METHOD INCLUDING AUDIO FILES FOR GENERATING TEMPLATE BASED VIDEO ADVERTISEMENTS

• US 20090100359A1
• Filed: 03/12/2008
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Gardner, David, Oshiro, Marc, Elsbree, John, Fusaro, Eddie, Poling, Daniel L. JR., Sauve, Aaron, Vong, Will, Van Flandern, Mike, Meyer, Chris
• Application Number:
  US12/047,255
• Publication Number:
  US 20090100359A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/762
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

A method and system are disclosed for allowing an advertiser or other user to create high-end advertisements via a plurality of software-based, predefined templates. The templates may be customized by a user to configure the appearance, flow, interactivity and other features of an advertisement. The present system further provides a user interface allowing a user to interact with and configure the templates, thus allowing the user to control the appearance, flow, interactivity, transitions, timers, etc. of the advertisement. In addition to controlling these parameters, the templates also allow a user to associate one or more content files, or assets, with an advertisement. These assets may including audio files. Thus, an advertiser may easily incorporate music, songs, sounds, spoken text or other audio content into an advertisement.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for allowing the creation of an advertisement, comprising the steps of:

(a) generating a plurality of software-based templates;

(b) presenting a graphical user interface over a display allowing a user to select one or more of the software-based templates; and

(c) presenting a graphical user interface over a display allowing a user to interact with the one or more software-based templates selected in said step (b) to add one or more audio files for play in the advertisement.

(d) and to determine at least one the appearance, flow, interactivity, transitions, and a minimum length of time for the advertisement.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein said step (c) of presenting a graphical user interface over a display allowing a user to interact with the one or more software-based templates to add one or more audio files comprises the step of allowing a user to interact with the one or more software-based templates to add one or more of music, songs, sounds and spoken text.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein said step (c) of presenting a graphical user interface over a display allowing a user to interact with the one or more software-based templates to add one or more audio files comprises the step of allowing a user to interact with the one or more software-based templates to add one or more of a background sound to be played while browsing content, a navigation sound played along with any focus change, or a commit sound played when selecting an item.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein said step (c) of presenting a graphical user interface over a display allowing a user to interact with the one or more software-based templates comprises the step of providing the user with default settings for selecting at least one default audio file.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein said step (c) of presenting a graphical user interface over a display allowing a user to interact with the one or more software-based templates comprises the step of allowing a user to change the default settings in order to specify one or more other audio files

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein said step (a) of generating a plurality of software-based templates comprises the step of generating a plurality of templates using a markup language.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein said step (c) of presenting a graphical user interface over a display allowing a user to determine interactivity comprises the step of allowing a user to add an option which, if selected by the user, presents additional content to the user, the additional content being defined by one or more assets added in said step (c).

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the step (d) of providing a seamless flow-through upon completion of the advertisement to viewer-selected content without user interaction.

9. A computer implemented method for allowing the creation of an advertisement, comprising the steps of:

(a) generating a plurality of software-based templates, the plurality of software-based templates specifying how one or more audio files are presented in the advertisement, specifying interactivity with the one or more assets, and specifying a minimum amount of time an advertisement runs for; and

(b) presenting a graphical user interface over a display allowing a user to select one or more of the software-based templates, allowing the user to add the one or more audio files to be used by the one or more templates per step (a), and allowing a user to configure the one or more templates to customize the advertisement.

10. The computer implemented method recited in claim 9, said step (b) of presenting a graphical user interface over a display allowing a user to select one or more of the software-based templates comprising the step of allowing a user to select a string of templates to be used together.

11. The computer implemented method recited in claim 9, said step (b) of presenting a graphical user interface over a display allowing a user to select one or more of the software-based templates comprising the step of allowing a user to select a first template to be used within a second template.

12. The computer implemented method recited in claim 9, wherein said step (b) of presenting a graphical user interface over a display allowing a user to add the one or more audio files comprises the step of allowing a user to add music, songs, sounds and/or spoken text to a template.

13. The computer implemented method recited in claim 9, wherein said step (b) of presenting a graphical user interface over a display allowing a user to add the one or more audio files comprises the step of allowing a user to add one or more of a background sound to be played while browsing content, a navigation sound played along with any focus change, or a commit sound played when selecting an item.

14. The computer implemented method recited in claim 9, wherein said step (b) comprises the step of presenting a graphical user interface allowing a user to configure the one or more templates to include a count down timer displayed on the advertisement.

15. The computer implemented method recited in claim 9, wherein said step (b) comprises the step of presenting a graphical user interface allowing a user to configure the one or more templates to enable a viewer to interact with the advertisement to terminate the advertisement after a preset period of time.

16. The computer implemented method recited in claim 9, wherein said step (b) comprises the step of presenting a graphical user interface allowing a user to configure the one or more templates to determine at least one the appearance, flow, interactivity, transitions, and a minimum length of time for the advertisement.

17. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for programming a processor to perform a method for allowing the creation of an advertisement, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) generating a plurality of software-based templates, the plurality of software-based templates specifying how one or more audio files are presented in the advertisement, how one or more video or graphics files are presented in the advertisement, specifying interactivity with the one or more audio, video and/or graphics files, and specifying one or more of one the appearance, flow, interactivity, transitions, and a minimum length of time for the advertisement; and

(b) presenting a graphical user interface over a display allowing a user to select one or more of the software-based templates and allowing the user to add the one or more audio files, video files and/or graphics files to be used by the one or more templates per step (a).

18. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17, said step (b) of allowing the user to add the one or more audio files comprises the step of allowing the user to add music, songs, sounds and/or spoken text to a template.

19. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17, said step (b) of allowing the user to add the one or more audio files comprises the step of allowing a user to add one or more of a background sound to be played while browsing content, a navigation sound played along with any focus change, or a commit sound played when selecting an item.

20. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 17, said step (a) of allowing a user to further specify the appearance of the advertisement comprising the step of allowing the user to further specify parameters including text labels, color, fonts, sounds, images, videos, layout choices, animation choices, timeouts and counts.