DISPLAYMARKTM™ FROM DIGITAL VIEW PROVIDES REMOTE, REAL-TIME CONFIRMATION OF DISPLAY STATUS IN DIGITAL SIGNAGE SYSTEMS

November 11, 2008: Digital View's new DisplayMark™ technology confirms - remotely and in real time - that a monitor in a digital signage system is functioning correctly and displaying an image.

"Ensuring that digital signage displays are ON and working properly is considered one of the most critical factors in system evaluation and advertising compliance audits," said James Henry, CEO of Digital View. "Existing techniques do not provide the same quality of information, nor are they as cost-effective."

Most information on public information and digital advertising displays comes from some sort of networked media player, Henry pointed out. It is relatively easy to query a networked media player status from a remote location, and is also possible to query most of a monitor's status remotely, except the most important part - is there an image on the screen?

A display can be ON but not displaying an image for a number of reasons:

• Failure of the LCD drive electronics.
• Failure of all or part of the backlight circuitry.
• Loss of the input signal.
• Monitor power supply failure.
• Physical damage to the monitor.

But how to ensure that an LCD monitor is ON and prove that it is getting a signal?

The underlying purpose of DisplayMark™ is to provide information regarding the status of a flat panel display from a remote location. Inexpensive and easy to use, DisplayMark™ controllers communicate reports and status information via a simple protocol over an RS-232C line to the local PC or video source device. Each of the controllers has a locally selectable address, allowing multiple units to be connected to a common video source, yet permitting each monitor to report status, or receive commands individually.

DisplayMark™ technology is currently compatible with Digital View's off-the-shelf SVH-1920 LCD controller, and is able to monitor the following:

• Inbound signal: Verifies that a valid signal is being received to be displayed on any of the video input ports. If there is no signal present, then it will report an input error.


• utbound signal: Checks to see if the controller has processed the video signal and is instructing the backlights to be turned on to display the picture. If this condition is false, then a report of a backlight error will be made.


• Image display: DisplayMark™ continually monitors the LCD display using a sensor and proprietary pattern recognition technology to verify that a picture is being displayed. Pattern definitions guard against common display failure conditions, such as all white or all black screens.


• Optional Power Fail: Battery-backed function will send a power fail report if the local power supply to the monitor has been interrupted. This will provide an indication that the internal power supply within the monitor has failed or that the A/C source has been switched off.


• Optional Temperature Sensor: An optional temperature sensor can be queried to determine the internal temperature of the monitor and to aid in deciding to activate internal fans or heaters.


• Optional Shock Detector: An optional accelerometer device will send a report if the monitor assembly is shocked by a force of 3G or greater.


• Optional Digital View IP-50: An RS-232 to Ethernet converter with programmable browser menus built in enables users to query the state of a screen or screens via the internet.

"DisplayMark™ is easy to install," commented James Henry, "and it is a very economical solution that lowers the cost of compliance while providing peace-of-mind that your screens are working. And what is that worth?"

For more information, contact Neil Wood at Digital View, Inc., USA: (408) 782 7773; nwood@digitalview.com. In the United Kingdom, contact Ian Larkman: +44 (0) 207 631 2150; ilarkman@digitalview.com. In Hong Kong, contact James Henry: +852 2861 3615; jhenry@digitalview.com.