Grouping advertisement subavails

• US 7,331,057 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2000
• Issued: 02/12/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Prime Research Alliance E, LLC
• Original Assignee: Prime Research Alliance E., Inc.
• Inventors: Flickinger, Gregory C., Blasko, John P., Eldering, Charles A.
• Primary Examiner(s): BUI, KIEU OANH T
• Application Number:
  US09/750,812
• Publication Number:
  US 20020087980A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,602 Days
• Field of Search: 725/32, 725/34, 725/35, 725/36, 705/10
• US Class Current: 725/32
• 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 21/2543 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 21/25883 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 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/262 Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists scheduling strategies for dispatcher in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/4881; arrangements for scheduling broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/06; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a time schedule or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/62
• 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 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Method and system for creating one or more advertising avail sections (subavails) and thereupon aggregating the subavails to form one or more groups of subavails. The advertisement opportunities (avails) may be divided into sections (subavails) with each section being directed at a particular target audience (group). The subavails are then aggregated into one or more groups of subavails so that the groups of subavails can be sold to the advertisers. The grouping of subavails is generally based on a correlation wherein the subavails are characterized based on one or more characteristics. The groups of subavails are formed based on one or more shared characteristics. The advertiser has an option to buy a group of subavails (rather than an avail in prior art), whereby the advertiser may reach a targeted group of an audience.

Claims

1. A method of managing advertisement opportunities or avails in a television network environment, the method comprising:

(a) recognizing one or more advertisement opportunities, each advertisement opportunity having an expected viewership;

(b) creating a plurality of subavails based on the recognized advertisement opportunities, wherein each subavail is directed at a target audience group and each subavail is associated with a portion of the expected viewership of its corresponding advertisement opportunity; and

(c) generating one or more groups of subavails by aggregating the plurality of subavails from at least two of the advertisement opportunities, wherein at least one of the groups of subavails has a total expected viewership greater than or equal to the expected viewership of one of the advertisement opportunities from which the subavails in the at least one group originated.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(d) selling the groups of subavails to one or more prospective advertisers.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

(e) receiving one or more bids for each group of subavails; and

(f) selling the group of subavails to the highest bidder.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(d) gathering one or more subscriber characteristics of the target audience group; and

(e) correlating the subscriber characteristics to the groups of subavails.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

(f) determining pricing for the groups of subavails based on the correlation.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

(g) selling the groups of subavails based on the determined pricing.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

(f) transmitting the correlation results to one or more prospective advertisers;

(g) receiving one or more bids for each group of subavails; and

(h) selling the group of sub avails to the highest bidder.

8. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

(f) receiving information about one or more advertisements to be placed in the subavails;

(g) characterizing the advertisements; and

(h) inserting the advertisements in the subavails based on a correlation of the advertisements and the subscriber groups.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the subavails are grouped by combining a plurality of subavails across different channels.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the subavails are grouped by combining a plurality of time-sequenced subavails.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the subavails are gathered from a channel.

12. An advertisement management system for managing advertisement opportunities or avails in a television network environment, the system comprising:

an advertisement opportunities recognition module configured to recognize advertisement opportunities, each advertisement opportunity having an expected viewership;

a subavail generation module configured to create a plurality of subavails based on the recognized advertisement opportunities, wherein each subavail is directed at a target audience group and each subavail is associated with a portion of the expected viewership of its corresponding advertisement opportunity; and

a grouping module configured to create one or more groups of subavails by aggregating the plurality of subavails from at least two of the advertisement opportunities, wherein at least one of the groups of subavails has a total expected viewership greater than or equal to the expected viewership of one of the advertisement opportunities from which the subavails in the at least one group originated.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a sales module configured to sell the groups of subavails to one or more prospective advertisers.

14. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

a subscriber characterization module configured to gather subscriber characteristics; and

a correlation module configured to correlate the subscriber characteristics to the groups of subavails.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the correlation module correlates the subscriber characteristics to advertisements.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the subavails are grouped by combining a plurality of subavails across different channels.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the subavails are grouped by combining a plurality of time-sequenced subavails.