Logical content ad insertion

• US 20070055983A1
• Filed: 08/24/2005
• Published: 03/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ARRIS Enterprises LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: C-Cor Incorporated (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Schiller, Jay, Matarese, Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 8,832,728 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23424 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2362 Generation or processing of Service Information [SI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• 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 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream

Abstract

A method may include and/or involve identifying a received signal as an indication that advertising content should be provided, determining ad content to provide in response to the signal, specifying a playlist file as a file to provide the ad content, the playlist file including identifications of multiple digital content files including the ad content, and streaming the multiple content files as a Single Program Transport Stream.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying a received signal as an indication that advertising content should be provided;

determining ad content to provide in response to the signal;

specifying a playlist file as a file to provide the ad content, the playlist file comprising identifications of multiple digital content files comprising the ad content; and

streaming the multiple content files as a Single Program Transport Stream.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein streaming the multiple content files as a Single Program Transport Stream further comprises:

signaling a stream splicer with an identification of the playlist file;

receiving from the splicer a request to stream the playlist file; and

in response providing to the splicer the Single Program Transport Stream comprising the ad content from the multiple digital content files.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein streaming the multiple content files as a Single Program Transport Stream further comprises:

identifying the playlist file as a source of the content of the Single Program Transport Stream; and

streaming to a stream splicer the Single Program Transport Stream while drawing the ad content from the multiple digital content files.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the received signal as an indication that advertising content should be provided further comprises:

identifying the signal as an MPEG SCTE-30 indication of an upcoming ad insertion location in a program stream.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein specifying a playlist file as a file to provide the ad content, the playlist file comprising identifications of multiple digital content files comprising the ad content further comprises:

creating the playlist file in response to the received signal; and

identifying the ad content at least in part according to one or more of (a) a demographic and-or region exposed to a program stream associated with the signal, or (b) a time of day, day of week, season, holiday, or ad exposure requirements.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining ad content to provide in response to the signal further comprises:

one or more of (a) referencing one or more ad schedules for a program stream associated with the signal, or (b) referencing one or more ad schedules for a region and-or demographic exposed to the program stream associated with the signal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein streaming the multiple content files as one Single Program Transport Stream further comprises:

accessing a first content file for a first ad and streaming content of the first content file to a stream splicer;

accessing a second content file for a second ad;

adjusting a Program Association Table so that content of the second file is recognized as belonging to the same Single Program Transport Stream as the content of the first file; and

streaming content of the second content file to the stream splicer.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a first playlist comprising at least one identification of a second playlist, the second playlist comprising one or more identifications of content files comprising the ad content.

9. A method comprising:

detecting an ad insertion location in a digital program stream;

specifying at least one playlist as a file or files comprising ad content to splice into the digital program stream at the ad insertion location;

in response to an indication to stream the playlist file or files, streaming a Single Program Transport Stream comprising content from multiple files referenced by the playlist file or files, the multiple files comprising the ad content to splice into the digital program stream.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

splicing the Single Program Transport Stream into the digital program stream at the ad insertion location.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein streaming a Single Program Transport Stream comprising content from multiple files referenced by the at least one playlist further comprises:

streaming content from a first file of the files comprising the ad content as the Single Program Transport Stream;

adjusting stream parameters of the Single Program Transport Stream comprising the content from the first file such that a second file of the files comprising the ad content is recognized as belonging to the Single Program Transport Stream; and

streaming content of the second file as part of the Single Program Transport Stream.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein detecting an ad insertion location in a digital program stream further comprises:

detecting an SCTE 35 queue packet in the digital program stream.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein detecting an ad insertion location in a digital program stream further comprises:

detecting a digitized DTMF tone in the digital program stream.

14. A system comprising:

an ad selector to identify a received signal as an indication that advertising content should be provided, and to determine ad content to provide in response to the signal;

logic to generate a playlist file comprising identifications of multiple digital content files comprising the ad content; and

a stream server to streaming the multiple content files as a Single Program Transport Stream.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a stream splicer, wherein the stream server signals the stream splicer with an identification of the playlist file, receives from the splicer a request to stream the playlist file, and in response provides to the splicer the Single Program Transport Stream comprising the ad content from the multiple digital content files.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the ad selector creates the playlist file in response to the received signal, and selects the ad content at least in part according to one or more of (a) a demographic and-or region exposed to a program stream associated with the signal, or (b) a time of day, day of week, season, holiday, or ad exposure requirements.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the ad selector selects the ad content to provide in response to the signal at least in part by referencing one or more of (a ad schedules for a program stream associated with the signal, or (b) ad schedules for a region and-or demographic exposed to the program stream associated with the signal.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the stream server accesses a first content file for a first ad and streams the content of the first content file to a stream splicer;

accesses a second content file for a second ad, and adjusts a Program Association Table so that content of the second file is recognized as belonging to the same Single Program Transport Stream as the content of the first file, and streams content of the second content file to the stream splicer.