WO2009103700A1

WO2009103700A1 - Method for administering the delivery of information contents, specifically related to locations and/or environments

Info

Publication number: WO2009103700A1
Application number: PCT/EP2009/051851
Authority: WO
Inventors: Fabio Salvadori; Tomas Barazza
Original assignee: Log607 S.R.L.
Priority date: 2008-02-18
Filing date: 2009-02-17
Publication date: 2009-08-27
Also published as: ITMI20080253A1

Abstract

The present invention aims to optimize a method for administering the delivery of information contents, specifically related to locations and/or environments, to their architecture, topology and peculiar elements. An information content includes one or more information fragment(s), and a new fragment is only sent after the comparison of the previous fragment with the environment which a fragment refers to, being thus able to take all the outstanding aspects thereof so far as being able to solve a precise problem pertaining thereto.

Description

Method for administering the delivery of information contents, specifically related to locations and/or environments

DESCRIPTION

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a method for administering the delivery of information contents, specifically related to locations and/or environments. State of the art Systems for an interactive guide in tourist places are known. These are however independent from the needs of the users, providing pre-planned paths and itineraries again. Indeed, some of them allow the system administrator or the user himself to choose a path among some pre-planned paths. In the latter case, he is not able to estimate whether the supposed duration of the pre-planned path including the learning step is correct. The needs of a general user in terms of duration and distance of the path may be highly variable, whereby the known systems are not able to specifically meet every request. Furthermore, information are continuously delivered, without checking whether the user effectively paid attention to what was illustrated during the guiding. Summary of the invention

It is the object of the present invention to provide a method for administering the delivery of information contents, specifically related to locations and/or environments, which solves the aforementioned problems.

Therefore, the present invention aims to achieve the above-described objects, by implementing a method for administering the delivery of information contents between one or more users and a remote computer, specifically related to locations and/or environments, in accordance with claim 1.

According to another aspect of the invention, the gradual delivery of information fragments is carried out with the aid of a printed copybook, in accordance with claim 10.

The dependent claims describe preferred embodiments of the invention, thus forming an integral part of the present disclosure. Brief description of the Drawings

Further features and advantages of the invention will be further apparent in view of the detailed yet not exclusive description of a preferred embodiment of a method for administering the delivery of information contents, specifically related to locations and/or environments, illustrated by way of non-limiting example, with the aid of the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 depicts an interaction scheme between a user and a remote computer;

Figs. 2 and 3 depict a copybook by means of which information contents are delivered to the user;

Fig. 4 depicts a flow chart representing said method;

Fig. 5 depicts a hardware/software architecture by means of which said method is implemented.

Like numerals and like reference letters in the figures identify like elements or components.

Detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the invention

According to the method shown by the present invention, the information contents are fragmented and a new fragment is only sent after a user has compared the previous fragment with an environment which the fragment refers to, being thus able to take all outstanding aspects thereof so far as being able to solve a precise problem pertaining thereto.

For this method to be implemented, each information fragment is required to be provided to the user only once the problem related to the previous fragment has been solved. The delivery may occur in a telematic manner, e.g. by means of a remote computer connected with a laptop computer or personal digital assistant. In a preferred embodiment, a printed copybook is arranged which copybook is structured so as to be unintelligible if not combined with said code.

In this case, said copybook includes an outer cover and a plurality of thin paper strips each marked by a portion of the aforesaid code.

The delivery of the information fragment to the user is allowed by reading the thin strips indicated by the code in sequence. When the user is able to reply to the question related to the corresponding code, he sends an SMS by means of a telephone to a telephone number connected to the remote computer, which checks whether the reply is correct. If so, the remote computer sends a new code via SMS, with a new question or alternatively notifies the end of the delivery of information contents. This procedure scheme is hereinafter illustrated with the aid of figure 1 :

1. (from figure top), a user provides himself a copybook: a telephone number is written in the copybook, to which the request for starting the delivery of the information content may be sent via SMS. By means of that very copybook, the user can access the delivery of one or more information content(s). He may specify ways and durations of the path in the SMS. He may not specify the duration and he may challenge other users with the goal of finishing the path suggested by the remote computer in the shortest possible time;

2. the remote computer selects the path and communicates a first question and a first code, for instance via SMS, by means of which the user can reconstruct and acquire an information fragment existing in the copybook;

3. upon examination of the information fragment in its copybook in view of the location referred to therein, it is possible to reply, e.g. via SMS, to the question received by the remote computer; 4. then, should the reply be correct, the remote computer communicates a further code related to another information fragment to the user and formulates a new question;

7. otherwise, should the reply be incorrect, the system communicates the fault and requests a new question to be formulated; 9. the cycle is iteratively repeated with variable length until the user replied to the last question.

A maximum number of faults made by the user may possibly be devised. According to another aspect of the invention, it is especially critical to illustrate a selection procedure of a path (that is a sequence of information fragments) operated by the remote computer.

In this connection, we point out that a user must be able to inspect an environment or location in order to be able to reply to a question, and he must displace himself from an environment to another in order to be able to reply to a series of questions.

Therefore, the information flow needs a period of time, hereinafter referred to as total acquisition time, which is more or less extended relative to the distance between locations and the number of locations which are to be inspected by the user in order to acquire the peculiar aspects thereof.

Furthermore, we point out that the information delivery may occur at various times and the remote computer has to appropriately keep track of the locations which have already been inspected by the user himself. The path selection procedure originated by the request of an information content by a user includes the following steps:

- (step 1 ) defining a set of locations or environments, each related to an information fragment, by means of a code by which said information fragment may be reconstructed and acquired and by means of a question related to the location which said information fragment is referred to;

- (step 2) excluding the possible locations already visited by the user from the set of locations;

- (step 3) excluding the so-called distant locations, i.e. those whose distance is greater than a certain threshold Dmax; - (step 4) selecting a first location;

- (step 5) checking whether the set of locations is not empty;

- then (step 6) if it is empty and if it is possible to include distant locations: including distant locations in the set of locations;

- otherwise: end; - (step 7) selecting a further location;

- (step 8) estimating the total distance Dtot of the path including the locations heretofore selected in the current sequence, estimating the total time Ttot for acquiring the information content relating to the current path;

- then, if the total acquisition time is lower than a preset value Tmax and the total distance Dtot is shorter than a preset value Dmax: locating and excluding both the so-called distant locations relating to the current location and the locations already included into the path, resuming the check (step 5) that the set of locations is not empty;

- otherwise, should the total acquisition time be greater than a preset value Tmax or should the total distance be greater than a preset value Dmax: end.

The above-noted procedure may be further refined, especially if the set of locations is very crowded, in order to avoid the user from covering the same portion of path more than once.

For this purpose, once a location has been chosen, both distant and near locations (i.e. those nearer than a threshold Dmin) are excluded from the set of locations in order to choose the following further location. It is apparent that upon selecting a further location, should the set of locations be found empty upon checking, it is always possible to restore the near and/or distant locations in the set of locations.

Dmax and Tmax may be decided by the user, for instance in the SMS for requesting the delivery of the information content sent to the remote computer to be started.

A preferred embodiment of the copybook 10 provides that each page is divided by at least a horizontal cut 12 into equal strips 1 1. Possibly, at least three strips. Therefore, each strip contains a part 14 of the information fragment and is marked by an identification number 13 defining a code portion. For instance, code 58A 4B 32C finds the reconstruction of an information fragment in the sequence of strips in figure 2. Preferably, the portions of an information fragment are mixed so as to be scattered on different pages.

The upper parts are reciprocally mixed, as well as the intermediate and lower ones. Specifically, each mark of each strip may include a letter and a number. For instance, letter A refers to the strips at the top of the page, letter B to the strips immediately below and so on. For simplicity, we affirm that the letter is arranged in accordance with the positioning of a strip in the belonging page. Instead, the number refers to the page, whereby the first strip of page 5 will be marked by mark 1 A, the second one by 1 B and so on.

Furthermore, the information fragment may be divided into so many strips as those forming a whole page, whereby the code includes three marks in sequence for three strips in the example of fig. 2.

Once the page has been reconstructed in the sequence which allows the complete information fragment to be read, an elastic wire restrained to the cover by its two ends may overlap the reconstructed page so as not to lose the correct order thereof when closing the copybook.

Therefore, an architecture adapted to implement said method comprises the following essential aspects:

- at least one information content: experience may have a collection of stories as a narration background, regarding known or less known aspects about geography, history and cultural heritage of a location. Therefore, we should suppose a step of selecting fragments forming an information content, which are specified along a path in an environment or location. An information content may include a story focused on one or more fictional plot(s) acting as a main theme of the experience. The information content may be available in various formats such as paper, audio/video and digital content;

- concealing the information fragment: the information fragment is coded and made accessible to the user at the appropriate time by providing the indications for decoding both accurately and inherently to the location included in the path where the user is. Thereby, the path in a location becomes a path in subsequent stages;

- locating elements to be discovered in the field: the space in which there are the outstanding characters to be outlined and deciphered by the user himself. He will reply to more or less complex questions related to the location where he is and, should the reply be correct, he will keep on covering the path; - a main service for administering the path, e.g. implemented by a remote computer: a remote computer ensures the appropriate information delivery through the communication with the user via suitable channels, such as SMS, data and the Web. The remote computer serves the function of formulating itineraries and related information contents divided into information fragments and each matched with a question; furthermore, it receives and validates the replies and provides a technical support to the user;

- a web site: it supports the experience by allowing the continuous monitoring thereof and providing a support to the users and to potential users, especially in a page of the site where the players may view the route of their path, after the experience.

Claims

1. A method for managing the delivery of information contents between one or more users and a remote computer, especially related to locations and/or environments, comprising the following steps: - arranging one or more information fragment(s) related to the same number of locations and/or environments;

- selecting one or more information fragment(s) so as to define an information content and a path associated thereto;

- delivering a first information fragment; said method wherein selecting one or more information fragment(s) is operated by said remote computer, so that the total duration (Dtot) end/or the total time (Ttot) of the path is lower than or equal, respectively, to a settable distance (Dmax) and/or a settable duration (Tmax) by said user(s).

2. A method according to claim 1 , further comprising the following steps before the delivery of a further :

- formulating a question for each of said locations and/or environments;

- delivering of said question;

- inspecting the location and/or environment which said fragment is referred to, so as to be able to detect a detail which solves the related question.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the delivery of the information content is carried out by means of a laptop computer or personal digital assistant adapted to communicate with said remote computer or by means of a telephone adapted to receive and transmit an SMS from/to the remote computer and an appropriate copybook containing said information fragments.

4. A method according to the preceding claims, wherein said remote computer sends an error reporting message, when the detected detail is incorrect.

5. A method according to the preceding claims, wherein selecting the information fragments comprises the following steps:

- (step 1 ) defining a set of locations or environments, each relating to an information fragment, by means of a code by which said information fragment may be reconstructed and acquired, and by means of a question related to the location which said information fragment is referred to; - (step 2) excluding the locations already visited by the user from the set of locations;

- (step 3) excluding the so-called distant locations, i.e. those whose distance is greater than said settable distance (Dmax); - (step 4) selecting a first location;

- (step 5) checking whether the set of locations is not empty;

- otherwise: end; - (step 7) selecting a further location;

- (step 8) estimating the total distance (Dtot) of the path including the locations heretofore selected in the current sequence, estimating the total time (Ttot) for acquiring the information content relating to the current path;

- then, if the total acquisition time is lower than said settable duration (Tmax) and the total distance (Dtot) is shorter than said settable distance (Dmax): locating and excluding both the so-called distant locations relating to the current location and the locations already included in the path, resuming the check (step 5) that the set of locations is not empty;

- otherwise, should the total acquisition time be greater than said settable duration (Tmax) or should the total distance be greater than said settable distance

(Dmax): end.

6. A method according to claim 5, wherein selecting a further location (step 7) is such that it avoids the user from covering the same path portion more than once.

7. A method according to claim 6, wherein, before the step of selecting a further location (step 7) as compared to the current one, those locations nearer than a preset threshold (Dmin) from the current location are further excluded from the set of locations.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein if the set of locations (step 5) is empty, said preset threshold (Dmin) is then removed.

9. A method according to the preceding claims, wherein when the information content is delivered by means of a telephone and a printed copybook, said remote computer sends a code to the telephone by means of said SMS; said printed copybook (10) comprising a plurality of paper strips (1 1 ) each bearing a fraction (14) of an information fragment and an identification number (13); said code being a sequence of identification numbers, so as to be able to arrange an appropriate sequence of paper strips in order to reconstruct one said information fragment.

10. A printed copybook, especially for the application in a method for administering the delivery of information contents according to any one of the preceding claims, comprising a plurality of paper strips (1 1 ) each bearing a fraction (14) of an information fragment and an identification number (13).

1 1. A copybook according to claim 10, wherein said paper strips (1 1 ) are separated by the same number of horizontal cuts (12).

12. A copybook according to claim 10, wherein said identification number is of the alphanumeric type.

13. A copybook according to claim 12, wherein said alphanumeric identification comprises a number related to the page which it belongs to and at least one letter indicating the positioning of a strip in the belonging page.