Providing context-appropriate advertisements in video content

• US 20080229353A1
• Filed: 03/12/2007
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Barrett, Peter, Sloo, David, Morris, Ronald A., Ludvig, Ted
• Application Number:
  US11/716,898
• Publication Number:
  US 20080229353A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/32
• 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 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Detailed herein is a technology which, among other things, allows integration of context-relevant advertisements with non-real-time video playback. In one approach to this technology, context information related to video content is determined, and used to select advertisements which are contextually related to video content. These advertisements can then be integrated into the video presentation in a number of ways.

Claims

1. A method of displaying contextually-appropriate ads, comprising:

determining context-relevant data about video content;

selecting an ad, with reference to said context-relevant data; and

integrating said ad into said video content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said context-relevant data comprises information about a product appearing in said video content.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said ad comprises information about said product.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said integrating comprises placing a bumper ad before playback of said video content.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said bumper ad comprises a background for a user interface, said user interface for selection of said video content.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said integrating comprises making said ad available to a user through a selectable store interface.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining comprises examining metadata associated with said video content.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining comprises accessing a database to retrieve said context-relevant data.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining additional relevant data about said video content; and

selecting said ad, with reference to said additional relevant data.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining demographic information about a likely viewer of said video content; and

selecting said ad, with reference to said demographic information.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said video content comprises time shifted video content.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said video content comprises a movie delivered via a video on demand service.

13. A digital media player, comprising:

an input module, for communicating with a content provider;

a user interface module, coupled to said input module, for generating an interface, said interface allowing a user to select content available from said content provider;

a playback module, coupled to said input module, for decoding said content; and

an output module, coupled to said playback module, for transmitting said content to a display device,

wherein said user interface module is configured to display an indicator of the presence of a context-relevant store interface, and said user interface module is further configured to display said context-relevant store interface, in response to a user action.

14. The digital media player of claim 13, wherein said user interface module is further configured to display said indicator in response to a trigger event.

15. The digital media player of claim 14, wherein said trigger event comprises an appearance of a product during playback of said content.

16. The digital media player of claim 13, wherein said context-relevant store interface allows access to a context-relevant advertisement for a product.

17. A method of integrating contextually-relevant advertisements into video playback, comprising:

receiving an ad request from a digital media player, said ad request comprising information about video content;

selecting an advertisement with reference to said ad request; and

transmitting said advertisement to said digital media player.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said ad request is received in response to a user action.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said user action comprises selecting said video content for playback.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein said ad request further comprises metadata indicating a product advertised in said video content, and said selecting further comprises referencing said metadata.