EVENT-BASED CONTENT DISTRIBUTION

• US 20180070120A1
• Filed: 11/13/2017
• Published: 03/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2015
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Shen, Fong, Huang, Tao, Chen, Jian, Cui, Yingwei, Song, Xiaodan
• Granted Patent: US 10,848,813 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/24 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. monitoring of server load, available bandwidth, upstream requests monitoring of server performance or load G06F11/34; arrangements for observation, testing or troubleshooting for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/12
• 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 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26241 involving the time of distribution, e.g. the best time of the day for inserting an advertisement or airing a children program
• 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 21/4828 for searching program descriptors retrieval of video data G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for distributing content are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes storing, in a data structure, data specifying a future live event. An opportunity to provide the specified content to a user at a user device is identified. It is determined that (i) a time of the opportunity is between a start time and an end time for the live event, (ii) that a user device is located in a same geographic region as the live event based on geographical data provided by the user device, and (iii) the user is interested in the live event based on attributes of the user matching attributes of other users that were identified as interested in the live event (e.g., based on evaluation of online search data). The content is provided for display at the user device.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A method comprising:

receiving, from a content provider and by one or more data processing apparatus, event data specifying a live event that will occur in the future;

determining an interest period for the live event based on changes in query volume for search queries referencing the live event, wherein the interest period includes a peak interest period;

determining, by the one or more data processing apparatus, a combination of criteria for reaching users interested in the live event;

identifying, by the one or more data processing apparatus and after receiving the event data, an opportunity to provide the content to a user at a user device based on data submitted to the one or more data processing apparatus by the user device;

determining, by the one or more data processing apparatus, that a time of the opportunity is during the peak interest period for the live event;

determining, by the one or more data processing apparatus, that the user is interested in the live event based, at least in part, on attributes of the user matching the combination of criteria for reaching users interested in the live event, and

providing, by the one or more data processing apparatus and to the user device, computer executable instructions that initiate presentation of the content on a display of the user device in response to determining that the time of the opportunity is during the peak interest period and the attributes of the user matching the combination of criteria for reaching users interested in the live event.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising providing data that present, at a device of the content provider, a user interface specifying a list of live events, wherein receiving event data comprises receiving, through the user interface, a selection of one or more of the live events.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising determining that the peak interest period of the live event is at a time when search query volume for queries related to the live event increases by a specified amount.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

identifying a future event having characteristics matching distribution criteria associated with content provided by the content provider; and

providing, based on the identification, computer executable instructions that initiate presentation of the future event as a live event for the content provider to select as the live event to use for purposes of distributing content provided by the content provider.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the combination of distribution criteria comprises determining a geographic location of users that have been identified as interested in the live event.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

tracking a current state of the live event after a start time of the live event; and

changing the combination of distribution criteria based on the current state of the live event.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein determining that the time of the opportunity is during the peak interest period for the live event comprises determining that the time of the opportunity is during a period during which search query volume for queries related to the live event have increased to a particular level.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

identifying occurrence of the live event at a particular location at a first time; and

identifying occurrence of the live event at a different location at a second different time that is after the first time, wherein providing the computer executable instructions to the user device comprises;

providing the computer executable instructions to user devices at the particular location while the live event is occurring at the particular location; and

providing the computer executable instructions to user devices at the different location after the second different time.

10. A non-transitory computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that when executed by one or more data processing apparatus cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a content provider, event data specifying a live event that will occur in the future;

determining an interest period for the live event based on changes in query volume for search queries referencing the live event, wherein the interest period includes a peak interest period;

determining a combination of criteria for reaching users interested in the live event;

identifying, after receiving the event data, an opportunity to provide the content to a user at a user device based on data submitted to the one or more data processing apparatus by the user device;

determining that a time of the opportunity is during the peak interest period for the live event;

determining that the user is interested in the live event based, at least in part, on attributes of the user matching the combination of criteria for reaching users interested in the live event, and

providing, to the user device, computer executable instructions that initiate presentation of the content on a display of the user device in response to determining that the time of the opportunity is during the peak interest period and the attributes of the user matching the combination of criteria for reaching users interested in the live event.

11. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations further comprising providing data that present, at a device of the content provider, a user interface specifying a list of live events, wherein receiving event data comprises receiving, through the user interface, a selection of one or more of the live events.

12. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations further comprising determining that the peak interest period of the live event is at a time when search query volume for queries related to the live event increases by a specified amount.

13. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations further comprising:

identifying a future event having characteristics matching distribution criteria associated with content provided by the content provider; and

providing, based on the identification, computer executable instructions that initiate presentation of the future event as a live event for the content provider to select as the live event to use for purposes of distributing content provided by the content provider.

14. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 10, wherein determining the combination of distribution criteria comprises determining a geographic location of users that have been identified as interested in the live event.

15. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations further comprising:

tracking a current state of the live event after a start time of the live event; and

changing the combination of distribution criteria based on the current state of the live event.

16. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 10, wherein determining that the time of the opportunity is during the peak interest period for the live event comprises determining that the time of the opportunity is during a period during which search query volume for queries related to the live event have increased to a particular level.

17. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 10, wherein the instructions cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations further comprising:

identifying occurrence of the live event at a particular location at a first time; and

identifying occurrence of the live event at a different location at a second different time that is after the first time, wherein providing the computer executable instructions to the user device comprises;

providing the computer executable instructions to user devices at the particular location while the live event is occurring at the particular location; and

providing the computer executable instructions to user devices at the different location after the second different time.

18. A system comprising:

a data store storing search query data for online search queries;

one or more data processing apparatus that interact with the data store and execute instructions that cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations including;

receiving, from a content provider, event data specifying a live event that will occur in the future;

determining an interest period for the live event based on changes in query volume for search queries referencing the live event, wherein the interest period includes a peak interest period;

determining a combination of criteria for reaching users interested in the live event;

identifying, after receiving the event data, an opportunity to provide the content to a user at a user device based on data submitted to the one or more data processing apparatus by the user device;

determining that a time of the opportunity is during the peak interest period for the live event;

determining that the user is interested in the live event based, at least in part, on attributes of the user matching the combination of criteria for reaching users interested in the live event, and

providing, to the user device, computer executable instructions that initiate presentation of the content on a display of the user device in response to determining that the time of the opportunity is during the peak interest period and the attributes of the user matching the combination of criteria for reaching users interested in the live event.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations further comprising providing data that present, at a device of the content provider, a user interface specifying a list of live events, wherein receiving event data comprises receiving, through the user interface, a selection of one or more of the live events.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations further comprising determining that the peak interest period of the live event is at a time when search query volume for queries related to the live event increases by a specified amount.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations further comprising:

identifying a future event having characteristics matching distribution criteria associated with content provided by the content provider; and

providing, based on the identification, computer executable instructions that initiate presentation of the future event as a live event for the content provider to select as the live event to use for purposes of distributing content provided by the content provider.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein determining the combination of distribution criteria comprises determining a geographic location of users that have been identified as interested in the live event.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations further comprising:

tracking a current state of the live event after a start time of the live event; and

changing the combination of distribution criteria based on the current state of the live event.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein determining that the time of the opportunity is during the peak interest period for the live event comprises determining that the time of the opportunity is during a period during which search query volume for queries related to the live event have increased to a particular level.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions cause the one or more data processing apparatus to perform operations further comprising:

identifying occurrence of the live event at a particular location at a first time; and

identifying occurrence of the live event at a different location at a second different time that is after the first time, wherein providing the computer executable instructions to the user device comprises;

providing the computer executable instructions to user devices at the particular location while the live event is occurring at the particular location; and

providing the computer executable instructions to user devices at the different location after the second different time.