Television advertising automated billing system

• US 6,173,271 B1
• Filed: 11/26/1997
• Issued: 01/09/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: California Institute of Technology
• Original Assignee: California Institute of Technology
• Inventors: Emerson, Karen, Goodman, Rodney M., Dickson, Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Stamber, Eric W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Meinecke-D{acute over (i)}az, Susanna
• Application Number:
  US08/979,838
• Time in Patent Office: 1,140 Days
• Field of Search: 455/2, 705/14, 705/40, 348/907.1
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0248 Avoiding fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/10 Arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or the distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/14 for monitoring programmes
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/19 on transmission of information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/23 using cryptography, e.g. encryption, authentication, key distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/088 the inserted signal being digital
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0887 for the transmission of programme or channel identifying signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

Advertising is marked with a code in a way which makes it difficult to fool the system. The advertising is marked with a code at the time the advertising is produced. Then, when the advertising is broadcast, the code on the advertising is analyzed. Different security measures can be used, including producing the code in the closed captioning so that many different people can see the code, or comparing codes in one part of the signal with a code in another part of the signal. Measures are taken to prevent the code from being used to detect commercials. According to another part of this system, a paradigm for a clearinghouse is disclosed in which the user signs up with the clearinghouse, obtains a line of credit, and the advertiser, the agency, and the ad producer also subscribe to the service. When the ad is actually aired, the payment can be automatically transferred.

Claims

1. A method of automated billing of advertising, comprising:

marking an advertisement with a code, said code indicating some aspect of the advertisement associated with billing;

transmitting said advertisement over a channel;

sensing said code on the advertisement;

verifying security of said code;

obtaining billing information from the sensed code, wherein said sensing and said verifying are carried out prior to said transmitting; and

removing said code prior to said transmitting.

2. A method of automated billing of advertising, comprising:

marking an advertisement with a code, said code indicating some aspect of the advertisement associated with billing;

transmitting said advertisement over a channel;

sensing said code on the advertisement;

verifying security of said code; and

obtaining billing information from the sensed code, wherein

said code is text, and said marking comprises adding said code to closed captioning.

3. A method of automated billing of advertising, comprising:

forming an advertisement, including marking the advertisement with a code at a time of forming, said code indicating some aspect of the advertisement associated with billing;

transmitting said advertisement over a channel;

sensing said code on the advertisement;

verifying security of said code;

obtaining billing information from the sensed code; and

wherein said marking comprises placing said code in a closed captioning portion.

4. A method of automated billing of advertising, comprising:

forming an advertisement, including marking the advertisement with a code, said code indicating some aspect of the advertisement associated with billing;

transmitting said advertisement over a channel;

sensing said code on the advertisement;

verifying security of said code;

obtaining billing information from the sensed code; and

taking an action which prevents the advertisement from being automatically detected as an advertisement.

5. A method as in claim 4, wherein said taking comprises removing said code prior to said transmitting.

6. An automated advertisement billing system, comprising:

an advertisement production area, including a coder, which provides a code on an advertisement, said code not being seen as part of a picture forming program content, said code including information about the advertisement; and

a television station, physically separate from said advertisement production area, and including a code detection system, receiving said advertisement including said code, and determining a time when said advertisement is transmitted and providing an indication of the advertisement and the time;

a comparing device, comparing said indication with prestored information indicating a desired indication and time, and producing an authorization signal if said indication and time match said indication and time in said prestored information; and

first means for preventing use of said code to identify whether the part of the picture being played includes commercial or non-commercial content.

7. A system as in claim 6, wherein said first means comprises a code stripper which removes said code and couples a removed code to said code detection system, said code stripper removing said code prior to transmission of the commercial.

8. A system as in claim 6, wherein said first means comprises means for adding a code to each frame.

9. An automated advertisement billing system, comprising:

an advertisement production area, including a coder, which provides a code on an advertisement, said code not being seen as part of a picture forming program content, said code including information about the advertisement; and

a television station, physically separate from said advertisement production area, and including a code detection system, receiving said advertisement including said code, and determining a time when said advertisement is transmitted and providing an indication of the advertisement and the time;

a comparing device, comparing said indication with prestored information indicating a desired indication and time, and producing an authorization signal if said indication and time match said indication and time in said prestored information; and

second means for maintaining security of said code;

wherein said second means comprises third means for adding a correction indication to the code which relates to some content of the advertisement.

10. An automated advertisement billing system, comprising;

an advertisement production area, including a coder, which provides a code on an advertisement, said code not being seen as part of a picture forming program content, said code including information about the advertisement; and

a television station, physically separate from said advertisement production area, and including a code detection system, receiving said advertisement including said code, and determining a time when said advertisement is transmitted and providing an indication of the advertisement and the time;

a comparing device, comparing said indication with prestored information indicating a desired indication and time, and producing an authorization signal if said indication and time match said indication and time in said prestored information;

second means for maintaining security of said code;

wherein said second means comprises third means for adding a correction indication to the code which relates to some content of the advertisement; and

wherein said third means includes a closed captioning device and said correlation indication comprises a relationship between said code and content of closed captioning.

11. A method of automatically billing for a commodity which is produced during a time slot and is time slot sensitive, comprising:

producing said commodity to be shown during said time slot;

producing a first code which is associated with said commodity, said code indicating identity of said commodity;

determining some aspect of content of said commodity, and producing a second code indicative of said aspect;

associating said first code and said second code with said commodity;

receiving said content in a way which indicates that said commodity was actually produced at a time of receiving, and obtaining said first and second codes therefrom; and

,

determining from said first and second codes received by said receiving whether the content matches the second code and validating the first code only if so.

12. A method as in claim 11, further comprising billing for said commodity only when said first code is validated.

13. A method as in claim 12, further comprising taking an action that prevents said codes being can be used to automatically detect said commodity.

14. A method of automatically billing for advertising, comprising:

marking an advertisement with a code during production of said advertisement, said code indicating some aspect of the advertisement that is associated with billing;

processing said advertisement in a way which prevents a user from detecting codes on only advertisements and not on other program content, in order to prevent the user from automatically detecting presence of an advertisement; and

obtaining billing information from said code on said advertisement when said advertisement is actually transmitted.

15. A method as in claim 14, wherein said processing comprises stripping said code prior to transmission.

16. A method as in claim 14, wherein said processing comprises marking all frames of all programs with a code.

17. A method as in claim 14, further comprising determining if a code represents advertising information or does not represent advertising information, and billing for the advertising if the code represents said information.

18. A method as in claim 14, wherein said preventing comprises placing readable information in a closed captioning portion.

19. A method as in claim 14, further comprising verifying a security of the code.

20. A method as in claim 14, wherein said prevention comprises encoding said code on frames of said program using a steganographic technique.