System and method for generating multimedia accompaniments to broadcast data

• US 10,044,333 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2013
• Issued: 08/07/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/09/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: iBiquity Digital Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: DTS, Inc. (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Corts, David, Wells, Bryce, Signorelli, Paul, Hunter, Lee, Snyder, Terrance
• Primary Examiner(s): Haq, Naeem U
• Application Number:
  US13/862,036
• Publication Number:
  US 20150149326A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,943 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9566 URL specific, e.g. using aliases, detecting broken or misspelled links
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/123 Shopping for digital content
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/001 Digital control of analog signals
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/20 Automatic control H03G3/005 takes precedence; combined with volume compression or expansion H03G7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/18 Arrangements for synchronising broadcast or distribution via plural systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/28 Arrangements for simultaneous broadcast of plural pieces of information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/30 by a single channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/31 using in-band signals, e.g. subsonic or cue signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/93 which locates resources of other pieces of information, e.g. URL [Uniform Resource Locator]
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/18 in band on channel [IBOC]

Abstract

A method and system is presented for coordinating the transmission of supplemental digital data to accompany broadcast data, and in particular, analog radio broadcasts, among a plurality of broadcasters. The supplemental digital data may provide information about the particular broadcast data being transmitted or may be supplemental to such data. The supplemental digital data to be presented is sorted based on particular algorithms which may take into account broadcaster-specified criteria such as target audience, time of day, type of broadcast data presented, and the like. The supplemental digital data may be audio data, visual data, or audio-visual data for presentation with the broadcast data. The supplemental digital data may further be advertisement data. The advertisement data may be sold by the broadcasters or the party coordinating the IBOC transmission of the supplemental digital data. The supplemental digital data may play simultaneously with muted broadcast data or at a user-specified time.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

sending, to a remote server from two or more radio stations via a network using a control system associated with each radio station, broadcast schedule information comprising data relating to at least one future broadcast by each radio station of the two or more radio stations;

receiving, from the remote server via the network using the control system associated with each radio station, supplemental information associated with the data relating to the at least one future broadcast;

determining a latency between broadcast content and the supplemental information; and

sending, through an electromagnetic medium from a transmitter associated with each radio station to one or more end user devices, the broadcast content according to the broadcast schedule information and sending the supplemental information in a timed relationship to the broadcast content according to the determined latency for playback of the broadcast content in conjunction with the supplemental information by an end user device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, at each radio station, availability in the broadcast content for inserting the supplemental information along with the broadcast content; and

inserting, at each radio station, the supplemental information along with the broadcast content based on the availability in the broadcast content for sending, through the electromagnetic medium, the broadcast content and the supplemental information.

3. A system comprising:

a transmitter associated with each of two or more radio stations adapted for broadcasting a radio signal;

a network port associated with each of the two or more radio stations; and

a control system associated with each of the two or more radio stations, the control system operatively coupled to its respective transmitter and network port and adapted to;

send, to a remote server via a network, broadcast schedule information comprising data relating to at least one future broadcast by the respective radio station;

receive, from the remote server via the network, supplemental information associated with the data relating to the at least one future broadcast; and

send, through the respective transmitter via an electromagnetic medium, broadcast content according to the broadcast schedule information and the supplemental information to an end user device for playback of the broadcast content to an end user.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the control system associated with each of the two or more radio stations is adapted to send, through the respective transmitter via the electromagnetic medium, an aggregation of the broadcast schedule information from each of the two or more radio stations.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein the control system associated with each of the two or more radio stations is adapted to send, through the respective transmitter via the electromagnetic medium, the broadcast content on a primary channel and sending the supplemental information in a sideband.

6. The system of claim 3 wherein the control system associated with each of the two or more radio stations is adapted to send, through the respective transmitter via the electromagnetic medium, the broadcast content in an analog format and sending the supplemental information in a digital format.

7. The system of claim 3, wherein the control system is further configured to:

determine, by the control system for each of the two or more radio stations, availability in the broadcast content for inserting the supplemental information along with the broadcast content; and

insert, by the control system for each of the two or more radio stations, the supplemental information along with the broadcast content based on the availability in the broadcast content for sending, through the electromagnetic medium, the broadcast content and the supplemental information.

8. A method of radio broadcast of multimedia data, the method comprising:

receiving, by a control system at each radio station of two or more radio stations, from a remote server, supplemental information associated with a broadcast schedule of a corresponding future broadcast;

defining, using the control system at each radio station, a datacast comprising the supplemental information;

determining, using the control system at each radio station, availability for inserting the datacast in the future broadcast, wherein the availability is determined according to corresponding broadcast content of the future broadcast and available bandwidth for the datacast in the future broadcast;

inserting, using the control system at each radio station, the datacast along with the corresponding broadcast content in the future broadcast according to the determined availability; and

sending, through an electromagnetic medium from a transmitter associated with each radio station to a corresponding end user device, the datacast and the corresponding broadcast content according to the broadcast schedule.

9. The method-of claim 8, further comprising:

defining, at each radio station, formatting and timing directives for presenting the supplemental information to a corresponding end user, the formatting and timing directives comprising at least one of a length of time a portion of the supplemental information is played and separation of different portions of the supplemental information.

10. A system comprising:

a transmitter associated with each of two or more radio stations;

a network port associated with each of the two or more radio stations; and

a control system associated with each of the two or more radio stations, the control system operatively coupled to its respective transmitter and network port and adapted to;

receive, through the respective network port, from a remote server, supplemental information associated with a broadcast schedule of a corresponding future broadcast;

define a datacast comprising the supplemental information;

determine availability in the corresponding future broadcast for inserting the datacast along with a corresponding broadcast content;

insert the datacast along with the corresponding broadcast content based on the availability in the corresponding future broadcast for sending to a corresponding end user device; and

send, through the respective transmitter;

through an electromagnetic medium to the corresponding end user device, the datacast and the corresponding broadcast content according to the broadcast schedule.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the control system for each radio station is further configured to define formatting and timing directives for presenting the supplemental information to a corresponding end user, the formatting and timing directives comprising at least one of a length of time a portion of the supplemental information is played and separation of different portions of the supplemental information.