Method and system for implementation of rules for overlays based on automatic content recognition

• US 8,856,817 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2012
• Issued: 10/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Turner Broadcasting System Incorporated (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Turner Broadcasting System Incorporated (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Inventors: Sinha, Nishith Kumar, Loheide, Donald Jude, Giles, Matthew Paul
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): BROWN, RUEBEN M
• Application Number:
  US13/730,495
• Publication Number:
  US 20130205335A1
• Time in Patent Office: 648 Days
• Field of Search: 725/19, 725/20
• US Class Current: 725/19
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24558 Binary matching operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 1/0021 Image watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/00 Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD] real-time bi-directional transmission of motion video data H04N7/14 ; broadcast or conference over packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/251 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4147 PVR [Personal Video Recorder] H04N5/76 takes precedence ; arrangements for broadcast with accumulation-type receivers H04H20/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/432 Content retrieval operation from a local storage medium, e.g. hard-disk details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/435 Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/441 Acquiring end-user identification , e.g. using personal code sent by the remote control or by inserting a card
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/478 Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4784 receiving rewards
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

An automatic content recognition (ACR)-enabled connected TV device may be operable to present, utilizing an ACR system, an overlay during presentation of content, based on one or more rules. The one or more rules may be implemented utilizing information provided by the ACR system. The presented overlay may be associated with a sponsor, and the one or more rules may comprise a timing rule, an advertisement separation rule, an advertisement conflict rule and/or an auto-scaling rule. An ad server coupled to the ACR system may determine whether the overlay associated with the sponsor may be appropriate for presentation. The presented overlay may comprise interactive content for viewer interaction, and the one or more rules may comprise a viewer interaction rule which ensures that, when the interactive overlay is presented, the presented content may be scaled so that the scaled presented content is not covered by the overlay.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

in an automatic content recognition (ACR)-enabled connected TV device, wherein;

said ACR-enabled connected TV device comprises an ACR module that communicates with an ACR system that is external to said ACR-enabled connected TV device, and said ACR system comprises an abstraction layer that supports different video fingerprint technologies from multiple vendors;

said ACR module providing fingerprints to said ACR system for matching; and

said ACR module receiving information and/or content from said ACR system based on said matching;

presenting by said ACR module, utilizing an ACR system, an overlay during presentation of content, based on one or more rules, wherein;

said one or more rules are implemented by said ACR module utilizing information provided by said ACR system, and

when said ACR-enabled connected TV device is paired with a paired device utilizing a companion application running on said paired device, said content and said overlay are also presented on said paired device.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said presented overlay is associated with a sponsor.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein said one or more rules comprises a timing rule which ensures that, when an up-coming advertisement is sponsored by said sponsor, said presented overlay does not extend beyond the end of said up-coming advertisement.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein said one or more rules comprises an advertisement separation rule, which indicates whether to present said overlay associated with said sponsor based on a competing advertisement that is sponsored by another sponsor and said competing advertisement is scheduled to be presented in a commercial break within a specified time period.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein said one or more rules comprises an advertisement conflict rule, which ensures that, when said presented content comprises a competing advertisement, which is sponsored by another sponsor, and said competing advertisement is to be presented during a commercial break, said overlay associated with said sponsor is blocked from being presented during said commercial break.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein said one or more rules comprises an auto-scaling rule, which ensures that, when said overlay associated with said sponsor is presented into a commercial break during which a competing advertisement sponsored by another sponsor is presented, said competing advertisement is scaled, based on said overlay, so that said scaled competing advertisement is not covered by said overlay, and information indicating said sponsor is removed from said overlay to avoid presenting competing messages during said commercial break.

7. The method according to claim 2, wherein an ad server coupled to said ACR system determines whether said overlay associated with said sponsor is appropriate for presentation based on said one or more rules and on one or more advertising schedules for commercial breaks.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said presented overlay comprises interactive content for viewer interaction.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein said one or more rules comprises a viewer interaction rule which ensures that, when said overlay comprising said interactive content is presented, said presented content is scaled based on said overlay, and said scaling is done so that said scaled presented content is not covered by said overlay.

10. The method according to claim 9, comprising:

identifying by said ACR module, utilizing said ACR system, a certain portion of said presented content that is to be covered by said overlay;

when said overlay is presented, scaling said presented content, based on said identification, so that said scaled presented content is not covered by said presented overlay; and

when said presented overlay ends, rescaling said scaled presented content back to its original size.

11. A system, comprising:

an automatic content recognition (ACR)-enabled connected TV device, wherein;

said ACR-enabled connected TV device comprises an ACR module that communicates with an ACR system that is external to said ACR-enabled connected TV device, and said ACR system comprises an abstraction layer that supports different video fingerprint technologies from multiple vendors;

said ACR module providing fingerprints to said ACR system for matching; and

said ACR module receiving information and/or content from said ACR system based on said matching, said ACR-enabled connected TV device being operable to;

present by said ACR module, utilizing said ACR system, an overlay during presentation of content, based on one or more rules, wherein;

said one or more rules are implemented by said ACR module utilizing information provided by said ACR system, and

when said ACR-enabled connected TV device is paired with a paired device utilizing a companion application running on said paired device, said content and said overlay are also presented on said paired device.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein said presented overlay is associated with a sponsor.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein said one or more rules comprises a timing rule which ensures that, when an up-coming advertisement is sponsored by said sponsor, said presented overlay does not extend beyond the end of said up-coming advertisement.

14. The system according to claim 12, wherein said one or more rules comprises an advertisement separation rule which indicates whether to present said overlay associated with said sponsor based on a competing advertisement that is sponsored by another sponsor and said competing advertisement is scheduled to be presented in a commercial break within a certain time period.

15. The system according to claim 12, wherein said one or more rules comprises an advertisement conflict rule, which ensures that, when said presented content comprises a competing advertisement, which is sponsored by another sponsor, and said competing advertisement is to be presented during a commercial break, said overlay associated with said sponsor is blocked from being presented during said commercial break.

16. The system according to claim 12, wherein said one or more rules comprises an auto-scaling rule which ensures that, when said overlay associated with said sponsor is presented into a commercial break during which a competing advertisement sponsored by another sponsor is presented, said competing advertisement is scaled, based on said overlay, so that said scaled competing advertisement is not covered by said overlay, and information indicating said sponsor is removed from said overlay to avoid presenting competing messages during said commercial break.

17. The system according to claim 12, wherein an ad server coupled to said ACR system determines whether said overlay associated with said sponsor is appropriate for presentation based on said one or more rules and on one or more advertising schedules for commercial breaks.

18. The system according to claim 11, wherein said presented overlay comprises interactive content for viewer interaction.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein said one or more rules comprises a viewer interaction rule which ensures that, when said overlay comprising said interactive content is presented, said presented content is scaled, based on said overlay, and said scaling is done so that said scaled presented content is not covered by said overlay.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein said ACR-enabled connected TV device is operable to:

identify by said ACR module, utilizing said ACR system, a certain portion of said presented content that is to be covered by said overlay;

when said overlay is presented, scale said presented content, based on said identification, so that said scaled presented content is not covered by said presented overlay; and

when said presented overlay ends, rescale said scaled presented content back to its original size.

21. A system, comprising:

an automatic content recognition (ACR) system comprising;

a fingerprint matching system;

a plurality real-time fingerprint servers;

wherein;

said finger print matching system is communicatively coupled to said plurality of real-time fingerprint servers; and

said ACR system comprises an abstraction layer that interfaces with said plurality real-time fingerprint servers to support different video fingerprint technologies from multiple vendors; and

an ACR-enabled connected TV device comprising an ACR module, wherein said ACR-enabled connected TV device is communicatively coupled to said ACR system;

wherein;

said ACR module presents, utilizing said ACR system, an overlay during presentation of content, based on one or more rules;

said ACR module implements said one or more rules utilizing information provided by said ACR system; and

when said ACR-enabled connected TV device is paired with a paired device utilizing a companion application running on said paired device, said content and said overlay are also presented on said paired device.