CONDITIONAL RESPONSE SIGNALING AND BEHAVIOR FOR AD DECISION SYSTEMS

• US 20090025026A1
• Filed: 07/19/2007
• Published: 01/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mick, John R. JR., Pickens, John
• Application Number:
  US11/780,271
• Publication Number:
  US 20090025026A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• 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 21/2387 Stream processing in response to a playback request from an end-user, e.g. for trick-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2547 Third Party Billing, e.g. billing of advertiser
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26241 involving the time of distribution, e.g. the best time of the day for inserting an advertisement or airing a children program
• 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 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method can include: (i) receiving a placement opportunity in an ad decision manager (ADM); (ii) sending a request to an ad decision server (ADS); (iii) receiving a conditional response from the ADS, wherein the conditional response includes one or more conditional ads; and (iv) selecting from among the one or more conditional ads.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a placement opportunity in an ad decision manager (ADM);

sending a request to an ad decision server (ADS);

receiving a conditional response from the ADS, wherein the conditional response includes one or more conditional ads; and

selecting from among the one or more conditional ads.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the placement opportunity comprises receiving one or more parameters.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the sending the request comprises using the one or more parameters, the one or more parameters comprising a user action.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the conditional response comprises a prioritized ordering of the one or more conditional ads.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting from among the one or more conditional ads comprises evaluating at least one condition.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting from among the one or more conditional ads comprises using a computational instructions engine in the ADM.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the selected ad to a content combiner for providing a content stream to a subscriber.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

an ad decision manager (ADM) configured to receive a placement opportunity, and to provide a selected ad to a content combiner; and

an ad decision server (ADS) coupled to the ADM, the ADS being configured to provide a conditional response to the ADM when the ADM issues a request to fill the placement opportunity, the conditional response having one or more conditional ads.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein both the ADM and the ADS are located in a head end.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the content combiner is located in a set-top box (STB) at a subscriber end.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein both the ADM and the ADS are located in an STB at a subscriber end.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the ADM is located in an STB at a subscriber end, and the ADS is located in a head end.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the ADM comprises a computational instructions engine configured to determine the selected ad from among the one or more conditional ads in the conditional response.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the ADM comprises one or more parameters for the placement opportunities.

15. A method, comprising:

receiving a conditional response having one or more conditional ads;

evaluating a condition of a selected one of the one or more conditional ads;

providing the selected one ad to a content combiner when the condition is met; and

selecting another one of the one or more conditional ads and returning to the evaluating when the condition is not met.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the receiving the conditional response is in response to a request to fill a placement opportunity.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the evaluating the condition comprises utilizing one or more parameters associated with the placement opportunity.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising deriving at least one of the one or more parameters from a user action.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the request to fill the placement opportunity is sent from an ad decision manager (ADM) to an ad decision server (ADS).

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the selecting another one of the one of more conditional ads comprises utilizing a prioritized ordering of the one or more conditional ads.