Patent Application
20200084435
The present invention relates to a method and related system for displaying aesthetic image streams.
Conventional digital advertising is intended to attract consumers' attention to a barrage of rapidly changing digitised images and sounds generated by digital signs and billboards. The proliferation of conventional digital signs and billboards in public spaces creates aesthetic pollution or contamination that disturbs and offends the eyes and ears of viewers. When too many images and sounds are presented—especially haphazardly—the result is visual and auditory clutter that is confusing and overwhelming. The aesthetic pollution and clutter created by conventional digital advertising corrupts and destroys aesthetic value and experience, and creates cognitive dissonance that adversely impacts the psychological state and wellbeing of the audience.
In this context, there is a need for improved solutions for digital advertising.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method, comprising:
Each image in the image stream may be aesthetically pleasing and of high aesthetic value or quality to viewers of the display.
The display period may be between 5 seconds and 30 seconds, for example, around 15 seconds.
The method may further comprise displaying an advertising feed on the display screen adjacent to the image stream.
The method may further comprise displaying a news feed on the display screen adjacent to the image stream.
The method may further comprise displaying a business news feed on the display screen adjacent to the image stream.
The method may further comprise displaying a weather feed on the display screen adjacent to the image stream.
The method may further comprise displaying a trivia feed on the display screen adjacent to the image stream.
The method may further comprise displaying time and date on the display screen adjacent to the image stream.
The method may further comprise displaying a welcome message on the display screen adjacent to the image stream.
The display screen may comprise a display screen of a digital device selected from a digital sign, a digital display, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a smartphone, a smartwatch, a smart television, and combinations thereof.
The method may further comprise capturing viewer responses while viewing the image stream on the display screen.
The method may further comprise analysing the viewer responses.
The present invention also provides a display screen generated on a digital device by the method described above.
The present invention further provides a system, comprising:
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer-readable medium coupled to the processor and having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
The present invention also provides a non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
receiving an image stream at a display screen, wherein the image stream comprises a plurality of images each having aesthetic value;
displaying each image on the display screen in silence without accompanying sound;
displaying each image on the display screen for a display period greater than 1 second and less than 1 minute.
The present invention further provides a system comprising a plurality of networked digital signs each configured to perform the method described above.
The present invention also provides a virtual art gallery comprising a plurality of networked display devices simultaneously displaying display screens generated by the method described above.
Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Referring to
Next, each image in the image stream may be displayed on the display screen in silence without accompanying sound (120). The method 100 ends by displaying each image in the image stream on the display screen for a display period greater than 1 second and less than 1 minute (130). The display period may be between 5 seconds and 30 seconds, for example, around 15 seconds.
The method 100 may further comprise displaying one or more advertising feeds 220 on the display screen 200 adjacent to the image stream 210. The positive aesthetic experience created by the stream of aesthetically pleasing images 210 may act as a “psychological hook” that engages the viewers, and may also act as a “nudge” in the sense of behavioural economics that makes viewers choose to view and engage with the advertising feeds 220.
The method 100 may further comprise displaying various other types of digital content on the display screen 200 adjacent to the stream of aesthetically pleasing images 210. For example, a news feed 230 may be displayed on the display screen 200 adjacent to the image stream 210. Optionally, a financial or business news feed (not shown) may further be displayed on the display screen 200 adjacent to the image stream 210.
A weather feed 240 and a trivia feed 250 may also be displayed on the display screen 200 adjacent to the image stream 210. A welcome message 260 and the time and date 270 may further be displayed on the display screen 200 adjacent to the image stream 210.
The method 100 may further comprise capturing viewer responses of viewers while viewing the image stream 210 on the display screen 200. The viewer responses may, for example, be captured by a camera positioned on the display device adjacent to the display screen 200. The viewer responses may, for example, be analysed by eye tracking software to provide viewer analytics to advertisers. Further or alternatively, the viewer responses may be provide viewer analytics to produce data for behavioural sciences.
A plurality of digital screens may be networked together to perform the method 100 with the same or different image streams and digital content. For example, a plurality of networked digital signs may each be configured to perform the method 100 with location-specific image streams and content feeds. Furthermore, an ad hoc virtual art gallery or display may be generated by performing the method 100 simultaneously on a plurality of networked display devices, such as personal computers in an office space, with different image streams.
The display screens 310 may have one or more audience measurement cameras 350 attached to them. The audience measurement camera 350 may be configured to monitor the number of people viewing content displayed on the display screen 310 and measures the time that they spend viewing. The audience measurement camera 350 may, for example, be configured to measure audience measurement data, such as emotional engagement and body language, The audience measurement data may be transmitted back to back-end analytic systems via network connectivity.
The media players 320, cameras 350 and, optionally, the display screens 310 (collectively, the “appliances”) may be connected to one or more network connectivity devices 360 that provide the ability for the appliances to connect to the back-end servers via the Internet. The network connectivity devices 360 may comprise wired and/or wireless connections between the device 360 and the appliances (eg, WiFi or Bluetooth) and between the network connectivity device and the Internet (eg, a cellular network).
The back-end servers may be hosted with a high-availability, redundant, cloud-based data centre. The back-end servers may operate a number of distinct systems and provide a number of services to manage and deliver the content to the display screens 310. CMS 370 may manage all aspects of the content and where different content is displayed. It may further provide tools for content curation, programming, allocation to screens and administration of advertising and the revenues generated from advertising. These revenues may be wholly or partially generated in cryptocurrencies, for example, Bitcoin. Where content is coursed from third-party feeds, the CMS 370 aggregates and manages that content also providing failover service to ensure uninterrupted operation for the audience.
A network management system (NMS) 380 may manage the network devices including active monitoring of the network and operation of the display screens 310. It may include rule-based automatic recovery of non-operational devices and a status dashboard to support operations. An analytics management system (AMS) 390 may manage audience engagement and correlate the engagement to the content. The AMS 390 may provide the measurement of advertiser value (or return on investment). A management console 400 may provide the ability for operators of the system to interact with the back-end servers. The servers may be cloud-based and hence the management console 400 may be accessed via an Internet-connected, industry-standard web browser. The management console may be multi-faceted to provide functionality to a range of users or operators as follows.
The content management system (CMS) 370 may provide the ability to manage the components within the overall system that are related to the delivery of content to the display screens 310. Elements of the CMS 370 are illustrated in
Location areas 420 may be areas within the host's 410 properties that enable management of groups of locations 420. An example location area 420 for a railway network may be a specific railway station.
Locations 430 may be places within a location area 420 that define where display screens 310 are installed. An example for a railway station may be a specific railway platform. The location 430 may be used to identify location-specific content. An example of this is an advertisement for a shop at that platform.
Screen groups 440 may be known to the system 300 so that individual display screens 310 may be logically grouped together. Screen groups 440 may display the same content simultaneously. An example of this may be a screen group 440 on a specific railway platform where individual display screens 310 in the screen group 440 all display a location-specific widget that shows the next train to arrive at this platform.
Display screens 310 may be individually and selectively managed within the CMS 370 so that content can be assigned to them individually or collectively. This may be done through the allocation of a channel 450 to an individual digital screen 310, or to a screen group 440. Channels 450 may comprise streams of content that are assigned to a specific display screen 310.
To be relevant to a display screen 310, the channel 450 may include layouts 460 that define a combination of screen elements 470 that, together, define the set of content that the audience views on a display screen 310. Layouts 460 may be the mechanism that allows the implementation of the audience engagement model and the way that audiences are presented with multiple items of content that are entertaining, educational, informative and of a commercial nature. Layouts 460 may include a foundation background that has the ability to transition to a colour that is appropriate to the rest of the content.
Screen elements 470 may be the components of the display screen 310 that are presented together in a layout 460. The layouts 460 may comprise multiple, complimentary screen elements 470 that synergistically work together in a hierarchical manner to maximise audience interest and engagement. As described above, screen elements 470 may comprise digital content as follows.
Feeds 480 may comprise sources of digital content or data that are presented within a channel 450 as screen element 470 widgets. The feeds 480 may represent live or third-party data that does not originate within the CMS 370 or its media library 490. An example of a feed 480 is a weather feed 240 of the current weather at a location. The feeds 480 may, for example, further or alternatively comprise generic information feeds.
The media library 490 may comprise a set of content items or objects such as images, videos, questions and answers, logos, etc. Media library 490 items may be associated with a screen element 470 within a channel 450.
A content service 500 may comprise a set of media library 490 items associated with a screen element 470, within a layout 460, or within a channel 450. An example of this may comprise a set of main stage aesthetic, inspirational images (with annotations) within a layout 460 for a public transport system for a specific platform of a railway station in a railway line.
The AMS 390 may be integrated with the CMS 370 to deliver content to a particular display screen 310 that can be dynamically adapted to suit the audience as the analytics cameras 350 detect changes or patterns with the audience currently viewing. This adaptive content delivery may be controlled by rules programmed into the CMS 370 using AMS 390 dynamic analytic data.
The components that support the functionality of the system 300 may comprise the back-end servers and the media player 320. These two components may remain operational for the system 300 to be operational. Due to the complexity of the activities that they perform they are monitored for correct operation and corrective action performed if needed.
The NMS 380 may provide functionality to perform media player 320 polling by sending the media players 320 a small message and awaiting a response from the media player 320. If the media player 320 responds, then that information is stored in a database as being a successful poll. A history of media player 320 successful polls may be accessed via the management console 400. The most recent successful poll time may be displayed when the attributes of the media player 320 are viewed in the management console 400. If a media player 320 fails to respond to a poll then this is an alert situation and may result in automatic recovery or display of the alert on the management console's 400 dashboard.
The NMS 380 may be further configured to listen for media player 320 monitoring check-in advice. The media players 320 may be configured to check-in to the NMS 380 on a regular basis. The NMS 380 may receive the check-in messages and store the time of the check-in in the database. The most recent successful check-in time may be displayed when the attributes of the media player 320 are viewed in the management console 400. If a media player 320 fails to check-in within the expected interval, then this may be an alert situation and may result in automatic recovery or display of the alert on the management console's 400 dashboard.
The NMS 380 may comprise a dashboard that displays the health of the network and devices. It may display alerts where devices or components of the system 300 are not operating correctly. The alerts may provide click-thru capability to allow an operator to take corrective action on devices that are not operating correctly. The NMS 380 may further be configured to provide automatic recovery for devices that are not operating correctly. This capability may use rules and triggers to invoke automatic restart of devices that have failed to respond to polling and/or have failed to check-in within an acceptable interval.
Each location 430 may use a layout template 460 that presents the screen elements in an aesthetically engaging manner. There may be multiple layout templates because they are specific to the screen elements 470 that are in use at each location 430.
There may be multiple screen elements 470 per layout template that synergistically work together in a hierarchical manner to hold the attention of the audience beyond their individual potential. This multiple simultaneous hierarchical visual stimulation (MSHVS) may comprise multiple screen elements 470 that contribute to the user experience in different ways such as the main stage 210 providing inspirational content while the general information element provides educational content. Screen elements may comprise two or more of the following objects.
The functionality of the system 300 may significantly enhance or improve the audience's user experience. This improvement may represent an altruistic aspect to stimulate neuroplasticity and deliver environmental enrichment to the audience. The medical benefits of neuroplasticity stimulation further enrich the user experience providing an additional layer of benefit to the audience hence adding additional value.
Each layout template may present content in the form of a channel 470 that has been curated and programmed for the specific location. In performing the curation and programming, the curator may take into consideration the location, the typical audience at the location, past analytics from that location, and the availability of location specific feeds. These factors may further differentiate the system 300 from legacy methods and provide enhanced user experience and value to the audience.
Elements and components of the method 100 and system 300 can be implemented in different languages or multiple languages. For example, the main stage 210, advertising 220, news feed 230, weather feed 240, general information or trivia feed 250, welcome message 260, date and time 270 may be implemented with multi-language capability.
The silent nature of the content delivered by the method 100 and system 300 may provide more versatility in screen location, and for there to be multiple concurrently operating display screens 310. Where multiple display screens 310 are deployed, the audience may have a choice of content and may be further enriched by the multiple sets of content available. Multiple display screens 310 may be harmonious to entice the audience, and may concurrently present multiple languages and formats to cater to culturally diverse audiences.
The analytics aspect of the system 300 may provide the ability to measure and capture audience engagement data, and then correlate it with content plus advertising. This may provide the ability to refine content to optimise the audience engagement plus provide accurate audience engagement figures to advertisers so that they can assess the effectiveness of the advertising. The analytics capture and processing functionality may comprise the following elements.
The analytics reporting functionality may be able to provide the following metrics.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system that are useful for displaying aesthetic images in conjunction with digital advertising. The aesthetic images may positively change or alter the minds of viewers in the sense that the plurality of aesthetic images may provide environmental enrichment to, and evoke neuroplasticity in, the viewers. As discussed above, conventional digital signage displays advertising to the audience on the basis that it will be noticed and the audience will respond. Although this approach can be effective, there is no implicit reason for the audience to be engaged by the advertising. It has long been the challenge for advertising executives to create engaging advertisements but even the most creative and engaging advertisements, once viewed once or twice, are no longer engaging. Conventional digital advertisers have even resorted to inclusion of attention-seeking sounds, often in situations where the introduction of sound is unnecessary and has an adverse impact to the situation. The result is digital signage content that seeks attention at the expense of a quality user experience for the audience. In contrast, embodiments of the present invention intrinsically engage through the presentation of inspirational, educational and informative content to the audience. The premise of embodiments of the invention is a vastly better user experience for the audience. When presented in a digital signage situation the audience is attracted to view the content for the aesthetic value it provides. This engaging content is then augmented, in a non-intrusive manner, with commercial advertising to provide a monetary return to the operator, the host of the digital signage screens and the author of the content. Embodiments of the invention deliver the engaging content in a silent fashion resulting in no collateral impact to the surrounding environment plus making the user experience complete even where there is ambient sound present.
Embodiments of the invention deliver location specific content to further enhance the user experience. The content is curated and tailored to unleash the established benefits from stimulating neuroplasticity and providing environmental enrichment to the audience. The silent nature of embodiments of the invention provides a non-invasive user experience whilst also providing the versatility to exist unobtrusively and in high ambient noise situations. The silent nature also provides the ability for multiple display screens to operate harmoniously for a culturally diverse audience using multiple languages.
The use of audience measurement technology integrated with the content delivery mechanism provides the ability to measure engagement and effectiveness and for the content to be optimised so that it remains relevant over time. In addition, the audience measurement integration provides the ability for the rule-based adaptive delivery of dynamic content based on the audience demographics and behaviour.
For the purpose of this specification, the word “comprising” means “including but not limited to,” and the word “comprises” has a corresponding meaning.
The above embodiments have been described by way of example only and modifications are possible within the scope of the claims that follow.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016905049 | Dec 2016 | AU | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/AU2017/051347 | 12/7/2017 | WO | 00 |
