DEVICE, SYSTEM, METHOD, AND COMPUTER-READABLE MEDIUM FOR PROVIDING INTERACTIVE ADVERTISING

• US 20140330559A1
• Filed: 05/02/2013
• Published: 11/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: XappMedia, Inc.
• Original Assignee: XappMedia, Inc.
• Inventors: Raines, Franklin D., HIGBIE, Patrick B., Kelvie, John P., Myers, Michael M.
• Granted Patent: US 10,157,618 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/235
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/26 Speech to text systems G10L15/08 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/22 Interactive procedures; Man-machine interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command

Abstract

A method, device, system, and computer medium for providing interactive advertising are provided. For example, a device may request an advertisement from a remote server, receive the advertisement, receive a response from a user who is listening and/or watching the advertisement, and transmit the response to the server for further action. The user may input a response by speaking. A server may receive an advertisement request from the device, select an advertisement based on pre-defined one or more criteria, transmit the selected advertisement to the device for play, receive from the device a response to the selected advertisement, and then perform an action corresponding to the received response.

Claims

1. A communication device for providing interactive advertising, the device comprising:

a transmitter that transmits a content-request to a server connected to the device via a network;

a receiver that receives a selected content from the server in response to the content-request;

a player that plays the selected content; and

a voice-receiver that receives the user'"'"'s spoken response made to the played content,

wherein the transmitter transmits the user'"'"'s spoken response to the server.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the voice receiver comprises a microphone that is turned on only during a predetermined time, wherein the predetermined time is during or a selected time after the playing of the selected content.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the user'"'"'s spoken response is a fabricated phrase.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the user'"'"'s spoken response is received in an audio format and converted into a text format, and the response in the text format is displayed on a displaying unit of the device.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein one or more keywords are used to associate the user'"'"'s response with the predetermined command phrase.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the action to be performed by the device comprises at least one of:

automatically dialing a telephone number defined by the content received by the server, or determined based on the location of the user;

automatically opening a webpage defined by the content received by the server, or determined based on the location of the user;

receiving further input by the user; and

downloading or installing an application on the device.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the device comprises at least one of a cellphone, a tablet, a computer, an automobile stereo system, and a TV stereo system.

8. The device of claim 1, further comprising a command-phrase recognizer that associates the user'"'"'s spoken response with a predetermined command phrase, the predetermined command phrase being associated with a predetermined action,

wherein the transmitter transmits to the server the user'"'"'s spoken response and the associated command phrase.

9. A server for providing interactive advertising, the server comprising:

a receiving unit that receives a content-request from a remote device connected via a network;

a selection unit that selects content based on one or more characteristics associated with the content-request; and

an execution unit that performs an action corresponding to a user'"'"'s response to the selected content, the user operating the remote device,

wherein the receiving unit receives the user'"'"'s response from the remote device in an audio format.

10. The server of claim 9, wherein the user'"'"'s response is a fabricated phrase.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the user'"'"'s spoken response is a brand name, a product name, a trademark, an oronym, or a homophone.

12. The server of claim 9, wherein the one or more characteristics associated with the content-request include at least one of:

characteristics of the user operating the remote device such as user'"'"'s age, gender, marital status, profession, place of residence, and current location;

characteristics of the remote device such as the device type, network connection type, and microphone configuration;

general characteristics such as time and weather; and

characteristics of other applications being executed on the remote device.

13. The server of claim 9, wherein the content is selected based on both the one or more characteristics of the request and one or more target-audience characteristics that are pre-defined and stored in the server.

14. The server of claim 9, further comprising a voice recognizer that associates the received user'"'"'s response with a pre-defined command action phrase.

15. The server of claim 9, wherein the action includes at least one of:

sending an email to the user, the email containing information designated by the content;

receiving a further user-response from the device;

storing a user-response;

sending a notification to a destination defined by the content; and

executing a customized program.

16. The server of claim 9, wherein the server is configured to allow content-providers to generate a customized program whose execution is triggered by a user'"'"'s response.

17. The server of claim 9, wherein the server is configured to allow content-providers to access the server to change any characteristics and criteria information associated with the content.

18. A method of providing interactive advertising to a plurality of user devices, using a server, the method comprising:

receiving by a processor a content-request from a remote device connected to the server via a network;

selecting content based on one or more characteristics associated with the content-request;

transmitting the selected content to the device;

receiving a user'"'"'s response from the device, the user'"'"'s response being related to the selected content, the response being in an audio format; and

performing a predetermined action corresponding to the received user'"'"'s response.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the user'"'"'s response is a fabricated phrase.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

transmitting a uniform stream of advertising content to the plurality of user devices;

receiving from the user devices one or more responses to the streamed advertising content; and

transmitting different contents to at least two different user devices, based on their corresponding responses received by the server,

wherein after the different contents are played on the user devices, the user devices are synchronically rejoined to a main stream of content transmitted by the server.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the different contents are pre-loaded on the user devices and are played as a pre-roll base in response to an action taken by respective users operating the user devices.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one of the plurality of user devices is configured to perform:

receiving by a processor content from a server connected to the device via a network, the content being selected by the server in response to a request by the device;

playing the received content for a user;

receiving by a microphone a response from the user, the response being related to the played content, and the response being made by the user'"'"'s spoken response;

associating the spoken response with a predetermined command phrase;

determining an action corresponding to the predetermined command phrase; and

transmitting the action and the recognized spoken response to the server.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one of the plurality of user devices is configured to further perform:

determining that the action requires a further response by the user;

prompting the user to speak again;

receiving by the microphone the user'"'"'s further response; and

transmitting the further response to the server.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the server is configured to allow a content-provider to create or modify a command phrase associated with the content provided by the content-provider.