CORDIS provides links to public deliverables and publications of HORIZON projects.
Links to deliverables and publications from FP7 projects, as well as links to some specific result types such as dataset and software, are dynamically retrieved from OpenAIRE .
Deliverables
- Expected ad perception: affinity;
- Mobile network operator-centric;
- User owner: retailer;
-Incentives for the user: guaranteed minimum discount and coupons from retailer;
- Source of payment: user;
- Target group: shoppers;
- Revenue stream: user - retailer - mobile network operator - content supplier;
The user is a customer of the retailer and as such he is subscribed to a service which is liable to pay, e.g. through quarterly payments to the retailer. The users benefit is a guaranteed minimum discount on all or at least selected items of the retailer, thus the subscription fee has to equal some sort of monetary compensation if the users should be convinced. Additionally, the users may get coupons on special products as well.
Although the user is subscribed to a mobile network operator, his relationship in respect to LBA is solely referred to the retailer.
The actual LBA service, however, is provided by the mobile network operator. Thus, the retailer has to pay the operator for the usage of its service. This will most likely be based on the number of the retailers subscribers, the number of messages sent or simply through a fixed basic fee. The costs for this pull service is fully covered by the retailer, i.e. the users do not have to pay anything but the subscription fee (flat rate).
Application developers, middleware providers and location technology vendors receive one-off payments from the mobile operator whereas the content supplier participates in the persistent revenue stream. In the case that the mobile operator might not be able to handle all tasks itself, an alternative approach could consist of the outsourcing of subtasks to a mobile advertising agency, e.g. the creative work. It is also possible to consult the mobile advertising agency as an expert due to their experienced gained within this field. The provision of know-how by the agencies is already a quite often encountered approach nowadays. This scenario describes a case typically for big shopping chains with a well-known label and a high customer base, e.g. Karstadt in Germany, Galeries Lafayette in France or Sears in the USA. Otherwise the costs for the implementation of LBA would be to high and hence not reasonable for small stores. Besides, a small shop on its own is just not able to make offers which are appealing enough to convince the users. It can however increase its attractiveness by establishing a partnership with other shops.
The big disadvantage of this business model consists in its operator-centric construction. The most dominant actor can shape the development path of LBA, always solely focusing on his own interest, and therefore not necessarily for the sake of LBA itself. The mobile network operator is expected to inhibit any possible entrance of players that might endanger its position and force it to cede some of its LBA market share. However, it is questionable if the mobile operator is able to tackle all tasks alone, especially as LBA does not belong to the core business and it barely has any experience on this field. Furthermore does the direct customer management of every single retailer seem to be exceeding the resources of the mobile network operator. Apart from that this model only applies to LBA within the same mobile communication network. It seem to be infeasible to exploit LBA independently from the specific network because no operator will share the access to sensitive information of its own customers with any competitor. Without the interoperability, however, the development and growth of LBA will be dampened.
- Expected ad perception: affinity;
- Local system operator-centric;
- Local system operator is not the retailer but rather an entity with multiple local systems;
- Great diversification of advertisement;
- Existing or quick build up of a critical mass exceeding user database;
- User owner: local system operator;
- Incentives for the user: informative advertisement and coupons from retailer, as well as free information subscription and possible discount from mobile operator;
- Source of payment: retailer;
- User grants opt-in and personal data;
- Target group: shoppers;
- Revenue stream: retailer - local system operator - content supplier.
In this case the local system operator is not the retailer, instead, it can either be the owner of the facility where the retailer is located or another entity with nationwide presence, e.g. a telco or mobile network operator that wants to expand its WLAN product portfolio. The role of the retailer consists in the provision of sales content for which it receives a one-off payment at the beginning as an incentive to participate. At the same time it has to share every single sale with the operator of the local system whenever a purchase has been triggered by an LBA message. A prerequisite to make this model work is the ability to distinguish whether a customers purchase is based on such an advertising message or not. A possible approach to solve this problem is to send coupons with bar codes to the users, which grant a discount upon redemption at the cashier.
The customer relationship is managed by the local system operator. Mobile operators have a big advantage as they have a high number of subscribers and therefore a huge potential user base. To reduce its dependency on relevant sales content the local system operator can also buy additional content which might be useful and interesting for the users. This has a positive impact on the perception of LBA, as the touch of being solely an advertisement channel is shifting to being an information channel. Thus, the customer is more likely to opt-in for advertisement on their mobile device and to provide personal data for profiling. The user can benefit from this LBA approach in two different ways. First, he receives interesting sale offerings from the shops he likes (through his profile), and second, he can additionally benefit from useful information, which the local system operator has purchased from the content provider. In case the mobile operator is the operator of the local system, the user can even get monetary incentives like discounted monthly fee or free call minutes.
The advantage of this scenario compared to (LS-Private-Push-I) is the quick establishment of a large user database. Hence, this approach is also interesting for smaller shops whose customer base is too small for the deployment of LBA on their own. With every participating shop the local system operator enriches its portfolio and therefore makes this service more attractive to the user who is able to choose between a wide range of different product ads.
The intent of this Bluetooth application is to allow easy recognition of individual users while they pass by. This capability then can be exploited to push personalized messages to the potential customers, as advertisements or other desired information. For a broad user-acceptance of this emerging technology, one of the most important requirements is to make it convenient for the user to take advantage of it, hence the message reception on a personalized basis must be as transparent as possible, which in turn requires the seamless integration of the described Bluetooth scenario.
Millions of Europeans always carry their cell phone with them when they walk through the city, a shopping center or on their way to the bus station. Virtually every citizen in urban Europe owns a cell phone, which he never gives out of his hands. To realize the frictionless identification of the moving individual the Bluetooth (BT) capability of exactly these omnipresent cell phones is exploited.
Beside this "client side requirement" (i.e. the presence of a Bluetooth capable cell-phone) an additional Bluetooth device is needed in conjunction with the host computer, containing the recognition- and identification-algorithms and the additional business logic. This could be a notebook with built-in Bluetooth capabilities, or a computer with a supplementary BT hardware module. Here an external Bluetooth dongle (class 1) is used, that is connected to the notebook hosting the application via the USB port.
Apart from the systematical scan of the neighborhood for other Bluetooth modules (Note: This must not necessarily be always a cell phone, since many PDAs and even some other devices take advantage of the versatile networking capabilities of this technology), the application has the ability to create a network connection to a remote machine (for example an external database) in order to compare the discovered Bluetooth device with the stored profiles.
The identification can be done either by using the device-specific Bluetooth-ID or the personalizable user-name. The device dependant ID is comparable to the inimitable MAC address of common network adapters, which is assigned by the manufacturer during factory initialization and cannot be altered by the user.
The user name in contrast can be altered by the user freely within certain restrictions (i.e. name length and allowed characters).
The second method (recognition by user name) offers the possibility to use the same name even if the user changes the device. This might be interesting since the life-cycle of these products often does not exceed 2 years, and therefore might be shorter than the expected (or desired) business relation. The underbelly is the fact that another user could assign the same username to his device, too. In this case this collision would not only force one of the users to change his device name, which could negatively influence other applications he uses with this device, but also allow a fraudulent user to steal another¿s person¿s identity.
Therefore the preferred solution is to use the unique ID and accept the minimal loss of convenience during registration (the user currently cannot read out the devices BT ID without additional equipment autonomously) and re-registration (when the user changes his cell-phone), considering the remarkable gain of security.
Depending on the local circumstances (as wall thickness) the coverage of the Bluetooth signals could differ. To deliver satisfying results the distance between the two involved stations should not exceed 15 to 20 meters.
To integrate the device into the application the set-up installation utilized a third party implementation of the protocol stack, which offered the possibility to access the BT module from a Java application in a Windows environment.
- Expected ad perception: affinity;
- Local system operator-centric;
- Local system operator is operator of public transport systems;
- Retailers are stores along a route;
- Content is very important;
- User owner: local system operator;
- Incentives for the user: information and entertainment;
- Source of payment: retailer;
- Target group: passengers;
- Revenue stream: retailer - local system operator - content supplier;
- Typical application: infotainment system in public transport systems;
- Advertisement approach at a perfect situation (time and space).
This scenario is applicable to the operator of a public transport system as the local system operator of LBA. A retailer is typically a store along a transport route whose advertisement is shown whenever the metro or the tram reaches its vicinity, giving the passenger the chance to get off at the next station.
Being the centre of this model the public transport system offers retailers the possibility to do LBA within what is called an infotainment system, i.e. a system that does not solely display advertisement but also usable and interesting information to the passenger (e.g. news, upcoming events). In order to establish such a system, high quality content is required, and therefore purchased by the local system operator. As a decisive link, the content supplier participates in the persistent revenue flow. The operator also has to purchase monitors to display the advertisement, applications to run on the displays, and a middleware to match the commercial content to the transport network. Sometimes the required monitors do not have to be purchased solely for the purpose of LBA but are built in already. In some cases an advertising agency might be involved as well, either employed by the local system operator or, more likely, directly by the retailer. Advertising agencies are basically traditional advertisement firms who primarily do the creative work. They are not necessarily an essential part of this model in respect to its location-based nature.
This kind of LBA approach is expected to reach a high acceptance status by the passengers based on the fact that it is perceived as an information channel rather than an advertisement channel. It is considered as an expansion of service offered by the public transport system. It is very effective in terms of delivering ads within a time frame in which the passenger is bored and pleased to be entertained. Besides that, public transport systems, like trams, are usually passing urban areas with a high density of stores, such as the city centre. It can be assumed that a high stake of the people that take the tram to the city centre is about to go for shopping. Thus, LBA is exposed to them at a time when they are most likely to consume and spend money anyway.
Although this scenario is a typical transport system scenario, it can also apply to fixed wide screens, which are mostly implemented at crowded spots in big cities, e.g. the Time Square in New York or Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. These screens can show commercials of proximate stores. Their location sensitivity, however, only refers to a very limited area, and thus their attractiveness based on the small number of possible advertisers is very low. In this case LBA is associated with its definition in the wider sense.
The software on the mobile device receives e.g. via bluetooth the GPS coordinates from the GPS receiver. After the start of the application, the user has got the possibility to enter his login data and password. Every user receives his personal login data after a registration on myYellowMap on http://www.yellowmap.de. The x- and y-coordinates of the users current position are delivered to an interface, which was provided by YellowMap, too.
In between this interface, the authentification of the user takes place. If the login process was correct, the mobile device gets the status OK and he user is forwarded to the title page of the application. In the other case, the status FAIL is sent back and the user is asked to re-enter his login data.
In addition, the GPS data are checked according to their correctness and are written into the ELBA-database. Wrong coordinates (e.g. 0 or not available) are not stored in the database. In the last case, the application uses the users last known coordinates. The coordinates are updatet every 20 seconds after the first login of the user.
On one of our test devices, the Compaq Ipaq, the possibility to store session variables is given. For this device, it is not needed to get new coordinates using the database. The current coordinates can be stored in the session storage after a correct login and can be gained back from there if needed.
After a successful authentification and start of the ELBA-titlepage the user can start the YellowMap-services with exact coordinates. To be able to use this service, the checkbox location detection has to be activated. If the checkbox is activated, the current stored coordinates, either out of the database or out of the devices internal storage, are used. Before the search begins, the Mercator-coordinates sent by GPS have to be transformed into a superconform coordinate system used by YellowMap. Afterwards the correct search can be started.
The biggest amount of content is transmitted over night. As content containing graphic or video files is of a large size, a high-performance technology is needed. We choose the WLAN-technology for the main updates on a regular basis, which should take, place overnight when the light train is parked in the depot.
But during the day there are maybe some small updates necessary, when e.g. some remaining tickets for a theatre at the evening should be presented for a special price or the latest news have to be displayed. Also current special offers and changes in the train schedule which cannot be planned in advance should be shown as quick as possible in the trains. To avoid delays (mostly it is not at all possible to wait a whole day and to upload new content overnight only), a solution for content upload during the day was found in the GPRS technology.
Because of the much lower bandwith of GPRS compared to WLAN, only small updates should be performed through a GPRS network. The train polled each 15 minutes for content. The upload was realized with FTP. The content was stored in a special folder for small updates. This folder also contained an updated schedule.
How was the connection realized?
A GPRS cellular phone was attached to the serial port of the Linux based On Board
Computer, which was part of the Infotainment System in the train.
The phone we used worked as a simple modem, the connectivity to the GPRS bearer was established via internal commands (modem AT commands). The internal commands were processed by Linux shell scripts.
These shell scripts called the internal PPPD (Point-Point-Protocol-Daemon) program to establish the GPRS connection.
Most Linux OS versions have such a kind of PPPD program. It is a standard network feature of the operating system.
All scripts were started automatically, so there was a possiblity to get the data during the night as well. No manual intrusion was necessary.
If the scripts were successfully started, the GPRS connection was available. If the scripts were not started successfully an error message occured (eg. No Carrier!).
Important to know is that the GPRS environment does not allow to hold the line if the driving speed is too high. So in this case the data transfer will be corrupt or not possible at all.
The GPRS application (e.g. the download application) should provide an interface (piece of code) which guarantees an excellent data transfer (e.g. packet error detection). The error detection is necessary to get a data transfer with good quality in e.g. tunnels or after a cell hand-over.
- Expected ad perception: affinity;
- Balance of power between local system operator and advertising agency;
- Local system operator is operator of public transport systems Retailers are stores along a route;
- Content is very important;
- User owner: local system operator;
- Incentives for the user: information and entertainment;
- Source of payment: retailer;
- Target group: passengers;
- Revenue stream: retailer - local system operator - advertising agency - content supplier;
- Typical application: infotainment system in public transport systems;
- Advertisement approach at a perfect situation (time and space).
This scenario is applicable to the operator of a public transport system as the local system operator of LBA. A retailer is typically a shop or a store along a transport route whose advertisement is shown whenever the metro or the tram reaches its vicinity, giving the passenger the chance to get off at the next station to reach it.
This model has two main players: the local system operator and the advertising agency. The operator provides the technical background for LBA in transport systems as well as the facility itself. The advertising agency does not necessarily have to be an advertisement firm, but it is rather an entity that offers LBA as a service, for instance, a company specialised on providing LBA for public transport systems. It therefore receives payments from the public transport system, which again gets paid by the retailer. Alternatively, the retailer pays the advertising agency, which then again pays the public transport system.
With the possibility to do LBA in a public transport system, the retailer has a chance to promote his products and services within what is called an infotainment system, i.e. a system that does not solely display advertisement but also usable and interesting information to the passenger (e.g. news, latest events). In order to establish such a system, high quality content is required. As a decisive link, the content supplier participates in the persistent revenue flow. Additionally monitors to display the advertisement, applications to run on the displays, and a middleware to match the commercial content to the transport network have to be purchased through one-off payments. Sometimes the required monitors do not have to be purchased solely for the purpose of LBA but are built-in already.
This kind of LBA approach is expected to reach a high acceptance status by the passengers based on the fact that it is perceived as an information channel rather than an advertisement channel. It is considered as an expansion of service offered by the public transport system. It is very effective in terms of delivering ads within a time frame in which the passenger is bored and pleased to be entertained. Besides that, public transport systems, like trams, are usually passing urban areas with a high density of stores, such as the city centre. It can be assumed that a high stake of the people that take the tram to the city centre is about to go for shopping. Thus, LBA is exposed to them at a time when they are most likely to consume and spend money anyway.
Although this scenario is a typical transport system scenario, it can also apply to fixed wide screens, which are mostly implemented at crowded spots in big cities, e.g. the Time Square in New York or Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. These screens can show commercials of proximate stores. Their location sensitivity, however, only refers to a very limited area, and thus their attractiveness based on the small number of possible advertisers is very low. In this case LBA is associated with its definition in the wider sense.
- Expected ad perception: affinity;
- Balance of power between mobile network operator and mobile advertising agency;
- User owner: retailer;
- Incentives for the user: guaranteed minimum discount and coupons from retailer;
- Source of payment: user;
- Revenue stream: user retailer - mobile advertising agency - mobile network operator + content supplier;
Being the establisher of the customer relationship to the users, the retailer receives payments from its subscribed customers through subscription fees, such as quarterly or annual payments. In return the users can benefit from a guaranteed minimum discount on all or at least selected items of the retailer. Additionally, the users may get coupons on special products as well. The basic idea behind this approach is to convince the users by giving them some sort of monetary compensation to equal their subscription fee. The costs for this pull service are fully covered by the retailer, i.e. the users do not have to pay anything but the subscription fee (flat rate).
Although the user is subscribed to a mobile network operator, his relationship in respect to LBA is solely referred to the retailer which, however, has to acquire the actual LBA service by itself, either from a mobile advertising agency or directly from the mobile network operator. The costs will most likely be based on the number of the retailers subscribers, the number of messages sent or simply through a fixed basic fee.
LBA is offered by two entities together. The mobile network operator is providing the technology whereas the mobile advertising agency is responsible for applications and content. For the retailer the service provider can either be the mobile network provider who again subcontracts the mobile advertising agency, or the mobile advertising agency with the mobile operator as subcontractor. In both cases all three entities participate in the persistent revenue stream.
The involvement of a mobile advertising agency holds the advantage in having an expert in the field of Mobile Marketing that is able to handle all the retailer requests. Due to the mobile operators limited resources the direct customer management of every single retailer is just not possible. Apart from that, LBA would only be deployed within the same mobile communication network. A retailer cannot be expected to pay all operators on the market just to make sure that all of its customers have access to this service. The exploitation of LBA independently from the specific network, however, seems to be infeasible because no operator will share the access to sensitive information of its own customers with any competitor. Without the interoperability, however, the development and growth of LBA will be dampened, the attractiveness of it as a advertising channel reduced, and the retailers might challenge its effectiveness.
This scenario describes a case typically for big shopping chains with a well-known label and a high customer base, e.g. Karstadt in Germany, Galeries Lafayette in France or Sears in the USA. Otherwise the costs for the implementation of LBA would be to high and hence not reasonable for small stores. Besides, a small shop on its own is just not able to make offers, which are appealing enough to convince the users. It can however increase its attractiveness by establishing a partnership with other shops.
In Europe, the controlling of the passenger information system inside a vehicle, busses and (light) trains, is generally done by an On Board Computer (OBC). This OBC can be a Man Machine Interface (MMI) also. In this case the OBC is placed near to the driver.
Init GmbH, a subcontractor of LLE®-MARK IV Industries GmbH, had equipped Karlsruhes light trains independently from the ELBA-project with their On Board Computer system called "copilot", which is a family of vehicle logic units (VLU) and mobile data terminals (MDT), long before our project started. Copilot has been developed according to a modular hardware and software concept. More information regarding the init-OBC copilot can be found at http://www.initka.de/de_produkte/m_copilot_e.php
The first copilot generations were developed and produced in accordance with the strict and comprehensive standards of the German VDV (Verband Deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen = German Federation of Public Transit Operators; equivalent to APTA or CUTA) and extended with various highly sophisticated functions and features.
Copilot is an intelligent unit acting as the interface to both the vehicle electronics and the on-board radio communication system. It is also the man-machine interface to the vehicle operator. The unit is equipped with a display and a very convenient keyboard.
Odometer Interface
For calculation of the current position of the vehicle, the copilot has an odometer interface. When the vehicle is in motion, the odometer delivers signals, which are counted by the copilot. This interface requires an existing output signal from the odometer sensor of the vehicle. This has to be a rectangle signal with the following characteristics:
The complete route information data, all stops and the distance between these stops in meters, are stored inside the OBC. The OBC is analysing external odometer signals (4 times 24V-signals per meter). The internal Meter-Counter is synchronized at the beginning of a route and whenever the light train leaves a stop. Therefore the OBC knows the position inside the route or between two stops exactly at any time.
Both systems, OBC and Infotainment System, are connected by the vehicle data bus, which is called IBIS (Integrated Board Information System). Beside the standard IBIS-telegrams concerning route information data (line-number, destination-number, route-number, next stop-number, all stops of a route, time, date, a. o.) in the case of E-LBA new IBIS-telegrams were defined and realized. These new LBA-telegrams include distance- and status- (e.g. door open or closed) information between two stops.
This method for the determination of the train's current position is used to determine when a certain advertisement is to be shown in the light train's infotainment system. As described before, every advertisement should be displayed immediately before the train approaches the station, which is closest to the related shop. To reach this, the evaluation of the light train's wheel signals is the perfect method to know exactly the relative position of the train.
- Expected ad perception: affinity;
- Mobile network operator-centric;
- User owner: mobile network operator;
- Incentives: LBA as part of service;
- Source of payment: user and retailer;
- Target group: tourists;
- Revenue stream: user + retailer - mobile network operator - content supplier
- Typical applications: tourist guide, find-the-nearest.
In this mobile network operator-centric model the mobile operator is the sole linkage between all players, in particular it is the mediator between the two ends of the value chain. Therefore it receives payments from both the user as well as the retailer.
LBA as part of a pull service, e.g. POI requests, is liable to pay by the user on the one side, and from the retailer who uses this advertisement medium on the other side. As LBA is based on the users subscription to the mobile operator, the big advantage lies in the established billing relationship between the two entities. This is a decisive criteria for LBS as it enables the charge of so-called micro payments, i.e. payments with a very low monetary value. Application developers, middleware providers and location technology vendors receive one-off payments from the mobile operator whereas the content supplier as an integral part participates in the persistent revenue stream. The role of the content supplier is a very significant one due to the fact that the user normally subscribes to a service based on its appealing content.
It is also imaginable to a have an additional entity between user and mobile network operator, such as a travel agency. In this case the service is primarily focusing on tourists as users. The tourist then is not directly subscribed to the mobile operator but to the travel agency, which acts as the service provider, i.e. through leasing of the appropriate mobile handset or just the SIM card. A similar case that has been put into practice is the (http://www.mtoguide.org) m-ToGuide project by the Information Society Technologies (IST) Fifth Framework Programme of the European Commission.
Another typical application refers to one of the most popular Location Based Services which is known under the service label find-the-nearest. LBA can be combined with this service, thus to obtain a more appealing appearance.
The big disadvantage of this business model consists in its operator-centric construction. The most dominant actor can shape the development path of LBA, always solely focusing on his own interest, and therefore not necessarily for the sake of LBA itself. The mobile network operator is expected to inhibit any possible entrance of players that might endanger its position and force it to cede some of its LBA market share.
However, it is questionable if the mobile operator is able to tackle all tasks alone, especially as LBA does not belong to the core business and it barely has any experience on this field. Furthermore does the direct customer management of every single retailer seem to be exceeding the resources of the mobile network operator. Apart from that this model only applies to LBA within the same mobile communication network. It seem to be infeasible to exploit LBA independently from the specific network because no operator will share the access to sensitive information of its own customers with any competitor. Without the interoperability, however, the development and growth of LBA will be dampened.
Our vision was like the following: When a public transport system passes a sports shop, on the display of the high resolution screen special offers and saving of the sports shop should be displayed in exactly this moment- At the next exit the passengers should have the chance to get out of the public transport system and go to the interesting shop.
The biggest problem that had to be solved before this vision could come true was: How does the infotainment system know where the train is at the moment and what commercial to display?
The on board computer (OBC) of the light train sends via the IBIS data bus various signals and data. The OBC controls the screen with the passenger information as well as the screen with the advertisement data. All relevant information is transmitted to both screens.
The relevant information is:
- Distance in meter from the last station;
- The number of the next station (station list is embedded in the infotainment system);
- Signals like �door open�, �button stop pressed�.
With this information the software on the infotainment system always knows the exact position of the train and the direction it is going to and can decide which ad to display depending on the schedule and the content that has been transmitted.
To realize this functionality, the following basic measurements had to be taken:
- Interface definition and between Infotainment system and on board computer;
- Hardware development of the Infotainment system;
- Software adaptation for the Infotainment system;
- Hardware/Software adaptation on board computer for controlling the IS and sending the meter signal.
The onboard computer system is installed in every light train and controls the route the train is going. As soon as LLE®-MARK IV Industries GmbH got the final approval of the transport authority VBK in Karlsruhe to install an Infotainment System inside a light train during December 2002, final agreements were done with the subcontractor-company init GmbH, who equipped the light trains with their On Board Computer �Copilot� in the past.
Both systems, On Board Computer and Infotainment System, are connected by the vehicle data bus IBIS (Integrated Board Information System). For the LBA-function an additional communication between both devices was realized, to transmit positioning and status information of the vehicle.
How is this done? As mentioned above, the OBC always knows the next station of the train. It also knows the direction the train is going to, the next station and the distance between the two stations. When the train approaches at one station, the computed position is synchronized with the real position (the OBC knows the exact location of any station, of course). Leaving the station, by evaluating the signals from the wheels of the train the distance covered since the station was left is permanently measured with highest exactness. So the OBC does not only know the next station, it exactly knows how many metres the train has been going since the last station has been left and can deliver this information to the IS system of the train. Whenever the train approaches at the next station, the computed position and the exact known position are synchronized, so errors in the location determination are reduced to a minimum of only some metres.
To know the exact location of the train is indispensable to be able to display real location based advertising. The position computed by the OBC is compared with the position of the shops, which are stored in the database of the Infotainment system. If ads for shops in the surrounding of the light train are available, they can be displayed exactly in this moment when the train is passing this shop.
Using our technology, real location based advertising is enabled as the permanent determination of the light train�s position can be computed to be used to display ads only when the train is passing the relevant shops.
- Expected ad perception: affinity;
- Advertising agency sells LBA service as a one-off product package;
- Local system operator is operator of public transport systems;
- Retailers are stores along a route;
- Content is very important;
- User owner: local system operator;
- Incentives for the user: information and entertainment;
- Source of payment: retailer;
- Target group: passengers;
- Revenue stream: retailer - local system operator - content supplier;
- Typical application: infotainment system in public transport systems;
- Advertisement approach at a perfect situation (time and space).
This scenario is applicable to the operator of a public transport system as the local system operator of LBA. A retailer is typically a shop or a store along a transport route whose advertisement is shown whenever the metro or the tram reaches its vicinity, giving the passenger the chance to get off at the next station to reach it.
The advertising agency does not necessarily have to be an advertisement firm, but it is rather a company specialised on providing LBA for public transport systems as a solution out of one hand, i.e. hardware and software. This enables interested transport systems to quickly implement an infotainment system with integrated LBA possibilities. Once the transport system has acquired that solution as a one-off payment, the only thing it additionally needs to run the solution is content. As a decisive link, the content supplier participates in the persistent revenue flow.
With the possibility to do LBA in a public transport system, the retailer has a chance to promote his products and services within what is called an infotainment system, i.e. a system that does not solely display advertisement but also usable and interesting information to the passenger (e.g. news, latest events). This kind of LBA approach is expected to reach a high acceptance status by the passengers based on the fact that it is perceived as an information channel rather than an advertisement channel. It is considered as an expansion of service offered by the public transport system. It is very effective in terms of delivering ads within a time frame in which the passenger is bored and pleased to be entertained. Besides that, public transport systems, like trams, are usually passing urban areas with a high density of stores, such as the city centre. It can be assumed that a high stake of the people that take the tram to the city centre is about to go for shopping. Thus, LBA is exposed to them at a time when they are most likely to consume and spend money anyway.
Although this scenario is a typical transport system scenario, it can also apply to fixed wide screens, which are mostly implemented at crowded spots in big cities, e.g. the Time Square in New York or Causeway Bay in Hong Kong. These screens can show commercials of proximate stores. Their location sensitivity, however, only refers to a very limited area, and thus their attractiveness based on the small number of possible advertisers is very low. In this case LBA is associated with its definition in the wider sense.
Due to the facts, that Location Based Advertising (LBA) in combination with high resolution TFT-LCD screens requires big data (pictures as well as movies) and a data update of the mobile system inside the light train should be done by an automatic mechanism, the technical partners decided to use WLAN for data transmission. In general the transmission mode is limited for 300m in average.
In the past init GmbH, who is subcontractor of LLE®-MARK IV Industries, equipped the light trains of the transport authority VBK of Karlsruhe with On Board Computers (OBCs), which are also very important for the function of this use case. Therefore the WLAN system was planned and delivered by init GmbH.
Because of the data volume the update had to be done during night at the light train depot, where the vehicle is available for several hours. There are two depots in Karlsruhe. To guarantee, that each night an update can be done, the technical project partners decided to install a WLAN system in both depots.
The company YellowMap AG is responsible for the content (LBA, city information, route information and news), available by FTP-Server.
During May 2003 the transport authority VBK of Karlsruhe installed a LAN-System inside the city by optical waveguide. Several locations, also both light train depots, are linked to this LAN-System. Because of this installation both WLAN servers, one located in each depot, can be updated by internet and its Ethernet-connection.
Afterwards the content (LBA, city information and route information) is stored on the harddisk of the WLAN server. It is also possible to do an update by CD-ROM at the WLAN server manually.
In each depot a stationary antenna was fixed near to the parking position of the light trains. This antenna was connected via the WLAN access point to the WLAN server, which is still in function all the time. Inside the light train a WLAN client is connected by Ethernet to the CPU-Board of the Infotainment System, which displays LBA and other information on the right hand TFT-LCD screen. On the top of the light train the transport authority VBK installed a mobile antenna, which is connected to the WLAN client.
As soon as the light train is in the receiving range of the WLAN system (when entering the depot), the mobile system connects to the WLAN server automatically and downloads actual data to the mobile harddisk of the Infotainment System.
The necessary content preparation and data exchange is done by smart agents.
Agent 1
This first agent is active inside the light train and checks regularly when the train is entering the depot, where the train will be parked over night. If the agent realizes, that it is in the reception area of the WLAN installation, it will initiate the connection to the content server via WLAN and will download the actual content and the schedule data to the mass storage of the mobile system.
Since the light trains inside the depot are connected to power supply continuously, the agent does not have to manage the current supply for all download users for the duration of the content transfer over night.
Agent 2
The second agent controls and generates the schedule of the content presentation in the train for the next day. This agent is responsible for the administration of the content files in the track folder and generates the new schedule, so that the content of the folder can be uploaded on the train anytime. The agent generates the new schedule immediately after the user clicks on the button "save" in the Content Management System. The agent also copies the pictures file for the new advertisement from the general upload folder (i.e. "picsAllgemein") in the specific track folder (i.e. "picsLinie6"), so the train can download the content in the next update cycle.
The big update over night is initialised by the train. The whole content in the actual folder of the day is transmitted to the train. With this update the whole data including the schedule is transmitted to the train and can be displayed during the following day.
Context of the trial: The user shall be provided with personalized messages informing him about appropriate places/opportunities whilst roaming in the city. The user has been actively or passively located and messages containing content following his personal profile are being sent, the user is routed then to the place of his interest.
Localisation via cell-id was used for active and passive localisation of customers. The implementation has been done by using the 3rd party - interface of a mobile network operator in France. In case of passive localisation in addition Openwaves "Location Studio" was implemented to consider the privacy settings of the customer (see separate description). No major problems occurred during the technical implementation and execution of this trial. One of the challenges raised whilst implementing the applications for passive localisation was related especially to the handling of the geo-coordinates. But it could been solved without major problems.
The main conclusion of the first trial was that the mobile network cell-id-technology for positioning at the city where the trial took place was not accurate enough for a pedestrian routing to the requested destinations.
Thus, for the second trial the positioning via GPS was implemented in addition (see separate destription)as a stand alone - solution. The positioning via GPS in our case was used completely separate and in addition to the possibility to be localized by the mobile network and gave us the possibility of a much more accurate positioning of a pedestrian user (about 10m).
However, the combination of the positioning by using mobile network cell-id technology and GPS fits perfect into the picture of the roadmap of most of the mobile network operators concerning their positioning technology strategy. Network operators plan to launch a so called Assisted GPS solution. Assisted GPS is a combined solution of the classical positioning in mobile networks and the positioning via GPS. A-GPS (Assisted GPS) will allow a much more accurate positioning of the user then it is possible in mobile networks today and will increase the possibilities of mobile service offers, e.g. to pedestrians. A-GPS requires mobile network and mobile terminal support and is planned to be launched in the first mobile networks in 2004.
- Expected ad perception: affinity;
- Local system operator-centric;
- Retailer is likely to be the local system operator;
- Diversification of advertisement is limited to the product portfolio of local system operator;
- User owner: retailer;
- Incentives for the user: informative advertisement, discounts and coupons from retailer;
- Source of payment: retailer;
- User grants opt-in and personal data;
- Target group: shoppers;
- Especially interesting for large shopping malls or big brand store chains, as well as city centres;
- Revenue stream: retailer - local system operator - content supplier.
This scenario is typical for the exploitation of LBA in big shopping centres and well-known department store chains or at other highly frequented shopping areas like the city centre. It is very likely that the customers are hard to convince at launch as they are reluctant to accept ads on their mobile devices. Hence, the retailer has to make really appealing offers to its customers in order to convince them, e.g. high discount on selected items. LBA is to be promoted as a service that keeps the customer up-to-date about the latest articles and special sales and avoid the perception of it as being solely an additional marketing channel. It is obviously easier for well-known stores to convince their customers to register to the LBA service than less known shops. This is based on the brand awareness of the shop and the high level of reliability associated with it. Furthermore, this service is more appealing if it is applicable to more than just one location. This business case is comparable to that of the storecards that have been offered by an increasing number of chains, e.g. Karstadt, Breuninger, Kaufhof etc. in Germany. If the retailer succeeds in convincing the customers, it will, in return, receive precious information about their habits, their likes and dislikes and other relevant data that enables a tailored advertisement approach, which eventually, means to reduce ineffective advertisement costs and increase sales at the same time. It is expected that the customers will not pay for this service but just provide their personal data at the utmost.
Since the two main goals of a merchant has always been to fully understand the customers needs and based on that to retain them, LBA offers a new opportunity to achieve those goals through establishing a customer profile pool which makes it easier for the retailer to retain customers by serving their needs.
The underlying technology is very likely to be WLAN, possibly in combination with Bluetooth, and is provided by the local system operator with the purchase of the required elements middleware, application and content, in case additional content is needed. The most valuable content, however, remains the information offered by the retailer, like information about new items in stock or special offerings combined with coupons. The operator of a local system can either be the owner of the facility in which multiple shops are located or a single store itself if it is big enough to run it profitably.
Although big stores have the best chances to exploit this business case, it is also possible for small shops to successfully participate in the long run, especially with decreasing WLAN prices. However, small shops should join a strategic network in order to reach a critical mass of users and to be attractive enough for the customers.
The system architecture consists of a mobile client (PDA/smart phone plus a GPS receiver) and the YellowMap server. An application Elba GPS was implemented for each of the mobile clients (PocketPC iPAQ, Nokia 3650, Sony Ericsson P800) to intermediate between the client and the server. In a multitasking fashion, this application serves twofold: on one hand, to poll the mobile position of the user from the GPS receiver and to send it per GPRS over a TCP/IP socket connection to the server; and on the other hand, to run the browser application, which allows the users to interactively exploit the ELBA services. The technical challenge is how to communicate the X/Y coordinates to the server such that as few as possible GPRS traffic and hence costs occur. Two solutions were chosen for the Elba GPS application. For the Symbian devices (Nokia 3650 and Sony Ericsson P800), the user has to log first in the ELBA system from the Elba GPS application. A username and password were a priori created in myYellowMap and assigned to the user. By logging, the username and password are first validated by the server. When the user was correctly identified, it can further proceed.
Further on, the user is asked whether she/he would like to track her/his mobile position by the means of a GPS receiver. If yes, the user is automatically led to a list of available devices found in the Bluetooth neighbourhood, from which the GPS receiver should be chosen. Once selected, the connection to the GPS device is triggered. In the background, the task, which periodically polls the coordinates and sends them to the server, is started. In the foreground, the browser with the ELBA URL is started. Once the user was identified, any sending of the GPS coordinates from the Elba GPS client application are correspondingly stored on the server s.t. it can enable the location-based services for that user. More precisely, when the user actively checks this option in the browser, any further queries of the user are made based on the last transmitted coordinates from the client. An address with zip code, town, streetname, housenumber is thus no longer needed.
The advantage of this method is that the user is permanently identifiable, such that further advertisements in push manner or personalization activities are easily feasible. The drawback of the method is that there is periodically GPRS traffic between client and server. However, the user has the option of switching any time between tracking and non-tracking mode, in order to reduce the traffic and its costs.
A less expensive solution was implemented for the PocketPC iPAQ device. The user is identified first when entering ELBA in the browser and the GPS coordinates are periodically written as cookie data, instead of being immediately transmitted to the server. They are then automatically transported to the server during the HTTP session in which the browser application runs. In this way, no additional GPRS traffic to the one required by the browser incurs. Moreover, the communication is overtaken by the browser and hence independent of the APN (Access Point Name) used.
The reason for implementing a different technological solution for Symbian devices is that although cookies are supported by the standard browsers of Symbian phones, no support for programming them is available. That is why the solution with the TCP/IP connection between client and server was adopted to periodically send the coordinates to the server. However, programming data communication over GPRS in Symbian turned out not be an easy task. The TCP/IP connection was working in Germany with an WEB APN, but not in France. Since WAP APNs do however not support TCP/IP we decided to communicate the coordinates by making HTTP requests in WSP using the WAP stack of the mobile phone. The solution worked on Series 60 phones, but not on Symbian 7.0. Due to the introduction of the HTTP stack in Symbian 7.0, programming a HTTP client to make the HTTP requests in Symbian 7.0 was needed.
The lesson learnt is that networking in Symbian is not easy to programm. One has to deal with incomplete or still in development SDKs, lack of examples, support only through discussion forums and newsgroups, very small commonality between Series 60 and Symbian 7.0 SDKs, facts which make the development very awkward. In addition, one has to take also in account the different settings of WAP/WEB APNs.
Extensive tests also showed that using such an application requires experience with mobile phones.
The user must set her/his phone with the local WAP/WEB APN, the Bluetooth must be switched on, a Bluetooth USB adapter for the desktop computer is needed for the installation of the application, the user must be aware of how to switch between the browser and the ELBA application in order to activate/deactivate the GPS tracking. Finally, a proper functioning of the application requires stable GPRS and GPS signal.
Users registered in the ELBA-system get push information in form of a newsletter by MMS. This might contain information about new stocks in a warehouse, depending on their profile. Whenever he comes near the store, he will be recognized and identified by the system and then receive the desired information as determined in his profile, which he can update over the web.
The main condition before any context sensitive information can be delivered to approaching customers via MMS is that a database with user profiles and user information is setup. This database has to contain information about the user's preferences and wishes, and also the user's mobile phone number and the Bluetooth-ID of the user's device. Having this information, users who are coming closer to the shop can be recognized by the Bluetooth-facility, which is installed inside the shop. In our trial the user was recognized when his distance to the shop was less 20 metres. Whenever a user with a bluetooth-device approached, the system inside the shop noticed a bluetooth-device coming closer and checked whether the ID of this device is listed in the database of the registered users. If the ID cannot be found nothing happens, since this user obviously is not registered. But if the ID can be found in the user database, the system checks the user's preferences first, then checks in the database with the offers whether there is an offer interesting for the user. If the system can find a match here, this offer is sent to the user via MMS. In the following the result will be explained more detailed.
Profile administration system
The user administration system was setup as a web-based system where administrators and the users themselves could add, delete and update their profiles. Advertisements could only be sent to users registered in this database.
The user can specify the following information:
- Administrative data like name, address, telephone number, mobile number;
- Topics of interest;
- Reception frequency (weekly, daily);
- Device specification.
Automatic registration system in the warehouse
The trigger engine is part of the server PC, which is located in the shop. The engine collects events, which may trigger the submission of an advertisement MMS. Possible events are:
- Date and time;
- Proximity alert of registered users by the Bluetooth device.
The type of MMS, which is sent to the user, can be personalized by the personal user profiles on the content server. The personal profiles are collected by the trigger engine from the content server over the internet.
Vodafone Terenci developed the application, which detects Bluetooth enabled mobile phones in range and then gathers the ID of the Bluetooth enabled mobile phone.
According to the users personal profile a customized multimedia message is then sent to the user. The content, like image files, sound files and textual messages, which is necessary to create the personal MMS, is retrieved from the content provider. The MMS is generated by the application and sent to the gateway.
To create a link between the devices specific Bluetooth-ID and the advert that is sent a database stores all necessary profiles and personalization data. This database is maintained by the content provider YellowMap.
The MMS application.
The MMS application that is responsible for the recognition of the Bluetooth-devices in the warehouse runs on a notebook, which is placed on an appropriate place in the store. It must be somewhere close to the customers¿ area, since the coverage of the Bluetooth-device is limited to about 10 - 20 meters, depending on the local circumstances. For the communication with the mobile terminals an USB-based Bluetooth-adapter is installed.
A notebook is used to perform the necessary computation, because of the following advantages:
- Increase flexibility;
- Save space;
- Faster processing due to shorter communication ways.
Beside the application for the Bluetooth recognition and the Bluetooth-device itself it also contains the logic for the delivery of the MMS. Since this facility does not require much space it is possible to place the notebook on a central and still safe place (e.g. somewhere behind the counter). The possibility to relocate the device easily offers the opportunity to move it between the departments of the warehouse to address another user-group or to advertise different product-categories, depending on the particular offers and needs of the business.
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