, in exceptional or special cases where certain content is not available in the database of the viewed vehicle, if both vehicles are so equipped, the content may be extracted from the viewed car and wirelessly transmitted for display.

There are many means of transmitting and receiving such wireless signals (RF, light, sound), any of which may vary in wavelength, intensity, range, extension, duration, modulation and coding, and such variations may be dictated by location, by type of mobile object, by number or speed of mobile objects, by weather conditions, by cost, by manufacturer, by federal or local regulations, or by overriding (override) other system or factors or integration requirements, and it is anticipated that such signals will not interfere with other transmissions and include a substantially horizontal extension pattern and a range generally consistent with the range of standard vehicle headlamp extensions used in night driving. In other words, the strongest signal will travel straight ahead in the direction of travel of the moving object, with the strength of the signal gradually decreasing to either side. In this manner, the VIN and user code may be received simultaneously from the following vehicle at different strengths from side to side, but the receiver 744 always prefers the strongest signal, which typically comes from the moving object immediately behind in the same path or traffic lane. It is further contemplated that, to accommodate curved road conditions, the RF transmission is laterally extended by electronic or mechanical means (e.g., by linking a highly directional antenna to the steering wheel of the vehicle, as is done increasingly with turn-to-headlights, in addition to electronically rather than mechanically) so that content requests are directed not only forward but also in the direction of the intended path, curve, or lane change.

Looking first at the new vehicle installation 600, we see incoming content requests received at the receiver 744 represented by signal 740 (750 for pre-existing vehicles), where they are passed to the decoder 746. Once decoded, this information is sent to the central processor 722 where it is queried and matched against previously established marketing criteria, which in turn allows selection and ranking of highly relevant advertisements, public services, or selection and ranking of personal content from the hard disk drive 716. If the signal 744 comprises replicated digital information for the video, it will be decoded, e.g., at 746, processed at 722, and sent to the display driver 762 for display according to the previously established transmission protocol.

Two important things must occur when content is released from the vehicle hard drive 716. First, the amount of time available for displaying content must be determined; however, this is optional. Second, the content must be reviewed 722 for any priority of priority, such as public service alerts, proximity priority, personal priority, or law enforcement priority, any of which may be given priority to normal commercial messages. The task of determining the available time for content delivery is accomplished by the intersection clock 1800. Since traffic stop lamps represent the ideal time for content delivery, it is important to know the timing of the traffic lamps at a particular location, i.e., when the lamps change from red to green, and at what point in the traffic lamp sequence the vehicle equipped with the present invention arrives. The intersection clock 1800 is an electronic component that uses the vehicle's onboard GPS system (or its own internal GPS type system) to identify a particular location or intersection on a city street or road where infrastructure (e.g., traffic signals or freeway on-ramp monitors) is used to regulate traffic. Once it identifies a given location using GPS, the intersection clock 1800 checks its database to see if there is any stored information that provides a signal timing sequence for that particular intersection. Next, it searches for incoming radio signals from other vehicles equipped with the invention already at the intersection in an effort to obtain or confirm the traffic signal sequence and synchronize their clocks with any other vehicles already there. If none exists, the intersection clock 1800 will then open the location file and create a traffic signal signature for that location and store that data in the onboard database. It will do this using light sensors 1820 that read the sequential yellow, red and green light changes and record the timing between these changes for all traffic flow directions. Once these timings are known, processor 722 may select and arrange the content corresponding to the remaining active time. The intersection clock 1800 is explained in fig. 35, and the content priority is explained in fig. 31.

As any primary priority of entry is constantly monitored at the central processor 722, the ranking is checked by the on-board speed/motion sensor 774 and the on-board proximity sensor 770, which establishes the vehicle range signal 772 necessary to calculate proximity and relative position and approach speed between the viewed and viewed vehicles. When the previously established transmission criteria (content, time, location, speed, position, priority, and previous transmission) are met, the selected content is released to the display driver 760 and the audio transmitter 725. The display driver sends the video content to the display 760, which implements a video image indicated at 764. If audio has been requested from the VIN being viewed, it is synchronized with the video image and wirelessly transmitted directly from the transmitter 725 to the FM radio receiving device of the requested VIN through the vehicle interface 730. Alternatively, codes representing the requested audio content are wirelessly transmitted to the viewing vehicle via the antenna 712 and transceiver 714 and to the hard disk drive 716, where they are used to arrange the audio content corresponding to the video, and where the audio content is then converted at the processor 722 and transmitted to the vehicle interface 730 for reproduction on the vehicle sound system of the requested VIN.

Two antennas are shown with respect to the present invention, one at 712 and the other at 715. An incoming antenna 712 receives the transmission signal for downloading content and data via transceiver 714 for coded owner/operator configuration 116, general content distribution 150, public service content (road/weather hazard warnings, upgrades, etc.) 152, highly relevant advertising content 153, driver crowd personal and fleet/government public service content 154, and special programming instructions 156 for specific communications between vehicles. The antenna 715 enables uploading of data and information collected in the field, which is saved and stored on the hard drive 716. Such information includes, but is not limited to: all recorded content exposure 160, recorded public service exposure 162, ad requests 163 from a particular VIN, and recorded ad exposure 164. The antenna 715 also enables uploading of specific surveys collected and stored on the hard drive of the moving object (or on-board memory) while on-site. The antennas 712, 715 may be combined in a single unit according to system design and distribution methods and may be placed in different locations on the moving object.

All content and distribution instructions (to whom and under what conditions it will be sent) are uploaded from distribution unit 800 to hard disk drive 716 via transceiver 714. Such content has previously been accurately encoded to conform to established advertising, public service or personal content encoding criteria and delivery instructions. Likewise, the VIN information and the personal configuration associated therewith are similarly encoded and uploaded to the hard disk drive 716 at the transceiver 714.

When content delivery is requested in a particular area (e.g., by a sponsor or exhibitor of a meeting at a business district convention center at the meeting), these peers and content are wirelessly loaded over the internet into the hard drives of all the VINs that operate in the physical area, e.g., the city. When the central processor 722 receives information from the VIN's on-board GPS system indicating that the vehicle has entered a designated area for display of content, it automatically processes such requests and arranges the content for display. Typically, the advertising content is given priority over any emergency or major public service alerts, assuming that the alerts are simultaneously present at a common location.

The vehicle's onboard power supply is shown at 726. This will enable the battery backup system to ensure that the license and registration display are always operational, and that the vehicle system remains available in public service communication emergencies.

A vehicle interface is shown at 730. This is a system integration component that ensures the correct interaction of the invention with other components from standard mass production. A typical example is an interface that ensures that incoming audio linked to video to be displayed on a viewed vehicle is properly routed to the audio system of the viewed vehicle, the content displayed on the external display of a particular VIN may also be monitored on the internal display of the vehicle, or if separate, for example, a GPS navigation system is properly linked to the central processor 722 and intersection clock 1800 of the present invention.

At 780, the user selector allows the registered owner, if desired, any member of the family or business, to activate personal preferences regarding outgoing content requests for the VIN. Further, the personal username, password, preferences and their personal priority remain online and authorized only for use on a particular VIN, and then only by its system administrator (typically the registered owner). The human interface may be a small touch screen that displays a username that is currently active for the VIN (in other words, a list of text and icons of an individual that is configured to be currently active and to affect the display of advertisements and communications on other moving or stationary objects in the vicinity). Such a display may optionally indicate the relative percentage of each user that affects the outgoing content requests and which user's content requests are likely to be displayed at the present time.

Linked to the user selector 780 is an impulse request element 782. This component stores authorized usernames and security coded contact and credit card information to facilitate communication and purchase over the air while registered passengers of the vehicle are on-site. For example, if a teenage child sees a commercial for a new skateboard, he need only touch the screen next to his name to have information about the product sent to his email address, which was previously stored. He can easily make it send from his mother's car to his partner. If the mother finds an advertisement for a new book or even a new jacket, she can purchase these items when she touches the button, because her credit card information-and even her garment size-has been previously encoded and stored. When she arrives at home, confirmation of her purchase will be on her computer.

At 794 instant messaging is performed. How many times you want to send a message back to someone following too close? Or create special signs of school, ball game, sales, event or game? How can bumper stickers be removed instantly and easily? Instant messaging allows the operator to pre-store text messages and special designs that can be presented and displayed when a button is pressed or a spoken command is given. It also allows instant signs to be entered using an optional keyboard or through the vehicle interface 730 to receive input from a cellular phone or PDA; however, the software in central processor 722 continues to monitor all items and exclude any objectionable or objectionable words or content based on established system standards and conventions.

The VIN/license report 795 allows the user to temporarily display another vehicle license plate or identification and keep it displayed until the requested VIN moves out of range or releases its request. The reporting function may additionally record the vehicle license plate and VIN number for later access by registered owners, meaning that one no longer has to search the pen and paper to write down the license plate number of another driver. If there is an accident involving multiple vehicles equipped with the present invention (e.g., a bump and run when you leave or a parking lot crash), such a crash is read by the proximity sensor 770, which then queries and collects information about all VINs in the immediate vicinity as well as the timestamp, GPS location and speed of the host vehicle at that time. This data is then recorded onto the hard drive for later download and possible use by law enforcement or insurance.

Law enforcement chip 748 may be programmed to implement various features. First, the chip allows an external law enforcement unit (such as a highway police cruiser or an in-flight helicopter) to override the effective external display of a vehicle equipped with the present invention. Such prioritization may expose the vehicle to theft, for example, assuming such reports are submitted by the owner with whom it is registered. In another example, a surface on the target vehicle may be caused to jump or illuminate an animated warning in the event of such an pursuit, or perhaps serve as the primary source of illumination in the event of an open road accident or disaster. The law enforcement chip may also sense tampering or hacking within the system, or alternatively place a prominent report on the vehicle's external display, or even lock certain systems, including but not limited to discontinuing compensation for a user violating law. Techniques not relevant to the present invention are studied to monitor and confirm wrong driving behavior, which may indicate drivers who may be under the influence of alcohol or drugs. By linking such alternative technologies via vehicle interface 730, and by further confirming such behavior via proximity sensor 770 and speed/motion sensor 774, the enforcement chip may allow for the prioritization of operational displays to replace them with "unstable vehicle warnings" designed to warn other vehicles or to warn law enforcement agencies in the area.

To date, we have recognized that people are not really objected to viewing advertisements about their subject matter of interest. We recognize that children receive advertisements as they relate to things that are part of their lifestyle and that feel curious. We have seen that consumers may create configurations that tell advertisers "who they are" and "what they want" so that vendors can select, design, and send highly relevant content to these individuals on a specific time and place basis. We have recognized that content may be distributed to moving objects where it may be stored for future use or displayed in real-time on an external video display and through the audio system of other moving objects. And we have recognized that consumers can be compensated for using the exterior of their own moving objects as a commercial video platform. Therefore, with all of this, it must also be possible to apply the same techniques to display highly targeted content on the internal video display 765 within the moving object.

Imagine an executive (executive) taxi or commercial SUV enjoyed by a highly sophisticated customer that is capable of displaying highly relevant video displays both inside and outside the same car and that can be simultaneously accommodated for content requests by separate parties, one outside the traffic environment and the other inside as a passenger ride. Outside of the execution of the SUV, the surrounding vehicles interact as explained previously, electronically requesting content displayed on the exterior surfaces of the vehicles. Such displays are most likely placed on the rear facing surface of the performing SUV so they can be easily viewed by the vehicle behind. They may also be placed on the side where the SUV is implemented so they can be seen by pedestrians on the sidewalk or by passengers of other vehicles moving in parallel traffic lanes. The interior of the vehicle may be configured differently. The interior is more like a surround sound mobile theater, which is adapted to incorporate a live travel experience by displaying highly targeted information or advertising. Basic targeting is done on a specific time and place basis; in other words, any of these may be further described in informative detail or in graphical language to enhance a person's travel experience when passing through retail stores, landscapes, and similar places of interest. Imagine a display embedded in glass that can overlay graphics and information on the interior of a window so that such images relate to, and in fact are almost overlaid on, the passing real world environment, events and surroundings. Alternatively, imagine a centrally installed touch screen console that transmits images of passing urban landscapes generated by real-time cameras, where all passengers must touch the screen with a finger to obtain real-time information about those surroundings: an interior of a restaurant with a menu, an inventory of a particular small store, or perhaps a trailer of a new foretell show. It is now envisioned that people can carry small wireless devices in pockets or purses that, like the hard drives in moving objects, can hold all of your personal user codes and configurations and can transmit those codes through antenna 712, transceiver 714 and processor 722 to your hard drive 716 in an executing SUV so that highly relevant content that is particularly relevant to your and your interests can be arranged and displayed on the vehicle's internal display.

Such a personal mobile device is disclosed in applicants' non-provisional patent application serial No. 11/552,932, filed on 25.10.2006, entitled "METHOD AND apparatus FOR updating personal information FROM THE same trip of HYPER-REVEVANT ADVERTISING THROUGH PERMISSIVE MINDREADING, PROXIMITY encountenters AND database access, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety AND is referred to herein as MMx. The MMx is capable of receiving, storing, querying, extracting, and transmitting data and information in a manner similar to the mobile object electronic packages depicted at 660 and 680 in fig. 17. When the MMx device is programmed with information about personal interests and goals, it can then communicate this information to other MMx devices or any vehicle or stationary object equipped with the present invention. In other words, by carrying MMx mobile devices, pedestrians can interact with moving objects in much the same way they interact with each other. By electronically telling nearby moving objects who they are and what they want, pedestrians can have the same kind of highly relevant advertisements and other types of information displayed to them on the exterior of nearby vehicles. If a person having such a mobile device is seated inside a pre-existing vehicle not equipped with the present invention, the mobile device may be connected on its way to other mobile objects equipped with the present invention and may then request and control highly relevant content to be displayed on the vehicle's external display. At the same time, an individual carrying a suitably programmed MMx device may ride within an executive SUV of the sort described above and, at the user's option, convert the general targeted content of the vehicle into highly relevant content delivery. Thus, a simple town-traversing trip in a luxury SUV equipped with the present invention now becomes a never-before-fully guided trip, as it points out features and details of personal interest and curiosity. Such an experience will be addressed by itself by implementing the sound system of the SUV and the addition of an advanced internal video display 765. Such limited production fleets and specialized vehicles are expected to be a normal part of the test marketing and overall production boost for the present invention.

Early stage of production

Early developments could be prototype and specifically designed fleet applications for production vehicles, such as taxis, passenger commercial caravans, SUVs, and crossing vehicles. It is also anticipated that the early introduction of the present invention will be in the aftermarket retrofit sector, where current new production vehicles are fitted with easily interchangeable body panels (e.g., rear hatch/door on SUV and tailgate on truck) that replace the original parts with parts having built-in video displays. The electronics package, including the full hard drive and all telematics systems, will be placed in a convenient location elsewhere within the vehicle. In one embodiment, the aftermarket enclosure includes a radio transmitter with a directional antenna to transmit short range FM signals to a following (viewing) vehicle, which can then enjoy the sound through its own internal sound system that is synchronized with the visual display on the aftermarket refitted vehicle's rear display.

Using today's prior art, one can easily assemble the operational form of the described invention in a retrofit form for the aftermarket. The simplest implementation is to modify any of a large number of rear facing body panels and glass elements, including modern passenger cars, pickup trucks or SUVs. Most of these have a hinged rear hatch that is easily removed from the main body structure by means of those connections. This means that there is a commercial opportunity for low entry cost for retrofitting. In fact, this involves the new vehicle owner who, after placing the order, will drive to the assembly station where his original hatch, tailgate or trunk will be removed and replaced by a modified or retrofitted product including the display technology of the present invention. The flat panel video display and wiring harness are typically incorporated into the sheet metal portion of the rear door assembly. These components may also be mounted on the interior of certain vehicles or on horizontal surfaces of interior package shelves or trunk lids. These are shown in more detail in fig. 6-16. The metal structure is modified to accept a new video display and, if necessary, replace the latch handle or rear window wiper. Tinted, shaped and tempered glazing panels are fitted to video displays for protection from weather and vandalism and to provide a fully integrated appearance. The entire assembly was then weathersealed and tested. The wire harness is connected by connectors to the mounted electronics package, in most cases, under the rear seat or shelf of the vehicle. The package includes, among other things, a hard disk drive for storing advertising and display content, a central processor to control content distribution, speed and vehicle motion sensors to manage content display, rear view proximity sensors to determine the presence of a following vehicle and track its range and proximity speed, a wireless receiver to receive content with distribution instructions, a wireless transmitter to subsequently upload a live content transmission history to the network, and optionally an optical drive for manual loading of content and control software. There may also be a hardware interface linking the electronic package to an in-vehicle GPS navigation system for distribution of location sensitive content. The package includes an audio transmitter that transmits a corresponding audio channel to the vehicle being viewed, either to its standard FM radio or by special radio, for receiving short range encoded directional audio content signals. All controlled by the central processor and powered by the vehicle's onboard power supply. When completed, the finished product need not appear substantially different from its original design, except that it includes a unique revenue generating video display on the inside of its attached rear hatch, tailgate, trunk, or door.

As an added feature, the electronic package may include an instant messaging device that allows the vehicle owner to place personal messages on the display at certain times. It is anticipated that such messaging will be submitted online and thus filter on standards and practices as well as any undesirable content.

The greatest benefit in such early development of the invention is that it can quickly generate revenue for aftermarket retrofitting. Such revenue quickly compensates for the retrofit itself, and then continues to make the purchase and operation of the vehicle virtually free-a significant achievement during periods when drivers and owners are under increasing fuel costs and increased traffic pressure. In fact, the presence of degraded one-by-one traffic sets a place for the present invention, since the registered owners can now compensate the time and fuel expenditure wasted in traffic each year simply by becoming part of a commercial television advertising platform that today can fully compensate their costs for fuel, renting or purchasing.

Vehicle owners will be paid according to the amount of printed matter they send relative to the value of the population and market being served. With the advent of mass production, an increasing number of vehicles equipped with the present invention are able to interact. However, until there are a large number of interacting vehicles, the advertisements displayed thereon will remain relatively generic, more often targeting a particular location, demographic group, or time of day rather than a particular interest in the participating individuals. With the increasing number of new vehicle installations 660 and more preexisting (aftermarket) installations 680, a large number of targeted and highly relevant advertisements will appear. Until that time, the applicant anticipated that the use of MMx type devices would help to achieve a transition to a large number of highly relevant public advertising and personal messaging. Also as previously mentioned, it is likely that a business model will arise to allow registered owners of pre-existing vehicles 655 to be compensated for requesting and viewing highly relevant content. It is therefore envisaged that users of MMx type devices may be compensated for viewing targeted and highly relevant content by advertisers.

Continuing with FIG. 17, aftermarket installation 680 is similar to new vehicle production installation 660, but does not include a video display, display driver, audio transmitter, GPS or general (as large) processor, hard drive, or memory. The personal (user code and configuration) content is received for storage through antenna 712 in a manner similar to a fully produced unit and includes downloads 118 of general personal preferences for non-display vehicles, downloads 155 of content preferences, downloads 152 of public service content (road/weather hazard warnings, etc.), advertising content downloads 153, and any special software or instructions 156 related to a particular set of data (normally one vehicle to another) for general monitoring and measurement. All downloaded content is stored on the hard disk drive 719 and processed at 718 where it is converted into encoded electrical signals for look-ahead transmission by the code transmitter 752. The signal 750 is received by other vehicles equipped with the present invention through their receivers 744.

The vehicle power supply 726, vehicle interface 730, user selector 790, impulse request element 782, instant messaging 794, and VIN/license plate report 795 provide the same functionality in the aftermarket element as in the newly manufactured element. If equipped with an interior on-board display 765, such aftermarket installations may optionally display highly relevant advertisements to their passengers subject to the safety standards of the interior video display.

After field use, the processor 718 uploads all live content requests stored on the hard drive 719 to the network via the upload/download transceiver 714 and antenna 715. In doing so, the following types of information are sent to the compensation unit 900: recorded live content requests 165 from non-display vehicles, recorded advertising requests 163 based on VIN, location and time, recorded personal use authorization (including any view blocking or personal advertising) 167, and recorded personal use shows or prints 168 based on VIN, location and time.

18A-18B show block diagrams depicting a publication model 800 of the present invention. This business unit (shown here separated from the compensation unit for clarity) is defined according to the elements that are indispensable for receiving, processing and sending various content types to different moving or stationary objects in the scene. Second, FIGS. 18A-18B suggest possible financial relationships with key parties to such business speculation. At 110, possible incoming funds are indicated from government agencies of different interest to developers, suppliers, and manufacturers of moving objects. At 115, the same thing is shown from an advertising community, which may include a large media company or the advertiser itself. In general, however, it may be the manufacturer and seller themselves of the moving object itself that supports the investment in such issuing entity, shown as a possible investment 128 and ongoing system upgrades 125 as part of production.

Shown across the top of fig. 18A are major groups of outside users, including government agencies 200, advertisers 300, general driving populations 400, and fleet and government users 500. Each of these participating groups, which may consist of many subgroups contributing to content production, submits such content in the same manner that they place the content on a platform, such as a web television. The participating government agencies therefore submit at 250 public service content such as country and local signs, hazard warnings, federal emergency content or local highway communications, and vehicle licenses and registration issues. All types of commercial content submissions are shown at 350. Operator configuration and personal content inputs for driving populations are shown at 114, while configuration and content submissions for commercial fleet and government users are shown at 116. Note that government users are shown at both 250 and 226. While government use is self-addressing in many aspects and applications, the illustration herein assumes that the user anticipated at 250 is more concerned with regulatory issues and oversight in such regional public transportation and security or highway development, while government use at 116 is assumed to be more relevant to vehicles in nature, such as law enforcement, border patrol, GSA, US post office, and similar applications.

The first step in processing incoming content for distribution is to monitor it to comply with established content criteria, standards and practices. This stage handles messaging and communication in the sense that the content must meet the approved content criteria and technical specifications required by the delivery platform, similar to the kind of content and technical requirements that must be met in configuring media for network televisions or outdoor billboards. Steps for a government agency are shown at 802 and steps for a commercial advertiser are shown at 804. The exit for the driving crowd is shown at 806 and the process for the fleet/government user is shown at 808. Each of these steps includes user-configured computer screening and approval, approval of user contracts, and monitoring of subsequently submitted personal and commercial content. Methods and procedures for such monitoring and approval are well known in the industry and many precedents exist in the same form of media purchase and content delivery. However, it is anticipated that increasingly complex forms of image recognition and content rating methods will evolve, such as the increasing use of the internet for all transmission and billing functions, which reduces the need for and cost of human intervention.

In contrast to major government and advertiser users, driving crowd and fleet/enterprise users participate in the creation of exact user configurations to define the terms of their services, the delivery of their content, and the use of their platforms. Online configuration is done by all consumers and businesses, reflecting the basic "who I am" and "what I want" (WIA/WIW) properties defined in the previously published MMx patent applications. They then enter a service agreement that defines each party's responsibilities and limitations, determines fees and costs, and the range of possible revenues for each user type and variation. The steps for driving the crowd are shown at 806 and the steps for the fleet user are shown at 808. These steps are then brought together at 840 where owner/operator profiles (which define user interests, desires, needs and experiences as well as demographic and psychographic data thereof, which do not include personal information, provided in an unrecognized format) are approved and coded to allow the vendor to correlate specific types of highly relevant advertising content with specific combinations of user codes.

The next step is review and approval of the content developed by the owner/operator at 842. After the content is approved, it is delivered through the system for sending the encoding (described below). Once the contract accounts are established, they are conventionally processed for automatic content monitoring at 854, where they are automatically monitored for changes, adaptations and consistency of consumer requests, all of which are computer programmed to isolate and provide alerts for content inconsistencies or contract violations. This business unit 800 is ultimately linked to the compensation unit 900 and any customer service components of the enterprise.

A first stage after approval-the encoding of the content is to determine the time of transmission; this step is shown at 820 for public service and commercial content, and at 844 for driving crowd and fleet/government use. The time code determines the specific time of day at which the content is released to any requested or unsolicited moving or stationary object. In all cases at an early time, an emergency or dangerous road condition alert, detour, blockage, flood, and the like will be provided with a time release corresponding to the time of the event or emergency. As we will quickly recognize, emergency situations are often always provided with higher transmission priority than other types of content. For example, if there is a traffic accident at a certain intersection and detours are necessary, the time requirement will extend from the time the accident is first reported to the traffic response part of the network until the accident is cleared from the area. If congestion instead is caused by road works occurring from 7:00 am to 3:15 pm on a daily basis, it is the time code that a particular alert will have. Both of those examples have a higher priority than the delivery of commercials because the graphical nature of the immediate area and the content itself is generated in advance and stored on the hard disk drives of all moving objects that may be in the area where it is needed.

The next step in the encoding is for the location or position, as shown at 822 and 846. Location coding is of course extremely important for any type of nearby advertising or location-based communication. These may be in the form of relatively dense coordinates such as an intersection or a specific address, as it is highly likely to be at least initially GPS based. It may also be designated as a broader area, such as several city blocks around a particular site, such as a stadium, a mall, an airport or a theme park.

A third method of encoding is priority encoding shown at 824 and 848. In addition, emergency situations are provided with the highest priority over all other types of content delivery, including paid-for priority. An important type of priority is the basis for paying priority fees, essentially in high value areas or in high value times of day, if not both, for sending priority over preference to other content.

The final encoding step is a step of determining a transmission fee based on the market value of the particular time, place, and priority being requested and scheduled. This step is shown at 828 and is different from generating a value associated with prime time television versus programming broadcast during the noon or midnight of the day, and varying due to demographics and television viewers at those times. There is no hard value for sending marketing messages. It is somewhat different in value for each individual. Thus, any dollar number is possible, and this value is often established in bidding markets.

The method of delivering commercial or public service content to the platform is more consistent and stable than delivering such content, such as consumer-generated personal content or small business content. The key step in determining costs to consumers and fleet users is therefore the actual method of determining the platform to send to the active request, as shown at 850. Such releases involve the internet as well as cable, satellite or radio and may vary widely with location and available infrastructure. Once determined, however, content from all four basic user groups is uploaded at 830 and 852 at regular intervals to the respective distribution infrastructure indicated at 832.

Once an extremely important function of the present invention reaches a reasonable level of use, it collects, for any and all purposes, the requests and delivery of content through and from all moving objects in the scene in large quantities at all times of the day and night without infringement. This information essentially represents any request for content by moving objects (each capable of describing the exact nature, interests, experiences and history of its passengers according to the WIA/WIW profile) according to location, according to the time of day and according to priority. This information is tracked by any other moving or stationary object that can store such requests for later upload to the network and ultimately to the speculative entity. However, all such information is collected in an unrecognizable privacy-compliant format, and thus cannot reveal any secret or personal information about the user of the platform alone. The actual tracking of physical motion can be reconstructed simply by using a computer to link all requests from a single moving object to all other objects or fixed locations with which it communicates, creating a place from a "contact map" consisting of times and places optionally with any request or response to such a request. This is information that is collected in large quantities and is valuable to many categories of vendors and planners. However, such tracking is only reconstructed for certain identifiable parties and revealed by the speculative entity under a legal citation. At 890 is shown a general collection for large amounts of data and its instructions for insertion for download by the platform.

At 880, all on-site requests to document, all recorded content releases (or attempted releases), and any on-site responses to the transmission of the requested (viewed) moving object's content (e.g., driving to that location immediately after being alerted of a "discount sale" at a particular retail store), are cross-checked by the computer against the corresponding transmitted (viewed) moving object. Such data may further correlate demographics with the interests of drivers and participating passengers traveling on different lanes at different times of the day, including the type of vehicle, journey, departure and destination points, route changes or curves, and even in some cases documenting the cause of such changes; in short, a rich new body of data relating to drivers' daily movement throughout our rural and urban transportation systems and community infrastructure throughout the world. The data is then confirmed as determined by the issuing entity 800, such data being in fact distributed to the network and valid for those periods of time that viewing is required. These are important steps that are combined to prevent the generation of spurious transmission requirements for compensation, which are the equivalent of "click-fraud" that is increasingly discovered in online advertising businesses. This bi-directional data transfer is shown at 170 as forwarding the acknowledged transmission information to the compensation unit 900.

The aggregate distribution of content is shown at 150 in FIG. 18B. Once the content is uploaded at 830 and 852 and the device for its distribution is selected via 832, the content is distributed via the internet (cable, DSL), satellite or wireless networks, or a combination thereof, using the electronic distribution infrastructure shown at 150 for receipt and distribution at a number of possible locations and environments. Which comprises the following steps: direct distribution to individual home residences 860 and/or Network Access Points (NAPs) in nearby locations via the internet, satellite, or wireless networks such as WiMax; also for residences, but to a dwelling unit, apartment, mall complex or parking garage 862; distributed directly to office buildings, malls, retail stores, and commercial, government or public service sign installations 864 using the same infrastructure; direct broadcast to buses, trains, fleet commercial and/or public transportation routes, airports, train terminals, docks, and main lanes 870; bus 868, which broadcasts directly to the highway via satellite, internet NAP, or radio, e.g., WiMax, etc.; directly to a fleet vehicle parking lot or garage, including an emergency or temporary site 866; pointing to rural or remote areas such as outside cities (towns) or villages, rural highways, harbors, mountains, deserts, beaches, or offshore areas 872; or other types of emerging and popular areas 874 where mobile proximity communications or business communications are desired or necessary.

The illustration in fig. 18B further includes an antenna 151 that provides a wireless communication point (2-to-NAP or satellite downlink) for transmitting content, user codes, and transmission instructions to other mobile or stationary antennas. A receiving antenna 172 is also present and is typically found on a moving or stationary object equipped with the present invention. Such an antenna 172 not only receives a content request with a user code and a transmission instruction, but also returns confirmation of the code regarding the transmission of the content and accurate tracking information related to consumer participation, depending on time and place, plus coded data from a plurality of moving objects that participate in the wide collection of data on a specific basis.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram depicting a compensation model of the present invention. As mentioned previously, the compensation functions are separated here for clarity, but may remain an integral part of the issuing unit 800 or the main speculative entity. While this unit may include many variations, FIG. 19 sets forth the basic and essential information flow and revenue with which to effect compensation to be paid to platform users.

The stream begins with the download of the hybrid data from all platform vehicles. Such a flow is indicated at 905 and in this example represents a data download from a hard drive of a newly produced vehicle 660 and from a hard drive of a pre-existing vehicle 680. Such downloads, represented at 1140, also include mixed data from a particular set of user codes transmitted between authorized or programmed moving or stationary objects. As previously mentioned, extensive collection of such data has not heretofore been available. Its upload from the moving object to the issuing unit is shown in fig. 9 at 1160 and at 1100 where it is sold to vendors and researchers.

While the inflow of raw field data may vary with vehicle type and sending task, incoming messages are generally divided into two categories: content requests from records from all vehicles (including personal use authorization from non-displayed vehicles) are depicted here at 165, and content exposure (including completed or partially completed content delivery) of all records depicted here at 160. In each of these categories, three content types are shown: for the recorded content request 165, there is a recorded public service request 161 from a particular VIN number; a recorded location and time dependent advertisement request 163 from a particular VIN number; personal use authorization (including any view blocking or personal advertising) 167 recorded from a particular VIN number; and for the recorded content exposure 160, there is a recorded public service exposure 162; a recorded advertising exposure 164; and a personal use show or print 168 based on a record of the particular VIN, location, and time.

This information is the next computer to cross-check between categories. In other words, all documented ad requests 163 are compared to all documented ad impressions 164 between the particular VINs involved, such that confirmation of live requests and impressions (actual sending) between these particular VINs, as well as verification based on time and place, is possible. The comparison process is done by the computer and they are coded as confirmed only if they do match for each content type. Thus, at 910, all public service transmissions are acknowledged for a particular VIN; at 920, all advertisement transmissions are acknowledged for a particular VIN; and at 930, all individuals are confirmed to use the transmission for the particular VIN.

The next step in this fully automated process is: it is determined that the content is in fact released for distribution by the issuing entity 800 at that time and with the correct encoding so that it is requested and transmitted in the field in accordance with the VIN in question, in accordance with its confirmed interaction. This means that the validated content collected at 910, 920 and 930 is routed to the fraud detection and compliance screening unit 940 where the validated content is compared with the originally published data and content code. This two-way cross-check of all data is shown at 170 in fig. 9. At the same time, a comparison of the confirmed ad impressions and issues is shown at 173; comparisons of confirmed individual and fleet/government exposure and release are shown at 174, 175; and a comparison of the confirmed public use exposure and release is shown at 182. Why is this cross-check important?

Click fraud

As previously mentioned, "click fraud" is a term provided to a method of generating clicks (or explicit requests) for advertisements on the internet in an effort to falsely match online "hits" to show interest in those items-or responses to keyword selection in a search format-to receive greater payment for those advertisements by reflecting increased performance values, where in fact those advertisements are not actually viewed at all. The present invention may be vulnerable to such spoofing unless a preventative approach is implemented. For example, imagine that several teenage children use their own vehicles, each of which is equipped with the present invention. What prevents them from parking those vehicles in the lane for an extended period? Where one vehicle is allowed to constantly request content while another vehicle constantly displays content to display confirmed views or "impressions" and then is paid for those views. There are many ways to deter such fraud-and there are other ways that this occurs when such techniques are used-but as in most enterprises and systems, preventing fraud and ensuring security must be a constant activity. At the same time, there are some basic monitoring and preventive procedures provided by the invention itself.

First, it is anticipated that such fraud or misuse of the present invention will or may be handled similarly to many violations of law when operating moving objects. Such violations may be associated with an individual's driver's license in such a way that: if you are certified with such fraud, you've the right to generate revenue using the system of the present invention can be revoked, just as your driver's license can be hung. In generating evidence of a violation, certain inherent systems exist in the present invention that can be used to defeat such abuse. Historical patterns of actual requests and transmissions of, for example, content, will build over time and can be assembled to accurately accomplish this monitoring computer identification. The request and delivery of content is itself the source of the bill and balance. Each request is linked to a particular VIN, so that as the vehicle operates, a pattern of requests from each unique vehicle builds over time (time, place, route, consistency, etc.). The same is true for vehicles that receive such requests. Over time, the "normal" mode of request and response transmission is stored on the hard drive of each vehicle for later use in billing and billing in the same manner that calls from the cellular telephone to certain parties are documented and stored. Moreover, each such request and responsive transmission is linked not only to the respective VIN involved, but also to the registered owners of those VINs, as well as to the authorized use configurations connected to the registered owners archived in the user's account. Any ongoing abuse can be tracked to specific users and to any specific irregular abuse patterns. Next, each request and each exact time and place sent are documented by GPS and exact data on speed, relative speed, proximity, yaw angle and direction of travel for all vehicles involved. Also, of course, the successive number of similar requests and transmissions and the duration of each transmission are carefully calculated (since the completed transmission is important to the quality of service and ultimately billing and compensation). There are also general methods of determining when the driver and passenger are actually in the vehicle and which seat they occupy, as used in seat belts and car safety systems. There are further methods to achieve tracking of the actual vehicle over time. Thus, in the case of a teenage child, repeated requests and transmissions between apparently parked identical vehicles (regardless of their passengers) put the event outside of the normal "pattern envelope" and content transmissions may be susceptible to investigation and possible pauses. When such a vehicle is moving, there will be an attentive driver steering, and the impression created at the location of the heading may be valid. Motion, velocity, and proximity sensors within the system may further identify conditions during the transmission of content. When time is linked to GPS information, specific time and location correlations can be generated and GPS tampering can be easily tracked and documented. In fact, GPS input tampering with a link for a compensation system may be a Federal violation (Federal vision) according to the anticipated rules set for the present invention. It is envisaged that a pair of cars may follow each other at a slow speed and stop, causing many content delivery events to occur over an extended period of time, but in practice such an instance may also constitute legitimate content printing or delivery, as its passengers must concentrate on and view highly relevant content suitable for the unique arrangement of those drivers. GPS can also identify recognizable traffic patterns and relate them to specific circumstances, such as distinguishing one-by-one traffic on free highways or ground streets from a pair of vehicles parked in adjacent residential areas or solely on rural highways. Further, if desired, the issuing system may compare and confirm surrounding traffic patterns by electronically reading the motion patterns of neighboring vehicles equipped with the present invention. Moreover, any repeated occurrences of two or more vehicle VINs that consistently request and display content to each other will become untrustworthy in distinguishing traffic patterns that arise over a period of use. It can also be assumed that any extremely long time to forge content requests and transmissions between vehicles would be much more cumbersome than it might be worth, would compromise the registered owner's rights and (as long as the electronic device monitored and protected under the optional standards is not tampered with or damaged) could result in the content actually being exposed to the person involved in whatever way. A further barrier against fraudulent requirements of content delivery is by comparing matching requests and deliveries of all requirements with the original content uploaded to the network for distribution. Such content always includes a release code describing the nature, time and place of the content that is uploaded to the vehicle hard drive and thus available in the network for transmission. These codes and/or their content may change up to several times per day, so that false content or content codes may be identified and the vehicle transmitting them may be identified if they are fraudulently generated.

When finally confirmed, a distribution fee is calculated for each content category based on the particular VIN. These are shown in fig. 19 as public service fee 915, advertising fee 925 and personal use fee 935. The relative values of the different costs are discussed in later sections; however, the public service fee 915 and the advertising fee 925 represent revenue for the platform owner/user, while the personal use fee 935 generally represents cost to the owner/user because he displays his own content on his own VIN, or is paid for to have his own content displayed on other VINs in the platform network. In other words, the personal use fee 935 is in most cases deducted from any revenue accumulated pursuant to the VIN for displaying advertising or advertising service content to others.

Once the charge is calculated, the designated billing unit may invoice and collect usage charges from all platform participants. This includes contract and bid fees to major brand advertisers or government users. Such fees may be routed from the collection unit, in this case the issuing unit 800, to the compensation unit 900 for payment to the participants. The government agency is billed at this stage for the delivery of any public service content by the platform user, and this is shown at 990.

Since the fee is calculated and invoiced correctly, each content portion can submit a final total and compensation can be sent to the driving crowd, fleet/government users, and all other participants who have their private property enabled for use in this novel advertising and communication platform. Steps for public service utilization are shown at 950, steps for advertisement usage are shown at 960, and steps for personal usage or for any other user generated content exposure are shown at 970. In addition, payment for displaying user generated content typically includes debiting a person's own account for the use of the person's own mobile object for revenue that may be earned by the VIN. These direct payments to the registered owner and operator 1000 are shown in fig. 19 at path 178.

At 980 is a feature of a compensation system that can allow for the sponsorship of joint payments, financial collaboration, or initiations with entities such as automobile manufacturers, banks, oil companies, insurance companies, and the like. Any of these may provide promotions with motivation to use the unique advertising platform, and these may ultimately take many forms. For example, rather than simply receiving advertising fees from an entity, a petroleum company may provide free gasoline plus an incentive to purchase its brand. This type of joint compensation may be applicable to car insurance, credit card, or even the car manufacturer itself. A manufacturer may, for example, first integrate the invention into the sale of a backup energy vehicle, which must be more expensive, and then offset its higher acquisition costs to the consumer according to its revenue generating potential. Thus, the present invention is suitably integrated into fuel-efficient vehicle planning, and production will actually stimulate the earlier adoption of such advanced or more expensive products.

Fig. 20-23 are diagrams showing three examples of land based vehicles having displays according to operating modes and their relationship to the environment and other moving or stationary objects. While there are many ways to integrate the display, FIG. 20 depicts a typical 4-door passenger car 1010 of the expected age, with a digitized rear end and a modern low profile single box design. Its relatively elevated rear hatch places the digital display just above its rear bumper impact zone, in the excellent line of sight of most of the passengers of the rear (viewed) moving objects. In this example, the overall surface and default color of the contoured OLED video display of the vehicle blends well with its inherent design lines.

Fig. 21-23 depict three different types of displays. While there are many possible types of displays, the steady state vehicle 1020 in fig. 21 displays images that may be seen when the vehicle is traveling at speed in a steady state during daytime hours, with little, if any, speed or steering changes, as may occur on an open road or freeway. Such a display is static and quite similar to the graphics seen on vehicles in today's traffic. These images may be allowed to introduce slight animation, such as a waving hair in the image 1022, or they may fade away slightly in other images, but only in the event that the vehicle displaying the image is at or near a stop. Standards and conventions are established for all such animations and image transitions. Even very small animations or changes may be quickly prevented because they may distract the operator of a nearby vehicle. Thus, as shown in FIG. 21, the displayed graphics using the present invention are completely similar to those on today's roads.

The vehicle 1040 in the transition state in fig. 22 illustrates a condition characteristic of any vehicle that is changing in speed or direction. All such changes-deceleration, rapid braking, acceleration, turning, crawling back and forth slowly-will fade unimportant images quickly to be replaced by all the jointly hosted lighting and security systems (assuming these become digitized and not part of the traditional standalone lighting system). Such digital lighting includes a pair of rear lights at optimum spacing with turn and brake lights 1042, a centrally mounted stop light 1046 plus a backup light and reflector. As shown at 1048, if the license plate and registration system are also generated by digital video, these also reappear instantaneously during any vehicle speed or deviation angle change, unless federal or regional requirements ultimately dictate that they always appear. If any type of commercial image occurs at such a time, these will be minimal, non-animated and distracting, all very similar to the types of brands seen on today's automobiles.

The stopped vehicle 1060 in fig. 23 depicts a display on a fully stopped vehicle. When the speed sensor in the displaying (or viewed) vehicle indicates a condition of no movement and its proximity sensor indicates a requesting car or device within range (or even in the absence of such an electronic request), then the displaying vehicle is able to arrange and display a full motion, normal or highly relevant video image 1062. If it is shown that the vehicle should be moving slowly forward, the full motion video image may in most cases die away and replaced by the lighting, license and security system shown in FIG. 21. The rule making and resulting Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) is employed after thorough consumer and safety testing to determine full motion video animation, speed and motion limits for conversion and transmission, and to determine appropriate departure and parking timeframes based on the relative speeds and motions of the other vehicles involved.

It is worth noting that all lighting systems will be displayed at night or during darkness or in a potentially dangerous situation. There are some real advantages to land vehicles with digitized tails. One of these is graphical standardization of critical operations. The size and lateral spacing of the tail lights combine to provide valuable clues to any vehicle following as to range or distance to the preceding vehicle. The effectiveness of these cords is diminished when the tail lamps are of different sizes and have different lateral spacing. The present invention allows for the universal standardization of these important visual elements. It additionally allows for intercommunication between all vehicles that have a digitized video body panel or glazing to display early warnings and even gradual warnings during deceleration or parking. If a fast-driving vehicle in front of the vehicle's long lane begins to decelerate, all vehicles will receive the deceleration alert simultaneously via the radio and the signal will introduce a uniform yellow tail light alert that will gradually transition to red as all vehicles decelerate at approximately the same rate. This feature alone may prevent the very common increasingly exaggerated stops when the brake lights flash without warning in the fast traffic lanes.

Fig. 24-27 are illustrations of four types of display content. 1100 depicts an emergency type display. Most of these are in the public service category and are stored and used by federal, state, or local governments. However, this does not preclude an individual or consumer from making an emergency purchase. The emergency graphics may be stored on all hard drives or may be uploaded to the vehicle depending on its location and travel environment. Emergency content is typically embedded with instructions for distribution at the precise moment and under the exact conditions, which are typically triggered by local area wireless signals, GPS coordinates at precise time periods, or by vehicle-to-vehicle wireless transmissions. Note that the emergency display causes all vehicle licenses and registration information to reappear immediately, assuming they are displayed digitally. Emergency content transmissions have a higher priority than all other types of content and are triggered by approaching or entering a hazardous area, typically defined by GPS coordinates.

At 1120, a general proximity (proximity) advertisement is shown. Consumers in the latter vehicles may request that such nearby content be displayed on nearby objects, or these may appear passively based on nearby media purchases. In examples that will be described later, the nearby purchases may be based on time of day (e.g., lunch time) and, with certainty, location (e.g., city blocks around restaurants). The graphic may include an animated logo, such as a right turn arrow depicted in the nearby illustration 1120. In the case of drive-thru restaurants, the graphics on the viewed vehicle immediately in front of the drive-thru line may display an animated menu in a picture or even rich video image, along with the current price.

The present invention uses existing onboard GPS navigation systems to deliver advertisements at exact locations determined by advertisers or by media purchasing institutions. By incorporating specific content stored on the vehicle's on-board hard drive into a specific geographic location (e.g., a city block, an entire portion of a city, or a section of a rural highway), advertisers can target specific demographic groups according to the region and can call attention to specific products or services when a driver or consumer approaches them. This is a so-called proximity advertisement. The ability to advertise restaurants, promote special sales or points of interest, capture spontaneous interest, or notify people who may not be familiar with an area is powerful and is much sought after in the field of marketing. In effect, the desired GPS coordinates are integrated with the advertising content at upload time. When the vehicle's GPS system later indicates travel within those particular boundaries, those advertisements are then either ranked or given priority over other content.

At 1140 is an example of sponsored content. For example, a meeting originator or exhibitor may purchase time or content for city streets and free highways around a meeting center. When a vehicle equipped with the present invention approaches a sponsored site such as a theme park, stadium, national park, or airport, content representing those sponsors may appear on all objects moving in or around the immediate area.

Another common form of sponsorship may be vendor, entity or individual purchase time and space on the surface of moving objects as free polite behavior or service enhancements to the viewer. Imagine two vehicles equipped with the present invention, stopping behind one another at a traffic signal, where the rear vehicle can view the exterior display surface on the front vehicle. Assuming that the vehicle being watched is tuned to the radio station at that time, use an in-vehicle entertainment system or listen to a portable handheld device such as a future iPod, satellite portable, MMx or telephone. When such devices in or around the viewing vehicle are equipped with a device that broadcasts wirelessly, a coded signal describing the content is currently in use, and then the preceding vehicle can enhance that use by introducing visual content that is synchronized with the consumer's current audio environment. In other words, if the passenger of the viewing vehicle is listening to a satellite radio station playing particular music, the music code (or the content itself) may be transmitted onwards to the viewed vehicle, and the display of the vehicle may then display video material that is related to or synchronized with the audio content that is received or used in the viewing vehicle. The logo or slogan of the sponsor providing such free entertainment or marketing enhancements will of course be displayed somewhere on the video display in the line of sight of the vehicle being viewed. Naturally, these commercial sponsors may be turned off or blocked by any suitably equipped viewing vehicle or any compatible portable device within range.

At 1160 is an example of a personal media content arrangement. Such media may be generated by a consumer or professional and uploaded by the user himself. If personal advertisements are placed on other vehicles, they will pay the existing media fee for the expected location, time of day, for the number of prints. If such content is placed on the owner's own vehicle, the cost will be deducted from the revenue earned by displaying the content to others.

It is worth noting that the main application of the present invention is the application of displaying commercial advertisements in large indoor and outdoor parking lots and buildings by using the rear surface of a parked car. In this way, consumers can earn revenue even when they shop by showing commercials to passing motorists seeking parking places or walking pedestrians walking on the way to retail locations past several rows of parked cars. This nearby application alone has considerable value for parking spaces around retail stores. Imagine that a large number of vehicles are parked in the open air near major mall stores, such as nordstrom or large branded restaurants or affiliated theaters, which can show special programs or show movie trailers to passing households on their way into the mall from the parking lot. A proximity sensor onboard each vehicle may trigger such advertisements as a pedestrian approaches and passes behind them. These displays can also be easily targeted based on proximity, location, or time of day, and when the consumer further carries a handheld MMx unit that broadcasts the consumer's coded preferences of "who my is" or "what my wants", then the parked moving object can display highly relevant content to those pedestrians.

Example 1

FIG. 28 is an illustration showing geographic specific content distribution. It depicts several city blocks within a typical commercial block. The main street is shown at 1280, while the first street is shown at 1200. The conference center is located 1220. A drive up window for mcdonald is shown at 1240 and a hilton hotel is shown at 1260. Street 3 is a one-way street, as indicated by the arrow at 1284, and temporary road work is shown at 1250. In terms of the purchase of content media, the apple computer purchased several square blocks of area around the convention center, but only during the visit time of the electronic show. This region is shown at 1222. Mcdonald restaurant 1240 has a deferred lease to the city block area immediately around its restaurant, and the boundaries of this media area are shown at 1242. However, mcdonald also purchased media rights to the underground parking garage of the convention center based on 24/7, such additional space being represented at 1244. While hilton hotels rent areas around their hotels, they also transfer exclusive rights to traffic flowing along major streets half way away from the hotel. Each of these areas has boundaries defined by GPS coordinates and each has personal priority for content delivery according to the time of day. The cost of such areas and their relative priority is determined by the expected exposure level-generally based on the number of targeted prints they can send at any given time-in the same way that outdoor billboard advertising is valued. A specific content purchase is depicted in fig. 29. In fig. 30, we drive north on the main street to experience the kinds of content seen by four different types of users during their travels.

Fig. 29 is a diagram showing content purchase and encoding according to content type. Spanning the top are column headings for sponsorship, proximity, personal, and emergency, which represent the four categories of content discussed in fig. 24-27. On the left side from top to bottom are titles for content, time coding, place coding, exposure priority, and cost range. These collectively represent the kind of media purchase described in fig. 28.

Reading from top to bottom in the sponsorship bar of 1305, we see an apple purchase of a consumer electronic show at a business district convention center. At 1325, we see that apple purchased the prime time period when the convention center was open, from 7:00AM to 6:00PM during the operation of the electronic show. At 1345, we also note that apple purchases several square blocks of area around the convention center, which includes all of the approach routes for entering and parking. The exposure priority assigned for sponsorship of apples (promotions of apples are provided with a preference over other types of content) is shown at level 2 at 1365, with level 1 being the highest. Finally, the cost rating at 1385 is "high" based on the screening and based on high value commercial traffic at the site.

The nearby content column at 1310 reflects local place advertisement purchases for mcdonald and hilton hotels. Both companies have selected media purchases at 1330 on a day-to-day or 24/7 basis. 1350 show mcdonald bought streets immediately around their restaurants, but also include the entire convention center underground parking garage, as shown in fig. 28, in an effort to attract hungry people participating in the conference. 1370 shows a level 3 priority (from all 4 levels), meaning that if there is a conflict in time and place, then the sponsorship of apples at level 2 gets priority. Finally, they transfer the cost at the intermediate fee level, as shown at 1390, based on the annual exchange of mcdonald's and hilton for nearby advertisements.

Under the personal content at 1315, we find it desirable to promote the registered owners of their own businesses at the lowest cost. An example of such content is the Dog Walking enterprise shown at 1160 in fig. 27. To keep costs down, but to reach their target market, the person has selected non-gold advertising slots at 1335 so that during these periods he can continue to generate revenue by displaying branding advertisements for large companies, but he has also selected the option of having others manually invalidate his own schedule to display self or other personal advertisements at any time he chooses. In addition, because his business is operating in a local area and is involved in such personalized services, the owner has selected their immediate vicinity based on GPS input at 1355. In other words, as he speculates further from home, he may earn money by displaying major brand advertisements, but upon re-entering the vicinity of his residence, his personal or business advertisements are queued up and promoting his local business. At 1375, we see that this results in the lowest exposure priority to own content, allowing him to optimize revenue generating content first. His fee for personal content is thus in the middle of the lowest available and is simply deducted from his monthly advertising revenue, as shown at 1395.

In the last column, emergency, we see that the city department of transportation requests public service placement at 1320 and designates it as an automatic trigger. This means that the network automatically presents the requested content on the displays of all moving or stationary objects equipped with the invention, which are operated in a specific location according to regional laws and time/location specifications. At 1340 and 1360 we see that both the time code and the place code are managed by local roads, highways and safety standards during the project duration. This simply means that "alert" or "emergency" content will be posted at the time and place where they are required. Because many of these media posts are emergency alerts that may be related to transportation or highway safety, they are provided with the highest priority — level 1 shown at 1380. The cost of such media is typically borne by the public fund or dollars of taxpayers. However, if a government agency uses privately owned assets to send its message, revenue for any such public service media purchases will be shared by registered owners of these assets, as shown at 1398.

Fig. 30 is a diagram showing content viewing reference information from fig. 24 to 29. In fig. 24-27, we know four basic types of content. In fig. 28 we see how some content can be selectively displayed according to its proximity to people, places and things, and in fig. 29 we learn content priority, coding and cost. FIG. 30 now groups all of these together to show what four different vehicle drivers (each expressing individual interests and needs) will see on different fixed or moving objects around them, which are able to communicate with the present invention as they move north on the main street at 12:00 PM, as shown in FIG. 28.

Four different driver types are shown across the top of fig. 30: at 1402 is the Soccer mother who drives the SUV with children; at 1404 is a business traveler unfamiliar with the city and driving a rented car; at 1406 are local daily commuters (who are quite familiar with cities) driving personal cars; and at 1408, we have a disinterested driver using an automobile equipped aftermarket system (as depicted at 680 in fig. 17) to disable advertising on various moving objects within his viewing location.

The second row indicates that each of these drivers assigns the currently on preference setting to their particular vehicle. The Soccer mother has a family configuration with her SUV at 1412, and her child's preferences are also activated. At 1414, the enterprise traveler requests his car rental company to transfer his preferences from personal car to rental car and further requests the rental agency to add local guest support programs for the car that will guide him through the city according to his personal interests. The business commuter activates his normal personal profile at 1416. The non-interested drivers have all their advertisement viewing preferences turned off as shown at 1418. Therefore, when driving north on the main street at noon, each of these drivers, as well as any passengers onboard the vehicle, may see the following types of content in front of or around them on the ambient display equipped with the present invention:

from the first street to the second street, mom in the SUV sees a family-oriented advertisement derived from her own interests, mixed with the interests of her children (because their configuration has been so adjusted), as shown at 1422. At 1424, the business visitor in the town sees the advertisement and content based on his own WIA/WIW profile interests, except that any proximity-based interests will reflect his current location. In other words, if one of his preferences is set to the first jamaica restaurant in chicago, his hometown, he is now alerted to the presence of a jamaica restaurant in the vicinity of the current location (e.g., los angeles), particularly during lunch time. Because our visitor requested the leasing company to add his local guest support package at 1424, he is also shown various local interests in his new travel area. If he is more interested in certain types of fishing or boating than for example a museum, these points of interest are emphasized more. At 1426, our local business commuters are displayed with content corresponding to their personal configurations turned on. Finally, at 1428, as the uninteresting driver moves between the first and second streets, he sees nothing displayed on objects in front of his vehicle.

Between the second street and the third street, our northbound driver entered the first and largest areas of nearby media purchases, i.e., the area purchased by the apple computer at the convention center. Here, our mother with her child is at 1432; our business traveler at 1434; and our local commuters at 1436, they will all see the sponsored image of the apple on different objects around them; however, because our rental car visitor requested local guest support, he also sees a one-way traffic warning at 1434, which will generate an absolute display priority during the last 20% of the travel when our guest driver approaches the intersection. At 1438, our uninteresting driver continues to see what is not shown on the vehicles or fixed signs around him.

Between the third and fourth streets, when mom and children at 1442, rental car drivers at 1444, local commuters at 1446, and even uninteresting drivers at 1448 approach the intersection, they will all see a "do not turn right" warning, calling attention to temporary road work or closure conditions during the current time. All vehicles will be alerted because these alerts have the highest priority and are related to traffic safety issues. This warning overrides even the apple's high cost promotion when the vehicle is approaching the intersection, and the uninteresting driver's preference to not watch commercial content at 1448. During which the apple show drops to about 70% of the driving time between the parallel streets. Such road hazard information is managed by local area cities and traffic sign infrastructure.

From the fourth street to the fifth street, mom at 1452, our rented car passengers at 1454, and our daily commuters at 1456 will all see apple promotions and nearby advertisements for the hilton hotel displayed on objects in front of and/or around them. The apple logo will be seen approximately 70% of the time between the fourth and fifth streets along the main street and the hilton advertisement will be seen approximately 30% of the time due to the extra fees paid to the apple sponsored by the temporary meeting center. Between the fourth and fifth streets, our uninteresting drivers return at 1458 without displaying any commercial content according to their pre-established preferences.

Between the fifth street and the sixth street, the mother and children at 1462, the rental car user at 1464, and our daily commuter at 1466 would all be displayed to essentially the same level of paid content: apple is 70% (due to the premium), hilton hotel advertises 20% of the linear block, and mcdonald is 10% of the linear block due to their purchase from the neighborhood of the surrounding ground streets rented by the network. However, in between these streets, our uninteresting driver at 1468 does not see anything displayed for his benefit without any further road or traffic safety warnings.

On the last leg between the sixth street and the seventh street, our uninteresting driver continues to have the commercial content not displayed, as shown at 1488. However, our Soccer mother and her children at 1482, hire car drivers at 1484, and our daily commuters at 1486 will all continue to view advertisements based on their previously scheduled nearby media purchases and their content delivery instructions. The result is the following approximate share in the content display: apple computer is 70% (due to its extra cost) and the remaining share is divided equally between mcdonald and hilton (15% each), depending on the linear region of travel over time. After 6:00PM, when the computer show ended at the convention center, the traffic between the second street and the seventh street would no longer be shared with apple (since the company only purchased the time during the show time), noting that it is important. This time will now be divided between mcdonald and hilton hotels according to areas 1242 (for mcdonald) and 1262 (for hilton), as shown in fig. 28. In the remaining area along the main street not defined by the nearby content purchase shown in fig. 28, the display will be based on the active individual "who i am"/"what i want" personal configuration or on the preferences stored onboard each vehicle, which is also activated by its owner (or system administrator).

Fig. 31 is a block diagram showing possible content transmission protocols between moving objects. Such a sequence generally begins at 740/750 with a local wireless signal from another moving object or from a portable mobile handset that includes data and means to transmit a combination of VIN numbers, configurations, user codes or content requests. Such signals are received at a receiver 744 and decoded at 746. This information is then processed on the received (or viewed) vehicle or moving or stationary object, as shown at 1505. Once received, the initial question is asked at 1510: is an advertisement rejected? If the answer is YES, no advertisements are queued, as shown at 1515, and subsequently, at 1520, the rejected advertisement viewing instructions are recorded on the hard disk drive of the requested (transmitted) and displayed (received) moving object. Finally, the rejected data transmission, as well as information about the VIN, time, location, and demographics, is uploaded to the network via transceiver 714.

If the answer is NO at 1510, then the preference associated with the VIN is decoded at 1525. At 1530, ask a second question: is the requested content available? If the answer is in the affirmative, another question/decision is followed 1540: do there is time for the requested content? The input for this decision comes from the intersection clock 1800, which is explained in more detail in fig. 35. The intersection clock 1800 is a separate database linked to the GPS (geographic location or navigation) system 755 of moving objects, which system 755 records and remembers, over time, the performance of event delays in exact places, mainly at traffic lights, bridge and railroad crossings, highway entrance ramps, and throughout urban and rural environments experiencing severe stop-and-go traffic. The database is linked to a short-range wireless transceiver system that is capable of synchronizing its current database with signals from other moving objects (those equipped with the present invention) that may arrive at the intersection at an earlier time and then lock into the ongoing traffic signal sequence at that location. From this information, the intersection clock 1800 can determine how much time remains for the display content before the stopped traffic begins to move again.

If sufficient time remains to display the requested content 1540, the system determines 1550 if there are any higher priorities to process than others. Such prioritization may come from a variety of sources. Block diagram elements 846, 848, and 824 represent the proximity priority, personal priority, and public service priority, respectively. These priority assignments are typically embedded with their contents as release instructions and are triggered based on the time, place, or level discussed in fig. 29 and 30. Another type of priority over the others is shown at 1595. Law enforcement and security privileges may be triggered from outside the system, as opposed to using pre-programmed internal protocols. The law enforcement chip at 748 is an example of a trigger that is provided by a member of law enforcement for the benefit of public safety as an override of the moving object display. For example, imagine that a missing child is reported in a particular area of a city. It is possible to distribute the photograph of the missing child in only a few minutes and to copy the image on the display panels of all equipped vehicles within a few square miles of where the child was last seen. In another example, a "warning to stop waiting" graphic may be placed on the vehicle display in the event that an emergency vehicle approaches an intersection.

If there are more priorities embedded in the content than others, these are displayed 1550 and the content is displayed accordingly. If there is no priority, the content is released from the in-vehicle storage hard drive at 1555. Priority monitoring is an ongoing and ongoing real-time process, as shown at 1560. If the transmission conditions change, the content arrangement or display may be immediately paused or even replaced with other content. One of the most critical steps in monitoring content delivery is to confirm vehicle relative speed and proximity in real time. This step is shown at 1565. When all pre-established transmission criteria are met between the requesting and displayed vehicles, the prioritized content is transmitted to the display driver of the displayed vehicle and then on to its video display 760, as shown at 1570. If a change in transmission is detected 1565 during the display, it may be necessary to pause or alter the transmission of the content. For example, slowing ahead of a vehicle on a traffic display, warning of the angle and extent of viewing, and more importantly, introducing a demand on the operator of the vehicle being viewed, i.e., focusing on steering his vehicle to proceed on a stop-and-go traffic lane. It immediately becomes extremely important to pause any content transmissions that may jeopardize the handling process and reveal all vehicle visual lighting and safety systems. The basic object of the present invention is to minimally maintain the safe operating conditions that exist today between moving objects and their operators. For this reason, it is to be expected that the video impression only occurs when the vehicle is stationary, parked, or moving only within minimally acceptable limits. Thus, at 1580, any changes that exceed the established criteria will alter the content delivery.

Once the content is sent to the display driver, the extent of the sending is confirmed at 1575. If the ranked content is transmitted in its entirety, the time, place, and percentage of the transmission will be encoded and recorded onto the hard drives of the requesting vehicle and the displayed vehicle, as shown at 1590. This is an important validation step as it reveals to the vendor and distribution network that the desired content is actually delivered on demand, and that the platform owner and operator can now be properly compensated by the compensation unit 900. Although not reflected in fig. 31, the content transmission includes the transmission of audio codes or content so that the audio portion of the video content is reproducible on the viewing vehicle and device or the requesting vehicle and device's sound system, as previously discussed. Thus, the transmission can be acknowledged on several levels, the four most general levels being: (1) no content is viewed (content request is turned off or content is rejected); (2) content is only viewed (requested content is displayed but sound is turned off); (3) the content is both viewed and heard (both systems are fully operational during transmission); and (4) the content makes the viewer specifically responsive after such viewing (meaning that the recipient may drive to a particular location, request more information about the product, or make a purchase within a particular time period).

If the sending of the content is altered at 1580 for any reason, then at 1582 a determination is made as to whether the minimum sending requirements are met to constitute the actual sending. This is typically reflected by the amount of content exposed to the viewer. If the minimum reveal is met at 1582, this will be recorded as a percentage send at 1590. If the minimum reveal is not satisfied, then shorter content of a similar type may be ranked (as shown at 1545), or the transmission may simply be pre-fetched, as shown at 1586, and re-ranked in its entirety at 1588.

If at 1530 it is determined that the requested content is unavailable (meaning that the hard drive may not have been recently updated from the network), then at 1535 alternate, similar or general content is arranged. If it is determined 1540 that there is not enough time to display 100% of the requested content (e.g., a 30 second commercial break), a shorter commercial break of the same or similar content may be substituted 1545. Once such modified content is arranged at 1535 or 1545, it is released from the hard disk drive, as shown at 1555.

Fig. 32 is a diagram illustrating geographically specific content distribution in a rural area. The map shows interstate highways 1610 extending north/south through the rural area. Rural roads are shown 1620 with a river 1630 and an overbridge out case 1640. Several hundred feet away from the highway is a gasoline station/market, shown at 1650. A rectangular border is shown around the gasoline station/market area. The area defines a nearby advertising area 1660 within which specific commercial or public service messages may be sent. Another boundary is shown at 1670. This rectangular area defines an off-bridge alarm area and is referred to as a public service alarm area. Finally, the installation of four electronic billboards is shown at 1680, 1682, 1684, and 1686.

When stop-and-go congestion exists on interstate highways, a moving object equipped with the present invention can then display commercial or public service content in its path, even with other objects. It is generally anticipated that non-animated graphics (e.g., signs announcing an upcoming gas station or market stay in the front) can be placed on nearby fast moving objects because they are less distracting than other types of graphics that exist today on moving objects and are in fact easier to read because they move with the audience at traffic speeds, as opposed to passing quickly at the roadside. However, without the transportation provided with the present invention, the electronic content must be placed on other types of display surfaces, such as a billboard shown at 1680. The differences between a standard electronic billboard and a billboard equipped with the invention are: a billboard equipped in accordance with the invention is capable of receiving and interpreting requests for a collection of commercial, personal or public service content and then displaying such content to passengers of passing vehicles.

For example, traffic to the south on interstate 1610 transmits wireless signals (each representing a VIN, configuration, and user code with a content request) onward to a billboard depicted at 1680. When a vehicle approaches such a billboard, the billboard has queried its internal storage (see fig. 31) and as it approaches it arranges and displays the requested content according to the VIN. In this way, even a single or independent vehicle using the invention can operate independently within an environment by having very suitable or highly relevant content appear on many types of surrounding surfaces. Imagine that the fuel is nearly empty on this southbound vehicle. Such a "low fuel" condition may be manifested by the vehicle interface 730 and, once interfaced with GPS data regarding the location of the service station, a radio signal 740 may be encoded and broadcast by the transmitter 742 to enable nearby billboards to display information in the vicinity of available fuel stations. While indeed such information may be displayed on a display inside the vehicle, other types of content are more suitable for display externally on the electronic billboard. For example, the billboard 1680 may display the presence of a gas station/market 1650, which may otherwise be hidden from direct view from intercontinental highway traffic. The billboard 1682 may further indicate directions to gas stations/markets and may display features of other products and services according to the preferences and interests of any approaching VIN passengers. Traffic to the west on rural roads 1620 is affected by electronic billboard 1694 before leaving the population dense area defined by proximity advertising area 1660. Typically, billboard 1694 has content related to features along the road, or responds to content requests. However, in the present example where a nearby public service alert area 1670 is displayed, such requested content for billboard 1684 is prioritized by "out of bridge" alerts until the situation is eliminated. Electronic billboards use the internet and transmission means such as cable, radio or satellite to upload content to them. Further, embedding content for transmission may be a specific instruction for distributing the content. In the case of an "off-bridge" alarm, these instructions may be in the form of GPS coordinates that define the perimeter of the alarm region. Such a boundary is shown at 1670. Once these boundary coordinates are identified and approved by the regulatory agency, they may be transmitted over the internet/cable/radio/satellite to all such electronic display devices within the affected area. This means that all moving objects, whether equipped with the present invention or not, may encounter such a visual display. Second, these coordinates may be sent to all moving objects equipped with the present invention as shown at 868, 870, 872 or 974 in fig. 18B, prioritizing such alerts over other types of content on any equipped vehicles entering the boundary of area 1670. Of course the advantage is that local governments can immediately deploy critical public service alerts such as off-bridge or overflow/reverse warnings without having to visit sites to physically set up such temporary signs as is commonly done today. Both fixed electronic signs and moving objects can quickly change from commercial revenue to emergency bulletin service use on an accurate and timely basis by transmitting their audio/visual messages directly to the relevant vehicle, location and relevant consumer.

Example 2

Fig. 33 illustrates the interaction between moving and stationary objects at a typical city intersection and helps clarify two elements related to arranging and displaying content on moving objects: (1) the timing for display is distributed by using the intersection clock 1800, and (2) a particular method of viewing from vehicle to vehicle.

A traffic intersection bounded by pedestrian crosswalks, i.e., a structure that is increasingly common in urban and rural environments, is shown at 1700. 1705 eight lane north/south highway. 1710 represent east/west highways with active cross traffic. The pendant traffic light structure 1715 is shown in two places in the north/south approach. Each of these transmits a left turn signal 1720 that lines up across and above the left turn lane, plus green/yellow/red signal lights above between the traffic lanes, and the same lights on each corner as shown at 1725.

First note the northbound vehicles labeled from a to L. In the first embodiment, the vehicle a first arrives at and stops at the intersection. Vehicle a is equipped with a production form of the invention; however, it has not previously passed through that particular intersection. As a result, when a vehicle approaches the intersection, several things occur: (a) the driver of vehicle a sees the light 1725 change from green to yellow, brakes and slowly moves to a stop at crosswalk 1730; (b) a forward looking light sensor on vehicle a monitors its approach to the signal light, sensing a change in signal light color from green to yellow; (c) upon sensing a color change (in the same way as its driver), vehicle a uses its onboard intersection clock 1800 to begin the recording function to document the red (stop) duration of the signal before it returns to green (go). By recording this elapsed time and by cross-referencing the vehicle's GPS location and its last direction (northbound), vehicle a is able to initially compile a starting database of signal sequences at this particular location based on the total time.

Each signal intersection has a basic and relatively consistent event timing protocol. However, some locations have unique schedules of events, but even these can be learned by the intersection clock 1800 as defined by the present invention. For example, intersection traffic lights typically interrupt traffic flow in opposite directions to allow the flow of cross-traffic. The process typically begins by allowing cross-traffic to first complete a left turn. After the left turn time is over (approximately 12-16 seconds), then those lanes are closed and the entire traffic is allowed to continue. After a predetermined period of time (between approximately 60 and 90 seconds), the process stops and the sequence repeats itself, with traffic flowing in a vertical direction. There are obviously many variations, including one-way streets, multiple street junctions, railroad crossings, etc.; however, when combined with the ability of the GPS to identify and discover the start of an event (e.g., a color transition from green to yellow), any vehicle equipped with the intersection clock of the present invention can automatically construct a database based on the time of day it uses any intersection. Table 1 shows a general traffic signal event timing cycle.

In addition to constructing the event timing database from scratch, mobile objects equipped with the present invention are also capable of receiving intersection event timing data from other mobile objects within or around the intersection. In other words, if another vehicle that previously passed through the intersection arrives a moment later, the second arriving vehicle will have the sequence of traffic events for that intersection stored in its own database of the onboard intersection clock. For example, assume that vehicle H (or even vehicle M, which is currently crossing an intersection) includes such information. Each of these vehicles automatically broadcasts a sequence of events at the intersection as it enters or crosses the intersection, by wirelessly transmitting the sequence from its intersection clock 1800 via the transmitter 714 and antenna 715. In this way, all vehicles equipped with the present invention can immediately update their onboard databases for the intersection. At the same time, vehicle a may contribute an accurate synchronization signal for these later arrivals because it begins timing events for the northbound lane recording beginning with a yellow to red signal light change. With this instant ad hoc exchange of information at any densely populated intersection, all properly equipped vehicles can contribute to the current event timing and synchronize their internal clocks without relying on external infrastructure.

The last step of each intersection clock is to calculate for its respective vehicle the amount of time remaining for content display before the lights in its lane turn green and traffic begins to flow. From table 1 we can see that if a vehicle (e.g. southbound vehicle P) should arrive at the intersection later and synchronize with other vehicles in event phase 4, there will be about 92 seconds of time during which the video content is arranged and displayed before these vehicles start moving again. 92 seconds is sufficient for two full 30 second commercial breaks, two 15 second breaks and a 2 second break into a company logo sponsorship before the hosted vehicle security system must start running again (kick in).

Communication between vehicles will be controlled through testing, rule making and management of content delivery procedures that define where, when and under what conditions various types of content can be displayed without compromising highway and traffic operation safety. The essence is that the content does not impair the need for the vehicle operator to focus on the motion of all objects around them, other than the federally mandated lighting and security systems, rather than on any graphical content that those objects may display. The present invention can ensure that the content is viewed or displayed only when the vehicle is completely stopped. It may also ensure that the content is not viewable by vehicles passing in adjacent lanes as this may create a significant distraction. The variety of displays contemplated by the present invention may incorporate a thin film cover that may optionally or electronically increase or decrease the angle at which the graphics are visible. For example, optical filters may be embedded in the outer protective layers of these displays. One such type of basic filter is 3M company microrufloe (micro-louvvre) technology that optically limits viewing angle in flat panel displays. Yet another technology created by sharp corporation and sharp laboratories of european limited allows LCDs to simultaneously display different information and image content in right and left views on a single display by directionally controlling the viewing angle of the LCD. This makes it possible to provide information and content suitable for a particular user depending on the exact angle from which the user views the display. Such an application may, for example, direct requested highly relevant video content directly back to a following vehicle, while a view from a vehicle passing at a more oblique angle may resolve the same image to a default body color for a given vehicle, or to content suitable for general or unsolicited viewing.

The main reason for the selective or controlled viewing is that the content request is typically a request for information that is personal or based on no recognition. If an individual in a following (viewing) vehicle is allowed to request a preference that is substantially related to the individual's content, it is undesirable for the content to be viewed by passengers of the vehicle in the adjacent traffic lanes. Note for example vehicle a, which displays the requested highly relevant content to vehicle B behind it. Note that the angular spread is shown at 1735. This lateral expansion, controlled by the previously mentioned techniques, prevents the occupants of the surrounding vehicle D, G, or H, from seeing what is being displayed on the rearward facing surface of the vehicle A. The exposure of vehicle D is obstructed by vehicle B as shown by dimension 1740. If vehicle B is not in close proximity to vehicle A, this will be detected by the proximity sensor of vehicle A and the system will prevent the arrangement of highly personalized, highly relevant content. The vertical viewing angle can be controlled in the same way as the horizontal viewing angle to block viewing of personal content from, for example, an adjacent truck or bus with a seat position that is inherently higher relative to the ground. Furthermore, all such images do not incorporate animation or other distracting content until the surrounding viewed vehicle comes to a complete stop.

Note that at 1745, vehicle D requests content from vehicle C. The vehicle C can select and arrange the content; however, it cannot display it until a complete stop is reached at a predetermined range behind vehicle D, vehicle C, such interval being based on the corresponding VINs of the two vehicles. Such an optimal spacing is reflected by vehicles G and H, being a size 1750. Here, vehicle G is a high SUV, while vehicle H is a low two-door sports car. The VIN numbers exchanged between these vehicles during the request protocol identify the respective height of each vehicle and the eye envelope (eye envelope) of the driver for an average percentage in the following (viewed) vehicles. This information yields the best viewing range between the two objects. Also, as the vehicle H approaches the separation distance from the vehicle G, a small green spot will appear on the display of the vehicle G facing rearward. As the driver of vehicle H continues forward, the point will gradually turn yellow and eventually red, which indicates the best stopping point best viewed through the windshield of vehicle H. At this point, the point will disappear and content viewing will begin. The front/rear vehicle spacing feature of the present invention will additionally save thousands of square feet of space in the traffic lane by merely allowing the vehicles to maintain a more efficient one-to-one spacing between vehicles.

Instead, vehicles K and L have reached the optimal separation, as shown at distance 1755; however, vehicle K cannot display content because both vehicles are moving slowly forward in the same lane. Once the two vehicles reach a complete stop, they can begin the content display. On the other hand, vehicle K makes an automatic content request to vehicle J at a relatively far range shown at 1760. Because vehicle J is at a complete stop, it may be allowed to arrange and display certain types of static content (e.g., non-animated company logos) until vehicle K comes to a complete stop at an optimal interval behind vehicle J.

Fig. 34 shows a portion of a freeway with lanes in one direction with a center divider 1765 and a ride share channel 1770. Vehicle B, moving at a consistent highway speed, may have the content request forwarded to vehicle a, as shown at 1775; however, such requests are only completed on a limited basis due to relative vehicle speed and range agreements. During fast moving day and night times, the commercial images may be limited to a tiny centrally located display area on the end of the digitization, and no animation is allowed unless the vehicle comes to a complete stop. This is because animated or moving images may distract nearby drivers. At the same time, the protocol does not want to decompose or delete commercial images before using the lighting and security systems of the vehicle, as this may introduce significant changes in the appearance of the object while it is en route. Furthermore, during night driving hours, all lighting and safety systems remain active on all moving objects regardless of speed, proximity or location, as the unified tail, running and turn lights are vital elements in allowing the driver to determine the distance and condition of the preceding vehicle.

Exceptions may occur between stopped or extremely slow stop-and-go traffic, as depicted in the far right lane 1780. Such a situation may be caused by a jammed right ramp. If such congestion on a free highway, where passengers are traveling very frequently, becomes repetitive over time, these situations will be gradually recorded on the intersection clock of the moving object equipped with the present invention. An estimate of such delay may then be monitored for consistency, and certain types of content or public service alerts may be displayed. In such a case, vehicles may use their onboard transmitters to measure relative speed in a long vehicle queue, and may identify opportunities for queuing and displaying content of short duration as these vehicles approach standstill. From top to bottom in lane 1780, vehicle I displays unspecified (general) commercial content to vehicle J (which does not own the invention), vehicle L displays highly relevant content to vehicle M (which requests it), and vehicle M displays general content to vehicle N. Of significant value in such a situation is the ability of any vehicle equipped with the present invention to synchronize a clearance service or traffic safety display with other appropriately equipped vehicles. As mentioned earlier, when communicating uniformly over the air between multiple vehicles simultaneously, the free highway speed changes, followed by a uniform response, such as having the rear lighting systems of all vehicles emit yellow light (for warning), then transition to red-yellow at the same rate, then red at a uniform brightness level (as opposed to flashing individual brake lights immediately without warning), will result in significantly safer driver control and substantial elimination of the increasingly exaggerated deceleration that leads to rear-end collisions. The U.S. government currently has an adequate program to develop such highway technologies that could readily employ or work with the present invention. One such solution is a forward-looking rear-end collision warning system (FCW) designed to study and ultimately use driver warning methods. The digitized vehicle rear end and illuminated safety system contemplated by the present invention meets all of the objectives of warning display features and the study's prescribed warning approach to follow too closely, as it approaches the FCW warning display in a different novel way. It is also important that the consumer of the present invention employs a program-a program driven by business rather than law-as it enables participating consumers to generate revenue and, as a result, represent a unique opportunity for new technology adoption. Suppose we wish to stimulate widespread adoption of vehicles with energy economy. By first incorporating the present invention into such a vehicle, we allow the consumer to generate considerable personal revenue that effectively offsets their inherent high manufacturing, acquisition and infrastructure costs.

Fig. 35 is a block diagram of an intersection clock 1800, an apparatus that enables the recording of traffic signal timing sequences and measures the time available for displaying content at a location where infrastructure controls traffic flow. The intersection clock is linked to the vehicle's onboard GPS navigation system 755 (typically through the vehicle interface 730), which directs vehicle direction and position data to the intersection clock on an ongoing basis in real time as shown at 1805. The intersection clock is also linked to a light sensor 1820, which light sensor 1820 is forward looking in a conventional land-based traffic environment, and in a preferred embodiment reads the color of the traffic light as the vehicle approaches the traffic light. The sensor looks for and monitors the presence of a green light, which is characteristic of a traffic "go" condition, and then triggers an "alarm" state when the green light turns yellow, responding in the same manner as the driver does for a light color change. The color transitions are received and documented at 1815 where they are assigned a GPS location using conventionally available electronic devices. At the time the yellow light turns red, a time-stamped signal is sent to the clock component 1810 and a location file is opened for this location based on the last direction the vehicle was traveling and its current location. At that time, the intersection clock 1800 checks the previously stored information for that location. If it is determined at 1825 that no sequence code or synchronization signal is stored, an event time record is triggered at 1830, which begins with a yellow to red transition of the light. At the same time, a default time remaining signal 1835, based on the average of the stored data for the traffic signals within the area, is forwarded to the intersection clock 1880, which allows certain content to be ranked. At the same time, at 1840, a red/stop cycle timing (which begins with a yellow to red transition) is recorded for the vehicle's direction and position for storage in its clock database 1850. When there is no further incoming data, this information will be recorded in the vehicle's database for future use at the GPS coordinates. If there is indeed data in the database 1850 relating to that location, the signal sequence code data is retrieved 1845 and then passed from the database as shown in the path 1855 to 1860, where the sequence code is then synchronized with the red/stop period just recorded for that direction and location.

However, as shown at 1865, it is also possible to receive synchronized signal sequence codes or unsynchronized signal codes from other vehicles equipped with the present invention. This is accomplished through the antennas 712, 715 and the transceiver 714. These codes, as well as synchronization signals, may be broadcast between vehicles that pass each other or arrive at different times. If a vehicle arrives with a signal sequence code for that location, it can broadcast (from one vehicle to another) on a specific basis the traffic light timing sequence it recorded for that location. In this manner, as shown at 1865, a vehicle that did not otherwise have the timing sequence may receive it and may then synchronize the sequence at 1860 using a red/stop cycle event, which it is processing or has recorded at 1840. When a new or updated code sequence is received from another vehicle, or recorded for a particular location using new data, it is sent to database 1850, as shown at 1870, for storage and use when the vehicle returns to the same location. Conversely, when a vehicle having a sequence code for a particular location in its database arrives after the vehicle that started recording the yellow-red event start period, the vehicle may then synchronize its sequence code with the earlier arriving vehicle.

The final step of the intersection clock 1800 is to calculate the time remaining for displaying the content. This is done by identifying the current time in the timing cycle (for any given direction of the vehicle based on a yellow to red transition, as shown in more detail in the description of fig. 33), and then determining the time remaining before the red (stop) light transitions to green (go) for a given direction of travel at 1880. Once the remaining time is determined, content packages appropriate for the remaining time can be arranged and released from content hard drive 716, as shown at 1555. Remember that the intersection clock 1800 only defines the time within which a moving object equipped with the present invention can display an image before it must be terminated in favor of other operating systems. This process does not in any way control the physical operation of the motor vehicle or moving object.

Example 3

Finally, a very basic example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention is the incorporation of such a system into a home automobile. Bringing home a car with the invention built in may be a reminiscent of bringing home a first home television, video recorder or computer for the last few years.

Dad decides that it is a family surprise-new Lexus "cross over (Crossover)" car-strong enough for family vacations, but elegant enough for office staff and for mom to have lunch with friends. It appears in two models, one being basic and the other having a new advertising display system of Lexus, something like the company called "ad/mix". Otherwise, the model is identical. For financial businesses, a slight increase in the cost of the advertising/hybrid type is almost insignificant at monthly payments, but the window sticker obviously makes the car generate considerable annual revenue for its owner, considerably offsetting the cost of its built-in advertising display technology. With regard to poster matter, this benefit is converted into savings in operating costs of the vehicle each year in the same way as evaluating its average fuel performance. Dad signs the document, the dealer pre-registers the VIN for the advertisement/hybrid, and dad moves home.

When the automobile is fully started, children are all on the automobile. His 8-year-old large daughter would soon want to place a picture advertisement for her dog after school to walk their business. His 14-year-old son is ready to get his DVD player so that he and his friends can watch a wide screen back-up (tailgate) movie on the grass. In fact, both children seem to know more about the technology than dad, while mom only views unpredictably from the doorway, boring to the idea of such a loud business. In fact, is the car displaying the commercial!

That evening, dad logged into a well-crafted Lexus site, which has the look and feel of a popular online community. It allows him to create a username for each family member and complete the registration process he initiated at the dealership. Dad quietly and carefully completed his user configuration by following easy prompts, describing himself, his interests, and the interests of the family. He notices that he never has been asked any real personal information in the configuration-just age, sex, occupation, education level, etc. -in the form of a very easy to answer multiple choice question, which also encourages him to describe things he likes and really is interested in. He correctly guesses that everything is somehow linked to the VIN of the new car.

He clicks "send" when he is finished. Later that night, when he walks into the garage and looks at his new car at a glance, he surprisingly sees that the new license plate of the car is gently lit on the otherwise dark rear digital display of the car. He thinks that it is how much progress is made, it is no longer necessary to bolt metal plates and to add new stickers every year.

The next morning, when pausing on his way to work behind another car at the street station, the display on the front car suddenly emits light and color, greets dad with his own username and welcomes him to the Lexus advertising network. A few minutes later, after another car on the ramp on a free highway, he watched a 30 second break at his favorite ball club-a promotion of ABC monday nighttime football and provided a 50% discount for his birthday at Sports charet several blocks away from his home. He has completely forgotten that the next week is his birthday!

Dad parks the new Lexus in his frequent parking place in the company's parking garage, does not know that the antenna at the top of the head has uploaded the morning recorded advertisement transmission, and downloads to its hard drive the latest content released to the internet just a few seconds before new york.

When driving home, in free stop-and-go highway traffic, dad notices that all vehicles in front of him display a colorful Nike logo regardless of make or model, which jumps and glows when the car decelerates and accelerates. Of course! They pass through the convention center and this week is an important Sporting Goods Manufacturing Association (SGMA) exhibit, with Nike being the main sponsor. They are clever in purchasing local advertising space and they think in mind. Passing through the center of the conference for several blocks, Nike sponsorship disappeared and was replaced by the identities of American Express, Best Buy, Home Depot and NASCAR. Dad noticed that when cars were moving at reasonable speeds, they could not display anything that could be easily read from a distance, except for a simple, non-animated logo; in fact, it is not very different from trucks and commercial automobiles seen on streets over the last decades. Dad presses the advertising pad on his steering wheel and the small display in his combination meter shows what image is currently playing to whatever person behind him on his Lexus' back: secret of Victoria! His recall of his configuration allows him to stop any sponsor that he would not like to carry his products or services. When free highway traffic decelerates, he notices that the logo slowly disappears and is replaced by standard brake or turn signal lighting, which now changes color gradually even with decreasing speed, changing from deep yellow for gradual speed decrease to bright red for full braking. Later, when traffic is slowly progressing forward, the license plate of each car is prominently displayed without any advertisement. Whenever his new Lexus approaches the car that was completely stopped ahead, a green dot appears on the car's rear-facing display and gradually turns yellow, then red, at which time he stops and the dot disappears. He knows that this places him in the minimum separation between vehicles in traffic, and in the line of sight at the best range and best view, depending on the model number and the VIN code transmitted between the two vehicles. According to his reading, this proximity alone compressed by-product saves hundreds of square miles of wasted traffic lane open space on city streets, freeing up turning lanes at many congested intersections. Once he stops completely in traffic, the display on the car in front of him fades to black and the music being broadcast through his Lexus' surround sound system fills the interior of his own car. The display on the front car then suddenly appears with a wide-screen movie trailer equipped with stereo sound, which then fades out and is replaced with a brake light when the traffic slows down again. Again parking, the brake lights fade and the movie trailer resumes from its stop and ends by providing him with a home discount ticket for theaters in his own vicinity. It is his favorite movie. Dad knows that the preference code is from his own onboard configuration in Lexus, but he is uncertain as to whether the video and audio content is from his car or the front car. He knows that it can come from either.

When a dad arrives at home he finds that his daughter has completed a little graphical advertisement for her dog walking service. How can he refuse to have she upload it to the home car? After all, it is only displayed in the immediate vicinity, and only at specific times of the day. In fact, the procedure is so simple that once she has completed her configuration, she can use her own for web approval in order to upload her small commercials; however, the network refuses to have her phone number displayed because she is less than 18 years old. At the same time, her brother has completed its configuration using its own computer and downloaded it-again for network approval-using the home's wireless home network under his own name and password.

When dad drives to work the next morning, he is bombed by skis, video games, free radical new soda water, and trailers of children's television shows until he realizes that the car is tuned to his new preferences of the son rather than his own preference settings. That evening, he is sure that each family member has his own password and he announces himself as an official system administrator of the advertising/hybrid type.

On Saturday, mother borrowed Lexus to accompany her friends in lunch and book reviews at the Mondrian hotel business area. Dad shows her how to turn off the system so it does not become embarrassed when she chats with a friend. There is no doubt that a girl's conversation is not interrupted at one time by an inappropriate commercial on the back of the front car, although in one corner, a large SUV illuminates the warning road work in front of her and the enclosed road on her usual route to Mondrian. Thanks to the ad/hybrid warning her of traffic congestion in real time, she and her friends just arrive on time, while other attendees are involved in delays and miss the start of the program. Driving home by itself and the curious mom now turns on the advertising/hybrid system. Away from both streets of the hotel, the black travelator lights up in front of her, shows an elegant picture of Mondrian and thanks her recent visit, and then provides a happy trip to two of any Mondrian hotels across the country. Mom presses the "I" button that dad talks about with her and requests that the information be emailed to her computer. Before mom arrives home, she has watched an attractive commercial for a new Clairol product, a preferential advertisement for a new high-end shoe store, and is convinced to drive away from her route three blocks to meet the boulders bookstore business. That evening, she is happy and has completed her own online advertising/hybrid configuration, so she can also receive highly relevant advertisements.

One month has elapsed and mom's Visa credit card has been billed. To surprise her, she showed a $ 48.70 credit under Citibank promotions simply because she watched some advertisements! That evening, she mentions her husband of a small transversal property. Dad goes to his home office and priorly picks up checks from Lexus in amount of $ 849.60 simply because he displayed some advertisements.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the exemplary embodiments described herein may be implemented in a variety of ways. For example, the visual display may be of any conventional type, such as a Thin Film Transistor (TFT) display, an Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display, or any other type of visual display suitable for the particular context of installation and use. Network systems and devices may be server-based or peer-to-peer, centralized or decentralized, fixed or non-fixed, etc. Communication and network interfaces between systems and devices may include wired (e.g., ethernet, wire cable, fiber optics, etc.) and wireless (e.g., radio frequency, infrared, optical modulation, etc.) interfaces. The systems, devices, and components may be implemented using hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof, including a programmed or programmable data processor, fixed or removable memory or other storage media, input/output (I/O) devices and adapters, and the like. Also, the means for displaying content may be fixed or movable, depending on the context of use, may be connected to or integrated into movable or stationary objects (including but not limited to cars, trains, trucks, planes, boats, mobile phones, wireless handheld data devices, and other devices having or capable of being connected to a visual display).

While the above description contains many specifics, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention, but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. Thus, it is to be understood that the scope of the present invention fully encompasses other embodiments that may become obvious to those skilled in the art, and that the scope of the present invention is accordingly to be limited solely by the appended claims, in which reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean "one and only one" unless explicitly so stated, but rather "one or more". All structural, chemical, and functional equivalents to the elements of the above-described preferred embodiment that are known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the present claims. Moreover, it is necessary for the apparatus and method to address each and every problem sought to be solved by the present invention, for it to be encompassed by the present claims. Furthermore, no element, component, or method step in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element, component, or method step is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element is to be construed herein under the definition of the sixth paragraph of 35u.s.c.112 unless the element is explicitly stated using the phrase "means for.

TABLE 1

General traffic signal event timing cycle

North/south traffic east/west traffic

Left turn Drive-up traffic Second of Left turn Drive-up traffic

(1) Red/wait for yellow-red/stop 3 seconds red/wait for red

(2) Red/wait for 12 seconds ← green/go red/wait for

(3) Red/wait for 68 seconds ← red/wait for green/go forward

(4) Red/wait for 3 seconds red/wait for yellow-red/stop

(5) Oid year of green/red advancement/red waiting for 14 seconds/red waiting/waiting for red

(6) Red/wait green/advance 78 seconds red/wait

Claims (49)

1. A system for displaying content on one or more stationary or moving objects, comprising:

(a) a network configured to communicate with:

a first object, wherein the first object is a movable object and the first object comprises a transmitter, an

A second object, wherein the second object comprises a display interface and a receiver on an exterior thereof; and

(b) a memory storing at least one configuration indicating a content interest of at least one user associated with the first object according to data provided by the at least one user,

wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit information about the at least one configuration to the receiver; and

wherein the display interface is configured to present content to the at least one user associated with the first object in accordance with the information regarding the at least one configuration.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first object is selected from a handheld device or a transportation vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the second object is selected from a transportation vehicle or an electronic billboard.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory is in the first object.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one configuration further comprises data about one or more other users or potential users associated with the first object.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first object and the second object are configured to exchange information about at least one of: a position, velocity, or motion of the first object or the second object; a feature, structure, and characteristic of the first object or the second object; or a surrounding of the first object or the second object.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the characteristics of the exchanged information determine whether content is displayed and whether the displayed content is presented as animated video, still video, or a combination of both.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the display interface is further configured to present content to the at least one user associated with the first object in accordance with the information about the at least one configuration.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the display interface is further configured to present content to the at least one user associated with the first object according to a priority system related to presentation of the content based on a characteristic of the content.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the characteristics of the content are classified as at least one of: emergency content, content relating to ambient environmental conditions, registration and identification content relating to the second object, or public safety content.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the network is configured to communicate with a data input interface configured to accept information from a user associated with the first object.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising a central processor wirelessly connected to the first object and the second object, wherein data related to the presentation of the content is uploaded to the central processor.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the data related to the presentation of the content comprises at least one of: a display time, a display location, a subject matter of the content, a duration of display of the content, a vehicle VIN, a driver license number, or information related to a user configuration.

14. A system for displaying content on one or more stationary or moving objects, comprising:

A first object, which includes a transmitter,

the first object being configured to move and communicate with a second object, the second object including a display interface and a receiver on an exterior thereof,

wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit information to the receiver regarding at least one configuration indicating a content interest of at least one user associated with the first object in accordance with data provided by the at least one user, an

Wherein the display interface is configured to present content to the at least one user associated with the first object in accordance with the information regarding the at least one configuration.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first object is a handheld device or a transportation vehicle.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the second object is a transportation vehicle or a fixed or movable sign.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the first object is configured to present audio content to a user associated with the first object.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the audio content is synchronized with video content.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the content or a portion of the content is generated by a user associated with the second object.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the content is presented in the following manner: rendering the content viewable by people other than those associated with the first object.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the display interface is integrated into a paint layer or a glass window of the second object.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the content being presented is limited by a user associated with the first object or a user associated with the second object.

23. A computer-implemented method of displaying content on one or more stationary or moving objects, comprising:

(a) editing a configuration of a first user based on an analysis of data provided by the first user, the configuration indicating a content interest of the first user;

(b) associating the first user's configuration with a first object, the first object selected from a handheld device or a transportation vehicle;

(c) storing the first user's configuration in a configuration database; and

(d) transmitting information regarding the first user's configuration to a second object, wherein the second object comprises a display surface on a transportation vehicle, and wherein the display surface presents selected content to the first user according to the transmitted information related to the first user's configuration.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising compensating a user associated with the second object for displaying content to the first user.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising prioritizing the display of the content according to the purpose of the content.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the content is targeted to at least one of: advertising, informational, traffic related, security related, news related, region specific, political, or personal.

27. The method of claim 23, further comprising prioritizing the display of the content according to preferences of a user associated with the first object or a user associated with the second object.

28. The method of claim 23, further comprising displaying registration and identification information on the display surface for the second object.

29. The method of claim 23, further comprising providing at least one of: audio content arriving at the first user through the first object; or video content that reaches the first user through the first object, the second object, or a combination of the first and second objects.

30. The method of claim 23, further comprising exchanging information about at least one of: a position, velocity, or motion of the first object or the second object; a feature, structure, or characteristic of the first object or the second object; an object surrounding the first object or the second object; or a surrounding of the first object or the second object.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the content is based on the exchanged information.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the exchanged information comprises a VIN-based index.

33. A system for distributing content on one or more fixed or moving objects, comprising:

(a) a communication unit configured to communicate with:

a first object selected from a handheld device or a transportation vehicle, wherein the first object comprises a transmitter;

a second object selected from a transportation vehicle or an electronic billboard, wherein the second object comprises a display interface and a receiver;

(b) a memory storing at least one configuration, the configuration being based on data provided by a first user associated with the first object, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit information about the at least one configuration to the receiver; and

(c) A compensation processor;

wherein the display interface is configured to present content to the first user associated with the first object in accordance with the information regarding the at least one configuration; and

wherein the compensation processor receives content reception information from the first object and content transmission information from the second object and calculates compensation for one or more entities.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the content transmission information includes a content transmission duration of the second object and the content reception information includes a content reception duration of the first object.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein at least one of the following occurs: a first user is compensated for viewing the content or a second user associated with the second object is compensated for transmitting the content.

36. The system of claim 33, wherein the compensation calculated for one or more entities is selected from one or more of: compensation of the first user based on content receipt information, compensation of a second user associated with the second object based on content delivery information duration, compensation of an owner of the first object based on content receipt information, compensation of an owner of the second object based on content delivery information, compensation of an entity associated with the first object based on content receipt information, or compensation of an entity associated with the second object based on content delivery duration.

37. The system of claim 33, wherein there is a choice for a third party to purchase rights to present content on the display interface.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the display interface is configured to present content according to preferences of the third party.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the right to present content is based on at least one of: fixed or relative geographic areas, times of day, or available periods of time of display.

40. A system for displaying content on one or more stationary or moving objects, comprising:

(a) a network configured to communicate with:

a first object selected from a handheld device or a transportation vehicle, wherein the first object comprises a transmitter;

a second object selected from a transport vehicle, wherein the second object comprises a display interface and a receiver on the transport vehicle; and

(b) a memory storing at least one configuration based on data provided by a first user associated with the first object, wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit information about the at least one configuration to the receiver; and

Wherein the display interface is configured to present content to the first user associated with the first object in accordance with the information regarding the at least one configuration and to display vehicle law enforcement identity identification information.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the vehicle law enforcement identification comprises at least one of: license plate, registered driver information, vehicle information, or VIN number.

42. The system of claim 40, wherein the display interface is configured to present at least one of: tail lights, stolen vehicle displays, or emergency or dangerous status displays.

43. The system of claim 40, wherein the display interface is configured to display vehicle law enforcement identification information when law enforcement control mode is activated.

44. A system for displaying content on one or more stationary or moving objects, comprising:

a network configured to communicate with:

a first object, wherein the first object is a movable object and comprises a transmitter and an intersection clock, an

A second object selected from a transportation vehicle or an electronic billboard, wherein the second object comprises a display interface and a receiver on an exterior thereof,

Wherein the intersection clock is configured to track timing of events;

wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit information from the intersection clock to the receiver; and

wherein the display interface is configured to present content to at least one user associated with the first object in accordance with the information from the intersection clock.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the first object is or is configured to move with a transport vehicle.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein the content includes positioning information about the first object and the second object, and wherein the content indicates a best parking position to a user associated with the first object.

47. The system of claim 44, wherein speed and location information is exchanged between a plurality of objects within transmission range, and wherein the content indicates to a user of the first object a relative braking condition of any object in front of the first object.

48. The system of claim 44, wherein the information from the intersection clock comprises time remaining before an expected change in traffic lights at an intersection.

49. A system for displaying content on one or more stationary or moving objects, comprising:

(a) a network configured to communicate with:

a first object, wherein the first object is a movable object and comprises a transmitter, an

A second object that is a movable object and that includes a display interface and a receiver on an exterior thereof; and

(b) a memory storing information, the information being input by at least one user associated with the first object,

wherein the transmitter is configured to transmit at least a portion of the information of the at least one user input to the receiver;

wherein the transmitter is configured to optionally transmit a command to the receiver to turn off the display; and

wherein the display interface is configured to present content to the at least one user associated with the first object in accordance with the information input by the at least one user when the transmitter does not transmit a command to the receiver to turn off the display.