METHOD FOR CREATING CONTENT, METHOD FOR TRACKING CONTENT USE ACTIONS, AND CORRESPONDING TERMINAL AND SIGNALS

• US 20110055384A1
• Filed: 05/06/2008
• Published: 03/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Streamezzo
• Original Assignee: Streamezzo
• Inventors: Orsini, Laetitia, Lafoucriere, Philippe, Cantin, Benoit, Dupain, Vincent, Audinet, Bertrand, Dufourd, Jean-Claude
• Granted Patent: US 9,003,013 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38

Abstract

A method is provided for tracking at least one use of at least one piece of multimedia content on a terminal connected to a communication network. The piece of content is transmitted to the terminal in the form of at least one description file generated according to a predetermined description format. The method includes using the piece of content by a user of the terminal, including activation of at least one interaction element; implementing at least one instruction followed by the use associated with the activated interaction element; executing the use tracking instruction controlling storage of at least one piece of information concerning the activation of the interaction element, or use tracking information; and transmitting by the terminal the piece of use tracking information to a tracking terminal in charge of processing the use tracking information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

creating multimedia content intended for use by a terminal, and

associating a use tracking instruction with at least one interaction element present in said content, which controls storage of at least one piece of information relating to the activation of said interaction element, also known as use tracking information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a description file for said content in a predetermined description format;

inserting said interaction element into said file; and

associating said at least one use tracking instruction with said interaction element.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said use tracking information belongs to the group including:

identifiers representative of said content;

identifiers representative of an object of said content;

identifiers representative of an action carried out on said content;

identifiers representative of a user of said content;

identifiers representative of said terminal; and

timestamp information.

4. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein said use tracking instruction belongs to the group including:

instructions in said predetermined description format, enabling access to a memory space of said terminal;

instructions in a specific programming format internal to said terminal, which enables access to a memory space of said terminal; and

instructions enabling access to a memory space external to said terminal.

5. A method for tracking at least one use of at least one multimedia content on a terminal connected to a communication network, said content being transmitted to said terminal in the form of at least one description file created in a predetermined description format, wherein said method includes the following steps:

use of said content by a user of said terminal, including activation of at least one interaction element;

implementation of at least one use tracking instruction associated with said activated interaction element;

execution of said use tracking instruction controlling storage of at least one piece of information relating to said activation of said interaction element, also known as use tracking information; and

transmission, by said terminal, of at least one piece of use tracking information to a tracking server responsible for processing said use tracking information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said transmission step includes the following sub-steps:

transmission, by said terminal, of said use tracking information to a presentation server;

temporary storage, by said presentation server, of said received use tracking information delivering temporary use tracking information; and

transmission, by said presentation server, of said temporary use tracking information to said tracking server.

7. The method as claimed claim 5, wherein the method includes, at least when the terminal is in a disconnected mode, a step of temporarily storing said use tracking information in said terminal, and then a step of off-line forwarding said stored use tracking information to a server.

8. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said transmission step is carried out, in delayed time, in comparison with said step of using said content based on predetermined criteria belong to the group including:

use performance criteria for said terminal; and

predefined availability criteria for said tracking server.

11. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said use tracking information belongs to the group including:

identifiers representative of said content;

identifiers representative of an object of said content;

identifiers representative of an action carried out on said content;

identifiers representative of a user of said content;

identifiers representative of said terminal; and

timestamp information.

9. A terminal capable of receiving and reproducing multimedia content, said content being transmitted to said terminal in the form of at least one description file in a predetermined description format, wherein said terminal comprises:

means for using said content by a user of said terminal, including activation of at least one interaction element;

means for implementing at least one use tracking instruction associated with said activated interaction element;

means for executing said use tracking instruction controlling storage of at least one piece of information relating to said activation of said interaction element, also known as the use tracking information; and

means for transmitting at least one piece of use tracking information to a tracking server responsible for processing said use tracking information.

10. The terminal of claim 9, wherein it the terminal includes means for storing said use tracking information.

12. A method comprising:

generating a description signal for at least one piece of multimedia content, which is intended for use on at least one terminal capable of receiving and reproducing multimedia content, wherein the description signal carries at least one interaction element associated with at least one use tracking instruction; and

transmitting the description signal to the at least one terminal.

13. A method comprising:

generating a storage signal, which is intended for use on at least one terminal capable of receiving and reproducing multimedia content, wherein the storage signal carries at least one storage instruction belonging to the group including;

instructions for a first storage mechanism forming part of a predefined description format, said mechanism enabling access to a memory space of said terminal;

instructions for a second specific storage mechanism internal to said terminal, said second specific storage mechanism enabling access to a memory space of said terminal; and

instructions enabling access to a memory space external to said terminal; and

executing the storage instruction by the at least one terminal.