Channel Assignment channel-assignment
When you have set up a display, assign a channel to a display to view your content.
This page shows assigning a channel to your display, understand channel properties, and DayParting.
Assigning a Channel assign-a-channel-new-release
Follow the sections below to create an AEM Screens project and assign a channel to a display.
Creating an AEM Screens Project and Channels creating-project
Follow the steps below to set up a project and a channel:
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Create an AEM Screens Project titled as DemoScreens.
note note NOTE To learn how to create an AEM Screens project, see Creating and Managing Projects. -
Create a sequence channel titled as Cafeteria in the Channels folder.
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Click the channel, then click Edit from the action bar.
For example, the Cafeteria channel now displays the following images:
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Create a Location titled as SanJose and a display as Lobby.
Assigning Channel to a Display assigning-channel-to-display
When the project setup is complete, assign the channel to a display to view the content.
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Navigate to the required display, for example, DemoScreens > Locations > SanJose > Lobby.
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Click Assign Channel from the action bar.
Or,
Click Dashboard from the action bar and click +Assign Channel from the ASSIGNED CHANNELS & SCHEDULES panel.
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The Channel Assignment dialog box opens.
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From the Settings option, you can choose the channel by path or by name, enter the Channel Role, Priority, Supported Events, and Interruption Methods. Also, you can enable the attraction tooltip from this dialog box.
note note NOTE To learn more about channel assignment properties, see Channel Properties section. -
From the Schedule option, click the Activation Window and Recurrence Schedule.
note note NOTE To learn more about channel assignment properties, see Channel Properties section. -
Click Save once you have configured your preferences.
Viewing the Content in Chrome Player viewing-content-output
This example showcases the output on a Chrome Player. When you have assigned the channel to your display, register the device to a player.
To learn how to register a device on an AEM Screens player, see Device Registration.
You can view the following output on your choice of player:
Timeline View timeline-view
When you have assigned a channel to a display and set up a recurrence schedule, you can view the timeline from the ASSIGNED CHANNELS & SCHEDULES panel.
Follow the steps below to navigate to the timeline view:
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Navigate to the required display, for example, DemoScreens > Locations > SanJose > Lobby.
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Click Assign Channel from the action bar.
Or,
Click Dashboard and click Timeline from the ASSIGNED CHANNELS & SCHEDULES panel.
Understanding Channel Properties from Channel Assignment Dialog Box channel-properties
The following properties are set from the Settings option in the Channel Assignment dialog box.
Select a Channel select-channel
Selecting a channel lets you provide a reference to the desired channel, either by channel name or by channel path.
- By path – You provide an explicit reference using the absolute path of the channel.
- By name – You enter the name of the channel that resolves to an actual channel by context. This feature lets you create a local version of a channel so you can dynamically resolve location-specific content. For example, a channel with name deals of the day, where the actual content would be different in two cities, but you still have the sane channel role on all the displays.
Channel Role role-channel
Channel role defines the context of the display. The role is targeted by various actions and is independent of the actual channel that fulfills the role.
Priority priority-channel
Priority is used to order the assignments in case multiple ones match the playing criteria. The one with the highest value always takes precedence over lower values. For example, if there are two channels A and B. A has a priority of 1 and B has a priority of 2, then channel B is displayed, as it has a higher priority than A.
Supported Events supported-events-channel
- Initial Load – Loads the channel when the player is started. It can be assigned to multiple channels with a schedule.
- Idle Screen – Loads when the screen is idle. It can be assigned to multiple channels with a schedule.
- Timer – Must be set when a schedule is provided.
- User Interaction – The player switches to the specified channel if there is a user interaction on the screen (touch) in an idle channel and loads when the screen is touched.
Interruption Method interruption-method-channel
As a content author, you can specify when a channel is interrupted. Doing so lets choose to cut off non-critical content. But it also gives you the option to let important content play back in full before cutting it short because of scheduling.
Select from one of following options that are available to set the interruption method from the Channel Assignment dialog box:
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Immediately – Whenever the schedule activates or an update is received, you can cut off the playback and immediately refresh or play the new content
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End of the current item – When a new schedule activates or an update is received, you can optionally wait for the current item in the sequence to finish playing. Then, only after that, you can refresh or play the new content.
note note NOTE This option is selected by default. -
At the end of the sequence – When a new schedule activates or an update is received, you can optionally wait for the whole sequence to reach its end. Then, just before the desired sequence, you can loop back to the first element, refresh, or play the new content.
note note NOTE Using the second or third option may result in the scheduling times defined on the assignment to be slightly deferred. The reason is because the player waits for the end of the item or sequence (after the specified time) before refreshing. The delay depends on the playback duration of the item.
The following properties are set from the Schedule option in the Channel Assignment dialog box.
Activation Window activation-window
The Activation Window lets you select a Start date and an End date to display your content.
Recurrence Schedule recurrence-schedule
The Recurrence Schedule lets you set a recurring schedule for your content. Click + Add Schedule to add a recurrence schedule to your channel.
Recurrence Schedules introduces DayParting that lets you set a global schedule with multiple channels running at specific times of the day, and reuse that set up for all your displays at once.
You can set the following options:
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Name – Title of your recurrence schedule.
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Repeat – Choose whether the schedule runs Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or Yearly.
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Start – The start time for your schedule.
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End – The ending time for your schedule. You can set it by time or duration.
- Time – The schedule ends at a specified time.
- Duration – The schedule runs for a particular duration of time in hours or minutes.
DayParting dayparting
Day Parting refers to splitting up a day into time slots and specifying which content plays at the desired time. AEM Screens lets you schedule channels in terms of DayParting within a day, week, or month as per the requirement.
The following examples explain DayParting in channels in three different scenarios:
Playing content on a single day divided into multiple time slots playing-content-on-a-single-day-divided-into-multiple-time-slots
This example shows how a restaurant uses DayParting to showcase its breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu everyday.
Here, each day is divided into different time slots, so that channel content plays as per the specified time of the day. Set the following properties of the Recurrence Schedule for your channel to play the content as per this use case.
Playing content on a particular day of the week playing-content-on-a-particular-day-of-the-week
This example shows the DayParting implemented in a casino where live event occurs every weekend from 8:00 P.M. until 10:00 P.M. and specials are available for dinner menu after 10:00 P.M. until 1:00 A.M.