Targeted advertising using object identification

• US 8,069,081 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2008
• Issued: 11/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Mettifogo, Gionata, Migos, Charles, Neufeld, Nadav M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarae; Michelle
• Application Number:
  US12/236,215
• Publication Number:
  US 20100076828A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,162 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14, 705/14.49
• US Class Current: 705/14.49
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0252 based on events or environment, e.g. weather or festivals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• 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 21/4725 using interactive regions of the image, e.g. hot spots details of information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

Targeted advertising using object identification techniques is described. In an implementation, an object is identified by a client that is placed on a surface of the client. An advertisement is located that corresponds to the identified object and is output.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a client, an identity for an object placed on a scanning surface of the client by scanning the object using the scanning surface of the client;

locating an advertisement that corresponds to the identity for the object; and

displaying the advertisement on the scanning surface.

2. A method as described in claim 1, wherein:

the client has a form factor of a table; and

the scanning surface is included as part of a table top of the client.

3. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the determining is performed through image recognition performed using one or more cameras of the client that are located below the scanning surface of the client.

4. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the determining is performed, at least in part, through barcode scanning or optical character recognition of at least a portion of the object.

5. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the determining is performed, at least in part, using one or more radio frequency identification techniques.

6. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the locating is performed to select from one or more advertisements that are stored locally on the client.

7. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the locating is performed to select from one or more advertisements that are stored remotely from the client over a network.

8. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the displaying of the advertisement is performed to correspond to an output of television content on another client.

9. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the displaying of the advertisement is performed to correspond to an output of one or more webpages.

10. A method as described in claim 1, wherein the displaying is performed to cause another client that is located proximally to the client to display the advertisement.

11. A method as described in claim 10, wherein the other client that is located proximally to the client is configured to display the advertisement in conjunction with television content.

12. A method as described in claim 1, wherein:

the object is a printed advertisement; and

the advertisement is to be output to a television, which is located proximally to the client, to display the advertisement.

13. A method comprising:

identifying each of a plurality of objects that have been placed on a surface of a client by scanning the objects using the surface of the client;

storing an identity of each of the plurality of objects; and

targeting output of one or more advertisements to correspond to the stored identities such that the one or more advertisements are displayed on the surface.

14. A method as described in claim 13, wherein the targeting is performed such that the one or more advertisements are output for display on a television that is connected to the client via a local network connection.

15. A client comprising:

a surface configured to display content; and

one or more modules to;

cause one or more objects that are placed on the surface to be scanned using the surface;

determine an identity for the one or more objects based on the one or more objects being scanned using the surface; and

target output of one or more advertisements to correspond to the identified one or more objects such that the one or more advertisements are displayed on the surface.

16. A client as described in claim 15, wherein the surface is included as a part of a housing having a form factor of a table.

17. A client as described in claim 15, wherein the one or more modules are further configured to display a user interface on the surface that is manipulable by a plurality of users concurrently by touching the surface.

18. A client as described in claim 15, wherein the one or more modules include:

a rear-projection system to display the image on the surface;

one or more infrared projectors to project infrared light on the surface;

one or more infrared cameras to capture infrared images of the surface; and

a detection module to process the infrared images to detect the one or more objects.