PH12015000128A1 - Foot traffic and engagement monitoring system - Google Patents

Abstract

System for providing foot traffic estimates and real time interest and engagement are described. The system comprises an ultrasonic sensor mounted on an embedded computer to measure the amount and distance of human traffic along a specified area and uploading the data to a database server. Engagement and/or level of interest is measured by monitoring and comparing the amount of human traffic detected at far range, at medium range and at shorter range. The number of detected instances at all 3 ranges are sent to an online database for real time visual graph display.

Description

SPECIFICATION

FOOT TRAFFIC AND ENGAGEMENT

MONITORING SYSTEM

Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to an advertisement exposure monitoring system and specifically to an automated system of measuring both human traffic levels and interest or engagement in any type of digital display in a retail location and interactive advertising system.

Background of the Invention

As advertisers increasingly use digital signage in retail : environments, there is now a corresponding demand to measure the effectiveness of such digital advertising. There have been various systems and methods that gauge how many people walked past the advertisement, and more importantly, how effective such advertisement are in getting the passerby’s attention.

US Patent 6,252,522 B1 (522) discloses a system for measuring exposure to a visual display such as a billboard. A transmitter that is proximate to the billboard broadcasts a data signal that carries information relating to the billboard. This information may identify the location of the billboard, the message displayed by the billboard, and the time of day.

The data signal is provided at a power level that is adapted to reach a pre- defined exposure area in which the billboard can be viewed. A portable receiving device is provided to a defined consumer population to measure : the exposure of the consumer to the billboards. The receiving device may be carried or worn by the consumer, or carried in the consumer's vehicle.

The receiving device is adapted to recover the data signal and store the :

information relating to the billboard when the viewer is in the pre-defined exposure area. The time of day and duration of the exposure may also be recorded. The recorded information is subsequently downloading for processing by a central processing facility via a telephone line or computer link.

US Publication 2009/0299851 A1 (851) discloses a method and system for the measurement of the impact of an advertisement concerning a product or service displayed on at least one advertising billboard. The identity of at least one person passing close by the said billboard within a given geographical area and during a given period of time, is collected and memorized on the basis of at least one wireless transmission of an identifier contained in at least one portable device likely carried by the said person. As such, the billboard is provided with a RFID reader and/or

WLAN sender/receiver to collect the said identifier and transmit it to a

I5 server over wired or wireless connection. Then, for each identity, any subsequent action out of a predefined list of actions connected to the said identified person, is collected, and calculation of a global score that is representative of the impact of the said advertisement based on basic predefined scores associated to the said connected actions is then carried out.

Both documents (522) and (851) measures the impact or exposure of the advertisement in defined location with the use of a device that a person was provided or carried that is being read or identified by a reader provided in the advertisement that aids in the recording or monitoring the impact of the product or service being advertised.

With the emergence of motion detection technology that allows an 1 advertiser to detect the presence of the consumer in the area of the device and control the advertising exposure to the consumer based upon 2 1

; specified criteria replaces the manner of detecting of exposure with the use of a portable device. By detecting movement within the vicinity coupled with the knowledge of a specified criteria, the device canefficiently regulate the amount and nature of the advertising done within a particular place.

An example of such motion detection technology is US 8,229,781

B1 (781) that concerns to method and apparatus to determine shopper traffic in retail environments. In a disclosed example method of generating shopper traffic data, in-person-based count data and sensor-based count data are obtained. The in-person-based count data is indicative of a first quantity of shoppers within a first zone of a monitored establishment is obtained. The sensor-based count data is indicative of a second quantity of shoppers within the first zone of the monitored establishment. The example method also involves determining a relationship value indicative of a relationship between the in-person-based count data, the sensor- i based count data, and first sales data associated with the first zone of the monitored establishment. To count shoppers in the retail establishment using a sensor-based or automated counting technique, a people detectors are provided that are communicatively coupled to a local server located in or proximate to the retail establishment. The people detectors detects each person that walks into the retail establishment.

Another of said motion detection technology is EP 927,985 A2 that discloses a motion detection advertising for presenting video information { on a video display device that comprises a means for sensing the presence of a video display device user within a predetermined proximity of said video display device, and a means for displaying video information ! on said video display device when said video display device user is } sensed within proximity of said video display device. The means for sensing the presence of said video display device user is selected from motion detector, ultrasonic detector, and video image comparator. The proposed invention gives the advertisers the ability to expose consumers to advertisements for a specified period, as well as collect information onthe exposure that a customer has had with an advertisement or group of advertisements before a purchase is made. Based on this information, advertisers can make strategic decisions on how to more efficiently market their products. Additionally, the present invention eliminates the wastefulness associated with advertising to a non-existent audience and audiences that have already been continuously exposed to previously similar advertisements. The advertisements will only be shown when someone is present to view them. As a result, the manner in which advertisements are presented to consumers can be monitored and more efficiently managed.

So while systems or devices for counting people or for counting 1 people over a selected place were known like those cited, none of these ] system or technology provide the necessary distance measurement for target persons passing through an advertising device, and for using that information to generate data for use, such as by retail store managers, to evaluate store performance and the like. For example, such information may include the number of person passing the advertisement in different measurement trigger ranges, i.e. long, medium and short. Knowing the distance of the person from the advertisement is useful to advertiser management in evaluating and improving advertising. Further, there is no ] known technology that incorporates to the motion detection to determine the number of counts of the interested person to the advertisement based . on the measured distance with an interactive advertising system based on the type of range that is embedded to a computing device that can 1 perform several actions depending on the application. For example, for 4 digital displays, the message can be altered to be suitable for viewing at 1 the detected range. Additionally, at close range, the digital display can be

Lo made to play video or ask for suitable counterpart action from the engaged viewer. Such actions may include, but are not limited to asking for

Facebook™ account, taking a photo (selfie) and posting it to a social media site for future tagging, etc. ] 5 Summary of the Invention

The above need is met by methods for automating themeasurement of human foot traffic in a retail environment at three different measurement trigger ranges (long, medium and short). The present invention comprises an ultrasonic sensor mounted on an embedded 10 computing device to measure the amount and distance of human traffic along a specified area and uploading the data to a database server that is important to the advertiser to measure the number of counts of the interested person to the advertisement based on the measured distance.

In another objective of the present invention is that the data of how 15 many triggers were activated at each of the different ranges are sent over to an online database via the internet. The stored data is then used to visually represent the number of people that passed by (Number of Long range triggers), the number of people that read the advertisement (Number of medium range triggers) and finally, the number of people that 20 were engaged (Number of Short range triggers).

In another objective of the present invention is that it comprises pushing through a network the various measures of triggers that were detected to an online database. In another embodiment, a software application for displaying the captured data into a graphic form for 25 facilitating easier analysis is provided. :

In another objective of the present invention is that the engagement and/or level of interest is measured by monitoring and comparing the ;

amount of human traffic detected at far range (10-15ft), at medium range (5-10ft) and at shorter range(1-4ft) and the number of detected instances at all 3 ranges are sent to an online database for real time visual graph display.

At each type of range, the embedded computing device that can perform several actions depending on the application. For Digital displays, the message can be altered to be suitable for viewing at the detected range. Additionally, at close range, the digital display can be made to play video or ask for suitable counterpart action from the engaged viewer. Such : actions may include, but are not limited to asking for Facebook™ like, taking a photo (selfie) and posting it to a social media site for future tagging, etc.

As such the subject application provides such a solution to the demand for traffic and engagement measure, thus businesses can better target their advertisements with big data analysis --by measuring the number of triggers data at 3 different ranges (long, medium and short), and provides a window into how well a local advertisement is able to ‘pull’ in the passersby to the advertisement.

The subject system also be able to send the traffic data over an online database server for generation of a visual display that helps businesses analyze the effectivity of their advertisements. The system will require either Wi-Fi signal or other suitable means of network connectivity such as, but not limited to SMS, GSM, LTE.

Brief Description of the Drawings .

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the subject foot traffic and 1 engagement monitoring system: and ] : i

Figure 2 is a flow diagram of the subject foot traffic and engagement monitoring system.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

It is contemplated that the subject matter described herein may be ; 5 embodied in many forms. Accordingly, the embodiments described in detail below are the presently preferred embodiments, and are not to be considered limitations.

Said foot traffic and engagement monitoring system 10 comprising a display device 20 selected from visual display unit (VDU) such as a touch sensitive screen, a LCD, LED, a plasma screen or a TFT screen or ;

Projected display adapted for providing advertising information “A”. The advertising information “A” is provided to the display device by a computing device 30 that is disposed or provided in a retail location or any strategic place that would enable the delivery of the information to the display device. An ultrasonic sensor 40 is embedded to said computing device 30 that is preferably located near said display device. The sensor 40 is adapted to measure the amount and distance of human traffic along a specified area and upload the measured data to a database server 50 : through said computing device 30 either through a wired or wireless connection like Wi-Fi or other suitable means of network connectivity such as, but not limited to SMS, GSM, LTE. Said server could be cloud server device. An interrogation means 60 is provided and in communication to said computing device 30 adapted to trigger automatically an interactive media when a near distance is detected by said ultrasonic sensor 40. i

The system 10 includes an application that is being processed by the computing device 30 that processes the measured amount and distance of human traffic along a specified area to the data server 50 ! adapted to generate a real-time graphical representation of the gathered data. Further, the system 10 may include a camera 70 being connected to said computing device 30 adapted to take picture of a selected engaged viewer particularly on a short distance to said advertising information for posting and tagging to a social network like Facebook™ being sent to said database server for future tagging or for taking a photo (selfie) and posting it to a social media site for future tagging, etc.

As shown in Figure 2, the ultrasonic sensor 40 able to measure the amount and distance of human traffic 100 passing or viewing the advertisement in a retail location. If the measured distance is in far range (10-15ft) 101, the system will record the far range count, if the measured distance is in medium range (5-10ft) 102, the system will record the medium range count, and if the measured distance is in short range (1-4ft) 103, the system will record the short range count. All the recorded counts ; per distance is being processed by the application either in the computing device or the cloud server to generate a real-time graphical representation ] of the gathered data usable by the business or advertiser. In addition, in the measure short distance, the system may interact to the engaged viewer 105 by activating the interactive display media 106. In this situation, the digital display can be made to play video or ask for suitable counterpart action from the engaged viewer. Such actions may include, but are not limited to asking for Facebook™ like, taking a photo (selfie) . and posting it to a social media site for future tagging, etc. .

Claims (4)

1. : 1. Afoot traffic and engagement monitoring system comprising a display device adapted for providing advertising information, an ultrasonic sensor embedded in a computing device disposed on a retail location and adapted to measure the amount and distance of human traffic along a specified area and upload the data to a database server; and an interrogation means provided on said computing device adapted to trigger automatically an interactive media when a near distance is detected by said ultrasonic sensor.
2. 2. Afoot traffic and engagement monitoring system in accordance to claim 1, wherein the system including an application that processes the measured amount and distance of human traffic along a : specified area to the data server adapted to generate a real-time graphical representation of the gathered data.
3. 3. A foot traffic and engagement monitoring system in accordance to claim 1, wherein the data is sent over an electronic network via wireless connection to said online database server.
4. 4. A foot traffic and engagement monitoring system in accordance to claim 1, wherein a camera is being connected to said computing device adapted to take picture of a selected engaged viewer to said : advertising information for posting and tagging being sent to said database server. 9 SE