Narrowcasting from public displays, and related methods

Abstract

A user with a cell phone interacts, in a personalized session, with an electronic sign system. In some embodiments, the user's location relative to the sign is discerned from camera imagery—either imagery captured by the cell phone (i.e., of the sign), or captured by the sign system (i.e., of the user). Demographic information about the user can be estimated from imagery captured acquired by the sign system, or can be accessed from stored profile data associated with the user. The sign system can transmit payoffs (e.g., digital coupons or other response data) to viewers—customized per user demographics. In some arrangements, the payoff data is represented by digital watermark data encoded in the signage content. The encoding can take into account the user's location relative to the sign—allowing geometrical targeting of different payoffs to differently-located viewers. Other embodiments allow a user to engage an electronic sign system for interactive game play, using the cell phone as a controller.

1 - 64 . (canceled) 
     
     
         65 . A method comprising the acts:
 with an optical sensor system, sensing first information from a first person; and   identifying augmented reality graphical data to a first portable user device conveyed by the first person, said augmented reality data enabling said user device to present graphical information as an overlay on imagery captured by a camera portion of said first user device, said identifying being performed by a hardware processor configured to perform such act.   
     
     
         66 . The method of  claim 65  in which:
 the first person is an observer of an image display system that is presenting a first image; 
 the optical sensor system is associated with said image display system; and 
 the augmented reality data enables the first user device to present graphical information as an overlay on said first image, as captured by said camera portion of the user device. 
 
     
     
         67 . The method of  claim 66  in which the user device includes a face-worn portion. 
     
     
         68 . The method of  claim 66  in which the sensed first information comprises information about the person's viewpoint relative to the presented first image. 
     
     
         69 . The method of  claim 65  in which the sensed first information comprises information about the location of the person. 
     
     
         70 . The method of  claim 65  in which the sensed first information comprises demographic information about the person. 
     
     
         71 . A method comprising the acts:
 discerning first information about a first person observing an image display, and discerning second information about a second person observing said image display, the second discerned information being different than the first discerned information, said discerning being performed by a hardware processor configured to perform such act;   identifying first augmented reality data to a first portable user device conveyed by the first person, said first augmented reality data enabling the first user device to present graphical information overlaid on imagery captured by a camera portion of said first portable user device;   identifying second augmented reality data to a second portable user device conveyed by the second person, said second augmented reality data enabling the second user device to present graphical information overlaid on imagery captured by a camera portion of said second portable user device, said second augmented reality data being different than the first augmented reality data;   wherein the first and second augmented reality data are different, in part, because the first and second discerned information are different.   
     
     
         72 . The method of  claim 71  in which the first and second augmented reality data enable the user devices to present graphical information overlaid on imagery captured from said image display. 
     
     
         73 . The method of  claim 71  in which the discerned first and second information comprises demographic information about the first and second persons. 
     
     
         74 . The method of  claim 73  in which the augmented reality data is tailored to the first and second persons based on the discerned demographic information. 
     
     
         75 . The method of  claim 71  in which the discerned first and second information comprises location information about the first and second persons. 
     
     
         76 . The method of  claim 71  in which the discerning includes capturing information from the first and second persons using an optical sensor system associated with the display. 
     
     
         77 . The method of  claim 71  in which the discerning includes capturing imagery of the first and second persons using a camera system associated with the display. 
     
     
         78 . A method comprising the acts:
 with an optical sensor system, sensing first information about a first person, and sensing second information about a second person;   determining first augmented reality data for identification to a first portable user device conveyed by the first person, said first augmented reality data enabling the first user device to present first graphical information overlaid on imagery captured by a camera portion of said first portable user device;   determining second augmented reality data for identification to a second portable user device conveyed by the second person, said second augmented reality data enabling the second user device to present second graphical information overlaid on imagery captured by a camera portion of said second portable user device, said second augmented reality data being different than the first augmented reality data; and   identifying the first and second augmented reality data to the first and second portable user devices, respectively;   wherein the first and second augmented reality data are different, in part, because the first sensed information and second sensed information are different, and wherein said determining acts are performed by a hardware processor configured to perform such acts.   
     
     
         79 . The method of  claim 78  in which the first and second persons are observers of an image display system that is presenting a first image, and wherein the first augmented reality data enables the first user device to present graphical information as an overlay on said first image, as captured by the camera portion of the first user device. 
     
     
         80 . The method of  claim 79  in which the sensed first information comprises information about the first person's viewpoint relative to the presented first image. 
     
     
         81 . The method of  claim 78  in which the first user device includes a face-worn portion. 
     
     
         82 . The method of  claim 78  in which the sensed first information comprises information about the first person's viewpoint relative to the presented first image. 
     
     
         83 . The method of  claim 78  in which the sensed first information comprises information about a location of the first person. 
     
     
         84 . The method of  claim 78  in which the sensed first information comprises demographic information about the first person. 
     
     
         85 . The method of  claim 78  in which the optical sensor system comprises a camera system.