Digital Signage is a specialized form of silver casting in which videos or multimedia content is displayed in public place for informational or advertising purpose. A digital signage system usually consists of a computer or a playback device connected to a large digital screen. The content on the screen can be updated in real time by means of Internet or proprietary network connection.
They are widely used in department stores, schools, libraries, office buildings, medical facilities, airports, trains and bus stations, banks, auto dealerships and other public venues. Digital Signage market is expected to grow from USD $15 Billion to over USD $24 Billion by 2020 (according to wikipedia).
Applications
Some of the most common applications of digital signs are:
- Public Information : News, weather, traffic and local information such as building directory with map, fire exits.
- Internal Information : Corporate messages, such as health & safety items, news and so forth.
- Advertising
- Brand Building : In-store digital sign to promote the brand and build a brand identity.
- Influence Customer Behavior : Directing customers to different areas, increasing the “dwell timeâ€, e.t.c.
- Enhancing Customer Experience : Applications include the reduction of perceived wait time in the waiting areas of restaurants and other retail operations, bank queues, and similar circumstances, as well as demonstrations, such as those of recipes in food stores.
- Enhancing the environment : With interactive screens or with other means of “dynamic wayfindingâ€Â
Digital Signage on Raspberry Pi
- Low cost : About USD $50 assuming the monitor is already present.
- Low Power : Consumes only about 3-4 Watts.
- Wide range of Input Formats:
- Web URL
- Image
- Video
- Live Stream
At Javra
We have a signage display at the reception area, which displays company information (for the visiting guests)
- Company Information
- Our Services
- Other interesting/fun displays
- Employee Birthday wishes
- Holiday wishes (Dashain/Christmas)
- Employee of the Month
Digital sign also called by others by “narrowcasting”, “screen media”, “place-based media”, “digital merchandising”, “digital media networks”, “digital out-of-home” or “captive audience networks” are everywhere. It is applied by various industries  Retail, Finance, Entertainment, Automotive, Healthcare, Education, Hospitality, Transportation, Government, etc… because they are less expensive and more appealing  compared to the traditional content design. Especially because, signage system comes with their own content management system, contents can be easily created, updated.
Various companies such as Samsung, Sony, LG, and others are regularly rolling out their hi-end signage products in various trade expos. One that is happening right now as I am writing this post is infoComm16. Our solution, signage on Raspberry Pi is low-cost alternative to these products.
Project
Digital signage on a Raspberry Pi.
Goal:
A Digital Signage system with CMS.
- Quick Company Info
- XePST SLA project status
- Status
- Priority
- Type
- Hours Spent
- Real-time sensor data (this will be data from our NRF sensors we did for Enza demo)
Status:
We have done the research and have a Raspberry Pi with Signage ready. We are currently working on the content design for the display, which will be completed by 17th June. Since we do not have source code to share, we have not allocated SVN repository for this project.
We will have a complete follow along implementation steps right here on this post. Stay tuned.
UPDATE:Â You can find the follow along directions on how to set up Raspberry Pi to run piSignage here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_ge3YmkU29Z7_8QcKuKUJrf2WU0L8JzB8B3j8JbTLe4/edit?usp=sharing
If you have any question or need more help, use the comments.
For the demo:
We will have a couple of Pis ready for you (or you should be able to do the setup on your own following the implementation instructions), that you can bring along with you, and hook it up with a display monitor at location and display the content.