The present description relates to digital display methods and systems for outdoor advertising (“OOH” advertising), i.e. for advertising visible to all in places accessible to the public.
Digital display methods are known to allow deploying playlists and contents to digital display devices.
One of the aims of the present description is to improve the efficiency of these methods, in particular to allow deploying playlists and contents in near real time, including to a large number of digital display devices.
To this end, the present description proposes a digital display method for outdoor advertising for controlling the display of digital contents by digital display devices, comprising:
Thanks to these provisions, the proposed digital display method is especially effective and economical in terms of processor capacity at the level of the digital display devices. In fact, the tasks to be performed by the digital display devices in the event of a won bid are very limited and very fast, which contributes to near-real-time operation. In addition, the interaction with the programmatic platform for selling advertising space is also simpler and faster, since it can be done from server to server.
In various embodiments of the digital display method, one and/or the other of the following arrangements can possibly further be used (alone or in all their mutual combinations, possibly independently of the aforementioned arrangements):
Each digital display device is made to load in advance only those of the said digital contents likely to win the bid which have a category other than the said at least one prohibited category for the free time slots corresponding to this digital display device.
Furthermore, the present description also has as an object a digital display system for outdoor advertising comprising digital display devices and a playlist generation platform, wherein:
In various embodiments of the digital display system, one and/or the other of the following arrangements can possibly further be used (alone or in all their mutual combinations, possibly independently of the aforementioned arrangements):
Other features and advantages of the digital display method and the digital display system will appear from the following description of one of their implementation forms, given as a non-limiting example, with reference to the attached drawings.
In the drawings:
In the various figures, the same reference signs designate identical or similar elements.
Each display device 2 includes a control device 3 (CTRL) such as a microcomputer or the like, which controls a digital screen 4.
The control device 3 executes a digital content player 5 (PL) (software module executed by the control device 3) and also executes a synchronization software module 6 (SYNC).
The digital display system 1 further comprises a platform 7 for generating playlists (PL SERV), which is common to the aforementioned digital display devices 2. The platform 7 for generating playlists is a software package which can be executed on one server or several servers.
The platform 7 for generating playlists executes in particular an engine 8 (ENG) for generating lists of contents and loading manifests, as will be explained in more detail below.
The synchronization module 6 of each digital display device 2 communicates with the platform 7 for generating playlists and if necessary with other resources possibly present on the Internet 9 (INT). In the represented embodiment, the digital display devices 2 communicate with the platform 7 for generating playlists and with said other resources via at least one proxy server 13 (PROX).
This communication can be take place over any wide area network (WAN). For example, in many cases this communication can be made by a mobile telephone network (broadband cellular network, for example of the 3G or 4G type). Of course, any other communication means is possible.
Engine 8 is adapted to generate repeatedly and/or depending on certain triggering facts (modification of programming, of content, etc.) playlists according to the displaying campaigns in progress. This playlist generation is performed according to the reservations made by the advertisers concerning the various display devices 2, according to the digital contents to be read for these displaying campaigns and according to the available digital display devices.
Each playlist is intended to be played by one or several of said digital display devices 2.
Each playlist may comprise at least one set of identifiers for digital contents to be sequentially played, over one or several predetermined time periods, these digital contents being assigned to successive time slots. These time slots may or may not be of the same duration. The duration T of these time slots may in particular be for instance comprised between 5 and 20 s, by way of example 10 s.
According to an embodiment, the playlist does not include any address for loading the digital contents or any digital fingerprint of the digital contents; it is therefore a document representing a small volume of data.
The engine 8 is further adapted to generate repeatedly and/or depending on certain generating events (modification of programming, contents, etc.), for each digital display device, a loading manifest comprising at least addresses for loading the digital contents referenced in the loading list. Each loading manifest may further include, for each digital content, the identifier included in the playlist.
Each loading manifest can further comprise at least one reference digital fingerprint for each digital content being referenced in said loading manifest, according to an example, the digital fingerprint can be a checksum, for example of the “MD5” type. According to another example, the digital fingerprint can be a “GPG” type digital signature. According to a third example, the loading manifest can also comprise two reference digital fingerprints for each digital content, in particular a checksum for example of the “MD5” type and a more complex digital signature, for example of the “GPG” type.
The generation frequency of the playlists and loading manifests by the engine 8 can be variable according to the arrival speed of new reservations or reservation modifications by the advertisers. This frequency can go up to once every few minutes, or even higher frequencies, knowing that part of the reservations can be made by automatic online bids. As previously explained, certain playlist updates are carried out without changing the loading manifest when the modifications concern, for example, the digital contents playing order or frequency, or even the playing conditions of the digital contents.
The synchronization modules 6 of the digital display devices 2 are adapted to update their playlists and loading manifests, from the engine 8.
This update may include the following steps:
The player 5 of each digital display device 2 is adapted to play the digital contents corresponding to its current playlist (last playlist loaded by the synchronization module 6) and to display these digital contents on the digital screen 4 of the digital display device 2.
At steps (c1) and (c2), the synchronization module 6 of each digital display device 2 always sends its requests to the same URL address which is specific to the digital display device 2.
At steps (c1) and (c2), the synchronization module 6 and the engine 8 can advantageously communicate in encrypted fashion, for example by using the “https” protocol.
At step (c4), the synchronization module 6 of the digital display device 2 can determine a calculated digital fingerprint of the new downloaded digital content, check whether the calculated digital fingerprint corresponds to the reference digital fingerprint contained in the loading manifest and validate the uploaded digital content only if the calculated digital fingerprint matches the reference digital fingerprint. If the downloaded digital content is not validated, it is destroyed. If the uploading manifest contains two (or more) digital fingerprints for at least some digital contents, this validation may be performed for the different digital fingerprints of the digital content, sequentially or in parallel.
At step (c4), the synchronization module 6 of the digital display device 2 can download the new digital contents in an unencrypted manner, for example by using the “http” protocol.
At step (c4), the synchronization module 6 of the digital display device 2 may, in one embodiment, download the new digital contents piece by piece.
As shown in
These free time slots FTS are used for programmatic advertising, hence auctioned by means of an automatic bidding process.
To this end, as represented in
The programmatic platform 20 for selling advertising space is a software package which can be executed on one or several servers. It may in particular comprise a content server module 21 (ADSERV), a data exchange module 22 (EXCH) and a content control module 23 (AD CTRL). The data exchange module 22 is adapted to communicate with one or several programmatic platforms 30 for purchasing advertising space (DSP), so as to issue bids concerning the free time slots and to receive in return bid result information. These data exchanges can take place using a standardized data exchange protocol, for example the “OPEN RTB” protocol.
For each free time slot FTS of each playlist PL, corresponding to at least one digital display device 2, the content scheduler module 15 sends a content request to the content server module 21 of the programmatic platform 20 for selling advertising space. The content server module 21 then emits towards the programmatic platform(s) 30 for purchasing advertising space, via the data exchange module 22, an auctioning corresponding to said content request.
The programmatic platform(s) 30 for purchasing advertising space then proceed(s) with the bidding process (“real time bidding”) and, if the bid has been won, send back to said content server module 21, via the data exchange module 22, bid result information corresponding to a digital content having won the bid.
If the bid has been won, the content server module 21 transmits the bid result information to the content scheduler module 15 which then informs of the digital content having won the bid, the digital display device 2 corresponding to the free time slot FTS having been the object of the auctioning. This sending of information to the digital display device 2 can be performed via the aforementioned proxy server 13 and/or any other intermediate proxy server between the digital display device 2 and the platform 7 for generating playlists.
The digital contents present on the programmatic platform(s) 30 for purchasing advertising space can already be known in advance to the programmatic platform 20 for selling advertising space, by data exchange between the programmatic platform(s) 30 for purchasing advertising space and the programmatic platform 20 for selling of advertising space, for example each time a new digital content is referenced on the programmatic platform(s) 30 for purchasing advertising space. The digital contents in question are validated during a moderation process, and the validated digital contents are referenced in the content control module 23 mentioned above. This content control module 23 communicates with the engine 8, which thus references all the digital contents likely to win a bid. The engine 8 thus includes, in the free time slots FTS of each playlist, the references of all the contents likely to win bids, and the references of these contents are also included in the loading manifest of each digital display device 2 at least one playlist of which has a free time slot FTS. Thanks to these loading manifests, the digital display devices 2 are made to load in advance said digital contents likely to win a bid.
Thus, when the engine 8 sends to the digital display device 2 information about the content having won the bid, the content scheduler module 15 sends a very short and very fast message simply containing an order to activate said digital content having won the bid for said free time slot, and this content can almost immediately be displayed by the digital display device 2 since it is already in memory in the digital display device.
The entire process of auctioning and activating the winning digital content can therefore be performed in a very short time, typically a fraction of a second to a few seconds. Typically, the step of sending a content request by the content scheduler device 15 can be performed at the latest between T and 2T before the free time slot, T being the duration of the time slot preceding said free time slot (i.e. usually the duration common to all time slots in the playlist).
It shall be noted that when the bid has not been won following the bidding process described above, the free time slot FTS may be auctioned again in the same way as described above, if there is enough time before the starting moment of said free time slot FTS.
The playlist generation platform 7 can impose free time slots FTS when said playlist generation platform 7 generates playlists according to displaying campaigns controlled independently from the programmatic platform 20 for selling advertising space. For example, the platform 7 for generating playlists can impose a certain percentage of free time slots FTS, which it can distribute for example in an homogeneous manner. In particular, the playlist generation platform 7 can respectively impose percentages of free time slots FTS according to the day and/or according to the time period in the day, and said playlist generation platform 7 can distribute these free time slots, for example, in a homogeneous manner throughout the day or in the time period of the day.
Categories can be assigned to digital content. Said playlist generation platform 7 can assign at least one prohibited category respectively to the free time slots FTS according to the contents already assigned to the adjacent time slots, and when sending a request for content, said platform 7 for generating playlists indicates the prohibited categories to said programmatic platform 20 for selling advertising space.
In this case, each digital display device 2 can be made to load in advance only those of said digital contents likely to win the bid which have a non-prohibited category for the free time slots FTS corresponding to this digital display device 2.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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FR2103617 | Apr 2021 | FR | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/EP2022/059465 | 4/8/2022 | WO |