Unified automated billing
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
- recording, by an off air recorder device that monitors and records audio streams from broadcasters on behalf of an advertising intermediary system to determine whether an ad was actually played by a selected broadcaster in a specified market, a local time when the ad was actually played by the selected broadcaster, the local time being expressed as a time and time zone information associated with the selected broadcaster;
generating, by a billing module associated with the advertising intermediary system, a station local time for the played ad by removing the time zone information from the recorded local time; and
generating, by the billing module associated with the advertising intermediary system, a billing event for an advertiser located in a different time zone from the selected broadcaster, wherein the billing event specifies the station local time in which the ad was actually played by the selected broadcaster, without specifying the time zone information.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Various aspects can be implemented for providing a unified automated billing system for offline media (e.g., radio, television, newspaper, and the like) advertising that spans across different time zones based on the concept of a station local time (e.g., the local time where the broadcast station is located) for the broadcast advertising spots. In general, one aspect can be a method that includes recording a local time for an allocated advertising spot when the ad played during the allocated advertising spot, such that the allocated advertising spot is in a broadcast time zone different from a billing time zone of the advertiser. The method also includes generating a station local time for the allocated advertising spot. The method further includes generating a billing event based on the station local time. Other implementations of this aspect include corresponding systems, apparatus, and computer program products.
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Citations
12 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
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recording, by an off air recorder device that monitors and records audio streams from broadcasters on behalf of an advertising intermediary system to determine whether an ad was actually played by a selected broadcaster in a specified market, a local time when the ad was actually played by the selected broadcaster, the local time being expressed as a time and time zone information associated with the selected broadcaster; generating, by a billing module associated with the advertising intermediary system, a station local time for the played ad by removing the time zone information from the recorded local time; and generating, by the billing module associated with the advertising intermediary system, a billing event for an advertiser located in a different time zone from the selected broadcaster, wherein the billing event specifies the station local time in which the ad was actually played by the selected broadcaster, without specifying the time zone information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A computing device comprising a computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, the stored computer program product including executable instructions causing the computing device to perform functions comprising:
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recording, on behalf of an advertising intermediary system, a local time when an ad was actually played by a selected broadcaster in a specified market, the local time being expressed as a time and time zone information associated with the selected broadcaster; generating a station local time for the played ad by removing the time zone information from the recorded local time; and generating a billing event for an advertiser located in a different time zone from the selected broadcaster, wherein the billing event specifies the station local time in which the ad was actually played by the selected broadcaster, without specifying the time zone information. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system comprising:
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an off air recorder device configured to perform operations comprising; monitoring and recording audio streams from broadcasters to determine whether an ad was actually played by a selected broadcaster in a specified market, and recording a local time when the ad was actually played by the selected broadcaster, the local time being expressed as a time and time zone information associated with the selected broadcaster; and one or more processors communicatively coupled with the off air recorder device and configured to generate billing information for an advertising campaign associated with the played ad by performing operations comprising; generating a station local time for the played ad by removing the time zone information from the recorded local time, wherein a time zone associated with the selected broadcaster is different from a billing time zone of an advertiser associated with the advertising campaign; and generating a billing event that specifies the station local time without specifying the time zone information.
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12. The system of 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to performed operations comprising:
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obtaining from an advertiser campaign criteria for the advertising campaign; allocating the advertising spot based on the campaign criteria; and interfacing with a broadcaster that broadcasts the ad.
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Specification