Advertisement filtering and storage for targeted advertisement systems

• US 8,225,347 B1
• Filed: 09/22/2010
• Issued: 07/17/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Prime Research Alliance E, LLC
• Original Assignee: Prime Research Alliance E., Inc.
• Inventors: Flickinger, Gregory C., Eldering, Charles A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hirl, Joseph P
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rabovianski, Jivka
• Application Number:
  US12/887,979
• Time in Patent Office: 664 Days
• Field of Search: 725/32, 725/35, 725/16, 725/44, 725/46, 725/91, 725/94, 348/731, 348/732, 348/734, 348/348
• US Class Current: 725/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0258 Registration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0264 based upon schedule
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0272 Period of advertisement exposure
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/27 Arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/37 for identifying segments of broadcast information, e.g. scenes or extracting programme ID
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/375 Commercial
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/45 for identifying users
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/65 for using the result on users' side
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/73 using meta-information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• 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 21/26208 the scheduling operation being performed under constraints
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26233 involving content or additional data duration or size, e.g. length of a movie, size of an executable file
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26241 involving the time of distribution, e.g. the best time of the day for inserting an advertisement or airing a children program
• 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 21/42684 Client identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number, MAC address, socket ID network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming H04L61/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4335 : Housekeeping operations, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; unloading stored programs G06F9/445; storage management in file systems G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 : involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; 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 21/454 : Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47 : End-user applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 : Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 : involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 : Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8586 : by using a URL processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94; information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; URL in broadcast information H04H20/93; Web-based protocols H04L67/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/088 : the inserted signal being digital
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 : by receiver means only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 : Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17354 : in an intermediate station common to a plurality of user terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17363 : at or near the user terminal

Abstract

An advertisement storage and filtering system for selectively identifying targeted advertisements to be stored in the memory of the STB. This storing of the selected advertisements can be accomplished in a number of ways. In one embodiment, the advertisements, in real-time and as they are received at the STB, are processed by the STB and only those advertisements with the appropriate characteristics are stored on the hard drive (HD). This may require some buffering of the advertisements in the STB memory as the STB processes and determines whether or not to store the advertisement. The information required to determine whether or not to store the advertisement could also be sent in advance, e.g., as a data service in an advertisement channel. Alternatively, the STB may store incoming advertisements in a memory temporarily and subsequently determine whether or not to retain the stored advertisements.

Claims

1. A method of selecting targeted advertisements for presentation via subscriber equipment, the method comprising:

receiving, by the subscriber equipment, an assignment of the subscriber equipment to one or more targeted groups based on characterization information derived from a plurality of viewers associated with the subscriber equipment;

receiving a plurality of targeted advertisements, each of the plurality of targeted advertisements corresponding to at least one of the targeted groups;

for each of the targeted advertisements, comparing the at least one targeted group corresponding to the respective advertisement to the one or more targeted groups assigned to the subscriber equipment;

determining whether to store each of the plurality of targeted advertisements based on the comparison; and

storing the advertisements based, at least in part, on the determining.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving a plurality of targeted advertisements further comprises receiving metadata associated with the plurality of targeted advertisements.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the metadata is received in a vertical blanking interval.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting an ad insertion opportunity associated with a current viewing session;

identifying one of the viewers associated with the current viewing session;

determining one of the targeted groups associated with the identified viewer; and

presenting one of the stored advertisements matching the determined targeted group in the ad insertion opportunity.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the identifying one of the viewers further comprises analyzing one or more viewing sessions.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more viewing sessions comprise the current viewing session and one or more previous viewing sessions.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein each of the viewing sessions comprises one or more viewer interactions with the subscriber equipment.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the presenting the stored advertisements further comprises determining the current operating state of the display device.

9. A system for selecting targeted advertisements for presentation via subscriber equipment, the system comprising:

a receiving module configured for;

receiving an assignment of the subscriber equipment to one or more targeted groups based on characterization information derived from a plurality of viewers associated with the subscriber equipment; and

receiving a plurality of targeted advertisements, each of the plurality of targeted advertisements corresponding to at least one of the targeted groups;

a processor configured for;

for each of the targeted advertisements, comparing the at least one targeted group corresponding to the respective advertisement to the one or more targeted groups assigned to the subscriber equipment; and

determining whether to store each of the plurality of targeted advertisements based on the comparison; and

a storage module configured for storing the advertisements based, at least in part, on the determining.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the receiving module is further configured for receiving metadata associated with the plurality of targeted advertisements.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the metadata is received in a vertical blanking interval.

12. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a detection module configured for detecting an ad insertion opportunity associated with a current viewing session;

an identification module configured for identifying one of the viewers associated with the current viewing session;

the processor further configured for determining one of the targeted groups associated with the identified viewer; and

a presentation module configured for presenting one of the stored advertisements matching the determined targeted group in the ad insertion opportunity.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the identification module is further configured for analyzing one or more viewing sessions.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more viewing sessions comprise the current viewing session and one or more previous viewing sessions.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein each of the viewing sessions comprises one or more viewer interactions with the subscriber equipment.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the presentation module is further configured for determining the current operating state of the display device prior to presenting the stored advertisements.

17. An article of manufacture for selecting targeted advertisements for presentation via subscriber equipment, the article of manufacture comprising a computer-readable medium holding computer-executable instructions for performing the method comprising:

receiving, by the subscriber equipment, an assignment of the subscriber equipment to one or more targeted groups based on characterization information derived from a plurality of viewers associated with the subscriber equipment;

receiving a plurality of targeted advertisements, each of the plurality of targeted advertisements corresponding to at least one of the targeted groups;

for each of the targeted advertisements, comparing the at least one targeted group corresponding to the respective advertisement to the one or more targeted groups assigned to the subscriber equipment;

determining whether to store each of the plurality of targeted advertisements based on the comparison; and

storing the advertisements based, at least in part, on the determining.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 17, further comprising:

detecting an ad insertion opportunity associated with a current viewing session;

identifying one of the viewers associated with the current viewing session;

determining one of the one or more targeted groups associated with the identified viewer; and

presenting one of the stored advertisements matching the determined targeted group in the ad insertion opportunity.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the identifying one of the plurality of viewers further comprises analyzing one or more viewing sessions.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19, wherein the one or more viewing sessions comprises the current viewing session and one or more previous viewing sessions.