JP2000347576A - Electronic signboard system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic signboard system, which can automatically administrate and manage lots of signboards set up at the stations, etc. SOLUTION: Advertisement images (still picture, animation, and character information, etc.), 9A1-9A3 are displayed on lots of signboard screens 3A, 3B set up at the railway stations, etc., by using liquid crystal projectors 5A1-5A3, etc. Liquid crystal projectors 5B1-5B3 each have PHS terminals 7A1-7A3 and 7B1-7B3, and receive the advertisement images from a server 1 through a wireless telephone communication, and internally store and display them on the signboard screen. The advertisement image can be switched every time zone. The server 1 remotely transmits control command, update data of the advertisement image, and character information, etc., to liquid crystal projectors 5B1-5B3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic signage system suitable for operation and management of a large number of signboards installed in stations and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A large number of signboard bases are installed at a railway station or the like on the side of a track or on a platform, and an advertisement poster printed on a paper sheet is attached thereto. Poster replacement and maintenance are performed manually by hand. Also, the management of what posters are to be posted on which signboards and for what time period is also performed manually.

[0003]

Since there are many signboards at stations and the size of signboards is considerably larger than that of a human body, the labor required for poster replacement work is enormous, dangerous, and Due to the large number of signboards, management of the contents and period of publication is troublesome.

On the other hand, a huge electronic signboard is known in which a matrix of a large-screen liquid crystal display is installed on the outer wall of a large building or on the roof, and a moving image such as a commercial advertisement and news report, a still image, and text information are displayed there. . However, while such giant electronic signage is operated by itself, in the case of signage installed at stations and the like, the number of signage is large, they are arranged in various places, and It is necessary to properly manage and operate all of the many signs.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic signboard system capable of automatically managing and managing a large number of signboards installed in stations and the like.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An electronic signage system according to the present invention includes a plurality of display devices arranged at different places for displaying an electronic advertisement image, each of the display devices being separated from a communication terminal and a display device. A server that is disposed at the location and that transmits advertisement image data to each of the display devices by communicating with each of the communication terminals.

According to this electronic signboard system, an advertisement image is transmitted from a remote server to a display device (that is, an electronic signboard) of an advertisement image installed in a different place by communication, and the advertisement image is displayed on each electronic signboard. Display. Therefore, the server can centrally manage the schedule of which image is to be displayed on which signboard, and can automatically operate a large number of signboards according to the schedule.

[0008] In a preferred embodiment, each of the display devices comprises:
The advertisement image data received from the server is stored in a storage device, and the stored advertisement image is displayed only during a display period or a display time period designated by the server. Each display device can store a plurality of advertisement images for which different display periods or different display time zones are specified, and switch the advertisement image to be displayed for each display period or display time. As a result, the update of the advertisement image (that is, the replacement of the poster) is automated, and a new advertisement method that is not possible with the conventional signboard, in which the advertisement image is changed in a time zone, is also possible.

[0009] In a preferred embodiment, the communication terminal of the display device is a PHS terminal. By using the PHS terminal, it is possible to reliably communicate with the station where the PHS base station exists, and it is not necessary to provide a new communication line.

In a preferred embodiment, the display device comprises a flat signboard screen and an image projector for projecting an advertisement image on the surface of the signboard screen. According to this method, an electronic signboard can be configured at a lower cost than when a large screen display is used as an electronic signboard, for example.

In a preferred embodiment, the server has management information defining what advertisement image is to be displayed on which display device and on what display period or at what display time zone. The image is automatically transmitted to the display device. Thus, a person can operate a large number of electronic signs simply by managing the management information of the server.

[0012]

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an embodiment of an electronic signboard system according to the present invention.

This embodiment is a system for a signboard at a railway station. A server computer (hereinafter simply referred to as a "server") for managing and managing a large number of electronic signboards installed at a plurality of stations such as A station and B station. 1). At the A station, a flat signboard screen 3A is installed, and a plurality of liquid crystal projectors 5A1 to 5A3 are arranged facing the signboard screen 3A. The liquid crystal projectors 5A1 to 5A3 project advertisement images (still images or moving images) 9A1 to 9A3 functioning as signboard posters on the signboard screen 3A, respectively. Similarly, a signboard screen 3B is installed at the station B, and a plurality of liquid crystal projectors 5B are arranged facing the signboard screen 3B.
And liquid crystal projectors 5B1 to 5B.
3 is an advertisement image 9B1 to 9B on the signboard screen 3B.
3 are respectively projected. Liquid crystal projectors 5B1-5B
By adopting a display method of projecting an advertisement image by using 3, a signboard screen 3A, 3B may be a simple flat plate made of wood or synthetic resin, and in some cases, a signboard base for a traditional paper poster may be used. You can also. Of course, only one CM image may be projected on one signboard screen.

Liquid crystal projectors 5A1-5A3, 5B1
5B3 are wireless telephone terminals each having a unique telephone number,
For example, it has PHS terminals, 7A1 to 7A3 and 7B1 to 7B3, respectively. The server 1 is connected to each PHS terminal 7A1
7A3 and 7B1 to 7B3, and communicates with each of the liquid crystal projectors 5A1 to 5A3 and 5B1 to 5B3. Through this PHS communication, the server 1 sends to each of the liquid crystal projectors 5A1 to 5A3, 5B1 to 5B3 various control commands, update data of a commercial advertisement image (hereinafter referred to as a “CM image”) to be displayed in the advertisement image, It transmits text information such as news and weather forecast to be displayed on the image. Each of the liquid crystal projectors 5A1 to 5A3, 5B1
5B3 stores CM images and character information to be displayed in the advertisement image in each storage device, reads them out from the storage devices, and projects them on the screens 3A and 3B. Since a PHS base station is often installed at a station, it is easy to use a PHS terminal, and there is an advantage that using a PHS terminal does not require installation of a special communication line.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of each liquid crystal projector 5.

The liquid crystal projector 5 includes a liquid crystal circuit 11 for projecting an image on a screen, a controller 13 for controlling the liquid crystal circuit 11, and a PHS for automatically responding to an incoming call from the server 1 and receiving control commands, CM images and character information from the server 1.
Terminal 15 and storage device 1 for storing CM images and character information
7 is provided. In the storage device 17, for example, CM image # 1 from 8:00 to 10:00, CM image # from 10 to 12:00
For example, a plurality of CM images are stored in association with each time zone to be displayed, and character information to be displayed at present is stored.

FIG. 3 shows an image display operation of the liquid crystal projector 5.

The liquid crystal projector 5 needs to change the CM image to be displayed (for example, when the display time period has passed or the CM image in the storage device 17 has been updated) (Yes in S3). Next, another CM image to be displayed is read from the storage device 17 (S4). When the character information to be displayed needs to be changed (for example, when the character information in the storage device 17 is updated) (Yes in S5), another character information to be displayed next is read from the storage device 17 ( S
6). Then, the read CM image and character information are projected on a signboard screen as an advertisement image (S1, S2).

FIG. 4 shows a layout example of the advertisement image 9 displayed on the signboard screen. In this example, the advertisement image 9
Is mostly occupied by the CM image 21, and character information 23 is displayed in a strip-like area below the CM image 21. The CM image 21 is switched, for example, every two hours, and the text information is news, weather forecast, etc., and the content changes in a relatively short time. Therefore, the CM image 21 is switched each time the content changes.

FIG. 5 shows a process in which the liquid crystal projector 5 updates a CM image and character information in the storage device 17 according to an instruction from the server 1.

When the liquid crystal projector 5 receives a control command from the server 1 after automatically responding to an incoming call from the server 1 (Yes in S11), it interprets the control command (S12). As a result of the command interpretation, if an update of the CM image is ordered, the C
The update data of the M image is received (S13), and the corresponding CM image in the storage device 17 is updated using the update data (S14). This CM image is updated, for example, by
This is performed when the publication period of the M image has expired and the publication period of a new CM image has started, or when the content of the same CM image has been changed. Further, as a result of the command interpretation, when the character information is ordered to be updated, new character information sent from the server 1 is subsequently received (S15), and the received character information is stored in the storage device 17 as characters. The information is updated (S16). The update of the character information is performed, for example, when new news or a weather forecast enters. When another control command (for example, start / end of advertisement display, change of display time zone, maintenance, etc.) is received, processing according to the control command is executed (S1).
7).

FIG. 6 shows a CM image management table stored in the server 1.

As shown in the figure, the management table includes codes CM # 1, CM # 2,... Of the respective CM images, and location codes A1 indicating stations and signboards on which the respective CM images are displayed.
A2, A3, B1, B2, ... (for example, A1 is one of the stations A
The display time zone and the display period of each CM image are registered in association with each other. The operator of the server 1 can create this management table and change the registered contents. When the registered contents of the management table are changed or the start of a new display period registered in the management table is approaching, the server transmits update data of the corresponding CM image to the corresponding liquid crystal projector. As a result, the sign display of the actual station automatically follows the changed registration content or the registration content of the new display period.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described above.
The above embodiment is merely an example for describing the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention to only the above embodiment. Therefore, the present invention can be implemented in various modes other than the above-described embodiment. For example, instead of using a liquid crystal projector, a large screen display may be used as the signboard itself. Instead of using a PHS terminal, another type of communication means such as another wireless telephone terminal, a wired telephone terminal, or a LAN communication terminal may be used.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment of an electronic signboard system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a liquid crystal projector 5.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the liquid crystal projector 5.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a layout example of an advertisement image 9 displayed on a signboard screen.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process in which the liquid crystal projector 5 updates a CM image and character information in a storage device 17 according to an instruction from the server 1.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a CM image management table held by the server 1.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Server 3 Signboard screen 5 Liquid crystal projector 7 PHS terminal 9 Advertising image 17 Storage device

Claims (7)

[Claims] A plurality of display devices arranged at different places to display an electronic advertisement image; a plurality of communication terminals respectively provided by the plurality of display devices; and a plurality of communication terminals arranged at a position distant from the display device; An electronic signboard system comprising: a server that transmits data of an advertisement image to each of the display devices by communicating with each of the communication terminals. 2. Each of the display devices has a storage device for storing advertisement image data received from the server, and displays the advertisement image in the storage device for a display period specified by the server or for a specified display. 2. The electronic signboard system according to claim 1, wherein the electronic signboard is displayed only during a time zone. 3. The display device according to claim 2, wherein each of the display devices accumulates a plurality of advertisement images for which different display periods or different display time zones are designated, and switches the advertisement image to be displayed for each display period or display time. Electronic signage system. 4. The electronic signage system according to claim 1, wherein said communication terminal is a PHS terminal. 5. The electronic signboard system according to claim 1, wherein the display device has a flat signboard screen and an image projector for projecting an advertisement image on a surface of the signboard screen. 6. The server has management information defining which advertisement image is to be displayed on which display device and for which display period or display time, and displays each advertisement image according to the management information. 2. The electronic signage system according to claim 1, wherein the electronic signage is automatically transmitted to a device. 7. transmitting electronic advertisement image data to a plurality of display devices arranged at different locations by communication from a server located at a location distant from the display devices; Each of the display devices displaying an advertisement image received from the server.