Digital signage network
First Claim
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1. A digital signage network comprising:
- a plurality of content sources, each of the plurality generating content formatted in accordance with a common data model; and
at least one distribution node connected upstream to at least one of the plurality of content sources and connected downstream to a plurality of display node devices,wherein the plurality of content sources and the at least one distribution node include a subscription engine for receiving an aggregated subscription request initiated from the plurality of display node devices such that the aggregated subscription request is propogated upstream to the plurality of content sources, and wherein new content corresponding to the received aggregated subscription request is stored in a queue until the new content matches the aggregated subscription request, and when the queued new content matches the aggregated subscription request, the at least one distribution node automatically pushes the new content downstream by at least one of the plurality of content sources from the queue through the corresponding at least one distribution node to the corresponding display node devices, wherein the new content received from said plurality of content sources is divided into ordered content layers, live data is bound to the ordered content layers, threads are created for each of the ordered content layers, and the threads are flattened and rendered by different processors in parallel, and wherein the display node devices are configured to receive and display the rendered, flattened threads.
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Abstract
A digital signage network employs a common data model and a subscription system to disseminate data gathered from a plurality of data sources to a number of displays. The network nodes interact with each other as content sources, content consumers, or both, with some systems acting as consumers to upstream sources and acting as sources to downstream consumers. The presentation of the data on a digital signage display allows for real-time binding of live data to provide a rich display effect.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A digital signage network comprising:
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a plurality of content sources, each of the plurality generating content formatted in accordance with a common data model; and at least one distribution node connected upstream to at least one of the plurality of content sources and connected downstream to a plurality of display node devices, wherein the plurality of content sources and the at least one distribution node include a subscription engine for receiving an aggregated subscription request initiated from the plurality of display node devices such that the aggregated subscription request is propogated upstream to the plurality of content sources, and wherein new content corresponding to the received aggregated subscription request is stored in a queue until the new content matches the aggregated subscription request, and when the queued new content matches the aggregated subscription request, the at least one distribution node automatically pushes the new content downstream by at least one of the plurality of content sources from the queue through the corresponding at least one distribution node to the corresponding display node devices, wherein the new content received from said plurality of content sources is divided into ordered content layers, live data is bound to the ordered content layers, threads are created for each of the ordered content layers, and the threads are flattened and rendered by different processors in parallel, and wherein the display node devices are configured to receive and display the rendered, flattened threads. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 19, 20)
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13. A method of transmitting data in a digital signage network having a plurality of content sources, at least one distribution node connected upstream to at least one of the plurality of content sources and connected downstream to a plurality of display node devices, the method comprising:
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initiating a subscription request from each of the display node devices; combining the subscription requests from each of the display node devices into an aggregated subscription request; propogating the aggregated subscription request upstream through the at least one distribution node to the plurality of content sources; determining, through the plurality of content sources, if new content corresponding to the received aggregated subscription request is available, and if so, queuing the new content until the new content matching the aggregated subscription request is received from the plurality of content sources, and when the new content matching the aggregated subscription request is received, pushing the new content to the display node devices by propagating the new content through the corresponding distribution node to the corresponding display node devices, wherein the new content received from the plurality of content sources is formatted in accordance with a common data model and divided into ordered content layers, live data is bound to the ordered content layers, threads are created for each of the ordered content layers, and the threads are flattened and rendered by different processors in parallel; receiving the threads at the display node devices; and displaying the threads on the display node devices, wherein at least one of said threads overlaps a plurality of other of said threads on said display node device. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A digital signage network comprising:
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a display node comprising at least a processor and a display, the display node for; transmitting a first subscription request relating to a defined set of content according to a predetermined template from the display node to a distribution node connected to a plurality of content sources, the first subscription request causing the distribution node to send a second subscription request to at least one content source of the plurality of content sources; receiving at the display node new content formatted to a common data model and relating the new content to at least a predetermined portion of the defined set of content, the predetermined portion of the defined set of content being received from the at least one content source of the plurality of content sources; dividing the predetermined portion of the defined set of content into ordered content layers, binding live data to the ordered content layers, creating threads for each of the ordered content layers, and flattening and rendering the threads as flattened content by different processors in parallel; and displaying the flattened content on a predetermined portion of the display of the display node, the flattened content being generated by the display node by flattening and combining according to the predetermined template a predetermined subset of the predetermined portion of the content formatted according to the common data model received from the at least one content source of the plurality of content sources the distribution node comprising at least a processor, the distribution node for; receiving the first subscription request from the display node; generating and transmitting the second subscription request to the at least one content source of the plurality of content sources, wherein each of the plurality of content sources receiving the second subscription request providing new content formatted according to the common data model employing a plurality of unflattened content layers and relating to a predetermined portion of the set of content determined in dependence upon at least the first subscription request; receiving the new content formatted according to the common data model from the at least one content source of the plurality of content sources; determining that the received new content formatted according to the common data model is part of the defined set of content; and transmitting the received new content formatted according to the common data model from the distribution node to the display node, the plurality of content sources, each of the plurality of content sources providing new content in response to the second subscription request and formatted in accordance with the common data model, dividing the new content into ordered content layers, binding live data to the ordered content layers, creating threads for each of the ordered content layers, and flattening and rendering the threads as new flattened content by different processors in parallel; and displaying the new flattened content on the display node.
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Specification