SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING PROMOTIONS WITH RECORDED PROGRAMS

• US 20100111493A1
• Filed: 09/30/2009
• Published: 05/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Rovi Technologies Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Rovi Technologies Corporation (Adeia Inc.)
• Inventors: Hedges, L. Joe, Corvin, Johnny B.
• Application Number:
  US12/571,055
• Publication Number:
  US 20100111493A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 386/343
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4345 Extraction or processing of SI, e.g. extracting service information from an MPEG stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4821 using a grid, e.g. sorted out by channel and broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4826 using recommendation lists, e.g. of programs or channels sorted out according to their score
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8549 Creating video summaries, e.g. movie trailer retrieval in video databases by using presentations in form of a video summary G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/782 on tape
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

The invention provides systems and methods for providing promotions with recorded programs. These systems and methods provide for selecting a program to record, selecting a promotion, recording the selected program; and recording the promotion with the program or inserting the promotion during playback of the recorded program. The invention also provides a receiver for receiving signals and/or data (e.g., programs, promotions, program guides, etc.) on a single broadcast channel or on a plurality of broadcast channels, one or more memory storage units for storing signals and/or data, and a processor for selecting a program, selecting a promotion, causing selected programs to be recorded, and controlling the insertion of promotions into a program during recording of the program or during playback of the program.

Claims

1. A method for providing a promotion during playback of a program on a user equipment comprising:

receiving a user selection of the program for playback from the user equipment;

determining a time of playback of the selected program;

determining an attribute of the selected program;

selecting a promotion based at least in part on the time of playback and the attribute; and

causing the selected promotion to be played with the selected program during playback on the user equipment.

2. The method in claim 1, wherein the program is a video on demand program.

3. The method in claim 1, wherein the user selection is received from a user input device.

4. The method in claim 1, wherein determining the attribute of the selected program comprises determining the content of the selected program, wherein the content is indicated by at least one of:

tags, thumbnails, closed-caption data, teletext data, speech-to-text data recognition, audio classification, clip markings, recommended audience ratings, program informational display screens.

5. The method in claim 1, wherein causing the selected promotion to be played with the selected program during playback on the user equipment comprises:

sending a command to the user equipment to halt the playback of the program;

causing the equipment to display the selected promotion; and

sending a command to the user equipment to continue the playback of the program.

6. The method in claim 1, further comprising causing the user equipment to record the selected promotion with the selected program.

7. The method in claim 1, wherein causing the selected promotion to be played with the selected program during playback on the user equipment comprises:

transmit the selected program to the user equipment; and

inserting a promotional point within the transmitted program, wherein promotional points indicate when the promotion is to be played during playback.

8. The method in claim 7, further comprising causing the user equipment to retrieve the selected promotion to be played during playback at the promotional point.

9. The method in claim 8, wherein retrieving the selected promotion comprises retrieving the selected promotion from a local storage unit in the user equipment.

10. The method in claim 8, wherein retrieving the selected promotion comprises retrieving the selected promotion from a remote storage unit over a communications network.

11. A system for providing a promotion during playback of a program on a user equipment comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive a user selection of the program for playback from the user equipment;

determine a time of playback of the selected program;

determine an attribute of the selected program;

select a promotion based at least in part on the time of playback and the attribute; and

cause the selected promotion to be played with the selected program during playback on the user equipment.

12. The system in claim 11, wherein the program is a video on demand program.

13. The system in claim 11, wherein the user selection is received from a user input device.

14. The system in claim 11, the processor is further configured to determine the content of the selected program, wherein the content is indicated by at least one of:

tags, thumbnails, closed-caption data, teletext data, speech-to-text data recognition, audio classification, clip markings, recommended audience ratings, program informational display screens.

15. The method in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to:

send a command to the user equipment to halt the playback of the program;

cause the equipment to display the selected promotion; and

send a command to the user equipment to continue the playback of the program.

16. The system in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the user equipment to record the selected promotion with the selected program.

17. The system in claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to:

transmit the selected program to the user equipment; and

insert a promotional point within the transmitted program, wherein promotional points indicate when the promotion is to be played during playback.

18. The system in claim 17, the processor is further configured to cause the user equipment to retrieve the selected promotion to be played during playback at the promotional point.

19. The system in claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to retrieve the selected promotion from a local storage unit in the user equipments.

20. The system in claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to retrieve the selected promotion from a remote storage unit over a communications network.