Contextual Advertising

• US 20100005488A1
• Filed: 01/08/2009
• Published: 01/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Novafora, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Novafora, Inc.
• Inventors: Devictor, Gilles Bruno Marie, Rakib, Shlomo Selim
• Granted Patent: US 8,549,556 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/748 Hypervideo linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object in the context of video distribution systems H04N21/858
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/7847 using low-level visual features of the video content
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/48 Matching video sequences

Abstract

A contextual advertising system and method receives video data and multiple advertisements associated with the video data. The system and method identify object content in the received video data and generates a video signal representing the video data. The video signal is communicated to a display device which displays a video image. User interaction with the displayed video image is monitored by the system and method. An advertisement is selected from the multiple received advertisements for display to the user. The advertisement is selected based on the user interaction with the displayed video image and the identified object content in the video data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving video data;

receiving a plurality of advertisements associated with the received video data;

identifying object content in the received video data;

generating a video signal representing the video data;

communicating the video signal to a display device, wherein the display device displays a video image;

monitoring user interaction with the displayed video image; and

selecting an advertisement from the plurality of received advertisements for display to the user based on the user interaction with the displayed video image and the identified object content in the video data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring user interaction with the displayed video image includes monitoring user selection of an object in the displayed video image.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring user interaction with the displayed video image includes monitoring user control of playback of the displayed video image.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the user control of playback includes pausing playback of the displayed video image.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the user control of playback includes fast forwarding playback of the displayed video image.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the user control of playback includes rewinding playback of the displayed video image.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting an advertisement for display includes offering the user an option to view the selected advertisement immediately.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising deleting future advertisements associated with the video data if the user chooses to view the selected advertisement immediately.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying object content in the received video data includes identifying an object position within the displayed video image.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying object content in the received video data includes retrieving metadata associated with the video data, wherein the metadata identifies objects and associated object positions within the video data.

11. A method comprising:

receiving video data;

generating a video signal representing the video data;

communicating the video signal to a display device that displays a video image to a user;

monitoring user selection of an object displayed in the video image;

retrieving at least one advertisement associated with the selected object; and

displaying the retrieved advertisement to the user.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the advertisement is retrieved from an advertisement source.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the method is performed by a player, and wherein the advertisement is retrieved from a storage device contained in the player.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising replacing an original advertisement contained in the received video data with the retrieved advertisement.

15. A method comprising:

receiving video data containing general advertisements;

storing the received video data;

retrieving advertisement data likely to be of interest to a viewer of the received video data;

storing the retrieved advertisement data;

identifying at least one preference associated with the viewer of the received video data;

selecting an advertisement from the retrieved advertisement data based on the identified preference associated with the viewer of the received video data; and

replacing one of the general advertisements contained in the received video data with the selected advertisement.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising selecting additional advertisements form the retrieved advertisement data based on the identified preference associated with the viewer of the received video data, and replacing a plurality of the general advertisements contained in the received video data with the selected additional advertisements.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein identifying at least one preference associated with the viewer of the received video data includes monitoring the viewer'"'"'s interaction with the received video data.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein selecting an advertisement from the retrieved advertisement data is further based on the viewer'"'"'s interaction with the received video data.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein monitoring the viewer'"'"'s interaction with the received video data includes monitoring the viewer'"'"'s selection of an object in the received video data.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein monitoring the viewer'"'"'s selection of an object in the received video data includes identifying an object position within a frame of the received video data.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein monitoring the viewer'"'"'s interaction with the received video data includes monitoring the viewer'"'"'s control of playback of the received video data.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein selecting an advertisement from the retrieved advertisement data is further based on received metadata associated with the received video data.