Embodiments generally relate to electronic displays typically used for advertising, information, and point of sale applications.
Electronic displays are now being used in indoor, outdoor, and semi-outdoor environments for advertising, information, as well as point of sale applications. Generally speaking, once installed, it is desirable to ensure operation throughout the life of the device. Downtime can be costly in that advertising revenue and opportunities can be lost, information will not be effectively transmitted to the public, and customers cannot view the purchase options in a point of sale application.
The exemplary embodiments herein provide a system and method for monitoring one or more remote electronic displays for possible failures, and providing system logic so that failures can be addressed immediately by the system, without requiring any user intervention. The system can monitor a number of system attributes such as heartbeat signals, status messages, LED light signals, video/image frame data, and network communications, while making near instantaneous changes in operation of the device in order to reduce or eliminate downtime of the displays.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following more detailed description of the particular embodiments, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
A better understanding of an exemplary embodiment will be obtained from a reading of the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings wherein identical reference characters refer to identical parts and in which:
The invention is described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the exemplary embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. In the drawings, the size and relative sizes of layers and regions may be exaggerated for clarity.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Embodiments of the invention are described herein with reference to illustrations that are schematic illustrations of idealized embodiments (and intermediate structures) of the invention. As such, variations from the shapes of the illustrations as a result, for example, of manufacturing techniques and/or tolerances, are to be expected. Thus, embodiments of the invention should not be construed as limited to the particular shapes of regions illustrated herein but are to include deviations in shapes that result, for example, from manufacturing.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
Initially it should be noted that one of ordinary skill in the art understands that electronic displays as described herein are capable of displaying both still images as well as videos. Thus, it should be recognized that the terms ‘image’ and ‘video’ may be used interchangeably herein. Further, one having an ordinary level of skill in the arts will also understand that the electrical connections described herein may be wired or wireless.
A timing and control board (TCON) 102 is preferably in electrical connection with the system control board 101 as well as the electronic display 30. A primary video player 103a is also preferably in electrical connection with the system control board 101. An optional secondary video player 103b may also be in electrical connection with the system control board 101. Each video player preferably includes a power button 104 and a power LED 105 (labeled 104a, 105a, 104b, and 105b, respectively). Similar to the power button 75, the network interface component 70 may be electrically connected to the power button 104 and the power LED 105 as well as the power supply source to the video players 103a and 103b by way of the system control board 101 such that the system may simulate physically pressing the power button 104 as well as physically removing the power supply to the video players 103 and reattaching it.
A network operations center device 200 preferably contains at least a processor 51, electronic storage 61, and a network interface component 71 which communicates with the network interface component 70 on the display assembly 200a. Two other display assemblies 200b and 200c are shown in electrical connection with the network operations center device 200, and each would preferably have the same components as shown and described for the display assembly 200a, but this is not required. In some embodiments however, there could be even more than three display assemblies in electrical connection with the network operations center device.
In this embodiment, the system may then monitor the video player 103a to see if it is communicating, thus indicating normal operation. The system may monitor the video player 103a by checking for a heartbeat signal, which is periodically generated by the video player 103a to indicate normal operation or to synchronize other parts of the system. Alternatively, the system may monitor the signal from the power LED 105 to see if it is active. As another alternative, the system may transmit a ping to see if the video player 103a responds. In still further alternate embodiments, the system may check for status messages that may be periodically sent from the player 103a to the control board 101. If the video player 103a is communicating though any of the aforementioned or other means, the system may continue to apply power to the video player 103a.
If the video player 103a is not communicating, the system may do one of two things. First, the system may initiate a recovery sequence as described in greater detail in
Regardless, if the video player 103 is communicating, the system may return to the beginning of the logic and simply apply power to the video player 103a while continuing to monitor the signal from the power LED 105a.
Those having an ordinary level of skill in the arts will recognize that any threshold of amount, frequency, or type of failure data or downtime events may be set such that the system will not switch between the primary player 103a and the secondary player 103b until the threshold has been met or exceeded.
Under normal operating conditions, the system may drive the display 30 from the first video player 103a. However, once the system switches to the secondary player 103b, the system would preferably check to determine if the second video player 103b is communicating. If so, the system may continue normal operations with the second video player 103b. If not, the system may then do one of two things. First, the system may initiate a recovery sequence on the second video player 103b as previously discussed. Second, or in addition, the system may check to see if the first video player 103a is communicating. Preferably, the system first initiates the recovery sequence and only checks to see if the primary players is communicating after finding that the recovery sequence in unsuccessful. If the first video player 103a is communicating, the system may switch back to the first video player 103a. If not, the system may store a downtime event or failure data at the system control board 101 and optionally transmit the downtime event or failure data to the NOC device 200. In some embodiments, the system may perform both functions when the first video player 103a is not communicating. Further, if both the first and second video players 103a and 103b are not communicating, the system may direct the display assembly 200d to remain in a failure or downtime event condition. For example, but without limitation, the failure or downtime event condition may display a default or error message.
In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the system may first simulate a short push of the power button 104a for the video player 103a and allow time for it to restart. The system may then check to see if the video player 103a is communicating. If so, the system may store a downtime event and optionally may transmit the downtime event to the network operations center 200. If not, the system may simulate a long push of the power button 104a and allow time for the video player 103a to reboot. The system may then check to see if the video player 103a is communicating. If so, the system may store a downtime event and optionally may transmit the downtime event to the network operations center 200. If not, the system may cease applying power to the video player 103a, wait a predetermined amount of time, and reapply power to the video player.
Optionally, the system may then check to see if the video player 103a is communicating. If so, the system may store a downtime event and optionally may transmit the downtime event to the network operations center 200. If not, the system may store a failure, optionally place the display assembly 200d in a default or failure mode, and optionally may transmit the failure to the network operations center 200.
While the recovery sequence is discussed with respect to the video player 103a and the respective power button 104a, it may be utilized with the second video player 103b and the respective power button 104b, the power button 75, as well as with other components of the system.
As used herein, a downtime event and/or failure is a data package representing any number of pieces of data including but not limited to the date and time for when the particular portion of the system went down, specifically which component of the system went down, how long the component was down, and the date and time for when operations resumed.
In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and as discussed herein, the first video player 103a may be designated as the primary player, and the second video player 103b may be designated as the secondary player, though the reverse is contemplated.
The electronic display 30 can be any flat panel electronic display including but not limited to: liquid crystal displays (LCD), organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, plasma displays, electroluminescent polymer displays, and the like.
Those having an ordinary level of skill in the arts will recognize that the buttons described herein, such as but not limited to the power button 75 and the power button 104, may be physical buttons or may be non-physical buttons such as an electrical signal, switch, circuit, transistor, or the like.
Having shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention, those skilled in the art will realize that many variations and modifications may be made to affect the described invention and still be within the scope of the claimed invention. Additionally, many of the elements indicated above may be altered or replaced by different elements which will provide the same result and fall within the spirit of the claimed invention. It is the intention, therefore, to limit the invention only as indicated by the scope of the claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/216,470, filed Sep. 10, 2015, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
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