Relocating GIS Processing to Set-Top Boxes for Location Display
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing location content systems are expensive, difficult to use, and require significant equipment integration by service providers, limiting their ability to work with multiple service providers and assets without burdening them with GIS systems, and are not compatible with digital television systems.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that allows location information about an object or asset to be relayed from a mobile device to a location content provider, which formats and transmits the information to various service providers, enabling display on customer devices without the need for service providers to integrate GIS systems or operate AVL systems, and supports multiple service providers and assets.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a location content system is implemented using traditional GIS integration methods, then location tracking functionality is achieved, but device complexity and cost increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the GIS system requirement from the service provider's infrastructure and relocates it to the customer premises equipment. Specifically, the set-top box or personal computer at the customer's location performs the GIS processing and map display functions, while the service provider only needs to transmit the location data. This extraction eliminates the need for the service provider to integrate and maintain complex GIS systems, resolving the contradiction between achieving location tracking functionality and reducing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary component - the customer's set-top box or personal computer - that acts as a mediator between the service provider's simple data transmission system and the complex GIS processing requirements. This intermediary handles the computationally intensive tasks of processing location coordinates, retrieving map data, and generating visual displays, allowing the service provider to maintain a simple system architecture while still delivering full location tracking functionality.
2Adaptability or versatility
If service providers integrate GIS systems into their infrastructure, then location information can be processed and displayed, but the burden and cost on service providers increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by enabling the customer's own equipment (set-top box or personal computer) to perform the GIS processing functions. The customer premises equipment automatically retrieves location data from the service provider, processes the coordinates through integrated GIS software, accesses map databases, and generates the visual display without requiring any GIS integration or maintenance by the service provider. This shifts the service burden from the service provider to the customer's self-sufficient equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the location tracking system into two distinct functional parts: (1) the service provider's simple data collection and transmission function, and (2) the customer's equipment handling GIS processing, map display, and user interface functions. This segmentation allows the service provider to avoid the complexity of GIS integration entirely, while the customer's equipment independently handles all processing requirements, thus resolving the contradiction between adaptability and ease of manufacture.
3Illumination intensity
If frame overlay method is used to display location information on cable television, then visual representation is achieved, but compatibility with digital television systems is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fundamental parameter of how location information is transmitted and displayed by transitioning from analog frame overlay to digital data transmission. Instead of superimposing visual frames on television signals, the system transmits location coordinates as digital data that can be processed by digital television set-top boxes or personal computers. The display is then generated as a digital graphic interface on the screen, maintaining visual representation while ensuring compatibility with digital television systems through standard digital data protocols and interfaces.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a method and system to display information about an object. The system includes a mobile device to relay information about an object to a location content provider. The location content provider formats the information into a visual representation and transmits the information to one or more digital television provides. One or more of the digital television provides can forward the information to a recipient to display on the recipient's television.