Advertisement swapping using an aggregator for an interactive television system
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- sending one or more television signals to a client terminal via a first channel of a communication network, wherein prior to being sent to the client terminal, the television signal includes information related to a first advertisement present in the television signal;
aggregating information related to a second advertisement;
sending at least some of the aggregated information related to the second advertisement to the client terminal via a second channel of the communication network;
correlating the information related to the first advertisement with the information related to the second advertisement;
swapping the first advertisement with the second advertisement if a subscriber has specifically requested to receive substitute advertisement services and if there is a match in the correlated information; and
replacing operative link information associated with the first advertisement with link information associated with the second advertisement by presenting the link information associated with the first advertisement to the subscriber and redirecting the subscriber according to the link information associated with the second advertisement.
12 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An aggregator is provided in connection with advertisement swapping. The aggregator can be implemented in an interactive television system so as to perform real-time aggregation of trigger information for advertisement swapping through cooperation with content providers or third-party entities. The aggregated information can then be made available to set top boxes and/or ancillary devices of subscribers. Advertisement swapping may be performed via use of the trigger information to perform channel switching to a channel that broadcasts substitute advertisements or via use of the trigger information to retrieve substitute advertisements from a storage unit. The advertisement swapping may be performed by devices of opted-in subscribers, or by devices at a broadcast center. The advertisement swapping can also include replacement of original links in the advertisements with substitute links, so that the viewer can experience interactivity and/or receive substitute interactive content associated with the substitute links.
216 Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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sending one or more television signals to a client terminal via a first channel of a communication network, wherein prior to being sent to the client terminal, the television signal includes information related to a first advertisement present in the television signal; aggregating information related to a second advertisement; sending at least some of the aggregated information related to the second advertisement to the client terminal via a second channel of the communication network; correlating the information related to the first advertisement with the information related to the second advertisement; swapping the first advertisement with the second advertisement if a subscriber has specifically requested to receive substitute advertisement services and if there is a match in the correlated information; and replacing operative link information associated with the first advertisement with link information associated with the second advertisement by presenting the link information associated with the first advertisement to the subscriber and redirecting the subscriber according to the link information associated with the second advertisement. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An article of manufacture, comprising:
a machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon to; in regards to one or more television signals sent to a client terminal via a first channel of a communication network, wherein prior to being sent to the client terminal, the television signal includes information related to a first advertisement present in the television signal, aggregate information related to a second advertisement that is to replace the first advertisement; send at least some of the aggregated information related to the second advertisement to the client terminal via a second channel of the communication network; correlate the information related to the first advertisement with the information related to the second advertisement; swap the first advertisement with the second advertisement if a subscriber has specifically requested to receive substitute advertisement services and if there is a match in the correlated information; and replace operative link information associated with the first advertisement with link information associated with the second advertisement by presenting the link information associated with the first advertisement to the subscriber and redirecting the subscriber according to the link information associated with the second advertisement. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. An apparatus, comprising:
an aggregator communicatively coupled to a broadcast center of an interactive television system, the aggregator capable of aggregating at least some information related to a substitute advertisement, the aggregator further capable of sending at least some of the aggregated information to cause a swap of the substitute advertisement in place of an original advertisement that is provided to the broadcast center if a subscriber has opted-in by specific request to receive substitute advertisement services, wherein the swap with the substitute advertisement via use of the aggregated information includes redirection of a subscriber who clicks on a link that was present in the original advertisement using a link related to the substitute advertisement. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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19. An interactive television system, comprising:
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a broadcast center to send a television signal to a client terminal via a first channel of a communication network coupled to the broadcast center, wherein prior to being sent to the client terminal, the television signal includes information related to a first advertisement present in the television signal; and an aggregator communicatively coupled to a broadcast center of an interactive television system, the aggregator capable of aggregating at least some information related to a second advertisement, the aggregator further capable of sending at least some of the aggregated information to cause a swap of the second advertisement in place of the first advertisement if a subscriber has opted-in by specific request to receive substitute advertisement services, wherein the swap of the second advertisement includes redirection of a subscriber who clicks on an operative link that was present in the first advertisement using a link related to the second advertisement. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method, comprising:
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sending one or more television signals to a client terminal via a first channel of a communication network, wherein prior to being sent to the client terminal, the television signal includes information related to a first advertisement present in the television signal, wherein the information associated with the first advertisement is sent to the client terminal along with the television signal; aggregating information related to a second advertisement; sending at least some of the aggregated information related to the second advertisement to the client terminal via a second channel of the communication network; correlating the information related to the first advertisement with the information related to the second advertisement; and swapping the first advertisement with the second advertisement if a subscriber has affirmatively elected to receive substitute advertisement services and if there is a match in the correlated information, including presenting link information associated with the first advertisement to the subscriber and upon subscriber activation of the link information, redirecting the subscriber according to link information associated with the second advertisement. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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26. An interactive television system, comprising:
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a broadcast center to send a television signal to a client terminal via a first channel of a communication network coupled to the broadcast center, wherein prior to being sent to the client terminal, the television signal includes information related to a first advertisement present in the television signal; an aggregator communicatively coupled to a broadcast center of an interactive television system, the aggregator capable of aggregating at least some information related to a second advertisement, the aggregator further capable of sending at least some of the aggregated information to cause a swap of the second advertisement in place of first advertisement, wherein the swap of the second advertisement includes a presentation of operative link information associated with the first advertisement to the subscriber and upon subscriber activation of the link information, redirection of the subscriber according to link information associated with the second advertisement; and a unit disposed at the broadcast center to receive the aggregated information from the aggregator and, based on the received aggregated information, to switch an output feed of the broadcast center to provide the second advertisement to a client terminal. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28)
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29. A method, comprising:
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sending one or more television signals to a client terminal via a first channel of a communication network having a plurality of different channels, wherein prior to being sent to the client terminal, the television signal includes information related to a first advertisement present in the television signal, the information capable of identifying the first advertisement and of demarcating the beginning and ending locations of the first advertisement in the television signal; aggregating information related to a second advertisement, the aggregated information including information indicative of one or more first advertisements for which the second advertisement is to be swapped; correlating the information related to the first advertisement with the information related to the second advertisement to determine if the first advertisement is to be swapped with the second advertisement; and swapping the first advertisement with the second advertisement if a subscriber has individually opted in to receive substitute advertisement services and if the correlated information determines that a swap is appropriate, including replacing link information associated with the first advertisement with link information associated with the second advertisement by redirecting the subscriber according to the link information associated with the second advertisement, wherein the second advertisement is swapped for the first advertisement during a time period substantially corresponding to the beginning and ending locations of the first advertisement. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
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Specification