Methods, computer program products, and apparatus for receiving targeted content based on locally stored user data

• US 8,869,193 B2
• Filed: 08/26/2008
• Issued: 10/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Yu, Ke, Brown, William
• Primary Examiner(s): Goodarzi, Nasser
• Assistant Examiner(s): Peng, Fred
• Application Number:
  US12/198,417
• Publication Number:
  US 20100058380A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,247 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 725/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; 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 21/4312 involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4314 for fitting data in a restricted space on the screen, e.g. EPG data in a rectangular grid
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• 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 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44213 Monitoring of end-user related data arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• 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 21/6582 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

Targeted content is delivered to and received by at least one user device based on user information stored locally at the user device. Program content and targeted content are received. The targeted content received is associated with user information stored locally on the user device, while the program content is broadcast to multiple users. A determination by a scanning process is made at what position or at what time in the program content to include the targeted content. The program content and the targeted content are rendered, with the targeted content included at the determined position or time in the program content, for presentation to the user.

Claims

1. A computer program product, tangibly embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium, for providing targeted content for advertising, the computer program product including computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a set top box, cause the set top box to perform operations including:

receiving program content and the targeted content, wherein the targeted content received is associated with user information stored locally on the set top box;

determining at what position during the program content to include the targeted content;

rendering the program content and the targeted content, with the targeted content included at the position determined in the program content, for presentation to a user;

reporting by the set top box to a scanning module occasions in which the set top box inserted the targeted content into the program content, such that reporting the occasions by the set top box causes an advertiser to be charged each time the targeted content is inserted for the occasions;

to report the occasions to the scanning module, performing by the set top box generic reporting of the program content inserted with the targeted content without revealing the targeted content according to a level of privacy in reporting the occasions, the generic reporting by the set top box further includes reporting when the targeted content was included during the program content and reporting where the targeted content was included in the program content according to the level of privacy while not revealing the targeted content.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the targeted content is overlaid on the program content.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the position in the program content to overlay the targeted content is determined by identifying a portion of the program content containing advertising content, wherein the advertising content is replaced with the targeted content.

4. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising determining at what time to overlay the targeted content on the program content which includes determining when the program content is playing during which to overlay the targeted content.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the set top box further stores the program content and the targeted content.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the program content is broadcast to multiple users.

7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the targeted content includes webpage content.

8. An apparatus of a set top box for receiving targeted content, the apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium with computer-executable instructions stored thereon, that when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving program content and the targeted content, wherein the targeted content received is associated with user information stored locally on the set top box;

determining at what position in the program content to include the targeted content and configured to render the program content and the targeted content, with the targeted content included at the position determined in the program content, for presentation to a user;

reporting to a scanning module occasions in which the rendering module inserted the targeted content into the program content, such that reporting the occasions by the rendering module causes an advertiser to be charged each time the targeted content is inserted for the occasions;

to report the occasions to the scanning module, performing by the set top box generic reporting of the program content inserted with the targeted content without revealing the targeted content according to a level of privacy in reporting the occasions, the generic reporting by the set top box further includes reporting when the targeted content was included during the program content and reporting where the targeted content was included in the program content according to the level of privacy while not revealing the targeted content.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the targeted content is overlaid on the program content.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the position in the program content to include the targeted content is determined by identifying a portion of the program content containing advertising content, wherein the advertising content is replaced with the targeted content.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising operations to determine at what time to include the targeted content in the program content by determining when a program is playing during which to overlay the targeted content.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the program content is broadcast to multiple users.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the targeted content includes webpage content.