System and method for transmitting and displaying targeted information

• US 20060288363A1
• Filed: 08/23/2006
• Published: 12/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cox Communications Incorporated (Cox Enterprises Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Sedna Patent Services LLC
• Inventors: Kunkel, Gerard K., Perham, Douglas A. Jr., Piette, Scott A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,413,183 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23617 by inserting additional data into a data carousel, e.g. inserting software modules into a DVB carousel arrangements for broadcast or for distribution of identical information repeatedly in broadcast distribution systems H04H20/16
• 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 21/2668 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 21/4331 Caching operations, e.g. of an advertisement for later insertion during playback
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4349 by extracting from data carousels, e.g. extraction of software modules from a DVB carousel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4722 for requesting additional data associated with the content
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/475 End-user interface for inputting end-user data, e.g. personal identification number [PIN], preference data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4755 for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306
• 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 21/858 Linking data to content, e.g. by linking an URL to a video object, by creating a hotspot
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/16 Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/162 Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A system and method for transmitting and displaying information in a television distribution system (10), or the like, transmits information that is targeted to a viewer matching particular demographic data.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting information in a broadcast distribution system, comprising:

transmitting at least one digital information stream toward each of a plurality of user terminal devices, the digital information stream comprising a plurality of advertisements and at least one code corresponding to each advertisement, each of the plurality of advertisements comprising a plurality of I-frames at each of a beginning and end of the advertisement;

wherein

the at least one code within the at least one transmitted digital information stream is adapted to enable correlation at a terminal device of advertisements with demographic information such that the terminal device receives designated advertisements.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said at least one digital information stream is a video information stream adapted for transmission via a cable television distribution system to terminal devices comprising set top converter boxes.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each advertisement comprises a data stream which is adapted so that during receipt of the data stream by a terminal device a decoder buffer is known to be at a particular state at the end of each advertisement.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the particular state of the decoder buffer is such that a seamless transition from the advertisement to a next portion of the information stream is provided.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements comprises digitally encoded data, and each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements contain the same amount of digitally encoded data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of advertisements comprises at least an initial I-frame, a final frame and a substantially similar number of frames therebetween.

7. A method, comprising:

transmitting at least one digital information stream by a network headend to a plurality of users, the digital information stream comprising a plurality of advertisements and at least one code corresponding to each advertisement, each of the plurality of advertisements comprising a continuous stream of I-frames for a predetermined amount of time at the beginning and end of each advertisement;

distributing the digital information stream by a distribution network; and

receiving the digital information stream by a plurality of terminal devices interfaced to the distribution network, each terminal device including a terminal processor and a user demographic database that contains demographic information about a user of the terminal device, the terminal processor being programmed to compare each code for each advertisement with the demographic information in said database and determine therefrom which of the plurality of advertisements the user is designated to receive.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said at least one digital information stream is a video information stream adapted for transmission via a cable television distribution system to terminal devices comprising set top converter boxes.

9. A method, comprising:

transmitting at least one digital information stream by a network headend to a plurality of users, the digital information stream comprising a plurality of advertisements and at least one code corresponding to each advertisement, each of the plurality of advertisements comprising a continuous stream of I-frames for a predetermined amount of time at the beginning and end of each advertisement;

wherein the codes for the advertisements are adapted to be compared with demographic information in user demographic databases in a plurality of terminal devices interfaced to a distribution network to determine which of the plurality of advertisements a particular user is designated to receive.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said at least one digital information stream is a video information stream adapted for transmission via a cable television distribution system to terminal devices comprising set top converter boxes.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein each advertisement comprises a data stream which is adapted so that during receipt of the data stream by a terminal device a decoder buffer is known to be at a particular state at the end of each advertisement.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the particular state of the decoder buffer is such that a seamless transition from the advertisement to a next portion of the information stream is provided.

13. A method, comprising:

receiving a digital information stream by a plurality of terminal devices interfaced to a distribution network, each terminal device including a terminal processor and a user demographic database that contains demographic information about a user of the terminal device,

wherein the digital information stream comprises a plurality of advertisements and at least one code corresponding to each advertisement, each of the plurality of advertisements comprising a continuous stream of I-frames for a predetermined amount of time at the beginning and end of each advertisement,

wherein the terminal processor being programmed to compare each code for each advertisement with the demographic information in said database and determine therefrom which of the plurality of advertisements the user is designated to receive.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements comprises digitally encoded data, and each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements contain the same amount of digitally encoded data.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of advertisements comprises at least an initial I-frame, a final frame and a substantially similar number of frames therebetween.

16. A set top terminal, comprising:

a receiver to receive a digital information stream from a distribution network;

a user demographic database that contains demographic information about a user of the set top terminal;

a processor, wherein the processor is programmed to compare a plurality of codes with the demographic information in said database, wherein the digital information stream comprises a plurality of advertisements and the plurality of codes including at least one code corresponding to each advertisement, each of the plurality of advertisements comprising a continuous stream of I-frames for a predetermined amount of time at the beginning and end of each advertisement, wherein the processor compares each code for each advertisement with the demographic information in said database to determine which of the plurality of advertisements the user is designated to receive.

17. The set top terminal of claim 16, wherein each advertisement comprises a data stream which is adapted so that during receipt of the data stream a decoder buffer is known to be at a particular state at the end of each advertisement.

18. The set top terminal of claim 17, wherein the particular state of the decoder buffer is such that a seamless transition from the advertisement to a next portion of the information stream is provided.

19. The set top terminal of claim 16, wherein each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements comprises digitally encoded data, and each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements contain the same amount of digitally encoded data.

20. The set top terminal of claim 16, wherein each of the plurality of advertisements comprises at least an initial I-frame, a final frame and a substantially similar number of frames therebetween.