====== Blocks Licensing Options ====== When you buy Blocks, you get a license to use certain functionality based on which functions you have licensed. Additional functions can be added at any time by ordering the desired license add-on. The upgrade be provided either automatically or as an upgrade file you drop into the Manage/License page in Blocks. Licenses are generally perpetual. However, other arrangements can be provided if so desired. :!: NOTE: There's a small, recurring fee for the "Cloud license container". More on this below. ==== License Containers ==== The license can be provided and accessed in either of two ways: * As a //USB license key// that you plug into your Blocks server. This is suitable for hardware servers and provides the best reliability. * As a //Cloud license//, accessed over the internet. Suitable for virtualized and cloud-based servers, where connecting a USB license key may be difficult or impossible. Requires a reliable internet access. ====Basic License==== The Blocks license lets you run Blocks server software on one computer (Mac, Windows or Linux). In its most basic form, with no functions added, this gives you a basic control system, with access to all associated functions such as Device Drivers, Scheduling and Tasks. ===== Licensable Functions ===== In most cases, you choose Blocks not only for use as a basic control system but also for its display, content and interaction capabilities. Many of these functions require additional licensable options. ==== Spots ==== Spots represent places of interest. There is often (but not always) some kind of display technology involved. You need to license a maximum number of such spots of the desired types in order to use these capabilities. :!: NOTE: It's possible to add more spots to your systen than you have in your license, thereby allowing you to open and edit presentations using large number of spots. However, you cannot actively use more than the licensed number of spots at any given time. === Display Spots === This is the most common Spot type, and is used when you need some form of display technology for playing Blocks content with the maximum amount of control over that individual player or display. Each Display Spot in your system is represented by an item in the Spot list in Blocks' editor, and has a unique ID number in Blocks. Examples where a Display Spot is appropriate include: * A small PC-style player, running our PIXILAB Player software driving one or several displays. * A "smart signage" display, with a built-in player, available from manufacturers such as Philips, Bluefin Displays, LG, Samsung and others. * Touch screens (fixed or portable) when you need individual control over what appears on each screen. :!: NOTE: Players are available with up to four display outputs. All displays connected to one player are considered a single display spot since those make up a unified "pixel space", with each display acting as a viewport into that pixel space. In general, displays can be arranged as desired within this pixel space using our PIXILAB Player software, including overlapping for edge-blended projection. === Visitor Spots === This Spot type is suitable for mobile guide applications and similar, where visitors connect to Blocks using their own mobile phones. It may also be used in other similar cases, such as for on-site staff to manage certain aspects of the system, such as volume control for different parts of an exhibition. Visitors typically connect to the desired Visitor Spot using a QR code, or by typing a domain name into their browser. Here, Blocks simply provide the URL to which the visitor connects. Regardless of the number of concurrent visitors, a Visitor Spot is represented by a single item in the Spot list in Blocks, where you can also see the number of current connections. Since all visitors connecting to a Visitor Spot will initially see the same content, you don't have the same fine-grained control over what appears on each display as you have for Display Spots. :!: Using the "Visitor Data Collection" feature (licensed separately), you will have an identifiable, one-to-one connection to each visitor, giving you almost the same control as when using Display Spots. However, this requires custom scripting. === Location Spots === Can be used to represent a location that doesn't contain any display, either by location ID or by GPS location. For use together with the Locator block type for playing content relevant for this location === WATCHOUT Spots === Allows content played on a Mobile Spot to be synchronized to a WATCHOUT display subsystem using a Synchronizer (licensed separately). === Offline Spots === Lets you display, and to a limited extent interact with, content on a Display Spot without a permanent network connection to the server. Useful in cases where a display must be placed at a location where a server connection is not possible. See the Blocks User's guide for important details. ==== Block Types ==== Many block types are licensed separately. Once a block type has been licensed, you can use as many such blocks as you want. If you have not licensed a block type, you can still work with this block inte editor, but won't be able to display the block on a Spot. While most block types are discussed in the User's Guide, a few types deserve some additional details in relation to their licensing. * **Synchronizer Block** lets you synchronize content within a Spot or across Spots and possibly other devices. Note that the Timeline, described next, has somewhat overlapping capabilities. * **Timeline Block** manages visual content and control system functions along a timeline, making it easy to synchronize those. It's synchronization capabilities are independent from the Synchronizer described above, so * **Live Video Block** includes all kinds of live (not pre-recorded) video content whether captured locally or received via the network. * **QR Code Block ** shows QR codes on spots, either based on a fixed or a dynamic URL. * **Locator Block** includes all functionality of the Locator Block, including GPS and QR code methods for determining the location. * **QR Scanner Block** uses the device's camera to scan a QR code, providing its value as a Spot property. This functionality is separate from the QR code scanning ability that's part of the Locator, described above. * **Camera Block** lets you use the device's camera to take photos, then uploaded to the Blocks server. Additional scripting is required to determine what to do with such uploaded photos. ==== Other Licensable Options ==== Here are a few more licensable options, with references to where you can learn more about some of those. ===Producer=== This low-cost license is intended for personal development and testing purposes only. The server will be shut down automatically every few hours, and must then be restarted manually. ===Mirroring Service=== Lets you run two Blocks servers with a single USB License key for [[blocks:server:mirror|hardware redundancy]]. === General Content Caching === Content played repeatedly can be cached on players supporting this feature, such as PIXILAB Player version 7 and later with internal SSD storage. This can drastically reduce network traffic in a system that often plays the same videos in a loop, or similar. Technically, this is somewhat similar to "Offline Spots" described above, but with a different goal. The Offline Spots feature proactively caches all content required by a specific block (the block you drag to the Spot in the editor), while the General Content Caching feature reactively attempts to cache as much as possible of content as it plays. === Art-Net Recording/Playback === Lets you record Art-Net (DMX512) data from an external source, such as a lighting console, for later playback by Blocks. See under "Art-Net Recording" in the Blocks manual for more details. === Visitor Data Colleciton=== Lets you identify and interact with individual visitors accessing the system through a Visitor Spot. See the chapter on "Visitor Data Collection" in the manual. This feature requires scripting to determine what data to collect and how to interact with the visitors.