Methods and systems for dynamically inserting an advertisement into a playback of a recorded media content instance

• US 8,707,182 B2
• Filed: 01/20/2010
• Issued: 04/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Bassali, Harpal S., Lechner, Marcelo D., Ruffini, Michael P., Stettner, Armando P.
• Primary Examiner(s): THERIAULT, STEVEN B
• Application Number:
  US12/690,544
• Publication Number:
  US 20110179356A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,553 Days
• Field of Search: 715/704, 715716-726
• US Class Current: 715/723
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• 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 21/4325 by playing back content from the storage medium reproduction of recorded television signals H04N5/76; reproduction of recorded television signals H04N9/79
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/783 Adaptations for reproducing at a rate different from the recording rate

Abstract

An exemplary method includes maintaining data representative of a recorded media content instance comprising a media content program and a first advertisement and an index file corresponding to the recorded media content instance, playing back the recorded media content instance in accordance with timestamp data and storage location data included in the index file, dynamically replacing, during the playback of the recorded media content instance, a portion of the storage location data in the index file that corresponds to the first advertisement with storage location data corresponding to a second advertisement, and presenting the second advertisement in place of the first advertisement during the playback of the recorded media content instance in accordance with the modified index file. Corresponding methods and systems are also described.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

maintaining, by a media content access subsystem, data representative of a recorded media content instance and an index file corresponding to the recorded media content instance, the recorded media content instance comprising a media content program and a first advertisement, the index file comprising timestamp data and storage location data corresponding to the media content program and to the first advertisement;

playing back, by the media content access subsystem and in response to a command input by a user to play back the recorded media content instance, the recorded media content instance in accordance with the timestamp data and the storage location data included in the index file;

dynamically replacing in real-time, by the media content access subsystem during the playback of the recorded media content instance, a portion of the storage location data in the index file that corresponds to the first advertisement with storage location data corresponding to a second advertisement, the dynamic replacing resulting in a modified index file, wherein the dynamically replacing further comprises;

detecting an advertisement trigger that indicates a start time and an end time of the first advertisement,

identifying, in response to the detected trigger, a length of the first advertisement, and

selecting, during the playback of the recorded media content instance, the second advertisement based on a user profile associated with the user and the identified length of the first advertisement; and

presenting, by the media content access subsystem, the second advertisement in place of the first advertisement during the playback of the recorded media content instance in accordance with the modified index file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the timestamp data comprises data representative of a plurality of timestamps each corresponding to a distinct temporal position in the recorded media content instance, and wherein the dynamic replacing comprises

detecting a trigger in the recorded media content instance that indicates a start time of the first advertisement and an end time of the first advertisement,

identifying a first timestamp included in the plurality of timestamps that corresponds to the start time and a second timestamp included in the plurality of timestamps that corresponds to the end time, and

replacing a segment of the storage location data in the index file that corresponds to a time period defined by the first and second timestamps with the storage location data corresponding to the second advertisement.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising locally storing, by the media content access subsystem, data representative the second advertisement.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second advertisement is configured to target a particular user of the media content access subsystem.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining, by the media content access subsystem, data representative of a plurality of advertisements configured to target a user of the media content access subsystem; and

selecting, by the media content access subsystem, one of the plurality of advertisements as the second advertisement based on a user profile associated with the user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the maintaining of the data representative of the plurality of advertisements comprises periodically updating the plurality of advertisements with new advertisements configured to target the user of the media content access subsystem.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

playing back a second time, by the media content access subsystem, the recorded media content instance in accordance with the timestamp data and the storage location data included in the index file; and

dynamically replacing, by the media content access subsystem during the second playback of the recorded media content instance, the portion of the storage location data in the index file that corresponds to the second advertisement with storage location data corresponding to a third advertisement, the dynamic replacing resulting in another modified index file; and

presenting, by the media content access subsystem, the third advertisement in place of the second advertisement during the second playback of the recorded media content instance in accordance with the another modified index file.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the playback of the recorded media content instance is performed using a trick play mode.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising tracking, by the media content processing subsystem, a number of times that the second advertisement is presented to a user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first advertisement is temporally surrounded by portions of the media content program.

11. The method of claim 1, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one tangible computer-readable medium.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement trigger includes data representative of one or more attributes of the first advertisement.

13. A method comprising:

locally storing, by a set-top box device, data representative of a recorded media content instance and an index file corresponding to the recorded media content instance, the recorded media content instance comprising a media content program and a first advertisement, the index file comprising timestamp data and storage location data corresponding to the media content program and to the first advertisement;

maintaining, by the set-top box device, a user profile associated with a user of the set-top box device;

receiving, by the set-top box device, a command input by the user to play back the recorded media content instance;

playing back, by the set-top box device in response to the command input by the user, the recorded media content instance in accordance with the timestamp data and the storage location data included in the index file;

detecting, by the set-top box device, an advertisement trigger that indicates a start time and an end time of the first advertisement;

identifying, by the set-top box device and in response to the detected trigger, a length of the first advertisement;

selecting, by the set-top box device during the playback of the recorded media content instance, a second advertisement based on the user profile associated with the user and the identified length of the first advertisement;

dynamically replacing in real-time, by the set-top box device during the playback of the recorded media content instance, a portion of the storage location data in the index file that corresponds to the first advertisement with storage location data corresponding to the second advertisement, the dynamic replacing resulting in a modified index file; and

presenting, by the set-top box device, the second advertisement in place of the first advertisement during the playback of the recorded media content instance in accordance with the modified index file.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the timestamp data comprises data representative of a plurality of timestamps each corresponding to a distinct temporal position in the recorded media content instance, and wherein the dynamic replacing comprises

detecting a trigger in the recorded media content instance that indicates a start time of the first advertisement and an end time of the first advertisement,

identifying a first timestamp included in the plurality of timestamps that corresponds to the start time and a second timestamp included in the plurality of timestamps that corresponds to the end time, and

replacing a segment of the storage location data in the index file that corresponds to a time period defined by the first and second timestamps with the storage location data corresponding to the second advertisement.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

maintaining, by the set-top box device, data representative of a plurality of advertisements configured to target the user of the set-top box device; and

selecting, by the set-top box device, one of the plurality of advertisements as the second advertisement based on the user profile associated with the user.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the maintaining of the data representative of the plurality of advertisements comprises periodically updating the plurality of advertisements with new advertisements configured to target the user of the set-top box device.

17. The method of claim 15, embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one tangible computer-readable medium.

18. A method comprising:

maintaining, by a media content access subsystem, data representative of a recorded media content instance and an index file corresponding to the recorded media content instance, the recorded media content instance comprising a media content program and a first advertisement, the index file comprising timestamp data and storage location data corresponding to the media content program and to the first advertisement;

replacing in real-time, by the media content access subsystem and during the playback of the recorded media content instance, a portion of the storage location data in the index file that corresponds to the first advertisement with storage location data corresponding to a second advertisement, the replacing resulting in a modified index file, wherein the replacing further comprises;

detecting an advertisement trigger that indicates a start time and an end time of the first advertisement,

identifying, in response to the detected trigger, a length of the first advertisement, and

selecting, during the playback of the recorded media content instance, the second advertisement based on a user profile associated with a user and the identified length of the first advertisement; and

playing back, by the media content access subsystem and in response to a command input by the user to play back the recorded media content instance, the recorded media content instance in accordance with the timestamp data and the storage location data included in the modified index file.

19. A system comprising:

a digital video recording facility configured to maintain data representative of a recorded media content instance and an index file corresponding to the recorded media content instance, the recorded media content instance comprising a media content program and a first advertisement, the index file comprising timestamp data and storage location data corresponding to the media content program and to the first advertisement;

a presentation facility communicatively coupled to the digital video recording facility and configured to play back, in response to a command input by a user to play back the recorded media content instance, the recorded media content instance in accordance with the timestamp data and the storage location data included in the index file; and

an advertisement insertion facility configured to dynamically replace, in real-time and during the playback of the recorded media content instance, a portion of the storage location data in the index file that corresponds to the first advertisement with storage location data corresponding to a second advertisement, the dynamic replacement resulting in a modified index file, wherein the dynamically replacing further comprises;

detecting an advertisement trigger that indicates a start time and an end time of the first advertisement,

identifying, in response to the detected trigger, a length of the first advertisement, and

selecting, during the playback of the recorded media content instance, the second advertisement based on a user profile associated with the user and the identified length of the first advertisement;

wherein the presentation facility is further configured to present the second advertisement in place of the first advertisement during the playback of the recorded media content instance in accordance with the modified index file.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the timestamp data comprises data representative of a plurality of timestamps each corresponding to a distinct temporal position in the recorded media content instance, and wherein the advertisement insertion facility is configured to dynamically replace the portion of the storage location data in the index file that corresponds to the first advertisement with the storage location data corresponding to the second advertisement by

detecting a trigger in the recorded media content instance that indicates a start time of the first advertisement and an end time of the first advertisement,

identifying a first timestamp included in the plurality of timestamps that corresponds to the start time and a second timestamp included in the plurality of timestamps that corresponds to the end time, and

replacing a segment of the storage location data in the index file that corresponds to a time period defined by the first and second timestamps with the storage location data corresponding to the second advertisement.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the second advertisement is configured to target a particular user of the media content access subsystem.

22. The system of claim 19, wherein the advertisement insertion facility is further configured to:

maintain data representative of a plurality of advertisements configured to target a user of the media content access subsystem; and

select one of the plurality of advertisements as the second advertisement based on an user profile associated with the user.