Patent ID: 8170914

Claim:
An inventory control system for a digital signage network having a plurality of screen zones associated with a plurality of displays connected to the network, each screen zone displaying at least one item of media content for a predetermined period of time, the system comprising: a database that maintains a record of the display schedule of each of the screen zones, the schedule covering, for each screen zone, said predetermined period of time during which media content items assigned to the schedule are displayed, the database maintaining a table that includes an inventory column comprising an array for a screen zone that contains a series of time values each representing a collective duration of all of the media content items scheduled for a different one of the predetermined time periods for the screen zone in question; the table further comprising for each of the predetermined time periods for the screen zone in question, a user-definable limit for the collective duration of all of the media content items scheduled for that time period, and a scheduler that receives a scheduling request, assigns media content items to specific screen zones to be displayed during said predetermined time periods and updates the record of the display schedule to reflect corresponding changes therein, wherein the scheduler is prevented from executing a scheduling request if the assignment of media content items specified in the request would cause the collective duration of all of the media content items for any of the predetermined time periods specified in the scheduling request to exceed said user-definable limit.