Image content and advertisement data providing method, system, and apparatus

• US 8,161,508 B2
• Filed: 06/11/2001
• Issued: 04/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Nakagawa, Susumu
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheleheda, James R
• Application Number:
  US09/878,581
• Publication Number:
  US 20020059591A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,963 Days
• Field of Search: 725/36, 725/87, 725/32, 725/34, 725/110
• US Class Current: 725/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/60 Network streaming of media packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23424 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement
• 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 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4622 Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/472 End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content end-user interfaces for retrieving video data from a database G06F16/739; network services for supporting unicast streaming H04L65/612
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4782 Web browsing , e.g. WebTV
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

To provide an image content providing method capable of promoting advertisement effect by dynamically inserting an advertisement image to a distributed image content, an image content reproducing apparatus requests an image content providing apparatus to distribute the image content. Then, the image content is distributed to the image content reproducing apparatus and a viewer can utilize the image content. At this occasion, the image content providing apparatus distributes the image content, detects an advertisement inserting position and requests an advertisement image providing apparatus to distribute an advertisement image. Then, the advertisement image providing apparatus selects the advertisement image to be inserted to the image content and transmits thereof to the image content providing apparatus. Thereafter, the image content providing apparatus inserts the advertisement image to a position of the image content for inserting the advertisement and distributes thereof to the image content reproducing apparatus.

Claims

1. An image content providing method of providing an image content via a network from an image content providing apparatus to an image content reproducing apparatus, said image content providing method comprising the steps of:

requesting, via the stream distribution, distribution of said image content, said request sent from said image content reproducing apparatus to said image content providing apparatus;

transmitting, via the network by one of download distribution and package distribution, said image content to said image content reproducing apparatus, wherein for download distribution and package distribution said image content providing apparatus only transmits said image content and does not transmit advertisement images and does not transmit internet addresses for advertisement images,

wherein when said image content is transmitted via download distribution further including the steps of;

transmitting an advertising inserting condition to said image content reproducing apparatus;

detecting a position of inserting an advertisement image in said image content at said image content reproducing apparatus;

requesting said advertisement image providing apparatus, having said advertisement image, to distribute said advertisement image to said image content reproducing apparatus and sending said advertising inserting condition to said advertisement image providing apparatus by said image content reproducing apparatus;

selecting said advertisement image to be inserted into said image content based on at least said advertisement inserting condition and a maximum number of distribution times and transmitting said advertisement image selected, by stream distribution via the network, to said image content reproducing apparatus at said advertisement image providing apparatus;

inserting said advertisement image transmitted to said image content reproducing apparatus at the position of inserting said advertisement image in said image content at said image reproducing apparatus; and

display thereof, and

wherein when said image content is transmitted via package distribution further including the steps of;

transmitting an advertising inserting condition to said image content reproducing apparatus;

detecting the position of inserting an advertisement image in said image content at said image content reproducing apparatus;

requesting an advertisement image providing apparatus, having said advertisement image, to distribute said advertisement image to said image content reproducing apparatus and sending said advertising inserting condition to said advertisement image providing apparatus by said image content reproducing apparatus;

selecting said advertisement image to be inserted into said image content based on at least said advertisement inserting condition and a maximum number of distribution times and transmitting said advertisement image selected, by stream distribution via the network, to said image content reproducing apparatus at said advertisement image providing apparatus;

inserting said advertisement image transmitted to said image content reproducing apparatus at the position of inserting said advertisement image in said image content at said image reproducing apparatus; and

display thereof.

2. The image content providing method according to claim 1, wherein when said image content is requested to distribute at said image content reproducing apparatus, said image content is selected and requested to distribute based on a title list which is information for viewing said distributable image contents to be transmitted from said image content providing apparatus.

3. The image content providing method according to claim 1, wherein the position of said image content for inserting said advertisement image is detected based on advertisement inserting condition data having an advertisement image inserting position condition for designating the position of inserting said advertisement image and an advertisement image selecting condition for designating a category of said advertisement image capable of being inserted to said image content.

4. The image content providing method according to claim 3, wherein said advertisement inserting condition data includes an advertisement image reproducing condition for designating a maximum period of time for reproducing said advertisement image when said advertisement image is inserted to said image content.

5. The image content providing method according to claim 3, wherein when said advertisement image is requested to distribute at said image content providing apparatus, said advertisement inserting condition data is transmitted to said advertisement image providing apparatus and when said advertisement image is selected at said advertisement image providing apparatus, said advertisement image is selected based on said advertisement inserting condition data.

6. The image content providing method according to claim 1, wherein when said image content is requested to distribute at said image content reproducing apparatus, viewer information of a viewer for utilizing said image content is transmitted to said image content providing apparatus.

7. The image content providing method according to claim 6, wherein when said advertisement image is requested to distribute at said image content providing apparatus, said viewer information is transmitted to said advertisement image providing apparatus and when said advertisement image is selected at said advertisement image providing apparatus, said advertisement image is selected based on said viewer information.

8. The image content providing method according to claim 1, wherein said image content providing apparatus comprises:

a main image content distributing apparatus; and

a plurality of deputy image content distributing apparatus;

wherein said main image content distributing apparatus selects one of the deputy image content distributing apparatus from said plurality of deputy image content distributing apparatus by a request of distributing said image content from said image content reproducing apparatus and said selected deputy image content distributing apparatus distributes said image content to said image content reproducing apparatus.

9. The image content providing method according to claim 1, wherein said image content providing apparatus comprises:

a main image content distributing apparatus; and

a plurality of image content distribution splitter nodes;

wherein when said main image content distributing apparatus is requested to distribute said image content, said main image content distributing apparatus selects said image content distribution splitter node and distributes said image content to said image content distribution splitter node and said image content is distributed from said image content distribution splitter node to said image content reproducing apparatus.

10. The image content providing method of claim 1, wherein said image content is a moving picture.

11. The image content providing method of claim 1, wherein said image content is one of a movie, a drama and an animation.

12. An image content providing method of providing an image content from an image content providing apparatus to an image content reproducing apparatus, said image content providing method comprising the steps of:

requesting, via a network, to provide said image content from said image content reproducing apparatus to said image content providing apparatus;

providing said requested image content in its entirety and providing advertisement inserting condition from said image content providing apparatus to said image content reproducing apparatus by one of download distribution and package distribution, wherein said image content providing apparatus only providing said image content and advertisement inserting condition and does not provide advertisement images and does not transmit internet addresses for advertisement images;

for download distribution, the method further comprising the steps of;

detecting at said image content reproducing apparatus a position of inserting an advertisement image in said downloaded image content when said downloaded image content is reproduced at said image content reproducing apparatus;

sending a request from said image content reproducing apparatus, via the network by stream distribution, to distribute said advertisement image to an advertisement image providing apparatus having said advertisement image to be inserted and sending the advertisement inserting condition to said advertisement image providing apparatus;

selecting said advertisement image to be inserted to said image content based on at least said advertisement inserting condition and a maximum number of distribution times and distributing of said advertisement image selected via the network by stream distribution to said image content reproducing apparatus at said advertisement image providing apparatus; and

reproducing said advertisement image when the position of inserting said distributed advertisement image is reached in reproducing said image content at said image content reproducing apparatus

for package distribution, the method further comprising the steps of;

detecting at said image content reproducing apparatus the position of inserting an advertisement image in said image content provided on a recording medium when said image content is reproduced at said image content reproducing apparatus;

sending a request from said image content reproducing apparatus, via the network by stream distribution, to distribute said advertisement image to an advertisement image providing apparatus having said advertisement image to be inserted and sending the advertisement inserting condition to said advertisement image providing apparatus;

selecting said advertisement image to be inserted to said image content based on at least said advertisement inserting condition and a maximum number of distribution times and distributing of said advertisement image selected via the network by stream distribution to said image content reproducing apparatus at said advertisement image providing apparatus; and

reproducing said advertisement image when the position of inserting said distributed advertisement image is reached in reproducing said image content at said image content reproducing apparatus.

13. The image content providing method according to claim 12, wherein when said image content is requested to distribute at the image content reproducing apparatus, said image content is selected and requested to distribute based on a title list which is information for viewing said distributable image contents to be transmitted from said image content providing apparatus.

14. The image content providing method according to claim 13, wherein said advertisement inserting condition data includes an advertisement image reproducing condition for designating a maximum period of time for reproducing said advertisement image when said advertisement image is inserted to said image content.

15. The image content providing method according to claim 13, wherein when said advertisement image is requested to distribute at said image content providing apparatus, said advertisement inserting condition data is transmitted to said advertisement image providing apparatus and when said advertisement image is selected at said advertisement image providing apparatus, said advertisement image is selected based on said advertisement inserting condition data.

16. The image content providing method according to claim 13, wherein when said advertisement image is requested to distribute at said image content providing apparatus, viewer information of a viewer utilizing said image content is transmitted to said advertisement image providing apparatus and when said advertisement image is selected at said advertisement image providing apparatus, said advertisement image is selected based on said viewer information.

17. The image content providing method according to claim 13, wherein said image content is provided by said image content providing apparatus by subjecting said image content to download distribution to said image content reproducing apparatus.

18. The image content providing method according to claim 13, wherein said image content is provided by said image content providing means by transmitting an information recording medium recorded with said image content to said image content reproducing apparatus.

19. The image content providing method according to claim 12, wherein the position of said image content for inserting said advertisement image is detected at said image content reproducing apparatus based on advertisement inserting condition data having an advertisement image inserting position condition transmitted from said image content providing apparatus for designating the position of inserting said advertisement image to said image content and an advertisement image selecting condition for designating a category of said advertisement image capable of being inserted to said image content.

20. An image content providing system comprising:

an image content providing apparatus having an image content and having a function of providing said image content via one of package distribution and download distribution, wherein said image content providing apparatus does not provide advertisement images and does not transmit internet addresses for advertisement images;

an advertisement image providing apparatus having an advertisement image to be inserted to said image content and having a function of providing said advertisement image, via a network by stream distribution, based on at least advertisement inserting condition and a maximum number of distribution times;

an image content reproducing apparatus having a function of receiving the image content in is entirety prior to reproduction, receiving the advertisement inserting condition from said image content providing apparatus, and reproducing said image content and said advertisement image, wherein the function of receiving the image content includes (a) via package distribution when the image content is subjected to package distribution and (b) via download distribution when the image content is subjected to download distribution;

wherein said image content reproducing apparatus has a function of (a) acquiring said advertisement image from said advertisement image providing apparatus via the network by stream distribution during reproduction of the image content after transmitting said advertisement inserting condition to the advertisement image providing apparatus and (b) inserting said advertisement image into said image content and reproducing thereof.

21. An image content providing method of providing an image content from an image content providing apparatus to an image content reproducing apparatus, said image content providing method comprising the steps of:

requesting, via a network by stream distribution, to provide said image content from said image content reproducing apparatus to said image content providing apparatus;

providing said requested image content in its entirety and providing advertisement inserting condition from said image content providing apparatus to said image content reproducing apparatus and not providing advertisement images to said image content reproducing apparatus and does not transmit internet addresses for advertisement images;

detecting a position of inserting an advertisement image in said image content previously provided when said image content is reproduced at said image content reproducing apparatus;

requesting, via the network by stream distribution, to distribute said advertisement image to an advertisement image providing apparatus having said advertisement image to be inserted and sending the advertisement inserting condition;

selecting said advertisement image to be inserted to said image content based on at least the advertisement inserting condition received and a maximum number of distribution times and distributing thereof via the network by stream distribution to said image content reproducing apparatus at said advertisement image providing apparatus;

reproducing said advertisement image when the position of inserting said distributed advertisement image is reached in reproducing said image content at said image content reproducing apparatus, wherein

providing the requested image content in it entirety to said image content reproducing apparatus includes (a) downloading via the network by stream distribution, the image content in its entirety to the image content reproducing apparatus when the image content is subjected to download distribution and (b) distributing the image content in its entirety to the image content reproducing apparatus via an information recording medium when the image content is subjected to package distribution.