| 20110047471 | Apparatus and Methods for Associating a User's Activity in Relation to a Physical Location with a Virtual Community - A system permits a user's activity in relation to a physical location to be associated with a virtual community web site and, therefore, with a virtual community created by the web site. Users indicate their presence at, or association with, a physical location by sending messages from their personal communication devices, such as mobile telephones or Internet-connected computers. Users may participate in activities at the locations by sending such messages, accessing location proxy web sites or via virtual communities. An exemplary activity includes a network-connected jukebox. Users may obtain information about music being played on the jukebox. In addition, the jukebox may display information about music being played on other jukeboxes, possibly in other locations. | 02-24-2011 |
| 20100064007 | Automatic Content Retrieval Based on Location-Based Screen Tags - Systems and methods automatically obtain contents and display the contents on location-specific display screens, based on content attributes associated with the screens. Associating content attributes (“tags”) with the screens allows administrators to specify the types of contents desired for display on the screens. For example, an establishment that caters to customers of a particular demographic (such as 21-27 year old singles, families with children, fans of rock-and-roll music, “bikers,” sports fans or ice cream lovers) may associate one or more content attributes (such as “dating,” “Disney,” “Led Zeppelin,” or “Red Sox”) with its display screen. The system then automatically obtains contents based on the attribute(s) and displays the contents on the screen. Patrons with mobile telephones or web-based users may send text messages for display on the screen or play interactive games displayed on the screen, as described in the incorporated patent application. However, even absent such activity, the disclosed systems and methods populate the screen with potentially ever-changing contents, thereby keeping the screen “fresh” and avoiding a situation known as the “ghost town” effect. The system may obtain the contents to be displayed from a variety of sources. For example, Twitter messages (“Tweets”) that contain or are otherwise associated (such as via “hashtags”) with a content attribute of a screen may be displayed. | 03-11-2010 |
