System and method of selective advertising on a TV channel

• US 7,856,644 B2
• Filed: 12/30/2000
• Issued: 12/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Time Warner Cable Internet LLC (Charter Communications Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Road Runner Holdco, LLC (Charter Communications Incorporated)
• Inventors: Nicholson, Robert D., Saunders, Barrie A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kelley; Christopher
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brown; Reuben M
• Application Number:
  US09/753,127
• Publication Number:
  US 20020087978A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,643 Days
• Field of Search: 725 32- 37, 725/105, 725/135, 725/40, 725 60- 61, 725/110, 725/134, 725/72, 725/136, 725/91, 725/9, 725/68, 725/87, 725/131, 725/146, 382/100, 345716-719, 345/810, 709218-220
• US Class Current: 725/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/21 Server components or server architectures
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23 Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2408 Monitoring of the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. client requests monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/254 Management at additional data server, e.g. shopping server, rights management server arrangements for maintenance or administration in data networks H04L41/00; network services using third party service providers H04L67/53
• 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 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/437 Interfacing the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. for transmitting client requests to a VOD server flow control in data networks H04L47/10; streaming protocols, e.g. RTP or RTCP, H04L65/65; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests in data packet switching networks H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44213 Monitoring of end-user related data arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• 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 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6118 involving cable transmission, e.g. using a cable modem
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6156 specially adapted to the upstream path of the transmission network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• 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 7/173 : with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

A method and system for providing selective advertising on a television channel is accomplished by downloading appropriate advertisements from an advertising server to a subscriber'"'"'s set top box over an out-of-band channel. The set top box monitors for download triggers to provide advertisements to the subscriber'"'"'s set top box and advertising triggers to insert advertisements when an advertising opportunity occurs. The advertisements can be downloaded in advance of any advertising triggers to a local storage means associated with the set top box, if available.

Claims

1. A method of selecting advertising for display on a subscriber-selected television channel using a set top box comprising:

detecting an occurrence of an event at the set top box, wherein the event is selected from the group consisting of a change of channel, a change of channel coupled with continuous viewing for a minimum time period, and a change of time, wherein the change of time is indicative of the commencement of a program on the subscriber-selected television channel;

sending a download trigger signal responsive to the event from the set top box via an out-of-band-channel to a headend;

receiving the download trigger signal at the headend;

sending advertisements to the set top box in response to receipt of the download trigger signal, wherein the sending response occurs in real-time following the receiving of the download trigger signal;

storing the advertisements in a local storage of the set top box;

receiving at the set top box at a time determined at the headend an advertising trigger signal sent from the headend via the out-of-band channel; and

substituting at the set top box an advertisement retrieved from the local storage for a television broadcast feed in response to receipt of the advertising trigger signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement is appropriate to the subscriber-selected television channel.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein sending a download trigger signal from the set top box via an out-of-band-channel comprises sending a download trigger signal from the set top box via a first out-of-band-channel, and wherein receiving at the set top box an advertising trigger signal sent from the headend via the out-of-band channel comprises receiving at the set top box an advertising trigger signal sent from the headend via a second out-of-band channel.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

reading a tag, wherein the tag associates each of the advertisements with at least one of the subscriber'"'"'s subscribed television channels;

using the tag to select an advertisement associated with the subscriber-selected channel; and

substituting the selected advertisement for the broadcast feed.

5. A system for selecting advertising for display on a subscriber-selected television channel using a set top box comprising:

a cable television network;

a set top box connected to the cable television network, wherein the set top box is configured with software executable instructions to cause the set top box to perform operations comprising;

detecting the occurrence of an event, wherein the event is selected from the group consisting of a change of channel, a change of channel coupled with continuous viewing for a minimum time period, and a change of time, wherein the change of time is indicative of the commencement of a program on the subscriber-selected television channel; and

sending to the headend a download signal responsive to the event via an out-of-band-channel;

a head end comprising an advertising server, wherein the head end is configured with software executable instructions to cause the head end to perform operations comprising;

receiving the download trigger signal;

retrieving advertisements from the advertisement server; and

sending the advertisements to the set top box in response to receipt of the download trigger signal, wherein the sending response occurs in real-time following the receiving of the download trigger signal; and

sending an advertising trigger signal to the set top box at a time determined at the headend; and

wherein the set top box comprises local storage and is further configured with software executable instructions to cause the set top box to perform operations comprising;

receiving from the advertising server at the headend the advertisements;

storing the advertisements in the local storage;

receiving at a time determined at the headend an advertising trigger signal sent from the headend via the out-of-band channel; and

substituting at the set top box an advertisement retrieved from the local storage for a television broadcast feed in response to receipt of the advertising trigger signal.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the advertisement is appropriate to a subscriber-selected television channel.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the download trigger is sent via a first out-of-band channel and the advertising trigger is sent via a second out-of-band channel.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the advertisements further comprise a channel tag associating each of the advertisements with at least one of the subscriber'"'"'s subscribed television channels and wherein the set top box is further configured with software executable instructions to cause the set top box to perform operations comprising:

reading a tag;

using the tag to select an advertisement associated with the subscriber-selected television channel; and

substituting the selected advertisement for the broadcast feed.

9. A method of selecting advertising for display on a subscriber-selected television channel using a set top box comprising:

detecting an occurrence of an event at the set top box, wherein the event is selected from the group consisting of a change of channel, a change of channel coupled with continuous viewing for a minimum time period, and a change of time, wherein the change of time is indicative of the commencement of a program on the subscriber-selected television channel;

sending a download trigger signal responsive to the event from the set top box via an out-of-band-channel to a headend;

receiving the download trigger signal at the headend;

sending advertisements to the set top box in response to receipt of the download trigger signal, wherein the sending response occurs in real-time following the receiving of the download trigger signal;

receiving at the set top box the advertisements from the headend;

making a determination whether the set top box has sufficient local storage capacity to store the retrieved advertisements;

when the set top box has sufficient local storage capacity to store the retrieved advertisements, then;

storing the retrieved advertisements in the local storage capacity;

receiving at the set top box at a time determined at the headend an advertising trigger signal sent from the headend via the out-of-band channel; and

substituting at the set top box an advertisement retrieved from the memory for a television

broadcast feed in response to receipt of the advertising trigger signal; and

when the set top box has insufficient memory to store the retrieved advertisements then;

selecting at the advertising server an advertisement; and

serving the advertisement to the set top box via an in-band channel for display on a television connected to the set top box in real-time.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein sending a download trigger signal from the set top box via an out-of-band-channel comprises sending a download trigger signal from the set top box via a first out-of-band-channel, and wherein receiving at the set top box an advertising trigger signal sent from the headend via the out-of-band channel comprises receiving at the set top box an advertising trigger signal sent from the headend via a second out-of-band channel.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the advertisement is appropriate to the subscriber-selected television channel.

12. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

reading a tag, wherein the tag associates each of the advertisements with at least one of the subscriber'"'"'s subscribed television channels;

using the tag to select an advertisement associated with the subscriber-selected channel; and

substituting the selected advertisement for the broadcast feed.