METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ELECTRONICALLY SCHEDULING PLAYBACK OF MEDIA CONTENTS

• US 20090240721A1
• Filed: 04/15/2009
• Published: 09/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sg Gaming, Inc. (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Bally Gaming Incorporated (Scientific Games Corporation)
• Inventors: Giacalone, Louis JR.
• Granted Patent: US 8,719,328 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/06 Arrangements for scheduling broadcast services or broadcast-related services
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/64 for providing detail information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26208 the scheduling operation being performed under constraints
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41415 involving a public display, viewable by several users in a public space outside their home, e.g. movie theatre, information kiosk
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• 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

Methods of electronic scheduling for playback of media contents. Discrete items of content are scheduled for play back based upon a schedule created by the integration of five standard scheduling methods into a single scheduling algorithm. In the first scheduling method, a discrete item of content is assigned a frequency rating relative to other items of content. A second way to schedule is repeating a content item at specific intervals of time. A third scheduling method allows the content to be played at a specific date and time. The fourth scheduling method includes playing a content item upon receipt of a trigger event which is received from a source external to the scheduling system. And lastly, means are provided for selectively determining whether or not particular content is available for play in a particular venue or during a particular period of time.

Claims

1. A method for scheduling distribution of advertising content to a plurality of media devices from a server connected to a network, the method comprising:

generating a scheduling data structure from a database including schedule data, wherein the schedule data is based on frequency of play, predetermined time intervals, time of play, trigger events, or category filtering;

selecting and distributing advertising content via the network to the media devices based on the scheduling data structure;

dynamically presenting the advertising content; and

updating the scheduling data structure in response to updates to the database.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each media device includes a display and a media controller for receiving content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the content is dynamically presented on display screens.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising saving the scheduling data structure on a first memory device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

replicating the scheduling data structure; and

saving the scheduling data structure on a second memory device that is separate and distinct from the first memory device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising integrating data streams of content of corporate information or internet data from disparate sources into advertising content.

7. A method for managing media content presented on plurality of networked devices, the method comprising:

generating a database of media content;

generating a schedule for presenting the media content, the schedule being based on based on frequency of play, interval, time of play, trigger events, or category filtering;

processing external scheduling input in view of the schedule; and

distributing the media content via a network to the plurality of networked devices; and

dynamically presenting the media content in accordance with the generated schedule.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the content is dynamically presented on display screens.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising saving the schedule on a first memory device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

replicating the schedule; and

saving the schedule on a second memory device that is separate and distinct from the first memory device.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein generating the database of media content further comprises integrating data streams of content of corporate information or internet data from disparate sources into media content.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising updating the scheduling data structure in response to updates to the database.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising distributing the schedule via the network to the plurality of networked device.

14. A system for dynamically presenting content to a plurality of devices, comprising:

a plurality of media players in communication with a network;

a data network for receiving media content from one or more sources, the sources including a wide area network, a scheduler workstation, or a web gateway;

a schedule database for storing scheduling data, wherein the scheduling data is based on frequency of play, interval, time of play, trigger events, or category filtering; and

a server for executing a schedule for presenting media content, wherein the schedule is based on the scheduling data.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the remote media players comprise a display and a controller.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the remote media players are located in gaming devices.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the server includes an arbiter to identify scheduling conflicts and prioritize scheduling of media content.