Method, apparatus and system for replacing advertisements in recorded video content

• US 20070136742A1
• Filed: 12/13/2005
• Published: 06/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: General Instrument Corporation (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sparrell, Carlton
• Application Number:
  US11/302,446
• Publication Number:
  US 20070136742A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/32
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/036 Insert-editing
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/105 of operating discs
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/3027 used signal is digitally coded
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/106 Receiver-side switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/27 Arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/375 Commercial
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/73 using meta-information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/82 the transmission system being the Internet
• 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 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• 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 21/4405 involving video stream decryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4408 involving video stream encryption, e.g. re-encrypting a decrypted video stream for redistribution in a home network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• 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 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 : Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/775 : between a recording apparatus and a television receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/781 : on disks or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/85 : on discs or drums
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/907 : using static stores, e.g. storage tubes or semiconductor memories H04N5/91 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8042 : involving data reduction

Abstract

A system (10), method (60) and apparatus (14) are provided for updating a first advertisement in a video program stream with a second advertisement, based on temporal metadata replacement rules and instructions embedded in or otherwise associated with the advertisements. The system (10) includes a video stream encoder (12) for embedding temporal metadata into the advertisements. The method (60) includes a step (62) of reading the temporal metadata and a step (66) of updating the advertisements based on the temporal metadata. The apparatus (14) includes a recording device (22) for recording (64) portions of the video program stream, including the advertisements. The apparatus (14) also includes an advertisement reader (18) for identifying and locating suitable replacement advertisements based on the temporal metadata, and an advertisement insertion module (24) for replacing advertisements in the stored video program based on the temporal metadata.

Claims

1. A computer program embodied in a computer-readable medium for replacing at least one first advertisement in a video stream with at least one second advertisement, wherein at least one of the first and second advertisements includes temporal metadata associated therewith, the program comprising:

instructions for reading the temporal metadata associated with at least one of the first and second advertisements, wherein replacement instructions for replacing the first advertisement with the second advertisement in the video stream are identified from the temporal metadata; and

instructions for replacing the first advertisement with the second advertisement in the video stream based on the replacement instructions read from the temporal metadata associated with the at least one first and second advertisements.

2. The computer program as recited in claim 1, wherein the second advertisement replaces the first advertisement in the video stream based on the replacement instructions and based on the playback time of the video stream.

3. The computer program as recited in claim 1, wherein the second advertisement replaces the first advertisement in the video stream based on the replacement instructions and based on the owner of the first and second advertisements.

4. The computer program as recited in claim 1, wherein the temporal metadata associated with at least one of the first and second advertisements includes information relating to when the video stream in which the advertisement is inserted should be played, and wherein the replacing instructions further comprise instructions for replacing the first advertisement with the second advertisement based on when the video stream is played.

5. The computer program as recited in claim 1, wherein the reading instructions include instructions for identifying any time-sensitive events associated with the contents of the advertisement for which the temporal metadata is associated, and wherein the replacing instructions further comprise instructions for replacing the first advertisement with the second advertisement based on the identified time-sensitive events.

6. The computer program as recited in claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and second advertisements further comprises a plurality of advertisements, and wherein the replacing instructions includes instructions for determining, based on the metadata associated with at least one of the first and second advertisements, which, if any, of the second advertisements will replace which, if any, of the first advertisements.

7. The computer program as recited in claim 1, wherein the video stream is a recorded video stream, and wherein the second advertisement is recorded subsequent to the recording of at least one of the first advertisement and the video stream.

8. The computer program as recited in claim 1, wherein the video stream is a recorded video stream, and wherein the second advertisement is recorded at a location different from at least one of the first advertisement and the video stream.

9. The computer program as recited in claim 1, wherein the temporal metadata is embedded into the first and second advertisements.

10. An apparatus for controlling the replacement of at least one first advertisement in at least one recorded television program with at least one second advertisement, wherein at least one of the first and second advertisements includes temporal metadata associated therewith, the apparatus comprising:

a recording device for recording at least one television program from a video signal stream, wherein the recorded television program includes the first advertisement;

an advertisement reader coupled to the recording device and configured to read the metadata associated with the first advertisement and, based on the metadata, identify and locate the second advertisement; and

an advertisement insertion module coupled to the advertisement reader and configured to replace the first advertisement with the second advertisement based on instructions from the advertisement reader, the advertisement insertion module including a playback engine that plays the recorded television program.

11. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein at least one of the first and second advertisements further comprises a plurality of advertisements, and wherein the advertisement reader determines, based on the metadata associated with at least one of the first and second advertisements determines, which, if any, of the second advertisements will replace which, if any, of the first advertisements.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein the temporal metadata associated with at least one of the first and second advertisements includes information relating to when the recorded television program in which the advertisement is inserted should be played, and wherein the advertisement insertion module replaces the first advertisement with the second advertisement based on when the recorded television program is played.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 10, wherein the metadata associated with at least one of the first and second advertisements includes advertisement identification information, and wherein the advertisement insertion module is further configured to confirm which of the first and second advertisements are inserted into the recorded television program when the recorded television program is played.

14. An apparatus for updating a first advertisement in a recorded video stream with at least one of a plurality of second advertisements, wherein at least one of the first advertisement and the plurality of second advertisements includes temporal metadata associated therewith that indicates which of the second advertisements are suitable for replacing the first advertisement, comprising:

a reader for reading the temporal metadata associated with at least one of the first advertisement and the plurality of second advertisements;

a selector for selecting, based on the temporal metadata associated with the first and second advertisement programs, which of the plurality of second advertisements is to update the first advertisement; and

an insertion module for updating the first advertisement with at least one of the selected second advertisements.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein at least one of the reader, the selector and the insertion module is implemented in software executed by a computer.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein at least one of the reader, the selector and the insertion module is implemented in hardware.

17. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein at least a portion of the apparatus is contained in a video processing device.

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 17, wherein the video processing device is selected from the group consisting of a signal converter box, a signal decoder box, a digital video disk recorder, a computer, and a home media server.

19. The apparatus as recited in claim 14, wherein at least a portion of the apparatus further comprises an integrated circuit.