System and method for selective insertion of content into streaming media

• US 7,203,758 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2001
• Issued: 04/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: RPX Corporation
• Original Assignee: Loudeye Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Anderson, Gregory D., Cook, David H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia; Rupal
• Assistant Examiner(s): Taylor; Nicholas R.
• Application Number:
  US10/047,511
• Publication Number:
  US 20030018966A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,999 Days
• Field of Search: 709/231, 725/35, 725/36, 725/93
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/222 Secondary servers, e.g. proxy server, cable television Head-end provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23106 involving caching operations prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23424 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/235 Processing of additional data, e.g. scrambling of additional data or processing content descriptors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2407 Monitoring of transmitted content, e.g. distribution time, number of downloads arrangements for monitoring programmes for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26258 for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list retrieval of multimedia data based on playlists G06F16/40
• 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 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6125 involving transmission via Internet transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8106 involving special audio data, e.g. different tracks for different languages
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8543 using a description language, e.g. Multimedia and Hypermedia information coding Expert Group [MHEG], eXtensible Markup Language [XML] information retrieval of semistructured data, the underlying structure being taken into account, e.g. mark-up language structure data G06F16/80
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Method and system for server side insertion of rich content into a media stream uses an insertion plugin to redirect users'"'"' requests for streaming media through a server, and operates on either live broadcasts or on demand playlists. The live broadcast identifies impending local interrupt breaks and seamlessly inserts content chosen to match user attributes. The on demand implementation broadcasts a playlist of encoded content including predetermined file content and additional rich content inserted based on user attributes as selected by a decision engine. The insertion of content can be performed on already encoded media. In one embodiment, time matching is performed to avoid rebuffering.

Claims

1. A method for server side insertion of content into streaming media including the steps of

providing a streaming server;

associating an insertion plugin with the streaming server;

generating a command which includes indicia for locating content desired by a user and indicia for locating a source for content to be inserted; and

removing and replacing by the insertion plugin, in response to a signal associated with the content desired by the user, packets of content to be inserted for packets of the content desired by the user without requiring a re-buffering between the packets of content to be inserted and the content desired by the user; and

adjusting the time of at least one packet of content to be inserted to match the time of at least one substituted packet of content desired by the user,

wherein the substituting step is carried out an edge server.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the generated command further includes indicia reflective of the user.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the location of the content desired by the user is identified by a URL.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the location of the content desired by the user is defined by a network address.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the location of the content desired by the user is identified by an XML playlist.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the substituting is based on a playlist file on the streaming server determined by a decision server.

3. A method for matching the timing of content inserted into a data stream with breaks in the data stream comprising:

prefetching the content to be inserted into the data stream;

storing the prefetched content on a local server;

identifying a starting point for a break in the data stream;

establishing an offset between the starting point of the break and an initial packet of the prefetched content, the offset being subtracted from a timestamp associated with the initial packet of the prefetched content;

removing from the data stream packets corresponding to a length of the break;

inserting the prefetched packets into the data stream to replace the removed packets without requiring a re-buffering between the prefetched packets and the data stream; and

adjusting the time of at least one inserted packet to match the time of at least one removed packet,

wherein the establishing and inserting steps are carried out at an edge server.

4. The method of claim 3 further including adjusting the time of a plurality of inserted packets to match the time of a plurality of removed packets.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the data stream is a live broadcast.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the data stream is an on demand broadcast.

10. A system for inserting content into streaming media comprising

a streaming server for receiving content in the form of streaming media and passing it to a client;

an insertion plugin associated with the streaming server for redirecting the streaming media and capable of recognizing an impending break in a media stream, wherein the insertion plugin is located at a server side;

a source of content to be inserted proximate to the streaming server;

a decision server responsive to the impending break in the media stream for directing the insertion of content from the source of content to be inserted into the media stream for substantially the duration of the break, wherein data packets of the content received from the streaming server that corresponds to a length of the break are removed and are replaced by the content to be inserted by the insertion plugin without requiring a re-buffering between the media stream and the content to be inserted; and

a schedule engine providing an interface between the insertion plugin and the decision server for making a request to the decision server, receiving and parsing a playlist file from the decision server, and downloading content associated with the playlist file.

11. The system of claim 10 further including a counter for identifying the number of times a universe of users sees a particular item of inserted content.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the playlist file contains at least one of a local pre-recorded file, an advertisement, and a next request that are different types of items to be played.