Media Methods and Systems

• US 20090158318A1
• Filed: 12/09/2008
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Original Assignee: Digimarc Corporation
• Inventors: Levy, Kenneth L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,825,518 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/1063 Personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/125 by manipulating the program code, e.g. source code, compiled code, interpreted code, machine code
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/36 by graphic or iconic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6272 by registering files or documents with a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2129 Authenticate client device independently of the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2153 Using hardware token as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0236 Incentive or reward received by requiring registration or ID from user
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8358 involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467

Abstract

Several novel watermarking and fingerprinting applications—and related improvements—are disclosed. Some relate to advertising. These include techniques for replacing broadcast advertising with other advertising; inserting advertising based on a viewer'"'"'s ad-viewing history; triggering insertion of advertising based on fingerprint data derived from compressed video content; and discontinuing advertising when a threshold amount of advertising has apparently been viewed. A great number of other features and technologies are also detailed.

Claims

1. A method comprising the acts:

downloading a video advertisement to a user'"'"'s personal video recorder;

analyzing video content provided to a user device to detect a broadcast advertisement having a certain character; and

replacing the detected broadcast advertisement having the certain character with the video advertisement earlier downloaded to the video recorder, so that the user viewing the video content on a display is presented the downloaded advertisement rather than the broadcast advertisement.

2. The method of claim 1 that includes downloading plural advertisements to the user'"'"'s personal video recorder, and wherein the replacing comprises replacing the detected broadcast advertisement with a selected one of the plural downloaded advertisements, the selection based on a subject matter of non-advertisement video content in which the broadcast advertisement was detected.

3. The method of claim 1 that includes downloading plural advertisements to the user'"'"'s personal video recorder, and wherein the replacing comprises replacing the detected broadcast advertisement with a selected one of the plural downloaded advertisements, the selection being dependent on a time of day.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing comprises analyzing the video content provided to the user'"'"'s device to detect an advertisement having a certain digital watermark steganographically encoded therein.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the analyzing comprises analyzing the video content provided to the user'"'"'s device to detect an advertisement having a certain fingerprint.

6. A method comprising the acts:

downloading plural advertisements to a user'"'"'s personal video recorder;

discerning a behavior of the user relating to advertisement viewing; and

inserting one or more advertisements into video content for presentation to the user, the insertion depending on the discerned behavior.

7. The method of claim 6 in which the discerning includes identifying a certain class of advertisement that the user apparently does not watch, e.g., by fast-forwarding through.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the class of advertisements comprises advertisements relating to a given subject.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the class of advertisements comprises advertisements relating to financial services.

10. The method of claim 6 in which the discerning includes identifying a certain class of advertisements that the user apparently watches, without fast-forwarding through.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the class of advertisements comprises advertisements relating to a given subject.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the class of advertisements comprises advertisements relating to automobiles.

13. A method of presenting video content with advertising to a consumer, comprising the acts:

presenting video content, including advertising, to the consumer;

using a processor device, tracking an amount of advertising the consumer apparently views, without fast-forwarding through; and

changing the presentation of advertising based on the tracked amount of advertising apparently viewed by the consumer.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the tracking comprises counting a number of apparently-watched advertisements, and the changing comprises changing a frequency of advertisements based on the counted number.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the changing comprises presenting no further advertisements for a predetermined period after a threshold number of apparently-watched advertisements has been reached.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the advertisements comprise advertising previously delivered to a personal video recorder and inserted in the video content.

17. A method of incorporating advertisements into video content, including the acts of deriving fingerprint data from compressed video content, and triggering advertisement insertion into the video content based thereon.

18. The method of claim 17 in which the inserted advertisement is inserted from a personal video recorder (PVR) storage device.

19. The method of claim 17 in which the inserted advertisement is provided on an optical storage disk sent to a user.

20. The method of claim 17 that includes consulting a rule set to determine which advertisement to insert, based on one or more of the following parameters:

time, data indicating advertisements previously shown, and data indicating subject matter of the video content.