MECHANISM FOR RENDERING ADVERTISING OBJECTS INTO FEATURED CONTENT

• US 20080046920A1
• Filed: 08/04/2006
• Published: 02/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo AD Tech LLC
• Original Assignee: AOL LLC (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bill, David S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,413,182 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 20/10 Arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or the distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/06 Arrangements for scheduling broadcast services or broadcast-related services
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/37 for identifying segments of broadcast information, e.g. scenes or extracting programme ID
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/66 for using the result on distributors' side
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/222 Secondary servers, e.g. proxy server, cable television Head-end provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23418 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics television picture signal circuitry for scene change detection H04N5/147; filtering for image enhancement G06T5/00; methods or arrangements for recognising scenes G06V20/00; arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• 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 21/234318 by decomposing into objects, e.g. MPEG-4 objects
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2353 specifically adapted to content descriptors, e.g. coding, compressing or processing of metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/43 Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware real-time communication protocols in data switching networks H04L65/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot

Abstract

Advertisements may be inserted into a streaming video at an intermediary system by receiving a data stream including a video content selection having scenes configured to accommodate insertion of advertising objects, identifying an advertising descriptor based on characteristics of a scene within the data stream, selecting an advertising object based on the identified advertising descriptor, modifying the video content selection by inserting the advertising object in the data stream such that the advertising object is integrated into a scene of the video content selection, where an image scene of the video content selection is modified to integrate and enable visual display of content from within the scene of the video content selection and the advertising object concurrently, and transmitting the content selection to a recipient.

Claims

1. A method of inserting advertisements into a streaming video at an intermediary system, the method comprising:

receiving a data stream including a video content selection having scenes configured to accommodate insertion of advertising objects;

identifying an advertising descriptor based on characteristics of a scene within the data stream;

selecting an advertising object based on the identified advertising descriptor;

modifying the video content selection by inserting the advertising object in the data stream such that the advertising object is integrated into a scene of the video content selection, where an image scene of the video content selection is modified to integrate and enable visual display of content from within the scene of the video content selection and the advertising object concurrently; and

transmitting the content selection to a recipient.

2. A method of claim 1 further comprising storing an advertising object at the intermediate location.

3. A method of claim 1 further comprising downloading the advertising object from the source or a content server.

4. A method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting an advertising object to the intermediate device as part of the data stream.

5. A method of claim 1 wherein identifying the advertising descriptor includes referencing a selection rule, a modification rule, or an insertion rule from within the data stream.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein referencing the selection rule includes referencing a selection rule and selecting, as the advertising object, an advertising object configured to avoid a conflict between one or more other advertising objects in the content selection.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein selecting the advertising object configured to avoid the conflict includes selecting the advertising object in response to determining whether a competing product has appeared, appears, or will appear in the content selection.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein selecting the advertising object configured to avoid the conflict includes determining whether the advertising object conflicts with a theme of the content selection, and if so, selecting a different object supporting the theme.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the advertising descriptor includes referencing a temporal rule configured to promote selection of an advertising object based on temporal characteristics associated with the advertising object that are supported by the content selection.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the advertising descriptor includes referencing a preference rule associated with the recipient and configured to promote selection of an advertising object based on recipient preferences.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the advertising descriptor includes referencing an identification code rule associated with the recipient and configured to promote selection of an advertising object based on an identification code identifying the advertising object.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the advertising descriptor includes referencing a recipient demographics rule associated with the recipient and configured to promote selection of an advertising object based on demographics of the recipient.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the advertising descriptor includes referencing a selection weight rule configured to promote selection of an advertising object from a set of the available advertising objects using a selection weight associated with the advertising object.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the advertising descriptor includes referencing a rule configured to promote selection of an advertising object using a revenue objective.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifying the advertising descriptor includes referencing a rule configured to promote selection of an advertising object using content selection descriptions.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the identifying the advertising descriptor includes referencing a rule configured to promote selection of an advertising object based on a placement location of the advertising object within the content selection.

17. The method of claim 5 wherein referencing the modification rule includes specifying visual, audio, or temporal characteristics of the advertising object.

18. The method of claim 5 wherein specifying the temporal characteristics includes specifying a sequence of visual states for the advertising object that varies over time.

19. The method of claim 5 wherein referencing the insertion rule includes receiving an indication of an opportunity to render the advertising object at a specified time for a specified duration.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the advertising descriptor includes analyzing metatags appearing within the data stream that describe one or more activities within the video content selection.

21. A system configured to insert advertisements into a streaming video at an intermediary system, the system comprising:

a first communications interface structured and arranged to receive a data stream including a video content selection having scenes configured to accommodate insertion of advertising objects;

a controller structured and arranged to;

identify an advertising descriptor based on characteristics of a scene within the data stream;

select an advertising object based on the identified advertising descriptor; and

modify the video content selection by inserting the advertising object in the data stream such that the advertising object is integrated into a scene of the video content selection, where an image scene of the video content selection is modified to integrate and enable visual display of content from within the scene of the video content selection and the advertising object concurrently; and

a second communications interface structured and arranged to transmit the content selection to a recipient.

22. A system configured to insert advertisements into a streaming video at an intermediary system, the system comprising:

means for receiving a data stream including a video content selection having scenes configured to accommodate insertion of advertising objects;

means for identifying an advertising descriptor based on characteristics of a scene within the data stream;

means for selecting an advertising object based on the identified advertising descriptor;

means for modifying the video content selection by inserting the advertising object in the data stream such that the advertising object is integrated into a scene of the video content selection, where an image scene of the video content selection is modified to integrate and enable visual display of content from within the scene of the video content selection and the advertising object concurrently; and

means for transmitting the content selection to a recipient.