Targeted advertisement selection from a digital stream

• US 20060168616A1
• Filed: 03/09/2006
• Published: 07/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Electronics Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Candelore, Brant L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,667,525 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23476 by partially encrypting, e.g. encrypting the ending portion of a movie
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23608 Remultiplexing multiplex streams, e.g. involving modifying time stamps or remapping the packet identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2362 Generation or processing of Service Information [SI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2365 Multiplexing of several video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25875 involving end-user authentication restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; arrangements for secret or secure communication including means for verifying the identity or authority of a user of the system H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26606 for generating or managing entitlement messages, e.g. Entitlement Control Message [ECM] or Entitlement Management Message [EMM] arrangements for conditional access to broadcast information or to broadcast-related services H04H60/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/426 Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof H04N5/44 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4344 Remultiplexing of multiplex streams, e.g. by modifying time stamps or remapping the packet identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4347 Demultiplexing of several video streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43607 Interfacing a plurality of external cards, e.g. through a DVB Common Interface [DVB-CI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43853 involving multiplex stream decryption arrangements using cryptography for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/23
• 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 21/44055 by partially decrypting, e.g. decrypting a video stream that has been partially encrypted
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• 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 21/4623 Processing of entitlement messages, e.g. ECM [Entitlement Control Message] or EMM [Entitlement Management Message] arrangements for conditional access to broadcast information or to broadcast-related services H04H60/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 : for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• 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 21/835 : Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/162 : Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/167 : Systems rendering the television signal unintelligible and subsequently intelligible
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/1675 : Providing digital key or authorisation information for generation or regeneration of the scrambling sequence pseudo-random number generators in general G06F7/58

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a method of targeted advertisement to a user that includes selecting advertisements based upon user preferences is disclosed. In particular, the method relates to receiving incoming content, which includes a primary advertisement and one or more replacement advertisements. If one of the replacement advertisements is determined to be more appropriate for the user than the primary advertisement, based upon user preferences, then the primary advertisement is substituted with the replacement advertisement.

Claims

1. A method of targeting advertisement to a user on a scene-by-scene or sub-scene basis comprising:

receiving content including a primary advertisement and one or more replacement advertisements;

determining if one of the replacement advertisements is more appropriate for the user than the primary advertisement based upon user preferences; and

substituting the primary advertisement with the replacement advertisement if the replacement advertisement is determined to be more appropriate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is delivered in a stream of packets and wherein substituting the primary advertisement with the replacement advertisement includes swapping packets.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the packets are in a MPEG transport stream of packets and include Internet Protocol (IP) packets.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the content is delivered in a stream of IP packets and wherein substituting the primary advertisement with the replacement advertisement further includes selecting fields within the IP packets.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the primary advertisement and the replacement advertisements include a logo.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the primary advertisement and the replacement advertisements include a banner advertisement.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the primary advertisement and the replacement advertisements include audio/visual (A/V) commercials.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether advertisement substitution functionality is enabled, and, if not, rendering the primary advertisement.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising examining advertisement preference parameters for a user.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining if a replacement advertisement is more appropriate than a primary advertisement includes comparing advertisement descriptor parameters associated with the primary advertisement and the replacement advertisements with the advertisement preference parameters associated with the user.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein advertisement preference parameters for a user include at least one of:

location, sex, and age.

12. A digital device to select advertisements for a user comprising:

a network interface adapted to receive incoming content including a primary advertisement and one or more replacement advertisements; and

a data processing unit including an advertisement selector coupled to the network interface, the advertisement selector to determine if one of the replacement advertisements is more appropriate for the user than the primary advertisement based upon user preferences and to substitute the primary advertisement with the replacement advertisement if the replacement advertisement is determined to be more appropriate.

13. The digital device of claim 12, wherein the primary advertisement and the replacement advertisements include a logo.

14. The digital device of claim 12, wherein the primary advertisement and the replacement advertisements include a banner advertisement.

15. The digital device of claim 12, wherein the primary advertisement and the replacement advertisements include audio/visual (A/V) commercials.

16. The digital device of claim 12, wherein the data processing unit further determines whether advertisement substitution functionality is enabled, and, if not, the data processing unit renders the primary advertisement.

17. The digital device of claim 12, wherein the data processing unit further comprises a preference engine, the preference engine to determine advertisement preference parameters for a user.

18. The digital device of claim 17, wherein the advertisement selector determines if a replacement advertisement is more appropriate than a primary advertisement by comparing advertisement descriptor parameters associated with the primary advertisement and the replacement advertisements with the advertisement preference parameters associated with the user as determined by the preference engine.

19. The digital device of claim 18, wherein advertisement preference parameters for a user include at least one of:

location, sex, and age.

20. The digital device of claim 12, wherein the network interface is a tuner/demodulator.

21. The digital device of claim 12, wherein the network interface is a connection to the Internet.

22. A machine-readable medium to store instructions, that if executed by logic, will cause a digital device to perform the following operations to target advertisements to a user comprising:

receiving incoming content including a primary advertisement and one or more replacement advertisements;

determining if one of the replacement advertisements is more appropriate for the user than the primary advertisement based upon user preferences; and

substituting the primary advertisement with the replacement advertisement if the replacement advertisement is determined to be more appropriate.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the primary advertisement and the replacement advertisements include a logo.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the primary advertisement and the replacement advertisements include a banner advertisement.

25. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein the primary advertisement and the replacement advertisements include audio/visual (A/V) commercials.

26. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, further comprising instructions to determine whether advertisement substitution functionality is enabled, and, if not, rendering the primary advertisement.

27. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, further comprising instructions to determine advertisement preference parameters for a user.

28. The machine-readable medium of claim 27, wherein determining if a replacement advertisement is more appropriate than a primary advertisement further includes instructions to compare advertisement descriptor parameters associated with the primary advertisement and the replacement advertisements with the advertisement preference parameters associated with the user.

29. The machine-readable medium of claim 28, wherein advertisement preference parameters for a user include at least one of:

location, sex, and age.