Method and apparatus for providing incentives for viewers to watch commercial advertisements

• US 20040255322A1
• Filed: 05/22/2001
• Published: 12/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alphonso, Inc.
• Original Assignee: At&T Delaware Intellectual Property, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Meadows, Vernon, Rogers, James M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,992,161 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/23
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4185 for payment
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4756 for rating content, e.g. scoring a recommended movie
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17309 Transmission or handling of upstream communications

Abstract

A user is prompted during television commercial breaks to depress one or more pushbuttons on a television remote control at certain times to confirm that the user is watching the advertisements. A set top box connected to the television receives and decodes the signal from the remote control. When the user responds properly to a prompt, the set top box increments a tally maintained in the set top box memory to accumulate points by which the user can earn rewards.

Claims

1. A method for providing an incentive for a viewer to watch commercial advertisements displayed during network programming, comprising the steps of:

(a) prompting a viewer during commercial breaks to provide an indicated response within an indicated time period;

(b) detecting the indicated response; and

(c) increasing a point tally when the viewer provides the indicated response within the indicated time period;

wherein the viewer can receive a reward when the tally reaches a certain number of points.

2. The method for providing an incentive to watch commercial advertisements according to claim 1, wherein the viewer is prompted by a media delivery device connected to a television unit to be locally inserted into commercials displayed on the television unit.

3. The method for providing an incentive to watch commercial advertisements according to claim 1, wherein the viewer is prompted by a television broadcast network and are inserted into commercials that are broadcast to the viewer.

4. The method for providing an incentive to watch commercial advertisements according to claim 2, wherein the viewer depresses one or more pushbuttons on a remote controller unit to transmit an encoded signal to the media delivery device.

5. The method for providing an incentive to watch commercial advertisements according to claim 4, wherein the media delivery device stores a list of the indicated responses.

6. The method for providing an incentive to watch commercial advertisements according to claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

(d) displaying a list of rewards for which a viewer may be eligible according to the number of points accumulated in the tally, wherein each reward is associated with a certain number of points;

(e) receiving a reward selection by the viewer;

(f) providing the reward to the viewer; and

(g) subtracting the number of points associated with the selected reward from the accumulated tally.

7. The method for providing an incentive to watch commercial advertisements according to claim 6, further comprising the step of providing user identification to begin a user session, wherein different viewers in a household can each maintain a separate tally to accumulate points to receive rewards.

8. The method for providing an incentive to watch commercial advertisements according to claim 1, wherein the network programming is provided by a network provider, and the viewer receives a discount credit from the network provider when the viewer becomes eligible for a reward.

9. The method for providing an incentive to watch commercial advertisements according to claim 8, wherein the viewer maintains an account with the network provider, and a signal is transmitted to the network provider to credit the viewer'"'"'s account when the viewer becomes eligible for the reward.

10. A media delivery device providing an incentive to a user to watch commercial advertisements displayed during network programming, comprising:

(a) a decoder for decoding broadcast media programming into the media delivery device;

(b) means for generating prompts to be locally inserted into the media programming during commercial breaks;

(c) means for detecting user responses to prompts inserted into the media programming;

(d) means for providing a reward to the user for responding correctly to the prompts.

11. The media delivery device according to claim 10, further comprising:

(e) a counter for accumulating a numerical tally of the user'"'"'s correct responses to prompts,

wherein the reward means provides a reward to the user when the counter accumulates to a certain number.

12. The media delivery device according to claim 11, further comprising:

(f) a network connection for transmitting signals between the media delivery device and an external network;

wherein the media delivery device receives prompts from the external network, and external network receives notification for the user to receive an award from the media delivery device.

13. The media delivery device according to claim 12, wherein the network programming is provided by a network provider, and user receives a discount from network programming as a reward.

14. A method for providing advertisement information selected by a viewer, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving initial prompts from the viewer during commercial breaks in television programming to select commercial advertisements of interest to the viewer;

(b) receiving an additional prompt from the viewer to receive additional information relating to the selected commercial advertisements;

(c) providing additional advertisement information relating to at least one of the selected commercial advertisements; and

(d) providing a reward to the viewer for reviewing additional advertisement information.

15. The method for providing advertisement information according to claim 14, wherein the viewer provides prompts using a television remote controller unit to select television commercial advertisements of interest from a plurality of television commercial advertisements provided in commercial breaks during television programming.

16. The method for providing advertisement information according to claim 14, further comprising the step of incrementing a tally counter when the viewer completes the review of additional advertisement information, wherein the viewer can select a reward after accumulating a specified number of points.

17. The method for providing advertisement information according to claim 14, wherein the viewer prompts to receive additional advertisement information when the viewer has completed watching television programming.

18. The method for providing advertisement information according to claim 14, wherein the step of providing additional advertising information further comprises the steps of:

prompting the viewer to select from one or more of a plurality of products or product features related to the selected commercial advertisement;

receiving selections from the viewer;

providing additional advertising information corresponding to viewer selections.

19. The method for providing advertisement information according to claim 14, wherein the step of providing additional advertising information further comprises the steps of:

providing a series of questions concerning the selected advertisement;

receiving selections from the viewer in response to the series of questions; and

transmitting the viewer'"'"'s selections to an external network.

20. The method for providing advertisement information according to claim 14, wherein the reward comprises a discount for purchase of a product or service described in the additional advertisement information.

21. A method for providing advertisement information selected by a viewer, comprising the steps of:

(a) prompting the viewer to select from a plurality of categories of products or services;

(b) receiving selections from the viewer identifying a particular category of products or services of interest;

(c) providing advertisement information relating to at least one of the products or services in the selected category; and

(d) providing a discount for television programming as a reward to the viewer for reviewing the selected advertisement information.