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SES 9.2 – Design Studio II

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Design Studio 2.2 Training Guide

The information contained in this document is the property of SYMON Communications, Inc. Except as specifically authorized in writing by SYMON Communications, Inc., the holder of this document shall keep the information contained herein confidential and shall protect same in whole or in part from disclosure and dissemination to third parties and use same for evaluation, operation, and maintenance purposes only.


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Notice Copyright © 2004-2006 Symon Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This publication is protected by copyright. All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any means or in any form, without prior written consent from Symon Communications, Inc. The information in this manual has been carefully checked and is believed to be accurate. Symon Communications, Inc. assumes no liability for any inaccuracies that may be found in this manual. In the interest of continued product development, Symon Communications, Inc. reserves the right to make improvements in this manual and the products it describes at any time without notice or obligation. Publication Number SES-0822DS V9.2-##06 First Issue, [Month] 2006 This publication (SES90_designstudio.pdf) is available in PDF format on the installation CD and from the Symon Support Web Site. cmgpdf-040506

Trademark Acknowledgments Symon, Symon Enterprise Server, and SES are registered trademarks of Symon Communications, Inc. Adobe and Adobe Reader are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems, Inc. Microsoft, Windows 2000/2003 and Windows XP are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other products mentioned in this manual are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. How to Reach Us Symon Communications, Inc. 500 North Central Expressway, Suite 175 Plano, TX 75074 Main Web Site: http://www.symon.com Support Web Site: http://www2.symon.com Sales E-mail: [email protected] North American Customers Phone: (972) 578-8484 Fax: (972) 422-1680 Support E-mail: [email protected] International Customers Phone: +44 208 663 1810 Fax: +44 208 663 1979 Support E- mail: [email protected]


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What is Symon Design Studio? ____________________________________________ 6

Terminology _______________________________________________________________ 6 Messages _______________________________________________________________________ 6 Categories ______________________________________________________________________ 7 Dynamic Categories_______________________________________________________________ 7 Channels________________________________________________________________________ 8 Layouts ________________________________________________________________________ 8 Broadcast Sites___________________________________________________________________ 9 Web Console ____________________________________________________________________ 9 SES Content Distribution Software (Content Provider/Consumer) ___________________________ 9 Screen Control ___________________________________________________________________ 9 Proof of Play Reporting ___________________________________________________________ 10

How to Use this Manual ________________________________________________ 11

Design Studio and SES _________________________________________________ 12

(Connecting to the Symon Enterprise Software Server (SES)) __________________ 12 Using the Folder Lists ______________________________________________________ 14

• Messages - ________________________________________________________________ 14 • Categories_________________________________________________________________ 14 • Channels__________________________________________________________________ 14 • Layouts___________________________________________________________________ 14 • Sites _____________________________________________________________________ 14 • Videos____________________________________________________________________ 15 • Sounds ___________________________________________________________________ 15 • Graphics __________________________________________________________________ 15

Using Resources ___________________________________________________________ 16 Properties ________________________________________________________________ 17

Managing content _____________________________________________________ 18 Playing Videos ____________________________________________________________ 18

Messages_____________________________________________________________ 19 Creating Messages _________________________________________________________ 19 Message Elements _________________________________________________________ 20 Message and Element Properties _____________________________________________ 22 Adding Elements __________________________________________________________ 23 Inserting Text into a message Element_________________________________________ 24 Text Styles, Fonts, and Borders ______________________________________________ 25 Using Graphics in your message______________________________________________ 25 Using Video, Sounds, and Data_______________________________________________ 26 Using Data in your message _________________________________________________ 27

Data Points ____________________________________________________________________ 28


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Data Sets ______________________________________________________________________ 30 Using Table Mode with a Dataset in your message______________________________________ 31

Previewing Messages _______________________________________________________ 33 Message Status Icons _______________________________________________________ 35 Publishing Messages _______________________________________________________ 36 Copy, Paste and Delete Messages _____________________________________________ 38

Categories____________________________________________________________ 38 Creating a category ________________________________________________________ 39 Publish and Push Categories_________________________________________________ 41 Category status icons _______________________________________________________ 42 Removing expired messages within a Category _________________________________ 42

Channel _____________________________________________________________ 43 Adding a Channel__________________________________________________________ 43 Adding content to channels and scheduling playtime. ____________________________ 44

Layouts ______________________________________________________________ 45 Creating a new Layout _____________________________________________________ 45 Creating a working layout from a template_____________________________________ 46 Creating a Layout from scratch ______________________________________________ 47 Adding and scheduling content within an area __________________________________ 49 Imbedded Layouts _________________________________________________________ 51

Adding advanced content via the Toolbox. __________________________________ 55

Using Transitions______________________________________________________ 56 Applying transitions to content within a message________________________________ 57

Using Watermarks _____________________________________________________ 58

Updating the Broadcast Site _____________________________________________ 59

Appendix Listing:______________________________________________________ 60

Appendix A: Dynamic Categories _________________________________________ 60

Appendix B: WebConsole _______________________________________________ 61 WebConsole Login _________________________________________________________ 61 Dynamic Messages _________________________________________________________ 65 Priority Messaging _________________________________________________________ 67 Message Center ___________________________________________________________ 68

Appendix C: Proof of Play Reporting ______________________________________ 71 Proof of Play Reporting_____________________________________________________ 72


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Appendix D: SES Content Distribution Software (Content Provider/Consumer) ___ 76 SES Content Distribution Software ___________________________________________ 77

Appendix E: Screen Control _____________________________________________ 80 Screen Control ____________________________________________________________ 81

Appendix F: Video Wall Support _________________________________________ 85 Video Wall Support ________________________________________________________ 86

Appendix G: SES Backup utility __________________________________________ 90 How the Backup Utility Works_______________________________________________ 90

Glossary _____________________________________________________________ 91


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What is Symon Design Studio? Symon Design Studio is a client application that runs on a Windows 2000/2003 or XP workstation. Symon Design Studio is used to create custom content and messages to be published to video displays (LCD’s, TV’s, and Plasma screens) using Symon Display Appliances (SDAs). Symon Design Studio has a wide variety of features that let you create and publish messages and send them to broadcast sites and SDAs. As well as simple message creation, Symon Design Studio offers additional features, such as categories, channels, and layouts to manage and display video content.

Terminology The primary modules of Design Studio include:

Messages Categories Channels Layouts Broadcast Sites WebConsole* Content Distribution Services* Screen Control* Proof of Play Reporting*

Messages Symon Design Studio lets you include multimedia components with your messages. You can attach graphics and videos to message elements and associate sounds with individual messages. You can add these components from your own resources and organize them using Symon Design Studio’s folder properties. Symon Design Studio has built-in resources that you can use to enhance the appearance of your message elements. You can apply border styles to your element backgrounds and apply fonts or text styles to the message text. To enhance the appearance of message elements, you can use ‘fly-in’ properties and assign multimedia components, such as a Video/Presentation, a Live Data Gauge, or real-time data points and custom sets of data. Once you create messages, you can publish them so that they are available as broadcast content for categories, channels, layout areas, and broadcast sites. Unpublished messages remain available as “working” copies. * These modules are optional, and may involve additional time and material charges.


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Categories You can combine published messages that are similar in content and theme into categories. For example, you might group messages regarding employee benefits into one category and combine messages regarding company quarterly returns into another. Categories work similarly to e-mail lists. A single category can contain up to 1,000 messages. You can assign categories to channels, which allow you to schedule playtimes for the broadcast content. Like messages, you can publish categories so that they are available as broadcast content for channels, layout areas, and broadcast sites. Unpublished categories remain available as “working” copies. Categories can contain content from the following sources:

• Graphics • Video • Messages

Dynamic Categories A Dynamic category is similar to a standard category; however, messages can be added and managed, via the Symon WebConsole, which is an optional browser-based application. You can schedule a Dynamic Category so that content within it can appear either on the entire display or within a predefined area of a display layout. Once the category is set to play, you can insert messages by means of Symon WebConsole, and even edit the text that may appear within an element of the message that you have added to the Dynamic Category.


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Channels Channels let you control what message categories, graphics, text, and live video feeds will appear within an area of a broadcast display. For example, you might create a channel called “Sports News” and assign different types of content to the channel, such as sports scores, statistics, and videos. The content type for channels can originate from several sources such as:

• Graphics • Video • Graphics • Messages • Categories that you create in Symon Design Studio • Layouts • Media files (Video or Sound files) • Pre-defined news categories for subscribers of the Symon TargetVision news

service • Video feeds (streaming video) • Web content (access to a web page based on an Internet address)

Once you create channels, you can schedule playtimes for each item added to a channel. The playtimes control when the content is available for broadcast. Additionally, when you publish channels, they become available as broadcast content for broadcast sites, layout areas, and even other channels.

Layouts A layout is designed to divide a video display broadcast into several “windows” so that you can have distinct areas of the screen display specific types of content. Layouts define the dimensions of these distinct areas. For example, if you divide your video display into numerous areas, you might create a larger area of a to display a video of sports news. In a smaller area of the same layout, you might want to display stock quotes in a ticker-tape fashion. When you add a layout, you can choose from one of the numerous pre-existing layout templates provided by Symon Design Studio, or you can create your own unique layouts. You can assign one or more categories and/or channels to an area of a layout, as well as other content such as, backgrounds, sounds, videos, and even individual messages. Once you assign items to a layout, you can schedule playtimes for each added item to control what time of the day and what days of the week the content should appear on the video display.


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Broadcast Sites A broadcast site can be either a remote computer installed with the broadcast server software or a Symon Digital Appliance (SDA) connected to the Symon Enterprise Server over a network. The site or SDA is then connected to the video display (TV, LCD, Plasma, etc) in order to broadcast the scheduled content that is created and managed via Design Studio. A site or SDA can display different “shows” throughout the day. Each show can be composed of various components and you can then determine how and when the various content is displayed. A site or SDA can be connected to one or more video display devices, via broadcasting tools such as scan converters, routers, splitters, etc, etc. You can assign a variety of content to a site, such as individual messages, categories, channels, layouts, and multimedia components–including videos, graphics, live TV broadcasts, streaming video and web pages. Like the channels and layouts, you can schedule playtimes for each item added to a broadcast playlist.

Web Console Symon WebConsole is an optional web-browser based module that works in conjunction with Dynamic Categories (managed from within Design Studio) that allows you to send messages and edit text within a message, from your web-browser. The benefit of WebConsole is that you can send “Dynamic Messages” and “Priority/Emergency Messages” as well as update text elements of a message, such as a ticker message by means of your web-browser. You do not have to have the full Design Studio application on your desktop to access these features.

SES Content Distribution Software (Content Provider/Consumer) SES Content Distribution Software is an optional Symon Design Studio service that enables you to provide content from a source or host SES site and make it available to one or more remote SES Sites. SES Sites that subscribe to the content act as “consumers;” these consumers choose which SES host “providers” to use as their content source, and register with the provider to automatically receive updated content.

Screen Control Symon Screen Control software provides an optional module within Design Studio that will enable you to remotely control televisions, LCD’s and Plasma displays to turn on/off, mute and adjust sound levels, control which inputs are being used and even change the channel. A network addressable hardware adapter is required for each video display, that is connected to the RS-232 (serial) connection on the TV or video device.


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Proof of Play Reporting Proof of play reporting provides a historical audit trail of content that has “played” on the site or SDA. Specific content can be logged historically, which will then be stored on the SDA and can be retired via Microsoft SQL Server reporting services. Reports on the content that is displayed, can be generated by quarter hour, half hour, hourly, and daily basis as well as via summary reports. The reports are available via a an optional web-browser based interface, and can be printed or saved to numerous formats for distribution.


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How to Use this Manual This manual is intended for individuals who will attend formal Symon led training on Design Studio. It is not meant to be a replacement for the Design Studio “user guide” which is a comprehensive manual detailing every aspect of the application. This training guide is designed to complement the Users Guide and provide high-level direction in the use of Design Studio. This training manual will provide instruction on how to create and publish messages in Symon Design Studio and make them available to broadcast sites and video displays. The procedures in this manual will help you perform the following tasks:

• Connect to the Symon Enterprise Software (SES)

• Navigate the Design Studio main window

• Manage resources by importing graphics, sounds, and videos from your own sources

• Design simple messages using text styles, fonts, backgrounds, and graphics

• Design custom messages using element properties and multimedia components

• Create and schedule categories

• Create and schedule channels

• Create unique Layouts for common message formats, layouts, and broadcast sites

• Schedule playtimes for broadcast site content

• Work with optional features such as WebConsole, Content Provider/Consumer, Screen Control, Proof of Play reporting, etc.


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Design Studio and SES (Connecting to the Symon Enterprise Software Server (SES)) Before you can begin using Symon Design Studio, you must first connect to a SES, which is where all published content and messages are stored. To connect to the SES use the following steps: From the Windows Start menu, select Programs, then select Symon Enterprise Server to open the Symon Enterprise Server submenu. Select Symon Design Studio from the submenu. The Symon Design Studio main window appears.

From the menu bar, select File. The File menu appears. From the File menu, select Connect. The SES Servers window appears.


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Select the SES server to which you want to connect. Click Connect to connect to the SES server. Design Studio Main Window


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Using the Folder Lists The Folder Lists work very similar to the folder functionality of Windows Explorer. When you double-click on each icon, the items and/or subfolders available for that group appear within a list. You can select to view the contents of each folder showing the details of the items within the folder or as thumbnails, which will give you a sample image of the contents, graphic, video, message, layout, etc. The contents of the Messages, Categories and Channels folder will initially appear empty until you create new items.

• Messages - You can create messages and group them into subfolders by specific names. Later you can assign these broadcast messages to categories.

• Categories - Categories provide a way for you to organize and group broadcast messages together that have a common theme, such as weather-related topics, sports-related topics, stock market-related topics, etc.

• Channels - A channel is a listing of the items that will be shown on your video display attached to the SDA. The channel is the scheduled play-list of items that are to be displayed and the order in which they are scheduled. The items that can be scheduled in a channel to appear on a video display can contain categories, graphics, messages, and live feeds that will appear within an area of a broadcast display. The channel also controls the frequency and times that these items are broadcast.

• Layouts – A Layout is a way to organize and control the appearance of different broadcast content on a video display. You can use the distinct areas of broadcast monitors to display specific types of broadcast content. Layouts define the dimensions of these distinct areas. For example, in a larger area of a layout you might want to display a video. In a smaller area you might want to display stock quotes in a ticker-tape fashion. Symon Design Studio provides 18 layouts that you can use to arrange your broadcast content. You can also create your own layouts based on one of the existing 18 layouts; by modifying the layout properties, you can create your own unique layouts.

• Sites - This list initially will appear empty until you create broadcast sites within Symon Design Studio, or have SDA connected to the network that Design Studio resides on. A broadcast site can be either a remote computer installed with the broadcast server software or a Symon Digital Appliance (SDA) connected to a broadcast server over a network. A broadcast site serves as a destination point for broadcast messages. If a broadcast server is connected to several monitors via splits and routers, each monitor displays the identical data received by the broadcast server. Whenever the scheduled content of a site changes, you’ll need to update the broadcast site for it to appear on your video display.


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• Videos - This folder lists the videos added to the folder as resources. The video files can originate from a variety of different sources and file formats: *.mpg, *.mpeg, *.swf, *.mpg1, *.mpg2, *.mp4, *.mov, *.asf , *.avi, *.vob, *.wmv

• Sounds - This folder lists the broadcast sounds added to the folder as resources. When you add sounds to messages in Symon Design Studio, the sounds play whenever the messages are sent to broadcast sites. Broadcast sounds can exist in the following file formats: *.wav, *.mp3, *.mid, *.rmi, *.wma, and *.asf.

• Graphics - The graphics folder lists the graphic files you have added as resources. From Windows Explorer, you can drag and drop your own graphics into this folder and organize them into subfolders. New graphics can come from various sources, such as a scanned photo, *.bmp, *.gif, *.png,, *.tga, or *.jpg file from the Internet.

You can also purchase sets of graphic packages from Symon Communications, Inc. -The Visuals (Original) graphics package includes backgrounds, banners, and icons. -The Visuals II graphics package includes a more contemporary set of backgrounds and icons. -The Visuals III graphics package includes a more contemporary set of backgrounds and banners comprised of higher-resolution graphics.


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Using Resources

Built in resource folders are available to select fonts, text and border styles and to access the “toolbox” of built in features, which can be applied to a channel / play list to publish on a video display.


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Properties A properties toolbar is available to display details on messages, categories, channels, layouts, graphics, video, sounds, and content. The Folder Lists and Properties/Search windows are “dockable” panels. That is, you can drag and drop the windows to other locations within or outside the main window. If you drag a window within the boundaries of the main window, it snaps to the closest horizontal or vertical edge with the aid of docking helpers. You can easily reset the display by selecting “reset docking panes” from within the View menu, and you can save or load previously configured home pages.

An example of the properties window is shown on the left. There are property windows available for each module within Design Studio, which include but are not limited to: • Messages • Elements • Multimedia / Symon portal news. • Backgrounds • Graphics • Video • Sounds • Text Styles / Fonts • Borders • Transitions • Categories • Channels • Layouts • Sites / SDA • Content Providers /

Consumers • Screen Controllers As well as other property subsets of the modules listed above.


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Managing content You can add graphics, sounds and video to the folders by simply clicking, dragging, and dropping them from windows explorer into the specific folder of your choice, or create a new folder to organize content as needed.

You can also import files by right clicking on the folder tab and selecting the add resources option.

When you do so, a pop-up window will appear to allow you to browse to the folder and select the specific content you wish to Import.

Playing Videos When you select the videos folder, you can right click to open a video file, and it will begin to play automatically (if it is the first time you have selected that video to preview). Upon subsequent viewings, simply click the “play” button on the video pop-up toolbar to pre-view the video.


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Messages Messages can be custom designed to include graphics, videos, sound, and text. They are then scheduled to appear on your video display via the SDA, and managed within Design Studio. Messages are made up of elements that allow you to customize the look, feel, and visual layout of the content you wish to display. You can apply different backgrounds, borders and use a variety of fonts and text styles within each element. You can also enhance the message using fly-ins, 3-d graphics, live data gauges, and “charts” and you can include Symon provided news and information feeds within your message as well. Once you create a message, you can then publish it so that it can be scheduled and pushed out to appear on your video display. Unpublished messages will be stored within Design Studio so that you can later include them in a category, channel, or layout to be “published and pushed” to your video display.

Creating Messages To create a new message, either select the new button from the message window, or select, file, new or choose message from the available list of options.

Once you have created a new message, you can add elements to it in order to build the various components such as graphics, text, videos, etc. You can save your message in the default folder or create a separate folder by right clicking on the message folder and selecting new.

There are numerous methods to create a new Message. You can select “new” from the “File” menu, then choose “message” or simply click the “new” button on the toolbar of the message folder.


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Message Elements Messages contain one or more elements, which appear as a “window” within the message area. When you click on the message area, you will be able to see and adjust its properties.

Message Properties


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Creating Messages

A combination of all elements and their properties make up a single message, and like the message itself, each individual element has its own set of unique properties. From the properties menu, you can set the height and width of the message or element, set font and graphic properties as well as manage the background and even configure multimedia types like video or sound to appear within the element and message. To display an elements properties, simply click on the element itself, or you can view them by using the drop-down properties menu.

To view the Element Properties, either click on the element itself, or select the element from the properties drop down menu.


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Message and Element Properties

All modules within Design Studio have their own set of properties, from Messages and Elements, to Layouts, Categories, and even the SDA itself. The properties allow you to control all aspects of the element such as the size (height and width), you can lock the aspect ratio, and use transitions to have the element “fly in” to the message. You can select multimedia elements like videos, and then determine how they will be displayed. Backgrounds, Graphics, and text can also be set via the properties window. Here is an example of a multimedia element within a message:


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Adding Elements To add an element, you can right click within the message and select insert or you can simply select the icon insert object from the “Elements” toolbar at the top, as in the example below.

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The Elements toolbar allows you to create new elements, outline existing elements in the message area, bring elements to the front or send them to the back, resize the elements to fit the entire Message Area, or to fit the size of a graphic that has been imported.

Right click and select insert or click the “insert object” icon on the toolbar to add a new element to your message.


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Adding Elements Once you have added an element, you can then click, drag and drop graphics, videos, sound, or double click on the element window to insert text. You can move overlapping elements up or down in the view order, or outline the objects/elements within a message to more easily identify them.

Inserting Text into a message Element To insert text, simply double click on the element, which will take you text mode. To leave text mode, simply hit the ESC key, or click outside of that element. To use different text styles and fonts in your element, click on the appropriate tab on the resource toolbar to reveal the options. By choosing thumbnail mode, you can view a sample of the various text styles, fonts and board styles to apply to the text in your message element.

Outline Objects within a Message by clicking this icon on the taskbar.


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Text Styles, Fonts, and Borders A variety of text styles, fonts and border styles are available on the resource toolbar, to drag and drop into the element of your message.

Using Graphics in your message To insert a graphic (.jpg, .bmp, .gif, etc) into a message, simply select the graphics tab from the folder list at the bottom of the screen. Then click, drag and drop the graphic or image from the folder into your message. You can use a graphic as a background within a message, or apply it to an element within the message, to be displayed in the foreground. You can also layer elements within your message to create a custom look and feel. You can choose to have the element auto sized to fit the original size of the graphic, or shrink/stretch the graphic to match the size of the element. You can also opt to maintain the original aspect ratio of the graphic from the properties “panel” on the left.

Choose different text and font styles from the resource toolbar on the left, then simply drag and drop them into your element to apply the change.

Select thumbnail mode to view a sample of the available fonts and text styles.


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Using Graphics in your message

You can change the properties, including locking the aspect ratio, adjust the size (height, width) and make numerous other changes to the element or message through the properties window. The toolbars at the top provide even more flexibility in managing your elements and messages, including the ability to size the element to the graphic or the element to the message area itself.

Using Video, Sounds, and Data In addition to adding text and graphics in a message, you can also insert videos and sounds by simply clicking and dragging them from the appropriate folder into the message.

Design Studio supports a wide variety of video and sound file types that include but are not limited to: *.mpg, *.mpeg, *.mp2, *.mp4, *.mov, *.swf, *.mpg1, *.mpg2, *.mv2, *.asf , and *.avi. File types.

Sounds files can be: *.wav, *.mp3, *.mid, *.rmi, *.wma, and *.asf file types.

You can size the element to match the size of the graphic and lock the aspect ratio as well.

To add a graphic to an element simply drag and drop from the graphics folder into your element or message.

Click, Drag & Drop


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Using Data in your message In addition to graphics, video, sound, and text, you can also incorporate data elements into your message. To do so simply double click on an element to enter text mode, then right click and select Insert Data Reference Use the escape key to exit this mode.

Data references can contain either a singular data point or a data set, which can include calculations and thresholds. Data references let you tap into real-time data collectors, which are added and configured using the “Portal Administrator” application. You can also utilize “Published Variables” as data points, which can be created and modified through the Symon “Composer” application on your SES system.

Video Element

Elements can contain multimedia content like video and sound, or you can elect to insert data references like stock and news “tickers”, weather, and other data.


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Using Data in your message To insert data into a message, you must first enter “text entry” mode within the Message Element. You can do so by double clicking on an element, then to add data, right click within the element, and select Insert a Data Reference from the list of options. When you Insert a Data Reference within the element, you will be prompted to select either a Dataset or a Data Point from which to query data from, as well as which collector or source of data that you’ll tap into.

Data Points A Data Point will allow you to choose a specific data value from a pre-existing collector (which is configured via Portal Administrator) or from a Published Variable (that was pre-defined through Symon Composer).

To add data, first double click on the message element to enter “text entry” mode. Then right click with your mouse and select the option, “Insert Data Reference” from the choice list. Next, select your data source from either a single point of data, (a single field from one table) or select a dataset to create a custom calculation, which can include thresholds.


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Data Points


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Data Sets If you need to create a custom calculation, or would like to apply a threshold to a specific condition, (for instance when there are too few agents signed onto the phone system to handle the incoming traffic) you can create a dataset. A Dataset can contain specific data elements from the available fields within the collector you are utilizing for your source data, or you can create a calculation using standard math functions to combine data points into a new field. To create a Dataset, first Insert a Data Reference as you would for a Data Point, select the option Pick a Dataset, which will open the Data Design window. From within the Data Design window, click the new button, enter a description, and select the data table, from the listing of available collectors. You will then need to select the specific fields and/or calculations you wish to use. Datasets Pick a Dataset, then click the new button and select the “Collector Table” to query the various points of data from. This is a wizard driven tool, which will walk you through each step, including options for applying thresholds, creating calculations and combining multiple points of data within your Dataset.


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Using Table Mode with a Dataset in your message When working with a “Dataset” especially if it includes more than one field of data, it is advisable to set the text properties to utilize “table mode”. By doing so you can more easily align the data and text, you wish to display, and have more control over the way the data will be shown.

When the table mode option is selected, the message element will appear as a spreadsheet, to allow you to align both text and data into columns and rows.

Enable “table mode” from the elements text properties, to more easily align data.


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Using Table Mode with a Dataset in your message

When you select table mode, the message element will be displayed as a spreadsheet, you can then insert your dataset, or data point(s) in rows and columns. You will also have the option of automatically labeling the columns based on the field names from the data collector or published variable, as well as providing the option to swap the columns and rows. This permits the X and Y-axis of your matrix to be swapped or flipped from vertical columns to horizontal rows.


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Previewing Messages You can preview a message to see exactly what it will look like when it is sent to the SDA by either selecting the Preview Message button on the toolbar, or by simply doing a right-click on the message and choosing the option “Preview Message” from the pop-up menu.

By previewing a message, you can determine if any additional modifications are required before you publish and push it for display on the SDA.


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Previewing Messages. You can also click on the preview icon from the message toolbar to start the message preview.

Click on the preview icon from the message toolbar, or right click outside the message and choose “preview” to view a sample of your message prior to publishing and pushing it to a video display.


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Message Status Icons For each message in the “messages” folder, there is a message status icon next listed representing its status. Modified, Published, Unpublished (working copy), etc, etc. Below is a listing of the various status icons’ that appear within the message folder.


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An example of status icons within the messages folder:

Publishing Messages In order to make a message available for broadcasting to a video display, you must first publish it. Once a message has been published, then a working copy is available which can be added to a category, layout, channel, or other schedule playlist. The message can then be “pushed” out to a broadcast site or SDA to be shown on the video display. To “Publish” and “Push” the message, simply right click on it, and select message publishing from the pop-up menu. Then select the option publish and push to make it available for broadcasting.

Message status icons showing published and pushed messages, published, then modified and not yet re-pushed, and unpublished messages in the messages folder.


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Publishing Messages You can also right click on the message from within the messages folder and choose “publish and push”

Right click on the message, select “message publishing” and then choose to “publish and push” the message to the broadcast site or SDA.


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Copy, Paste and Delete Messages You can copy, paste, and remove messages by right clicking on the message, and using the pop-up toolbar, within the messages folder.

Categories Categories let you combine published messages, graphics, and videos that are similar in content and theme into groups. This helps you organize your messages and videos and pull them together as content to broadcast. For example, you might group messages and videos related to company insurance benefits in a category called “Benefits” and group messages and videos related to quarterly profits in a category called “Profits.” Categories work similarly to e-mail lists. A single category can contain up to 1,000 messages or videos. You can assign categories to channels, which allow you to schedule playtimes for the broadcast content. Like messages, you can publish categories so that they are available as broadcast content for channels, layout areas, and broadcast sites. Unpublished categories remain available as “working” copies.

Right click to access the pop-up menu in order to copy, paste or delete a message.


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Categories Categories allow you to group messages together in a specific play order so that the message will play one after the other (similar to a playlist or channel). You can then apply the category to an area of a layout or to a channel so that you only have to modify the category once in order to affect changes in all locations (layouts, areas, channels, etc) where the category is in use.

Creating a category Creating a new category is just like creating a message; you simply click on file, and new from the main Design Studio window and select category from the choice list.

Then you can click and drag messages into the new category, and arrange the order in which you want the messages played on a broadcast site or SDA.

Like messages, you can create a Category by either selecting “file”, “new”, then clicking the “Category” option, or you can go to the Categories folder, and click the “new” button on the toolbar.


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Categories Example of messages that have been added to a category, the arrows indicate the play order of the messages within the category. Red arrows indicate that two messages must play next to one another in sequence.

You can re-arrange the order that each message will play and have messages play more than once within a category. You can also elect to have specific messages always play in order next to another message.

You can re-arrange the play order within a category and have specific messages always play “next” to another message.


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Publish and Push Categories To make a category available for broadcast you will need to publish it and push it out to the SDA or broadcast site, in a similar manner to publishing and pushing messages. Like messages, simply right click on the category and select the Category Publishing option.

Messages and other content contained within a category may be scheduled to play at all times, when the category itself plays, or you can select a specific schedule for the content within the category.

You can schedule messages at specific times and dates within the category.


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Category status icons Categories have their own set of status icons, similar to messages, to indicate if the Category has been published for broadcast or not, if it has been modified or if it is unavailable.

Removing expired messages within a Category When a message within a Category has been scheduled using the message lifetime option, and if one or more of the scheduled messages have expired, you can remove them by simply right clicking on them and selecting remove expired message. Expired messages appear with an icon within the item list,


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Channel A Channel is a set of schedules that determines what layouts, categories, graphics, messages, and live feeds will appear within an area of a broadcast display. The channel also controls the frequency and times that these items are broadcast, and it allows you to control what messages, categories, graphics, text, and live video feeds will appear within an area of a broadcast display. For example, you might create a channel called “Sports News” and assign different types of content to the channel, such as sports scores, statistics, and videos. The content type for channels originates from several sources:

•Media files (Video and Sound files)

•Categories (user-defined message categories created in Symon Design Studio)

•News categories (pre-defined news categories for subscribers of the Symon TargetVision news service)

•Symon areas (content sent to SES destinations)

•Video feeds

•Web content (access to a web page based on an Internet address)

Adding a Channel To add a new channel, select the file and new from the main toolbar, then click on channel and the new channel will appear in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen.

Adding a new Channel like a Category or a Message can be accomplished either via the “File”, “New” menu or by going to the Channel folder, and selecting the “new” Channel button located on the toolbar.


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Adding content to channels and scheduling playtime. To add content to your channel for playback, simply click and drag the content from the Category, Message, Graphic, Video, or Sound folders into the scheduled playlist of the Channel area. Like messages, categories and other content you can schedule items in your channel to play “always” in order from top to bottom in the playlist, or pick specific times on specific days & dates to play.

You can edit the play-time for the content within a channel to be scheduled to always play, or to be played at specific dates and times. To do so, make sure that the “always scheduled” checkbox in the properties window is unchecked, and then you will be able to right click on the date/time/calendar window and choose to add or edit the playtime. A separate pop-up window will appear to provide a variety of scheduling options.


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Layouts The Symon Digital Appliance (SDA) has distinct areas for displaying specific types of broadcast content. Layouts define the dimensions of these distinct areas. For example, in a larger area of a layout you might want to display a video of business news, while in a smaller area, you might want to display stock quotes in a ticker-tape fashion. Symon Design Studio comes pre-loaded with layout templates for both widescreen and standard video displays (LCD’s, Plasma TV, etc). You can also create your own unique layout to fit your specific needs and those of your video display.

Creating a new Layout You can create a new layout from a set of pre-existing layout templates, or you can create a layout from scratch. To create a layout from a template, open the “Layouts” tab at the bottom of the Design Studio display, and navigate to the “Templates” file-folder. Then, simply right click and choose open, or double-click on the template of your choice, then select file, and save as, to rename the template and save it as a working layout, in the file-folder of your choice.

Open the template of your choice, then “save as” a new filename, in the folder location you desire.


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Creating a working layout from a template To use a Layout template when creating your own Layout, select, file and save as, then browse to the new file-folder of your choice and save the layout with a new name. Be sure to uncheck the “template” option before saving unless you wish to create a new template for future use.


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Saving a working layout from a template When saving your new Layout, be sure to uncheck the template option, as highlighted below.

Creating a Layout from scratch From the main Symon Design Studio window, click on file, and then new, and select Layout from the choice list or select the “new” button from the Layout’s folder.

You can then design the Layout to your own liking and save in the file-folder of your choice.


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Creating a custom Layout If you opt to create a new layout from scratch, you will need to insert new objects known as areas, into the layout. The Layout’s “areas” are customizable via the properties menu. Each area of the Layout has its own playlist where you can click, drag, and drop content to be shown on the video display. To insert a new area, simply click on the “insert object” button, or select edit, and then insert from the main menu of Symon Design Studio.

Click on the insert object button located on the elements toolbar to insert a new area into your Layout to schedule content to play on the SDA & video display.


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Area properties You can customize the area via the properties page to change the name of the area, resize it, modify the background, and even include a watermark to be displayed over the content that you schedule within that area of the Layout.

Adding and scheduling content within an area Once you have added an area to a Layout you can then schedule content to play within it. Adding content to an area “playlist” is very similar to adding content to a channel to play at a specified time and date. First click on the area tab within the Layout window to display the playlist for that area, then simply click, drag and drop the content you desire into the playlist. Content can be made up of messages, message categories, channels, graphics, video, sounds, or even other Layouts.

Click on the new area within the layout window to display the properties. You can then rename the area and set other properties for it.


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Adding content to an area To add content to an area, simply click on the area tab within the Layout window, to display the playlist. Next click and drag the content from its appropriate folder and drop it into the playlist in the order you desire. Items in the playlist will be displayed on the SDA in sequential order based on their playlist date & time.

You can see a preview of messages, categories, and graphics when you move your mouse over that piece of content in the areas playlist.

Click on the area tab to show its playlist, then simply click, drag and drop the content of your choice into the playlist. You can customize content playback from the properties page.

You can also preview the content, by moving your mouse over it to reveal a thumbnail image.


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Imbedded Layouts Imbedded Layouts are Layouts, Categories, or Channels that exist within a Layout. More specifically, it is a layout that has been scheduled to appear within an area of an existing Layout. By imbedding a Layout within an existing Layout, you can schedule the video display to alter a portion of the screen causing it to transition to a different set of content at pre-determined times, while leaving other portions or areas of the video display intact and uninterrupted. This provides a smooth and seamless transition from one set of content to another during playback. You may for instance elect to have a large area of a Layout display a live TV feed while a smaller area shows employee communications and perhaps a news or stock ticker area at the bottom of the screen. Then on a scheduled basis, the display can alter, so that the TV feed begins to appear in a smaller portion of the display, while other content or information can take over the larger, main area of the layout. By scheduling, a layout to play within a layout you can accomplish this transition, while at the same time leaving the stock ticker at the bottom portion of the screen playing uninterrupted. You can rotate through a number of different imbedded Layouts in this manner. You may choose to have the TV feed appear in the upper left corner of the screen, and other portions of the display can then be made up of separate area’s showing advertisement, weather radar, corporate messages and data for a few minutes, only to then return to the primary live TV display Layout once a pre-determined timeout has elapsed. If you do not imbed a Layout to play within an area of an existing layout, then the entire screen must transition (fade to black) between each Layout that you schedule to appear on the video display. On the next two pages are examples of an imbedded layout, the crawling informational banner and stock ticker at the bottom of the display remain uninterrupted and scrolling at all times, while the larger “main” area of the layout, and the smaller right areas transition. You will notice that the main area changes from a small TV display in the upper right portion of the in “Image 1”, to a large TV display in the main area, while the TV has now moved to left side along with the show logo in “Image 2”.


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(Image 1, Layout w/in Layout) Small TV, show logo, and photos of cars on display the auto show in the main area, with info and stock “tickers” at the bottom of the video display screen.

(Image 2, Layout w/in Layout) The main large area is now showing live TV while the photos of the auto show and the show logo, have been moved to the left hand side of the display, while the crawling informational and stock tickers have continued to play uninterrupted.


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An imbedded Layout within an Area of an existing Layout

This Layout has a news and stock ticker at the bottom and a large area at the top of the display. The large area will have several other Layouts scheduled to play within it, while the tickers at the bottom remain uninterrupted.


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Multiple Layouts scheduled to rotate through the main area’s playlist.

This slide shows the various Layouts that have been scheduled to play within the large area of the main Layout in the prior image. These imbedded Layouts will only appear within the main area. The main Layout’s news & stock tickers are unaffected as these imbedded Layouts cycle through the playlist.


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Adding advanced content via the Toolbox. In addition to scheduled messages, categories, channels and layouts, you can also schedule items from the built in toolbox to appear on the video display. These items can include news and weather feeds, as well as television and video streams, websites, Dynamic Categories, and Screen Control commands. When you hover your mouse over the toolbox tab (by default it is located on the left side of the main Design Studio screen in the resources area) you will be able to select from the list of items within the toolbox. You can then simply click, drag and drop the content into your playlist to be scheduled. Items can be scheduled to appear within a Channel, Layout Area or within the broadcast site/SDA itself.

From the Toolbox resource tab, you can click, drag, and drop content such as live TV, video stream, web URL, news, sports and weather content into the playlist to be scheduled on the SDA/broadcast site.


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Using Transitions Design Studio comes with a number of built in transitions that you can use when cycling from one piece of content to the next within a message. From the main Design Studio menu, you can select the view menu, where you can opt to show the transitions folder in the main folder list. You can double-click on a transition to preview it before deciding to use it within a playlist. Design Studio offers 2D, 3D, and Cinematic transitions, or you can elect to allow Design Studio to randomly change from one transition type to another.

From the view menu, you can add the transitions to the folder list, where you can then preview any 2D, 3D or Cinematic transition.


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Applying transitions to content within a message To use a transition with an item in your playlist, choose the transition type from the properties panel choice list. The Transition will appear prior to the specific piece of content on the video display.

Any content that is scheduled within an area can have a transition applied to it, you can choose from 2D, 3D or Cinematic transitions. You can pick from a specific transition, or allow Design Studio to randomly choose between them.


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Using Watermarks Design Studio provides the ability to imbed a watermark into the video display. You can add a Watermark to a Channel an area of a Layout or even the site/SDA itself. The opacity of the watermark can be scaled to be anywhere from 100% solid to completely transparent, and Watermarks can be scheduled to turn on and off at a specified duration / interval as well. The on duration will control how long the watermark will stay on the display, where the off duration controls the length of time between when the watermark appears and disappears. You can also set the watermark to always appear rather than cycling it through an on/off period.

You can apply a watermark to a channel, layout, or even the site itself. You can select from four positions to display the watermark, and you can select the opacity and duration for the watermark as well.


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Updating the Broadcast Site Once you have added content to the playlist of the message, category, channel, layout, or even to the SDA itself, you will need to update the broadcast site to have that data appear on your video display. To update the broadcast site, simply right click on the site/SDA name from the site folders list or you can right click on the site name tab at the top of that sites panel and choose the option update broadcast site

Either right-click on the SDA tab, if you have the broadcast site open or right click on the site/SDA from the Sites folder list, then select “update broadcast site” to have the newly added or changed content appear on the video display.


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Appendix Listing: Appendix A-E includes information on the optional features available for Design Studio. These modules may require the purchase of additional time and materials to implement. See your Symon Sales Representative for more information about obtaining these features.

Appendix A: Dynamic Categories A Dynamic category is similar to a standard category; however, messages can be added and managed, via the Symon WebConsole, which is an optional browser-based application. The advantage to this is that you do not have to have the complete design studio application installed on a client, to be able to insert and/or edit a message within a Dynamic Category. All that is required is a standard web-browser, such as MS Internet Explorer and access to the SES System on your corporate network.

You can schedule a Dynamic Category so that content within it can appear either on the entire display or within a predefined area of a display layout. Once the category is set to play, you can insert messages by means of Symon WebConsole, and even edit the text

Right click in the Dynamic Category folder of the “Toolbox” to create a Dynamic Category. Then Click, Drag and Drop the Dynamic Category into a Scheduled Playlist of an Area or SDA to be able to access it from within WebConsole.


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that may appear within an element of the message that you have added to the Dynamic Category.

Appendix B: WebConsole

WebConsole Login The Web Console offers two levels of security to protect unauthorized sending of messages to devices. You can use the application security, Windows authentication, or both.

This example shows authenticated access using integrated Windows authentication.


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WebConsole Login To log onto WebConsole, simply point your web-browser to the address (IP address or Network name) of the SES server, and add “/WebConsole” to the URL as in this example: Example: http://123.456.789.0/WebConsole This will open a login dialog box from Windows OS to access the WebConsole.

After you type in your domain user id and password the WebConsole application’s security screen will appear; where the only user id for WebConsole is ‘config’ and the initial password is ‘symon’ (all case sensitive).


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WebConsole Login If however you have ‘Enable anonymous access’ checked and Integrated Windows authentication unchecked in this example, then ONLY the application’s security screen will appear.

You can modify the login and password by clicking on the “Modify Password” option as in the example below, when you do so, another dialog screen will appear prompting you to enter your current and new password.


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WebConsole Login Enter your current and new passwords, then click continue to save and login to WebConsole. Passwords must be at least 5 characters in length, and must not contain any “special” characters. Passwords ARE case sensitive.

Once you log in, you will have the option of accessing Dynamic Messaging, Priority Messaging, or Message Center. Each component of WebConsole is licensed separately, if there are not any available licenses the module will be “grayed out” on the main screen.

Click on the “Report Current License Usage” button to display a pop-up window showing the number of licenses that have been subscribed to vs. those in use.


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Dynamic Messages Dynamic Messaging is an optional software module used in conjunction with Design Studio and accessed through the WebConsole user interface. The main benefit of this application is the capability to send a message from the Web outside of Design Studio giving you anywhere access. In order to send a Dynamic Message to a video display, a Dynamic Category must first be created in Design Studio, and scheduled within a playlist (Layout, Site, Channel, etc). The Dynamic Category will then appear within the Dynamic Messaging screen, where you’ll be able to insert messages and send them to the video display. You can easily review all available dynamic messages with thumbnail views highlighted with a RED background for messages that have previously been played (and or expired messages) or a GREEN background for messages that have not yet been played. Dynamic Messaging is ideal for sending messages to a ticker that has been previously set up in Design Studio with the crawl feature enabled.


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Dynamic Messaging Once you select the Dynamic Category and click the insert button, you’ll be able to select the message you wish to send to the display. A message folder “tree” will appear containing messages created in Design Studio. Simply browse to the message you want to insert, select it and click next.

Once you select your message, you can enter text into it’s “elements” and edit it’s appearance prior to saving/sending the message to the Dynamic Category which is scheduled to appear on the video display.


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Priority Messaging Priority Messaging is an optional software module accessed through WebConsole.

It allows you to send a pre-created (via Design Studio) message to one or more video display sites. The message sent will cover the entire video display screen and will continue to play until the message has been manually removed. Priority Messaging allows you to send and remove the same message to multiple sites, and even enter custom text to appear within an element of the message.

Priority Messaging shows the status of the site and if the message is a normal (standard) or if a priority message is currently being played.


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Message Center Message Center is an optional software module accessed by means of the WebConsole browser based application, that allows you to send text messages to Dynamic Categories as well as non-SDA tools such as Symon legacy products like NetLite II reader-boards and DeskView Virtual Display pop-ups.

Message Center is licensed separately from Dynamic Messaging and Priority Messaging but is accessed from the same WebConsole main application page.


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Message Center Non-SDA Configuration Screen:

NetLite II and DeskView destinations must be pre-set before using Message Center, within the SES Admin Connection Module. Non-SDA device messages are automatically removed, once they meet the expiration date lifetime.


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Message Center SDA Configuration Option screen:

Messages to video displays (SDA) must also be pre-created within Design Studio prior to using Message Center. Messages can be sent to a Dynamic Category which is scheduled to appear a within an area of a Layout, including ticker areas, and can crawl or scroll by using the appropriate configuration option prior to sending the message, as In the example above. There are separate configuration options that can be set for non-SDA destinations (NetLite’s and DeskView) vs. the TargetVision, SDA destination as well. Message Center, Dynamic Categories and Messages, and Priority Messages use both page level security and software licensing. Your network administrator can add NTFS permissions to enable this security.


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Appendix C: Proof of Play Reporting Proof-of-Play Reporting is an optional module, which provides an audit trail of content that has been displayed on the site/SDA. Proof-of-Play Reporting utilizes the Microsoft SQL Server 2005, or MS SQL Express 2005, to store play reporting data in the Symon created reporting database, and MS SQL Server reporting services in order to view the Symon supplied Proof-of-Play reports. There is full detail reporting as well as reports summarized by day, hour, half hour, and quarter hour.

To enable proof-of-play reporting the site/SDA must have “Log Content Play Times” enabled in the properties panel, and “Log Play” must be enabled, for each individual piece of content that you would like to run a report on.


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Proof of Play Reporting The Proof of Play reporting services will need to be installed on the SES server, which and configured within MS SQL Server 2005/Express 2005 then you’ll be able to access the report generator via a standard web-browser such as MS Internet Explorer. Once the reporting service is installed and the reports configured, you can access the Proof of Play report generator, via your web-browser, simly enter the URL for the SES Server followed by /Reports as in the following example: http://SES/Reports/ You will then be prompted to select the type of report to run.

Once you select the report, then enter the site/SDA you wish to audit, the specific messages, and date range, then click the “View Report” button to generate the Proof of Play report.


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Proof of Play Reporting Example of a daily and half-hourly report:


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Proof of Play Reporting Example of a daily report providing proof of play for several messages from more than one SDA/Site.


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Proof-of-Play Reporting: Summary: • Retrieves SDA Play Logs • User Defines Reporting Schedules • Play List Reporting and Impressions Once Daily • Summarized by: • Day • Hour • Half Hour • Quarter Hour • Full Detail Reporting • Data Stored in SQL Table for Reporting • MS SQL Server 2005 SP1 to store data • MS SQL Server Reporting Services (MSRS) to view the Symon Proof-of-Play Reports


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Appendix D: SES Content Distribution Software (Content Provider/Consumer) SES Content Distribution Software is an optional Symon Design Studio service that provides content from a source site and makes it available to one or more remote sites. Subscribers to the content are Symon Enterprise Server sites that act as “consumers;” these consumers choose which “providers” to use as their content source and register with the provider to receive updated content. SES Content Distribution Software is available in all Symon Design Studio installations; licensing is controlled at the “provider” level.

Benefits of SES Content Distribution include increased scalability for large deployments and Provider control over what content is available to remote sites; remote sites, in turn, can choose which portion of the available content (some or all) that they will actually use.


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SES Content Distribution Software For organizations that have a dispersed environment (multiple sites), even spanning continents, SES Content Distribution Software can limit the amount of traffic/bandwidth by creating multiple subscribers and offering the data updates through the second server for additional sites. This dramatically reduces bandwidth and extends the subscribers’ capabilities. Other benefits include: • A provider can provide specially created content for a particular customer. When the customer sites subscribe to the provider, they receive content that adheres to their requirements for format and style. • Updates from providers are made available to consumers on an immediate basis. If existing content is updated at the provider site, these changes are automatically applied at the consumer sites.

SES Content Distribution Software essentially serves as an automated import/export function. You can set up the connection between a consumer site and provider site in three steps. To subscribe to a provider, a consumer must first add the provider as well as specify its server name and address, in the provider properties panel. When the consumer “registers” this information with the provider, the provider becomes aware that the consumer exists and is subscribing to its available content.

Consumers can “register” with content providing SES systems by going to the “View”, “Other Windows” menu and choosing “Content Providers”


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SES Content Distribution Software A provider controls what content can be retrieved by consumers, such as Layouts, Channels, Categories, Messages, and even Site Templates. The provider also controls the intervals at which content can be retrieved.

In the final step, the consumer opens the provider window to view the content that is available from the provider. The consumer can choose to receive all the content, or choose to receive only certain pieces of the content. The consumer drags & drops the desired content into a “selected content” window. The consumer can use the “Refresh” function at any time to poll the provider and determine if any of the content has changed.

Click, drag & drop content, such as Layouts, Categories, Channels, Messages, Video and Graphics to the “Provided Content” folder, and save, to make available to remote “Consumer” SES Sites.


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SES Content Distribution Software The “Consumer” SES can choose which content to “select” by clicking, dragging and dropping the content that their host “Provider” SES has made available, from the “Available Content” window to the “Selected Content” window.

After selecting content, the “Consumer” SES will save their site, and the content will then appear the appropriate folder (Layouts, Channels, Categories, Messages, Graphics, etc) where they can then schedule it to play on a site/SDA.

Click, drag, & drop the content, which the Host SES Provider has placed, in the “Available Content” window, to the “Selected Content” window to use in a scheduled playlist.


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Appendix E: Screen Control Screen Control It is an optional module that enables remote control of televisions, LCD’s and plasmas, including on/off, brightness, volume, input changes, etc. A hardware adapter is required per video display device that will be managed by the Screen Control software option. The adapter converts the RS-232 (serial) connection on the device to a RJ-45 signal, and will have an IP address assigned to it making it network addressable. Screen control can allow you to remotely control a video display device / TV, to avoid screen burn in with scheduled on and off times, as well as other video display control options. Symon professional services can assist in the initial system setup, including mapping the screen control commands of each video display device; to a series of “Input” command settings that will be available to be “scheduled” to occur at various times of the day, week, month, etc. To map the screen control commands, go to “Tools”, “Screen Control Input Mappings” and select the brand of display device (TV) to communicate with.


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Screen Control Once you have selected the brand of display device from the “Screen Command Input Mappings” panel, you can then map up to eight (8) “Input Commands” which can be scheduled for each “Screen Control” device. These can be commands such as turning the power on / off, changing the volume or muting the audio, changing video input device selections or even changing channels on a TV.

Once all desired screen control commands are mapped, the next step is to add a new “Screen controller” and then schedule the “Input Commands” on that controller to adjust the display device.


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Screen Control To add a “screen controller” go to the “View” menu and select the sub-menu “Other Windows”, then select the option for “Screen Controllers”

The will open a screen controller window, similar to the example below. You’ll then be able to right-click and select “New” and “Screen Controller” to add a new device.


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Screen Control Once you’ve added the screen controller, you’ll need to enter the “IP address”, and “Display Model” in its properties panel, after which you can click, drag & drop “Input Commands” from the “Toolbox” into the scheduled playlist for that location.

You can continue to add commands from the “Toolbox” menu into the scheduled playlist, then add scheduled playtime like any other type of content. The difference is that the schedule of events you create, will control the actions of the display device. Lastly, you’ll need to select the appropriate site/SDA. And within it’s properties panel, under the “Screen Controllers” option, click the “Add” button and choose from the available list of configured controllers to associate with this site/SDA.

Enter the IP address for the screen controller and select the appropriate display device model number. Then click, drag & drop input commands from the “Toolbox” menu into the scheduled playlist for the selected controller and “Add Playtime” to determine when these commands will be executed.


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Screen Control The final step assigns the Screen Control hardware adapter to its associated SDA and links the selected features to the display device.

The Screen Control option currently supports five vendor specific video displays/ monitors: • LG • NEC • Pioneer • Sharp PN-455 • Sharp LC32GDU4 There is a utility to recognize additional vendor specific monitors not listed. This will be determined during your site survey. Symon Professional Services is required to write custom code for non-supported monitors. Every monitor will also have different input mappings. Screen Control can recognize up to eight inputs such as analog TV, HDI, cable, etc. The Symon BAE is responsible for setting up Screen Control.


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Appendix F: Video Wall Support Symon Design Studio software also provides support for video walls. With the addition of a SDA-400W, you can connect up to four (4) video display devices in either a “wall” or an “end-to-end” configuration, and manage the content via Design Studio. Advantages of using a video wall/SDA 400W • Easy Web setup interface and Design Studio configuration. • Video wall capability for large, attention grabbing shows. Four monitors can be configured to display as one large screen or they can be split into multiple individual show configurations. The SDA-400W can be used as a standard video wall or vertical and horizontal configurations, incorporating the powerful Matrox quad-display graphics card, QID LP PCIe that supports digital and analog monitors. It is easy to setup a SDA-400W with a familiar Web page set up screen, similar to the SDA-600 model. Settings include network, SES, output, security and an event viewer (log file). A screen snapshot of up to four monitors will also be displayed on the Web page at startup or by clicking on a refresh feature. The Design Studio interface to the SDA-400W allows the creation of up to 20 areas to be used with video wall layouts. The system automatically configures the correct resolution for the attached monitors. The Design Studio configuration page lets you pick the number of monitors, layout, screen resolution and scheduling for video wall shows. The monitor settings specify the physical orientation and arrangement of the monitor(s) attached to the SDA. In the example shown below a SDA-400 is configured for (1) four monitors selected, in (2) a four monitor across configuration, and (3) supported monitor resolution (auto configuration – it will not allow resolutions in configurations that it can not support).


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Video Wall Support A video wall can be configured at the site/SDA level by going to the properties panel, and selecting the resolution and configuration of the video display/monitors attached to the SDA 400W.


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Video Wall Support By choosing the type of display device from the site/SDA output settings option in the properties panel you can choose the number of monitors, the orientation and the arrangement either end-to-end or in a square “wall” configuration. This view indicates a four monitor, square wall configuration.


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Video Wall Support

There are many ways to configure the SDA-400. The above example shows a two-monitor arrangement end to end. The most popular arrangement is typically the four monitor square configuration as shown below.


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Streaming output, crawling ticker, and Live TV support are not supported at this time. The resolutions shown below are per-monitor resolutions and the total resolution limit applies to the total resolution of all monitors. Therefore, 2 x 1280 x 720 is allowed, but 4 x 1280 x 720 is not (a configuration of 4 x 1280 x 720 would be 3,686,400 pixels and that is more than 1,920,000 pixels). The total resolution of all of the displays used can’t exceed 1600 x 1200 (1,920,000) pixels. The following resolutions are supported by the SDA-400W and at a 640x480 resolution all four monitors can have active content; 1680x1050 will only support one monitor at the higher resolution. 640x480 853x480 1280x720 1360x768 1680x1050 800x480 1024x512 1280x768 1365x768 800x600 1024x768 1280x800 1366x768 848x480 1072x600 1280x960 1600x1024 852x480 1152x864 1280x1024 1600x1200


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Appendix G: SES Backup utility

The SES backup utility (SymonBackup.exe) automates the backup of SES files and folders. You can run this utility from the command prompt and configure the utility using a simple text file. You can also set up the backup utility to run as a scheduled Windows task that automatically performs backups on a daily or weekly basis. An application event log keeps track of errors or informational messages that occur during each backup.

How the Backup Utility Works

You can perform a backup by simply typing “symonbackup” at the command prompt and pressing Enter. As a default, the backup utility expects a configuration file name (SymonBackup.txt) to be included with the command. If you do not specify a file name, the backup utility looks for SymonBackup.txt in the Symon Enterprise Server program folder. If it cannot find this configuration file, it backs up the SymonPortal.dat database file and writes it to a SymonBackup folder.

SymonBackup.txt

SymonBackup.txt is the default configuration file used by the SymonBackup.exe utility. This file is installed in the Symon Enterprise Server program folder during an SES installation. The file consists of three sections: [OutputPath], [Files], and [Folders]. Each section begins with a [SectionName] header line followed by zero or more lines that define the section body. Within these sections, you can specify the files and folders to be backed up using paths relative to the Symon Enterprise Server program folder. Absolute or UNC (Universal Naming Convention) paths may also be used.


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Glossary

A Aggregation

The value derived from a selection of data after determining the minimum, maximum, count, sum, or average value of the data.

B Backgrounds

A portion of an element that appears in the distance (background) and provides relief for the principal objects (graphics, text, multimedia objects) in the foreground. Background properties control the look and feel of the selected background.

C Categories

A group of broadcast messages that have a common theme - such as weather-related topics, sports-related topics, stock market-related topics, etc. A single Symon Design Studio category can contain up to 1,000 published messages. A category that is “published and pushed” in Symon Design Studio becomes available as broadcast content for broadcast PCs and SDAs. Channels

A set of schedules that determines what categories, graphics, messages, and live feeds will appear within an area of a broadcast display. The channel also controls the frequency and times that these items are broadcast.

D Data point

A single value derived from a dataset. The collector from which the dataset gets its values must be activated in order for a data point to be calculated and selected. Data reference

An object inserted into a message element that represents the dataset used to extract and display live data from a database. Data trigger

A set of parameters that controls when an item in a channel or layout area plays, based on the value of a live data set. The live data set returns a value extracted from a database record. If the value meets the criteria defined for the data trigger parameters, it triggers the content to be played once per cycle.


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D Dataset

A subscription definition that extracts and displays live data from a database. The dataset specifies the collectors, tables, and fields to subscribe to, as well as criteria, threshold information, calculated fields, and field aggregations. A single dataset can subscribe to data from different tables, if needed.

E Elements

Defined areas within a message that contain unique information, such as text, graphics, and other forms of available content.

F Font

A typeface that applies unique shape characteristics to text.

G Graphic properties

Images, such as clip art, word art, graphs, and charts, that are used to enhance a message’s appeal or to reinforce the topic of the message. Grayscale

A color mode made up of 256 shades of gray. These 256 colors include absolute black, absolute white and 254 shades of gray in-between.

O Object z-order

An attribute that controls the placement of objects that overlay each other (front, back, etc.) Opacity

The degree to which something reduces the passage of light and makes an image nontransparent. Orientation

The location or position of an object relative to the points of the compass.


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P Png (Portable Network Graphics)

An extensible file format for the lossless, portable, well-compressed storage of raster images. PNG provides a patent-free replacement for GIF and can also replace many common uses of TIFF. Indexed-color, grayscale, and truecolor images are supported, plus an optional alpha channel for transparency. Sample depths range from 1 to 16 bits per component (up to 48bit images for RGB, or 64bit for RGBA). Publish

To publish the working copy of a message or category. Only published messages can be added to categories, and only published categories are available for use as channel content. Publish and push

To publish the working copy of a message or category and update all broadcast sites with the new category or message content.

R Resolution

The fineness of detail that can be distinguished in an image, as on a video display terminal.

S SDA (Symon Digital Appliance)

A multimedia network appliance that maximizes the efficiency and flexibility of delivering broadcast and digital signage content to a variety of plasma display panels, LCDs, and projectors. Slide

A single view of a message. If a message has more text or content than what can appear within a single view, additional slides are automatically created to display the message in its entirety. SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol)

A TCP/IP protocol for sending messages from one computer to another on a network. This protocol is used on the Internet to route-email.


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S SNTP server (Simple Network Time Protocol server)

A time server that uses an adaptation of the Network Time Protocol (NTP) used to synchronize computer clocks on the Internet. (update this variable with the name of your publication) The SNTP server receives time from a reliable time source and sets and synchronizes the time on a computer system or enterprise. Stencil

A cutout that can be applied to a background or graphic. The background or graphic appears in the shape of the cutout. Style

A collection of text attributes that apply unique characteristics to text. A text style is made up of a font, a color, and can also include bold, italic, and/or drop-shadow characteristics.

T Template Text properties

Textual elements in various shapes and forms that make messages appear more attractive and improve on their overall look. Threshold

A set of properties that measures data point values and controls the way the data is displayed, based on the values. Tint

A gradation of a color made by adding white to it to lessen its saturation. Transition

The way in which one item (such as a message or video) is displayed after another. Translucency

The quality of allowing light to pass and spread freely. Transparency

The quality of being clear and transparent.

U Universal time

The basis for the worldwide system of civil time. Universal time was previously referred to colloquially as Greenwich Meantime (GMT)—time kept on the Greenwich Meridian (longitude zero), 5 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. Universal time is almost always given in terms of a 24-hour clock.


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U User permissions

Levels of security or “permissions” that determine what actions a user of Symon Design Studio is allowed to perform. A user or group of users can be granted permissions to perform the following actions:

•create, modify, and delete messages •publish messages and categories •list the contents of folder lists •take ownership of an item •change permissions for other users and groups

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