Video content-aware advertisement placement

• US 9,111,287 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2009
• Issued: 08/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Liu, Xu, Shan, Ying
• Primary Examiner(s): TILLERY, RASHAWN N
• Application Number:
  US12/633,609
• Publication Number:
  US 20110078623A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,079 Days
• Field of Search: 386/239, 386/278, 705/14.4, 705/14.49, 705/14.72, 705/14.73, 715/716, 715/719, 715/723
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

Computer-readable media and computerized methods for utilizing an awareness of video content within a media file to incorporate an advertisement therein are provided. Building the video-content awareness involves performing an offline authoring process to generate a trajectory. In particular, the offline authoring process includes targeting an object appearing in the video content, tracking movement of the object over a sequence of frames within the media file, and, based on the tracked movement, writing locations of the object to the trajectory. In an online rendering process, invoked upon initiating play of the media file, the advertisement is automatically selected and dynamically placed on top of the video content as a function of the locations within the trajectory. Accordingly, by repositioning the advertisement (typically an animation) within the video content based on the movement of the object, an illusion that the advertisement visually interacts with the object is generated.

Claims

1. A computerized method for dynamically placing an advertisement on top of video content in a media file based on movement of an object therein, the method comprising:

performing an offline authoring process for generating a trajectory, the offline authoring process comprising;

(a) targeting a patch within the object appearing in the video content of the media file;

(b) tracking the movement of the patch over a sequence of frames within the media file; and

(c) based on the tracked movement of the patch, writing locations of the patch and timestamps associated with the locations of the patch within the sequence of frames to the trajectory, wherein the trajectory comprising a combination of locations and timestamps for a patch is used to generate a description file, wherein the description file comprises information such that one or more advertisements are created for the corresponding media file using the description file, wherein creating the one or more advertisements is based on;

(1) receiving, at an ad-designer entity, the description file having the trajectory; and

(2) creating the advertisement based on the description file;

performing an online rendering process upon initiating play of the media file, the online rendering process comprising;

(a) automatically selecting an advertisement

(b) while the media file, corresponding to the advertisement generated at the ad-designer entity, is playing, dynamically placing the selected advertisement on top of the video content as a function of the locations and timestamps within the trajectory; and

(c) starting or stopping play of the advertisement on the media file as a function of the timestamps within the trajectory.

2. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the patch comprises a prominent set of pixels within the object that exhibits an identifiable texture.

3. The computerized method of claim 2, wherein tracking the movement of the patch over a sequence of frames within the media file comprises:

selecting key frames within the sequence of frames; and

inputting the locations of the patch within the key frames into the trajectory.

4. The computerized method of claim 3, wherein tracking the movement of the patch over a sequence of frames within the media file further comprises:

utilizing the input locations to automatically interpolate movement of the patch on intermediate frames that are in-between the key frames;

partitioning the interpolated movement into predicted locations that are each associated with the intermediate frames, respectively; and

tuning the predicted locations based on automatically perceived locations of the identifiable texture associated with the patch.

5. The computerized method of claim 4, wherein the offline authoring process further comprises:

associating a timestamp with each of the input locations and the predicted locations; and

writing the input locations, the predicted locations, and the associated timestamps to the trajectory.

6. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein dynamically placing the selected advertisement on top of the video content comprises:

creating an ad-overlay that includes a container that is positioned within the ad-overlay based on, in part, the trajectory, wherein the container governs an orientation of the selected advertisement and a size of a region that the selected advertisement will occupy; and

rendering the ad-overlay and the media file in a synchronized manner such that the container is layered on top of the video content.

7. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein dynamically placing the selected advertisement on top of the video content comprises rendering the selected advertisement at positions within the video content that substantially correspond to the locations of the patch written to the trajectory, wherein the locations of the patch are formatted as X and Y coordinates.

8. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein dynamically placing the selected advertisement on top of the video content comprises:

generating an interesting map that records locations of significant objects embedded within the video content; and

rendering the selected advertisement at positions within the video content that are offset from the locations of the patch written to the trajectory, wherein the offset is a function of the recorded locations included in the interesting map, and wherein the offset prevents obscuring the significant objects when dynamically placing the selected advertisement on top of the video content.

9. The computerized method of claim 2, wherein dynamically placing the selected advertisement on top of the video content comprises:

identifying a vector established by the set of pixels, within the object, that are designated as the patch, wherein attributes of the identified vector are maintained in the trajectory, and wherein the attributes of the identified vector include an origin and radial direction from the origin; and

employing the trajectory to render the selected advertisement at positions within the video content that consistently intersects a linear subspace of the identified vector without obscuring the patch, wherein the linear subspace is defined, in part, by the origin of the vector and the radial direction from the origin.

10. The computerized method of claim 9, wherein identifying a vector established by the set of pixels comprises ascertaining line-of-sight originating from one or more eyes of the object, and wherein employing the trajectory to render the selected advertisement at a position within the video content that consistently intersects the linear subspace of the identified vector comprises placing the selected advertisement in a position that intersects the line-of-sight.

11. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

analyzing the video content to determine a theme of the media file; and

packaging the theme of the media file in combination with the trajectory to form the description file.

12. The computerized method of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

passing the description file to the ad-designing entity; and

receiving from the ad-designing entity at least one video-based advertisement that includes an animation relevant to the theme of the media file.

13. The computerized method of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

joining the at least one received video-based advertisement to a group associated with the media file, wherein the group is a compilation of advertisements developed specifically for being presented in tandem with the media file; and

applying a selection scheme that provides rules for choosing one of the advertisements within the compilation on a rotational basis.

14. A computerized method, implemented at one or more processing units, for utilizing an awareness of video content within a media file to select and place a video advertisement therein, the method comprising:

abstracting one or more coordinate locations of an object appearing in the video content of the media file;

at least temporarily, storing the one or more coordinate locations, in association within a sequence of frames comprising the media file, respectively, on a trajectory, wherein the trajectory defines one or more coordinate locations and timing of the object within the media file;

generating an ad-overlay that accommodates a container to hold the video advertisement, wherein the container is positioned within the ad-overlay according to the trajectory;

analyzing the video content to determine a theme of the media file;

generating a description file comprising a combination of the theme and the trajectory;

passing indicia of the description file to an ad-designing entity;

receiving from the ad-designing entity the video advertisement that includes an animation that is both;

(a) relevant to the theme in the description file of the media file, and

(b) specifically designed, based on the trajectory and information in the description file of the media file to visually interact with the object within the video content of the media file;

inserting the video advertisement into the container; and

rendering the ad-overlay on top of the video content of the media file.

15. The computerized method of claim 14, wherein the object represents a most-impressive figure that is intended by a source of the media file to be the subject of the video content.

16. The computerized method of claim 14, wherein storing the one or more coordinate locations on the trajectory comprises writing metadata representing the one or more coordinate locations to the trajectory formatted as an extensible markup language (XML) file.

17. The computerized method of claim 14, further comprising generating the ad-overlay incident to receiving an indication that a user-initiated selection occurred with respect to a visual representation of the video advertisement.

18. The computerized method of claim 14, further comprising:

abstracting timestamps for each of the one or more coordinate locations, wherein the timestamps are based on temporal intervals between consecutive frames within the sequence of frames; and

writing the abstracted timestamps to the trajectory.

19. The computerized method of claim 18, further comprising:

communicating the trajectory to the ad-designing entity; and

receiving from the ad-designing entity the video advertisement, wherein the video advertisement is developed in accordance with the abstracted timestamps allowing for the visual interaction with the object.

20. A computer system for abstracting information from video content of a media file and for placing an advertisement within the video content that visually interacts therewith, wherein the abstracted information allows for developing the visually interactive advertisement:

a first processing unit configured to access the media file, to track locations and timestamps associated with the locations of an object appearing in the video content of the media file on a frame-by-frame basis, and to write the tracked locations and associated timestamps to a trajectory, wherein the trajectory comprising a combination of locations and timestamps of the object is used in generating a description file; and

a second processing unit configured to access the advertisement that is created utilizing information in the description file, to dynamically place, in real-time as the video content is streaming to the second processing unit, the advertisement in a position on top of the video content based, in part, on the tracked locations and associated timestamps, and to animate the advertisement in synchronization with the video content, wherein animating the advertisement comprises starting or stopping play of the advertisement using the timestamps associated with the tracked locations.