Animated Video Overlays

• US 20080276272A1
• Filed: 04/28/2008
• Published: 11/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Schrock, Jasson Arthur, Rajaraman, Shivakumar
• Granted Patent: US 8,281,332 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44012 involving rendering scenes according to scene graphs, e.g. MPEG-4 scene graphs
• 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 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

A video server provides video content to a client via a network. At the instruction of the video server, a player at the client contacts an ad server and downloads one or more creatives and a controller file to the client. The controller file indicates how the creative manifests itself in play. The player displays the video content in a display area at the client. The controller file causes the creative to appear as an animated overlay over the video content. User interface elements indicate the point in the video when the creative appears, and allow the user to minimize and replay the creative. The player can also display other creatives, such as a static creative that is associated with the animated creative. A user can select the creative to view additional information about a product advertised by the creative.

Claims

1. A method for displaying a creative in association with a video, comprising:

causing the video to play in a video area of a user interface on a client;

causing the creative to display in a portion of the video area, the creative overlaid on the playing video; and

causing display of a companion video in response to selection of the creative by a user of the client, the companion video appearing in the video area superimposed over a partial portion of the video.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the client to receive a controller file containing information describing how the creative manifests itself in play; and

causing the creative to display responsive at least in part to the information contained in the controller file.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the controller file contains information indicating when advertising events occur, and further comprising:

causing the client to report an advertising event responsive at least in part to the information contained in the creative and the display of the creative.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the controller file contains information indicating when advertising events occur, the creative displays for a length of time, and further comprising:

causing the client to report an advertising event responsive at least in part to the information contained in the creative and the length of time that the creative is displayed.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the creative to display along a bottom portion of the video area.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the creative to display at a predetermined point in time after the video has started playing and while the video continues to play.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the creative to display in a partially-transparent manner so that the playing video remains visible beneath the displayed creative.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing removal of the creative from the video area responsive at least in part to selection of the creative by the user of the client.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the video is paused and faded during display of the companion video.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing display of an interactive advertisement in responsive to selection of the creative by a user of the client, the interactive advertisement appearing in the video area and including functionality allowing the user to purchase an item advertised by the interactive advertisement.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the client to display a companion creative on the client outside of the video area, the companion creative associated with the creative displayed in the portion of the video area.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the creative comprises an animated advertisement.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the client to display a progress bar illustrating a length of the video and a current playback position of the video; and

causing the client to display an indicator in association with the progress bar indicating a playback position of the video at which the creative is displayed.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

causing display of user interface (UI) elements indicating that the creative and the indicator on the progress bar are related.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing a transparent screen to be displayed over the creative in the video area; and

causing user interface (UI) elements associated with the creative to be instantiated on the transparent screen.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the UI elements comprise one or more elements from the set consisting of:

text indicating that the creative is an advertisement and a control enabling a user to minimize display of the creative.

17. A computer-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions for displaying a creative in association with a video, the computer program instructions comprising:

a player module configured to receive a video for displaying in a display area of a client, a creative associated with the video, and a controller file specifying how the creative manifests during display of the video; and

a player control module configured to receive the controller file and to display the creative in a portion of the display area overlaid on the displayed video responsive at least in part to the controller file.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the controller file specifies one or more instructions from the set consisting of:

a point during playing of the video at which the creative is displayed, a location in the display area at which the creative is displayed, and a length of time for which the creative is displayed.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the controller file specifies reporting events associated with the creative, and wherein the player control module is further configured to report events associated with the creative responsive at least in part to the specifications of the controller file.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising:

a user interface (UI) generation module configured to generate UI elements in the portion of the display area overlaid on the displayed video content.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the UI elements comprise one or more UI elements selected from the set consisting of:

a UI element for minimizing display of the creative and a UI element for redisplaying the creative after display of the creative ends.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the controller file specifies actions performed when the creative is selected by a user of the client.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the controller file specifies that a companion video advertisement is displayed superimposed over the displayed video content in response to selection of the creative by the user.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the controller file specifies that an interactive rich media advertisement is displayed in response to selection of the creative by the user.

25. A method, comprising:

displaying a progress bar illustrating a length of the video being played and a current playback position of the video; and

displaying an indicator in association with the progress bar indicating a playback position of the video at which a creative is displayed as an overlay superimposed over the video.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the indicator is displayed on the progress bar.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the indicator is displayed adjacent to the progress bar.