Providing content interruptions

• US 7,263,714 B2
• Filed: 01/18/2001
• Issued: 08/28/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BlackArrow Inc.
• Original Assignee: BlackArrow Inc.
• Inventors: Rashkovskiy, Oleg B., Lowthert, Jonathan E.
• Primary Examiner(s): BUI, KIEU OANH T
• Application Number:
  US09/764,748
• Publication Number:
  US 20020095674A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,413 Days
• Field of Search: 725/32, 725 34- 36, 725 37- 44, 725 88- 90, 725/102, 725/92, 725/93, 725/139, 725/151, 386/46, 386/125, 386/126, 386/124
• US Class Current: 725/139
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• 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 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• 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 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

Content which users may wish to receive may be distributed with interrupting content such that the use of the content on the user'"'"'s receiver may be interrupted and replaced with the interrupting content. The content which the user wishes to receive may be software, audio, video, graphics or other material and the interrupting content in one embodiment of the prevent invention may be advertisements. In this way, the user'"'"'s receiver may be utilized to determine when it is appropriate to interrupt the interruptible content with the interrupting content. This may provide a convenient mechanism for reduced price or free distribution of a wide variety of media currently provided only in physical form or only for free without any compensation to the content provider.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving content and an advertisement on an end-user'"'"'s receiver;

storing said content and said advertisement in a local cache coupled to said receiver;

accessing said cached content to use the cached content in a playback mode;

during the playback of said content, detecting a change in the access to said content from said playback mode to another mode;

in response to said detecting, retrieving an advertisement from said cache to display said advertisement during said another mode; and

collecting information to enable a credit to the content provider for the advertisement displayed during said another mode.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting a change in the access to said content includes detecting a pause in the playback of said content.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein accessing said cached content includes receiving instructions to control the storage of said content, and controlling access to said content in accordance with said instructions.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein accessing said cached content includes receiving instructions to limit the number of times the content may be accessed for use.

5. The method of claim 1 including identifying content used on the receiver and the advertisement displayed by the receiver, and collecting information to enable a credit to a content provider for said displayed advertisement.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein identifying includes identifying content and an advertisement based on a time relationship between the used content and the displayed advertisement.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein identifying includes identifying the order in which said content was selected for use and said advertisement was displayed to determine if said advertisement and said content are to be associated.

8. The method of claim 5 including reporting, to a remote processor-based system, information to enable crediting a particular content provider based on the advertisement displayed in association with the content provider'"'"'s used content item.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein collecting information includes receiving a user content selection and identifying an advertisement to associate with said content.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein collecting information includes collecting information about the frequency in which a content item is selected for use on said receiver.

11. A medium for storing instructions that, when executed, enable a processor-based system to:

receive content and an advertisement on a receiver that is under the control of a consumer of the content;

store said content, including an interruptible content portion, and said advertisement in a local cache coupled to said receiver, said storage to enable repetitive retrieval of said content item by said end user;

find a place to insert said advertisement while said portion is still stored in said cache;

identify content used on the receiver and the advertisement inserted by the receiver; and

report, to a remote processor based system, information to credit a particular content provider based on the advertisement inserted in said content portion and output for display.

12. The medium of claim 11 further storing instructions that, when executed, enable the receiver to associate a displayed advertisement and content item based on a temporal relationship.

13. The medium of claim 12 further storing instructions that, when executed, enable the receiver to accrue a credit to the provider of content that is temporally proximate to the advertisement.

14. The medium of claim 13 further storing instructions that, when executed, enable the receiver to accrue credit to a content provider based on the amount of content selected for play on said receiver.

15. The medium of claim 14 further storing instructions that, when executed, enable the receiver to report to a remote processor-based system information about what content was played with an advertisement.

16. The medium of claim 15 further storing instructions that, when executed, enable the receiver to select an advertisement based in part on the content being played on said receiver.

17. The medium of claim 11 further storing instructions that, when executed, enable the receiver to receive a user content selection and identify an advertisement to associate with said content.

18. The medium of claim 11 further storing instructions that, when executed, enable a processor-based system to enable a variety of content to be selected for play at any time.

19. The medium of claim 11 further storing instructions that, when executed, enable a processor-based system to allow playback of content stored on said receiver according to instructions stored on said receiver.

20. The medium of claim 19 further storing instructions that, when executed, enable a processor-based system to playback content stored on said receiver according to instructions that allow access to said content only at certain times.

21. A system comprising:

a personal-use receiver to receive content from a plurality of content providers and to receive a plurality of advertisements;

a local cache, coupled to said receiver, to store said content, said plurality of advertisements, and instructions, said instructions to enable said receiver to detect, during play of a particular content item selected from said local cache, an interruption in the access of said particular content item from said local cache, the interruption based on a user'"'"'s unique pattern of usage of the particular content item and said instructions to enable the receiver to collect information to enable a credit to the content provider that provided the particular content item for an advertisement displayed in association with said particular content item; and

an interface, in said receiver, to insert an advertisement for display in response to detecting the interruption in the access to the particular content item.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein said system is a television receiver.

23. The system of claim 21 wherein said cache stores instructions that enable the receiver to identify an advertisement that is displayed proximate in time to the particular content item.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein said cache stores instructions that enable the receiver to accrue credit to the provider of content that is proximate to the advertisement.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein said cache stores instructions that enable the receiver to accrue credit to a content provider based upon the amount of content selected for play on the receiver.

26. The system of claim 21 wherein said cache stores instructions that enable the receiver to report to a remote processor-based system information about what content was played with which associated one or more advertisements.

27. The cache of claim 26 further storing instructions that enable the receiver to receive a user content selection and identify an advertisement to associate with the content.

28. The system of claim 21 wherein said receiver to insert the advertisement in said content in response to the detection of a pause in the playback of said content.

29. The system of claim 21 wherein said interface to allow limited access to said particular content item.

30. The system of claim 21 wherein the receiver enables a variety of different content types to be selected for play at any time.

31. The system of claim 21 wherein said receiver to prevent access to said cached content item after said interruption until play of at least one advertisement is completed.