Statistical metering and filtering of content via pixel-based metadata

• US 20020087403A1
• Filed: 01/03/2001
• Published: 07/04/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/03/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Mattila, Jouka, Meyers, Stephan, Rasanen, Eero, Holopainen, Jussi, Lundin, Terje
• Granted Patent: US 7,805,680 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/06 Notations for structuring of protocol data, e.g. abstract syntax notation one [ASN.1]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4542 Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes
• 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

Abstract

Data supplied to a display having a plurality of pixels comprises both content to be displayed and metadata that identifies the content of the respective pixel as being of a particular type by setting the metadata for each pixel to a value that is one of a predefined set of values. The identification of the content as being of a particular type enables the classification of the pixels on a per pixel basis into one or more categories. Pixels containing data for an advertisement can be identified and metered to determine the total display space they occupy and length of time they are displayed, which are both considered measures of the effectiveness of the advertisement. This metering can therefore be used to more equitably charge for advertising on web pages because an advertiser can be charged on the basis of what a user actually sees on the display. If only a percentage of the advertisement is visible, the advertiser pays an amount in proportion to the percentage of the advertisement that is visible. Pixels belonging to an advertisement can also be metered by a video game in a manner that gives an incentive to a game player to view advertisements. Additionally, metadata can be used to identify a pixel as containing objectionable content or some other information or type of content not desired by a user. The pixels containing objectionable or undesired content, which usually are pixels that display an object or portions thereof, can then be filtered out of the picture in a more precise way to either delete or leave a blurred image of the object or objectionable/undesirable portion thereof only, without hiding an entire screen of data.

Claims

1. A system for providing discretionary viewing control in displaying data, comprising:

a display for displaying data, the display comprising a plurality of pixels; and

an integrated circuit in connection with said display for processing said data,

said data including at least first and second portions of data that are linked together, the first portion including payload data and the second portion including metadata,

said payload data providing content to each pixel of the plurality of pixels at the display independently and said metadata has a value selected from a predefined set of values and identifies each pixel at the display independently;

whereby the processable pixels at the display are classified according to a particular metadata value selected from the predefined set of values.

2. The system claim 1, wherein the integrated circuit comprises a filter for one of blocking and obscuring the content of each of the plurality of pixels that has a metadata value that exceeds a discretionary threshold value without preventing the display of the content of the plurality of pixels that does not have a metadata value that exceeds the discretionary threshold value.

3. A method for providing discretionary viewing control in displaying data, comprising:

providing a display comprising a plurality of pixels;

receiving data;

said received data including at least first and second portions of data that are linked together, the first portion including payload data and the second portion including metadata,

said payload data providing content to each pixel of the plurality of pixels at the display independently, and said metadata identifying each respective pixel at the display independently, said identifying comprising classifying each respective pixel according to a metadata value selected from a predefined set of values;

supplying said received data to an integrated circuit in connection with the display; and

processing the content for each respective pixel based on the identification of each respective pixel.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising one of blocking and obscuring the content of each of the plurality of pixels that has a metadata value exceeding a discretionary threshold value, and displaying the content of the remaining plurality of pixels that are not blocked or obscured.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the display is a display on a wireless terminal, and the step of supplying data to the display comprises supplying said data to the display on the wireless terminal.

6. A method for metering visibility of an advertisement, comprising:

providing a display with a plurality of pixels;

receiving data,

said received data including at least first and second portions of data that are linked together, the first portion including payload data and the second portion including metadata,

said payload data providing content to each of the plurality of pixels of the display independently, and said metadata identifying each respective pixel of the display independently, said identifying comprising classifying each respective pixel according to a particular metadata value selected from a predefined set of values;

supplying said received data to an integrated circuit in connection with the display;

processing the content for each respective pixel based on the identification of each respective pixel; and

periodically metering the number of pixels classified as advertisement by the metadata.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the metering step comprises determining an advertising fee to charge to the advertiser based on the metering of the displayed portion of the advertisement.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the advertisement comprises a portion that is not displayed, and the method further comprises charging the advertising fee based on the metered number of pixels that display the pixels classified as the advertisement multiplied by the length of time that the pixels classified as the advertisement are displayed without charging for the portion of the advertisement that is not displayed.

9. A method for providing an incentive to a player of a game, comprising;

providing a display having a plurality of pixels;

supplying data to an integrated circuit in connection with the display,

said data including at least first and second portions of data that are linked together, the first portion including payload data and the second portion including metadata,

said payload data providing content to each of the plurality of pixels of the display independently, and said metadata identifying each respective pixel of the display independently, said identifying comprising classifying each respective pixel according to a metadata value selected from a predefined set of values;

processing the content for each respective pixel based on the identification of each pixel;

opening a non-game item in response to a player activation of any of the pixels specified belonging to a non-game class; and

awarding a reward to the player upon viewing the non-game item.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the non-game item comprises an advertisement.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of awarding the reward comprises increasing the reward awarded based on the total number of the pixels classified as the advertisement as identified by the metadata.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of awarding the reward comprises increasing the reward awarded based on the length of time the pixels display the advertisement as identified by the metadata.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the game is a game played collaboratively by at least two players on the Internet.

15. The data frame of claim 14, wherein the content comprises multiple channels of content.

14. A data frame to be processed in an integrated circuit and displayed pixel-wise, comprising:

at least first and second portions of data that are linked together, the first portion including payload data and the second portion including metadata;

said payload data providing content to each pixel of a display independently, and said metadata identifying each pixel of the display independently, said identifying comprising classifying each pixel according to a metadata value selected from a predefined set of values.