Content with advertisement information segment

• US 20020097979A1
• Filed: 01/19/2001
• Published: 07/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BlackArrow Inc.
• Original Assignee: BlackArrow Inc.
• Inventors: Rashkovskiy, Oleg, Lowthert, Jonathan E.
• Granted Patent: US 7,519,273 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/261
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23424 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• 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 21/8456 by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• 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 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/9206 the additional signal being a character code signal
• 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

Abstract

A data delivery mechanism, such as a recordable disk or packets on a wire, delivering an info segment which specifies interruption points at which a first content item such as a television program is to be interrupted and a second content item such as an advertisement is to be inserted. The info segment may prevent certain types of second content items from being utilized, may permit them to be avoided, may control their duration, and other aspects of their utilization. The info segment may specify with which first content item it is associated. Other embodiments are also disclosed and claimed, such as an electronic programming guide.

Claims

1. A data delivery mechanism having represented therein:

(A) a content item; and

(B) an info segment including,

(1) a plurality of ad entries, each ad entry including,

(a) an interruption point specifier indicating a point during play of the content item at which play should be interrupted and an advertisement played instead.

2. The data delivery mechanism of claim 1 wherein the info segment further includes:

a content identifier which associates the info segment with the content item.

3. The data delivery mechanism of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of ad entries further includes:

(b) a maximum interruption length specifier indicating a maximum duration of play of the advertisement, after which play of the content item should be resumed even if the advertisement has not completed.

4. The data delivery mechanism of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of ad entries further includes:

(c) a resume indicator enabling a user to override play of the advertisement.

5. The data delivery mechanism of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of ad entries further includes:

(d) an ad type specifier which prevents an advertisement from interrupting the content item if the advertisement meets a predetermined criterion.

6. The data delivery mechanism of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of ad entries further includes:

(e) an ad lock specifier which permits an advertisement to be skipped if a predetermined criterion is met.

7. The data delivery mechanism of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of ad entries further includes:

(b) a maximum interruption length specifier indicating a maximum duration of play of the advertisement, after which play of the content item should be resumed even if the advertisement has not completed;

(c) a resume indicator enabling a user to override play of the advertisement;

(d) an ad type specifier which prevents an advertisement from interrupting the content item if the advertisement meets a predetermined criterion; and

(e) an ad lock specifier which permits an advertisement to be skipped if a predetermined criterion is met.

8. The data delivery mechanism of claim 7 wherein the info segment further includes:

a content identifier which associates the info segment with the content item.

9. A data delivery mechanism having represented therein an info segment comprising:

(1) a plurality of ad entries, each ad entry having,

(a) an interruption point specifier indicating a point during play of a content item at which play should be interrupted and an advertisement played instead.

10. The data delivery mechanism of claim 9 wherein the info segment represented therein further comprises:

a content identifier which associates the info segment with a predetermined content item.

11. The data delivery mechanism of claim 9 wherein the info segment represented therein further comprises at least one of the plurality of ad entries further having:

(b) a maximum interruption length specifier indicating a maximum duration of play of the advertisement, after which play of the content item should be resumed even if the advertisement has not completed.

12. The data delivery mechanism of claim 9 wherein the info segment represented therein further comprises at least one of the plurality of ad entries further having:

(c) a resume indicator enabling a user to override play of the advertisement.

13. The data delivery mechanism of claim 9 wherein the info segment represented therein further comprises at least one of the plurality of ad entries further having:

(d) an ad type specifier which prevents an advertisement from interrupting the content item if the advertisement meets a predetermined criterion.

14. The data delivery mechanism of claim 9 wherein the info segment represented therein further comprises at least one of the plurality of ad entries further having:

(e) an ad lock specifier which permits an advertisement to be skipped if a predetermined criterion is met.

15. The data delivery mechanism of claim 9 wherein the info segment represented therein further comprises at least one of the plurality of ad entries further having:

(b) a maximum interruption length specifier indicating a maximum duration of play of the advertisement, after which play of the content item should be resumed even if the advertisement has not completed;

(c) a resume indicator enabling a user to override play of the advertisement;

(d) an ad type specifier which prevents an advertisement from interrupting the content item if the advertisement meets a predetermined criterion; and

(e) an ad lock specifier which permits an advertisement to be skipped if a predetermined criterion is met.

16. The data delivery mechanism of claim 9 wherein the info segment represented therein further comprises:

a content identifier which associates the info segment with a predetermined content item.

18. The data delivery mechanism of claim 17 wherein the one or more conditions comprise:

whether a user can override insertion of the commercial;

whether a particular type of commercial is allowed to be played at the interruption point; and

whether the commercial can be skipped by virtue of a financial payment.

20. The data delivery mechanism of claim 19 wherein:

at least one of the info segments represented therein further includes a maximum interruption length specifier;

at least one of the info segments represented therein further includes a permitted ad type specifier;

at least one of the info segments represented therein further includes a prohibited ad type specifier; and

at least one of the info segments represented therein further includes an ad lock specifier.

17. A data delivery mechanism having represented therein:

a plurality of segments of a program; and

interlaced between the segments of the program, a plurality of info segment pointers each providing access to an info segment which is external to the data delivery mechanism and which includes,

a content identifier associating the info segment with the program, and

a plurality of entries, each entry specifying,

an interruption point at which play of the program should be interrupted and a commercial should be played, and

one or more conditions controlling the interruption.

19. A data delivery mechanism having represented therein an electronic programming guide comprising:

a plurality of program identifications; and

a plurality of info segments, each info segment including,

a program identification associating the info segment with a predetermined one of the plurality of program identifications, and

a plurality of interruption point specifiers which indicate points at which, during play of a predetermined program identified by the predetermined one of the plurality of program identifications, play of the program should be interrupted for play of an advertisement.