System and method for remotely monitoring and adjusting electronic displays

• US 10,325,536 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2017
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Manufacturing Resources International, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Manufacturing Resources International, Inc.
• Inventors: Schuch, John, De Laet, Rick
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Gene W
• Application Number:
  US15/804,731
• Publication Number:
  US 20180061297A1
• Time in Patent Office: 589 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2320/08 Arrangements within a display terminal for setting, manually or automatically, display parameters of the display terminal
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/145 the light originating from the display screen
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/042 for monitor identification
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/006 Electronic inspection or testing of displays and display drivers, e.g. of LED or LCD displays testing individual LED's G01R31/2635; testing lamps G01R31/44; testing of optical features of LCD displays G02F1/1309
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators and other visual indicators image data processing or generation, in general G06T
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/003 Details of a display terminal, the details relating to the control arrangement of the display terminal and to the interfaces thereto specific for a CRT G09G1/165; for a flat panel G09G3/2092
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/00 Diagnosis, testing or measuring for television systems or their details
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 17/004 for digital television systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41415 involving a public display, viewable by several users in a public space outside their home, e.g. movie theatre, information kiosk
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4424 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the client device, e.g. CPU or memory load, processing speed, timer, counter or percentage of the hard disk space used error monitoring in general G06F11/30; arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/32; diagnosis, testing or measuring for television receivers H04N17/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4425 Monitoring of client processing errors or hardware failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

A system and method for remotely monitoring and controlling one or more electronic displays. The electronic display may be in communication with a network connection, which can be used to establish communication with a local area network and/or the internet to transmit reports and/or other data to a remote location. A color light sensor is provided and measures at least one attribute of a watermark that is displayed at least periodically on the electronic display. Operational characteristics of the electronic display may be determined via feedback from the color light sensor. Data from the color light sensor may be used at least to determine proper electronic display operation, to track content runtime, and/or for proof of play purposes.

Claims

1. A system for remotely-monitoring an electronic display, comprising:

an electronic display having a backplane;

a network connection with the backplane;

a watermark displayed on the electronic display;

a color light sensor electrically connected with the backplane, the color light sensor located and configured to view the watermark, to measure one or more characteristics of the watermark, and to send measured watermark characteristic data via the network to a remote location that is different from the location of the electronic display; and

an initial set of stored watermark attribute data measured by the color light sensor, the initial set of measured watermark attribute data serving as a baseline for comparison with later watermark attribute data measured by the color light sensor;

wherein measured watermark characteristic data from the color light sensor is usable to determine whether one or more operating parameters of the electronic display are operating within an acceptable range.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the watermark is a predetermined grouping of image elements.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the watermark displays a specific color or set pattern of colors.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the watermark is a predetermined shape that cycles through a plurality of different colors.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to automatically display the watermark on the electronic display.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to display the watermark on the electronic display only upon the instruction of a user.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the watermark is unique to the content being displayed on the electronic display.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the watermark is not unique to the content being displayed on the electronic display.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is further configured to store a set of expected watermark characteristic data, and to report an electronic display operation error when the measured watermark characteristic data obtained from the color light sensor differs by more than some preset value from the stored set of expected watermark characteristic data.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the electronic display operation error is transmittable via the network connection to a remote user.

11. A method for remotely monitoring the operation of an electronic display, comprising:

providing an electronic display having a backplane;

electrically connecting a controller of the electronic display with the backplane;

placing a network connection in communication with the backplane;

locating a color light sensor in front of the electronic display, the color light sensor electrically connected with the backplane;

displaying an initial watermark on the electronic display and in view of the color light sensor;

using the color light sensor to generate an initial set of measured watermark attribute data from the initial watermark;

storing the initial set of measured watermark attribute data as a baseline for comparison with later watermark attribute data measured by the color light sensor;

subsequently displaying a second watermark on the electronic display and in view of the color light sensor;

using the color light sensor to measure at least one attribute of the second watermark;

transmitting measured second watermark attribute data from the color light sensor to the controller;

based on the measured second watermark attribute data received from the color light sensor, using the controller to determine whether at least one operating parameter of the electronic display is within an acceptable range; and

when the at least one operating parameter of the electronic display is not within an acceptable range, reporting the same to a remote location that is different from the location of the electronic display.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

upon reporting of an unacceptable operating parameter of the electronic display to the remote location, adjusting the unacceptable operating parameter of the electronic display from the remote location.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the second watermark is automatically displayed on the electronic display.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the second watermark is displayed on the electronic display only upon instruction from the remote location.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the second watermark is a grouping of image elements that are configured to display a characteristic selected from the group consisting of a specific color, a set pattern of colors, or a series of periodically changing colors.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the displayed second watermark is unique to the content being displayed on the electronic display.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising using watermark measurement data from the color light sensor to determine the play time of various content displayed on the electronic display.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising using watermark measurement data from the color light sensor to identify or verify content displayed on the electronic display.

19. A method for remotely monitoring and reporting operating errors of an electronic display, comprising:

providing an electronic display having a backplane;

electrically connecting a controller of the electronic display with the backplane;

placing a network connection in communication with the backplane and with a remote location that is different from the location of the electronic display;

locating a color light sensor in front of the electronic display, the color light sensor electrically connected with the backplane;

displaying an initial watermark on the electronic display and in view of the color light sensor, the watermark comprising a grouping of image elements that are configured to display a characteristic selected from the group consisting of a specific color, a set pattern of colors, or a series of periodically changing colors;

using the color light sensor to generate an initial set of measured watermark attribute data from the initial watermark;

storing the initial set of measured watermark attribute data as a baseline for comparison with later watermark attribute data measured by the color light sensor;

subsequently displaying a second watermark on the electronic display and in view of the color light sensor;

using the color light sensor to measure at least one attribute of the second watermark;

transmitting measured second watermark attribute data from the color light sensor to the controller;

based on the measured second watermark attribute data received from the color light sensor, using the controller to determine whether at least one operating parameter of the electronic display is operating within some predetermined acceptable range; and

reporting an error to the remote location if the at least one operating parameter of the electronic display is determined to be outside the acceptable range.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising adjusting the at least one operating parameter from the remote location.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the error indicates that a component of the electronic display or the entire electronic display needs to be replaced.