Granted Patent B2

US 12,363,379 · App. 18/394,492 · Granted Jul 15, 2025

Inventor: William Dunn (Alpharetta, GA)

Assignee: Manufacturing Resources International, Inc.

H04N21/44204H04N21/812

Abstract

Claims (77)

1. A proof of play information system, said system comprising:

one or more electronic display assemblies, each comprising:

an electronic display configured to display images;

a media player configured to provide content items for display at the electronic display, including static content items, each of which comprises a single advertising image for display in each play instance for a period of consecutive seconds; and

a unit controller electronically interposed between the media player and the electronic display and comprising software instructions, which when executed, configure one or more processors to:

generate redundancy check codes for the content items transmitted from the media player to the electronic display such that redundancy check codes are consistently generated for the content items, including consecutively generating the consistent redundancy check code for each of the static content items in each of the play instances; and

determine if a consistent redundancy check code is consecutively generated for a respective one of the content items in a respective one of the play instances, and if so, cause a play count associated with the respective one of the content items to be incremented, wherein the play count is stored in memory and maintained over time such that non-consecutive play instances of respective one of the content items result in cumulative increases to the play count.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

the memory comprises a database comprising the redundancy check codes for at least some of the content items, each associated with one of the play counts; and

an operations controller in electronic communication with each of the one or more electronic display assemblies and comprising software instructions, which when executed, configure one or more processors of the operations controller to: determine if the consistent, consecutively generated redundancy check code generated for the respective one of the play instances is stored in the database, and if so, increment the play count associated with the consistent, consecutively generated redundancy check code, and if not, create a new entry for the respective one of the content items comprising the consistent, consecutively generated redundancy check code.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein:

the operations controller comprises additional software instructions, which when executed, configure the one or more processors of the operations controller to: where the new entry is created, increment the play count for the new entry from zero to one.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein:

the new entry for the respective one of the content items comprises a copy of at least one image for the respective one of the content items.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein:

the copy of the at least one image for the respective one of the content items comprises a compressed version of the at least one image.

6. The system of claim 2 wherein:

each of the one or more electronic display assemblies comprise a network connectivity device in electronic communication with the unit controller; and

the database and the operations controller are remote from the one or more electronic display assemblies.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein:

at least some of the one or more processors are remote from the one or more electronic display assemblies.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the one or more processors are each part of a respective one of the unit controllers of the one or more electronic display assemblies such that the one or more processors are local to the one or more electronic display assemblies.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the unit controller of each of the one or more electronic display assemblies comprises additional software instructions, which when executed, configure the one or more processors to, or the system further comprises an operations controller in electronic communication with each of the one or more electronic display assemblies and comprising software instructions, which when executed, configure one or more processors of the operations controller to: for each instance the consistent redundancy check code is consecutively generated for the respective one of the content items, identify a first time and a last time the consistent redundancy check code is consecutively generated for the respective one of the content items and record a duration between the first time and the last time as a duration of play for the respective one of the content items.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein:

each of the redundancy check codes comprises a cyclic redundancy check code.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein:

each of the redundancy check codes comprise a checksum.

12. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

each of the one or more electronic display assemblies comprise a field programmable gate array electronically interposed between the controller and the electronic display.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the content items comprise dynamic content items, each comprising at least one video comprising multiple of the images; and

the unit controller of each of the one or more electronic display assemblies comprises additional software instructions, which when executed, configure the one or more processors to: numerically amalgamate a respective set of the redundancy check codes generated for each of the dynamic content items into a single code.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the one or more electronic display assemblies comprise multiple electronic display assemblies;

the play counts are associated with users;

at least two of the play counts associated with a given one of the unit controllers of a given one of the electronic display assemblies are each associated with different ones of the users; and

the unit controller of each of the electronic display assemblies comprises additional software instructions, which when executed, configure the one or more processors to, or the system further comprises an operations controller in electronic communication with each of the electronic display assemblies and comprising software instructions, which when executed, configure one or more processors of the operations controller to:

receive a request for a proof of play report for a user;

retrieve the play counts associated with the user; and

generate a report comprising the retrieved play counts.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein:

the play counts are associated with the users by way of customer identifiers;

the request comprises a respective one of the customer identifiers; and

the retrieved play counts comprise those associated with the respective one of the customer identifiers.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein:

the electronic display of each of the one or more electronic display assemblies comprises a directly backlit liquid crystal type display housed within a structural assembly comprising at least one airflow pathway for ambient air.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein:

at least some of the one or more electronic display assemblies comprise multiple electronic displays; and

the unit controller of each of the electronic display assemblies comprises additional software instructions, which when executed, configure the one or more processors to: generate the redundancy check codes on an electronic display specific basis.

18. A method for providing proof of play information, said method comprising:

providing content items from media players to electronic displays of the electronic display assemblies, including static content items, each comprising a single advertising image displayed in each play instance for a period of consecutive seconds;

generating, by way of controllers electronically interposed between the media players and the electronic displays of the electronic display assemblies, redundancy check codes for the content items transmitted from the media players to the electronic displays such that redundancy check codes are consistently generated for the content items, including consecutively generating the consistent redundancy check code for each of the static content items in each of the play instances;

determining, in at least some of the play instances, that a consistent redundancy check code is consecutively generated for a respective one of the content items, and in such play instances, causing a play count provided at a database and associated with the respective one of the content items to be incremented; and

maintaining the database over time such that non-consecutive play instances of the respective one of the content items result in cumulative increases to the play count.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

storing, at the database and in association with each of the play counts, a compressed version of at least one of the images for the respective one of the content items, wherein each of the play counts is associated with a respective customer identifier, and wherein at least two of the customer identifiers associated with a given one of the electronic display assemblies are different from each other;

receiving a request for a proof of play report from a remote user device, said request comprising a given customer identifier;

retrieving, from the database, the play counts associated with the content items associated with the given customer identifier;

generating a report comprising the retrieved play counts and the compressed versions of the images associated with each of the retrieved play counts; and

transmitting the report to the remote user device.

20. A proof of play information system, said system comprising:

electronic display assemblies, each comprising:

an electronic display configured to display images;

a media player configured to provide content items for display at the electronic display, including static advertising images for display for a period of seconds;

a unit controller electronically interposed between the media player and the electronic display, said unit controller comprising software instructions, stored at one or more electronic storage devices, which when executed, configures one or more processors to:

generate redundancy check codes for the content items transmitted from the media player to the electronic display such that a respective redundancy check code is consistently generated for a respective one of the content items; and

determine if a given redundancy check code is consecutively and consistently generated for a given one of the content items, and if so, cause a play count associated with the given one of the content items to be incremented;

a database in electronic communication with the unit controllers by way of one or more networks, said database comprising the play counts for the content items and a version of at least one image for each of the content items; and

an operations controller in electronic communication with each of the one or more electronic display assemblies and comprising software instructions, which when executed, configure one or more processors of the operations controller to:

determine if the consistent, consecutively generated redundancy check code generated is stored in the database, and if so, increment the play count associated with the consistent, consecutively generated redundancy check code, and if not, create a new entry for the respective one of the content items comprising the consistent, consecutively generated redundancy check code;

for each instance the consistent redundancy check code is consecutively generated for the respective one of the content items, identify a first time and a last time the consistent redundancy check code is consecutively generated for the respective one of the content items and record a duration between the first time and the last time as a duration of play for the respective one of the content items;

associate each of the play counts with a respective customer identifier;

receive a request for a proof of play report for a user, said request comprising a given customer identifier;

retrieve the play counts associated with the given customer identifier; and

generate a report comprising the retrieved play counts.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (4)

References Cited (400)