Abstract:
An embodiment of the invention involves a display device and method for actively managing playback of demo content within a partially-assisted or non-assisted commercial environment. The playback of demo content is activated through detection of an audio triggering event in which playback of the streaming advertising content is temporarily halted. According to this embodiment, after the demo content is displayed, playback of the streaming advertising content resumes and cannot be interrupted for a selected period of time that is normally greater and will not be less than the playback time for the demo content. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Description:
FIELD 
       [0001]    The invention generally relates to the field of consumer electronics. More particularly, one and more embodiments of the invention relate to a display device and method for actively managing playback of demo content within a partially-assisted or non-assisted commercial environment. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    Over the last decade, the purchasing experience for televisions and other consumer electronics has changed dramatically. Previously, consumer electronic retailers provided “assisted” commercial environments in which store personnel were trained to explain differences between competing consumer electronic products. In the sale of televisions for example, store personnel were given access to remote controls associated with each type of television on display. By having access to the remote controls, the store personnel were able to place the consumer electronic products into a various modes of operation in order to explain certain features and better respond to certain inquiries raised by customers. 
         [0003]    As an example, if a customer was interested in a particular consumer electronic product such as a flat panel television, store personnel had access to the remote control associated with that particular television on display. The store personnel could turn on the television, could explain the capabilities of the television to the customer, and could place the television into a demo mode in order to illustrate features of this television. In many cases, the information provided by the store personnel and/or the content displayed during demo mode sufficiently explained why a particular television was better than other televisions in the marketplace. Then, the customer was provided more detailed information concerning prized features of the television, and thus, was better able to make an educated decision as to which television to purchase than simply purchasing the less expensive television. 
         [0004]    Unfortunately, over the last decade, the purchasing environment has changed from an “assisted” commercial environment to a “non-assisted” commercial environment that are used by big-box retailers such as COSTCO®, SAM&#39;S CLUB®, WALMART® and the like. In a “non-assisted” commercial environment, a big-box retailer typically places a number of consumer electronic products in the same general location. 
         [0005]    As an illustrative example, where the consumer electronic products are flat panel televisions, the flat panel televisions are arranged in a display to prevent the customer from having physical access to the front or side control panels of these televisions. More specifically, the flat panel televisions are elevated above and recessed away from the aisle walkway so that the customer can see the displays and bezels of the flat panel televisions, but he or she is discouraged from accessing their control panels. Also, placement of the televisions behind boxed televisions mitigates the likelihood of a customer accessing the control panel of a selected television. 
         [0006]    For these big-box retailers, all of the televisions are tuned to an in-store channel that provides streaming advertising content. However, the advertising content does not provide content which highlights features of any particular television in order to assist the customer in his or her purchasing decision. Rather, the advertising content is a series of ads, normally not in high-definition, to promote various television shows and encourage the purchase of other products or services provided by the big-box retailer. Third parties may place ads within the advertising content through payments made to the retailer and/or the supplier of the streaming advertising content. As a result, in this non-assisted commercial environment, customers tend to have difficulties in discerning the capabilities of televisions when simply viewing the displayed advertising content. 
         [0007]    As an illustrated example, the streaming advertising content provided over the in-store channel may be slow-moving images provided over standard definition or high-definition programming with minimum resolution (e.g., 720p supports a resolution of 1280×720 and a frame rate of 24 hertz “Hz”). As a result, when viewing the in-store advertising content, customers will have difficulty in noticing differences in picture clarity between the televisions on display, unlike the situation where the televisions are displaying high-resolution video of fast-paced sporting events, such as hockey or NASCAR for example. For this type of content, 1080p televisions that support higher resolution video, motion interpolation and/or higher refresh rates (e.g., rates≧120 Hz) will likely provide better picture quality than the lower priced 720p televisions that only support up to a 60 Hz refresh rate. 
         [0008]    It would be advantageous to the customers to allow manufacturers to showcase features of their electronic devices on display without substantially interrupting the streaming of the advertising content used as a revenue base by the big-box retailer. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    Embodiments of the invention may best be understood by referring to the following description and accompanying drawings that are used to illustrate embodiments of the invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  is an exemplary embodiment of one or more display devices displayed for sale in a non-assisted commercial environment. 
           [0011]      FIG. 2A  is a first exemplary embodiment of a display device illustrated in  FIG. 1  that supports an enhanced demo mode. 
           [0012]      FIG. 2B  is an exemplary embodiment of components implemented within the display device of  FIG. 2A  supporting the enhanced demo mode. 
           [0013]      FIG. 3A  is a second exemplary embodiment of the display device illustrated in  FIG. 1  that supports an enhanced demo mode. 
           [0014]      FIG. 3B  is an exemplary embodiment of components implemented within the display device of  FIG. 3A  supporting the enhanced demo mode. 
           [0015]      FIG. 4A  is an illustrative embodiment of a screen display generated by a display device of  FIG. 2A  and/or  FIG. 3A  for placing the display device into a Retail operating mode. 
           [0016]      FIG. 4B  is an illustrative embodiment of a screen display generated by a display device of  FIG. 2A  and/or  FIG. 3A  for placing the display device into an operating mode that supports demos. 
           [0017]      FIG. 4C  is an illustrative embodiment of a screen display generated by a display device of  FIG. 2A  and/or  FIG. 3A  for selecting a particular demo supported by the display device. 
           [0018]      FIG. 5  is a first exemplary embodiment of the operations conducted by the display device of  FIG. 2A  and/or  FIG. 3A  operating in the Enhanced Demo mode. 
           [0019]      FIG. 6  is a second exemplary embodiment of the operations conducted by the display device of  FIG. 2A  and/or  FIG. 3A  operating in the Enhanced Demo mode. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0020]    Herein, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. It will be apparent; however, to one skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In addition, the following description provides examples, and the accompanying drawings show various examples for the purposes of illustration. However, these examples should not be construed in a limiting sense as they are merely intended to provide examples of embodiments of the invention rather than to provide an exhaustive list of all possible implementations. Also, in some instances, well-known structures and devices are not shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the details of the disclosed features of various described embodiments. 
         [0021]    In the following description, certain terminology is used to describe certain features of the invention. For instance, the term “communication link” is generally defined as an information-carrying medium that establishes a communication pathway. Examples of the medium include a physical medium (e.g., electrical wire, optical fiber, cable, bus traces, etc.) or a wireless medium (e.g., air in combination with wireless signaling technology). Also, the term “display device” is generally defined as an electronic device with display capabilities. Such display capabilities may range from an electronic device having an integrated display to an electronic device having no integrated display, but featuring one or more connectors that can be connected to route displayable content to an external display. For instance, examples of a display device include, but are not limited or restricted to a flat panel television (e.g., cathode ray tube “CRT”, liquid crystal display “LCD”, plasma, organic light-emitting diode “OLED”, or any television with another type of display technology), a computer, a video game console, a handheld device, an optical disk drive device, or the like. 
         [0022]    The terms “logic” is generally defined as hardware and/or software configured to perform one or more functions. One example of a certain type of logic is a processor being one or more integrated circuits that process signals for rendering content for display. The content may include graphics, images, images or video with or without audio. Another example of a certain type of logic is software, which is generally describes as a series of executable instructions in the form of an application, an applet, or even a routine. The software may be stored in any type of machine readable medium such as a programmable electronic circuit, a semiconductor memory device such as volatile memory (e.g., random access memory, etc.) and/or non-volatile memory such as any type of read-only memory (ROM) or flash memory, a portable storage medium (e.g., Universal Serial Bus “USB” drive, optical disc, digital tape), or the like. 
         [0023]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , an exemplary embodiment of multiple display devices residing in a non-assisted commercial environment is shown. According to this embodiment of the invention, display devices  100   1 - 100   N  (N≧2) are placed on a storage rack  110  in order to elevate these devices above an aisle walkway, and in some situations, are placed behind boxed versions  120   1 - 120   N  of these display devices bordering the walkway. This environment, which promotes the separation of display devices  100   1 - 100   N  from a customer and prevents the customer from altering the operating states of display devices  100   1 - 100   N , is referred to as a “non-assisted commercial environment,” namely a retail environment that does not encourage physical interaction with or testing of the display device by the customer before purchase. 
         [0024]    Herein, all of display devices  100   1 - 100   N  are in communication with a content forwarding system  130  via communication links  140   1 - 140   N  and are tuned to the same in-store channel. According to one embodiment of the invention, content forwarding system  130  includes a receiver  150  that receives displayable content, such as advertising content, from a remote source (not shown). Receiver  150  may be configured to receive advertising content transmitted via satellite, over optical or wired lines, wireless or the like. The transmitted advertising content is stored in memory  160  of receiver  150 . The stored advertising content is subsequently streamed to each display device  100   1 - 100   N . The advertising content may be routed as YPbPr and baseband audio, although other analog or digital transmission schemes may be used. Of course, the advertising content may be streamed in real-time via a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) port without storage of such content within memory  160 . 
         [0025]    Besides receiving advertising content via a remote source, one or more display devices (e.g., at least display device  100   1 ) may be adapted to receive uploaded information, such as software, a demo configuration file or demo content, via a secondary communication port. For instance, display device  100   1  may include one or more connectors  170 , such as a USB connector onto which a USB drive may be coupled, in order to upload the demo content and a demo configuration file that lists the particular portions forming the demo content. The demo content may be displayed by display device  100   1  when operating in an Enhanced Demo mode as described below. Of course, connectors  170  may be any type of input/output (I/O) connectors. 
         [0026]    More specifically, display device  100   1  may be configured to operate in one of two operational states: Home and Retail. For instance, when operating in the “Home” operational state, display device  100   1  may be configured to take greater advantage of power saving features, such as activating an Eco™ presence sensor that is adapted to power-down display device  100   1  if no movable objects are sensed in front of display device  100   1  for a prescribed period of time. More pertinent to the invention, however, display device  100   1  may be placed in the “Retail” operational state, which features two selectable modes; namely, Normal mode or Enhanced Demo mode. When placed in the Retail operational state, any Eco™ presence sensor in display device  100   1  is deactivated so that display device  100   1  continues to display content without interruption. 
         [0027]    In Normal mode, display device  100   1  receives content from content forwarding system  130  and simply displays such content. However, in Enhanced Demo mode, display device  100   1  executes software, retrieved from internal memory  180  or from a portable storage medium coupled to USB connector  170 , which causes display device  100   1  to monitor for one or more audio triggering events. Upon detecting an audio triggering event, display device  100   1  temporarily interrupts the display of the advertising content received by its HDMI or other communication port via communication link  140   1 . During this interruption, the demo content has been either previously uploaded into internal memory  180  either at manufacture, from a portable storage medium or other storage source during initialization, or is currently stored in portable storage medium coupled to connector  170 . This demo content is played back for display in order to highlight certain features of display device  100   1 . 
         [0028]    It is contemplated that each retailer may have a preference for one or more types of audio triggering events upon which display device  100   1  will response. This may be accomplished by accessing a selectable screen display, perhaps upon entry into Enhanced Demo mode, that listing available audio triggering events that may be detected by display device  100   1 . Examples of these audio triggering events may include, but are not limited or restricted to shaking of keys, hand clap, snapping fingers and other distinctive sounds. Upon selection of the events, display device  100   1  may be configured accordingly. 
         [0029]    Referring to  FIG. 2A , a first exemplary embodiment of a display device  100   1  that supports an Enhanced Demo mode is shown. According to this embodiment of the invention, display device  100   1  is a flat panel television that features a screen  200 , a rear casing  210  and a bezel  220 . Rear casing  210  houses the backlight, processing circuitry and other logic that controls the operation of display device  100   1 . Bezel  220  is situated to surround and partially overlay the perimeter of screen  200 . According to one embodiment of the invention, a speaker  230  is positioned under a portion of bezel  220  and multiple apertures are placed within bezel  220  to allow audio to be received and output from speaker  230 . Of course, it is contemplated that speaker  230  may be coupled to an outer surface of bezel  220 . 
         [0030]    Referring now to  FIG. 2B , an exemplary embodiment of components implemented within display device  100   1  of  FIG. 2A  and utilized when display device  100   1  is placed in Enhanced Demo mode is shown. Herein, display device  100   1  comprises speaker  230 , analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion logic  300 , filtering logic  310 , a processor  320  and memory  330 . More specifically, when display device  100   1  operates in the Retail operational state, audio is turned down or muted. Hence, according to this embodiment of the invention, when display device  100   1  is placed in Enhanced Demo mode, speaker  230  operates as a microphone that captures audio in front of display device  100   1  and routes the captured audio to A/D conversion logic  300 . The captured audio is digitally converted by A/D conversion logic  300  and provided to filtering logic  310 . 
         [0031]    Filtering logic  310  is adapted to tailor the digitized audio into a suitable format for processing by processor  320 . For example, filtering logic  310  may include a high-pass filter to attenuate frequencies below a selected cut-off frequency, a low-pass filter to attenuate frequencies above the selected cut-off frequency, or other filters (or combination of filters) to attenuate the digitized audio as desired. 
         [0032]    Processor  320  compares the attenuated, digitized audio to pre-stored audio clips corresponding to audio triggering events that will cause playback of the demo content. The comparison of such information by processor  320  determines if a particular audio triggering event has occurred. If so, display device  100   1  executes logic to playback the demo content that is stored in memory  330 . Alternatively, as represented by dashed lines, the executed logic may be stored within a portable storage medium  340  (e.g., USB drive) or processor may fetch the pre-stored audio clip from portable storage medium  340 . 
         [0033]    As an illustrative example, a jiggling of keys may be selected as an audio triggering event since the frequency of jiggling keys is fairly distinct. Periodically, when placed in Enhanced Demo mode, display device  100   1  may display a text message overlaying the streaming advertising content that invites a customer to jiggle his or her keys to see demo content. If keys are jiggled, display device  100   1  captures the audio associated with this action, digitized and filters the audio and performs a comparison of the resultant audio with stored audio clips associated with audio triggering events. Upon confirming that the action was the jiggling of keys, display device  100   1  may immediately play back the demo content or may generate another text message overlaying the streaming advertising content requesting for the keys to be jiggled again. The second text message simply is to ensure that a customer wants display device  100   1  to display the demo content, and the jiggling of the keys was not caused coincidentally. 
         [0034]    Referring to  FIG. 3A , a second exemplary embodiment of display device  100   1  that supports the Enhanced Demo mode is shown. Similar to  FIG. 2A , display device  100   1  is illustrated as a flat panel television that features screen  200 , rear casing  210  and bezel  220 . However, for this illustrative embodiment, at least a microphone and perhaps both speaker  230  and microphone  240  are positioned in bezel  220 . Apertures are formed within bezel  220  to allow audio to be received by microphone  240  and allow audio to be output from speaker  230 . Of course, it is contemplated that speaker  230  and/or microphone  240  may be coupled to the surface of bezel  220  in lieu of being partially contained in bezel  220 . 
         [0035]    Referring now to  FIG. 3B , an exemplary embodiment of components implemented within display device  100   1  of  FIG. 3A  and utilized when display device  100   1  is placed in Enhanced Demo mode is shown. Herein, display device  100   1  comprises microphone  240 , A/D conversion logic  300 , filtering logic  310 , processor  320  and memory  330 . More specifically, microphone  240  is positioned to capture audio in front of screen  200  and to route the captured audio to A/D conversion logic  300 . The captured audio is digitally converted by A/D conversion logic  300  and provided to filtering logic  310 , which places the digitized audio into a suitable format for processing by processor  320 . Processor  320  compares the attenuated, digitized audio to stored audio clips of certain audio triggering events. Upon determining that a comparison has been made, display device  100   1  executes logic to play back the demo content that is stored in memory  330  or within portable storage medium  340  that can be accessed. 
         [0036]    Referring to  FIG. 4A , an illustrative embodiment of a screen display generated by display device  100   1  of  FIG. 2A  and/or  FIG. 3A  for placing display device  100   1  into the Retail operational state is shown. Herein, according to one embodiment of the invention, upon initial power-up, display device  100   1  displays an initialization screen display  400 . Initialization screen display  400  allows the user to select a current operating state for display device  100   1  by selecting one of a plurality of option buttons  410  and  415 . A first option button  410 , if selected, places display device  100   1  into the Home operational state. A second option button  415 , if selected, places display device  100   1  into the Retail operational state. 
         [0037]    After selecting second option button  415  and placing display device  100   1  into the Retail operational state, a secondary screen display  430  is rendered as shown in  FIG. 4B . Secondary screen display  430  illustrates what types of Retail operating modes are available and allows the user to select one of a plurality of option buttons  435  and  440  rendered on a screen of display device  100   1 . A first option button  435  represents a Normal mode in which display device  100   1  operates to merely play back or display the advertising content received over one of its communication ports such as HDMI port, a YPbPr port and the like. A second option button  440  represents an Enhanced Demo mode, which causes execution of logic dedicated in supporting demo operations of display device  100   1  in Enhanced Demo mode. 
         [0038]    More specifically, according to one embodiment of the invention, logic for supporting demo operations (hereinafter referred to as “demo-control logic”) is uploaded into the internal memory (e.g., non-volatile memory such as flash or battery backed-up random access memory) within display device  100   1  during manufacture. In response to selecting second option button  440 , the demo-control logic is retrieved and executed by the processor. Execution of the demo-control logic causes activation of the microphone or speaker to capture audio, and thereafter, the captured audio is digitized and filtered for use in comparison with one or more stored audio clips. Each audio clip corresponds to an audio triggering event. 
         [0039]    Upon comparison of the captured audio with the stored audio clip(s), display device  100   1  fetches the demo configuration file and the demo content from its internal memory. Herein, the demo content is stored with corresponding control information that identifies the type of demo content uploaded. For instance, the control information may identify the demo content to be one of a number of content types, such as graphics (text), graphics (text) with audio, images, images and audio or video for example. The control information is fetched along with the demo content and may be used by display device  100   1  to determine behavioral characteristics of display device  100   1 . 
         [0040]    Alternatively, the control information may be stored as part of the demo content. For instance, the demo content may be separated into definable segments (e.g., frames, cells, etc.) with each segment featuring a header portion that includes content type. The content type information is used by display device  100   1  to determine behavioral characteristics of display device  100   1 . 
         [0041]      FIG. 4C  is an illustrative embodiment of a screen display generated by a display device of  FIG. 2A  and/or  FIG. 3A  for placing display device  100   1  into one of a plurality of Enhanced Demo modes is shown. Herein, display device  100   1  is placed in the Enhanced Demo mode and, upon placement of this mode, display device  100   1  accesses the demo configuration file to identify and subsequently display the number of demo options available to the retailer as provided by the demo configuration file. For instance, as shown in  FIG. 4D , the demo configuration file  450  may feature demo video clips  455  that are directed to explanation of display device  100   1  as a whole (Product Intro) or particular features of display device  100   1 . Also, demo configuration file  450  may include fields  460  to direct display device  100   1  to fetch and display other demo content from its internal memory or from the portable storage medium. 
         [0042]    Referring back to  FIG. 4C , upon accessing the demo configuration file, display device  100   1  displays a plurality of demo options available to the retailer. The retailer is able to select one or more of these demo options, and based on the selection, play back these demo video clip(s) in response to detection of an audio triggering event. The manner of such playback may be “periodic” or “looped”. Periodic playback means that a series of demo video clips (e.g., one or more demo video clips) are played back and followed by at least a predetermined amount of time for playback of the streaming advertising content. According to one embodiment, the amount of time for playback of the streaming advertising content may be static or adjusted by the retailer, normally from zero minutes and multiple minutes. The playback duration of the demo video clips does not to exceed two minutes for each detected audio triggering event. Looped playback means that, in response to detecting an audio triggering event, one or more demo video clips may be displayed successively with playback of streaming advertising interspersed between the demo video clips. 
         [0043]    For instance, upon selection of a first demo option  470 , only the in-house advertising content is used by display device  100   1  for demo purposes. However, upon selection of a second demo option  475 , the display device automatically plays back one or more demo video clips in a looped playback manner, namely each demo video clip is directed to a different feature and a predetermined interval (e.g., five minutes) is required between the display of each demo video clip. The “predetermined interval” is a mandatory time period in which demo content is precluded from being displayed and only in-store advertising content is allowed to be displayed even if audio triggering events are detected. 
         [0044]    Third demo option  480  involves the display device automatically playing back a video clip in a periodic playback fashion, where a demo video clip is played back followed by a predetermined interval (e.g., five minutes) for display of the streaming advertising content. After the predetermined interval, if another audio triggering event is detected, display device  100   1  is permitted to play back the demo content which may involve the same or different demo video clips. 
         [0045]    If selected, a fourth demo option  485  involves the display of multiple demo video clips forming the demo content in a looped playback fashion with a predetermined interval interposed between the multiple demo video clips. Each demo video clip being directed to a different feature for display device  100   1 . In contrast with second demo option  480  that involves a serial display of demo video clips, it is noted that multiple demo video clips are shown in between each predetermined interval. 
         [0046]    A fifth demo option  490  involves the display in a periodic playback fashion of a demo video clip that is directed to a single feature of display device  100   1  and at least the predetermined interval is required after each display of the demo video clip. For instance, the demo video clip may be directed to a particular feature such as the processing engine used by display device  100   1 . Herein, upon detection of an audio triggering event, the demo video clip directed to the processing engine is played back, and thereafter, the predetermined interval is required. Thereafter, if another audio triggering event is detected, the demo video clip directed to the processing engine is played back again. During the predetermined interval, according to one embodiment of the invention, no graphics or audio advising viewers as how to activate playback of the demo content is provided. 
         [0047]    It is contemplated that, where the demo content is stored in flash memory, repeated accesses to flash memory may cause the lifetime of the flash to be reduced, and hence, the lifetime of the television may be reduced as well. One possibility to mitigate this issue is to copy the demo content into random access memory (RAM) and to read the demo content from RAM instead of flash memory. On boot, where the display device is a television, it already copies television software from flash memory to RAM. The television would need to do this for the demo content as well. 
         [0048]      FIG. 5  is a first exemplary embodiment of the operations conducted by the display device of  FIG. 2A  and/or  FIG. 3A  operating in the Enhanced Demo mode. Initially, a determination is made whether the display device has been placed into Enhanced Demo mode (item  500 ). If not, the in-store advertising content is merely shown by the display device (item  510 ). However, if the display device has been placed into Enhanced Demo mode, a determination is made whether an audio triggering event has been detected (item  520 ). 
         [0049]    If an audio triggering event is not detected, the display device simply continues to monitor for an audio triggering event (item  530 ). The streaming advertising content continues to be displayed at this time. However, if an audio triggering event is detected, the display device executes logic that causes demo content to be displayed in order to showcase attributes for the display device (item  540 ). The demo content may be “M” demo video clips (M≧1), each corresponding to an attribute to be displayed before discontinuing the display of demo content and requiring in-store advertising content to be displayed for a predetermined interval. In other words, after displaying “M” demo video clip(s), a mandatory pause for the predetermined interval is conducted by the display device in order to ensure that the demo content is interspersed with the advertising content streamed into communication ports of the display device (item  550 ). Thereafter, as an optional feature, a determination may be made as to whether demo video clips for all of the attributes associated with the selected demo content have been shown (item  560 ). If not, the display device continues to cycle through the remaining demo video clips forming the demo content (item  570 ). This allows for requisite playback of all of the demo content for each detected audio triggering event. Otherwise, the operations conducted by the display device in response to an audio triggering event cease (item  580 ). 
         [0050]      FIG. 6  is a second exemplary embodiment of the operations conducted by the display device of  FIG. 2A  and/or  FIG. 3A  operating in the Enhanced Demo mode. Initially, a determination is made whether the display device has been placed into Enhanced Demo mode (item  600 ). If not, the in-store advertising content is merely shown by the display device (item  610 ). However, if the display device has been placed into Enhanced Demo mode, a determination is made whether an audio triggering event has been detected (item  620 ). 
         [0051]    If an audio triggering event is not detected, the display device simply continues to monitor for an audio triggering event and the streaming advertising content continues to be displayed (item  630 ). However, if an audio triggering event is detected, the display device executes logic that causes displayable information (e.g., a text message, an image, etc.) to be displayed to request the customer to perform a secondary audio triggering event in order to confirm that the customer requests a demo (item  640 ). The secondary audio triggering event may be the same or different from the initial audio triggering event. 
         [0052]    If the secondary audio triggering event is detected prior to time-out, namely a time interval during which the display device monitors for the secondary audio triggering event, the demo content is displayed in order to showcase attributes for the display device (items  650  and  660 ). The demo content may be “M” demo video clips, which correspond to the number “M” of attributes to be displayed before requiring a predetermined interval for display of in-store advertising content. Otherwise, if the secondary audio triggering event is not detected, the display device returns to monitor for an initial audio triggering event (item  670 ). 
         [0053]    After displaying these demo attributes, a mandatory pause for the predetermined invention is conducted by the display device in order to prevent cycling of the demo content and to ensure that the demo content is interspersed with the advertising content provided streamed into communication ports of the display device (item  680 ). Thereafter, as an optional feature, a determination may be made as to whether demo video clips for all of the attributes associated with the selected demo content have been shown (item  690 ). If not, the display device continues to cycle through the remaining demo video clips (item  692 ). Otherwise, the operations conducted by the display device in response to an audio triggering event cease (item  694 ). 
         [0054]    Having disclosed exemplary embodiments and the best mode, modifications and variations may be made to the disclosed embodiments while remaining within the scope of the embodiments of the invention as defined by the following claims.