Method and apparatus for providing directed advertising based on user preferences
First Claim
1. A method of providing an advertisement with a streamed video program having at least one advertising break, comprising the steps of:
- receiving first data from a user device in a video program provider, the first data identifying the video program to be streamed to the user device;
transmitting second data from the video program provider to the user device separately from the video program before a streaming video request is received from the user device and the video program is streamed to the user device, the second data comprising a resource locator for the video program and metadata explicitly defining a location of an advertising break within the video program relative to one of the beginning or end of the video program, but not information on which advertisements should be inserted in the advertising break;
upon receiving the streaming video request using the resource locator to cause streaming of the video program to the user device and in response to occurrence of the advertisement break defined by the second data for the video program playing on the user device, transmitting third data to the user device, the third data comprising advertising options consisting essentially of alternative advertisements from which only one advertisement may be selected for viewing during the advertisement break;
streaming a user-selected one of the alternative advertisements to the user device during the advertising break and storing the identifier of the user-selected one of the alternative advertisements in the video program provider, if fourth data indicating the user-selected one of the alternative advertisements is received from the user device;
if the fourth data is not received from the user device, selecting a provider-selected advertisement after determining that the user has not selected one of the alternative advertisements, and then streaming the provider-selected advertisement to the user device during the advertising break; and
the video program comprises a plurality of advertising blocks, each advertising block comprising one or more advertisements;
the advertising options further comprise data defining a number and temporal distribution of the one or more advertisements to be presented in each of the plurality of advertising blocks and the temporal distribution of the blocks within the streamed video program; and
the fourth data further comprises a selected number and selected temporal distribution of the one or more advertisements to be presented in each of the plurality of advertising blocks and the selected temporal distribution of the blocks within the streamed video program selected based on user input to the user device.
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Abstract
A method, apparatus, article of manufacture, and a memory structure for providing advertisements into a streamed media program is disclosed. One embodiment comprises a user computer for accepting user input, the user input directly defining user preferences regarding the presentation of the advertisements in the streamed media program and for inserting advertisements in the streamed media program according to the defined user preferences; and a media program provider communicatively coupled to the user computer, for transmitting the streamed media program to the user computer for presentation to the user on a display communicatively coupled to the user computer.
49 Citations
15 Claims
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1. A method of providing an advertisement with a streamed video program having at least one advertising break, comprising the steps of:
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receiving first data from a user device in a video program provider, the first data identifying the video program to be streamed to the user device; transmitting second data from the video program provider to the user device separately from the video program before a streaming video request is received from the user device and the video program is streamed to the user device, the second data comprising a resource locator for the video program and metadata explicitly defining a location of an advertising break within the video program relative to one of the beginning or end of the video program, but not information on which advertisements should be inserted in the advertising break; upon receiving the streaming video request using the resource locator to cause streaming of the video program to the user device and in response to occurrence of the advertisement break defined by the second data for the video program playing on the user device, transmitting third data to the user device, the third data comprising advertising options consisting essentially of alternative advertisements from which only one advertisement may be selected for viewing during the advertisement break; streaming a user-selected one of the alternative advertisements to the user device during the advertising break and storing the identifier of the user-selected one of the alternative advertisements in the video program provider, if fourth data indicating the user-selected one of the alternative advertisements is received from the user device; if the fourth data is not received from the user device, selecting a provider-selected advertisement after determining that the user has not selected one of the alternative advertisements, and then streaming the provider-selected advertisement to the user device during the advertising break; and the video program comprises a plurality of advertising blocks, each advertising block comprising one or more advertisements; the advertising options further comprise data defining a number and temporal distribution of the one or more advertisements to be presented in each of the plurality of advertising blocks and the temporal distribution of the blocks within the streamed video program; and the fourth data further comprises a selected number and selected temporal distribution of the one or more advertisements to be presented in each of the plurality of advertising blocks and the selected temporal distribution of the blocks within the streamed video program selected based on user input to the user device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 15)
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8. An apparatus for providing an advertisement with a streamed video program having at least one advertising break, comprising:
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a video program provider having; a content selector receiving first data from a user device, the first data identifying the video program to be streamed to the user device and for transmitting second data from the video program provider to the user device separately from the video program before a streaming video request is received from the user device and the video program is streamed to the user device, the second data comprising a resource locator for the video program and metadata explicitly defining a location of an advertising break within the video program by a measure of time relative to one of the beginning or end of the video program, but not information on which advertisements should be inserted in the advertising break; a communication device transmitting third data to the user device upon receiving the streaming video request using the resource locator to cause streaming of the video program to the user device and in response to occurrence of the advertisement break defined by the second data for the video program playing on the user device, the third data comprising advertising options consisting essentially of alternative advertisements from which only one advertisement may be selected for viewing during the advertisement break; an advertisement server streaming a user-selected one of the alternative advertisements to the user device during the advertising break and storing the identifier of the user-selected one of the alternative advertisements in a memory, if fourth data indicating the user-selected one of the alternative advertisements is received from the user device, and if the fourth data is not received from the user device, selecting a provider-selected advertisement after determining that the user has not selected one of the alternative advertisements, and then streaming the provider-selected advertisement to the user device during the advertising break; and the video program comprises a plurality of advertising blocks, each advertising block comprising one or more advertisements; the advertising options further comprise data defining a number and temporal distribution of the one or more advertisements to be presented in each of the plurality of advertising blocks and the temporal distribution of the blocks within the streamed video program; and the fourth data further comprises a selected number and selected temporal distribution of the one or more advertisements to be presented in each of the plurality of advertising blocks and the selected temporal distribution of the blocks within the streamed video program selected based on user input to the user device. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification