RevelDigital Blog

Automated alerting has always been a feature provided by the Revel Digital platform, but was restricted to emergency alerts from the NWS (National Weather Service) or EAS (Emergency Alert System). We have expanded on this to now allow monitoring for alerts from any CAP provider. CAP stands for Common Alerting Protocol which is a standard data format developed by FEMA for disseminating emergency information. Not only does the NWS and EAS now conform to this protocol, but any 3rd party is free to implement services utilizing the same protocol as well. This means services such as Blackboard Connect are able to provide emergency alert feeds which can then monitored by other services such as Revel Digital.

See our KB article for more information on configuring your digital signage to monitor CAP feeds.

This blog series has explored the various ways in which digital signage can interact with it's environment. In this post we will focus on the audience and how it's possible to adapt signage content in real-time based on viewer attributes. It's important to recognize that the data collected in this process is completely anonymous and can in no way be used to track individual viewers.
What is face detection? By using what's called 'computer vision', it's possible to algorithmically determine the number of faces in a video frame along with approximations for age, gender, and even mood. This data can then be used in real-time to adapt signage to better match the make-up of the current audience. For example, if the audience is primarily male, then adjust the playlist to include more male oriented content. By targeting the right demographic you are automatically improving the value of your content.
What is audience analytics? Audience analytics is taking the aud…

The button, arguably the most basic of computer human interfaces. The button is a powerhouse in the kiosk industry with screens everywhere urging viewers to 'touch here to learn more'. While it's true the button is intrinsically boring, it's also an essential element to a kiosk design. This blog series has been focusing on how users interact with digital signage. In this post we will explore the utility of the button and how to turn your digital sign into an interactive kiosk.

When I think of a button I envision something like this red 'push me' button which hearkens back to my days in the arcade. In the modern era, however, the button has been assimilated right into the display itself. With touch screens there is no longer the requirement for a physical button, but rather an image resembling a button, somewhere on the screen which reacts to touch.


Enough button prologue, let's create a simple kiosk.

Demonstration For the button demo we will create a simple…

We have rolled out a new feature to assist with managing a large collection of images. Any image uploaded to your account will now be analyzed and a set of relevant tags will be extracted. This works by using computer vision to determine what the image is composed of in terms of colors and basic objects. The generated tags are simply suggestions and can always be modified or removed.

The following video demonstrates uploading an image of a car. The tags generated include car, vehicle, and motor vehicle. Since the tags can then be searched for this makes it easy to find an image of a car regardless of how it's named in your account.

This next post in our series on integrating digital signage with the physical world will focus on motion detection. In the world of digital signage, motion detection is used primarily for detecting the presence of a viewer. When no-one is actively viewing the signage it might make sense to display some sort of  'attract screen' which can capture the viewers attention. Then, when a viewer is in front of the display, switch to a more concise message. In many instances digital signage with audio can become repetitious and annoying to people in earshot of the display all day long. This can be remedied by adjusting volume or muting the signage all together when nobody is present. Some motion sensors also have the ability to determine the distance to a viewer which can be beneficial for fine tuning the activation of your signage. Not only can motion detection be used to adjust your digital signage in real-time, but can also be used a simple metric for counting opportunities to see …

This is the first in our multi-part series on interfacing digital signage with the physical world. We will cover a number of various sensor technologies and how they can be utilized by the Revel Digital platform.

Digital signage has become much more of a dynamic medium where the content is driven in part by real-time conditions and environmental context. Advertisers would much rather pay for adverts when there is a suitable context (eg. it's raining so advertise umbrellas), and when they know someone is attentive or at least in the proximity of the sign. Context can also be defined by a person physically interacting with an item (ie. lift and learn). In these instances, sensors in smart shelving can trigger specific signage based on the item of interest. There is a vast array of sensor technologies now available to meet the criteria for context awareness in digital signage and we hope this series will help to better understand how those technologies can be utilized in your digita…