Abstract:
A system and method is disclosed for an autonomic composite display. The display includes an n number of display positions in the autonomic composite display where n is at least equal to two; an m number of display devices for engaging the n number of display positions where m is not greater than n; and a composite display controller for presenting an l number of presentations on the m number of display devices wherein the controller automatically detects a change to m and modifies the l number of presentations responsive to the change. The method includes monitoring m number of display devices in the composite display, and adjusting autonomically the presentations on the active displays of the composite display after detecting the change. The adjustments are based upon arrangement parameters that include, for example, order (sequence), priority, and number of duplicate presentations (k) values assigned to each presentation.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates generally to composite signs, and more specifically to controlling presentation information on the composite sign when an individual element is removed (such as being taken out of the sign, becoming inactive or failing) or added (such as being inserted into the sign or becoming active).  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     It is known to provide a composite sign made up of an array of smaller individual displays, such as televisions or monitors. A composite sign may exhibit a single presentation distributed across multiple ones of the individual displays, or it may display multiple individual presentations on each of the displays, or some combination.  
         [0003]     A composite sign has a disadvantage in that removal of a display from operation (e.g., taking it out from the sign or deactivating the display) produces a “presentation hole” at the location of the removed display.  
         [0004]     Accordingly, what is needed is a method and system for autonomically compensating a composite display for changes in the number of active individual displays. The present invention addresses such a need.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0005]     A system and method is disclosed for an autonomic composite display. The display includes an n number of display positions in the autonomic composite display where n is at least equal to two; an m number of display devices for engagement with the n number of display positions; and a composite display controller for presenting an l number of presentations on the m number of display devices wherein the controller automatically detects a change to m and modifies the l number of presentations responsive to the change. The method includes monitoring m number of display devices in the composite display, and adjusting autonomically the presentations on the active displays of the composite display after detecting the change.  
         [0006]     The present invention autonomically compensates a composite display for changes in the number of active individual displays aggregated into a composite sign based upon a selection process that in the preferred embodiment includes order (sequence), priority, and number of duplicate presentations. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0007]      FIG. 1  is a schematic block diagram for a preferred embodiment of an autonomic composite sign;  
         [0008]      FIG. 2  is a schematic block diagram of the autonomic composite sign having a display removed from the sign shown in the state of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0009]      FIG. 3  is a schematic block diagram of the autonomic composite sign having a display added to the sign shown in the state of  FIG. 2 ;  
         [0010]      FIG. 4  is a schematic block diagram of the autonomic composite sign having a display removed from the sign shown in the state of  FIG. 2 ;  
         [0011]      FIG. 5  is a schematic block diagram of the autonomic composite sign having a display removed from the sign shown in the state of  FIG. 4 ;  
         [0012]      FIG. 6  is a schematic block diagram of the autonomic composite sign having a display removed from the sign shown in the state of  FIG. 5 ;  
         [0013]      FIG. 7  is a schematic block diagram of the autonomic composite sign having a display removed from the sign shown in the state of  FIG. 6 ;  
         [0014]      FIG. 8  is a schematic block diagram of the autonomic composite sign having a display removed from the sign shown in the state of  FIG. 6 ;  
         [0015]      FIG. 9  is a flowchart of a process used by the composite sign in autonomically adjusting the presentations among its individual displays;  
         [0016]      FIG. 10  is a generic schematic diagram of a PDA of the type that may be used as device described in  FIGS. 1-9 ;  
         [0017]      FIG. 11  is a schematic block diagram of an alternate composite sign system.  
         [0018]      FIG. 12  is a schematic block diagram for an alternate preferred embodiment of an autonomic composite sign having presentations arranged based upon order;  
         [0019]      FIG. 13  is a schematic block diagram of the autonomic composite sign having a display removed from the sign shown in the state of  FIG. 12 ;  
         [0020]      FIG. 14  is a schematic block diagram for an alternate preferred embodiment of an autonomic composite sign having presentations arranged based upon order and priority; and  
         [0021]      FIG. 15  is a schematic block diagram of the autonomic composite sign having a display removed from the sign shown in the state of  FIG. 14 . 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0022]     The present invention relates to autonomic compensation of presentations on individual displays of a composite sign when the number of active displays making up the composite display is changed. The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention and is provided in the context of a patent application and its requirements. Various modifications to the preferred embodiment and the generic principles and features described herein will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiment shown but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features described herein.  
         [0023]     In the sales environment, systems and applications are being developed to permit a customer to carry a portable POS terminal with them as they walk through an establishment. The POS terminal may provide sales or marketing information to the customer as they move about the establishment. An internal battery that requires periodic recharging typically powers these POS terminals. It is part of the preferred embodiment to adapt the composite sign to include a recharging function for such devices when they are engaged into the sign. Consequently, the devices will have a dual-purpose: to have one use while being carried by the user, and to have another use when installed as part of the composite sign (e.g., presenting static or dynamic marketing and/or sales information for example).  
         [0024]     The individual devices are continually removed and added to the composite sign, thus having the composite sign autonomically adapt to these changes enables the composite sign to consistently exhibit information in a useful format. The preferred embodiment will be described in the context of such a representative use, though the present invention is not limited by this specific representative implementation. In some applications, the displays may not be adapted to be taken out of the composite sign, but may otherwise be unavailable (such as when the device becomes inoperable or its function is diverted to another use,). In these cases, the remainder of the active, displays in the composite sign autonomically adapt to continue to present desired information. Similarly, the composite sign adapts to make effective use of individual displays added back (either by being returned or made operable).  
         [0025]      FIGS. 1-8  illustrate one preferred set of adjustment rules to control exhibition of a set of presentations on a set of devices that define the autonomic sign. This set of rules places presentations in active devices of the autonomic sign, considering a priority and duplicate presentations (k) parameters. Note that all presentations of  FIGS. 1-8  have the same order attribute (o), but different priority attributes (p). The number of duplicate individual presentations (k) will help determine how presentations are replaced and/or moved. An order parameter is effectively ignored in this case since they have the same parameter value, with this rule set being representative and other rule sets possible or desirable depending upon the specific implementation: 
        1) If the number of presentations is less than or equal the number of display devices, then the presentations will be sequentially assigned random locations, with the highest priority presentations being assigned a random location first, the second priority presentation being assigned a random location second, and so forth. After lowest priority presentation is randomly assigned a location, the location process starts again with the highest priority presentation. This process repeats until all of the available locations have a presentation assigned.     2) If there are more presentations than there are display devices, then the presentations will be assigned random locations, with the highest priority presentations being assigned a random location first, the second priority presentation being assigned a random location second, and so forth. This is illustrated in  FIGS. 2, 4 ,  5 ,  6 , and  7 .     3) Two alternatives are illustrated for the treatment of presentations for which there is no location available. One alternative is to eliminate the lower priority presentations from the composite display. This is illustrated on  FIG. 7 . Another alternative is to merge the lower priority presentations into a single presentation and to display this merged single presentation at the composite structure position that is last on the order list. (In figures, the last position is 2,4.) The merged P 3 /P 4  presentation is illustrated on  FIG. 8 .          
         [0029]      FIG. 1  is a schematic block diagram for a preferred embodiment of an autonomic composite sign  100 . Composite sign  100  includes a structure  105  having a plurality of display locations, each location adapted to receive an individual electronic display device  110  and in some applications to recharge device  110  when engaged. Each device  110  exhibits a presentation Px as part of the aggregate display of sign  100 , where x designates a specific presentation.  
         [0030]     To simplify the explanation, sign  100  is shown as an ordered 2×4 matrix of devices  110 , though other configurations are possible within the scope of the present invention, including arrays and irregular patterns of dissimilar sized devices  110 . It is known to arrange a plurality of televisions or monitors into regular patterns to produce a composite sign, devices  110  may include other electronic devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), tablet PCs, portable point-of-sale (POS) terminals, or other devices having a display with content that is electronically controlled.  
         [0031]     Presentation Px is the currently exhibited presentation on the associated device  110 . Depending upon the application and the type of device  110 , each presentation Px may be a motion, static or “slideshow” image or image sequence, for example. Depending upon many factors, the various presentations Px have a certain arrangement (e.g., priority and/or order) relative to the other presentations Px at any given time. These priorities may be static or dynamic, and may depend upon many factors. The preferred embodiment does not have any preference on the number of display locations in a composite sign, the number of displays or number and/or type of presentations. For  FIG. 1  through  FIG. 8 , each presentation Px has been assigned the same order parameter (e.g., order=1) with different presentations having differing priorities, though different arrangement parameters may be used individually or collectively depending upon a desired implementation.  
         [0032]     It is a goal of the preferred embodiment for composite sign  100  to adapt to changes in the number of active devices  110  available in structure  105 , either changes due to the removal or addition of one or more devices  110 . Sign  100  exhibits presentations Px consistent with its selection and arrangement process based upon the individual presentations&#39; arrangement parameters and the number and placement of devices  110  available in structure  105 .  
         [0033]      FIG. 2  is a schematic block diagram of autonomic composite sign  100  having device  110   1,1  removed from sign  100  shown in the state of  FIG. 1 . Device  110   1,1  was exhibiting presentation P 1  at the time it was removed, with presentation P 1  assigned the greatest priority. Removing device  110   1,1  results in sign  100  having a single incidence of the presentation P 1 , therefore sign  100  may adjust the remainder of active devices  110  by replacing presentation P 4  on device  110   2,4  with presentation P 1 .  
         [0034]      FIG. 3  is a schematic block diagram of autonomic composite sign  100  having device  110   1,1  added to sign  100  shown in the state of  FIG. 2 . Before device  110   1,1  was added, sign  100  had a single incidence of the presentation P 4 , therefore sign  100  may adjust the remainder of active devices  110  by exhibiting presentation P 4  on device  110   1,1  when it is detected.  
         [0035]      FIG. 4  is a schematic block diagram of autonomic composite sign  100  having device  110   1,2  removed from sign  100  shown in the state of  FIG. 2 . Device  110   1,2  was exhibiting presentation P 2  at the time it was removed, with presentation P 2  assigned the second greatest priority. Removing device  110   1,2  results in sign  100  having a single incidence of the presentations P 2  and P 4 , therefore sign  100  may adjust the remainder of active devices  110  by replacing presentation P 3  on device  110   1,3  with presentation P 2 .  
         [0036]      FIG. 5  is a schematic block diagram of autonomic composite sign  100  having device  110   2,3  removed from sign  100  shown in the state of  FIG. 4 . Device  110   2,3  was exhibiting presentation P 3  at the time it was removed, with presentation P 3  assigned the third greatest priority. Removing device  110   2,3  results in sign  100  having a no incidences of the presentation P 3  and a single incidence of presentation P 4 , therefore sign  100  may adjust the remainder of active devices  110  by replacing presentation P 2  on device  110   1,3  with presentation P 3 .  
         [0037]      FIG. 6  is a schematic block diagram of autonomic composite sign  100  having device  110   1,3  removed from sign  100  shown in the state of  FIG. 5 . Device  110   1,3  was exhibiting presentation P 3  at the time it was removed, with presentation P 3  assigned the third greatest priority. Removing device  110   1,3  results in sign  100  having a no incidences of the presentation P 3 , a single incidence of presentations P 2  and P 4  and two incidences of presentation P 1 , therefore sign  100  may adjust the remainder of active devices  110  by replacing presentation P 1  on device  110   2,4  with presentation P 3 .  
         [0038]      FIG. 7  is a schematic block diagram of autonomic composite sign  100  having device  110   2,1  removed from sign  100  shown in the state of  FIG. 6 . Device  110   2,1  was exhibiting presentation P 1  at the time it was removed, with presentation P 1  assigned the greatest priority. Removing device  110   2,1  results in sign  100  having a no incidences of the presentation P 1  and a single incidence of presentations P 2 , P 3  and P 4 , therefore sign  100  may adjust the remainder of active devices  110  by replacing presentation P 3  on device  110   2,4  with presentation P 1 . Additionally, sign  110  may further adjust other devices  110 , such as by replacing presentation P 4  on device  110   1,4  with presentation P 3  since presentation P 4  has the lowest priority and replacing presentation P 3  on device  110   2,4  with presentation P 1  resulted in no incidence of presentation P 3  on sign  100 .  FIG. 7  illustrates that sign  100  may adapt one or more active devices  110  in response to detected changes of the number of devices,  110  of sign  100 .  
         [0039]      FIG. 8  is a schematic block diagram of autonomic composite sign  100  having device  110   2,1  removed from sign  100  shown in the state of  FIG. 6 .  FIG. 8  is an alternative to the result shown in  FIG. 7  in that sign  100  may create or exhibit a composite of presentations when the number of devices  110  is less than the number of presentations. Device  110   2,1  was exhibiting presentation P 1  at the time it was removed, with presentation P 1  assigned the greatest priority. Removing device  110   2,1  results in sign  100  having a no incidences of the presentation P 1  and a single incidence of presentations P 2 , P 3  and P 4 , therefore sign  100  may adjust the remainder of active devices  110  by replacing presentation P 3  on device  110   2,4  with presentation P 1 . Additionally, sign  110  may further adjust other devices  110 , such as by changing presentation P 4  on device  110   1,4  with a composite presentation P 3 /P 4  since replacing presentation P 4  with presentation P 3  would result in no incidence of presentation P 4 .  FIG. 8  illustrates that sign  100  may adapt one or more active devices  110  in response to detected changes of the number of devices  110  of sign  100  and that it may exhibit composite or modified presentations among the available displays.  
         [0040]      FIG. 9  is a flowchart of a process  900  used by sign  100  in autonomically adjusting the presentations among its individual displays. For purposes of the discussion of process  900 , the integers n, m, l and k represent various quantities. The number n is the number of device locations available in structure  105 , m is the number of active devices  110  present in structure  105 , l is the number of distinct presentations available for presentation on sign  100  and k is the number of instances of any particular presentation.  
         [0041]     Process  900  monitors the m number of devices  110  engaged into structure  105  at step  905 . Sign  100  may detect the removal or addition of device  110  from structure  105  by many different methods. For example, a physical interlock or switch, a scanner associated, or a power/data detector associated with each location are among the types of detecting systems used by the preferred embodiment. After step  905 , process  900  makes a check to determine whether m has changed at step  910 . If no change in m is detected, process  900  returns to step  905  and continues to cycle through step  905  and step  910  until the test at step  910  determines that m has changed in response to an addition or removal of a display device  110 .  
         [0042]     When m changes, process  900  advances to step  915  to determine whether m has increased (device  110  added). When m increases, process  900  advances to step  920  from step  915  to add a presentation Px onto the newly added display device  110 . Step  920  may use many different decision conditions to determine which particular presentation Px to add to the newly added display device  110 . The preferred embodiment uses the current values of k to determine which presentation(s) to add, generally adding presentation Px having k=0 before presenting multiple copies of other presentation(s) Px. However, it may be desirable to have multiple instances of higher priority items before certain lower priority items are presented. Sign  100  could require that k for presentation P 1  exceed a threshold before adding any instances of presentation P 4  for example.  
         [0043]     After selecting a presentation Px for the newly added device  110 , process  900  advances to step  925  to determine whether presentation(s) on other device(s)  110  other than the newly added device should be changed as well. The decision tree for the test at step  925  will vary depending upon specific applications, but in some cases the addition of device  110  may warrant further changes to other devices. For example, sign  100  may desire to decomposite certain presentations Px or it may reorder one or more presentations. The preferred embodiment may make some of the adjustments based upon location of devices  110  within structure  105 . For example, a device in location 1,1 (when available) may always have a particular presentation Px, and other devices have their presentation adjusted accordingly. Sign  100  may select presentations Px based upon physical location and orientation of one or more devices. For example, a presentation Px may be available for exhibition only on contiguous devices  110 , such as two side-by-side, or top-to-bottom, or for four devices active in a 2×2 matrix on structure  105 .  
         [0044]     When the test at step  925  is negative, process  900  returns to step  905  to monitor for additional changes to m. When the test at step  925  is positive, process  900  advances to step  930  from step  925  to adjust other devices as necessary. After step  930 , process  900  returns to step  905  to monitor m.  
         [0045]     Process continues to process steps  905 - 930  as discussed above for increases to m. However, when the test at step  915  is negative (meaning m has decreased), process  900  advances to step  935  from step  915 . Step  935  is to update the database to indicate the missing device  110 .  
         [0046]     Step  940  then decides whether to adjust the other presentations Px. The decision tree to decide which presentation Px is to be replaced, if any, from the currently active devices  110  uses many factors including the particular implementation, the presentation Px that had been available on the removed device  110  and the arrangement parameters used in sign  100  (e.g., presentation priority and presentation order).  
         [0047]     The preferred embodiment uses k as well as well as the priority of the presentation Px for the removed device  110  to decide what presentation Px should be removed from sign  100 . Step  940  makes a similar test as described above regarding test  925 . Process  900  determines whether to adjust any other presentation(s) Px on the remaining active devices  110 . It may be that sign  100  is symmetrical in its adjustment of presentations when devices  110  are added as it is with when devices  110  are removed, but it is not necessary that it be implemented in this way.  
         [0048]     When test  940  determines that no adjustment is necessary, process  900  returns to step  905  to monitor for changes to m. When test  940  determines that other adjustment(s) to presentation(s) Px of other device(s)  110  is necessary, process  900  advances to step  930  from step  940 . Process  900  continues to autonomically adapt the presentations Px of the active devices  110  based upon process  900  in response to the additions and removals of devices  110  from sign  100 .  
         [0049]      FIG. 10  is a generic schematic diagram of a PDA, webpad, or other display-bearing electronic device  1000  of the type that may be used as device  110  described in  FIGS. 1-9 . PDA  1000  includes a central processing unit  1005  that interfaces to memory  1010 , a display  1015 , a Bluetooth module  1020 , a bus interface  1025 , a LAN (wired or wireless) interface  1026 , a USB interface  1028 , and a power management module  1030 . CPU  1005  controls the operation of device  1000  under instructions stored in memory  1010  to exhibit the appropriate presentation Px on display  1015  at the appropriate time. CPU  1005  may receive presentation Px information from memory, from Bluetooth module  1020 , or from another peripheral device through bus interface  1025 .  
         [0050]     CPU  1005  monitors power status from power management module  1030 , with power management module,  1030  controlling the state of a display backlight  1035  and monitoring a status of a battery  1040  through a bus (e.g., SMBus)  1045 . CPU  1005  controls operation of power management  1030  and sends/receives data and/or control signals to other peripherals by use of a register file  1050  coupled to bus interface  1025 . Register file  1050 , through which CPU  1005  controls/communicates with certain of the components, is additionally coupled to power management  1030 , bus  1045 , a universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter (UART)  1055 , and a peripheral interface  1060  for interfacing information to CPU  1005 .  
         [0051]     UART  1055  is coupled to a RS-232 transceiver  1065  that is coupled in turn to a docking cradle connector  1070 . Docking cradle  1070  is also coupled to battery  1040  when recharging is desired. Peripheral interface  1060  may be a serial peripheral interface or an inter-integrated circuit ( 12 C) for example to interface to a touchscreen  1075 , an analog-digital converter (ADC)  1080 , or a keypad  1085 . In some applications, a microphone  1090  coupled to ADC  1080  may be used as well.  
         [0052]     The components of PDA  1000  are but one example of a suitable configuration, with CPU  1005  controlling operation and receiving information based upon instructions in memory  1010 . Memory  1010  may be removable, and is preferably non-volatile. Other configurations of the components, or additional components may be used to configure a suitable device  110 .  
         [0053]     In one preferred embodiment, process  900  is implemented by CPU  1005  of each of the active devices  110  in sign  100 , with devices  110  establishing a local area network and deciding among themselves which presentations Px are exhibited by the individual devices at any given time. The presentations Px may be stored locally in memory  1010 , or accessed through a peripheral device (e.g., Bluetooth module  1020 , LAN interface  1026  or USB interface  1028 ) or devices  110  may include reference pointers to external data with the particular presentation. In some instances, a particular device  110  may be a master device determining presentations Px for itself and the other devices, with a mechanism established for ceding master status to another device should the master be removed.  
         [0054]      FIG. 11  is a schematic block diagram of an alternate composite sign system  1100 . System  1100  includes a server  1105  coupled to a presentation database  1110  and operated according to instructions on a nonvolatile removable memory  1115  implementing process  900  to control one or more composite signs  100   x . Server  1105  instructs each device  110  of each sign  100   x  as to which presentation to exhibit as discussed above using process  900 .  
         [0055]     Presentation arrangement of  FIGS. 12-15  uses the following rules to place presentations and consider both the order and priority parameters. Again, specific implementations may use a different set of rules. 
        1) The presentation with the lowest order parameter is placed on the display device located in the composite display structure position with the lowest order parameter. Thus a presentation with an order parameter of 1 will be placed in the upper left corner position of the structure, position (1,1).     2) If two presentations have the same order number, then the presentation with the highest priority is placed on the display device located in the composite display structure position with the lowest order parameter. (In the example, a priority value of 1 is a higher priority that a value of 2.)     3) If two presentations have the same order number and the same priority, then they are located randomly.     4) If there are more presentations than there are display devices and all of the presentations have the same priority, then two or more presentations will be merged into a single presentation and placed on one of the display devices. The merged presentations will first be displayed at the composite structure position that is last on the order list.  FIGS. 12 and 13  illustrate this, with the P 7  and P 8  presentations merged and place in position 2,4.     5) If there are more presentations than there are display devices, then the presentations with the lower priority will be eliminated from the composite display and replaced with presentations with higher priority.  FIGS. 14 and 15  illustrate this, with P 7  being eliminated.     6) If there are less presentations than there are display devices, then two or more of the same presentations will be placed on two or more of the display devices. If all of the presentations have the same priority, the duplicate presentations will be those with the last order values. Thus the duplicate presentations would be initially displayed at the composite structure position that is last on the order list. In  FIGS. 12 and 13  these are positions 2,3 and 2,4.     7) If there are loss presentations than there are display devices, then two or more of the same presentations will be placed on two or more of the display devices. If the presentations have different priorities, the duplicate presentations will be those with the lowest priority. The reason for this is to simplify the process by giving images such as logos a low priority and thus allowing multiple presentations of logos. Thus the duplicate presentations would be initially displayed at the composite structure position that is last on the order list. In  FIGS. 12 and 13  these are positions 2,3 and 2,4.        
 
         [0063]      FIG. 12  is a schematic block diagram for an alternate preferred embodiment of an autonomic composite sign  100  having presentations Px arranged based upon order. Eight presentations Px, x=1-8, are exhibited on eight devices  110  engaged with structure  105 . These presentations Px each have a priority=1, but a different presentation order parameter value O=1-8, respectively.  
         [0064]      FIG. 13  is a schematic block diagram of autonomic composite sign  100  having display  110   1,1  removed from sign  100  shown in the state of  FIG. 12 . Device  110   1,1  was exhibiting presentation P 1  at the time it was removed, with presentation P 1  assigned the first order value. Removing device  110   1,1  results in sign  100  lacking presentation Px having O=1, therefore sign  100  adjusts the presentations on the remainder of active devices  110  by cascading presentation replacements. Presentation P 1  is exhibited on device  1101 , 2  where presentation P 2  having order O=2 was previously exhibited. Since presentation P 2  had an order O=2, higher than others of the presentations Px exhibited by sign  100 , presentation P 2  replaces an existing presentation Px having a lower order. The process of replacement continues with any replaced presentation re-exhibited in place of a lower ordered presentation Px until there are no more active devices  110 . In  FIG. 13 , sign  100  creates a composite presentation P 7 /P 8 , though other implementations may result in replacing presentation P 8  with presentation P 7 .  
         [0065]     In the discussion above, the order parameter establishes an absolute presentation order between available devices  110  in the specific location in structure  105 . In some embodiments, the order parameter may establish a relative order between presentations Px where location within structure  105  does not need to be preserved. In an implementation of such an embodiment, removal of a device  110  having a presentation Px with a specific order parameter value would replace presentation Px having the lowest order parameter value (provided that the priority was the same) and the presentation Px having the second lowest order parameter value would be modified according to the decision logic and parameter values of the two lowest ordered presentations Px.  
         [0066]      FIG. 14  is a schematic block diagram for an alternate preferred embodiment of an autonomic composite sign  100  having presentations Px arranged based upon both order and priority. Eight presentations Px, x=1-8, are exhibited on eight devices  110  engaged with structure  105 . Seven of these presentations Px (1-6, and 8) each have a priority=1 and presentation P 7  has a presentation priority=2, but a different presentation order parameter value O=1-8 for each presentation Px, respectively.  
         [0067]      FIG. 15  is a schematic block diagram of the autonomic composite sign having a display removed from the sign shown in the state of  FIG. 14 . Device  110   1,1  was exhibiting presentation P 1  at the time it was removed, with presentation P 1  assigned the first order value. Removing device  110   1,1  results in sign  100  lacking presentation Px having O=1, therefore sign  100  adjusts the presentations on the remainder of active devices  110  by cascading presentation replacements. Presentation P 1  is exhibited on device  1101 , 2  where presentation P 2  having order O=2 was previously exhibited. Since presentation P 2  had an order O=2, higher than others of the presentations Px exhibited by sign  100 , presentation P 2  replaces an existing presentation Px having a lower order but with the same priority. The process of replacement continues with any replaced presentation re-exhibited in place of a lower ordered, same priority presentation Px. In  FIG. 15 , sign  100  drops presentation P 7  because it has lower priority than presentation P 6  and presentation P 8 . Presentation P 6  replaces presentation P 7  because it is higher-ordered. Presentation P 7  is unable to replace presentation P 8  because presentation P 8  has a higher priority.  
         [0068]     Although the present invention has been described in accordance with the embodiments shown, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that there could be variations to the embodiments and those variations would be within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Accordingly, many modifications may be made by one of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.