Data boundary manager for addressable advertising

• US 8,997,143 B2
• Filed: 04/11/2012
• Issued: 03/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications Management LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: This Technology, Inc. (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Sherwin, Jeffrey, Heudecker, Nickolas James, Mick, John Raymond Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bruckart, Benjamin R
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TIEN M
• Application Number:
  US13/444,303
• Publication Number:
  US 20130276025A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,084 Days
• Field of Search: 725/22, 725/32, 725 34- 36, 725/12, 725/25
• US Class Current: 725/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2547 Third Party Billing, e.g. billing of advertiser
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• 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 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• 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 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

A computer implemented method and system for managing audience data for advertisement placements is disclosed. A server receives a source signal stream comprising metadata and an advertisement space. The server extracts from the metadata a channel identifier, a private client identifier, and information about an intended audience of interest to advertisers. The server identifies a placement opportunity including an owner of the advertisement space based on the channel identifier. The server purges at least some of the extracted information about the intended audience when the owner of the advertisement space is identified as a national network. The server identifies an amount of information about the intended audience to purge and subsequently to fetch for the national network based on a business arrangement between the national network and a service provider, which the server enforces and enables.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a programmed computer, a source signal stream comprising metadata and an advertisement space;

extracting from the metadata, by the programmed computer, a channel identifier and information about an intended audience of interest to clients;

identifying, by the programmed computer, a placement opportunity including an owner of the advertisement space based on the channel identifier;

associating, by the programmed computer, the placement opportunity with a universal unique identifier, the universal unique identifier uniquely identifying the placement opportunity as a confirmed placement opportunity and uniquely identifying a starting location of the confirmed placement opportunity within the source signal stream and within an end-to-end operational system;

purging, by the programmed computer, at least some of the extracted information about the intended audience when the owner of the advertisement space is identified as a specified network;

transmitting, by the programmed computer, a placement request to an advertisement decision service for the confirmed placement opportunity in view of the universal unique identifier and in view of the extracted information about the intended audience remaining after purging;

receiving, by the programmed computer, a placement response comprising an advertisement placement decision in view of the universal unique identifier and in view of the extracted information about the intended audience remaining after purging;

inserting the placement response into the confirmed placement opportunity;

receiving, by the programmed computer, a request for a portion of the remainder of the extracted information from a client; and

,

providing, by the programmed computer, the portion of the extracted information about the intended audience remaining after purging to the client when the client is the specified network and

not providing, by the programmed computer, the portion of the extracted information about the intended audience remaining after purging to the client when the client is another network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying an amount of information about the intended audience to purge and subsequently to fetch for the client based on a business arrangement between the client and a service provider.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising targeting an advertisement decision to the intended audience based on the extracted information about the intended audience remaining after purging.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracted information about the intended audience remaining after purging is at least one statistic of a national market.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising charging a premium to the client for the at least one statistic.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the premium charged is based on at least one of by network, by show, by time, or by device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one statistic is made available only to the client for a predetermined period of time.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the purged information about the intended audience is personal identifiable information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the personal identifiable information identifies an individual person.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the personal identifiable information is at least one of a hardware MAC address, a name, a post office address, a subscription or an order history, or a credit score.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the purged information about the intended audience identifies a market associated with a regional or local service provider.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the extracted information about the intended audience remaining after purging includes information that identifies a market associated with a regional or local service provider.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising providing compensation to the regional or local service provider from the client in exchange for permitting the client to have access to the information that identifies the market associated with the regional or local service provider.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting the private client identifier and the channel identifier to a subscriber information service; and

receiving, from the subscriber information service, a list of audience qualifiers including the extracted information about the intended audience correlated to the private client identifier and the channel identifier.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein purging at least some of the extracted information about the intended audience further comprises purging at least some of the audience qualifiers that identify an individual person or identifies a market associated with a regional or local service provider.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising requesting an advertisement decision based on the placement opportunity identified.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining the metadata from a content information service (CIS).

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining the owner of the advertisement space from a session server.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the source signal stream further comprises content.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein content comprises video, audio, or an interactive overlay.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein designated time intervals for an advertising placement opportunity in the advertisement space corresponds to breaks, pre-rolls, post-rolls, mid-rolls, interstitials, pauses, and video-on-demand requests.

22. A system, comprising:

a memory;

a processing device, coupled to the memory, to;

receive a source signal stream comprising metadata and an advertisement space;

extract from the metadata a channel identifier and information about an intended audience of interest to clients;

identify a placement opportunity including an owner of the advertisement space based on the channel identifier;

associate the placement opportunity with a universal unique identifier, the universal unique identifier uniquely identifying the placement opportunity as a confirmed placement opportunity and uniquely identifying a starting location of the confirmed placement opportunity within the source signal stream and within an end-to-end operational system;

purge at least some of the extracted information about the intended audience when the owner of the advertisement space is identified as a specified network;

transmit a placement request to an advertisement decision service for the confirmed placement opportunity in view of the universal unique identifier and in view of the extracted information about the intended audience remaining after purging;

receive a placement response comprising an advertisement placement decision in view of the universal unique identifier and in view of the extracted information about the intended audience remaining after purging;

insert the placement response into the confirmed placement opportunity;

receive a request for a portion of the remainder of the extracted information from a client; and

,

provide the portion of the extracted information about the intended audience remaining after purging to the client when the client is the specified network and

not provide the portion of the extracted information about the intended audience remaining after purging to the client when the client is another network.

23. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a programmed computer, cause the programmed computer to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the programmed computer, a source signal stream comprising metadata and an advertisement space;

extracting from the metadata, by the programmed computer, a channel identifier and information about an intended audience of interest to clients;

identifying, by the programmed computer, a placement opportunity including an owner of the advertisement space based on the channel identifier;

associating the placement opportunity with a universal unique identifier, the universal unique identifier uniquely identifying the placement opportunity as a confirmed placement opportunity and uniquely identifying a starting location of the confirmed placement opportunity within the source signal stream and within an end-to-end operational system;

purging, by the programmed computer, at least some of the extracted information about the intended audience when the owner of the advertisement space is identified as a specified network;

transmitting, by the programmed computer, a placement request to an advertisement decision service for the confirmed placement opportunity in view of the universal unique identifier and in view of the extracted information about the intended audience remaining after purging;

receiving, by the programmed computer, a placement response comprising an advertisement placement decision in view of the universal unique identifier and in view of the extracted information about the intended audience remaining after purging;

inserting the placement response into the confirmed placement opportunity;

receiving, by the programmed computer, a request for a portion of the remainder of the extracted information from a client; and

,

providing, by the programmed computer, the portion of the extracted information about the intended audience remaining after purging to the client when the client is the specified network and

not providing, by the programmed computer, the portion of the extracted information about the intended audience remaining after purging to the client when the client is another network.