Queue based advertisement scheduling and sales

• US 9,432,733 B2
• Filed: 07/22/2014
• Issued: 08/30/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Prime Research Alliance E, LLC
• Original Assignee: Prime Research Alliance E., Inc.
• Inventors: Eldering, Charles A., Flickinger, Gregory C., Schlack, John A., Blasko, John P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheleheda, James R
• Application Number:
  US14/337,806
• Publication Number:
  US 20140337885A1
• Time in Patent Office: 770 Days
• Field of Search: 725/34, 725/35, 725/36, 725/32, 725/105, 725/134
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23424 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement
• 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 21/26233 involving content or additional data duration or size, e.g. length of a movie, size of an executable file
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• 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 21/458 Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules ; time-related management operations arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02

Abstract

In accordance with the invention, advertisement identifiers are stored in a queue in memory in the set top box or elsewhere corresponding to individual subscribers of a television service delivery network. The advertisements are retrieved and displayed in the order dictated by the queue as advertisement avails are detected in the particular channel information stream being watched by that subscriber. Accordingly, the subscriber sees the advertisements regardless of what channel or television program is being watched and sees them in the order dictated by the queue. The invention also is applicable to other information streams including Internet advertising, audio/radio advertising and advertising in electronic program guides.

Claims

1. A method for using a set top box (STB) to select advertisements to display to a viewer, comprising the steps of:

configuring the STB to include a plurality of advertisement queues;

programming the STB to include an advertisement map that identifies which types of advertisements the STB can download;

connecting the STB to a network having at least one forward channel from a head-end to the STB that is used as an advertisement channel, to receive at least one advertisement and related advertisement data by the STB from the head-end;

comparing, by the STB, the received related advertisement data to the advertisement map, and when a match occurs, storing the at least one advertisement in an advertisement table;

storing, by the STB, the related advertisement data of each advertisement stored in the advertisement table into at least one slot of at least one advertisement queue of the plurality of advertisement queues, wherein the frequency and order of the storing of the related advertisement data is specified in the related advertisement data;

receiving over the network by the STB a programming stream that includes advertisement intervals interspersed throughout the programming stream;

assigning by the STB one of the plurality of advertisement queues to the programming stream based on a time of day;

inserting into at least one advertisement interval in the programming stream by the STB, an advertisement selected from the advertisement table based on its corresponding order in the assigned advertisement queue; and

displaying the inserted advertisement to the viewer when the advertisement interval occurs.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending advertisement insertion and display data to be used for advertiser billing, by the STB over a return channel in network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the return channel is a low-bandwidth channel.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement map includes at least one advertisement group assigned based on demographic and psychographic data of an owner of the STB.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the advertisement related data includes a group tag that identifies the advertisement group for a particular advertisement.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of comparing by the STB the received related advertisement data to the advertisement map, includes comparing by the STB the at least one advertisement group to the group tag.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of programming the STB to include an advertisement map, includes programming the STB to include an advertisement map, from the head-end over the network.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

programming the STB to include an algorithm that inserts an advertisement from the advertisement table based on its order in the assigned advertisement queue, wherein the algorithm takes into account both the order in the assigned advertisement queue and a duration of the advertisement interval relative to the duration of the advertisements in the advertisement table, such that the duration of the inserted advertisement matches the duration of the advertisement interval.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of programming the STB to include an algorithm, includes programming the STB to include an algorithm, from the head-end over the network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning by the STB one of the plurality of advertisement queues to the programming stream based on a time of day includes assigning by the STB one of the plurality of advertisement queues to the programming stream based on a time of day, a program to which the STB is tuned, recent channel change history and volume control history.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement related data includes an advertisement resource locator (ARL) that identifies a particular advertisement in the advertisement table.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of inserting into at least one advertisement interval in the programming stream by the STB, includes inserting into at least one advertisement interval in the programming stream by the STB only when the STB is turned on.