SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REAL-TIME ADVERTISEMENT SELECTION AND INSERTION

• US 20130097634A1
• Filed: 10/13/2011
• Published: 04/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Rogers Communications Inc.
• Original Assignee: Rogers Communications Inc.
• Inventors: JIN, Luojun, KUMAR, Vinay
• Application Number:
  US13/272,258
• Publication Number:
  US 20130097634A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/34
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/28 by using information signals recorded by the same method as the main recording G11B27/22 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02

Abstract

Methods and devices for implementing real-time advertisement customization and selection. A video program has associated avail metadata, separate from the video program itself, and which is generated to define the avails for the video program. The avail metadata may contain fields specifying the duration, insertion point and type of each avail, and may also specify characteristics of the video program. An avail metadata encoder is configured to customize the avail metadata based on a request to view or play the video program. The customization may be specific to a client device and may reflect various characteristics, including details of the client device, an associated subscriber profile, geographic information, etc. Advertisements are then dynamically selected using the customized avail metadata and links to the advertisements are placed in the customized avail metadata.

Claims

1. A method for real-time advertisement insertion, the method comprising:

receiving, at an avail metadata encoder, a request associated with a client device, wherein the request identifies a video;

the avail metadata encoder, in response to the request, then

obtaining avail metadata associated with the video, wherein the avail metadata includes information regarding the video and avails defined for the video, and

customizing the avail metadata by adding information to the avail metadata regarding the client device to produce customized avail metadata;

selecting advertisements from a plurality of available advertisements based upon the customized avail metadata and inserting links to the selected advertisements into the customized avail metadata;

requesting and receiving the selected advertisements from an ad asset server using the links; and

splicing the selected advertisements into the video during play of the video.

2. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein the avail metadata comprises a data structure having predefined fields, and wherein the predefined fields include fields for each avail defined for the video.

3. The method claimed in claim 2, wherein the fields for each avail include an avail type field, an avail duration field, and an avail insertion time field.

4. The method claimed in claim 2, wherein the avail metadata further includes a field for subscriber profile data, subscriber usage data, and geographic location data.

5. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein customizing includes obtaining subscriber profile data associated with the client device, and inserting subscriber profile data in the avail metadata.

6. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein customizing include querying the client device for data regarding the client device, and receiving a response from the client device containing information regarding characteristics of the client device.

7. The method claimed in claim 1, wherein obtaining the avail metadata includes creating the avail metadata using information regarding the video.

8. The method claimed in claim 1, further comprising an initial operation of receiving, at the client device through a user interface, an instruction to play the video, and in response thereto generating the request to the avail metadata encoder.

9. The method claimed in claim 8, wherein the video is stored in memory on the client device.

10. A system for real-time advertisement insertion, the system comprising

an avail metadata encoder having a memory, a processor, and an application executable by the processor that configures the processor to receive a request associated with a client device, wherein the request identifies a video, and in response to

obtain avail metadata associated with the video, wherein the avail metadata includes information regarding the video and avails defined for the video, and

customize the avail metadata by adding information to the avail metadata regarding the client device to produce customized avail metadata;

and

an advertising management and decision server configured to select advertisements from a plurality of available advertisements based upon the customized avail metadata and to insert links to the selected advertisements into the customized avail metadata,

whereby selected advertisements are obtained from an ad asset server using the links, and the selected advertisements inserted into the video during play of the video.

11. The system claimed in claim 10, further comprising the client device, wherein the client device includes a user interface, memory, and a microprocessor configured to receive the customized avail metadata, to request the selected advertisements from the ad asset server using on the links, to receive the selected advertisements from the ad asset server, and to insert the selected advertisements into the video.

12. The system claimed in claim 11, wherein the client device is further configured to receive through the user interface an instruction to play the video, and in response thereto to generate the request to the avail metadata encoder.

13. The system claimed in claim 12, wherein the video is stored in memory on the client device.

14. The system claimed in claim 10, wherein the avail metadata comprises a data structure having predefined fields, and wherein the predefined fields include fields for each avail defined for the video.

15. The system claimed in claim 14, wherein the fields for each avail include an avail type field, an avail duration field, and an avail insertion time field.

16. The system claimed in claim 14, wherein the avail metadata further includes a field for subscriber profile data, subscriber usage data, and geographic location data.

17. The system claimed in claim 10, further comprising a subscriber profile database, and wherein the avail metadata encoder is further configured to customize by obtaining subscriber profile data associated with the client device from the subscriber profile database, and inserting the subscriber profile data in the avail metadata.

18. The system claimed in claim 10, wherein the avail metadata encoder is further configured to customize by querying the client device for data regarding the client device, and to receive a response from the client device containing information regarding characteristics of the client device.

19. The system claimed in claim 10, wherein the avail metadata encoder is further configured to obtain the avail metadata by creating the avail metadata using information regarding the video.

20. The system claimed in claim 19, wherein the avail metadata encoder includes a scene-change detection module, and wherein the avail metadata encoder is configured to create the avail metadata by identifying candidate avails using the scene-change detection module, and filtering the candidate avails to a set of selected avails, and producing basic avail metadata specifying the selected avails.