Methods, apparatuses, and systems for presenting advertisement content within trick files

• US 8,079,052 B2
• Filed: 07/14/2004
• Issued: 12/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vecima Networks Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Concurrent Computer Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Michael, Bradley, Bruce R.
• Primary Examiner(s): SHEPARD, JUSTIN E
• Application Number:
  US10/891,460
• Publication Number:
  US 20060080167A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,708 Days
• Field of Search: 725/32
• US Class Current: 725/88
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses and systems for inserting advertisement segments into trick content. Advertisement segments present in the original video content are extracted from the video content and merged with other navigation segements to generate associated trick content. The advertisement segment may be inserted into the trick files may be displayed at their normal playback speed, a different apparent playback speed, or displayed in a different direction. Additionally, alternative content of the advertisement segment may be inserted into the advertisement segment to provide specialized versions of the advertisement content to be displayed in trick content mode, or the content may be completely different fro the original advertisement content, such as session specific advertisement content or even user specific advertisement content based on user preferences.

Claims

1. A method for generating trick content, comprising:

extracting, with a video extractor unit, a plurality of video portions from source content, wherein each video portion comprises either program content or two or more original advertisements;

extracting, with a navigation extractor unit, a navigation segment from each video portion;

extracting, with an advertisement extractor unit, the two or more original advertisements from the source content containing advertisement content;

replacing at least one, but not all, of the two or more original advertisements with an alternative advertisement;

combining, with a navigation content editor, the two or more original advertisements and the navigation segments extracted from the source content into trick content, wherein the original advertisements are configured to appear to playback at an original playback speed and the navigation segments are configured to appear to playback at a different apparent playback speed; and

restamping, with a restamping unit, the trick content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracting of the one or more original advertisements comprises extracting the one or more advertisements from the video portions containing advertisement content.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the navigation segments extracted from the one or more original advertisements; and

removing the navigation segments extracted from the one or more original advertisements.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the video portions of the alternative advertisement.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the audio portions of the alternative advertisement.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an audio advertisement.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement that appears to be displayed at a different speed than the trick content associated with the program content.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternative content comprises content that may appear to be played in a direction opposite to the direction of trick content associated with the program content.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises a barker video.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement directed to a specific premises device.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

12. The method of claim 3, further comprising remultiplexing the one or more advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein combining the one or more original advertisements with the navigation segments comprises:

preserving the location in the source content of each navigation segment extracted from the one or more original advertisements;

determining a corresponding location range for each advertisement;

removing each navigation segment that has the same corresponding locations within the source content as the location range of each advertisement; and

merging the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments to form the trick content.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the extracting the one or more advertisements comprises extracting the one or more advertisements from the video portions containing advertisement content.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement that appears to be displayed at a different speed than the trick content associated with the program content.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises content that may appear to be displayed in a direction opposite to the direction of the trick content associated with the program content.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises a barker video.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement directed to a specific premises device.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the video portions of the alternative advertisement.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the audio portions of the alternative advertisement.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an audio advertisement.

24. The method of claim 14, further comprising remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

25. The method of claim 14, wherein merging the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments comprises sorting the advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in ascending order.

26. The method of claim 14, wherein merging the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments comprises sorting the advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in descending order.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein combining the one or more original advertisements with the navigation segments comprises:

determining the navigation segments with the same corresponding locations as the one or more original advertisements;

appending each advertisement to the first navigation segment with the same corresponding location in the source content;

removing the navigation segments with the same corresponding location in the source content as the advertisement; and

merging the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments to form the trick content.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein merging the advertisement and the remaining navigation segments comprises sorting the advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in ascending order.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein merging the advertisement and the remaining navigation segments comprises sorting the advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in descending order.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein determining the navigation segments with the same corresponding location as the advertisement, comprises:

calculating a location range of the advertisement;

comparing the location of the navigation segments within the source content to the calculated location range for the advertisement; and

removing the navigation segments whose location lies within the calculated location range.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein calculating the location range comprises:

determining the corresponding location of the advertisement within the source content;

determining whether an advertisement contains a value corresponding to a length of the advertisement within the source content;

adding the length to the corresponding location if the advertisement contains a value indicating the length; and

calculating the length of the advertisement within the source content.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein calculating the length, comprises inferring the length from the bit rate of the advertisement if the advertisement does not contains a value indicating the length.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein calculating the length, comprises inferring the length from the data size of the advertisement.

34. A method for generating trick content, comprising:

extracting with a video extractor unit a plurality of video portions from source content, wherein each video portion comprises either program content or two or more original advertisements;

extracting with a navigation extractor unit a navigation segment from each video portion comprising program content;

extracting with an advertisement extractor unit the two or more original advertisements from the source content containing advertisement content;

replacing a portion of the original advertisements with an alternative advertisement;

combining with a navigation content editor the two or more original advertisements extracted from the source content and the navigation segments into trick content, wherein the original advertisements are configured to appear to playback at an original playback speed and the navigation segments are configured to appear to playback at a different apparent playback speed; and

restamping with a restamping unit the trick content.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the one or more original advertisements comprises the video portion of the advertisement.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement that appears to be displayed at a different speed than the trick content associated with the program content.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein the alternative content comprises content that may appear to be played in a direction opposite to the direction of trick content associated with the program content.

38. The method of claim 34, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises a barker video.

39. The method of claim 34, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement directed to a specific premises device.

40. The method of claim 34, further comprising remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

41. The method of claim 34, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the video portions of the alternative advertisement.

42. The method of claim 34, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the audio portions of the alternative advertisement.

43. The method of claim 34, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an audio advertisement.

44. The method of claim 34, further comprising remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

45. The method of claim 34, wherein combining the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments comprises sorting the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in ascending order.

46. The method of claim 35, wherein combining the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments comprises sorting the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in descending order.

47. An apparatus, comprising:

a video extractor unit operable for extracting a plurality of video portions from source content, wherein each video portion comprises either program content or two or more original advertisements;

a navigation segment extractor unit operable for extracting a navigation segment from each video portion;

an advertisement detector/extractor unit operable for extracting the two or more original advertisements from the source content containing advertisement content;

a navigation content editor unit operable for combining the two or more original advertisements extracted from the source content and the navigation segments into trick content, wherein the original advertisements are configured to appear to playback at an original playback speed and the navigation segments are configured to appear to playback at a different apparent playback speed, wherein the navigation content editor is further operable for replacing at least one, but not all, of the two or more original advertisements with an alternative advertisement; and

a restamping/remultiplexing unit operable for restamping the trick content.

48. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the advertisement detector/extractor unit is further operable for extracting one or more original advertisements from the video portions containing advertisement content.

49. The apparatus of claim 47 wherein the navigation content editor unit is further operable for:

identifying the navigation segments extracted from the one or more original advertisements; and

removing the navigation segments extracted from the one or more original advertisements.

50. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the video portions of the alternative advertisement.

51. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the audio portions of the alternative advertisement.

52. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an audio advertisement.

53. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement that appears to be displayed at a different speed than the trick content associated with the program content.

54. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises content that may appear to be played in a direction opposite to the direction of trick content associated with the program content.

55. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises a barker video.

56. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises content directed to a specific premises device.

57. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein restamper/remultiplexer unit is further operable for remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

58. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein restamper/remultiplexer unit is further operable for remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

59. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein restamper/remultiplexer unit is further operable for remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

60. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein combining the one or more original advertisements with the navigation segments comprises:

preserving the location in the source content of each navigation segment extracted from the one or more original advertisements;

determining a corresponding location range for each advertisement;

removing each navigation segment that has the same corresponding locations within the source content as the location range of each advertisement; and

merging the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments to form the trick content.

61. The apparatus of claim 59, wherein the advertisement detector/extractor unit is further operable for extracting one or more original advertisements from the video portions containing advertisement content.

62. The apparatus of claim 59, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement that appears to be displayed at a different speed than the trick content associated with the program content.

63. The apparatus of claim 59, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises content that may appear to be displayed in a direction opposite to the direction of the trick content associated with the program content.

64. The apparatus of claim 59, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises a barker video.

65. The apparatus of claim 59, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement directed to a specific premises device.

66. The apparatus of claim 59, further comprising remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

67. The apparatus of claim 59, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the video portions of the alternative advertisement.

68. The apparatus of claim 59, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the audio portions of the alternative advertisement.

69. The apparatus of claim 59, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an audio advertisement.

70. The apparatus of claim 60, wherein the restamper/remultiplexer unit is further operable for remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

71. The apparatus of claim 60, wherein merging the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments comprises sorting the advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in ascending order.

72. The apparatus of claim 60, wherein merging the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments comprises sorting the advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in descending order.

73. The apparatus of claim 47, wherein combining the one or more original advertisements with the navigation segments comprises:

determining the navigation segments with the same corresponding locations as the one or more original advertisements;

appending each advertisement to the first navigation segment with the same corresponding location in the source content;

removing the navigation segments with the same corresponding location in the source content as the advertisement; and

merging the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments to form the trick content.

74. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein merging the advertisement and the remaining navigation segments comprises sorting the advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in ascending order.

75. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein merging the advertisement and the remaining navigation segments comprises sorting the advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in descending order.

76. The apparatus of claim 73, wherein determining the navigation segments with the same corresponding location as the advertisement, comprises:

calculating a location range of the advertisement;

comparing the location of the navigation segments within the source content to the calculated location range for the advertisement; and

removing the navigation segments whose location lies within the calculated location range.

77. The apparatus of claim 76, wherein calculating the location range comprises:

determining the corresponding location of the advertisement within the source content;

determining whether an advertisement contains a value corresponding to a length of the advertisement within the source content;

adding the length to the corresponding location if the advertisement contains a value indicating the length; and

calculating the length of the advertisement within the source content.

78. The apparatus of claim 76, wherein calculating the length, comprises inferring the length from the bit rate of the advertisement if the advertisement does not contains a value indicating the length.

79. The apparatus of claim 77, wherein calculating the length, comprises inferring the length from the data size of the advertisement.

80. An apparatus, comprising:

a video extractor unit operable for extracting a plurality of video portions from source content, wherein each video portion comprises either program content or two or more original advertisements;

a navigation segment extractor unit operable for extracting a navigation segment from each video portion comprising program content;

an advertisement detector/extractor unit operable for extracting the two or more original advertisements from the source content containing advertisement content;

a navigation content editor unit operable for combining the two or more original advertisements extracted from the source content and the navigation segments into trick content, wherein the original advertisements are configured to appear to playback at an original playback speed and the navigation segments are configured to appear to playback at a different apparent playback speed, wherein the navigation content editor is further operable for replacing a portion of the advertisements with an alternative advertisement; and

a restamping/remultiplexing unit operable for restamping the trick content.

81. The apparatus of claim 80, wherein the advertisement detector/extractor unit is further operable for extracting one or more original advertisements from the video portions containing advertisement content.

82. The apparatus of claim 80, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement that appears to be displayed at a different speed than the trick content associated with the program content.

83. The apparatus of claim 80, wherein the alternative content comprises content that may appear to be played in a direction opposite to the direction of trick content associated with the program content.

84. The apparatus of claim 80, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises a barker video.

85. The apparatus of claim 80, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement directed to a specific premises device.

86. The apparatus of claim 80, wherein the restamper/remultiplexer unit is further operable for remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

87. The apparatus of claim 80, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the video portions of the alternative advertisement.

88. The apparatus of claim 80, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the audio portions of the alternative advertisement.

89. The apparatus of claim 80, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an audio advertisement.

90. The apparatus of claim 80, wherein the restamper/remultiplexer unit is further operable for remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

91. The apparatus of claim 80, wherein combining the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments comprises sorting the one or more original advertisement and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in ascending order.

92. The apparatus of claim 80, wherein combining the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments comprises sorting the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in descending order.

93. A system, comprising:

a content receiver operable for receiving source content;

a content manager, comprising;

a video extractor unit operable for extracting a plurality of video portions from the source content, wherein each video portion contains either program content or two or more original advertisements;

a navigation segment extractor unit operable for extracting a navigation segment from each video portion;

an advertisement detector/extractor unit for;

identifying source content comprising two or more original advertisements; and

extracting the one or more original advertisements from the source content;

a navigation content editor unit operable for merging the two or more original advertisements extracted from the source content and navigation segments into trick content, wherein the original advertisements are configured to appear to playback at an original playback speed and the navigation segments are configured to appear to playback at a different apparent playback speed, the navigation content editor further being operable for replacing at least one of the one or more, but not all, original advertisements with an alternative advertisement;

a restamper/remultiplexer unit operable for restamping the trick content into a trick content; and

a plurality of content storage devices operable for storing the trick content.

94. The apparatus of claim 93, wherein the advertisement detector/extractor unit is further operable for extracting one or more original advertisements from the video portions containing advertisement content.

95. The system of claim 93, further comprising:

a plurality of video streaming engines for streaming the trick content stored on the plurality of content storage devices over a distributed network; and

a plurality of premises devices operable for receiving the trick content over the distributed network and displaying the trick content at a user site.

96. The system of claim 93, wherein the navigation content editor is further operable for:

identifying the navigation segments extracted from the one or more original advertisements; and

removing the navigation segments extracted from the one or more original advertisements.

97. The system of claim 93, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement that appears to be displayed at a different speed than the trick content associated with the program content.

98. The system of claim 93, wherein the alternative content comprises content that may appear to be played in a direction opposite to the direction of trick content associated with the program content.

99. The system of claim 93, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises a barker video.

100. The system of claim 93, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement directed to a specific premises device.

101. The system of claim 97, further comprising remultiplexing the one or more advertisement and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

102. The apparatus of claim 97, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the video portions of the alternative advertisement.

103. The apparatus of claim 97, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the audio portions of the alternative advertisement.

104. The apparatus of claim 97, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an audio advertisement.

105. The system of claim 95, wherein the restamper/remultiplexer unit further is further operable for remultiplexing the one or more advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

106. The system of claim 93, wherein the restamper/remultiplexer unit is further operable for remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

107. The system of claim 93, wherein combining the one or more original advertisements with the navigation segments comprises:

preserving the location in the source content of each navigation segment extracted from the one or more original advertisements;

determining a corresponding location range for each advertisement;

removing each navigation segment that has the same corresponding locations within the source content as the location range of each advertisement; and

merging the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments to form the trick content.

108. The system of claim 107, wherein the advertisement detector/extractor unit is further operable for extracting one or more original advertisements from the video portions containing advertisement content.

109. The system of claim 107, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement that appears to be displayed at a different speed than the trick content associated with the program content.

110. The system of claim 107, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises content that may appear to be displayed in a direction opposite to the direction of the trick content associated with the program content.

111. The system of claim 107, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises a barker video.

112. The system of claim 107, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement directed to a specific premises device.

113. The system of claim 107, wherein the restamper/remultiplexer unit is further operable for remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

114. The system of claim 107, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the video portions of the alternative advertisement.

115. The system of claim 107, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the audio portions of the alternative advertisement.

116. The system of claim 107, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an audio advertisement.

117. The system of claim 107, wherein the restamper/remultiplexer unit is further operable for remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

118. The system of claim 107, wherein merging the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments comprises sorting the advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in ascending order.

119. The system of claim 107, wherein merging the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments comprises sorting the advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in descending order.

120. The system of claim 93, wherein combining the one or more original advertisements with the navigation segments comprises:

determining the navigation segments with the same corresponding locations as the one or more original advertisements;

appending each advertisement to the first navigation segment with the same corresponding location in the source content;

removing the navigation segments with the same corresponding location in the source content as the advertisement; and

merging the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments to form the trick content.

121. The system of claim 120, wherein merging the advertisement and the remaining navigation segments comprises sorting the advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in ascending order.

122. The system of claim 120, wherein merging the advertisement and the remaining navigation segments comprises sorting the advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in descending order.

123. The system of claim 120, wherein determining the navigation segments with the same corresponding location as the advertisement, comprises:

calculating a location range of the advertisement;

comparing the location of the navigation segments within the source content to the calculated location range for the advertisement; and

removing the navigation segments whose location lies within the calculated location range.

124. The system of claim 123, wherein calculating the location range comprises:

determining the corresponding location of the advertisement within the source content;

determining whether an advertisement contains a value corresponding to a length of the advertisement within the source content;

adding the length to the corresponding location if the advertisement contains a value indicating the length; and

calculating the length of the advertisement within the source content.

125. The system of claim 124, wherein calculating the length, comprises inferring the length from the bit rate of the advertisement if the advertisement does not contains a value indicating the length.

126. The system of claim 124, wherein calculating the length, comprises inferring the length from the data size of the advertisement.

127. An apparatus, comprising:

a video extractor unit operable for extracting a plurality of video portions from source content, wherein each video portion comprises either program content or two or more original advertisements;

a navigation segment extractor unit operable for extracting a navigation segment from each video portion comprising program content;

an advertisement detector/extractor unit operable for extracting the two or more original advertisements from the source content containing advertisement content;

a navigation content editor unit operable for combining the two or more original advertisements extracted from the source content and the navigation segments into trick content, wherein the original advertisements are configured to appear to playback at an original playback speed and the navigation segments are configured to appear to playback at a different apparent playback speed, and replacing a portion of the advertisements with an alternative advertisement; and

a restamping/remultiplexing unit operable for restamping the trick content.

128. The apparatus of claim 127, wherein the advertisement detector/extractor unit is further operable for extracting one or more advertisements from the video portions containing advertisement content.

129. The apparatus of claim 127, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement that appears to be displayed at a different speed than the trick content associated with the program content.

130. The apparatus of claim 127, wherein the alternative content comprises content that may appear to be played in a direction opposite to the direction of trick content associated with the program content.

131. The apparatus of claim 127, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises a barker video.

132. The apparatus of claim 127, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an advertisement directed to a specific premises device.

133. The apparatus of claim 127, wherein the restamper/remultiplexer unit is further operable for remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

134. The apparatus of claim 127, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the video portions of the alternative advertisement.

135. The apparatus of claim 127, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises the audio portions of the alternative advertisement.

136. The apparatus of claim 127, wherein the alternative advertisement comprises an audio advertisement.

137. The apparatus of claim 127, wherein the restamper/remultiplexer unit is further operable for remultiplexing the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments to generate a trick file.

138. The apparatus of claim 127, wherein combining the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments comprises sorting the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in ascending order.

139. The apparatus of claim 127, wherein combining the one or more original advertisements and the navigation segments comprises sorting the one or more original advertisements and the remaining navigation segments by their corresponding location in descending order.