System and method for delivering statistically scheduled advertisements

• US 8,443,385 B1
• Filed: 07/23/2009
• Issued: 05/14/2013
• 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: Schlack, John A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lonsberry, Hunter B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kurien, Christine
• Application Number:
  US12/508,268
• Time in Patent Office: 1,391 Days
• Field of Search: 725/35, 725/42
• US Class Current: 725/35
• 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 21/26233 involving content or additional data duration or size, e.g. length of a movie, size of an executable file
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 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 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A system and method for scheduling advertisements in a television service network environment. An ad scheduler prepares an ad insertion schedule based on channel change statistical information and avail time information. The scheduler evaluates the statistical information, time durations between adjacent avails in a presentation stream, and the relatedness of market segments assigned to a plurality of advertisements. It schedules the ads into presentation stream groups based on this evaluation. The statistical ad scheduling allows the system to eliminate “forced” switching between multiple presentation streams, whereby system wears and malfunctions can be decreased.

Claims

1. A system for delivering targeted advertisements to subscribers in a television service network environment, the system comprising:

a multiple presentation stream generator for generating a plurality of presentation stream groups each group corresponding to a particular programming channel, each of the presentation stream groups comprising a plurality of replicated presentation streams having the same programming and the same avails; and

an ad scheduler for scheduling advertisements in each of the replicated presentation streams, wherein the ad scheduler determines an appropriate market segment for the avails within the replicated presentation streams based on a comparison between channel change statistical information and avail time information.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

at least one routing station for receiving the plurality of presentation stream groups from the multiple presentation stream generator; and

a delivery network, coupled to the generator and the at least one routing station, for delivering the plurality of presentation stream groups from the multiple presentation stream generator to the routing station.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the routing station includes a plurality of routing units each responsible for receiving one of the plurality of presentation stream groups, wherein one of the routing units selectively switches between the presentation streams in the presentation stream group for which it is responsible in response to a channel change request from a subscriber served by the routing station.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein each of the routing units includes:

an ad location detector for detecting advertisement locations for said presentation stream group in response to the channel request, and for generating a detection signal in response to said detection;

a selector, coupled to the detector, for selecting one of the presentation streams in said presentation stream group that is most appropriate for the subscriber in response to the detection signal, and generating a switching signal corresponding to said selection; and

a switch, coupled to the selector, for switching to the selected one of the presentation streams in said presentation stream group in response to the switching signal.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the ad scheduler selects an advertisement for insertion into the respective avails based on the determined market segment.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the channel change statistical information is determined by collecting channel change data from a group of subscribers and performing statistical calculations on the collected channel change data.

7. A method of delivering targeted advertisements to subscribers in a television service network environment, the method comprising:

generating a plurality of presentation stream groups, each group corresponding to a particular programming channel, each of the presentation stream groups comprising a plurality of replicated presentation streams having the same programming and the same avails;

determining, based on a comparison between channel change statistical information and avail time information, an appropriate market segment for the avails within the replicated presentation streams; and

scheduling advertisements in each of the replicated presentation streams.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

transmitting the plurality of presentation stream groups to at least one local routing station; and

delivering to a subscriber, via the routing station, one of the presentation streams in the presentation stream group corresponding to a channel request from the subscriber.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the delivering includes:

detecting advertisement locations in said presentation stream group corresponding to the requested channel in response to the channel request;

generating a detection signal responsive to said detection;

determining, responsive to the detection signal, which one of the presentation streams in said presentation stream group is most appropriate for the subscriber; and

delivering the most appropriate presentation stream to the subscriber based on said determination.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the scheduling of advertisements includes selecting an advertisement for insertion into the respective avails based on the determined market segment.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the channel change statistical information is determined by collecting channel change data from a group of subscribers and performing statistical calculations on the collected channel change data.

12. A method of switching presentation streams carrying targeted advertisements to a user in a switched television service network environment, the method comprising:

receiving a channel change request from a user, wherein the user is assigned a market segment;

switching to a first presentation stream corresponding to the market segment of the user in response to the channel change request, wherein the first presentation stream is selected from a set of presentation streams corresponding to a programming channel having programming, each of the presentation streams in the set corresponding to a different one of a plurality of market segments, each of the presentation streams in the set carrying the same programming as the programming channel and at least one advertisement directed to the market segment to which the presentation stream corresponds;

monitoring channel changes of the user;

determining that a channel change did not occur within a specified time period; and

switching to a second presentation stream selected from the set of presentation streams if a channel change did not occur, wherein the second presentation stream corresponds to the market segment of the user.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the set of presentation streams corresponding to each programming channel are generated by replicating an original programming stream corresponding to the associated programming channel.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the replicating occurs at a headend.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the number of presentation streams generated for each set of presentation streams is equal to the number of market segments.