Advertisements in a television recordation system

• US 8,571,933 B2
• Filed: 12/26/2001
• Issued: 10/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DIRECTV, LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rosenberg, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Bekerman, Michael
• Application Number:
  US10/033,401
• Publication Number:
  US 20020090198A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,325 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14.58, 705/14.61, 705/14.4
• US Class Current: 705/14.58
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/032 on tapes G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/034 on discs G11B27/036, G11B27/038 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/036 Insert-editing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• 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 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• 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 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8227 the additional signal being at least another television signal

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method and system for types of ad placement opportunities in a digital video stream. The described embodiments of the invention increases ad placement opportunities to a targeted audience by using real-time ad placement during mode changes in a dynamic digital medium such as a digital video recorder. Various embodiments also allow various types of temporal overlapping and composite display techniques for viewing ads and video content.

Claims

1. A method of placing an ad into a digital video output stream of a digital video recorder (DVR), the method comprising:

while the digital video output stream of the (DVR) includes an index of programs recorded at the DVR but does not include the ad or video of a program recorded at the DVR, the DVR detecting that the digital video output stream should change from the index of programs recorded at the DVR to the video of the program recorded at the DVR;

the DVR obtaining the ad;

the DVR placing the ad into the digital video output stream so that the digital video output stream simultaneously includes the index of programs recorded at the DVR and the ad but does not include the video of the program recorded at the DVR, wherein the DVR that places the ad into the digital video output stream outputs the digital video output stream to a display device that is connected directly to the DVR, and wherein the ad wipes across a screen of the display device starting from a first side of the screen and ending at a second side of the screen without overlapping any portion of the index of programs recorded at the DVR or any portion of the video of the program recorded at the DVR; and

thereafter, the DVR removing the index of programs recorded at the DVR from the digital video output stream and adding the video of the program recorded at the DVR to the digital video output stream so that the digital video output stream simultaneously includes the video of the program recorded at the DVR and the ad but does not include the index of programs recorded at the DVR.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the ad is obtained in real-time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the ad is obtained by an ad placement engine within the DVR.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein the ad is obtained by an ad placement engine within the DVR, and

wherein the ad placement engine uses previously collected user information to obtain the ad.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein the ad is obtained by an ad placement engine within the DVR, and

wherein the ad placement engine uses context information and previously collected user information to obtain the ad.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the context information comprises information selected from the group consisting of (i) time information, and (ii) a movie title.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the ad is an animation.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the ad is dynamically placed.

9. The method of claim 1,

wherein detecting that the digital video output stream should change from the index of programs recorded at the DVR to the video of the program recorded at the DVR is carried out by software of the DVR.

10. The method of claim 1,

wherein the ad is a still ad comprising an individual frame,

the method further comprising:

replicating the individual frame a number of times to fill up a designated time segment that the ad is displayed.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after removing the index of the programs recorded at the DVR from the digital video output stream and adding the video of the program recorded at the DVR to the digital video output stream, removing the ad from the digital output stream so that the digital video output stream includes the video of the program recorded at the DVR but does not include the ad and the index of the programs recorded at the DVR.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting that the digital video output stream should change from the index of the programs recorded at the DVR to the video of the program recorded at the DVR includes detecting that the program recorded at the DVR has been selected for playback.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein the display device connects to the DVR via a wired connection.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein the display device connects to the DVR via a wireless connection.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to obtaining the ad, downloading the ad from a server and storing the ad at a memory device of the DVR,

wherein the video of the program recorded at the DVR is stored at the memory device.

16. The method of claim 1,

wherein the ad wipes across the screen horizontally, and

wherein the first side of the screen is a left-most side of the screen, and the second side of the screen is a right-most side of the screen.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the ad wipes across the screen vertically.

18. A computer software product having instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and executable by a computer processor within a digital video recorder (DVR) to perform a method for placing an ad into a digital video output stream of the DVR, the computer software product comprising:

first instructions configured to cause the DVR to detect that the video output stream should change from an index of programs recorded at the DVR to video of a program recorded at the DVR, wherein the first instructions are executable while the digital video output stream of the DVR includes the index of programs recorded at the DVR but does not include the ad or the video of the program recorded at the DVR;

second instructions configured to cause the DVR to obtain the ad; and

third instructions configured to cause the DVR to place the ad into the digital video output stream so that the digital video output stream simultaneously includes the index of programs recorded at the DVR and the ad but does not include the video of the program recorded at the DVR, wherein the DVR that places the ad into digital video output stream outputs the digital video output stream to a display device that is connected directly to the DVR, and wherein the ad wipes across a screen of the display device starting from a first side of the screen and ending at a second side of the screen without overlapping any portion of the index of programs recorded at the DVR or any portion of the video of the program recorded at the DVR, and, thereafter, cause the DVR to remove the index of programs recorded at the DVR from the digital video output stream and to add the video of the program recorded at the DVR to the digital video output stream so that the digital video output stream simultaneously includes the video of the program recorded at the DVR and the ad but does not include the index of programs recorded at the DVR.

19. The computer software product of claim 18, wherein the first instructions detect that the video output stream should change from the index of the programs recorded at the DVR to the video of the program recorded at the DVR by detecting that the program recorded at the DVR has been selected for playback.

20. A method of placing an ad into a digital video output stream of a digital video recorder (DVR), the method comprising:

while the digital video output stream of the (DVR) includes an index of programs recorded at the DVR but does not include the ad or video of a program recorded at the DVR, the DVR detecting that the digital video output stream should change from the index of programs recorded at the DVR to the video of the program recorded at the DVR;

the DVR collecting user information including a geographic location;

the DVR obtaining the ad based on time information and the geographic location;

the DVR placing the ad into the digital video output stream so that the digital video output stream simultaneously includes the index of programs recorded at the DVR and the ad but does not include the video of the program recorded at the DVR, wherein the DVR that places the ad into the digital video output stream outputs the digital video output stream to a display device that is connected directly to the DVR, and wherein the ad wipes across a screen of the display device starting from a first side of the screen and ending at a second side of the screen without overlapping any portion of the index of programs recorded at the DVR or any portion of the video of the program recorded at the DVR; and

thereafter, the DVR removing the index of programs recorded at the DVR from the digital video output stream and adding the video of the program recorded at the DVR to the digital video output stream so that the digital video output stream simultaneously includes the video of the program recorded at the DVR and the ad but does not include the index of programs recorded at the DVR.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the time information includes a current time and a time when a restaurant near the geographic location closes.