System and method to provide interactive, user-customized content to touch-free terminals

Abstract

A method of displaying content to a user within a managed space comprised of one or more touch-free interactive kiosks includes collecting user data about the user. In addition, the plurality of touch-free interactive kiosks are configured to uniquely identify users located at the kiosk. Based on the identified user, and collected user data associated with the user, content is selected to be displayed to the user.

1 . A method of displaying content to a user within a managed space that includes one or more kiosks for displaying content, the method comprising:
 collecting user data about the user;   identifying the user at one of the plurality of kiosks;   selecting content to display to the user based on the collected user data; and   displaying the selected content to the identified user at the kiosk at which the user is located.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein collecting user data about the user includes one or more of collecting user data from the user at a sign-in station, collecting user data about the user from a social media website, and/or scanning a card provided by the user that includes user data. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the user at one of the plurality of kiosks includes:
 assigning identifying information to the user at a sign-in station prior to the user interacting with one of the plurality of kiosks; and   identifying the user at one of the kiosk within the managed space using the identifying information assigned to the user at the sign-in station.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the identifying information assigned to the user includes a visual cue card distributed by the sign-in station and associated with the user. The method of  claim 4 , wherein the identifying the user at one of the kiosk includes making a request to the user at the kiosk to display the assigned visual cue card, and analyzing image data captured by the kiosk to identify the visual cue card assigned to the user. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the identifying information assigned to the user includes a unique audio password assigned to the user, wherein the one or more kiosks identify users by requesting the user to speak the assigned audio password into a microphone associated with each kiosk. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the user at one of the plurality of kiosks includes utilizing an application stored on the user's handheld device that communicates an identification associated with the user. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further including determining whether the user is in close proximity to one of the plurality of kiosks by measuring on the handheld device an attribute of a signal emitted by the kiosk. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , further include providing additional content to be displayed on the user's handheld device that is related to the content selected for display at the kiosk. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further including configuring each kiosk to be associated with one or more of a plurality of item entities, wherein the kiosk is configured to selectively display content associated with the item entities assigned to the kiosk based on collected user data. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein selecting content to display to the user includes assigning for each user identified at one of the plurality of kiosks an instantaneous score for each item entity associated with the kiosk, wherein a higher score indicates that content related to the item entity is more relevant to the user. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein when a plurality of users are located at a single kiosk, selecting content to display is based on an aggregation of instantaneous scores calculated for each of the plurality of users. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , further including receiving an active request for specific content from a user, wherein active requests for content from users are given higher priority that content selected based on collected user information. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , further including:
 determining that a user identified at one of the plurality of kiosks has not downloaded an application onto the user's handheld device; and   displaying specific content at the kiosk requesting the user to download the application to the user's handheld device to enhance interaction between the user and the plurality of kiosks.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , further including:
 receiving a message from a user located at one of the plurality of kiosks; and   displaying the received message at one or more of the plurality of kiosks within the managed space to enable location-based group chat within the managed space.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , further including:
 providing a request to a user to submit presentation content; and   receiving content from one or more users in response to the provided request, wherein received content is aggregated and displayed to users at one or more of the plurality of kiosks.   
     
     
         16 . A system for displaying content to one or more users within a managed space, the system comprising:
 a plurality of touch-free interactive kiosks located within the managed space that each operate to identify users in close proximity to the kiosks and display content selected for the identified user; and   a central database that stores content to be selectively distributed to the plurality of touch-free interactive kiosks, and collected user information and identifying information.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , further including a sign-in station that collects user information and identifying information from a user. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the sign-in station assigns users a unique identification entity that is presented by the user to each of the plurality of touch-free interactive kiosks to identify the user to the kiosk. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the identification entity is a unique visual cue card assigned to the user, wherein each of the plurality of touch-free interactive kiosks include a camera used to identify users based on a displayed visual cue card. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the identification entity is an unique audio password assigned to the user, wherein each of the plurality of touch-free interactive kiosks include a microphone used to identify users based on the unique audio password provided by the user. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 16 , further including a hand-held user device operating an application (“app”) that communicates with the one or more plurality of touch-free interactive kiosks, wherein the app provides a unique identification that uniquely identifies the user to the each of the plurality of touch-free interactive kiosks. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein each of the plurality of touch-free interactive kiosks include a location emitting device that emits a beacon signal, wherein user proximity to each touch-free interactive kiosks is determined by measuring, at the user hand-held device via the app, an attribute of the beacon signal. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the touch-free interactive kiosk distributes additional content for display on the user's hand-held device, wherein the additional content is selected based on content displayed at the one or more touch-free interactive kiosks. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the touch-free interactive kiosk displays specific content at the kiosk requesting the user to download the application to the user's handheld device in response to a determination that a user is located at the touch-free interactive kiosk but does not have the application downloaded to the user's device. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 16 , further including:
 an instantaneous score calculator associated with one or more of the touch-free interactive kiosks that calculates instantaneous score for each user with respect to a plurality of categories/interests offered by the kiosk, wherein content is selected for display by the kiosk based on the calculated instantaneous score.   
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 25 , further including:
 an instantaneous score aggregator that aggregates calculated instantaneous scores for a plurality of users to generate a category score for each category/interest offered by the kiosk; and   a content playback organizing module that selects an order in which content is displayed based on the instantaneous scores provided by the instantaneous score aggregator.   
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the instantaneous score calculator, the instantaneous score aggregator and the content playback organizing module are implemented locally on each of the touch-free interactive kiosks. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the instantaneous score calculator, the instantaneous score aggregator and the content playback organizing module are implemented on the central database 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the plurality of touch-free interactive kiosks receive active requests from users regarding content, wherein the touch-free interactive kiosks prioritizes active requests over content selected for the user based on collected user information. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the central database generates a request for user-generated content and provides the request to users via the one or more touch-free interactive kiosks, when user-generated content is collected and aggregated by the central database and displayed to users via the one or more touch-free interactive kiosks.