Systems and/or methods for distributing advertisements from a central advertisement network to a peripheral device via a local advertisement server

• US 8,739,206 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2012
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: TouchTunes Music Corporation (The Octave Music Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: TouchTunes Music Corporation (The Octave Music Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dion, Dominique, Tooker, Michael, Guy, Francois, Khenfir, Mounir
• Primary Examiner(s): Ingvoldstad, Bennett
• Application Number:
  US13/670,553
• Publication Number:
  US 20130067512A1
• Time in Patent Office: 566 Days
• Field of Search: 725 74- 85
• US Class Current: 725/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/103 Transmitter-side switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2143 located in a single building, e.g. hotel, hospital or museum arrangements specially adapted for plural spots in a confined site in broadcast systems H04H20/63; adaptations for transmission by electric cable for domestic distribution in television systems H04N7/106
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/222 Secondary servers, e.g. proxy server, cable television Head-end provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• 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

Certain exemplary embodiments disclosed herein relate to systems and/or methods for distributing advertisements from a central advertisement network to one or more peripheral devices at a location via a local advertisement server. In certain exemplary embodiments, the local advertisement server within a location receives advertisements from the central advertisement network and rebroadcasts them to peripheral devices within that location. Advertising information may be tracked and reported, e.g., for accounting, revenue-sharing, and/or other purposes in certain exemplary embodiments. Thus, in certain exemplary embodiments, the distribution of advertisements is provided to peripherals via a non-web- and non-PC-dependent network. Moreover, in certain exemplary embodiments, reporting and advertising related communications are substantially bi-directional regardless of device type. Certain exemplary embodiments provide revenue sharing among some or all of the central advertising network provider, the proprietors of locations, operators tasked with maintaining the local ad server and/or the peripheral devices, etc.

Claims

1. An advertisement system comprising a plurality of the local advertisement servers, each said local advertisement server being located at a different respective location, each said local advertisement server comprising:

a network connection to a central advertising network located remote from the local advertisement server;

a storage location configured to store an advertisement database, the advertisement database including advertisements received from the central advertising network via the network connection along with content control data associated with each said advertisement;

an advertisement server advertisement queue;

a local connection to at least one peripheral device and at least one digital jukebox device located in the same location as the respective local advertisement server, the at least one jukebox device and at least one said peripheral device including respective storage locations and each being configured to (a) maintain respective jukebox device and peripheral device advertisement queues and log files, and (b) to cause advertisements to be displayed from the respective advertisement queues based on pre-stored content control data previously received from the respective local advertisement server; and

a display controller configured to cause peripheral devices connected to the local advertisement server via the local connection that do not include their own peripheral device advertisement queues to display at least some of the advertisements received from the central advertising network using the advertisement server advertisement queue and in dependence on the content control data associated with the advertisements.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each said advertisement is one of a leader board, banner, or media clip.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the content control data for each advertisement comprises indications of how and when the associated advertisement should be displayed.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein each said local advertisement server further comprises a plurality of log files including a first log file storing information regarding the distribution of advertisements from the central advertising network to the respective local advertisement server, and a second log file storing information regarding the display of advertisements on any devices connected to the respective advertisement server.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein each said local advertisement server further comprises a media source connection configured to receive media from an external media source, and

wherein the display controller of each said local advertisement server is further configured to combine, in a predetermined format, the advertisements with the media received from the external media source via the media source connection to create a combined signal, the combined signal being transmittable to at least some of the peripheral devices for possible subsequent display.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the advertisement server advertisement queue for each said local advertisement server includes an advertisement queue for each of a plurality of different peripheral device types, the display controller of each said local advertisement server being further configured to cause peripheral devices connected thereto via the local connection to display at least some of the advertisements received from the central advertising network in dependence on the content control data associated with the advertisements and the associated advertisement queue.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein at least some of the local advertisement servers are built into one of said digital jukebox devices provided at the same location.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the local advertisement servers that are built into digital jukebox devices share common processors and/or storage locations with one another.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the digital jukebox devices are configured to retrieve instances of media for playback via a central audiovisual network, the central audiovisual network being the same network as the central advertising network.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein, for each said local advertisement server, the associated display controller is further configured to change or modify the advertisements being displayed in response to input provided, directly or indirectly, by a person to whom the advertisement is targeted.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising an advertiser interface configured to allow advertisers to define or redefine an advertising campaign by creating at least one rule specifying how and where an advertisement should be run, said advertiser interface being accessible via the central advertising network.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein each said jukebox device and peripheral device that includes respective storage locations is further configured to cause advertisements to be displayed from respective advertisement queues without directly consulting an associated advertisement server advertisement queue.

13. An advertising method for providing a plurality of electronic advertisements to peripheral devices distributed across a plurality of locations, wherein a plurality of local advertisement servers each located at a different location and in connection with a remote central advertising network, at least some electronic advertisements being distributable from the central advertising network to the local advertisement servers via network connections provided to the respective local advertisement servers, the method comprising:

storing, via storage locations provided to the respective local advertisement servers, advertisement databases, the advertisement databases including electronic advertisements received from the central advertising network via the respective network connection along with content control data associated with each said electronic advertisement; and

maintaining, at each said local advertisement server, at least one advertisement server advertisement queue;

each said local advertisement server is connected to a plurality of peripheral devices and a digital jukebox device, the jukebox device and at least some of said peripheral devices including respective storage locations and being configured to maintain respective jukebox device and peripheral device advertisement queues and log files, and to cause advertisements to be displayed from the respective advertisement queues without directly consulting the advertisement server advertisement queue; and

controlling each said local advertisement server to cause peripheral display devices connected thereto that do not include their own peripheral device advertisement queues to display at least some of the electronic advertisements received from the central advertising network in dependence on the content control data associated with the electronic advertisements and the respective at least one advertisement server advertisement queue,

wherein the content control data for each electronic advertisement comprises indications of how and when the associated electronic advertisement should be displayed.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising, at each said local advertisement server:

receiving media from an external media source;

combining, in a predetermined format, the electronic advertisements with the media received from the external media source, to create a combined signal; and

sending the combined signal to peripheral display devices connected to the local advertisement server for display on the respective peripheral display device.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein each said local advertisement server is built into the digital jukebox device to which the advertisement server is connected.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein each said local advertisement server shares a common processor and/or storage location with the associated digital jukebox device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein each said the digital jukebox device is configured to retrieve instances of media for playback via a central audiovisual network, the central audiovisual network being the same network as the central advertising network.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising causing, at each said location, a change or modification to the electronic advertisements being displayed in response to input provided, directly or indirectly, by a person to whom the electronic advertisements is targeted.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein an advertiser interface is configured to enable advertisers to define or redefine an advertising campaign by creating at least one rule specifying how and where an electronic advertisement should be run, said advertiser interface being accessible via the central advertising network.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving input when a new peripheral device is connected to a local advertisement server, the input including an identifier for the new peripheral device, as well as indications as to what ad types the new peripheral device supports, whether the new peripheral device has a dedicated storage location associated therewith, and whether the new peripheral device maintains its own advertisement queue and/or log files.