Device for managing the insertion of complementary data into multimedia content streams

• US 8,171,131 B2
• Filed: 06/12/2008
• Issued: 05/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Mobasser, Bahman
• Primary Examiner(s): Chan, Wing
• Assistant Examiner(s): MIAH, RAZU A
• Application Number:
  US12/137,740
• Publication Number:
  US 20080320073A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,419 Days
• Field of Search: 709223-226
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/103 Transmitter-side switching

Abstract

A device (D) is dedicated to managing multimedia content that is to be transmitted to communication terminals (T). This device (D) comprises management means (MM) tasked, when in the presence of a multimedia content stream to be transmitted, with determining in real time which complementary content should be inserted into selected points of said stream, from among a set of complementary content each associated with a preset profile and which may be at least partially contained within said stream, and depending on at least one criterion dealing with at least one portion of said profiles.

Claims

1. A device for managing multimedia content that is to be transmitted to communication terminals, said device comprising management circuitry configured, when in the presence of a multimedia content stream to be transmitted, to determine in real time which complementary content should be inserted into selected points of said stream, from among a set of complementary content each associated with a preset profile and which may be at least partially contained within said stream, and depending on at least one criterion dealing with at least one portion of said profiles,

said management circuitry being configured to determine said complementary content to be inserted based on at least one criterion dealing with at least one portion of said profiles and information representing numbers of users who are using certain pieces of multimedia content of said stream at that time,

wherein said profiles include information selected from a group comprising at least a target geographic location, a pricing plan, programming schedules, at least one target identifier, at least one part of a user profile, one content duration, and a number of target users.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein said management circuitry are configured to select each piece of complementary content to insert into a given stream from among a subset of complementary content chosen from among multiple subsets respectively associated with queues, depending on at least one selected criterion corresponding to said selected subset.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein it comprises a storage unit configured to store at least some of said complementary content to be inserted due to matching their associated profiles.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein at least some of said complementary content is advertising content.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein at least some of said complementary content is messages.

6. A device for managing multimedia content that is to be transmitted to communication terminals, said device comprising management circuitry configured, when in the presence of a multimedia content stream to be transmitted, to determine in real time which complementary content should be inserted into selected points of said stream, from among a set of complementary content each associated with a preset profile and which may be at least partially contained within said stream, and depending on at least one criterion dealing with at least one portion of said profiles,

said management circuitry being configured to determine said complementary content to be inserted based on at least one criterion dealing with at least one portion of said profiles and information representing numbers of users who are using certain pieces of multimedia content of said stream at that time, wherein said management circuitry are configured, when choosing a first piece of complementary content to insert in a selected point in a stream already occupied by a second piece of complementary content, to order the replacement of said second piece of complementary content by said first piece of complementary content.

7. A device for managing multimedia content that is to be transmitted to communication terminals, said device comprising management circuitry configured, when in the presence of a multimedia content stream to be transmitted, to determine in real time which complementary content should be inserted into selected points of said stream, from among a set of complementary content each associated with a preset profile and which may be at least partially contained within said stream, and depending on at least one criterion dealing with at least one portion of said profiles,

said management circuitry being configured to determine said complementary content to be inserted based on at least one criterion dealing with at least one portion of said profiles and information representing numbers of users who are using certain pieces of multimedia content of said stream at that time,

wherein said criteria are chosen from a group comprising at least one geographic location criterion, one pricing criterion, one schedule criterion, one criterion of being on a list of identifiers, one criterion of matching at least one part of a user profile, one content duration criterion, and one criterion of the number of target users.

8. A content server, said content server comprising a management device for managing multimedia content that is to be transmitted to communication terminals, wherein the management device comprises management circuitry configured, when in the presence of a multimedia content stream to be transmitted, to determine in real time which complementary content should be inserted into selected points of said stream, from among a set of complementary content each associated with a preset profile and which may be at least partially contained within said stream, and depending on at least one criterion dealing with at least one portion of said profiles,

said management circuitry being configured to determine said complementary content to be inserted based on at least one criterion dealing with at least one portion of said profiles and information representing numbers of users who are using certain pieces of multimedia content of said stream at that time,

wherein said profiles include information selected from a group comprising at least a target geographic location, a pricing plan, programming schedules, at least one target identifier, at least one part of a user profile, one content duration, and a number of target users.