Methods and apparatus for targeted secondary content insertion
First Claim
1. A content management apparatus for use within a content delivery network, said apparatus comprising:
- an advertising subsystem having an advertising content store, said advertising subsystem being configured to store a plurality of advertisements having descriptive information associated therewith, and to identify at least one advertising placement opportunity in delivered content;
a data collection subsystem;
a processing subsystem in data communication with said collection subsystem; and
a data storage subsystem in data communication with said processing subsystem;
wherein said data collection subsystem is configured to gather data related to an audience associated with said placement opportunity;
wherein said processing subsystem is adapted to utilize said descriptive information relating to said plurality of advertisements and said gathered data to selectively identify ones of said advertisements that are best suited for placement within said opportunity;
wherein said descriptive information comprises at least one weighted attribute and at least one variance, said weighted attribute and said variance relating to a desired audience quality of an advertisement with which said descriptive information is associated; and
wherein said processing subsystem is further adapted to allow a user to adjust said variance to enable creation of a range of said desired audience quality.
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus for identification and insertion of content targeted to a particular audience within a content-based network, such as a cable television or satellite network. In one embodiment of the invention, audience qualities are identified and distributed to an advertisement decision maker, which uses the information to fulfill advertisement placement opportunities. Qualifiers about an existing or projected audience are classified utilizing an algorithm for qualifier weight and variance in order to determine the proximity any given qualifier may be to a target audience for an advertisement. Subscriber privacy and anonymity is also optionally maintained via e.g., hashing or encrypting data relating to the CPE and/or subscriber, thus ensuring that audience data is not traceable to a specific user account. Business methods are also disclosed.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A content management apparatus for use within a content delivery network, said apparatus comprising:
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an advertising subsystem having an advertising content store, said advertising subsystem being configured to store a plurality of advertisements having descriptive information associated therewith, and to identify at least one advertising placement opportunity in delivered content; a data collection subsystem; a processing subsystem in data communication with said collection subsystem; and a data storage subsystem in data communication with said processing subsystem; wherein said data collection subsystem is configured to gather data related to an audience associated with said placement opportunity; wherein said processing subsystem is adapted to utilize said descriptive information relating to said plurality of advertisements and said gathered data to selectively identify ones of said advertisements that are best suited for placement within said opportunity; wherein said descriptive information comprises at least one weighted attribute and at least one variance, said weighted attribute and said variance relating to a desired audience quality of an advertisement with which said descriptive information is associated; and wherein said processing subsystem is further adapted to allow a user to adjust said variance to enable creation of a range of said desired audience quality. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A non-transitory computer readable apparatus comprising media adapted to contain a computer program having a plurality of instructions which, when executed:
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obtain a request for insertion of an advertisement segment, said request comprising a plurality of attributes; access a plurality available advertisement segments, said plurality of available advertisement segments each being associated to a plurality of aspects descriptive of a respective target audience thereof; determine a similarity of said plurality of attributes of said request to respective ones of said plurality of aspects descriptive of said target audience of said plurality of available advertisement segments; and provide at least one of said available advertisement segments based at least on a predetermined threshold of similarity to said plurality of attributes of said request and on at least one permissible variance relating to a desired target audience quality of an advertisement with which said target audience is associated; wherein said non-transitory computer readable apparatus is further adapted to allow a user to adjust said permissible variance to enable creation of a range of said desired target audience quality. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8)
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9. A method of providing targeted advertisements in a content distribution network, said method comprising:
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obtaining a request for insertion of an advertisement segment at a first server, said request comprising a plurality of attributes; accessing a plurality of available advertisement segments, said plurality of available advertisement segments each being associated to a plurality of aspects descriptive of a respective target audience thereof; determining a similarity of said plurality of attributes of said request to respective ones of said plurality of aspects descriptive of said target audience of said plurality of available advertisement segments; providing at least one of said available advertisement segments based at least on a predetermined threshold of similarity to said plurality of attributes of said request and on at least one permissible variance relating to a desired target audience quality of an advertisement with which said target audience is associated; and enabling a user to adjust said permissible variance to create a range of said desired target audience quality. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification