Systems and/or methods for distributing advertisements from a central advertisement network to a peripheral device via a local advertisement server

• US 10,776,820 B2
• Filed: 04/23/2018
• Issued: 09/15/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TouchTunes Music Corporation (The Octave Music Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: TouchTunes Music Corporation (The Octave Music Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dion, Dominique, Tooker, Michael, Guy, Francois, Khenfir, Mounir
• Primary Examiner(s): Cao, Vincent M
• Application Number:
  US15/959,889
• Publication Number:
  US 20180240150A1
• Time in Patent Office: 876 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/103 Transmitter-side switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2143 located in a single building, e.g. hotel, hospital or museum arrangements specially adapted for plural spots in a confined site in broadcast systems H04H20/63; adaptations for transmission by electric cable for domestic distribution in television systems H04N7/106
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/222 Secondary servers, e.g. proxy server, cable television Head-end provisioning of proxy services in data packet switching networks H04L67/56
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47202 for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Certain exemplary embodiments disclosed herein relate to systems and/or methods for distributing advertisements from a central advertisement network to one or more peripheral devices at a location via a local advertisement server. In certain exemplary embodiments, the local advertisement server within a location receives advertisements from the central advertisement network and rebroadcasts them to peripheral devices within that location. Advertising information may be tracked and reported, e.g., for accounting, revenue-sharing, and/or other purposes in certain exemplary embodiments. Thus, in certain exemplary embodiments, the distribution of advertisements is provided to peripherals via a non-web- and non-PC-dependent network. Moreover, in certain exemplary embodiments, reporting and advertising related communications are substantially bi-directional regardless of device type. Certain exemplary embodiments provide revenue sharing among some or all of the central advertising network provider, the proprietors of locations, operators tasked with maintaining the local ad server and/or the peripheral devices, etc.

Claims

1. A digital jukebox provided at a venue, the digital jukebox comprising:

a local memory;

a first communication interface configured to connect to a one or more remote computers including a central multimedia media server and a central advertisement server;

a second communication interface configured to connect to a plurality of display devices located at the venue and physically separate from the digital jukebox, the plurality of display devices including display devices of a first type and display devices of a second type;

a display;

audio output devices; and

at least one processing circuitry configured to;

transmit location information about the location of the digital jukebox to the one or more remote computers over the first communication interface, and responsive to the transmitted location information, receive, via the first communication interface, advertisements selected accordingly from central advertisements server and media selected accordingly for play back;

play back, using the display and the audio output devices, said media received from the central multimedia media server and advertisements received from the central advertising server;

selectively distribute at least some of the advertisements received from the central advertisement server, to the plurality of the display devices connected to the digital jukebox through the second communication interface, the selectively distributing to display devices of the first type being different from the selectively distributing to display devices of the second type; and

cause display devices connected to the digital jukebox via the second communication interface that do not include their own other advertisement queues to display at least some of the advertisements received from the network based on the advertisement server advertisement queue and in dependence on content control data associated with those advertisements.

2. The digital jukebox of claim 1, wherein the at least one processing circuitry is further configured to:

configure in the local memory an advertisement server advertisement queue;

store the received advertisements in the advertisement server advertisement queue; and

for each of the plurality of display devices, configuring a respective indicator in the local memory indicating whether the display device maintains its own advertisement queue on the display device,

wherein selectively distributing includes distributing to other advertisement queues residing in, and usable by, multiple of the display devices based on respective capabilities thereof and based upon statuses of the respective indicators in the local memory indicating whether a corresponding one of the display devices maintains its own advertisement queue on the display device, each said other advertisement queue being programmed to aid the display device to which it is usable in displaying advertisements thereon in a manner that corresponds with content control data associated with the advertisements in the respective other advertisement queue.

3. The digital jukebox of claim 1, wherein each said advertisement is one of a leader board, banner, or media clip, and each media for play back includes at least a song.

4. The digital jukebox of claim 1, wherein the advertisements received from the central advertisements server includes respective content control data, and the content control data for each advertisement comprises indications of how and when the associated advertisement is to be displayed.

5. The digital jukebox of claim 1, further comprising a non-volatile storage medium and stored thereon a plurality of log files including a first log file storing information regarding the distribution of advertisements from the central advertisement server, and a second log file storing information regarding the display of advertisements on the display devices.

6. The digital jukebox of claim 1, further comprising a display controller, and the at least one processing circuitry in association with the display controller is further configured to combine, in a predetermined format, the advertisements with the media received from the central multimedia server via the first communication interface to create a combined signal, the combined signal being transmittable to at least some of the display devices for possible subsequent display.

7. The digital jukebox of claim 6, wherein the advertisement server advertisement queue includes an advertisement queue for each of a plurality of different display device types, the display controller being further configured to cause display devices connected thereto via the second communication interface to display at least some of the received advertisements in dependence on the content control data associated with the advertisements and the associated advertisement queue.

8. The digital jukebox of claim 7, wherein the display controller is further configured to change or modify the advertisements being displayed in response to input provided, directly or indirectly, by a person to whom the advertisement is targeted.

9. The digital jukebox of claim 1, wherein the first type and the second type are different in a type of display device.

10. The digital jukebox of claim 1, wherein the first type and the second type are different in a type of a user.

11. A system comprising:

a first pay-for-play digital jukebox at a first venue;

a second pay-for-play digital jukebox at a second venue geographically different from the first venue;

one or more remote computers including a central multimedia media server and a central advertisement server, and communicating with the first pay-for-play digital jukebox and the second pay-for-play digital jukebox,

wherein the first and second pay-for-play digital jukeboxes each comprises;

a local memory;

a first communication interface configured to connect to a one or more remote computers including a central multimedia media server and a central advertisement server;

a second communication interface configured to connect to a plurality of display devices located at the venue and physically separate from the digital jukebox, the plurality of display devices including display devices of a first type and display devices of a second type;

a display;

audio output devices; and

at least one processing circuitry configured to;

transmit location information about the location of the digital jukebox to the one or more remote computers over the first communication interface, and responsive to the transmitted location information, receive, via the first communication interface, advertisements selected accordingly from central advertisements server and media selected accordingly for play back;

play back, using the display and the audio output devices, said media received from the central multimedia media server and advertisements received from the central advertising server;

selectively distribute at least some of the advertisements received from the central advertisement server, to the plurality of the display devices connected to the digital jukebox through the second communication interface, the selectively distributing to display devices of the first type being different from the selectively distributing to display devices of the second type; and

cause display devices connected to the digital jukebox via the second communication interface that do not include their own other advertisement queues to display at least some of the advertisements received from the network based on the advertisement server advertisement queue and in dependence on content control data associated with those advertisements.