Providing interactive advertisements

• US 10,820,062 B2
• Filed: 01/28/2016
• Issued: 10/27/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Turner Broadcasting System Incorporated (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Turner Broadcasting System Incorporated (Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chandler, Keith, Wellen, Alex, Loheide, Don, Persaud, Rajin, Koetter, Michael, Hinton, Chris, Davis, Neda, Poffenberger, Laura
• Primary Examiner(s): Mercado, Ariel
• Application Number:
  US15/008,844
• Publication Number:
  US 20160150290A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,734 Days
• Field of Search: 715202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/41 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/986 Document structures and storage, e.g. HTML extensions
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/031 Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/28 Arrangements for simultaneous broadcast of plural pieces of information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/93 which locates resources of other pieces of information, e.g. URL [Uniform Resource Locator]
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/07 characterised by processes or methods for the generation
• 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: H04N 21/23418 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics television picture signal circuitry for scene change detection H04N5/147; filtering for image enhancement G06T5/00; methods or arrangements for recognising scenes G06V20/00; arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23605 Creation or processing of packetized elementary streams [PES]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2665 Gathering content from different sources, e.g. Internet and satellite
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2668 Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles information retrieval from the Internet by querying with filtering and personalisation G06F16/9535; arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast H04H20/10; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; adaptation of message content in packet-switching networks H04L51/063
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4316 for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
• 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 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• 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 21/64322 IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8352 involving content or source identification data, e.g. Unique Material Identifier [UMID]
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8456 : by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 : Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services

Abstract

An example method for providing an interactive advertisement in association with a media presentation comprises storing a commercial identifier in association with an interactive advertisement identifying a commercial associated with the interactive advertisement. The interactive advertisement is associated with interactive advertisement data comprising a related content identifier identifying a related content object. Before a commercial segment begins, a list of commercials to be provided during the commercial segment is received comprising the commercial identifier. After determining that the commercial associated with the interactive advertisement is to be provided during the commercial segment and responsive to determining that the commercial segment is eligible for hosting the interactive advertisement, providing at least a portion of the interactive advertisement data, the portion of the interactive advertisement data configured to provide access to the related content object. The commercial and access to the related content object are provided for simultaneous display.

Claims

1. A method for providing an interactive advertisement in association with a media presentation, the method comprising:

storing, by a provider system comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, a first commercial identifier in association with an interactive advertisement, the first commercial identifier uniquely identifying a first commercial associated with the interactive advertisement, wherein the interactive advertisement is associated with interactive advertisement data comprising a related content identifier identifying a related content object;

before a commercial segment of a media stream begins, receiving, by the provider system, a list of commercials to be provided during the commercial segment, the list of commercials (a) comprising one or more commercial identifiers, (b) indicating an order in which the commercials are to be provided during the commercial segment, and (c) generated by a digital commercial system configured to digitally insert commercials into the media stream;

comparing, by the provider system, the one or more commercial identifiers to the first commercial identifier to determine whether the first commercial is to be provided during the commercial segment;

responsive to determining that the first commercial associated with the interactive advertisement is to be provided during the commercial segment, determining, by the provider system, whether the commercial segment is eligible for hosting the interactive advertisement based at least in part on segment data corresponding to the media stream;

responsive to determining that the commercial segment is eligible for hosting the interactive advertisement and before the airing of the first commercial during the commercial segment, providing, by the provider system and for receipt by a client operating on a user computing entity, an estimated start time of the first commercial during the commercial segment as determined based on the list of commercials and at least a portion of the interactive advertisement data, wherein (a) the portion of the interactive advertisement data is configured to provide access to the related content object, (b) the access to the related content object is provided by the client via a user interface of the user computing entity in accordance with the estimated start time, such that the first commercial and the access to the related content object are provided for simultaneous display via the user interface; and

updating, by the provider system, the segment data corresponding to the media stream to indicate that the interactive advertisement was provided.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive advertisement data is provided before the commercial segment begins.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) the interactive advertisement is associated with at least one segment characteristic requirement and (b) determining that the current commercial segment is eligible for hosting the interactive advertisement is based at least in part on the at least one segment characteristic requirement.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising, before a commercial segment begins, requesting the list of commercials to be provided during the commercial segment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the access to the related content object is provided by providing for display of an associated related content tile, the related content tile (a) provides a preview of the related content object and (b) is displayed simultaneously with the beginning of the commercial associated with the interactive advertisement.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive advertisement data is provided via an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive advertisement is a floated segment, and responsive to determining that the commercial segment is eligible for hosting the interactive advertisement, the floated segment is unfloated to become an estimated segment.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein (a) the media stream comprises a content segment preceding the commercial segment, (b) the interactive advertisement is associated with one or more context requirements, and (c) determining whether the commercial segment is eligible for hosting the interactive advertisement is based on whether the content segment satisfies at least one of the one or more context requirements.

9. A system for providing an interactive advertisement in association with a media presentation, the system comprising at least one memory and at least one processor, the system configured to at least:

store a first commercial identifier in association with an interactive advertisement, the first commercial identifier uniquely identifying a first commercial associated with the interactive advertisement, wherein the interactive advertisement is associated with interactive advertisement data comprising a related content identifier identifying a related content object;

before a commercial segment of a media stream begins, receive a list of commercials to be provided during the commercial segment, the list of commercials (a) comprising one or more commercial identifiers, (b) indicating an order in which the commercials are to be provided during the commercial segment, and (c) generated by a digital commercial system configured to digitally insert commercials into the media stream;

compare the one or more commercial identifiers to the first commercial identifier to determine whether the first commercial is to be provided during the commercial segment;

responsive to determining that the first commercial associated with the interactive advertisement is to be provided during the commercial segment, determine whether the commercial segment is eligible for hosting the interactive advertisement based at least in part on segment data corresponding to the media stream;

responsive to determining that the commercial segment is eligible for hosting the interactive advertisement and before the airing of the first commercial during the commercial segment, provide, for receipt by a client operating on a user computing entity, an estimated start time of the first commercial during the commercial segment as determined based on the list of commercials and at least a portion of the interactive advertisement data, the portion of the interactive advertisement data configured to provide access to the related content object, wherein (a) the portion of the interactive advertisement data is configured to provide access to the related content object, (b) the access to the related content object is provided by the client via a user interface of the user computing entity in accordance with the estimated start time, such that the first commercial and the access to the related content object are provided for simultaneous display via the user interface; and

update the segment data corresponding to the media stream to indicate that the interactive advertisement was provided.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the interactive advertisement data is provided before the commercial segment begins.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein (a) the interactive advertisement is associated with at least one segment characteristic requirement and (b) determining that the current commercial segment is eligible for hosting the interactive advertisement is based at least in part on the at least one segment characteristic requirement.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the system is further configured to, before a commercial segment begins, request the list of commercials to be provided during the commercial segment.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the access to the related content object is provided by providing for display of an associated related content tile, the related content tile being displayed simultaneously with the beginning of the commercial associated with the interactive advertisement.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the related content tile is configured to provide a preview of the related content object.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the interactive advertisement data is provided via an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the interactive advertisement is a floated segment, and responsive to determining that the commercial segment is eligible for hosting the interactive advertisement, the floated segment is unfloated to become an estimated segment.

17. A computer program product for providing an interactive advertisement in association with a media presentation, the computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

an executable portion configured to store a first commercial identifier in association with an interactive advertisement, the first commercial identifier uniquely identifying a first commercial associated with the interactive advertisement, wherein the interactive advertisement is associated with interactive advertisement data comprising a related content identifier identifying a related content object;

an executable portion configured to, before a commercial segment of a media stream begins, receive a list of commercials to be provided during the commercial segment, the list of commercials (a) comprising one or more commercial identifiers, (b) indicating an order in which the commercials are to be provided during the commercial segment, and (c) generated by a digital commercial system configured to digitally insert commercials into the media stream;

an executable portion configured to compare the one or more commercial identifiers to the first commercial identifier to determine whether the first commercial is to be provided during the commercial segment;

an executable portion configured to, responsive to a determination that the first commercial associated with the interactive advertisement is to be provided during the commercial segment, determine whether the commercial segment is eligible for hosting the interactive advertisement based at least in part on segment data corresponding to the media stream;

an executable portion configured to, responsive to determining that the commercial segment is eligible for hosting the interactive advertisement and before the airing of the first commercial during the commercial segment, provide, for receipt by a client operating on a user computing entity, an estimated start time of the first commercial during the commercial segment as determined based on the list of commercials and at least a portion of the interactive advertisement data, wherein (a) the portion of the interactive advertisement data is configured to provide access to the related content object, (b) the access to the related content object is provided by the client via a user interface of the user computing entity in accordance with the estimated start time, such that the first commercial and the access to the related content object are provided for simultaneous display via the user interface; and

an executable portion configured to update the segment data corresponding to the media stream to indicate that the interactive advertisement was provided.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the interactive advertisement data is provided before the commercial segment begins.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein (a) the interactive advertisement is associated with at least one segment characteristic requirement and (b) determining that the current commercial segment is eligible for hosting the interactive advertisement is based at least in part on the at least one segment characteristic requirement.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the computer-readable program code portions further comprise an executable portion configured to, before a commercial segment begins, request the list of commercials to be provided during the commercial segment.

21. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the access to the related content object is provided by providing for display of an associated related content tile, the related content tile being displayed simultaneously with the beginning of the commercial associated with the interactive advertisement.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the related content tile is configured to provide a preview of the related content object.

23. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the interactive advertisement data is provided via an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

24. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the interactive advertisement is a floated segment, and responsive to determining that the commercial segment is eligible for hosting the interactive advertisement, the floated segment is unfloated to become an estimated segment.