METHODS FOR TRANSMITTING MULTIMEDIA FILES AND ADVERTISEMENTS

• US 20090240830A1
• Filed: 04/28/2009
• Published: 09/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tamiras Per Pte Ltd LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Media Patents S.L.
• Inventors: FERNANDEZ, Alvaro
• Granted Patent: US 7,809,790 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/232
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/762 at the source reformatting of additional data in video distribution servers H04N21/2355
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• 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 21/6437 Real-time Transport Protocol [RTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6587 Control parameters, e.g. trick play commands, viewpoint selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

The invention is directed to a method of transmitting a file having an advertising portion and a requested portion different from the advertising portion. The method includes receiving a request to transmit the file, via a streaming protocol allowing non-sequential access, transmitting the advertising portion of the file, receiving a request to transmit a portion of the requested portion of the file prior to completing transmitting the advertising portion of the file, completing the transmission of the advertising portion of the file, and transmitting the requested portion of the file.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of transmitting, from a server to a multimedia player, digital data comprising one or more first obligatory advertising portions comprising a first type of content and one or more requested portions comprising a second type of content which is different than the first type of content, the method comprising:

receiving a first request from the multimedia player to transmit the digital data;

generating or accessing a first digital file in the server comprising the digital data;

transmitting all or a part of the digital data to the multimedia player in a manner that requires at least one of the first obligatory advertising portions to be played by the multimedia player before one of the requested portions is played;

receiving a second request from the multimedia player to repeat one or more requested portions previously transmitted at a second time after the first time;

determining the time interval between the first time and the second time; and

wherein when the time interval is less than a designated value, retransmitting the previously transmitted one or more requested portions, and wherein when the time interval is greater than the designated value, the server generating or accessing a second digital file comprising at least the previously transmitted requested portions and one or more of the first obligatory advertising portions, or one or more second obligatory advertising portions, and transmitting the second digital file to the multimedia player such that at least one obligatory advertising portion is played by the multimedia player before one of the requested portions is played.

2. A computer-implemented method of transmitting, from a server to a memory device associated with a multimedia player, digital data comprising one or more first obligatory advertising portions comprising a first type of content and one or more requested portions comprising a second type of content which is different than the first type of content, the method comprising:

receiving in the server a setup message from the multimedia player;

sending, from the server, a response message to the setup message indicating to the memory device that it should not transmit expired requested portions of the digital data without approval from the server;

receiving a first request from the multimedia player to transmit the digital data,

generating or accessing a first digital file in the server comprising the digital data;

transmitting at least a portion of the first digital file to the memory device such that at least one of the first obligatory advertising portions is played by the multimedia player before one of the requested portions is played; and

sending from the server to the memory device a message with an expire header that indicates when the requested portions of the digital data expires so as to permit the multimedia player to replay one or more of the requested portions from the memory device before the expiration of the one or more requested portions.

3. The method according to claim 2 wherein the memory device is a part of the multimedia player.

4. The method according to claim 2 wherein the memory device is located outside the multimedia player.

5. The method according to claim 2 wherein upon expiration of one or more of the requested portions, the server generates or accesses a second digital file upon receiving a request to replay the one or more expired requested portions, the second digital file comprising at least the expired requested portions and one or more of the first obligatory advertising portions or one or more second obligatory advertising portions, the server subsequently transmitting the second digital file to the multimedia player in a manner that requires at least one obligatory advertising portion to be played by the multimedia player before one of the requested portions is played.