Technique for effectively delivering targeted advertisements through a communications network having limited bandwidth
First Claim
1. A method for delivery of programming content to a plurality of user devices over a communications network, comprising:
- detecting, during playback of the programming content, a data element indicative of an advertising event scheduled to occur at a first time;
based at least on the detecting of the data element, identifying which ones of the plurality of user devices are currently tuned to the programming content;
obtaining first data descriptive of at least one group of the identified ones of the plurality of user devices;
based at least on the first descriptive data, identifying first targeted advertising content;
identifying one or more unused transmission channels; and
at the first time, providing, to the at least one group, the first targeted advertising content via at least one of the one or more identified unused transmission channels, the at least one unused transmission channel being allocated based at least on a priority, the priority based at least on (i) a quantity of the identified ones of the plurality of user devices that are currently tuned to the programming content relative to another programming content, and (ii) a quantity of the identified one or more unused transmission channels being greater than the quantity of the identified ones of the plurality of user devices that are currently tuned to the programming content.
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Accused Products
Abstract
When an advertisement break is detected on a program channel stream, demographic data is obtained which is descriptive of the subscribers who are currently watching material from the program channel stream, and one or more streams containing substitute advertisements are generated based on the demographic data. The substitute advertisements in each stream, thus generated, are targeted at a different demographic group of the subscribers. The number of substitute advertisement streams corresponds to the number of unused transmission channels allocated for transmission of such streams. Groups of subscribers'"'"' set-top terminals (STTs) are directed to tune to the allocated transmission channels during the advertisement break to receive the substitute advertisement streams, respectively. Consequently, the subscribers are shown the substitute, targeted advertisements instead of the regularly-scheduled advertisements.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for delivery of programming content to a plurality of user devices over a communications network, comprising:
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detecting, during playback of the programming content, a data element indicative of an advertising event scheduled to occur at a first time; based at least on the detecting of the data element, identifying which ones of the plurality of user devices are currently tuned to the programming content; obtaining first data descriptive of at least one group of the identified ones of the plurality of user devices; based at least on the first descriptive data, identifying first targeted advertising content; identifying one or more unused transmission channels; and at the first time, providing, to the at least one group, the first targeted advertising content via at least one of the one or more identified unused transmission channels, the at least one unused transmission channel being allocated based at least on a priority, the priority based at least on (i) a quantity of the identified ones of the plurality of user devices that are currently tuned to the programming content relative to another programming content, and (ii) a quantity of the identified one or more unused transmission channels being greater than the quantity of the identified ones of the plurality of user devices that are currently tuned to the programming content. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for delivery of programming content to a plurality of user devices over a communications network, the method comprising:
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detecting, during playback of particular programming content, an indicator indicative of an advertising event scheduled to occur therein at a first time; in response to the detecting of the indicator, generating a list of individual ones of the plurality of user devices currently tuned to the particular programming content; obtaining first data comprising demographic parameters correlated with users of the plurality of user devices; in response to the obtaining of the first data, identifying first targeted advertising content based at least on the first data comprising the demographic parameters correlated with the users; identifying an unused transmission channel, the identifying of the unused transmission channel comprising determining a difference between a total number of assigned channels and a maximum number of channels accommodated by the communications network; at the first time during the playback of the particular programming content, providing, to at least a portion of the individual ones of the plurality of user devices, the first targeted advertising content based at least on the first data via the identified unused transmission channel; and when a quantity of at least the portion of the individual ones of the plurality of user devices exceeds a quantity of unused transmission channels, assigning, based on a priority, one or more unused channels to the at least the portion of the individual ones of the plurality of user devices. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. Apparatus configured to deliver a program stream containing programming material over a transmission system of a communications network to a plurality of user devices, the apparatus comprising:
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a controller module configured to dynamically assign transmission channels; a detector configured to detect, in the program stream, data that identifies a substitutable programming segment, the substitutable programming segment comprising first content directed to a first demographic, the first content being substitutable with second content directed to a second demographic, the second demographic being different from the first demographic; a processor apparatus in data communication with the detector and configured to, based at least on the data; identify a plurality of user devices receiving the program stream at a first time period; group the identified plurality of user devices into one or more groups based on the first demographic, the second demographic, and a third demographic, the third demographic being different from the first demographic and the second demographic; determine a total number of the one or more groups; and compare the total number of the one or more groups and a number of available transmission channels; and a server configured to serve the second content for substitution with the first content within the program stream; wherein the apparatus is further configured to cause the transmission system to provide the second content over an available transmission channel to a selected one of the one or more groups, the selected one of the one or more groups being associated with the second demographic, the available transmission channel being selected from one or more identified available transmission channels; and wherein the one or more identified available transmission channels are determined based on the number of available transmission channels, the number of available transmission channels comprising a difference between a maximum number of channels accommodated by the transmission system and a total number of assigned channels. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. An apparatus for delivery of programming content to a plurality of user devices over a communications network, the apparatus comprising:
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means for detecting, during playback of the programming content, a data element indicative of an advertising event scheduled to occur at a first time; means for identifying which ones of the plurality of user devices are currently tuned to the programming content, the identifying being responsive to at least the detecting of the data element; means for obtaining first data descriptive of at least one group of the identified ones of the plurality of user devices; means for identifying first targeted advertising content, the identifying the first targeted advertising content being based at least on the first descriptive data; means for identifying one or more unused means for transmission; and means for providing, at the first time, the first targeted advertising content to the at least one group via at least one of the one or more identified unused means for transmission, the at least one unused means for transmission being allocated based at least on a priority, the priority being based at least on (i) a quantity of the identified ones of the plurality of user devices that are currently tuned to the programming content relative to another programming content, and (ii) a quantity of the identified one or more unused means for transmission being greater than the quantity of the identified ones of the plurality of user devices that are currently tuned to the programming content.
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Specification