Digital Signage Inventory Control System with Screen Zone Scheduling

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Solution Overview

Problem

Managing and optimizing the advertising space inventory in digital signage networks is challenging due to the highly individualized distribution of media content across multiple displays with unique characteristics, making it difficult to track and coordinate media content distribution effectively.

Innovation Solution

An inventory control system utilizing a relational database to schedule media content across screen zones, with features like denormalized database structures and bit masking for partial booking, ensures efficient management of media content items and prevents overbooking by assigning content based on user-defined limits and loop policies.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If media content is individually tailored to each display's characteristics, then content relevance and effectiveness are improved, but tracking and optimizing advertising space inventory becomes highly challenging

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecontent customizationVSAvoidinventory tracking complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a centralized server as an intermediary between displays and content sources. This server maintains a database of display characteristics and automatically matches content to appropriate displays, eliminating the need for complex manual tracking while preserving personalized content delivery. The server acts as a mediator that handles the complexity of inventory management centrally.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The system changes the parameter of inventory tracking from manual, display-by-display monitoring to automated, database-driven management. By storing display characteristics and content assignments in a centralized database with unique identifiers, the system transforms inventory tracking into a parameter-based lookup process rather than a complex coordination task.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Productivity

If a centralized system is used to track inventory across all displays, then coordination and optimization are improved, but system complexity and processing requirements increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveinventory coordination efficiencyVSAvoidsystem architecture complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the inventory management system into distinct functional components: a database for storing display characteristics and content assignments, a server for processing requests and making assignments, and local displays that simply receive content. This segmentation reduces overall system complexity by assigning specific, simple functions to each component.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The system uses unique identifiers to create a digital copy of each display's characteristics and content assignments in a centralized database. This allows the server to work with simplified data representations rather than complex real-time display states, reducing processing requirements while maintaining coordination capability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

3Quantity of substance

If multiple screen zones are allowed on the same display, then advertising space utilization is improved, but scheduling and conflict management become more difficult

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveadvertising space capacityVSAvoidscheduling complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Quantity of substanceVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent adds a temporal dimension to screen zone management by assigning specific time slots to each content assignment. This allows multiple screen zones to share the same physical display space at different times without conflict. The scheduling complexity is reduced by treating time as an additional dimension rather than trying to manage spatial overlaps.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

Solution Approach 2:

The system ensures continuous utilization of advertising space by allowing screen zones to be reassigned to different content at different times. Rather than leaving space idle to avoid conflicts, the system maintains continuous useful action by dynamically allocating content to screen zones based on time-based scheduling, maximizing capacity utilization.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #20Continuity of useful action

Data Source

PatentUS8170914B2Inventory control system for digital signage network having a plurality of screen zones associated with a plurality of displays

Publication Date: 2012.05.01 BROADSIGN INTERNATIONAL LLC

AI summary

An inventory control system for a digital signage network is provided that uses a denormalized relational database to maintain a record of each of a plurality of screen zones for displays of the network. An inventory column in the database may be used to track scheduling assignments for each day of a calendar year. A screen zone may be given a collective duration limit that prevents assignment of media content items to that screen zone if the assignment would cause the limit to be exceeded for any of the days in the scheduling request. A screen zone may also be designated as overbookable to allow a scheduling assignment even if the limit is exceeded, or may be designated as partially bookable to allow the assignment of media content items for only those days specified in the request for which the limit would not be exceeded.