[54] MULTIMEDIA OUTDOOR INFORMATION
SYSTEM
[75] Inventors: Donald P. Zereski, Jr., Princeton;
Bradley M. Taber, EH, Saugus, both of
Mass.
[73] Assignee: WSI Corporation, Billerica, Mass.
[21] Appl. No.: 403,481
[22] Filed: Mar. 14,1995
[51] Int CI.6 G01W 1/00; G06F 19/00
[52] U.S. CI 364/420; 395/200.48; 395/807
[58] Field of Search 364/420, 514 A;
395/100, 118, 144, 152, 153, 154, 155; 342/26; 348/13, 14; 455/4.1, 4.2
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
5,517,193 5/1996 Allison etal 342/26
5,537,546 7/1996 Sauter 395/200.1
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Olsen, 'Internet Opens World of Weather; Weather Service Develops Programming for Access to its Servers" Government Computer News, v. 13, N. 19, p. 58.
Primary Examiner—Ellis B. Pamirez
Assistant Examiner—M. Kemper
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks, P.C.
[57] ABSTRACT
Multimedia presentations of outdoor information, such as weather information and ski reports, are provided on information transmission networks, such as Internet, on-line services and interactive TV. The outdoor information is compiled from a plurality of sources by electronically transmitting it to a presentation generator. The outdoor information is converted into presentation information for generating multimedia presentations. The presentation information is stored in a computer database that is accessible through the network. When a request is received from a user device connected to the network for selected outdoor information, the presentation information corresponding to the selected outdoor information is transmitted from the database to the user device through the information transmission network. A multimedia presentation is generated at the user device. The multimedia presentation may include a graphic display of a meteorologist's weather forecast and an audio reproduction of the meteorologist's oral weather forecast. Other outdoor information, such as ski reports, road conditions and the like, may be selected.
25 Claims, 10 Drawing Sheets
