Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
W095/009~ ~ 6 fi PCT/GBg4/01333
RETRIEVAL SYSTEM FOR THE TRANSFER OF INFORNATION
This invention relates to the transfer of information
between a supplier and end user, and in particular to the
transfer of advertising information from an advertiser to a
potential customer of a product or service being advertised.
In the communication industry, there are often messages,
basic information, and advertising that it is desired to
communicate as an offer or other information to a user for
example a target audience of the particular media. One of the
problems that the industry has is the efficient and effective
transfer of that information.
For example, on television, the information may take the
form of a telephone number, a recipe or advice that a program
wishes to pass on to viewers, or the information may take the
form of an offer or promotion to encourage purchase of a
product. Equally in newspapers the information may also take
the form of coupons or promotional information or it may
simply be a telephone number to call for an information pack,
or opening times of a box office.
Hitherto, to effect the transfer of such information, the
end user of the information has been required to either write
out the information, memorise the information, clip a coupon
or write out an address to send off for the information.
However, due to the lack of an available writing implement or
25 laziness, this reguirement has in reality frequently proved
to be a real obstacle to the efficient and effective transfer
of the information. This problem is particularly noticeable
and infuriating with advertising where the intention of the
advertiser is to encourage interest in and ultimately purchase
30 of a product. In an attempt to overcome this problem and to
further encourage purchase of a product, advertising schemes
ehave been developed based on additional inducements such as
gift coupons in newspapers, prizes, telephone phone ins and
quizzes etc. Unfortunately, the take up of such schemes is
35 hindered by the reality that the target audience of to-day's
media programming and advertising still need to interact by
traditional methods as outlined above.
WO95/009235~ PCT/GB94/01333
One way around the above problems is to install
interactive systems. For example, in the telecommunications
field, interactive shopping systems have been developed where
actual real time or effectively real time communication takes
place between a telecommunications network and the user.
However, such systems are complicated and expensive which
limits their use. Moreover, the application of such system is
restricted to situations where interaction with the user can
take place in this way, for example, such systems are not
appropriate to newspapers or magazines. There is therefore a
need for a way to transfer the aforementioned information in
an effective, economical and simple manner.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a
system wherein information can be transferred between an
information supplier and end user in an effective, economical
and simple manner.
According to the present invention there is provided an
information retrieval system comprising:-
a) a dedicated single switch;
b) receiving means responsive to manual actuation of said
single switch to receive coded information;
c) means for decoding the coded information; and
d) means for presenting the decoded information to a
user.
Thus, by actuation of a single switch, the information,
for example advertising information, is received, decoded and
presented to the user.
The system may further comprise a store means for storing
the received coded information or a store means for storing
the decoded coded information. This gives flexibility to the
application of the system to currently existing technology.
In one embodiment, said store means and integers a) and
b) are provided as a portable or hand held unitary device and
integers c) and d) are provided in another unit; in another
embodiment said store means and integers a), b), and c) are
provided as a portable or hand held unitary device and integer
d) is provided in another unit; and in still another
wo gs/oog~ 2I G~ PCTIGB94/0~33
embodiment said information retrieval system is provided as
a hand held unitary device.
Thus, a user simply carries the device and as required,
actuates the single switch to receive the coded information
for subsequent presentation. This gives considerable
flexibility of use allowing the device to be carried and used
when convenient, for example, whilst reading the newspaper,
or whilst watching television.
Preferably, communication between the device and said
anoth,er unit is by means of infrared or similar remote
communication since this is simple and reliable.
The communication between the device and said another
unit may also be by means of connection between a reciprocal
plug and socket means of the device and said another unit.
In one embodiment, the receiving means comprises a
transmitter for emitting infrared light for sc~nn;ng coded
information, a receiver for receiving sc~nning infrared light
reflected from the coded information, and code extracting mean
for extracting the coded information from the received
scanning infrared light. Once again, this is simple and
reliable.
In a particular case, said transmitter can be actuable
to provide the communication between the device and said
another unit.
The system may be used for television and further
comprises information extracting means for extracting said
coded information from an incoming television signal and for
displaying the extracted coded information on a television
screen. In this way, the coded information need not actually
be normally be seen by a viewer for very long because this
serves to provide coded information which can be scanned by
using the hand held unitary device.
Conveniently, the information extracting means can be
part of said another unit.
In another case, the information extracting means is part
of said another unit and includes further store means for
storing additional extracted information for correlation with
WO9~/009~ ~ PCT/GB94/0~33
~6~ 4
a code of the information communicated from said unitary
device. Consequently, information additional to that present
on the screen can be obtained from the television signal.
Conveniently, the means for presenting the decoded
information maybe actuated by operation of the single switch
or is actuated by operation of a further dedicated single
switch. Therefore, the received information can be maintained
in the system until it is a convenient time to present the
decoded information for consultation.
It is preferred that the means for presenting the decoded
information comprises a printer since hard copy can be passed
on. Alternatively, the means for presenting the decoded
information can comprise a printer and/or a display.
For the sake of simplicity, said single switch can
comprise the only switch on said unitary device.
It is preferred that said means for decoding the stored
information comprises a bar code d~coA;~g means.
Alternatively the switch and technology is incorporated
into another remote control device such as a television or VCR
remote control.
Examples of the present invention will now be described
with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:-
Figure 1 illustrates a first embodiment of the present
invention;
Figure 2 illustrates a second embodiment of the present
invention;
Figure 3 illustrates a third embodiment of the present
invention for television.
The present invention in its most simple form is shown
in Figure 1. A hand held device lO for capturing information
from a supplier and presenting the information to an end user
comprises an infrared transmitter 1 connected via a drive
circuit 2 to a microprocessor 3. A manually pressable switch
4, located centrally on a shell of the device lO, is connected
by a line 5 to the microprocessor 3 so that when the switch
4 is pressed, the microprocessor actuates the drive circuit
2 to cause the transmitter to transmit sc~nn; ng infrared
WO9S/009~ PCT/GB94/01333
light. Reflected infrared light from the transmitter 1 is
received in a receiver 6 and processed by the microprocessor
3 and stored in a random access memory (RAM) 7. When a further
manually pressable switch 8, connected to the microprocessor
3, is pressed, the stored contents of the RAM 7 are read out
to a display means or means for producing hard copy such as
a printer drive unit 9 so that the information can be printed
out on paper 11.
The use of the device lO will now be described with
reference to an advert in a newspaper advertisement. For the
purpose of illustration, the information from the supplier in
the advert is presented in a bar code form, although other
forms of presentation can be employed. Thus, it will be
apparent that the advert includes not only humanly readable
information, but the coded information for reading by the
device lO. The manner of reading and decoding the information
conte.nt of bar codes is already well known and will not be
described in detail here.
To use the device lO, a user seeing the information of
interest in a newspaper advertisement, say an advert giving
a box office telephone number, points the transmitter 1 at the
bar code and presses the button 4. The microprocessor
illuminates the transmitter 1 view the drive circuit 2 so that
the bar code on the advert is scanned with infrared light in
known manner. The reflected light is picked up by the receiver
6, processed by the microprocessor 3 to extract the bar code,
as is known in the art, and is decoded and stored in the RAM
7.
The retrieved information can be immediately produced by
pressing the button 8 to produce a hard copy. Thus, there is
no need for the user to write out a telephone number, cut the
- advert out of the newspaper, or memorise the number.
Consequently, the information contained in the advert is more
accessible and the effectiveness of the transfer of the
information to the end user is improved. Alternatively, the
user may keep the information until required, for example to
telephone the box office. Only at this time is the button 8
~; - --.-- -- .. ... -- ..
~ 6 ~L/ ~ 5~b~
ëssed to print out, or display, the telephone number.
It will be apparent that the button 8 can be omitted if
the button 4 is also arranged to operate on one press for
store, two presses for print or some other combination of
. 5 controlling the d~vice on the basis of the single button 4.
The device of Figure 1 can be employed to retrieve coded
information that is presented in various media, for example
in newspapers, magazines, and television. Thus, when the user
is interested in something, a single press of the button 4
captw!es the information ~o that the user can immediately act
on the information that is being presented. This overcomes the
laziness problems mentioned above.
~hilst Figure 1 illustrates the system of the present
invention contained in a single hand held device, the present
invention is not restricted to this. For example, having the
printer drive, or display, unit in the device 10 i8 not
essen~ial. Figure 2 illustrates an alternative device
embod~ing the present invention where components common to
Figure 1 bear common reference numerals. A device 10A is
operated as with Figure 1 to capture the information. The
device is then pointed at or actuates another unit 12, which
ma~ be a dedicated unit, which contains a printer drive unit
~. on pressing of the button 8, the information stored in the
RAM 7 is retrieved and transmitted from the transmitter 1 to
a receiver 13 on the unit 12. A receiver circuit 14 processes
the received signal into appropriate form befor~ supplying it
to the printer unit 9. Whilst a communication route via the
transmitter l and the receiver 13 is illustrated in Figure 2,
a communication route between a reciprocal plug and socket on
the device 10 and the unit 12 can be used.
It will be apparent that the information stored in the
RAM 7 can take the form of the coded information or the
information in decoded form. ~ccordingly, the means for
~E~E~ E~
W095/OOg~ 2 ~ ~ S g ~ ~ PCT/GB9410~33
.
decoding the coded information can be provided within the
device lO as with Figure 1 or can be provided as part of the
receiver circuit 14 in the unit 12.
The device lO or lOA can include a display (not shown)
for displaying the stored information and more than one
information can be captured and stored in the RAM 7. It will
also be apparent that a suitable power supply, such as a
battery, is provided for the device 10 and lOA.
As mentioned above, the coded information to be captured
can take many forms. For example, the coded information in the
form of a bar code could be incorporated as part of a
television picture signal, either as a section on the lower
part of a television screen or as a subliminal display
imbedded in the incoming television signal. In this case, when
a user of the device 10 to lOA is interested in the content
of the television screen, the button 4 can be pressed so that
the transmitter 1 is actuated to scan the screen and capture
the information on the lower part of the screen or the coded
subliminal information. Then, when the button 8 is pressed,
the information of interest is retrieved and printed by the
printer unit 9, or stored for display.
Another embodiment of the present invention particularly
suitable for television is shown in Figure 3. In this case,
coded information and additional information is received via
the broadcast network. A special unit 30 is connected in line
between a television 31 and aerial 32. The cable from the
aerial 32 is connected to an input 36 of the unit 30 whereby
the incoming televisional signals are fed directly to an
output 37 for connection to the television 31 and to a
splitter 33 which splits off the additional information from
the incoming television signal. The additional information can
be contained in the extra transmitted lines which are not
normally displayed on the television screen and the manner in
which this information is split off is already known and will
not be described. The additional information is temporarily
writt~en into a RAM 34 at an address under the control of a
microprocessor 35, the address bearing a direct relation to
-
WO9~/009~ PCT/GB94/01333
~s59~ 8
the incoming coded information.
The embodiment of Figure 3 operates as follows. When a
user watching the television with the device of say Figure 2
sees something of interest on the television, the button 4 can
be actuated. At this point in time, imbedded in the incoming
television screen, there can be a bar code screen which is
flashed, for instance for 1/60 second every second or
alternatively, a bottom portion of the screen can be dedicated
to the bar code at this point in time by the broadcast
network. Consequently, the bar code is stored by activation
of the button 4. Then, the user points the device lOA at the
unit 32 and presses the button 8 so that the unit 32 receives
the coded information in the form of the bar code via a
receiver 38 connected to the microprocessor 35. According to
the bar code received, the microprocessor retrieves from the
appropriate addresses of RAM 34 the additional information
associated with that bar code and sends it to a printer drive
unit 39 for printing, or other unit for storage and display.
In an alternative the actuation of button 4 allows
digital information representative of the bar code to be
stored for a limited time, and then to be automatically
printed out, or displayed on the screen.
For example, if a particular car was advertised during
the advertisement, the additional information could be split
off by the splitter 33 and temporarily stored at a
predetermined address in the RAM 34. If the viewer showed
interest, they store the associated bar code displayed as
above. Then, by communicating this bar code to the unit 30,
additional information about the car can be retrieved, such
as the full specification. Alternatively a telephone number
can be called when it is conventional to obtain an information
pack by post. It will be apparent that the unit 30 can
comprise a part of the television.
It will be apparent that the information that can be
decoded from the coded information is limited to the amount
of information that can be contained in the code and the
length of the code. For bar codes, the amount of information
WO9~/009~ PCT/GB94/0~33
9 ~ ~
is not great. By use of the embodiment of Figure 3, much
greater amounts of information can be effectively captured
although it will be apparent that the RAM 34 would be
overwritten, say, every time an advertising break occurred.
5The present invention is distinguished from the prior art
in that it provides a simple and economical device wherein a
user simply captures coded information for subsequent display
or print, the capture taking place on the basis of a user
deciding "yes" to want the information or "no" not to bother
to obtain the information. There is no true interaction as
such with the information as with the prior art, but a rather
simple snap shot capturing and reproduction of a burst o~
information.
Thus, in one case, an owner of the system of the present
lS invention viewing an advert of interest can simply point the
device at the television and activate the button 4 to capture
the coded information from the screen and press the button 8
to print the decoded information. In another case, the owner
reading an advertisement in a newspaper containing a telephone
response number, a money-off coupon or detailed information,
can scan the coded information and then at a convenient time,
say at home, the decoded information can be printed or
displayed ready for consultation and use. Consequently, the
present invention provides simplicity of transfer of
information from a supplier to the user in that there is no
need for the user to take any action other than simply press
a button to capture information for retrieval and use at
leisure.
It will be apparent that the invention can take many
forms and whilst the coded information is preferably in the
form of bar codes, other forms of condensing data for
transmission could be employed, including audible transmission
for use with radio. In addition, the present invention can
-comprise a separate system or can be incorporated as part of
a device having further features, such as an electronic
personal organiser, or television or VCR remote control.
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