Interactive weather advisory system

Abstract

A method for providing information to a plurality of vendors located remotely from a broadcast network. A plurality of user-defined parameters are received by a user input database with at least one of the user-defined parameters including a user profile. Each of the user profiles includes a user identifier code identifying a communicator device associated with a particular user. Real-time data indicative of the spatial locations of the communicator devices is received by a communicator location database. Search information is received independently from a plurality of vendors and a data set is generated for each vendor.

1 . A broadcast network for selectively transmitting individualized weather output signals to at least one of a plurality of communicator devices, comprising:
 a storage device containing a plurality of user profiles each identifying a communicator device and including user-provided data related to weather output signals;   an analysis unit for receiving and comparing spatial location identifiers with the user-provided data to generate the individualized weather output signals, wherein each of the individualized weather output signals includes at least weather information about a location that is derived from the spatial location identifiers and the user-provided data, wherein the spatial location identifiers are automatically updated based on real-time data indicative of the spatial location of the communicator device; and   a communication network for receiving and then transmitting the signals to the at least one of the plurality of communicator devices identified in the plurality of user profiles.   
     
     
         2 . The broadcast network of  claim 1 , wherein the user-provided data includes a spatial range identifier. 
     
     
         3 . The broadcast network of  claim 1 , wherein the individualized weather output signals are transmitted to the communicator device via a mobile telephone network. 
     
     
         4 . The broadcast network of  claim 3 , wherein the communicator device is a mobile phone. 
     
     
         5 . The broadcast network of  claim 3 , wherein the communicator device is a pager. 
     
     
         6 . The broadcast network of  claim 3 , wherein the communicator device is a laptop computer. 
     
     
         7 . The broadcast network of  claim 3 , wherein the communicator device is a personal digital assistant. 
     
     
         8 . The broadcast network of  claim 1 , wherein the individualized weather output signal includes a video data signal. 
     
     
         9 . The broadcast network of  claim 8 , wherein the video data signal includes data for creating an animated graphic. 
     
     
         10 . The broadcast network of  claim 8 , wherein the video data signal is a .wav file. 
     
     
         11 . A broadcast network for selectively transmitting individualized weather output signals to at least one of a plurality of communicator devices remotely located from the broadcast network, each of the at least one of a plurality of communicator devices having associated therewith a spatial location identifier, the broadcast network comprising:
 a user input database containing a plurality of user profiles, each of the user profiles including user-provided data related to the individualized weather output signals and a user identifier code identifying a communicator device;   an analysis unit for automatically monitoring for an incoming demand from said at least one of a plurality of communicator devices and comparing the spatial location identifier with the user-provided data and with weather information to generate an individualized weather output signal for said at least one of a plurality of communication devices upon detection of the demand, wherein each of the individualized weather output signals includes at least the weather information about a location that is derived from the spatial location identifier and the user-provided data, wherein the spatial location identifiers are automatically updated based on real-time data indicative of the spatial location of the communicator device; and   a communication network for receiving and then transmitting the individualized weather output signals to the at least one of a plurality of communicator devices.   
     
     
         12 . The broadcast network of  claim 11 , wherein user-provided data includes a spatial range identifier. 
     
     
         13 . The broadcast network of  claim 11 , wherein the individualized weather output signals are transmitted to the communicator device via a mobile telephone network. 
     
     
         14 . The broadcast network of  claim 13 , wherein at least one of the user identifier codes identifies a mobile phone. 
     
     
         15 . The broadcast network of  claim 13 , wherein at least one of the user identifier codes identifies a pager. 
     
     
         16 . The broadcast network of  claim 13 , wherein at least one of the user identifier codes identifies a laptop computer. 
     
     
         17 . The broadcast network of  claim 13 , wherein at least one of the user identifier codes identifies a personal digital assistant. 
     
     
         18 . The broadcast network of  claim 11 , wherein the individualized weather output signal includes a video data signal. 
     
     
         19 . The broadcast network of  claim 18 , wherein the video data signal includes data for creating an animated graphic. 
     
     
         20 . The broadcast network of  claim 18 , wherein the video data signal is a .wav file. 
     
     
         21 . The broadcast network of  claim 1 , wherein the storage device comprises a user input database containing the plurality of user-profiles. 
     
     
         22 . The broadcast network of  claim 1 , wherein the analysis unit is configured to compare the spatial location identifiers with the user-provided data upon demand of a user. 
     
     
         23 . The broadcast network of  claim 1 , wherein the spatial location identifiers identify particular locations of interest to respective ones of a plurality of users. 
     
     
         24 . The broadcast network of  claim 23 , wherein the locations of interest are one of or a combination of two or more of a longitude and latitude, a town, a county, an address, a zip code, and an altitude. 
     
     
         25 . The broadcast network of  claim 1 , wherein the user-provided data related to weather output signals includes a time and data that the user wishes to receive information about a spatial location. 
     
     
         26 . The broadcast network of  claim 1 , wherein the user-provided data related to weather output signals includes a product or service sold by a vendor. 
     
     
         27 . A method for providing an individualized weather signal to a user, the method comprising:
 receiving location information for identifying a location or area of a communicator device;   determining a geographic area based on the location information;   receiving weather information from one or more sources;   generating an individualized weather signal based on the geographic area and the weather information, wherein the individualized weather signal includes weather information or weather forecast information; and   providing the individualized weather signal to the user a communication network for transmittal to the communicator device.   
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein said step of receiving location information includes receiving information identifying a real-time location of the communicator device. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein the location information is automatically updated based on real-time data indicative of the spatial location of the communicator device. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the step of providing the individualized weather signal includes providing the individualized weather output signal at one of upon demand of the user, at user-defined intervals, or continuously. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the user-defined intervals include time intervals between about 0 minutes and about 60 minutes. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 27 , further comprising receiving weather data from the user or from one or more third-party sources other than the user.