A network of collection, charging and distribution machines collect, charge and distribute portable electrical energy storage devices (e.g., batteries, supercapacitors or ultracapacitors). To charge, the machines employ electrical current from an external source, such as the electrical grid or an electrical service of an installation location. The charging and distribution machines may distribute portable electrical energy storage devices of particular performance characteristics and other attributes based on customer preferences and/or customer profiles. The charging and distribution machines may provide instructions to or otherwise program portable electrical energy storage devices stored within the charging and distribution machines to perform at various levels according to user preferences and user profiles.

According to the present invention, in a banner advertisement service system in which a priority of each banner advertisement is decided by a reference region, a reference region for a banner advertisement is set, and thus, the banner advertisement is displayed on a local device regardless of a physical location of an advertiser in a region where an advertisement is desired to be provided.

A system finds and aggregates the most relevant and current information about the people and things that a user cares about. The information gathering is based on current context (e.g., where the user is, what the user is doing, what the user is saying/typing, etc.). The result of the context based information gathering is presented ubiquitously on user interfaces of any of the various physical devices operated by the user.

A method for providing Internet-based advertising for advertisers, and search functions for potential customers, introducing innovative search, display and advertiser access capabilities. These new innovations include a capability whereby a visitor may, by repeatedly zooming further in on a given geographic location, see more and more points of interest, corresponding to the chosen search criteria, but, not previously visible at smaller scales, and which may be displayed and queried for additional information. This system also provides to the advertiser, a means for changing any Dynamic Billboard in real time without intermediary action by any other party. It further provides an automated means to tabulate and report visitor activity.

A portable data terminal device configured as a personal shopping assistant (PSA) may display information about product locations in a store, product features, and alternative product recommendations upon request by a customer visiting the store's physical location. The PSA may detect and identify items placed into a shopping container, maintain an inventory of items selected for purchase, and communicate the inventory to a check-out station for rapid and convenient check-out and payment by the customer before leaving the store. The PSA may detect its location in a store and may activate an alarm when the PSA is moved outside a geofence boundary.

Example embodiments described herein therefore relate to an AR guidance system to perform operations that include: detecting a client device at a location within a geo-fenced area, wherein the geo-fenced area may include within it, a destination of interest; determining a route to the destination of interest from the location of the client device within the geo-fenced area; causing display of a presentation of an environment within an AR interface at the client device; detecting a display of real-world signage within the presentation of the environment; generating a media item in response to the detecting the display of the signage within the presentation of the environment, wherein the media item is based on the route to the destination of interest; and causing display of the media item within the AR interface based on the position of the signage within the presentation of the environment.

A method includes receiving a map indicating a layout of a location, receiving a point-of-interest (POI) data structure representing a POI, and POI metadata associated with the POI, generating an annotated floor map, based on the map, the annotated floor map including a POI indicator placed on the map at the location of the POI, the POI indicator indicating the type of the POI and the status of the POI, displaying at least a portion of the annotated floor map, in response to the client computing device moving within the location or out of the location, transmitting location information to a map selector and receiving one or more maps selected by the map selector, the one or more maps include or bound by the location information.

A method and system for determining a preference of a user for a location is provided. The preference of the user for the location is determined based on a plurality of users and a plurality of locations. The method includes determining a user-location relation based on a plurality of relations of the users with the locations, determining a plurality of POItags indicative of one or more properties of the plurality of locations, and determining a user-POItag relation based on the plurality of users and the plurality of POItags. The method also includes determining a location-POItag relation based on the plurality of locations and the plurality of POItags, and determining the preference of the user for the location based on at least one of the user-location relation, the user-POItag relation, and the location-POItag relation. The system includes a controller configured to perform the method. A vehicle including the system is also provided.

Providing a purchase incentive to a mobile device based for example the user's location, predicted route of travel, and prior transactions. A tracking server computer determines a number of locations of a mobile device as it travels along a route and an associated timeframe when it is at each of the locations. The tracking server computer records the locations and associated timeframes in a location log and analyzes the location log to predict a subsequent location and associated timeframe that the mobile device will be at that location. The tracking server computer then determines a merchant proximate to the predicted subsequent location of the mobile device and generates a purchase incentive for use at the merchant and delivers the purchase incentive to the mobile device. In the alternative, the incentive may be generated by a merchant computer or the mobile device.

A system and method is presented for product substantiation and promotion redemption. A purchased product list is transmitted from a retail store system to a promotion analysis server along with a user identifier. The promotion analysis server identifies promotions available to the user, and then considers whether the benefits under the promotions are still available to the user. Discounts for available promotions related to the purchased product list are calculated and transmitted to the retail store system for deduction from the transactions. An approved product list can be provided that filters the purchased product list before transmittal. The approved product list can include promotions from a plurality of programs.