METHODS FOR SERVING INTERACTIVE CONTENT TO A USER

• US 20180075874A1
• Filed: 11/17/2017
• Published: 03/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yieldmo, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Yieldmo, Inc.
• Inventors: Doherty, Connor Francis, Goligorsky, David Michael, Sprockett, Shawn, Wu, Eric (Ge), Bao, Yiming, Silvernight, Firecrow, Sebag, David
• Granted Patent: US 9,966,109 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04812 Interaction techniques based on cursor appearance or behaviour, e.g. being affected by the presence of displayed objects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0485 Scrolling or panning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0488 using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/005 Reproducing at a different information rate from the information rate of recording for television signals H04N5/783
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/031 Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/036 Insert-editing
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/102 Programmed access in sequence to addressed parts of tracks of operating record carriers access by moving the head G11B3/08, G11B5/54, G11B7/085, G11B21/022; by moving the record carrier G11B15/005, G11B17/005, by driving of both record carrier and head G11B15/1816
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/11 by using information not detectable on the record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/3081 used signal is a video-frame or a video-field (P.I.P)
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/431 Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4333 Processing operations in response to a pause request
• 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 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/482 End-user interface for program selection broadcast systems using EPGs H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

One variation of a method for serving interactive content to a user includes, at a visual element inserted into a document accessed by a computing device: loading a first frame from a digital video; in response to a scroll-down event that moves the visual element upward from a bottom of a window rendered on the computing device toward a top of the window, seeking from the first frame through a subset of frames in the digital video in a first direction at a rate corresponding to a scroll rate of the scroll-down event, the subset of frames spanning a duration of the digital video corresponding to a length of the scroll-down event; and, in response to termination of the scroll-down event with the visual element remaining in view within the window, playing the digital video forward from a last frame in the subset of frames in the digital video.

Claims

1. A method for serving an interactive advertisement to a user, the method comprising:

at an initial time, at a computer system affiliated with an advertising platform;

accessing a digital video comprising digital advertising content;

selecting a subset of frames from the digital video;

compiling the subset of frames into a static image file;

at a visual element inserted into an electronic document rendered within a window by a computing device distinct from the computer system;

in response to a scroll event that moves the visual element into view in the window, inserting a first region of the static image file into the visual element, the first region corresponding to a first frame in the subset of frames;

in response to continuation of the scroll event that moves the visual element upward within the window, sequentially inserting regions of the static image file, according to an order of frames in the subset of frames, into the visual element at a rate proportional to the scroll event; and

estimating engagement of the user with the visual element based on characteristics of scroll events occurring at the computing device while the visual element is rendered within the window.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the subset of frames from the digital video comprises selecting a predefined number of frames from the digital video, the predefined number of frames corresponding to one second of playback of the digital video at a standard video frame rate.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the subset of frames from the digital video comprises selecting the subset of frames distributed at uniform intervals across a segment of the digital video between two markers manually set along the digital video at the computer system.

4. The method of claim 1:

wherein inserting the first region of the static image file into the visual element comprises;

locating a crop area over the first region of the static image file; and

rendering the first region of the static image file within the crop area in the visual element; and

wherein sequentially inserting regions of the static image file into the visual element comprises;

indexing the crop area over discrete regions of the static image file at a rate proportional to a speed of the scroll event, each discrete region corresponding to a frame in the subset of frames; and

updating the visual element with discrete regions of the static image file contained within the crop area to play back the subset of frames at a frame rate corresponding to the speed of the scroll event.

5. The method of claim 4:

wherein compiling the subset of frames into the static image file comprises generating the static image file comprising the subset of frames adjoined in a single column ordered from bottom to top according to an order of the subset of frames within the digital video; and

wherein sequentially inserting regions of the static image file into the visual element comprises indexing the crop area along a length of the single column in response to a scroll event that moves the visual element vertically from a top of the window toward a bottom of the window.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

loading the static image file and the visual element onto the computing device; and

assigning one unique vertical position of the visual element within the window to each discrete region in the static image file corresponding to one frame in the subset of frames.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein assigning one unique vertical position of the visual element within the window to each discrete region in the static image file comprises:

resizing regions of the visual element, at a locked aspect ratio, to fill one of the height and the width of the visual element rendered within the window;

segmenting a height of the window less a height of the visual element into a number of discrete vertical positions equal to the number of frames in the set of frames; and

assigning each discrete vertical position to one region of the static image file corresponding to one frame in the set of frames.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein updating the visual element with discrete regions of the static image file comprises updating the visual element with discrete regions of the static image file contained within the crop area to play back the subset of frames at the frame rate dissociated from the natural frame rate of the digital video.

9. The method of claim 4:

wherein indexing the crop area over discrete regions of the static image file comprises defining a width of the crop area corresponding to a width of a frame in the digital video; and

wherein updating the visual element with discrete regions of the static image file contained within the crop area comprises, in response to alignment between the crop area and the region in the static image file corresponding to a frame in the subset of frames, updating the visual element with discrete regions of the static image file contained within the crop area.

10. The method of claim 1:

wherein inserting the first region of the static image file into the visual element comprises;

inserting the first region of the static image file into the visual element in response to entry of a top edge of the visual element into the bottom of the window during the scroll event; and

maintaining the first region of the static image file statically within the visual element until the visual element reaches a second position within the window during the scroll event; and

wherein sequentially inserting regions of the static image file into the visual element comprises;

rendering a second region in complete replacement of the first region of the static image file within the visual element in response to the scroll event moving the visual element to a second vertical position within the window, the second region corresponding to a second frame in the subset of frames; and

rendering a third region in complete replacement of the second region of the static image file within the visual element in response to the scroll event moving the visual element to a third vertical position within the window, the third region corresponding to a third frame in the subset of frames, the third vertical position above the second vertical position within the window.

11. A method for serving an interactive advertisement to a user, the method comprising:

at a visual element inserted into an electronic document rendered within a window by a computing device distinct from the computer system;

loading a static image file, comprising a subset of frames extracted from a digital video, into the visual element;

in response to a scroll event that moves the visual element into view in the window, inserting a first region of the static image file into the visual element, the first region corresponding to a first frame in the subset of frames;

in response to continuation of the scroll event that moves the visual element upward within the window, sequentially inserting regions of the static image file, according to an order of frames in the subset of frames, into the visual element at a rate proportional to the speed of the scroll event; and

estimating engagement of the user with the visual element based on characteristics of scroll events occurring at the computing device while the visual element is rendered within the window.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising, at an initial time, at a computer system affiliated with an advertising platform and distinct from the computing device:

accessing the digital video comprising digital advertising content;

selecting the subset of frames from the digital video; and

compiling the subset of frames into the static image file.

13. The method of claim 12:

wherein compiling the subset of frames into the static image file comprises generating the static image file comprising the subset of frames adjoined in a single column ordered from bottom to top according an order of the subset of frames within the digital video; and

wherein sequentially inserting regions of the static image file into the visual element comprises;

indexing a crop area along a length of the single column in response to a scroll event that moves the visual element vertically from a top of the window toward a bottom of the window; and

updating the visual element with discrete regions of the static image file contained within the crop area.

14. The method of claim 11:

wherein inserting the first region of the static image file into the visual element comprises;

locating a crop area over the first region of the static image file; and

rendering the first region of the static image file within the crop area in the visual element; and

wherein sequentially inserting regions of the static image file into the visual element comprises;

indexing the crop area over discrete regions of the static image file at a rate proportional to a speed of the scroll event, each discrete region corresponding to a frame in the subset of frames; and

updating the visual element with discrete regions of the static image file contained within the crop area to play back the subset of frames at a frame rate corresponding to the speed of the scroll event.

15. The method of claim 14:

wherein indexing the crop area over discrete regions of the static image file comprises, in response to a scroll-down event that moves the visual element downward from a top of the window, indexing the crop area backward over a set of discrete regions of the static image file;

wherein updating the visual element with discrete regions of the static image file contained within the crop area comprises updating the visual element with discrete regions of the static image file contained within the crop area to play back the subset of frames of the digital video in reverse order.

16. The method of claim 11:

further comprising, recording a speed of scroll-down and scroll-up events occurring within the web-browser while the visual element is contained within the window; and

wherein estimating engagement of the user with the visual element based on characteristics of scroll events comprises estimating engagement based on the speed of scroll-down and scroll-up events.

17. A method for serving an interactive advertisement to a user, the method comprising:

at an initial time, at a computer system affiliated with an advertising platform;

accessing a digital video comprising digital advertising content;

selecting a subset of frames from the digital video;

compiling the subset of frames into a compressed video file;

at a visual element inserted into an electronic document rendered within a window by a computing device distinct from the computer system;

in response to a scroll event that moves the visual element into view in the window, inserting a first frame of the compressed video file into the visual element;

in response to continuation of the scroll event that moves the visual element upward within the window, sequentially inserting frames of the compressed video file into the visual element at a rate proportional to the scroll event disassociated from the natural frame rate of the digital video; and

estimating engagement of the user with the visual element based on characteristics of scroll events occurring at the computing device while the visual element is rendered within the window.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

loading the compressed video file and the visual element onto the computing device; and

resizing regions of the visual element, at a locked aspect ratio, to fill one of the height and the width of the visual element rendered within the window;

segmenting a height of the window less a height of the visual element into a number of discrete vertical position ranges equal to the number of frames in the compressed video file; and

assigning one unique vertical position of the visual element within the window to each frame of the compressed video file.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein sequentially inserting frames of the compressed video file into the visual element at a rate proportional to the scroll event disassociated from the natural frame rate of the digital video comprises:

in response to a scroll-up event that moves the visual element upward in the window, sequentially seeking forward through frames of the compressed video file, rendered in the visual element, at a rate proportional to the scroll-up event; and

in response to a scroll-down event that moves the visual element downward from a top of the window, sequentially seeking backward through frames of the compressed video file, rendered in the visual element, at a rate proportional to the scroll-down event.

20. The method of claim 17:

wherein inserting a first frame of the compressed video file into the visual element comprises;

inserting a first frame of the compressed video file into the visual element in response to entry of a top edge of the visual element into the bottom of the window during the scroll event; and

maintaining the first frame of the compressed video file within the visual element until the visual element reaches a second position within the window during the scroll event; and

wherein sequentially inserting frames of the compressed video file into the visual element comprises;

rendering a second frame in complete replacement of the first frame of the compressed video file within the visual element in response to the scroll event moving the visual element to a second vertical position within the window; and

rendering a third frame in complete replacement of the second frame of the compressed video file within the visual element in response to the scroll event moving the visual element to a third vertical position within the window, the third vertical position above the second vertical position within the window.