System for authoring and editing personalized message campaigns

• US 10,134,313 B2
• Filed: 09/08/2003
• Issued: 11/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FreeWheel Media Incorporated (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Visible World Incorporated (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Haberman, Seth, Niemeijer, Gerrit, van der Burgh, Abel, Lubowsky, Steven
• Primary Examiner(s): Langhnoja, Kunal
• Application Number:
  US10/657,335
• Publication Number:
  US 20040117257A1
• Time in Patent Office: 5,552 Days
• Field of Search: 725 34- 35, 725 42, 725 36, 725 32, 348461
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G09F 27/00 Combined visual and audible advertising or displaying, e.g. for public address
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

A method and system for authoring templates for personalized video message campaigns in general, and personalized TV commercial campaigns in particular. The invention allows for campaign templates to be authored and edited in such a way that commercials can be automatically generated later on in the process, when the target audience and context are known, while at the same time adhering to the existing (post) production workflows and tools. The invention maintains assembly information for messages in a format that allows easy assembly of variations of commercials at any point in the creation, editing, post-production and delivery process.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing a matrix comprising a plurality of media slots in a first dimension and time in a second dimension, the matrix further indicating bandwidth constraints associated with the plurality of media slots and indicating storage size constraints associated with the plurality of media slots;

accessing a plurality of media segments, said media segments configured to be assembled into said plurality of media slots, wherein at least one of said media segments is interchangeable with another one of said media segments, the matrix further indicating permutations of the plurality of media segments and the plurality of media slots that are invalid;

generating a model based on the matrix and indicative of how to assemble said plurality of media segments to create an advertisement for a targeted audience that complies with the bandwidth constraints and storage constraints, said model comprising a plurality of media elements associated with at least one condition, the plurality of media elements comprising at least one reference to at least one media segment of the plurality of media segments and metadata associated with the at least one media segment;

generating at least one individual advertisement assembled from the at least one media segment based on the model in order to check consistency of the model; and

sending the model to a set-top box to enable the set-top box to assemble at least one advertisement at the set-top box from the plurality of media segments based on the model.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one condition is evaluated using information regarding said target audience.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the at least one media segment used to assemble the advertisement is created at a later time.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one condition comprises at least one default condition for determining which of said plurality of media segments to use when appropriate information regarding said target audience is not available.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of media segments comprise audio, video, voice overs, and background music.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein a subset of said plurality of media segments form a default generic individual advertisement.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of media segments includes alternative segments of different lengths.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein selection of a media segment depends on an outcome of a previous choice.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein each of said plurality of media elements are associated with at least one segment parameter.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the at least one segment parameter identifies a demographic of an intended audience.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the at least one segment parameter identifies an environmental condition.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein at least one of the plurality of media elements is associated with a plurality of different segment parameters.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of media segments include video segments and other media segments.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the other media segments include audio segments.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein checking consistency comprises checking for media segments of the advertisement being out of order, checking whether a timing of the advertisement is different from the model, and checking compliance with the bandwidth constraints and storage constraints.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating at least one option for repairing an inconsistency with the model.