Method and system for addressing targeted advertisements using detection of operational status of display device

• US 20020083435A1
• Filed: 12/07/2000
• Published: 06/27/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Prime Research Alliance E, LLC
• Original Assignee: Prime Research Alliance E, LLC
• Inventors: Eldering, Charles A., Blasko, John P.
• Application Number:
  US09/731,605
• Publication Number:
  US 20020083435A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 2201/70 characterised in that receivers can be addressed
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/32 Arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations, e.g. malfunction or breakdown of receiving stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/37 for identifying segments of broadcast information, e.g. scenes or extracting programme ID
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/63 for services of sales data processing systems or methods specially adapted for electronic commerce G06Q30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/66 for using the result on distributors' side
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26233 involving content or additional data duration or size, e.g. length of a movie, size of an executable file
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26241 involving the time of distribution, e.g. the best time of the day for inserting an advertisement or airing a children program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42684 Client identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number, MAC address, socket ID network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 : Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 : by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 : Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17354 : in an intermediate station common to a plurality of user terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17363 : at or near the user terminal

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for addressing targeted advertisements using a detection of the on/off operational status of a display device. The method includes determining whether or not the display device (e.g., a TV) of a subscriber of a TV programming service is operating, and inserting the advertisements into at least one media stream if it is determined that the display device is operating. Targeted advertisements are inserted into the programming stream only if the subscriber'"'"'s display device is turned on to actually display the inserted advertisements. In this manner, advertisers can more specifically reach their target audience while also being given a much higher level of confidence that their ads have actually been viewed by the target audience.

Claims

1. A method for addressing advertisements to a subscriber of a communications network, the method comprising the steps of:

determining whether or not a display device of the subscriber is operating; and

inserting the advertisements into at least one media stream if the determining step determines that the display device is operating.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the at least one media stream with the inserted advertisements on the display device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

storing a record of the inserted advertisements; and

transmitting the record to a designated location at the communications network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining step includes:

detecting a level of electrical current flowing to the display device; and

determining whether or not the display device is operating based on the detected current level.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining step includes:

detecting frequency characteristics of a tuned signal of a local oscillator of the display device; and

determining whether or not the display device is operating based on this detection.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining step includes:

detecting a strength of a chroma sub carrier frequency signal from radiations emitted by the display device; and

determining whether or not the display device is operating based on this detection.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

discarding the at least one media stream if the determining step determines that the display device is not operating.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a predetermined order in which the advertisements are to be inserted into the at least one media stream; and

storing an ordered list corresponding to the identified order, wherein the advertisements are inserted into the at least one media stream according to the ordered list.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein, in the storing step, the ordered list is stored in a queue in a set top box assigned to the subscriber.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the ordered list stored in the queue is a stacked list of advertisement resource locators (ARLs) indicating to locations where the advertisements are stored.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to the inserting step, receiving the at least one media stream from the communications network.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the communications network is a television service network.

13. The method of claims 11, wherein the communications network is an Internet service network.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein, in the receiving step, the at least one media stream is received by one of the following means:

analog cable, digital broadcast satellite (DBS), digital cable, switched digital video (SDV), digital subscriber line (DSL), very high speed digital subscriber line (VDSL), hybrid fiber coax (HFC)cable, or the Internet.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, locally to the subscriber, the advertisements to be inserted into the at least one media stream.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the storing step stores the advertisements in a set top box assigned to the subscriber.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the storing step stores the advertisements at a server on the communications network.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the display device displays the at least one media stream with the inserted advertisements.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

third means, coupled to the second means, for storing a record of the inserted advertisements.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the first means detects a level of electrical current flowing to the display device, and determines whether or not the display device is operating based on the detected current level.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the first means includes a local oscillator detector for detecting frequency characteristics of a tuned signal of a local oscillator of the display device and for determining whether or not the display device is operating based on this detection.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the first means includes a chroma sub carrier detector for detecting a strength of a chroma sub carrier frequency signal from radiations emitted by the display device and for determining whether or not the display device is operating based on this detection.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the first means includes an inductive coupling for detecting whether or not the display device is operating.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein the second means discards the at least one media stream if the first means determines that the display device is not operating.

26. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

fourth means, coupled to the second means, for identifying a predetermined order in which the advertisements are to be inserted into the at least one media stream, and for storing an ordered list corresponding to the identified order, wherein the second means inserts the advertisements into the at least one media stream according to the ordered list.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the ordered list is stored in a queue memory, which identifies a stacked list of advertisement resource locators (ARLs) indicating locations where the advertisements are stored.

28. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

fifth means, coupled to the second means, for receiving the at least one media stream from the communications network and directing the at least one media stream to the second means.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the communications network is a television service network.

30. The system of claims 28, wherein the communications network is an Internet service network.

31. The system of claim 28, wherein the fifth means receives the at least one media stream by one of the following means:

analog cable, digital broadcast satellite (DBS), digital cable, switched digital video (SDV), digital subscriber line (DSL), very high speed digital subscriber line (VDSL), hybrid fiber coax (HFC)cable, or the Internet.

32. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

sixth means, coupled to the second means, for storing therein the advertisements to be inserted into the at least one media stream.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the sixth means is a memory in a set top box assigned to the subscriber.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the sixth means is a server on the communications network.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

continuing to store the information in the local premises device without inserting the information into the video stream, if the determining step determines that the display device is not operating.

37. The method of claim 35, wherein the video stream is a television programming stream.

38. The method of claim 35, wherein the information includes an advertisement.

39. The method of claim 35, wherein the local premises device is a set top box assigned to the viewer.

18. A subscriber system for addressing advertisements to a subscriber of a communications network, the system comprising:

first means, coupled to a display device associated with the subscriber, for determining whether or not the display device is operating; and

second means, coupled to the first means, for inserting the advertisements into at least one media stream responsive to the first means determining that the display device is operating.

35. A method for addressing information to a viewer, comprising the steps of:

transmitting the information to a local premises device capable of storing the information;

storing the information in the local premises device;

determining whether a display device associated with the local premises device is operating; and

inserting the information into a video stream being transmitted to the local premises device if the determining step determines that the display device is operating.

40. A system for addressing information to a viewer, comprising:

means for transmitting the information to a local premises device capable of storing the information;

means for storing the information in the local premises device;

means for determining whether a display device associated with the local premises device is operating; and

means for inserting the information into a video stream being transmitted to the local premises device if the determining means determines that the display device is operating.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the storing means continues to store the information in the local premises device without inserting the information into the video stream, if the determining means determines that the display device is not operating.

42. The system of claim 40, wherein the video stream is a television programming stream.

43. The system of claim 40 wherein the information includes an advertisement.

44. The system of claim 40, wherein the local premises device is a set top box assigned to the viewer.