Queue based advertisement scheduling and sales
First Claim
1. A method of selectively inserting advertisements into a programming stream at different receiving nodes of a communications network, said method comprising:
- (a) transmitting the programming stream from a central location to one or more receiving nodes;
(b) storing advertisements at a node of said network, each advertisement being previously matched to one or more subscribers associated with one of said receiving nodes;
(c) storing one or more queues, each of said queues corresponding to a subset of said receiving nodes, said queues comprising an ordered list of advertisement resource locators (ARLs) and a plurality of queue slots, each of said ARLs comprising data disclosing a location of a corresponding advertisement;
(d) selling specific queue slots, wherein the sold specific queue slots at least partially determine the order of the ARLs in said ordered list;
(e) determining, at each of said receiving nodes, one or more intervals in said programming stream within which advertisements may be inserted;
(f) responsive to said determination, retrieving from said queue corresponding to said receiving node one of said ARLs in accordance with said ordered list; and
(g) inserting said advertisement corresponding to said retrieved ARL into said programming stream at said receiving node within said determined one or more intervals.
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Accused Products
Abstract
In accordance with the invention, advertisement identifiers are stored in a queue in memory in the set top box or elsewhere corresponding to individual subscribers of a television service delivery network. The advertisements are retrieved and displayed in the order dictated by the queue as advertisement avails are detected in the particular channel information stream being watched by that subscriber. Accordingly, the subscriber sees the advertisements regardless of what channel or television program is being watched and sees them in the order dictated by the queue. The invention also is applicable to other information streams including Internet advertising, audio/radio advertising and advertising in electronic program guides.
192 Citations
60 Claims
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1. A method of selectively inserting advertisements into a programming stream at different receiving nodes of a communications network, said method comprising:
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(a) transmitting the programming stream from a central location to one or more receiving nodes; (b) storing advertisements at a node of said network, each advertisement being previously matched to one or more subscribers associated with one of said receiving nodes; (c) storing one or more queues, each of said queues corresponding to a subset of said receiving nodes, said queues comprising an ordered list of advertisement resource locators (ARLs) and a plurality of queue slots, each of said ARLs comprising data disclosing a location of a corresponding advertisement; (d) selling specific queue slots, wherein the sold specific queue slots at least partially determine the order of the ARLs in said ordered list; (e) determining, at each of said receiving nodes, one or more intervals in said programming stream within which advertisements may be inserted; (f) responsive to said determination, retrieving from said queue corresponding to said receiving node one of said ARLs in accordance with said ordered list; and (g) inserting said advertisement corresponding to said retrieved ARL into said programming stream at said receiving node within said determined one or more intervals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of inserting advertisements into a programming stream in a communications network, the method comprising:
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(a) transmitting said programming stream from a central location to one or more receiving nodes; (b) storing one or more queues at a node of the network, each queue associated with one or more subscribers, each of the queues comprising an ordered list of advertisements and a plurality of queue slots, each advertisement being previously matched to one or more of the subscribers; (c) identifying a repetition rate specified by an advertiser, wherein the repetition rate represents spacing between queue slots relative to previous queue slots in the queue, and selling specific queue slots to the advertiser based at least partially on the specified repetition rate, wherein the sold specific queue slots at least partially determine the ordered list of the advertisements within the queues; (d) detecting one or more intervals in said programming stream within which advertisements may be inserted; and (e) inserting advertisements from the queues into said programming stream within said detected one or more intervals, the advertisements being inserted in accordance with the ordered list. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A method of inserting advertisements into a programming stream in a communications network, the method comprising:
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(a) transmitting said programming stream from a central location to one or more receiving nodes; (b) storing said programming stream at the one or more receiving nodes; (c) storing one or more queues at a node of the network, each queue associated with one or more subscribers, each of the queues comprising an ordered list of advertisements and a plurality of queue slots, each advertisement being previously matched to one or more of the subscribers; (d) selling specific queue slots, wherein the sold specific queue slots at least partially determine the ordered list of the advertisements within the queues; (e) retrieving the stored programming stream from the one or more receiving nodes to create a retrieved programming stream; (f) detecting one or more intervals in said retrieved programming stream within which advertisements may be inserted; and (g) inserting advertisements from the queues into said retrieved programming stream within said detected one or more intervals, the advertisements being inserted in accordance with the ordered list. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. A method of inserting advertisements into a programming stream in a communications network, the method comprising:
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(a) transmitting said programming stream from a central location to one or more receiving nodes; (b) storing one or more queues at a node of the network, each queue associated with one or more subscribers and comprising a plurality of queue locations forming an ordered list of advertisements, each advertisement being previously matched to one or more of the subscribers; (c) selling one or more specific individual queue locations, wherein the sold specific individual queue locations at least partially determine the ordered list of the advertisements within the queues; (d) detecting one or more intervals in said programming stream within which advertisements may be inserted; and (e) inserting advertisements from the queues into said programming stream within said detected one or more intervals, the advertisements being inserted in accordance with the ordered list. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60)
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Specification