Touch screen technology.

Touch screen applications have become an integral part of everyday life, but it’s not just the obvious places, like ATM’s, cell phones or portable digital tablets, where this science is used, it’s also the hardware behind many common daily activities.

It’s amazing to think that in such a short space of time progress has leapt from a hand written consignment to an electronic one, including a digital personal signature.  By using this form of data capture, information is quickly and more cost effectively processed, aiding the efficiency of a logistics courier service, in a very competitive market.  Limiting errors is all but extinct, apart from human ones!  Hand written interpretation mistakes and lost paperwork have become a thing of the past, as an interactive digital screen is controlled by a stylus making contact with the surface, causing electrically sensitive currents to react with the liquid crystal display.

Touch screen technology uses.

On that thought, maybe doctors and physicians should use a medically designed touch screen to eliminate medical terminology errors.  This is another topic to cover later…

Other uses for touch screen applications, to be taken into account are airport security, where once an item of baggage has been scanned; using a hand held LCD device, any relevant pieces of information can be keyed in, either by using an index finger or stylus.  Damage to the LCD viewing surface must always be avoided, as this renders a costly piece of kit useless.  Employers should introduce a policy for their employees to use it correctly.  How often have you seen a ball point pen, hair grip or key used on the screen?  Personally I wouldn’t use such implements on my cell phone screen – I know what damage it would cause!

Stock control is another application where a hand held touch screen comes into its own.  Sometimes it is just not possible to take goods to a hardwired computer to scan a bar code, but by the means wireless appliance data can be easily recorded and information added via the interactive display.  All this information is relayed to a central point, where it can be accessed in real time, giving valuable data almost instantly.

Very little in the way of training is required to maximise the effectiveness of such technology.  A basic ON-OFF introduction and significant functions will suffice.  Individual departments are only concerned with their specific tasks.  A major consideration is the damage limitation to these appliances.  Although they appear a robust piece of kit – with a certain degree of external protection, once the LCD screen is damaged it is virtually worthless and having an insurance policy to cover replacement units is probably a very good idea.  Employees need educating on the usage as well as reminding to respect the company’s tools.  There have been disciplinaries for misuse and intentional damage to property.

An LCD touch screen in industry is quickly becoming an effective solution to record data, in a way most of us embrace in our every day ‘front of house’ lives.

LCD Enclosure Global offer a range of LCD enclosure that protect outdoor digital signage, now they have integrated touch screen technology into their range of outdoor LCD enclosure.

LCD Enclosure Global – Global coverage.

LCD Enclosure Global who manufacturer protective outdoor enclosures for protecting televisions and outdoor digital signage have partnered up with an Alaskan distributor to support the niche market there.

“With the recent dramatic increase in air freight to Alaska, this has put many digital signage integrators at a disadvantage, making standard installations very costly”, said Graham Gallagher owner of LCD Enclosure Global.

LCD enclosure available in Alaska.

However they have searched for a distributor in the most northern of American States and have partnered with one of the leading digital signage resellers so that a complete solution is offered. The LCD enclosures are shipped via sea freight into the Port of Cordova and from their on a 1 hour road trip to the distribution centre, from there they can be shipped throughout Alaska.

Graham commented, “This is an opportunity for digital signage to boom in Alaska, using our affordable protective LCD enclosures allows the use of standard indoor signage hardware even in extreme locations”.

This distributor goes to compliment their already growing global distribution network, they have existing distributors in Australia, Alaska, Israel, South Africa, South America and soon to sign up their Baltic distributor.

The idea behind the global distribution network is to be able to supply any size of LCD enclosure to a digital signage installer any where in the world in only a couple of days lead time.

Their full range of products can be seen at http://www.lcdtvenclosure.com if you think you have what it takes to partner with them, do not hesitate in emailing them.

LCD Enclosure Global now can offer their affordable outdoor protection for digital signage hardware in Alaska.

Ice hockey digital signage.

Ice hockey digital signage is now proving to be a winner for several installations in the USA and Canada; digital signage hardware is now being deployed in several ice rinks due to the cost effectiveness as well as their return on investment.

First let us look at the design of the ice rink so we can fully understand what the digital signage hardware has to cope with.

Ice Rink.

The word link translates in Scottish to “course”, this is an area that was and still is to this day used for the Scottish traditional winter sport of curling

An indoor ice rink.

These indoor ice rinks are made in layers, a concrete base is laid, with a series of pipes that has a chilled fluid inside, the chilled fluid can either be brine or a water mixture including antifreeze and this is embedded in the concrete. When water is sprayed on top of the concrete it freezes due to the sub zero temperatures.

Due to the rink being made up of layers a few centimetres thick, it is required to resurface the rink with more ice occasionally, as the ice rink heats up and with the wear of skaters and ice hockey teams cutting into the ice.

A drivable machine called a Zamboni is used to resurface the ice and normally comes out and does its job in the breaks.

With most ice hockey rinks being a constant 50 degrees Fahrenheit or 10 degrees Celsius this can cause some issues with the electronics used. Imagine using a home TV in this extreme environment what would happen? Well over a short time period you would find that the TV would fail due to the heat in the screen causing condensation to form on internal parts and then corroding them. This is why any ice hockey digital signage has to be protected from the cold conditions.

Ice hockey digital signage.

Now here the investment in the digital signage hardware is essential, as you don’t want the investors questioning their decision to deploy a digital signage solution that fails.

One sure way to protect the hardware is to install an LCD enclosure, these are a steel LCD enclosure that the hardware will fit into and can be mounted from ceiling mounts and from the walls, ideal for advertising beverages and fast food for the break.

The LCD enclosure is fitted with a special cooling and heating system that is thermostatically controlled and can be adjusted, so when the temperature falls to day 65 degrees Fahrenheit, the heater starts to work and warms the internal hardware in the enclosure, then when the heat rises past the preset temperature the heater switches off, this constant monitoring of the internal temperature is essential to main the integrity of the internal hardware.

Without any protective LCD enclosure the ice hockey digital signage will have to be able to cope in an environment that almost none of the standard electronics can work in.

Once the hardware is in a safe environment the rink can benefit from broadcasting news mixed with advertisements, these ads can include the rink shop, the next high profile match or even the meal deal at the quick serve restaurant.

LCD Enclosure Global are the leading manufacturers of outdoor digital signage solutions and have supplied their range of LCD enclosure products for use in ice hockey digital signage projects.

Sports stadium digital signage.

Outdoor digital signage also called Dooh is a prosperous business segment and no more so than in sports arenas. With the big increase of sporting stadiums including football, basketball, baseball and soccer venues using digital signage for a wide range of capabilities, this permits the sports organizers to make the vistors encounter a very memorable and positive one.

Because of the substantial advantages of stadium digital signage, is is achievable to offer real-time information and marketing media, using this technology puts the arena at a distinct benefit, as their network of digital signage monitors broadcasts the information to a captive audience.

Sports stadium digital signage.

Here are some of the uses for stadium digital signage is used for in a sports arena:

Scoreboard facts.

Giving you real-time facts on the state of play, making it possible for late arrivals at the sports stadium, as well as people in the rest room are up to speed with the game or match.

Upcoming games details.

Using stadium digital signage, it can display the future fixtures of matches or games as well as marketing lower priced ticket prices for loyal fans, this allows all spectators to have the first refusal of tickets for high profile matches.

Advertising.

A digital signage network can be used by third parties such as the stadiums QSR advertising their meal deals to hungry spectators, creating an extra sales stream for the events organizers or the stadium owners

One primary trouble in that owing to the open design and concrete construction of the stadium or arena they are not well suited for dynamic advertising. These locations are open to the weather conditions and the components used in digital signage will demand to be protected from these severe and inhospitable places.

This is why stadium owners are looking into the protective LCD enclosure that will offer a micro-climate, maintaining the dynamic marketing hardware safe from the external conditions. These units will store both the tv screen and the marketing player in one unit and the owners of the arena are not limited to a distinct brand of hardware, making it a more affordable solution.

Each protective enclosure comes with a regular VESA mount inside, so that all flat panel screens no matter if they are commercial or a home-based TV will fit into the case.

An LCD enclosure makes it possible for almost anyone from putting a plasma, LCD or even an LED back lit TV outdoors, they offer all the defense needed from the weather and have the ability of coping with temperatures in the range of -20 to 150 Fahrenheit.

Due to an LCD enclosure’s defensive properties, they are being fitted in stadiums throughout the world including the United States NFL and British Football League venues, as well as Canadian Ice hockey arenas.

LCD Enclosure Global provide their protective LCD enclosures to be used as sports stadium digital signage.

Outdoor digital sign solutions.

An outdoor digital sign varies in looks from say digital signage hardware in an LCD enclosure to a complete showroom window that is interactive; these outdoor digital sign solutions are sweeping the world.

So let us analyse where the digital signage industry is at and what new products are coming up so that everyone is fully aware of the solutions available.

Traditional outdoor digital sign solutions

Traditionally outdoor digital sign solutions incorporated a flat screen display and a media player, these are deployed every where from shopping centres, high street, gas stations to airports and ferry terminals. But using this original solution is both tried and tested, especially when used in high risk applications where potential damage may occur to the signage hardware.

This type of hardware comes in two forms, one used a dedicated outdoor display, the other, more affordable solution (which is also the most popular) is to use regular indoor commercial screens and put them into an LCD enclosure. The LCD enclosure gives the digital signage protection from everything that can damage the electronics, this could be from sub-zero temperatures or roasting heat, on the other hand the installation could be in an area that has a high crime rate to theft and vandal protection is also covered.

Digital signage hardware for factories?
You may think this is insane, but even factories are fitting large flat panel TV’s on the production line, this is being used in two parts. The first is to show the daily production data required for the managers to monitor and control the production line, this information is then interspersed with digital content that highlights the company’s products, services and their involvement with the local neighbourhood.

In the factory environment, they tend to use either LCD monitor enclosures or monitor enclosures depending on where they are being deployed and for what use.

Touch window digital sign solutions.
Touch window technology is increasing in the outdoor digital sign market and now stores can even sell when they are closed.

This new form of outdoor digital sign technology is only limited by your imagination, for instance the whole window of a car showroom could be their real-time sales person, working 24×7, 365 days of the year. Or the solution can be used on a portion of the window; the choice is literary down to the customer and they could even run different advertising projects on different parts of the window, very similar to zoning on an LCD screen.

This would make the window of any store their online catalogue and would improve your customers awareness of your store and the products you sell, however before anyone rushes off looking for this solution, just remember with it being at the cutting edge it is more than likely to be one of the most expensive solutions available.
There is an outdoor digital sign solution for every business, no matter how big or small they are. Even a digital poster could enhance an office reception area and these are the most basic of digital signage solutions.

LCD Enclosure Global manufacture a range of LCD enclosures that are used to protect outdoor digital sign solutions.

Plasma TV Cabinet – Commercial Use.

With the development of plasma TV technology, these screens are much thinner than their previous counterparts, some are as thin as a box of matches and create a lot less heat than the earlier flat screens.

Now with this advancement comes a reduction in prices, as the manufacturers want to get as many plasma screen TVs out on the market before the 3D TV revolution takes off, personally we think this will be some time off yet.

With the screen being so thin, this makes them the perfect partner for outdoor digital signage installations, as these fit nice and easily into a plasma TV cabinet, the units for their competitors the LCD and LED screens are called LCD enclosures and LED enclosures.

Most of the new thin plasma sets come with HDMI, RJ45 and USB connectors perfect for connecting up and creating a digital signage solution.

One of the main restriction is that standard domestic screens can be mounted in landscape position so if you needed to mount the screen in portrait you would have to consider a commercial grade screen as there is no way you can change the orientation of the picture on a home based television.

Unfortunately a commercial plasma screen will be more expensive but it is designed to run 24×7, 365 days of the year and commercial grade screens usually come with a guarantee of an average of 50,000 hours use.

Plasma TV Cabinet – Home Use.

When people decide to update their home TV from the old rear protector or CRT model, their first look into the flat screen sector is at either plasma or LCD TV sets, but by far plasma technology has caught up with LCD and now in our experience a plasma television is a better buy in some instances depending upon the manufacturer of the display.

With the prices being so low, home owners are deciding to install these on their deck or patio so they can fully enjoy the outdoor lifestyle they demand, but remember you need to protect them from the weather and other potential dangers. .

On a recent family vacation to North Carolina we hired a private lake home and on the deck over looking the lake was a TV, obviously the unit was protected but in a wooden cabinet and when we tried to switch the TV on it would not work, so we got hold of the caretaker who told us the family that owned the house had run the TV for 3 months until the water got into the wooden box and ruined the TV.

The problem was that the cabinet was made from a porous material – wood, this was the downfall.

Remember that you need to have a steel plasma TV cabinet that is lockable, this way water will not soak into the housing through the material and the lock prevents an un-authorised access and hopefully stops vandalism and theft.

Then you need to consider how the screen is to be mounted and where to mount it.

LCD Enclosure Global manufacture a range of both LCD enclosure and plasma TV cabinet for outdoor protection for both home and business use.

Non Loop-able LCD enclosure

LCD Enclosures Global is the only company in the World to have Federal Approval for their non loop-able LCD enclosures, contact the leaders in the industries not the followers.

LCD Enclosures Global Success has been put down to their Managing Director’s forward thinking with an innovative design.

With the development of digital signage and the introduction of the flat screen TV into health care as well as prisons, these delicate pieces of electronics have to be protected from the hostile environment they are in.

Non loop-able LCD enclosure

This is not your standard LCD enclosure used in a factory or outdoors for digital signage; this is a high security unit that features a robust solution that will withstand the most vicious of attacks from the most desperate of people.

This can be people who are on death row, or psychiatric patients in mental health units who self harm, this product protects the hardware and at the same time protects the patient from self harming. With it being the first non loop-able LCD enclosure for flat screen TVs in the world, the eyes of the world are watching the development of the non loop-able LCD enclosure.

Someone once told me, “any idiot can weld a box, but it is the special elements inside that make it successful.” This is why the design for a non loop-able LCD enclosure has been guarded and now our patented pending design has been awarded Federal approval for all mental health facilities as well as prisons and jails.

So what is the difference between a digital signage enclosure and a non loop-able LCD enclosure?

The first difference is that the solution is indoors where as digital signage or passenger information systems are deployed outdoors.

The second difference is that the leading non loop-able LCD enclosure solution is manufactured from thicker material and is fitted with a much thicker viewing window that has a rear support frame for additional support, should anything such as a chair be thrown at the screen.

The third major difference is that the locks on our non loop-able LCD enclosure are not the conventional cam locks as fitted by our competitors. The locks we use are high security locks and these are pick proof! Making access to the TV very hard unless you have authority to do so.

So if you want a top quality product at an affordable price, from the leading manufacture of non loop-able LCD enclosure contact LCD Enclosure Global.

Interactive kiosk

An interactive kiosk is nothing new to digital signage, however this hardware has been little used to target customers directly, now they can.

An interactive kiosk is very different from an LCD advertising display, in the fact that content can be streamed over the internet for updates and to promote new content and material, where as an LCD advertising display has to have the content added manually to the internal memory card media player (the interactive kiosk has a built in hard drive that can either be hard wired into a data network or connected to a wireless network.

Different types of interactive kiosk.

These are mainly located on floors and the screen can either be in portrait or landscape mode, this really does depend upon the application.

What will these do for businesses?

These will businesses to target their products and find out exactly what your customers are looking for in real time, allowing you to change stock or review inventory, allowing any business owner or manager to maximise the profits, it is just like reading your customers mind.

How it works?

A male shopper enters a gents outfitters looking for a designer suit for a special occasion.

He goes to the interactive kiosk and sees images on the main screen of different clothing ranges from sports wear, formal wear to night wear, he touches the icon on the screen for formal wear.

The next screen lists the manufacturers including the designer range of suits, the shopper selects the designer he is interested in and then he is taken to the current seasons suits, at this point if the man is looking for one of last years suits, he can click on an icon that shows last years suits if the one is after is there he can use the touch screen to register his request for the store to source one of the out of date suits. Then when the suit is in store, the shopper gets a text from the retailer informing him that the suit is in stock.

A female shopper goes shopping for a special wedding outfit, she enters the shoe store (as she has already found “that dress”) and now needs to match the designer dress up with some amazing shoes.

She walks to the kiosk and touches the icon that shows flat shoes, high heels and leisure shoes, she touches the high heel shoe icon, the next screen shows the colours available, she touches the purple colour and is then in a page that asks shoe size, she selects size 6 and then all the shoes in the store and available to the store are presented to the customer under 2 headings, the first is in stock and the second heading is “short lead time”.

Due to the store using scanners to scan the bar codes on the shoe boxes, they instantly know what stock they have in exactly the colours and sizes, so if the shopper clicks the short lead time item she can see on the screen how long it will take to get the shoes in-store.

A digital signage kiosk allows businesses and business owners to maximise staff time and use them to their best and that is to take money, let the interactive kiosk engage with the customer, build the customer loyalty and most importantly let the customer think they are in charge.

LCD Enclosure Global are a leading supplier of digital signage solutions including digital posters and a range of interactive kiosk as well as manufacturing their own range of LCD enclosure.

LCD enclosure guarding digital signage in schools

An LCD enclosure offers the best protection when deploying digital signage in schools and other education facilities.

When any valuable hardware is installed in an environment where the occupants of the rooms changes on a regular if not hourly basis, there is a significantly higher risk of the hardware being damaged or even worse, stolen. Hence the reason the hardware needs protecting.

Education facilities in America have the foresight to embrace technology and use it to inform students and parents of students of future events and even updates on children’s grades.

US education facilities.
In high schools, colleges and universities digital signage is every where throughout the campus, the deploying works on two fronts, the first is to inform most if not all of the students on events that are happening during the term, this can include all the fun and merriment of refreshers week, to daily discounts at the colleges cafeteria.

The other front is that the education facility allows external companies to advertise their products or service on the digital signage network, this could be the local pizza take out shop to the local computer repair service company. Now this is very lucrative as most facilities recover the cost of the campus installation for the network within the first month of deployment, then the rest of the year is pure profit.

Some colleges charge in the region of $250 per week for a 3 minute advertising slot moving up to $350 for a 5 minute slot, now just think for a minute if the college, school or university sold only 50 spots that would equate to $12,500 per month, now just think how the investment is paying off, with $12,500 profit every month the facility is working.

An LCD enclosure protects the school digital signage.

A steel LCD enclosure provides a safe and secure environment for the signage hardware, including the large flat screen TV, media player and other components. If for example the screen gets damaged due to a boisterous students prank and the ads cannot be displayed this will reduce the income to the facility dramatically, these protective LCD enclosure protects the internal hardware from any potential abuse, damage and in some cases theft.

The signage network due to its digital content can be changed at a seconds notice; this is another reason why it is being used, to alert students and staff of any incidents on site. The digital signage network can be updated if and when a situation happens and the campus has to be locked down, this hardware will inform everyone around the affected area to go to a safe location, whilst the signs in the affected area are closed down, preventing anyone knowing of the alert so that the area can be contained until the authorities arrive.

At kindergarten the children can have their work displayed on the screen inside the LCD enclosure whilst the enclosure is mounted on the outside of the school building, so parents can see what children have been creating when they are waiting to collect them to take them home.

There are many applications and uses for digital signage on an educational campus; we have only touched on a few basis solutions.

LCD Enclosure Global are the leading manufacturing of protective enclosure for LCD TV’s that are used in digital signage and other vulnerable applications.

LCD Enclosure For Outdoor digital signage

Many owner operated businesses have used some type of digital signage, now some are trying their hand at digital signage outdoors.

Digital signage inside mom and pop stores previously consisted of a digital poster, this is a commercial screen with a media player built into the casing, using a memory card is rather cost effective and perfect for any business owner to cut their teeth no digital signage.

As everything evolves in the electronic age, some of the digital posters now have a built in wireless media player, so the content can be updated remotely, now this is perfect for a chain of stores as the time it takes to click a mouse the entire network throughout the chain are updated, saving time and money, the reductions are calculated in the actual time it takes for an employee to update each LCD poster.

An LCD enclosure protects outdoor digital signage.

Not only are the store owners targeting the customers that enter their store, they are now deploying digital signage outdoors to attract passers by into the store with tempting promotions on seasonal items. For example one car accessory store had an over stock of anti freeze and windscreen wash (4 pallets), but they noticed that snow was due, so they created an advert targeting winter motoring promoting their overstocked items. The next day snow started falling (4” had fallen before 10 am) and within 5 hours the entire stock had been purchased by eager customers, not only increasing cash flow but also uplifting sales by putting the promotional items at the back of the store (so everyone had to walk past all the other winter motoring items) resulting in an unexpected shortage of snow chains, windscreen de-icer and scrapers.

The ability of the store owner being able to change their marketing approach so quickly was the key to their success; this could not be done using conventional methods of advertising.

So let us look at how they configured their outdoor digital signage solution. The store owner had posts mounted in their car park that had been used to hold vinyl banners, from here they mounted an LCD enclosure that housed the TV and media player running the cables from the store to the pole. One of the cables was a computer cable and this allowed the owner to update the content on the media player.

Using this configuration is more cost effective than you may think and a typical installation can cost as little as US$1400. Using this advertising medium could generate an extra income as you could ask other business owners if they would be interested in buying advertising slots on your digital signage, a regular cost for a 3 minute advert is US$100 per month, so if you got 20 advertisers this would generate US$2000 per month to use the hardware you have already paid for, so over a 12 month period you can generate a further US$24,000 for very little work and no additional investment.

The key to this solution is the LCD enclosure, without the LCD enclosure the hardware used would not cope with the outside climate and using weather proof hardware would seriously be reduced due to the high initial investment needed to create the same solution.

LCD Enclosure Global specialise in manufacturing a wide range of LCD enclosure for outdoor digital signage protection.