MTNI / Mass Transit Network International
The 6,390,376 patent relates to smart cards and presentation of information of interest to persons carrying smart cards. In transit, for instance, information of personal interest to a person in the transit station is displayed on a nearby MTNI public display device. The information to be displayed is based on pre-registered information about the person carrying the smart card.
This is interesting and ties into ubiquitous computing, and the idea that information displays can be aware of you and adjust their content to meet your needs, either by displaying information you need or even changing the language in which it’s displayed.
Of course, I can see some negatives: I don’t know that I would want a sign in the Metro to tell all other passers-by that French is not my first language. But it would be helpful to have the arrival time of the next train to your destination be added to the display as you approach.
Congrats to Frank on sticking with this.