VIDEO DIRECTORY
First Claim
1. A method of providing advertising to a consumer, comprising:
- (a) providing an advertiser database comprising a plurality of advertiser records, each advertiser record comprising a unique advertiser identifier, at least one video file and optionally additional advertising matter;
(b) receiving from the consumer one or more search criteria;
(c) providing the search criteria to a search engine that queries the advertiser database using the search criteria to provide an answer set comprising records meeting the search criteria;
(d) displaying a representation of the answer set to the consumer, the representation containing at least one consumer-selectable object representing each record belonging to the answer set;
(e) receiving from the consumer an indication of an object selected by the consumer; and
(f) displaying to the consumer the video file from the record represented by the selected object.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An online video directory is provided. The video directory provides a means for providing video to a consumer in order to aid the consumer in making consumption choices. In particular, the video directory provides a database of advertiser records that is searchable by a consumer. The database is searchable based upon pre-defined or consumer-defined search criteria. The result of a database search is an answer set that provides consumer-selectable objects, at least one of which may be thumbnail image of a frame from a video that provides an overview of the advertiser'"'"'s product and/or service offerings. Selection of the consumer-selectable object (e.g. the thumbnail) by the consumer allows the consumer to view the video as well as optionally additional advertising material. Such additional advertising material may include consumer-selectable coupons that may be delivered to the consumer by email, html, MMS, text message on a cellular phone, etc. The invention further provides an advertiser interface that provides the advertiser useful demographic data on consumers who view their videos or select their coupons.
25 Citations
63 Claims
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1. A method of providing advertising to a consumer, comprising:
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(a) providing an advertiser database comprising a plurality of advertiser records, each advertiser record comprising a unique advertiser identifier, at least one video file and optionally additional advertising matter;
(b) receiving from the consumer one or more search criteria;
(c) providing the search criteria to a search engine that queries the advertiser database using the search criteria to provide an answer set comprising records meeting the search criteria;
(d) displaying a representation of the answer set to the consumer, the representation containing at least one consumer-selectable object representing each record belonging to the answer set;
(e) receiving from the consumer an indication of an object selected by the consumer; and
(f) displaying to the consumer the video file from the record represented by the selected object. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method of searching for a provider of a product or service, comprising:
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(a) providing one or more search criteria to a search engine adapted to query a database comprising two or more records, each record containing at least one video file, a unique advertiser identifier and optionally additional advertiser data;
(b) obtaining an answer set comprising at least one object associated with a record meeting the search criteria;
(c) selecting an object from the answer set; and
(d) viewing the video contained in the record associated with the selected object.
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32. A method of advertising, comprising:
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(a) creating a video file representing an advertiser'"'"'s product or service;
(b) causing the video file to be placed in a record that contains a unique advertiser identifier, one or more search fields containing consumer-searchable data and optionally additional advertising matter;
(c) providing a search engine adapted to query said database using search criteria;
(d) receiving search criteria as selected by a consumer and providing said search criteria to the search engine to produce an answer set containing objects associated with records meeting said search criteria;
(e) displaying a representation of said answer set to the consumer;
(f) receiving from the consumer an indication of a selection of an object from the answer set; and
(g) displaying for the consumer a video file from the record associated with said object. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A method of advertising, comprising:
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(a) registering a consumer;
(b) providing to the consumer access to a search engine adapted to query a database containing two or more records, each record comprising a video file, a unique advertiser identifier and one or more consumer searchable fields;
(c) receiving from the consumer one or more search criteria and causing the search engine to search the database for records containing said search criteria;
(d) receiving from the search engine an answer set comprising one or more consumer-selectable objects, each object being associated with one of said records containing said search criteria, and displaying said objects to the consumer;
(e) receiving from the consumer an indication of the object selected by the consumer; and
(f) displaying to the consumer at least the video file from the record associated with the selected object. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41)
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42. A system for advertising, comprising:
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(a) a database comprising two or more records, each record comprising at least one video file and optionally additional advertising material, advertiser identification data or both;
(b) a search engine capable of querying said database based upon consumer-selected search criteria;
(c) a consumer interface, comprising;
(i) a search display adapted to provide consumer-designated search criteria to the search engine to query the database using the consumer-designated search criteria;
(ii) an answer set display containing one or more consumer selectable objects, each object being associated with a record meeting the consumer-designated search criteria; and
(iii) a video display adapted to play the video contained within the consumer-selected record. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
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Specification