Advertisement Filtering And Storage For Targeted Advertisement Systems

• US 20070089127A1
• Filed: 11/13/2006
• Published: 04/19/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Prime Research Alliance E, LLC
• Original Assignee: Prime Research Alliance E., Inc.
• Inventors: Schlack, John, Eldering, Charles, Flickinger, Gregory
• Application Number:
  US11/559,273
• Publication Number:
  US 20070089127A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0258 Registration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/27 Arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/37 for identifying segments of broadcast information, e.g. scenes or extracting programme ID
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/375 Commercial
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/45 for identifying users
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/65 for using the result on users' side
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/73 using meta-information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• 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 21/26208 the scheduling operation being performed under constraints
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26233 involving content or additional data duration or size, e.g. length of a movie, size of an executable file
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26241 involving the time of distribution, e.g. the best time of the day for inserting an advertisement or airing a children program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42684 Client identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number, MAC address, socket ID network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 : Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• 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 21/47 : End-user applications
• 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 21/84 : Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 : by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/088 : the inserted signal being digital
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 : by receiver means only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 : Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17354 : in an intermediate station common to a plurality of user terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17363 : at or near the user terminal

Abstract

An advertisement storage and filtering system for selectively identifying targeted advertisements to be stored in the memory of the STB. This storing of the selected advertisements can be accomplished in a number of ways. In one embodiment, the advertisements, in real-time and as they are received at the STB, are processed by the STB and only those advertisements with the appropriate characteristics are stored on the hard drive (HD). This may require some buffering of the advertisements in the STB memory as the STB processes and determines whether or not to store the advertisement. The information required to determine whether or not to store the advertisement could also be sent in advance, e.g., as a data service in an advertisement channel. Alternatively, the STB may store incoming advertisements in a memory temporarily and subsequently determine whether or not to retain the stored advertisements.

Claims

1. A method of inserting advertisements into a programming stream in a communications network, the method comprising:

(a) selecting at least one unscheduled advertisement to be presented at a presentation device corresponding to at least one subscriber;

(b) storing the at least one unscheduled advertisement at a node of a communications network;

(c) detecting at least one interval in a programming stream within which advertisements may be inserted;

(d) inserting the at least one unscheduled advertisement into the programming stream within the at least one interval; and

(e) determining, based on the state of the presentation device, whether the at least one unscheduled advertisement is displayed at the presentation device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(f) determining whether the at least one subscriber views the at least one unscheduled advertisement.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining of step (f) is realized by monitoring whether the presentation device has been muted for a significant period of time.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining of step (f) is realized by analyzing a record of recent channel changes and a subscriber profile to make a probabilistic determination as to whether the advertisement has been viewed.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(f) selecting at least one different unscheduled advertisement to be displayed at the presentation device based on the determining in step (e).

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(f) inserting the at least one unscheduled advertisement into a different programming stream based on the determining in step (e).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one unscheduled advertisement is inserted into the programming stream in accordance with a pre-determined order.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one unscheduled advertisement is inserted into the programming stream based on the length of the at least one interval.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(f) reporting the results of the determining in step (e).

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of step (e) is realized by using a horizontal oscillator detector.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of step (e) is realized by monitoring the high voltage chroma sub carrier.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of step (e) is realized by detecting the electric current level in the presentation device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the state of the presentation device is a determination of whether the presentation device is operating.

14. An advertisement insertion system for inserting unscheduled advertisements into a television programming stream in a communications network, the system comprising:

(a) an advertisement selector, configured to select at least one unscheduled advertisement to be presented at a presentation device to at least one subscriber;

(b) an advertisement storage medium located at a node of a communications network, the storage medium containing the unscheduled advertisements;

(c) an insertion processor configured to detect at least one interval in said programming stream within which advertisements may be inserted and insert the at least one unscheduled advertisement into the programming stream within the detected at least one interval; and

(d) a monitor processor configured to monitor the communications network to determine, based on the state of the presentation device, whether the selected at least one unscheduled advertisement are presented to the at least one subscriber.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the advertisement selector selects different unscheduled advertisements to be presented to the at least one subscriber based on an output of the monitor processor.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the insertion processor is configured to insert the at least one unscheduled advertisement into a different programming stream based on an output of the monitor processor.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the at least one unscheduled advertisement is inserted into said programming stream in accordance with a pre-determined order.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the monitor processor is configured to report the results of the monitoring.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the monitor processor is configured to determine whether the at least one subscriber views the at least one unscheduled advertisement.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the monitor processor determines whether the at least one subscriber views the at least one unscheduled advertisement by analyzing a record of recent channel changes and a subscriber profile to make a probabilistic determination as to whether the at least one unscheduled advertisement has been viewed.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the state of the presentation device is a determination of whether the presentation device is operating.

22. A method of determining advertisement viewing, the method comprising:

(a) transmitting a programming stream in a communications network to at least one viewer, wherein the programming stream contains at least one avail having a duration and an associated advertisement and wherein the at least one viewer is associated with at least one presentation device;

(b) detecting a beginning and an end of the at least one avail in the programming stream; and

(c) monitoring the state of the at least one presentation device of at least from the beginning to the end of the at least one avail to determine, via the communications network, whether the associated advertisement is presented to the at least one viewer.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

(d) determining whether the at least one viewer views the associated advertisement.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the determining of step (d) is realized by monitoring whether the at least one presentation device has been muted for a significant period of time.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the determining of step (d) is realized by analyzing a record of recent channel changes and a subscriber profile to make a probabilistic determination as to whether the associated advertisement has been viewed.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein the state of the presentation device is a determination of whether the presentation device is operating.

27. A method of inserting advertisements into a presentation stream in a communications network, the method comprising:

(a) selecting at least one unscheduled advertisement to be presented at a presentation device to at least one subscriber;

(b) storing the at least one advertisement at a node of a communications network;

(c) detecting intervals in the programming stream within which advertisements may be inserted;

(e) determining whether to insert at least one unscheduled advertisement based on the state of the presentation device.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

(f) storing a record of the at least one unscheduled advertisement that was inserted and the time of insertion.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the state of the presentation device is a determination of whether the presentation device is operating.

30. A method of inserting advertisements into a presentation stream in a communications network, the method comprising:

(a) selecting a plurality of unscheduled advertisement to be presented at a presentation device to at least one subscriber;

(b) storing the plurality of unscheduled advertisements at a node of the communications network, wherein the plurality of unscheduled advertisements has a priority for determining when each of the plurality of unscheduled advertisements should be presented;

(c) detecting an avail in a programming stream within which advertisements may be inserted;

(e) determining whether to insert one of the plurality of unscheduled advertisements based on the state of the presentation device; and

(f) selecting one of the plurality of unscheduled advertisements, based on the priority.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the avail has a duration and the selecting is based on the duration.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the state of the presentation device is a determination of whether the presentation device is operating.