INFORMATION TRANSMISSION & DISPLAY SYSTEM & METHOD This invention relates to an information transmission and display system and method.
There is a need to provide directed information to a group (which may be as small as one) of users. This is especially so in the event of disasters whether natural such as flooding or man made such as terrorism when other means of communication may be disrupted. The invention seeks to address that need.
According to the invention there is provided an information transmission and display system comprising a) a remote unit comprising i) a store for storing information ii) means for entering information into the store iii) means for extracting information from the store; and iv) a transmitter for transmitting extracted information v) a receiver for receiving information for entry to the store; and b) at least one display unit the or each display unit comprising 1) a receiver for receiving extracted information transmitted by the remote unit ii) a display for displaying information received by the reeeiver the display having a plurality of display areas iii) means for transmitting information to the receiver of the remote unit iv) means for manually providing information identifying at least one location associated with each display unit to the remote store v) means for displaying infonnation of a first priority at a first location of the display device; and vi) means for displaying information of a second priority at a second location of the display device c) means for uploading to the store of the remote location information relating to a location; d) means for assigning a priority to the information provided to the remote location the arrangement being such that in use said transmitter a) iv) transmits information relating to the at least one location and the priority thereof to display units associated with that location for display by the display unit.
Some systems of the invention further comprise vii) means for displaying information of a third priority at a third location. At least one display unit can comprise means for automatically assigning a location to the device for example using GPS or OSM or other mobile phone localization. The system can further comprise means for allowing a user of a display unit to associate priority with a information relating to a class of events.
In some embodiments information associated with a first priority is displayed in a first colour and information associated with a second priority is displayed in a second colour different from the first colour. In some embodiments information associated with a first priority is displayed in a first font and information associated with a second priority is displayed in a second font different from the first font. Preferably at least one display unit is provided with means for issuing an aural or visual warning when information associated with a first priority is received.
The invention further provides a method of transmitting and displaying data system comprising a) entering information into a remote store; b) storing the information in the remote store; c) assigning a priority to information stored in the store as a function of a physical location to which the information relates; d) providing a plurality of display units each display unit being associated with a location and comprising i) a receiver for receiving extracted information transmitted by the remote unit ii) a display for displaying information received by the receiver, the display having a plurality of display areas iii) means for transmitting information to the receiver of the remote unit iv) means for manually providing information identifying at least one location associated with each display unit to the remote store v) means for displaying information of a first priority at a first location of the display device; and vi) means for displaying information of a second priority at a second location of the display device e) extracting from the remote store information relating to a location and the assigned priority and transmitting it to a display unit associated; and 1) displaying the information at a location of the display unit corresponding to its priority.
Embodiments of the invention will be described by way of non-limiting example by reference to the accompanying figure which is a schematic view of a display device of the invention.
The apparatus of the invention comprises at least one but generally a plurality of display units 1. Each system user is provided with a display unit 1. Display unit 1 is mounted in a location convenient for a user. Typically it will be mounted in the user's house or office. In many cases it will be mounted near a door or window (but not visible therefrom to reduce the risk of theft of the display unit or inadvertent disclosure of information).
Each display unit 1 is provided with communication means for communication with a remote location. Typically this comprises a radio or telephone link but those skilled will be able to devise other methods of communicating with the remote location. The precise nature of the link is not of the essence of the invention. 20 and 30 mobile telephony are currently useful but other systems may be used including those which are not currently commercially available.
In some embodiments of the invention the display unit I transmits information about its location to the remote location. This could be by a user manually entering information such as a postcode, address and/or map reference which is uploaded to the remote location. In other embodiments the user location is determined automatically for example using a satellite navigation system such as GPS and uploaded to the remote location.
Manual location input can be preferable. The cost of a satellite navigation receiver is low and reduced cost is unlikely to be a significant production cost factor. The display unit can however be manually loaded with a different address than that at which the unit is physically present. A user can thereby obtain information relating to another area for example the address of an infirm friend or relative. This would allow an able bodied user to be alerted to events near the infinTi dependent.
Display unit 1 is provided with a plurality of display locations 2a, 2b, 2c. The plurality of display locations may be portions of a larger unitary display or may be discrete.
Further display locations 4, 5 may be provided as described hereinafter.
The database of display units within an area of arbitrary size can be built up.
Information relating to an area can be loaded into the database. The remote location can then transmit information relating to an area to units in that area.
In alternative embodiments information relating to the location of the display unit is retained locally rather than uploaded to the remote location. In these embodiments the remote location sends information to all display units within a larger area and display units display as will be hereinafter described only relevant information. In these embodiments it may be necessary to encrypt the information more strongly than in other embodiments.
A user of a display device elects what information the device will display. Some classes of information may require a subscription.
The remote location comprises a store into which information may be loaded. The information comprises information about a location as hereinbefore described. The information also comprises information about the priority of the information. Means for loading information into the store are provided. Examples can include keyboards and touch sensitive screens.
Each display unit is provided with means for uploading its location to the remote location as hereinbefore described.
Periodically the remote location sends messages associated with a location to display devices associated with that location together with information about the priority of the information. Those skilled will have no difficulty in devising suitable ways of doing this. Examples include telephone and wifi.
he information may be matters of public safety shown in the Figure as Layer 1. In the Figure it is displaying information from the police but as appropriate it may include other information such as for example information about floods, gas leaks or terrorism. It will be apparent that that in some cases such as a power failure the area affected and hence number of display units which will display the information may be small and even in some cases restricted to a single display unit. In other eases such as wind damage the area may be very much larger. Thus the area to which the information is disseminated is variable by the uploader of the information.
In some embodiments of the invention user personally identifiable information may be entered into the device. In general this information will be uploaded to the remote location for reasons of security. This allows information relevant to individuals or groups ) of individuals to be displayed. Thus in some embodiments of the invention a display area which in use displays personal information may be provided. In the figure information relating to delivery of a package is displayed. In some embodiments personal information could be sent to a class of people geographically diverse as for example all households with a person for whom a flu vaccination is recommended.
In some embodiments of the invention a display area may display regiospecific low priority information. In the figure waste collection and census information is displayed.
In some embodiments of the invention a yet further area displays even lower priority information; in the figure information to a community event is displayed.
Users may elect what information they will accept.
Means for indicating the category of infonnation such as safety-related and regiospeeific or general community event may be provided. Examples could be positioning of the text size, colour or associated indicia like lights and sound. In addition to, or instead of, being displayed visually in some embodiments of the invention the iS messages may be available aurally for example by a text to speech converter.
Further display locations may be provided and may for example display general basic information such as date, time and temperature. This could be by telephony or mobile internet connection or by radio. One possibility is to use the RT and/or CT information
fields of an RDS transmission.