Method and apparatus for sending stored advertising data from an internet protocol television end user network interface device

• US 20080066096A1
• Filed: 08/24/2006
• Published: 03/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: SBC Knowledge Ventures LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hurst, William R., Wollmershauser, Steven M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,789,078 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/232 Content retrieval operation locally within server, e.g. reading video streams from disk arrays storage management G06F3/0604; details of querying and searching of video data from a database G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25816 involving client authentication restricting access to computer systems by authenticating users using a predetermined code G06F21/33; cryptographic authentication protocols H04L9/32; networks authentication protocols H04L63/08; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26225 involving billing parameters, e.g. priority for subscribers of premium services
• 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 21/44209 Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 IP
• 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 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

A method and system are disclosed for sending stored IPTV advertisement data from an IPTV network end user network interface device. The method includes receiving the IPTV advertisement data from an IPTV network server at the IPTV end user network interface device; storing the IPTV advertisement data in a memory of the IPTV network end user network interface device; determining at the IPTV network end user network interface device whether an IPTV subscription is active for the IPTV network end user device; and sending the advertisement data from the IPTV network device to a client device for display when the IPTV subscription is not active for the IPTV end user network interface device. The system includes a processor, memory and instruction for performing the method.

Claims

1. A method for sending stored IPTV advertisement data from an IPTV network end user network interface device, the method comprising:

receiving the IPTV advertisement data from an IPTV network server at the IPTV end user network interface device;

storing the IPTV advertisement data in a memory of the IPTV network end user network interface device;

determining at the IPTV network end user network interface device whether an IPTV subscription is active for the IPTV network end user device; and

sending the advertisement data from the IPTV network device to a client device for display when the IPTV subscription is not active for the IPTV network end user network interface device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement data further comprises loss of signal data, the method further comprising:

sensing whether an IPTV data signal is present from the IPTV network at the IPTV end user network interface device when the IPTV subscription is active for the IPTV network end user network interface device and sending the IPTV advertisement data to a client device from the IPTV end user network interface device when the IPTV data signal is not present.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a signal from the IPTV network server indicating that the IPTV subscription is active for the IPTV end user network interface device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

converting the stored IPTV advertisement data to a radio frequency advertisement signal; and

modulating the radio frequency advertisement signal to a predetermined frequency assigned to a particular television channel.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

converting the stored IPTV advertisement data to a digital television signal.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement data is selected from the group consisting of uniform resonance locator (URL) data, still image data and moving video data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the URL data indicates a walled garden served from the IPTV network server, the method further comprising:

intercepting data from a client device connected to the end user network interface device; and

connecting the client device to the walled garden.

8. The method to claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining an identifier from a user associated with end user network interface device; and

guiding the user through an automated subscription registration for a service selected from the group consisting of IPTV, Voice over IP and internet service.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement data is uniform resource locator (URL) data and the IPTV network end user network interface device delivers the URL data through a network connection to an end user client device.

10. A system for sending stored IPTV advertisement data from an IPTV network end user network interface device, the system comprising:

a processor coupled to a memory;

a computer program stored in the memory for execution by the processor, the computer program comprising instructions to receive the IPTV advertisement data from an IPTV network server at the IPTV end user network interface device, instructions to store the IPTV advertisement data in a memory of the IPTV network end user network interface device, instructions to determine at the IPTV network end user network interface device whether an IPTV subscription is active for the IPTV network end user device and instructions to send the advertisement data from the IPTV network device to a client device for display when the IPTV subscription is not active for the IPTV network end user network interface device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the advertisement data further comprises loss of signal data, the computer program further comprising sensing whether an IPTV data signal is present from the IPTV network at the IPTV end user network interface device when the IPTV subscription is active for the IPTV network end user network interface device and sending the IPTV data signal to a client device from the IPTV end user network interface device when the IPTV data signal is not present.

12. The system of claim 10, the computer program further comprising instructions to receive a signal from the IPTV network server indicating that the IPTV subscription is active for the IPTV end user network interface device.

13. The system of claim 10, the computer program further comprising instructions to convert the stored IPTV advertisement data to a radio frequency advertisement signal and instructions to modulate the analog advertisement signal to a predetermined frequency assigned to a particular television channel.

14. The system of claim 10, the computer program further comprising instructions to convert the advertising data to a digital television signal.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the assigned channel incurs insubstantial potential off air interference.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the advertisement data is selected from the group consisting of uniform resonance locator (URL) data, still image data and moving video data.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein sending further comprises sending an analog radio frequency TV signal over an analog radio frequency TV channel and sending a digital TV signal over a digital TV signal.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the advertisement data is URL data and the IPTV network end user network interface device delivers the URL data through a network connection to a client device.

19. The system of claim 10, the computer program further comprising instructions to obtain an identifier from a user associated with end user network interface device;

and instructions to guide the user through an automated subscription for a service selected from the group consisting of IPTV, Voice over IP and internet service.

21. The medium of claim 17, wherein the advertisement data further comprises loss of signal data, the computer program further comprising instructions to, when the IPTV subscription is active for the IPTV network end user network interface device, sense whether an IPTV data signal is present from the IPTV network at the IPTV end user network interface device and instructions to send the IPTV advertisement data to a client device from the IPTV end user network interface device when the IPTV data signal is not present.

22. The medium of claim 17, the computer program further comprising instructions to receive a signal from the IPTV network server indicating that the IPTV subscription is active for the IPTV end user network interface device.

23. The medium of claim 17, wherein the assigned channel incurs insubstantial potential off air interference.

24. The medium according to claim 17, wherein the advertisement data is selected from the group consisting uniform resonance locator (URL) data, still image data and moving video data.

25. The medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions to send further comprise instructions to send an analog TV signal over an analog TV channel and instructions to send a digital TV signal over a digital TV signal.

26. The medium of claim 17, wherein the advertisement data further comprises URL data and the IPTV network end user network interface device delivers the URL data through a network connection to a client device.

20. A computer readable medium containing a computer program for sending stored IPTV advertisement data from an IPTV network end user network interface device, the computer program comprising instructions to receive the IPTV advertisement data from an IPTV network server at the IPTV end user network interface device, instructions to store the IPTV advertisement data in a memory of the IPTV network end user network interface device, instructions to determine at the IPTV network end user network interface device whether an IPTV subscription is active for the IPTV network end user device and instructions to send the advertisement data from the IPTV network device to a client device for display when the IPTV subscription is not active for the IPTV network end user network interface device.