FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL by http://www.xplorex.pl Version 2.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................... 4 2. FUN BILLBOARD – Essential features.................................................................... 5 3. How does it work? ............................................................................................. 6 4. System’s capacity (sending and receiving messages) ............................................. 6 5.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 8.3.3. Inbox ...................................................................................................37 8.3.4. Subscribers...........................................................................................37 8.3.4.1. Export subscribers to a text file..........................................................38 8.3.4.2. Import list of subscribers from a text file.............................................39 8.3.5. Groups ....................................
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 1.Introduction FUN BILLBOARD DEMO is a demo version of Fun Billboard Pro - a professional DIGITAL SIGNAGE system for displaying SMS text messages, ads and multimedia presentations on the walls of buildings, TV screens and LCD displays. FUN BILLBOARD PRO is designed for music clubs, pubs and for the organizers of concerts, conferences, trainings and public events.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL content of messages. Non-moderated Mode – incoming text messages are displayed directly on the screen without Moderator’s approval. The only protection of the screen against undesirable content is a filter of prohibited words described in the chapter 7.5. FUN BILLBOARD DEMO - CONNECTING PEOPLE The system allows strangers who are at the event (dance club, pub) to chat and flirt with each other anonymously on the big screen.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 3.How does it work? Fig. 2. Block diagram of FUN BILLBOARD DEMO 4.System’s capacity (sending and receiving messages) The system can: Receive up to 15 text messages per minute Send up to 15 text messages per minute 5. System requirements and installation 5.1.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL • An active SIM card with the text messaging feature enabled. The SIM card should be capable to at least receive SMS messages. In order to use all system’s capabilities it is recommended to use a SIM card, which can both send and receive text messages. • PC computer (notebook or desktop) with Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7 installed on it.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL S35, TC35, TC35i, TC45, TC65 SIMCOM: SIM100S, SIM100T Sony Ericsson: T226, T230, T238, T290, T310, T610, T630, T637, T68, T68i, K310, K320, K500, K510, K600, K700, K750i, K800i, W810, W900, S700, S710, V800, W300, W550, W600, W700, W800i, W810, W900, Z500, Z600, Z1010, GC75, GC79, GC83, GC85, GC89 Teltonika: T-ModemUSB, T-ModemCOM Wavecom: Fastrack M1206B, Fastrack M1306B, Integra, WMOi3, Fastrack Supreme 20, Fastrack Go, Fastrack Xtend Which GSM modems / GSM mobile phones c
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 5.2.Installing FUN BILLBOARD DEMO – step by step To install FUN BILLBOARD DEMO follow the steps below: 1. Make sure that you are logged on as an administrator of Windows XP, Widows Vista or Windows 7. 2. Install a GSM modem or a mobile phone driver on your PC. The driver should be supplied by the modem or phone manufacturer. See the list of supported GSM devices in the chapter 5.1. 3.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Fig. 3. Folder "Framework" with the subfolder “v2.0.50727” indicates that .NET Framework 2.0 is installed on your computer. Note: The last 5 digits of the subfolder’s name may be different on your computer from those shown in the above example. 5. Make sure that you have the latest version of Internet Explorer (7 or later) installed on your computer. Without this or later version of the browser, the system will not display graphics correctly.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 5.3.1.Registering your FUN BILLBOARD DEMO software After launching FUN BILLBOARD DEMO for the fist time the system will ask you for registering online your copy of FUN BILLBOARD DEMO. Please follow the instructions on the screen. 5.3.2.COM port and SIM card configuration When FUN BILLBOARD DEMO is launched for the first time, you will probably have to manually configure the system’s communication parameters. On the screen you will see the window shown in Figure 4.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL d. USB Serial port e. USB cable DCU-10, 11 or 12 f. … or for other entries that might be related to your modem • • If you are not sure, disconnect and reconnect your modem or mobile phone while looking at the section “Ports (Com & LPT)”. The entry you are interested in should first disappear from the list and then appear again on the list.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL And if it still does not work try to play with the “Baud rate” or refer to the user manual of your modem. Fig. 6. Communication and SIM card settings. If the SIM card in your modem is protected by a PIN code, select "PIN code of the SIM card" and enter the code in the corresponding box (Fig. 6). Else select "SIM card does not have a PIN code." Click on "Try again." If everything is properly configured, FUN BILLBOARD DEMO will start using the communication functions. 5.4.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL NOTE: Before selecting „Multiple monitor mode” you must configure your MS Windows display parameters. The configuration is described in chapter 5.4.2. Fig. 7. Dialog box - choice of a display mode.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Fig. 8. Multi-monitor configuration in Windows XP 5.4.3.Launching the default screen of FUN BILLBOARD DEMO system After choosing the preferred display mode (Fig. 7), a default FUN BILLBOARD DEMO screen will appear on the monitor 1 or 2 (depending on the selected display mode).
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Fig. 9. The default FUN BILLBOARD DEMO screen, right after the first launch of the system. If you are working in a single-monitor mode, the default system’s screen will occupy the entire display of your computer. In order to switch between active application windows in your Windows operating system, use the combination of ALT and TAB keys (Press and hold down ALT key and at the same time press TAB to navigate between applications).
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Fig. 10. View of the „Admin console” window after the first logon. 5.5.Testing the FUN BILLBOARD DEMO installation Here are a few steps that will assure your system works properly: Sending a message from mobile phone to the system FUN BILLBOARD: Using your mobile phone create a test message and send it to the number of the SIM card inside the GSM terminal. Give it a minute – the delays are normal on any GSM networks.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Fig. 11. Example of a test message ready to be sent to a phone number 5.5.1.Troubleshooting If the any of the tests failed, please follow the checklist below: Ensure that your mobile phone or GSM modem is connected to the computer and that the SIM card has been installed properly. WARNING: Never replace the SIM card if the mobile phone or modem is connected to the computer or to an external power source. You may damage the phone or modem or/and the SIM card.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL pressing a combination of the keys ALT-F4 (Press and hold down the ALT key and at the same time press the F4 key). 7.FUN BILLBOARD DEMO – system settings The system configuration menu can be accessed by clicking on menu item “Settings” located in the top left corner of the „Admin console” window. Other system settings can be configured in numerous tabs of the „Admin console”.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 7.1.Menu „Settings -> Application” Fig. 12. Application settings window 7.1.1.Serial Port Settings The COM port settings (Port, Baud rate, Data bits, Parity, Stop bits, Flow Control) are described in details in the chapter 5.4.1. 7.1.2.Languages In this section the administrator can select a user interface language. Currently the system supports four languages – English, Polish, German and Russian.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL click on Save button. The change will take place after you restart the „Admin console” application. 7.1.3.Monitor mode This option is described in details in sections: 5.4.2 and 5.4.3. 7.1.4. Default SMS validity period This option affects text messages sent from FUN BILLBOARD DEMO to recipients.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 7.2.Menu „Settings -> Moderator” 7.2.1.Application mode There are two working modes of FUN BILLBOARD DEMO: moderated mode and nonmoderated mode (automatic). ATTENTION: This is a very important system function. Please read carefully. In the moderated mode all incoming messages must be manually approved by Moderator (system operator) before they are displayed on the big screen.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL messages received from “black listed” users (see section 8.3.6). Fig. 14. Rejected, non-authorized, blocked and authorized messages in the „Admin console”. “Beep when a new message arrives” - If this option is checked the incoming messages will be announced with a beep sound. The messages containing commands or votes will not be announced. 7.2.3.Private messages The system can forward text messages received from one user to the mobile phone of another user.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL You want to send a private message from your phone to the person whose nickname is Ann – you saw her messages on the big screen with this nickname and now you want to send her a private message. The correct format of your text message should be: *Ann I want to buy you a beer The Fun Billboard would receive your message and forward it to the phone number registered in the system under the nickname ANN.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 7.3.Menu „Settings -> Incoming messages” “Message is displayed on the screen for minimum (sec)” ATTENTION: This is a very important system function. Please read carefully. This parameter defines in seconds the minimal period of time, how long the massage will stay on the screen. The setting prevents messages received from the audience from scrolling too fast on the screen.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Fig. 17. View of a message on the big screen if the option “Show time in front of messages on the screen” is checked. „Don’t show nick in front of message text” If this option is checked, the incoming messages appear on the screen without showing the nickname of the sender in front the message. This option is useful for example for asking questions during a seminar, where the nickname of the sender does not really matter.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL it. Messages can be displayed on the lower banner for the period in the range from 5 to 60 seconds. Fig. 18. Menu „Settings - Template settings with the „Use dynamic banner” option selected Fig. 19. List of dynamic messages displayed in the lower banner 7.4.2.Creating a new template To create new template click on Create new template button in the Template settings tab (Fig.18). Name your template and click on Save.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 7.4.4.). Please note that default base template for each new template for editing is a tempated designed by our home-designer. 7.4.3.Deleting a template To remove any template from the system click on „Template” dropdown list and choose the template you want to remove. Then click on Delete selected template button. Please note that you cannot remove the currently active template.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL „Announcement text” This option allows to change the color of the Moderator announcements. Click on the color box and choose a new color from the palette for the announcement text. Fig. 20. Editing options for „Main template” – the system default template. Only the „Main template” has limited editing options, all other templates allow to edit images/graphics and colors (Fig.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Fig. 21. Editing options for all templates accept the default „Main template”. Fig. 22. Graphics/images editing options (branding).
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 7.4.5.Export selected template This option allows to archive a template by converting it to a compressed .zip file that can be saved in any location on the hard drive or other storage media. It is strongly recommended to archive all the templates, so that they can be restored any time if necessary. 7.4.6.Import template This option allows to import the templates saved in compressed .zip files.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 7.6.Menu „Settings -> Commands” Commands allow the mobile phone user to display standard texts along with emoticons on the Fun Billboard screen. The standard texts can be edited by the Moderator. When editing the texts please be careful not to edit the variables #nick1# an #nick2#. The variables are replaced by the nicknames of the sender and or the recipient respectively.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 8.How does the system work? 8.1.Chat on the big screen The main function of FB system is receiving text messages from the audience and displaying them on the big screen. All incoming messages appear in the „Admin console” window. The system can be ran in one of the following modes: moderated- Moderator can reads and accepts or rejects every incoming message. Only messages accepted by Moderator appear on the large screen.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Fig. 23. „Admin console”: on the left: chat in moderated mode, on the right non-moderated mode. Description of the „Admin console” (shown above) 1. The top right section of the „Admin console” contains all the messages received during the session: accepted, rejected and blocked messages. Each message has its own icon indicating the type of the message. 2. “Send private SMS” allows to send text message to a phone number or a nick name assigned by the system.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Fig. 24. Moderator sends a text message to the screen as a participant using „chameleon” nick. 4. „Send announcement as” allows Moderator to send a message to the screen with an admin defined tag for example: Moderator (Fig. 25) The size and the color of the Moderators announcements can be changed, see section 7.4.4. Fig. 25. Moderators Announcement using predefined nick „MODERATOR”. 6. CLS button cleans up the screen immediately from all messages.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Fig. 26. List of options activated by right-click. 8.2.Registering nicknames in the system Subscribers nick can be registered both by Moderator (from the Subscribers tab) and individual participants from the audience. All messages from registered users will be displayed with their registered nicknames.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 8.3.System Tabs 8.3.1.Outbox Outbox keeps queued messages that are waiting to be sent. High modem load, poor quality of the GSM network coverage or lack of credit on SIM card can cause the delays in message dispatch. Please note that system capacity is 15 messages per minute. If the messages keep pilling up in the Outbox it might indicate some problems with connectivity with a GSM network. Therefore it is recommended to monitor the content of the Outbox periodically. 8.3.2.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Fig. 27. Subscriber tab with the right-click dropdown menu 8.3.4.1.Export subscribers to a text file Click on Export button on the Subscribers tab. Choose the location on your computer where you want to save your black list text file. The system saves the text file using the default name Subscriberst.txt The Subscribers text file can be used by other database applications, like MS Excel or MS Access.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL NAMELASTNAMEPHONENICK PhilipKowalski+48881998328Phil PatriciaBanasiak+48799884932Patti +48617994321Pittbull 8.3.4.2.Import list of subscribers from a text file A “Subscribers.txt” text file created by the “Export” feature of Fun Billboard can be imported back to the system or to any other copy of Fun Billboard.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Example: A manager of the night club (FUN BILLBOARD DEMO user/operator) wants to offer to his visitors/customers a service that would periodically send to their cell phone a text message with current events in the club. The manager wants his customers to decide if they want to subscribe to that service or not, therefore the manager sets up FB PRO to allow the individual customer register with the group by sending a text message: 1. 2. 3. 4.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Fig. 28. Voting in full screen mode. Fig. 29. Voting and chat (shared screen mode).
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 8.3.7.1.Setting up new voting In order to set up new voting go to the Votes tab and fill out the following fields: Name – Moderator can name the voting/poll. This name will not appear on the screen, will be used by the system to identify this particular voting in the archive. Question - the question that is put to the vote. This question is displayed on the screen all the time during the voting. For example on Fig.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Fig. 30. Vote setup. 8.3.7.2.Voting process To start a vote press the Start button on the bottom of the Votes tab. The dialog window will change and will display voting bars. The bars will change accordingly to the casted votes. The big screen will show the voting bar chart in the mode previously chosen in the screen settings (Fig.28 and 29). Moderator can also cast votes by pressing “+” button next to the corresponding bar (pressing the button once casts one vote).
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Fig. 31. Vote tab during an active voting. 8.3.7.3.Archiving votes results All incoming text messages with votes will be ignored after stopping the voting procedure with buttons Stop or Stop Vote. The vote (poll) results, however, will still remain on the screen and on the Votes tab. Clicking on Move to archive button will move the current voting to the archive and clear the vote results from the big screen and Votes tab.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Fig. 32. Vote tab after the vote has been closed 8.3.7.4.Saving detailed information about the vote into an .XML file The system can create an .xml file with all the details of any of the past votes stored in the archive. Just click on History button and from Votes history window select the vote from the vote name column and click on Export link next to the name of that vote (Fig. 33). From the Save dialog window choose the location where you want to save your .
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 8.3.7.6.Displaying past votes results on the screen To display on the big screen the results of any achieved past votes; open the Votes history window (Fig.33) by clicking on History button (Fig.30). Select the name of the voting and click on Show on the screen link. Fig. 33. Votes history window. 8.3.8.Alarm With only one click the system can send prepared alert messages to the specific groups of users – for example security staff or bartenders.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Right click on the file will show a list of all actions that can be performed on this file (play mode, screen mode or remove from the list). Visualization/Multimedia library is strongly correlated with another important feature of the system; Playlists (described in the chapter below). Fig. 34. The Media library tab with the list of multimedia files 8.3.10.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL Constant interval between events: This option enables the user to set the default interval between all events to a constant value. Random: This option enables the user to set the time frame in which the system is supposed to randomly decide when to show the next event. For example: Set the random interval between events in the intervening period from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Play in the loop: If this option is selected, the playlist will restart upon termination.
FUN BILLBOARD DEMO USER MANUAL 9.Contact information To buy a licensed version of Fun Billboard please visit: http://www.xplorex.pl Technical support: Xplorex Mobile Corp. provides technical support only for licensed users of FUN BILLBOARD PRO. However you might try to ask for help by writing to: xplorex.mobile@gmail.com When sending questions please provide your personal / company details and the version number of the system you are using.
