Set top device for targeted electronic insertion of indicia into video

• US 6,446,261 B1
• Filed: 06/17/1999
• Issued: 09/03/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Princeton Video Image, Inc. (Gabriel Technologies Corporation)
• Inventors: Rosser, Roy J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Faile, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Hai V.
• Application Number:
  US09/331,332
• Time in Patent Office: 1,174 Days
• Field of Search: 348/1, 348/2, 348/9, 348/581, 348/465, 348/10, 348/12, 455/4.2, 455/2, 707/4, 725/2, 725/9, 725/10, 725/13, 725/45, 725/46, 725/51, 725/32-36, 725/64, 705/10-14, 709/217-219
• US Class Current: 725/34
• 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 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; 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 21/44016 involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for substituting a video clip
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• 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 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
• 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 21/4667 Processing of monitored end-user data, e.g. trend analysis based on the log file of viewer selections
• 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 7/163 by receiver means only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

A method of anonymous targeted insertion of indicia into video broadcasts. Individual televisions or other video reception devices are associated with set-top boxes that monitor the usage and viewing habits of the television set or other video reception device. A viewer profile derived from data acquired from said monitoring is created wherein the viewer profile indicates certain characteristics about the viewer. This profile is transmitted to a centralized database, said centralized database being an intermediate link between the origin of the video broadcast and the end viewer. The purpose of the database is to link specific insertable indicia with matching specific viewer profiles. The insertable indicia are encoded directly into the broadcast video and re-broadcast to the end viewer where the set-top box decodes the broadcast video and performs insertion of the indicia. Thus, the system and method allow advertisers to target specific ads or indicia to specific viewing profiles.

Claims

1. A set-top device for sending and receiving data pertaining to television or video viewing in which a video signal having been transmitted by a video distribution mechanism is received by said device and modified prior to viewing by utilizing automatically selected video indicia or sequences which are stored locally on said set-top device, said device comprising:

means local to the user for monitoring the usage of a television or a video viewing device;

means local to the user for automatically creating a continuously updated version of a viewer profile based upon the cumulative data acquired by said monitoring means, wherein said cumulative data acquired by said monitoring means is weighted by how recently it was collected;

means local and private to the user for storing said viewer profile in said device;

means remote from the user for transmitting demographic requirements of a target viewer into corresponding ranges of viewer profiles;

means remote from the user for creating a table associating said ranges of viewer profiles with said video indicia or sequences;

means remote from the user for encoding data pertaining to where and when to insert video indicia or sequences for transmission on said video distribution mechanism;

means local to the user for receiving and decoding said video signal and receiving, decoding and storing said table;

means local to the user for receiving and decoding said data pertaining to where and when to insert said video indicia or sequences;

means local to the user for comparing the locally stored viewer profile with the ranges of viewer profiles in said stored table to determine the corresponding video indicia or sequences; and

,

means for inserting said video indicia or sequences directly into said video signal for viewing on said television or video viewing device, said inserting means further comprising using said data to determine where and when to insert said video indicia or sequences into said video signal.

2. The set-top device of claim 1 further comprising:

means for sampling a statistically representative sub-set of viewers to create statistical correlations between viewer demographics and said ranges of viewer profiles.

3. The set-top device of claim 2 wherein said monitoring means monitors time of day, day of week, duration of viewing time per channel, channel tuned, program type being viewed, and channel surfing patterns.

4. The set-top device of claim 3 wherein said viewer profile includes information about the viewer derived from the monitoring means, said information designed to predict the age, sex, family size, hobbies and interests of the viewer.

5. The set-top device of claim 4 wherein the statistical correlation between viewer demographics and said ranges of viewer profiles are used so that specific video sequences or indicia are anonymously targeted to specific viewer demographics.

6. The set-top device of claim 5 wherein the insertable indicia and the data pertaining to said insertable indicia are encoded into the vertical blanking interval, a spare audio channel, in the video itself, or in some other spare channel or field.

7. The set-top device of claim 5 wherein a viewer can interactively amend, change, add to, or alter the viewer profile primarily for the purpose of soliciting specific indicia.

8. The set-top device of claim 5 wherein the video signal can be a compressed video signal that is decompressed by said set-top device, or an analog or digital television broadcast.

9. The set-top device of claim 5 wherein said means for receiving includes a coaxial cable connection, television aerial connection, satellite broadcast connection, or telephone connection.

10. The set-top device of claim 5 wherein the television can be substituted with a computer or any other video reception device.

11. The set-top device of claim 10 wherein said indicia include links to Internet web-sites.

12. A set-top device for sending and receiving data pertaining to television or video viewing in which a video signal having been transmitted by a video distribution mechanism is received by said device and modified prior to viewing by utilizing automatically selected video indicia or sequences which are stored locally on said set-top device, said device comprising:

means local to the user for automatically creating a continuously updated viewer profile based upon the cumulative data acquired by said monitoring means, and wherein said cumulative data acquired by said monitoring means is weighed by how recently it was collected;

means local and private to the user for storing said viewer profile in said device;

means remote from the user for translating demographic requirements of a targeted viewer into corresponding ranges of viewer profiles;

means remote form the user for creating a table associating said ranges of viewer profiles with said video indicia or sequences;

means remote from the user for encoding said table for transmission on said video distribution mechanism;

means local to the user for receiving and decoding said video signal and receiving, decoding and storing said table;

means local to the user for comparing the locally stored viewer profile with the ranges of viewer profiles in said stored table to determine the corresponding video indicia or sequences; and

,

means for inserting said video indicia or sequences directly into said video signal for viewing on said television or video viewing device, and wherein said inserted indicia are interactive links to a web address, the contents of which may be accessed via the video distribution media or an associated data network and displayed on said television or video viewing device as part of said modified video signal or as a hypertext page.

13. A set-top device for sending and receiving data pertaining to television or video viewing in which a video signal having been transmitted by a video distribution mechanism is received by said device and modified prior to viewing by utilizing automatically selected video indicia or sequences which are stored locally on said set-top device, said device comprising:

means local to the user for monitoring the usage of a television or video viewing device;

means local and private to the user for automatically creating a continuously updated viewer profile based upon the cumulative data acquired by said monitoring means, wherein said means for automatically creating a viewer profile further comprises analysis of the user'"'"'s accesses to web-sites when browsing the World Wide Web or other computer network.

14. A set-top device for sending and receiving data pertaining to television or video viewing in which a video signal having been transmitted by a video distribution mechanism is received by said device and modified prior to viewing by utilizing automatically selected video indicia or sequences which are stored locally on said-set top device, said device comprising:

means local to the user for monitoring the usage of a television or video viewing device;

means local to the user for automatically creating a continuously updated viewer profile based upon the cumulative data acquired by said monitoring means, wherein said cumulative data acquired by said monitoring means is weighed by how recently it was collected;

means local and private to the user for storing said viewer profile in said device;

means remote from the user for translating demographic requirements of a targeted viewer into corresponding ranges of viewer profiles;

means remote from the user for encoding said table for transmission on said video distribution mechanism;

means local to the user for receiving and decoding said video signal and receiving, decoding and storing said table;

means local to the user for comparing the locally stored viewer profile with the ranges of viewer profiles in said stored table to determine the corresponding video indicia or sequences; and

,

means for inserting said video indicia or sequences directly into said video signal for viewing on said television or video viewing device.

15. A set-top device for sending and receiving data pertaining to television or video viewing in which a video signal having been transmitted by a video distribution mechanism is received by said device and modified prior to viewing by utilizing automatically selected video indicia or sequences which are stored locally in said set top device, said device comprising:

means local and private to the user for monitoring the usage of a television or video viewing device;

means local to the user for automatically creating a continuously updated viewer profile based upon the cumulative data acquired by said monitoring means, wherein said viewer profile includes information about the viewer derived from the monitoring means, said information designed to predict the age, sex, family size, hobbies and interests of the view, and wherein said cumulative data acquired by said monitoring means is weighed by how recently it was collected;

means local to the user for storing said viewer profile in said device;

means remote from the user for translating demographic requirements of a targeted viewer into corresponding ranges of viewer profiles;

means remote from the user for creating a table associating said ranges of viewer profiles with said video indicia or sequences;

means remote from the user for encoding said table for transmission on said video distribution mechanism;

means local to the user for receiving and decoding said video signal and receiving, decoding and storing said table;

means local to the user for comparing the locally stored viewer profile with the ranges of viewer profiles in said stored table to determine the corresponding video indicia or sequences; and

,

means for inserting said video indicia or sequences directly into said video signal for viewing on said television or video viewing device.

16. A method of anonymous targeted insertion of selected indicia or sequences, which are stored locally on a set-top device, into a video broadcast comprising the steps of:

a. monitoring the usage and viewing habits of viewer of a television set or other video reception device via said set-top device located at the television set or other video reception device, said monitoring step including the step of acquiring cumulative data weighted by how recently it was collected;

b. automatically creating a continuously updated local viewer profile in said device derived from data acquired from said monitoring step, said viewer profile indicating certain characteristics of the viewer;

c. linking specific insertable indicia with specific viewer profiles;

d. encoding insertable indicia as well as data pertaining to the placement, shape, size, and perspective of the indicia directly into the video broadcast;

e. employing said locally and privately stored viewer profile to decide which insertable video indicia to insert based upon viewer profiles encoded in said video broadcast; and

,

f. having said set-top device decode the broadcast video and perform the insertion of the indicia.