Interactive product placement system and method therefor

• US 8,533,753 B2
• Filed: 09/06/2012
• Issued: 09/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AiBUY Holdco, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cinsay Incorporated
• Inventors: Briggs, Christian, McBurnett, Heath, Galindo, Delfino Jr., Knuth, Freddy
• Primary Examiner(s): CORBO, NICHOLAS T
• Application Number:
  US13/605,892
• Publication Number:
  US 20130061262A1
• Time in Patent Office: 369 Days
• Field of Search: 725/32
• US Class Current: 725/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/237 Communication with additional data server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2542 for selling goods, e.g. TV shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26603 for automatically generating descriptors from content, e.g. when it is not made available by its provider, using content analysis techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47205 for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47217 for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4725 using interactive regions of the image, e.g. hot spots details of information retrieval from the Internet by using URLs G06F16/955; processing chained hypermedia data for information retrieval G06F16/94
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47815 Electronic shopping payment schemes, payment architectures or payment protocols for electronic shopping systems G06Q20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8133 specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video program
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8545 for generating interactive applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8547 involving timestamps for synchronizing content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot

Abstract

A method for presenting advertisements for commercial products in video productions, whereby the commercial product is placed in the video production as an element of the video production. A viewer is enabled to interact with the video production to select the product. Information is then displayed about the selected product; and the viewer is enabled to purchase the selected product.

Claims

1. A method for advertising in video productions, the method comprising:

transmitting, from one or more servers, a video production to a video player, the transmitted video production associated with at least one pre-defined cue point and containing one or more products or services;

transmitting an interactive advertising feature separate from the video production, from the one or more servers, the interactive advertising feature directly relating to the one or more products or services and including a selection enabled portion that allows a viewer of the video player to interactively retrieve further information about the one or more products or services;

wherein the video player is configured to display the video production;

wherein the video player is configured upon a triggering of the at least one pre-defined cue point to initiate the display of the interactive advertising feature, and

wherein the interactive advertising feature is configured to allow a user to retrieve further information not previously displayed about the one or more products or services, at least some of the further information configured to be displayed as an overlay over the video production adjacent at least one edge of the displayable area of the video production without regard to a location or presence of the one or more products or services displayed within the video portion.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one pre-defined cue point represents a time at which the interactive advertising feature is to be displayed relative to a time of the video production being played.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least some of the further information about the one or more products or the services is displayed as a transparent overlay.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive advertising feature is displayed in a timeline of the video located on a top, side, or bottom of the video player.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive advertising feature is at least one of text or graphics.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the video player allows a user to select a format of the video production transmitted from the one or more servers.

6. A system for advertising in video productions, the system comprising:

one or more servers configured to;

transmit a video production to a video player, the transmitted video production associated with at least one pre-defined cue point and containing one or more products or services;

transmit an interactive advertising feature separate from the video production, the interactive advertising feature;

directly relating to the one or more products or services,

including a selection enabled portion that allows a viewer of the video player to interactively retrieve further information about the one or more products or services, and

configured to allow a user to retrieve further information not previously displayed about the one or more products or services, at least some of the further information configured to be displayed as an overlay over the video production adjacent at least one edge of the displayable area of the video production without regard to a location or presence of the one or more products or services displayed within the video portion;

wherein the video player is configured to display the video production; and

wherein the video player is configured upon a triggering of the at least one pre-defined cue point to initiate the display of the interactive advertising feature.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one pre-defined cue point represents a time at which the interactive advertising feature is to be displayed relative to a time of the video production being played.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least some of the further information about the one or more products or the services is displayed as a transparent overlay.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the interactive advertising feature is displayed in a timeline of the video located on a top, side, or bottom of the video player.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the interactive advertising feature is at least one of text or graphics.

17. The system of claim 6, wherein the video player allows a user to select a format of the video production transmitted from the one or more servers.

11. A video player for advertising a product or service in a video production, the video player configured to:

receive, from one or more servers, a video production to a video player, a video production associated with at least one pre-defined cue point and containing one or more products or services;

receive, from the one or more servers, an interactive advertising feature corresponding to the one or more products or services and including a selection enabled portion that allows a viewer of the video player to interactively retrieve further information about a product or service;

display the video production; and

initiate a display of the interactive advertising feature upon a triggering of the at least one pre-defined cue point; and

wherein the interactive advertising feature is received separate from the video production and configured to allow a user to retrieve further information not previously displayed about the one or more products or services, at least some of the further information configured to be displayed as an overlay over the video production adjacent at least one edge of the displayable area of the video production without regard to a location or presence of the one or more products or services displayed within the video portion.

12. The video player of claim 11, wherein the at least one pre-defined cue point represents a time at which the interactive advertising feature is to be displayed relative to a time of the video production being played.

13. The video player of claim 12, wherein the interactive advertising feature is displayed in a timeline of the video located on a top, side, or bottom of the video player.

14. The video player of claim 11, wherein the interactive advertising feature is at least one of text or graphics.

15. The video player of claim 11, wherein the video player allows a user to select a format of the video production received from the one or more servers.