Television system targeted advertising

• US 20060195866A1
• Filed: 02/25/2005
• Published: 08/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Thukral, Vivek
• Granted Patent: US 7,703,114 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/14 for monitoring programmes
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/23 using cryptography, e.g. encryption, authentication, key distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/32 Arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations, e.g. malfunction or breakdown of receiving stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/43 for identifying broadcast channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; 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 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• 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 21/4532 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 21/4667 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 21/6582 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

Abstract

Television system targeted advertising is described. In an embodiment, a content provider monitors a real-time state of television-based systems for a power on/off state and a tuning configuration. The content provider delivers advertising content to one or more of the television-based systems when they are powered-on and configured to receive the advertising content. The one or more television-based systems then receive the advertising content to display a targeted advertisement for viewing. The content provider records how many of the television-based systems receive the advertising content, and records how many of the television-based systems that receive the advertising content then display the targeted advertisement for viewing.

Claims

1. A targeted advertising system, comprising:

television-based systems each configured to receive advertising content to display a targeted advertisement for viewing;

a device monitor configured to maintain a real-time state of each of the television-based systems, the real-time state of a television-based system including a power on/off state and a tuning configuration of the television-based system; and

an advertisement manager configured to initiate delivery of the advertising content to one or more of the television-based systems when the one or more television-based systems are powered-on and tuned to receive the advertising content.

2. A targeted advertising system as recited in claim 1, wherein the device monitor is further configured to record how many of the television-based systems receive the advertising content via an in-band communication link, and record how many of the television-based systems that receive the advertising content then display the targeted advertisement for viewing.

3. A targeted advertising system as recited in claim 1, wherein the device monitor is further configured to record how many of the television-based systems receive the advertising content via an out-of-band communication link, and record how many of the television-based systems display the targeted advertisement for viewing.

4. A targeted advertising system as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the device monitor is further configured to communicate a system state request to a television-based system via an IP-based network; and

the advertisement manager is further configured to initiate delivery of the advertising content to the television-based system along with the system state request.

5. A targeted advertising system as recited in claim 1, wherein the device monitor is further configured to:

record how many of the television-based systems receive the advertising content;

record how many of the television-based systems that receive the advertising content then display the targeted advertisement for viewing; and

record how many of the television-based systems that receive the advertising content and display the targeted advertisement for viewing then initiate a response to the targeted advertisement.

6. A targeted advertising system as recited in claim 1, wherein the advertisement manager is further configured to initiate delivery of the advertising content based on at least one of a scheduled date or a scheduled time.

7. A targeted advertising system as recited in claim 1, wherein the advertisement manager is further configured to initiate delivery of the advertising content based on a scheduled recursive interval, and is further configured to stop the delivery of the advertising content on a scheduled expiration date.

8. A targeted advertising system as recited in claim 1, wherein the advertisement manager is further configured to initiate delivery of the advertising content to a television-based system when a state change of a client device of the television-based system is detected.

9. A targeted advertising system as recited in claim 1, wherein the advertisement manager is further configured to initiate delivery of the advertisement content to a television-based system in response to a request received from a client device of the television-based system.

10. A targeted advertising system as recited in claim 1, wherein the advertisement manager is further configured to:

receive the advertising content from an advertiser;

generate an advertising report that includes how many of the television-based systems receive the advertising content, and includes how many of the television-based systems display the targeted advertisement for viewing; and

communicate the advertising report to the advertiser.

11. A method, comprising:

monitoring a real-time state of television-based systems for at least a power on/off state and a tuning configuration;

delivering advertising content to one or more of the television-based systems that display a targeted advertisement for viewing, the advertising content being delivered when the one or more television-based systems are powered-on and tuned to receive the advertising content;

recording how many of the television-based systems received the advertising content; and

recording how many of the television-based systems that received the advertising content then displayed the targeted advertisement for viewing.

12. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising recording how many of the television-based systems that received the advertising content and displayed the targeted advertisement for viewing then initiate a response to the targeted advertisement.

13. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein delivering the advertising content includes delivering the advertising content to the one or more television-based systems via an out-of-band communication link.

14. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein monitoring the real-time state of the television-based systems includes communicating a system state request to a television-based system via an IP-based network, and wherein delivering the advertising content includes delivering the advertising content along with the system state request.

15. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein delivering the advertising content includes delivering the advertising content based on at least one of a scheduled date or a scheduled time.

16. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein delivering the advertising content includes delivering the advertising content based on a scheduled recursive interval.

17. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising stopping delivering the advertising content on a scheduled expiration date of the advertising content.

18. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising detecting a state change of a client device of a television-based system, and wherein delivering the advertising content includes delivering the advertising content based on the state change of the client device.

19. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising receiving a request from a client device of a television-based system, and wherein delivering the advertising content includes delivering the advertising content in response to the request.

20. A method as recited in claim 11, further comprising:

receiving the advertising content from an advertiser;

generating an advertising report that includes how many of the television-based systems received the advertising content, and includes how many of the television-based systems displayed the targeted advertisement for viewing; and

communicating the advertising report to the advertiser.