Method and apparatus for targeting of interactive virtual objects
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method comprising:
- assigning a plurality of interactive virtual advertisement spots to a program;
generating a retrieval plan; and
providing the retrieval plan to a terminal, wherein the retrieval plan instructs the terminal to display in one of the virtual advertisement spots an interactive virtual object selected from a ranked list of a plurality of interactive virtual objects, wherein said ranked list is determined at least by a measure of effectiveness for each one of said plurality of interactive virtual objects in each one of said plurality of interactive virtual advertisement spots, wherein each one of the plurality of interactive virtual advertisement spots is in a different spatial location in said program.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and an apparatus are used to target interactive virtual objects to subscribers in a television delivery system. Programs are selected and virtual object locations are defined in the selected programs. The virtual objects available for targeting are categorized and the categories are correlated to subscriber information to determine the optimum targeting of the virtual objects. The invention uses upstream data reception hardware, databases and processing hardware and software, and corresponding features in the televisions to accomplish these functions.
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Citations
71 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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assigning a plurality of interactive virtual advertisement spots to a program; generating a retrieval plan; and providing the retrieval plan to a terminal, wherein the retrieval plan instructs the terminal to display in one of the virtual advertisement spots an interactive virtual object selected from a ranked list of a plurality of interactive virtual objects, wherein said ranked list is determined at least by a measure of effectiveness for each one of said plurality of interactive virtual objects in each one of said plurality of interactive virtual advertisement spots, wherein each one of the plurality of interactive virtual advertisement spots is in a different spatial location in said program. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method of targeting interactive virtual objects, comprising:
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providing a program containing a plurality of interactive virtual object locations to a terminal; providing one or more of a plurality of interactive virtual objects for each one of the plurality of the interactive virtual object locations to the terminal, wherein said one or more of the plurality of interactive virtual objects are selected from a ranked list of the plurality of interactive virtual objects, said ranked list is determined at least by a measure of effectiveness for each one of said plurality of interactive virtual objects in each one of said plurality of interactive virtual object locations, and each one of the plurality of interactive virtual object locations is in a different spatial location in said program; providing a retrieval plan to the terminal, wherein the retrieval plan designates, for one or more of the plurality of interactive object locations, which of the provided one or more interactive virtual objects to display. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method comprising:
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receiving a program, a plurality of interactive virtual objects, and a retrieval plan at a terminal, wherein the program includes a plurality of interactive virtual object locations, the retrieval plan designates one or more of said plurality of interactive virtual objects to be displayed during a display of the program selected from a ranked list of said plurality of interactive virtual objects, the ranked list is determined at least by a measure of effectiveness for each one of said plurality of interactive virtual objects in each one of said plurality of interactive virtual object locations, and each one of the plurality of interactive virtual object locations is in a different spatial location in said program; and displaying one or more of the interactive virtual objects in one or more of the interactive virtual object locations of the program according to the retrieval plan. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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39. A terminal comprising:
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a network interface configured to receive a plurality of interactive virtual objects and a plurality of interactive virtual object locations and metadata an interactive virtual objects extractor processor coupled to the network interface and configured to extract the plurality of interactive virtual objects, the plurality of interactive virtual object locations and the metadata; a storage processor coupled to the extractor configured to determine which of the extracted plurality of interactive virtual objects are targeted to the terminal and save the extracted targeted interactive virtual objects in a memory; and an interactive virtual object selector processor coupled to the storage processor and configured to determine an interactive virtual object placement for one or more saved interactive virtual objects selected from a ranked list of said plurality of interactive virtual objects, wherein said ranked list is determined at least by a measure of effectiveness for each one of said plurality of interactive virtual objects in each one of said plurality of interactive virtual object locations, and each one of the plurality of interactive virtual advertisement object locations is in a different spatial location in a program. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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50. A method comprising:
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creating a package of a plurality of interactive virtual objects, wherein said plurality of interactive virtual objects are dynamic; providing the package to a plurality of terminals; generating a group assignment matrix, wherein the group assignment matrix assigns the terminals to groups; generating a retrieval plan; providing a program to one or more of the terminals, the program including a plurality of interactive virtual object locations, wherein the retrieval plan designates one or more of the plurality of interactive virtual objects to be displayed in the plurality of interactive virtual object locations during a display of the program, wherein said plurality of interactive virtual objects are selected from a ranked list of the plurality of interactive virtual objects, wherein said ranked list is determined at least by a measure of effectiveness for each one of said plurality of interactive virtual objects in each one of said plurality of interactive virtual object locations, and each one of the plurality of interactive virtual advertisement object locations is in a different spatial location in said program. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
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57. A system comprising:
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an operations center including a network interface and one or more processors configured to; provide, through a network, a program containing a plurality of interactive virtual object locations to a terminal; provide one or more of a plurality of interactive virtual objects for each one of the plurality of the interactive virtual object locations to the terminal, wherein said one or more of the plurality of interactive virtual objects are selected from a ranked list of the plurality of interactive virtual objects, wherein said ranked list is determined at least by a measure of effectiveness for each one of said plurality of interactive virtual objects in each one of said plurality of interactive virtual object locations, and each one of the plurality of interactive virtual object locations is in a different spatial location in said program; provide a retrieval plan to the terminal, wherein the retrieval plan designates, for one or more of the plurality of interactive object locations, which of the provided one or more interactive virtual objects to display; and a terminal comprising; one or more terminal network interfaces configured to receive the program, the plurality of interactive virtual objects, and the retrieval plan; an interactive virtual objects extractor processor coupled to the terminal network interfaces and configured to extract the plurality of interactive virtual objects, the plurality of interactive virtual object locations and the retrieval plan; a storage processor coupled to the extractor configured to determine which of the extracted plurality of interactive virtual objects are targeted to the terminal and save the extracted targeted interactive virtual objects in a memory; and an interactive virtual object selector processor coupled to the storage processor configured to determine an interactive virtual object placement for the one or more stored interactive virtual objects. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71)
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Specification