System and method for scheduling in-theatre advertising
First Claim
1. A method of scheduling pre-show feature presentations in a theatre comprising:
- providing content items in a theatre server;
storing a plurality of advertising contract records at the theatre server, each advertising contract record identifying a particular content item and including scheduling data associated with that particular content item, wherein the scheduling data includes at least one item of information that correlates to a particular presentation criteria that must be satisfied when the content is presented;
storing theatre schedule information indicating particular feature presentations will be presented in particular auditoriums, the scheduling information including at least one attribute of the feature presentation;
building a pre-show play list for a particular auditorium by;
selecting contract records that will have their presentation criteria satisfied by the at least one attribute specified in the theatre schedule information; and
arranging content items associated with each of the selected contract records to form the pre-show play list.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of scheduling pre-show feature presentations in a theatre by providing content items in a theatre server. A plurality of advertising contract records are stored at the theater server, where each advertising contract record identifies at least one content item. The advertising contract records include scheduling data associated with that particular content item, wherein the scheduling data includes at least one item of information that correlates to a particular presentation criterion that must be satisfied when the content is presented. Theatre schedule information indicates particular feature presentations that will be presented in particular auditoriums and includes the scheduling information including at least one attribute of the feature presentation. A pre-show play list is built for a particular auditorium by selecting contract records that will have their presentation criteria satisfied by the at least one attribute specified in the theatre schedule information arranging content items associated with each of the selected contract records to form the pre-show play list.
64 Citations
54 Claims
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1. A method of scheduling pre-show feature presentations in a theatre comprising:
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providing content items in a theatre server;
storing a plurality of advertising contract records at the theatre server, each advertising contract record identifying a particular content item and including scheduling data associated with that particular content item, wherein the scheduling data includes at least one item of information that correlates to a particular presentation criteria that must be satisfied when the content is presented;
storing theatre schedule information indicating particular feature presentations will be presented in particular auditoriums, the scheduling information including at least one attribute of the feature presentation;
building a pre-show play list for a particular auditorium by;
selecting contract records that will have their presentation criteria satisfied by the at least one attribute specified in the theatre schedule information; and
arranging content items associated with each of the selected contract records to form the pre-show play list. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An advertising contract record for use in presenting in-theatre advertising, the contract record comprising:
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identification of particular advertisement content;
specification of at least one presentation criteria that must be satisfied when the content item is presented; and
specification of at least one presentation preference that is desirably satisfied when the content item is presented. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A pre-show play list data structure comprising:
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a plurality of segments;
one or more slots within each segment, each slot configured to identify at least a portion of a content item such that the pre-show play list defines a sequence of content items that will be presented in a particular order. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A method of building a pre-show play list in a manner that satisfies presentation criteria specified by advertisers, the method comprising the acts of:
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obtaining advertising contract records indicating the presentation criteria from a remote source;
obtaining auditorium scheduling information, the auditorium scheduling information including attributes of a feature being presented within a particular auditorium;
building the pre-show play list in a just-in-time manner prior to the beginning of the feature being presented within the particular auditorium by matching the presentation criteria with the attributes of the feature being presented to select a set of advertisements for the pre-show play list. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
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24. A movie theatre comprising:
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a plurality of auditoriums;
presentation mechanisms within each auditorium operable to present visual and/or audio features to an audience;
a mechanism for scheduling a particular feature presentation that will appear in a particular auditorium;
a system for presenting a plurality of pre-shows before feature presentations, where each pre-show is specified for a particular auditorium and each pre-show comprises a sequence of media files, wherein the system for presenting comprises;
a pre-show play list data structure for each pre-show, the play list data structure defining the sequence of media files that make up the pre-show;
media player components coupled to the presentation mechanisms and operable to play the sequence of media files defined by the pre-show play list;
update services executing in the system for presenting and operable to detect changes that impact any one of the pre-show play lists; and
a play list generator operable to create a replacement pre-show data structure in response to identifying a pre-show play list that is impacted by a change. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A system for presenting digital media content in conjunction with a feature presentations in a multi-auditorium movie theatre, the digital media content comprising a sequence of media files and the system for presenting comprising:
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a play list data structure maintained for each auditorium, the play list data structure defining the sequence of media files that make up a show, where each show is associated with a particular auditorium;
update services operable to detect changes that impact any one of the play lists; and
a play list generator operable to update the play list data structures in response to identifying a play list that is impacted by a change. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32)
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33. An auditable system for presenting in-theatre advertising comprising:
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a play list generator having access to advertiser-specified presentation criteria and having access to real time theatre scheduling information;
a plurality of advertisement media files, wherein each advertisement media file is associated with at least some advertiser-specified presentation criteria;
logic implemented within the play list generator to select advertisement media files based on both the advertiser-specified presentation criteria and having access to real time theatre scheduling information; and
a presentation record holding confirmation information describing presentation of a particular advertisement media file. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A method for auditing presentation of advertising comprising the acts of:
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providing a plurality of advertisement media files, wherein each advertisement media file is associated with at least one advertiser-specified presentation criteria;
generating a play list based on advertiser-specified presentation criteria;
generating a presentation record holding confirmation information describing presentation of a particular advertisement media file; and
communicating the presentation record to a data processing machine. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A movie theatre network comprising:
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a data communication mechanism;
a data center coupled to the data communication mechanism;
a data center data store associated with the data center;
a plurality of media content files stored in the data center data store;
a set of presentation criteria associated with each of the media content files;
a plurality of theatre servers coupled to the data communication mechanism, wherein each theatre server is associated with a particular theatre location;
a scheduling information protocol for distributing scheduling information including the presentation criteria from the data center to selected ones of the theatre servers;
a media file protocol for distributing selected media files from the data center to particular theatre servers; and
presentation mechanisms within each theatre servers for presenting received media files in a manner that satisfies requirements of the scheduling information. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49)
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50. A system for distributing sequences of digital content comprising:
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a plurality of content items;
communication mechanisms for transmitting the content items to a plurality of distributed presentation locations;
storage at each of the plurality of distributed presentation locations for storing the content items;
a central scheduling mechanism operable to distribute schedule information to the plurality of distributed presentation locations, wherein the schedule information is distributed independently from the content items; and
presentation mechanisms at the plurality of distributed presentation locations coupled to read the schedule information, select content items in response to the schedule information, and present the selected content items to form the sequence of digital content. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53)
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54. A movie theatre comprising:
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one or more display locations;
presentation mechanisms at each display location operable to present visual and/or audio features to an audience;
a mechanism for scheduling a particular feature presentation that will appear on each presentation mechanism at each of the one or more display locations;
a system for presenting a plurality of shows, where each show is presented on at least one presentation mechanism and each show comprises a sequence of media files, wherein the system for presenting comprises;
a play list data structure for each show, the play list data structure defining the sequence of media files that make up the show;
media player components coupled to the presentation mechanisms and operable to play the sequence of media files defined by the show play list;
update services executing in the system for presenting and operable to detect changes that impact any one of the play lists; and
a play list generator operable to create a replacement play list in response to identifying a play list that is impacted by a change.
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Specification