Method and system for using media points to influence content delivery

Abstract

Method for influencing content delivery to a mobile device used by a user includes: receiving a request for content delivery from the mobile device, over a computer network; obtaining a location of the mobile device; identifying one or more media points in proximity to the obtained location of the mobile device; obtaining type, location and display size of the identified one or more media points, from one or more databases; determining a strength of an exposure of the user to said identified one or more media points, based on the type, location and display size of the identified one or more media points and the location of the mobile device; selecting a relevant supplemental content for delivery to the mobile device, based on said determined strength of an exposure of the user to said identified one or more media points; and delivering said selected relevant supplemental content and the requested content to the mobile device over the computer network.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for content delivery to a mobile device used by a user based on media messages displayed on physical media points in proximity of the user, the method comprising:
 receiving a request for delivery of a certain content to the user, from the mobile device, transmitted over a communication network;   obtaining a current location of the mobile device;   computing a direction vector of a movement of the mobile device from the current location and a previous location of the mobile device;   responsive to receiving said request for delivery of a certain content, utilizing the computed direction vector to identify a next physical media point the user is approaching;   responsive to receiving said request for delivery of a certain content, identifying a plurality of physical media points in proximity to the obtained current location of the mobile device, wherein each of the plurality of physical media points currently displays a media message unrelated to the requested certain content, and wherein the plurality of physical media points includes one or more of an LED advertising display device, a signage device, a billboard device, and an LED message display device;   obtaining, over the communication network, type, location and display size of the identified plurality of physical media points and the next media point, from one or more databases;   determining, in real time, a content of the media message that is currently being displayed by each of the identified physical media points;   selecting a relevant supplemental content, in addition to the requested certain content, for transmission to the mobile device, based on said content of the media message that is currently being displayed by each of the identified physical media points, and type, location and display size of said each of the identified physical media points; and   transmitting said selected relevant supplemental content and the requested certain content to the mobile device over the communication network for displaying on a display of the mobile device.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said proximity to the obtained location of the mobile device is set as a system parameter, by the user. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said proximity to the obtained location of the mobile device is changed as a function of one or more of the type, content, size and location of the physical media points. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein said proximity to the obtained location of the mobile device is further changed as a function of one or more of a time of the day, traffic, other media points in area, weather, and direction and speed of a movement of the mobile device. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising aggregating and storing the identified physical media points over a period of time; obtaining historically relevant data for preferences or behavior of the user from the aggregated identified physical media points; and selecting said relevant supplemental content for delivery to the mobile device partly based on said historically relevant data. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising assigning different weight factors to said type, location and display size of the identified physical media points; calculating a weighted averaging of the accumulated weight factors; and utilizing the calculated weighted averaging for selecting said relevant supplemental content. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said selecting said relevant supplemental content is further based on two or more of an amount of time the user is or estimated to be in proximity to the identified physical media points, a nature of the content being displayed by the identified physical media points, and images or messages displayed on the identified physical media points. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said selecting said relevant supplemental content is further based on a surrounding environment relative to the identified physical media points including two or more of, traffic, weather, speed and direction of travel, types and numbers of other physical media points in the surrounding environment, time of day, and mobile user's gender, age and preferences. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said selected relevant supplemental content is an advertisement or a coupon.