Digital Signage, Brief Glossary of Digital Signage Terminology
Glossary of Digital Signage Terminology
Below are terms and concepts related to digital signage. Terminology has been broken down to general, as well as specific terminology for the digital signage platforms that we support.
General Terminology
Digital Signage Network: A collection of digital signs under the scope of responsibility of a a given organization. This responsibility can be defined in terms of content creation/management, player management, installation. and/or content management systems.
RS232 Control: RS-232 is a communications protocol that allows computers to talk to many devices. Enabling control of the display monitor requires establishing the RS-232 connection and programming the control functions. With the proper components and configuration, Content Player has the ability to control the display monitor via an RS-232 connection, allowing the player to turn the monitor on / off, set the volume, set the video input, and issue an automatic adjust command, all accomplished with real-time controls or as functions of signage content.
Poppulo (FourWinds, FWi) Terminology
Content Manager Desktop: Content Manager Desktop (CMD) is the client application used to build and deploy digital signs.
Content Players: Defined in the Content Manager Network Overview, players represent the individual computing devices that display digital signage content. Digital signage players use Content Player software which runs on several platforms, though Microsoft Windows-based clients are primarily used on Urbana campus.
Network Overview: The interface pane in Content Manager that organizes manages signs, scheduled templates, scheduled content, playlists, and channels.
Locations: Within the Content Manager Network Overview, Locations are used to organize digital signs by physical location, organization, sign type, or other logical criteria.
Templates: Templates are used to divide a digital signage screen into distinct regions used to display content or as design elements.
Regions: A region is an area on a template where content is played and interactivity is defined. Regions can have size, shape, locations; background image or color (with opacity); and can be layered in relation to other regions.
Timeline: The Timeline View helps a user visualize the scheduling of content and templates. The view displays horizontal bars that line up with the templates, regions, and content items of the Network Overview. A purple bar indicates the scheduling for a template, yellow indicates the scheduling for a region or individual content item, and blue indicates the scheduling of a category. Solid bars display when an item is set to play all day, every day with no end date. Bars with breaks indicate special scheduling.
Preview Pane: Allows a sign developer to see a working version of their digital sign in Content Manager Desktop without having to deploy it to an active player.