Narrowcast media content distribution and display system with content biasing engine

• US 9,553,920 B2
• Filed: 11/04/2013
• Issued: 01/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cineplex Digital Media Inc.
• Original Assignee: EK3 Technologies Inc. (Cineplex Incorporated)
• Inventors: Stuart, Kenneth R., Elliott, Edward D., Krawetz, Bryan Andrew, Patel, Jayesh Kumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Dharia, Prabodh M
• Application Number:
  US14/071,518
• Publication Number:
  US 20140059123A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,177 Days
• Field of Search: 345 11- 31, 345/418, 345/522, 345/619, 345/625, 345/634, 345/636, 345/656, 707/999, 707/104, 715/736, 709/201, 709/217, 709/224, 709/229, 725/32, 705/2, 705/8, 705/14
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/438 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/48 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1454 involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

Media content distribution that includes a central server, a plurality of remote display devices in electronic communication therewith. The central server receives and stores a plurality of media content, where each of the media content has one or more attributes associated therewith that relate to characteristics of the media content. The plurality of remote display devices receive via the electronic network the media content from the central server. Each of the remote display devices has one or more target attributes associated with the remote display device for causing the electronic display to display only those of the media content having one or more of the attributes associated therewith that satisfy a predetermined matching criteria with respect to the one or more target attributes.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a remote display device, a plurality of media content from a server, each of the media content having one or more content attributes representative of one or more characteristics of the media content, the content attributes including one or more of a physical environmental variable, a demographic environmental variables, and/or a miscellaneous environmental variable;

collecting, by one or more hardware sensors and/or one or more software sensors, raw data of a physical environment, a demographic environment, and/or a miscellaneous environment, for passage of the raw data to one or more data point collectors of a data point engine;

extracting and deleting, by the one or more data point collectors, unwanted data from the raw data to generate, by the data point engine, one or more target attributes representative of the one or more of the physical environmental variable, demographic environmental variables, and/or miscellaneous environmental variable associated with the remote display device;

comparing, by the remote display device, the one or more attributes with the one or more target attributes; and

displaying, by the remote display device, a subset of the media content having one or more content attributes that satisfy a matching criteria based on the one or more target attributes.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining, by the remote display device, the one or more variables using one or more sensors.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more hardware sensors configured to detect one or more environmental parameters associated with the remote display device.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more software sensors configured to collect information selected from a group consisting of stock quotes, product inventory, sales related information, time related information, and location information.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

associating, by the remote display device, one or more weights with the one or more target attributes; and

ranking, by the remote display device, the subset of the media content based on the one or more weights.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the displaying is based at least on the ranking and one or more rules, the one or more rules specifying a display time for the subset of the media content.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

retrieving, by the remote display device, the subset of media content from the server before the displaying when the subset of media content is not locally stored.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions to configure a processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by a remote display device, a plurality of media content from a server, each of the media content having one or more content attributes representative of one or more characteristics of the media content, the content attributes including one or more of a physical environmental variable, a demographic environmental variables, and/or a miscellaneous environmental variable;

collecting, by one or more hardware sensors and/or one or more software sensors, raw data of a physical environment, a demographic environment, and/or a miscellaneous environment, for passage of the raw data to one or more data point collectors of a data point engine;

extracting and deleting, by the one or more data point collectors, unwanted data from the raw data to generate, by the data point engine, one or more target attributes representative of the one or more of the physical environmental variable, demographic environmental variables, and/or miscellaneous environmental variable associated with the remote display device;

comparing, by the remote display device, the one or more attributes with the one or more target attributes; and

displaying, by the remote display device, a subset of the media content having one or more content attributes that satisfy a matching criteria based on the one or more target attributes.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 further comprising:

obtaining, by the remote display device, the one or more variables using one or more sensors.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more hardware sensors configured to detect one or more environmental parameters associated with the remote display device.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more software sensors configured to collect information selected from a group consisting of stock quotes, product inventory, sales related information, time related information, and location information.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 further comprising:

associating, by the remote display device, one or more weights with the one or more target attributes; and

ranking, by the remote display device, the subset of the media content based on the one or more weights.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein the displaying is based at least on the ranking and one or more rules, the one or more rules specifying a display time for the subset of the media content.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 further comprising:

retrieving, by the remote display device, the subset of media content from the server before the displaying when the subset of media content is not locally stored.

15. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one processor, the at least one memory, and the computer program code configured to cause the apparatus to perform operations comprising;

receiving a plurality of media content from a server, each of the media content having one or more content attributes representative of one or more characteristics of the media content, the content attributes including one or more of a physical environmental variable, a demographic environmental variables, and/or a miscellaneous environmental variable;

collecting, by one or more hardware sensors and/or one or more software sensors, raw data of a physical environment, a demographic environment, and/or a miscellaneous environment, for passage of the raw data to one or more data point collectors of a data point engine;

extracting and deleting, by the one or more data point collectors, unwanted data from the raw data to generate, by the data point engine, one or more target attributes representative of the one or more of the physical environmental variable, demographic environmental variables, and/or miscellaneous environmental variable associated with the remote display device;

comparing the one or more attributes with the one or more target attributes representative of one or more variables; and

displaying a subset of the media content having one or more attributes that satisfy a matching criteria based on the one or more target attributes.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprising:

obtaining the one or more variables using one or more sensors.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more hardware sensors or one or more software sensors,

wherein the one or more hardware sensors are configured to detect one or more environmental parameters associated with the apparatus, and

wherein the one or more software sensors are configured to collect information selected from a group consisting of stock quotes, product inventory, sales related information, time related information, and location information.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprising:

associating one or more weights with the one or more target attributes; and

ranking the subset of the media content based on the one or more weights.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the displaying is based at least on the ranking and one or more rules, the one or more rules specifying a display time for the subset of the media content.

20. The apparatus of claim 15 further comprising:

retrieving the subset of media content from the server before the displaying when the subset of media content is not locally stored.