Interactive television advertising method
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of using a communications device that is disposed at a user location of a user and communicatively coupled to the Internet and to a television having a television display for displaying television programming, comprising:
- receiving a plurality of advertising icons via the Internet and wherein each of the plurality of advertising icons is representative of a company or product;
receiving one or more advertisements and wherein at least some of the received advertisements are associated with at least one of the plurality of advertising icons;
displaying the plurality of advertising icons overlaying television programming displayed on the television display and wherein the displayed advertising icon is not integrated with an electronic program guide;
receiving a user input indicating that a displayed advertising icon has been selected; and
in response to receiving the user input, displaying an advertisement associated with the selected advertising icon on the television display.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of providing advertising from a central database server connected to a global computer network to distributed sites via interactive television. A representative icon is presented to a subscriber on a television screen indicating an advertisement. When a the icon is selected, an advertisement information detail is retrieved from storage in a local memory, or from the central database server and presented to the subscriber on the television screen.
81 Citations
54 Claims
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1. A method of using a communications device that is disposed at a user location of a user and communicatively coupled to the Internet and to a television having a television display for displaying television programming, comprising:
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receiving a plurality of advertising icons via the Internet and wherein each of the plurality of advertising icons is representative of a company or product; receiving one or more advertisements and wherein at least some of the received advertisements are associated with at least one of the plurality of advertising icons; displaying the plurality of advertising icons overlaying television programming displayed on the television display and wherein the displayed advertising icon is not integrated with an electronic program guide; receiving a user input indicating that a displayed advertising icon has been selected; and in response to receiving the user input, displaying an advertisement associated with the selected advertising icon on the television display. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of providing advertisements using a plurality of communications devices disposed at a plurality of user locations and wherein the communications devices are communicatively coupled to a television, comprising:
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transmitting a plurality of advertising icons to each of the plurality of communications devices and wherein each of the plurality of advertising icons is representative of a company or product; transmitting one or more advertisements to each of the plurality of communications devices and wherein each advertising icon has an associated advertisement; wherein the advertising icons are configured to be displayed overlaying television programming on a display of the television and not integrated with an electronic program guide; and wherein each of the communications devices is configured to receive a user input indicating that a displayed advertising icon has been selected and, in response, to display the associated advertisement on the display of the television. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A method of using a communications device that is disposed at a user location and communicatively coupled to a television, comprising:
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receiving a plurality of advertising icons and wherein each of the plurality of advertising icons is representative of a company or product; receiving one or more advertisements and wherein each of the one or more advertisements is associated with at least one of the plurality of advertising icons; displaying an advertising icon overlaying television programming on a display of the television and wherein the displayed advertising icon is not integrated with an electronic program guide; receiving a user input indicating that the displayed advertising icon has been selected; and in response to receiving said user input, displaying an advertisement associated with the selected advertising icon on the display of the television. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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43. A communication device configured to be communicatively coupled to a television at a user location of a user, comprising:
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a user input device operable to receive a user input; a memory; a first port configured to communicate; a processor in communication with said memory and said first port and configured to receive communications from said user input device; and wherein said processor is configured to; receive an advertising icon and an associated advertisement via said first port and wherein the advertising icon is representative of a company or product; store said advertising icon in said memory; display the advertising icon overlaying television programming on a display of the television and wherein the displayed advertising icon is not integrated with an electronic program guide; receive via the user input device a user selection of the displayed advertising icon, and in response to the user selection, display the advertisement associated with the selected advertising icon on the display of the television. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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Specification