Signagelive Adds US Patent To UK Version For What It Terms Real-Time Events
June 5, 2024 by Dave Haynes
UK-based CMS software firm Signagelive has been granted patents in the UK and now the US for the system, apparatus and method for sending commands and controlling networked devices.
The technical name for the patents is system, apparatus and method for controlling networked devices and, in practical terms, it might mean if a competing CMS software firm uses its platform to send signals or data from a media player to control external equipment and/or push data to a third party application, then they could be stepping on Signagelive’s patent.
Signagelive’s marketing pitch for its Real-Time Events (RTEs) capability is that it allows users to “easily create, configure, and send bespoke commands with dynamic data to control any device in the physical world (lighting, motors, AV equipment, etc.) and to any external software platform (analytics solutions, monitoring solutions, etc.), all synchronized with the playback of your digital signage content.”
Here is a technical overview …
This reads like triggered content and actions to me, and as digital signage is not necessarily thought of as a silo’d activity in a lot of new projects, but part of a coordinated multi-sensory, multi-endpoint experience, this is how things are done. A data flag triggers a certain content piece, but it can also trigger other actions like halo or mood lighting changes.
I will leave it to the heads of software development teams to look these patents over and decide if what they do, or plan to do, what’s in these patents. Signagelive CEO Jason Cremins says the intent is not to get into having lawyers go after other operating entities, but to “monitor any possible infringements, to avoid copying of how we have delivered the solution.”
This is the US patent, if you want to look up and have a read: US-11968262-B2
The UK patent: GB2600279
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