Content display processing apparatus and method of displaying advertisement in contents

• US 8,818,866 B2
• Filed: 06/20/2007
• Issued: 08/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Chatani, Masayuki, Nishino, Hideaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Weiss, John G
• Assistant Examiner(s): CAO, VINCENT M
• Application Number:
  US12/441,740
• Publication Number:
  US 20090307095A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,624 Days
• Field of Search: 705/14
• US Class Current: 705/14.73
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement

Abstract

An advertisement inserted in contents of, for example, a game does not serve its purpose after a while. An advertisement-information reception unit (112) receives an advertisement-space definition file (32). The advertisement-space definition file (32) is a file that defines an advertisement space for an advertisement to be inserted when contents are displayed and an advertising agency is assigned to the advertisement space. An assignment changing unit (116) cancels the assignment of an advertising agency, whose license has expired, to the advertisement space even when the advertising agency is assigned to the advertising space in the advertisement-space definition file (32). An advertisement downloading unit (118) downloads advertisement data to be inserted in the advertisement space from the server of the advertising agency validly assigned to the advertisement space. A rendering engine (130) inserts, when displaying the contents on a screen, the downloaded advertisement in the advertisement space and displays accordingly.

Claims

1. A content display processing apparatus comprising a hardware processor for managing:

an advertisement-information reception unit configured to receive and store in a memory;

an advertisement-space definition file, received from a content management server, the advertisement-space definition file defining each of a plurality of advertisement spaces into which one or more advertisements are to be inserted when content is displayed, and, for each for each advertisement space, one or more advertisement agencies are assigned from which advertisements are delivered; and

a license list, received from a license management server, the license list containing information related to the licensing validity of the one or more advertising agencies defined by the advertisement-space definition file, including, for each advertising agency, a license contract term and a deny flag to be set when the license for a respective advertising agency is not accepted;

an advertisement downloading unit configured to download from an advertisement agency server, in reference to the advertisement-space definition file stored in the memory, advertisement data to be inserted in each of the advertisement spaces provided by a respective advertising agency assigned to the advertisement space;

an assignment changing unit configured during the real-time display of an advertisement space to;

determine an advertisement agency assigned for the advertisement space, with reference to the advertisement-space definition file; and

evaluate, with reference to the license list, whether or not the assigned advertisement agency has an expired license or has been set with a deny flag, wherein, if the assigned advertisement agency has an expired license or has been set with a deny flag, as indicated by the license list, the assignment changing unit is configured to cancel an assignment of the assigned advertisement agency, to invalidate the assignment of the advertising agency to the advertisement space, and to update the advertisement-space definition file for the advertisement space; and

a display processing unit configured to insert, during real-time display of the content on a user'"'"'s display screen, advertisement data downloaded from the advertisement agency server of a respective advertisement agency assigned in the advertisement-space definition file and to display accordingly.

2. The content display processing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the advertisement-information reception unit receives the latest advertisement-space definition file every time a user views content and updates the details of the advertisement-space definition file stored in the memory.

3. The content display processing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the display processing unit inserts, when no advertising agency having a valid license is assigned to an advertisement space as a result of the assignment changing unit invalidating an advertising agency whose license has expired for the advertisement space, a default image in the advertisement space and displays accordingly.

4. A tangible, non-transitory computer readable storage medium recorded with a computer program product for execution by a processor, comprising:

an advertisement-information reception module that receives;

an advertisement-space definition file, received from a content management server, the advertisement-space definition file defining each of a plurality of advertisement spaces into which one or more advertisements are to be inserted when content is displayed, and, for each for each advertisement space, one or more advertisement agencies are assigned from which advertisements are delivered; and

a license list, received from a license management server, the license list containing information related to the licensing validity of the one or more advertising agencies defined by the advertisement-space definition file, including, for each advertising agency, a license contract term and a deny flag to be set when the license for a respective advertising agency is not accepted;

an advertisement downloading module that downloads from an advertisement agency server, in reference to the advertisement-space definition file, advertisement data to be inserted in each of the advertisement spaces provided by a respective advertising agency validly assigned to the advertisement space during real-time display of the content on a user'"'"'s display screen;

an assignment changing module that, during the real-time display of an advertisement space;

determines an advertisement agency assigned for the advertisement space, with reference to the advertisement-space definition file; and

evaluates, with reference to the license list, whether or not the assigned advertisement agency has an expired license or has been set with a deny flag, wherein, if the assigned advertisement agency has an expired license or has been set with a deny flag, as indicated by the license list, the assignment changing module cancels an assignment of the assigned advertisement agency, invalidates the assignment of the advertising agency to the advertisement space, and updates the advertisement-space definition file for the advertisement space; and

a display processing module that, during real-time display of the content on a user'"'"'s display screen, inserts advertisement data downloaded from the advertisement agency server of a respective advertisement agency assigned in the advertisement-space definition file and to display accordingly.

5. A method of displaying an advertisement in content, comprising:

receiving an advertisement-space definition file from a server, the advertisement-space definition file defining each of a plurality of advertisement spaces into which one or more advertisements are to be inserted when content is displayed, and, for each for each advertisement space, one or more advertisement agencies are assigned from which advertisements are delivered, and

receiving a license list from a server, the license list containing information related to the licensing validity of the one or more advertising agencies defined by the advertisement-space definition file, including, for each advertising agency, a license contract term and a deny flag to be set when the license for a respective advertising agency is not accepted;

downloading, from an advertisement agency server, in reference to the advertisement-space definition file, advertisement data to be inserted in each of the advertisement spaces provided by a respective advertising agency validly assigned to the advertisement space;

determining, by one or more processors, during the real-time display of an advertisement space, an advertisement agency assigned for the advertisement space, with reference to the advertisement-space definition file;

evaluating, by the one or more processors, with reference to the license list, whether or not the assigned advertisement agency has an expired license or has been set with a deny flag, and, if the assigned advertisement agency has an expired license or has been set with a deny flag as indicated by the license list, cancelling an assignment of the assigned advertisement agency, invalidating the assignment of the advertising agency to the advertisement space, and updating the advertisement-space definition file for the advertisement space; and

inserting, during real-time display of the content on a user'"'"'s display screen, advertisement data downloaded from the advertisement agency server of a respective advertisement agency assigned in the advertisement-space definition file.