AD REPLACEMENT

• US 20130219424A1
• Filed: 02/16/2012
• Published: 08/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Lechner, Marcelo D., Ruffini, Michael P., Malamud, Jason L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,602,863 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/32
• 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 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4586 Content update operation triggered locally, e.g. by comparing the version of software modules in a DVB carousel to the version stored locally deployment, distribution, installation, update of software G06F8/65; error detection or correction of the data by redundancy during software upgrading G06F11/1433; arrangements for updating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/25
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

Devices, methods, and storage media provide for receiving an airing of a program and a national ad; recording the program and the national ad; identifying an age of the national ad; comparing the age of the national ad to a threshold time period; and obtaining a replacement national ad in response to a comparison indicating that the age of the national ad exceeds the threshold time period.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a program and a national ad;

recording the program and the national ad as the program and the national ad are being received;

receiving a request to playback the program;

identifying an age of the national ad based on a date and a time associated with the receiving and a date and time associated with the request;

comparing the age of the national ad to a threshold time period;

obtaining a replacement national ad in response to a result of the comparing indicating that the age of the national ad exceeds the threshold time period; and

playing the replacement national ad at a time when the national ad is to be played.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying that the program includes a national ad-insertion spot;

generating metadata indicating that the program includes the national ad-insertion spot; and

storing the metadata associated with the program.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

using the metadata to identify whether the program includes a national ad, in response to receiving the request to playback the program.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating an ad replacement request in response to the result of the comparing indicating that the age of the national ad exceeds the threshold time period, wherein the threshold time period is three days from an airing of the program.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the program includes cue and timing information pertaining to the national ad, and the method further comprising:

recognizing the cue and timing information included in the program.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

not obtaining the replacement national ad in response to a result of the comparing indicating that the age of the national ad does not exceed the threshold time period.

7. A method comprising:

recording a program and a national ad as the program and the national ad are being received from a network;

determining whether the recorded program includes an airing of a national ad; and

obtaining a replacement national ad in response to the determining that the recorded program includes the airing of the national ad.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the program includes cue and timing information pertaining to the national ad, and the method further comprising:

recognizing the cue and timing information included in the program.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

generating, in response to the recognizing, metadata indicating that the program being recorded includes a national ad-insertion spot; and

storing the metadata associated with the program.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

selecting a replacement national ad; and

playing the replacement national ad at a time when the national ad is to be played during a playback of the recorded program.

11. A device comprising:

a communication interface;

one or more memories that store instructions; and

one or more processors to execute the instructions to;

receive, via the communication interface, an airing of a program and a national ad;

record the program and the national ad as the program and the national ad is being received;

identify an age of the national ad based on a date and a time associated with the airing of the program and a current date and a current time;

obtain a replacement national ad in response to an identification that the age of the national ad exceeds a threshold time period; and

play the replacement national ad at a time when the national ad is to be played during a playback of the recorded program.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to:

generate an ad replacement request;

transmit, via the communication interface, the ad replacement request to another device; and

receive, via the communication interface, an ad replacement response that includes the replacement national ad.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors further execute the instructions to:

generate metadata indicating that the program includes the national ad.

14. The device of claim 11, wherein the program includes cue and timing information pertaining to the national ad, and the one or more processors further execute the instructions to:

recognize the cue and timing information included in the program.

15. The device of claim 11, wherein the device includes a set top box.

16. A network device comprising:

a communication interface;

one or more memories that store instructions; and

one or more processors to execute the instructions to;

receive, via a communication interface, an ad replacement request that includes information pertaining to a national ad recorded by a user;

select a replacement ad based on the information included in the ad replacement request;

generate an ad replacement response; and

transmit, via the communication interface, the ad replacement response to a user device.

17. The network device of claim 16, further comprising:

a storage medium that stores national ads, and wherein the ad replacement response includes the replacement ad.

18. The network device of claim 16, wherein the information includes a length of time pertaining to a national ad-insertion spot.

19. A non-transitory storage medium storing instructions executable by a device to:

receive an airing of a program and a national ad;

record the program and the national ad;

identify an age of the national ad;

compare the age of the national ad relative to a threshold time period; and

obtain a replacement national ad in response to a result of a comparison indicating that the age of the national ad exceeds the threshold time period.

20. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 19, further storing instructions executable by the device to:

generate metadata indicating that the program includes the national ad; and

store the metadata associated with the recorded program.

21. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 20, further storing instructions executable by the device to:

use the metadata to identify whether the program includes a national ad; and

generate a replacement ad request in response to the result of the comparison indicating that the age of the national ad exceeds the threshold time period.

22. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 19, further storing instructions executable by the device to:

compare a date and a timestamp associated with the recorded program to a current date and a current time;

identify the age of the national ad based on a result of a comparison between the date and the timestamp associated with the recorded program and the current date and the current time; and

play the replacement national ad at a time when the national ad is to be played during a playback of the recorded program.