When John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise in the movie "Minority Report", enters, in the year 2054, a clothing store, the screens around him show him information exclusive to him; well, actually, for Mr. Yukkamoto, the original owner of the eyes that Anderton uses at the time, and thanks to which, the information system has "identified" him and displayed personalized information.
Although the day has not yet come when a system recognizes people by their iris and, consequently, deploys commercial information adjusted to their profile, digital signage systems are approaching in a certain sense. Taking advantage of different means of transmission such as cable, satellite, terrestrial connections and, of course, IP networks, these systems have the great flexibility to manage and distribute various types of information (video, news, advertising, computer files, weather information, local data, etc.), through different receivers such as LCD screens or set-top boxes, to specific audiences.
Digital Signage Solutions
Some cases allow us to better illustrate the operation of digital signage systems. Touché!phd, the office of PHD Canada, an Omnicom Media Group company, installed X2O Media's Xpresenter solution to manage its internal TV channel. The channel was created to bring the latest news and advertising opportunities to the Touché!phd team. Through three monitors located in different areas of the company, Touché!phd can stream videos, present PowerPoint files, issue commercials, send text messages for its employees, offer information about the weather or give news in real time in an information bar on the screen.
The Xpresenter solution allows users of PowerPoint, from Microsoft, to produce broadcast quality graphics, which incorporate animations, clip arts, video clips, real-time data sources, without ever leaving the PowerPoint interface. Xpresenter includes a gallery of graphic template styles, customizable dashboards, video previews, and tools to quickly adapt the size of presentations to the dimensions of different screens.
In the United States, cable operator Cable One uses MediaXtreme and Key West Technology's MediaCreator to create, schedule and broadcast birthday, grade, anniversary, personal messages and commercial classifieds on its Coast TV 13 channel. Most are 15-second ads, containing graphics, background images, texts and logos with audio. The system also has the function of image in picture, to insert commercial videos in a quadrant of the screen.
Across the globe, in Australia, Australian Alpine Enterprises uses Harris' InfoCaster solution to bring real-time information on suitable skiing conditions to users of its Falls Creek and Mount Hotham winter resorts.
A single team from Harris' InfoCaster allows cable content creators and distributors to make real-time information changes as required by current circumstances. With this solution, the company Australian Alpine Enterprises brings its visitors, in all areas of the winter seasons, updated information, including transport prices, temperature, events, recommendations for skiing, etc.
Due to the characteristics of the Falls Creek winter season, Harris had to install an 802.11b wireless network to bring the information from the internal channel to the ten screens scattered throughout the mountains that made up the station. In the case of mount Hotham station, they installed a network administrator and three players. Two of these were used in the area of ticket purchase: one as a channel for visitors and the other as a point of sale channel. The third is used as a channel over the internal master system of the television antenna.
On the other hand, for hosting providers, InfoValue developed SuiteTV: an advanced digital, video streaming solution that offers services ranging from on-demand movies of the highest quality HDTV to interactive digital television and digital video network recording. The Suite TV solution also allows direct marketing, advertisements and promotions in the guest's room, depending on the guest's profile.
The TV Suite consists of several modules that can be installed all at once or in different stages. One of them, InfoValue DigitalSignage allows the hotel to provide commercial information or dynamic advertising in the different areas of the hotel. The solution gives the possibility to originate from the same workstation of the hotel's equipment room, providing unique content, even to specific screens. This option can be used to communicate information to convention attendees in their own room, in the corridor or in special areas of the facility.
