Claims:We claim:
1. A method (20) of providing information of interest on an electronic device (10) in an establishment, the method (20) comprising:
receiving a set of preferences of a user of the electronic device (10) by a processor (115) of the electronic device (10);
determining a position of the electronic device (10) in the establishment by a location determination module (105) in the electronic device (10);
requesting information from an electronic database (120) by the processor (115) of the electronic device (10) based on the position determined and the set of preferences;
receiving the requested information from the electronic database (120) by a data receiver (125) of the electronic device (10);
processing the received information based on the set of preferences by the processor (115) of the electronic device (10) resulting in the information of interest; and
providing the information of interest on a data output module (130) of the electronic device (10).

2. The method (20) of providing information as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the receiving the set of preferences comprises:
downloading user information pertaining to the user of the electronic device (10) and a map of the establishment from the electronic database (120) onto a memory (110) of the electronic device (10); and
processing the downloaded user information by the processor (115) of the electronic device (10) to determine the set of preferences of the user.

3. The method (20) of providing information as claimed in Claim 1, wherein determining a position of the electronic device (10) in an establishment comprises determining the position of the electronic device (10) by a Wi-Fi module involving Wi-Fi triangulation.

4. The method (20) of providing information as claimed in Claim 1, wherein determining a position of the electronic device (10) in an establishment comprises determining the position of the electronic device (10) by a set of Bluetooth beacons.

5. The method (20) of providing information as claimed in Claim 1, wherein providing the information of interest on a data output module (130) of the electronic device (10) comprises providing the information of interest on a video output module of the electronic device (10).

6. The method (20) of providing information as claimed in Claim 1, wherein providing the information of interest on a data output module (130) of the electronic device (10) comprises providing the information of interest on an audio output module of the electronic device (10).

7. An electronic device (10) for providing information of interest to a user in an establishment, the electronic device (10) comprising:
a location determination module (105) to determine a position of the electronic device (10) in the establishment;
a memory (110) for storage;
a processor (115) connected to the location determination module (105) and the memory (110) to receive a set of preferences of the user of the electronic device (10) and request information from an electronic database (120) based on the position determined and the set of preferences;
a data receiver (125) for receiving the requested information from the electronic database (120), the data receiver (125) being connected to the processor (115); and
a data output module (130) for providing an information of interest to the user of the electronic device (10) and connected to the processor (115), wherein the processor (115) is arranged to process the information received by the data receiver (125) based on the set of preferences.

8. The electronic device (10) for providing information as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the location determination module (105) is a Wi-Fi module.

9. The electronic device (10) for providing information as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the data output module (130) is a video output module.

10. A method (40) of providing information of interest on an electronic device (10) in an establishment, the method (40) comprising:
receiving a set of preferences of a user of the electronic device (10) by a processor (115) of the electronic device (10);
determining a position of the electronic device (10) in the establishment by a location determination module (105) in the electronic device (10), the determining completed repeatedly in a time session to generate a set of visited positions in the establishment;
processing the set of visited positions in the establishment with the map of the establishment, by the processor (115) of the electronic device (10) to determine a set of unvisited positions in the establishment;
requesting information from the electronic database (120) based on the set of unvisited positions in the establishment;
receiving the requested information from the electronic database (120) by a data receiver (125) of the electronic device (10);
processing the received information based on the set of preferences by the processor (115) of the electronic device (10) resulting in an information of interest; and
providing the information of interest on a data output module (130) of the electronic device (10). , Description:FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates to an electronic device and a method of providing information of interest in an establishment.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Electronic devices and related technologies are widely used for information transfer. One popular domain for information transfer is marketing and sales of goods and services. Marketing of goods and services is essential to make consumers aware of the same and to increase the spread and sales of goods and services. Marketing information and promotions are available on merchant websites and e-commerce websites, to name a few. Additionally, they are also transmitted through televisions to the public in the form of advertisements. US 2015/0025965 discloses delivering targeted content to the user device based on user information stored in the user device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0003] Embodiments of this disclosure is explained in principle below with reference to the drawings. The drawings are:
[0004] FIGURE 1 illustrates a schematic arrangement of an electronic device for providing information of interest in an establishment;
[0005] FIGURE 2 illustrates steps in a first method of providing information of interest on the electronic device in the establishment; and
[0006] FIGURE 3 illustrates steps in a second method of providing information of interest on the electronic device in the establishment

DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0007] FIGURE 1 illustrates a schematic arrangement of an electronic device 10 for providing information of interest in an establishment. The electronic device 10 comprises a location determination module 105 to determine a position of the electronic device 10 in the establishment, a memory 110 for storage, a processor 115 connected to the location determination module 105 and the memory 110 to receive a set of preferences of the user of the electronic device 10 and request information from an electronic database 120 based on the position determined and the set of preferences. The device 10 further comprises a data receiver 125 for receiving the requested information from the electronic database 120, the data receiver 125 being connected to the processor 115. The device 10 further comprises a data output module 130 for providing an information of interest to the user of the electronic device 10 and connected to the processor 115, wherein the processor 115 is arranged to process the information received by the data receiver 125 based on the set of preferences.
[0008] The electronic device 10 can be a mobile phone, a tablet or any other personalized electronic device. The information of interest is information customized or personalized to the user of the device 10 based on the set of preferences of the user. The set of preferences are a set or list of interests of the user, the interests being the user’s professional or technical interests, hobbies, personal interests, shopping interests etc. The preferences mentioned above are purely exemplary and are not limited in any way to only the above. The set of preferences will be described hereinafter. The location determination module 105 can be a Wi-Fi module, GPS module or any other technological module with which a position or location can be determined. The data output module 130 can be a video output module or an audio output module. The video output module is capable of displaying images or videos on the information of interest. The audio output module is capable of outputting sounds, voice signals, sound advertisements and similar sound signals. The establishment in general can be open or enclosed spatial or grid-based arrangements or structures. The establishment in the context of the instant application can be a supermarket, grocery store, exhibition, exposition, trade fair etc. The above are just examples of establishment and are not limited in any way to only the above mentioned. The electronic database 120 can be located inside the establishment or outside the establishment. If the database 120 is located inside the establishment, the database 120 can be an internal server or local server. If the database 120 is located outside the establishment, the database 120 can be an external server. The memory 110 in the context of this instant application refers to a temporary memory or RAM, which is prevalent in all electronic devices. In the context of the instant application, the terms database and server are used interchangeably and they refer to the same entity.
[0009] According to a first aspect of the disclosure, FIGURE 2 illustrates steps in a first method 20 of providing information of interest on the electronic device 10 in the establishment. The first method 20 of providing information of interest on the electronic device 10 in the establishment comprises a step 205 of receiving a set of preferences of a user of the electronic device 10 by a processor 115 of the electronic device 10, a step 210 of determining a position of the electronic device 10 in the establishment by a location determination module 105 in the electronic device 10, a step 215 of requesting information from an electronic database 120 by the processor 115 of the electronic device 10 based on the position determined and the set of preferences, a step 220 of receiving the requested information from the electronic database 120 by a data receiver 125 of the electronic device 10, a step 225 of processing the received information based on the set of preferences by the processor 115 of the electronic device 10 resulting in the information of interest and a step 230 of providing the information of interest on a data output module 130 of the electronic device 10. The first method 20 will be explained hereinafter.
[0010] Furthermore, the step 205 of receiving the set of preferences comprises a first step of downloading user information pertaining to the user of the electronic device 10 and a map of the establishment from the electronic database 120 onto a memory 110 of the electronic device 10 and a second step of processing the downloaded user information by the processor 115 of the electronic device 10 to determine the set of preferences of the user.
[0011] In the method 20, the step 210 of determining a position of the electronic device 10 in the establishment by the location determination module 105 in the electronic device 10 comprises determining the position of the electronic device 10 by a Wi-Fi module involving Wi-Fi triangulation.
[0012] Moreover, in the method 20, the step 210 of determining a position of the electronic device 10 in the establishment by the location determination module 105 in the electronic device 10 comprises determining the position of the electronic device 10 by a set of Bluetooth beacons. Using Bluetooth beacons to determine the position is understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art.
[0013] Furthermore, the step 230 of providing the information of interest on a data output module 130 of the electronic device 10 can be accomplished in the following different ways or methods. In one way or method, providing the information of interest on the data output module 130 of the electronic device 10 comprises providing the information of interest on a video output module of the electronic device 10. In another way or method, providing the information of interest on the data output module 130 of the electronic device 10 comprises providing the information of interest on an audio output module of the electronic device 10. This will be explained hereinafter.
[0014] The method 20 is explained below. The step 205 of receiving the set of preferences of the user by the processor 115 of the electronic device 10 comprises collecting the set of preferences of the user of the device 10 by the processor 115. Collecting the set of preferences can be done in two ways. In one way, the user enters or keys or fills in the set of preferences into the electronic device 10. This is applicable where the user visits the establishment for the first time with the device 10.
[0015] In a second way, receiving the set of preferences of the user comprises downloading the user information pertaining to the user of the electronic device 10 and the map of the establishment onto the memory 110 of the device 10 and processing the downloaded information to determine the set of preferences. This is applicable when the user is a frequent visitor to the establishment and the database 120 contains user information pertaining to the user. The downloading occurs after the user enters the establishment with the device 10 and upon the device 10 establishing communication with the database 120. The downloading can be accomplished by any of the data networks described earlier. For example, the user information can be the shopping history or purchasing history of the user, when the establishment is a supermarket etc. Where the establishment is a technical exposition or a trade exhibition, the user information can be the expositions that the user has attended or the courses that the user has studies etc. In other words, the user information can be general information about the user from which the set of preferences of the user can be derived by processing, which is described hereinafter. The processing of the downloaded user information provides the set of preferences of the user. For example, with the shopping history or the purchase history as the user information, the frequency of a specific product in the history can be analyzed to derive or extract the set of preferences. In the example of trade expositions attended or courses attended, an analysis of areas of technology can be conducted to derive or extract the set of preferences. As a further example, if the trade exposition is in the area of mechanical engineering, the courses studied by the user and the previous expositions attended are analyzed for determining repeated or frequent occurrence of specific technical areas within the domain of mechanical engineering.
[0016] The step 210 of determining the position of the electronic device 10 by the location determination module 105 comprises determining or estimating or calculating the location or position of the device 10 in the establishment using the location determination module 105. In the event of the establishment being enclosed, the technique used for determining the position can be any one involving Bluetooth low energy detection, Wi-Fi triangulation and magnetic field detection. In others words, any indoor positioning technology can be used for determining the position. As mentioned above, Bluetooth low energy detection involves using Bluetooth beacons installed in the establishment and the location determination module 105 in the device 10 can be a Bluetooth transceiver. In the case of Wi-Fi triangulation, the location determination module 105 in the device 10 can be a Wi-Fi module. In the case of magnetic field detection, the location determination module 105 in the device 10 can be a compass sensor. In the event of the establishment being open to the sky, the technique used for determining the position can be global positioning techniques and the location determination module 105 can be a Global Positioning System (GPS) module in the device 10. The above are commonly understood by a person or ordinary skill in the art. The position can be in the form of X-Y coordinates if there is a single floor or X-Y-Z coordinates if there is a plurality of floors in the establishment. The electronic device 10 has a map of the establishment stored in the memory 110 of the device 10. The map can be already stored in the memory or downloaded from the electronic database 120 as mentioned earlier. The map of the supermarket also comprises a correlation between the X-Y or X-Y-Z position in the supermarket and the products or goods in the supermarket. For example, position 25-10 correlates to jams, position 4-20 correlates to cutlery etc. By applying the determined X-Y or X-Y-Z position to the map, the processor of the electronic device 10 can determine the product in proximity to the electronic device 10. Accordingly, the position determined can refer to the product position determined as well. The determination of the position is completed in the device 10 and is stored in the memory 110 of the device 10.
[0017] The step 215 of requesting information from an electronic database 120 is based on the position of the device 10 determined and the set of preferences of the user. The determined position and the set of preferences stored in the memory 110 are processed to determine if the product in the proximity of the position determined as described earlier is in the set of preferences of the user. If the determination is in the affirmative, then the request sent comprises the product. If the determination is in the negative, then no request is sent to the database 120. For example, if the user’s determined position in step 210 is in the proximity of chocolates, then the processor 115 determines if chocolates is in the set of preferences of the user. If chocolates is in the set of preferences, then a request is sent to the electronic database 120 for promotional information on chocolates. The request is transmitted by the processor 115 of the device 10 through a transmitting module or transmitting interface. An example of the transmitting module or interface can be Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, mobile network or any similar data network. The same data network is used for receiving information also. As an example, in the event of the device 10 operating in a Wi-Fi environment, both the location determination and the data transfer for the above said purpose can be established through Wi-Fi infrastructure in the Wi-Fi environment. The examples for step 215 is with respect to the establishment being a supermarket or retail chain. For the establishment being exhibitions and trade expositions, technical areas or technical interests derived after processing as described above, can take the place of the product.
[0018] Once the electronic database 120 or the server receives the request in step 215, the database 120 uses the product contained in the request to select the information to be sent back to the device 10. In the event of the establishment being a supermarket or a retail chain, the electronic database 120 can store information on promotions and sales offers on different products, including the products that are of interest to the user and are not of interest to the user. Some examples of promotions or sales offers can be a 30% discount on tomatoes, a 20% off on shampoos etc. From the product transmitted to the database 120 in the request, the database 120 verifies whether there are any offers or promotions for the product. Continuing from the previous example, if the product in the request contains chocolates, the database 120 checks if there are any promotions or offers for chocolates. Another example can be offers or promotions on shampoos if the position transmitted is associated with shampoos. Once the promotions are checked and if they are available for the requested product, the promotional information are sent to the device 10.
[0019] The step 220 of receiving the requested information from the electronic database 120 is accomplished by the data receiver 125 of the electronic device 10. The data receiver 125, like the data transmitter can be Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, mobile network or any similar data network. The requested information in the context of step 220 is described hereinafter. Usually, at any point in time in the establishment, there are one or more than one device 10 operating. The electronic database 120 processes and transmits the requested information at specified time intervals, say every 5 seconds, 10 seconds, 20 seconds or 30 seconds, which is configurable. Within this time interval, one or more than one device 10 would have requested for information from the database 120. The transmission is made by the database 120 as a multicast. A multicast transmission refers to the transmission of the same information to multiple devices. Therefore, the multicast transmission of the database 120 in the establishment transmits the same information to the one or more than one device 10 in the establishment at the time point of the multicast transmission. The multicast transmission contains information requested by one or more than one device 10 in the time interval and consequently, each of the device 10 in the establishment can receive more than what was requested. For example, if there are three devices requesting information within a time period of 5 seconds and the information requested by the first device is with regards to fruits, the information requested by the second device is with regards to dairy, and the information requested by the third device is with regards to eggs, the server 120 sends promotional information on fruits, dairy and eggs at the end of the time period of 5 seconds to all the devices, the first device, the second device and the third device. Since the first device requires information only about fruits, the other information may not be useful to the user of the first device and the information needs to be filtered, which is described in the next step 225.
[0020] The step 225 of processing the received information based on the set of preferences by the electronic device 10 comprises filtering the received information based on the set of preferences of the user of the device 10. Because the received information is information multicast from the database 120, the received information needs to be filtered to be customized for any device 10 in the establishment. For example, if the received multicast information contains offers or promotions on fruits, cutlery, shirts, chocolates and wine and if the requested information contains chocolates, then only the offers or promotions for chocolates will be filtered and made relevant to the user of the device 10. The filtered information is the information of interest for the given user of the device 10.
[0021] The next step 230 comprises providing the information of interest to the user of the device 10 through the data output module 130 of the device 10. As described earlier, the data output module 130 can be any one a video output module or an audio output module. This will be described hereinafter.
[0022] Providing the information of interest on the video output module involves displaying of videos or images on the information of interest. An example of the video output module can be a screen or any similar display element found in mobile phones or electronic devices. The information of interest is displayed on the screen. As an example, the screen displays a message which has discount information on shampoos.
[0023] Providing the information on the audio output module involves outputting sound files or voice information on the information of interest. An example of this is the user walking in the supermarket with a mobile phone and the earphones plugged into the mobile. The information of interest is transmitted through the earphones to the user. The user hears a message which has promotional information on chocolates.
[0024] Set, in the context of the instant application, can take on values from one to more than one. Hence, the set of preferences can contain either one preference or a plurality of preferences. As described earlier, the application of the method 20 and the electronic device 10 can be in establishments such as supermarkets, expositions, shopping malls etc.
[0025] The advantage that the method 20 provides is the customized reception and customized provision of information to any user or customer in the establishment. The promotions and offers provided to the user improves the experience of the customer and reduces or mitigates sending any unwanted information to the user.
[0026] According to a second aspect of the disclosure, FIGURE 3 illustrates steps in a second method 40 of providing information of interest on the electronic device 10 in the establishment. The second method 40 comprises a step 405 of receiving a set of preferences of a user of the electronic device 10 by a processor 115 of the electronic device 10, a step 410 of determining a position of the electronic device 10 in the establishment by a location determination module 105 in the electronic device 10, the determining completed repeatedly in a time session to generate a set of visited positions in the establishment, a step 415 of processing the set of visited positions in the establishment with the map of the establishment, by the processor 115 of the electronic device 10 to determine a set of unvisited positions in the establishment, a step 420 of requesting information from the electronic database 120 based on the set of unvisited positions in the establishment, a step 425 of receiving the requested information from the electronic database 120 by a data receiver 125 of the device 10, a step 430 of processing the received information based on the set of preferences by the processor 115 of the electronic device 10 resulting in the information of interest and step 435 of providing the information of interest on a data output module 130 of the electronic device 10.
[0027] The device 10 described above in conjunction with the first method 20 can be arranged to carry out the method steps of second method 40. The step 405 is the same as step 205 in method 20. The determining portion of step 410 is the same as step 210 described earlier, but the determination of the location is performed repeatedly or successively in a time session to generate a set of visited positions in the establishment. For example, the time session can span from the entry of the user into the establishment to the exit of the user from the establishment. Alternately, the time session can also span between two locations inside the establishment which can be preconfigured. And within this time session, the determination of location can be completed every 5 seconds, 10 seconds or 30 seconds.
[0028] In the step 415, the set of visited positions generated in step 410 is processed with the map of the establishment in the processor 115 of the device 10 to determine the set of unvisited positions in the establishment. The map of the establishment comprises all the positions inside the establishment. For example, if the map of the establishment comprises four positions X1Y1, X2Y2, X3Y3 and X4Y4 and the set of visited positions comprise X1Y1 and X2Y2, then the set of unvisited positions determined comprises X3Y3 and X4Y4.
[0029] In the step 420, the request is made by the electronic device 10 to the electronic database 120 to provide information on promotions, offers, events etc pertaining to the set of unvisited positions. The steps 425, 430 and 435 are the same as steps 220, 225 and 230 described earlier, resulting in providing information of interest to the user on positions that the user did not visit and which pertain to his interests or set of preferences.
[0030] An exemplary application for the method 40 will be in a trade exposition when the user of the electronic device 10 steps out of the exposition without visiting all the stalls in the exposition. The positions or stalls visited is continuously determined and upon the user exiting the exposition or passing by a particular position, the user gets information on the device 10 stating that the user has not visited some stalls of his interest. All the unvisited positions or stalls are not provided to the user, but only the unvisited stalls that pertain to the set of preferences. Other applications can include a shopping visit when the user does not fully cover the supermarket but leaves in between. So if there are any promotions or offers on products or items the user has not visited and which at the same time are in the user’s set of preferences, then the user is provided with information on the same. The advantage provided by the method 40 is the provision of information on unvisited sites inside the establishment only and not any unnecessary or unwanted information.
[0031] It is to be understood that the foregoing description is intended to be purely illustrative of the principles of the disclosed techniques, rather than exhaustive thereof, and that changes and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and that the present invention is not intended to be limited other than as expressly set forth in the following claims.