Advertisement monitoring system

• US 7,962,934 B1
• Filed: 02/04/2010
• Issued: 06/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Prime Research Alliance E, LLC
• Original Assignee: Prime Research Alliance E., Inc.
• Inventors: Eldering, Charles A., Sylla, M. Lamine
• Primary Examiner(s): Lonsberry, Hunter B
• Application Number:
  US12/700,231
• Time in Patent Office: 495 Days
• Field of Search: 725/32, 725 34- 36
• US Class Current: 725/36
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

An advertising monitoring system is presented in which subscriber selections including channel changes are monitored, and in which information regarding an advertisement is extracted from text related to the advertisement. The text related to the advertisement is in the form of closed caption text, data transmitted with the advertisement, or other associated text. A record of the effectiveness of the advertisement is created in which measurements of the percentage of the advertisement which was viewed are stored. Such records allow a manufacturer or advertiser to determine if their advertisement is being watched by subscribers. The system can be realized in a client-sever mode in which subscriber selection requests are transmitted to a server for fulfillment, in which case the advertisement monitoring takes place at the server side.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of inferring an age range of a consumer, the method comprising:

(a) collecting closed captioning data associated with a television program being presented to a consumer;

(b) retrieving at least one keyword and a probabilistic measure of age associated with the at least one keyword;

(c) evaluating the closed captioning data for the at least one keyword; and

(d) inferring an age range of the consumer based on the probabilistic measure of age associated with the at least one keyword evaluated in step (c).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one keyword is obtained through the use of one or more pre-defined heuristic rules, wherein the pre-defined heuristic rules relate age ranges to keywords contained in television programs.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(e) aggregating the closed captioning data with previously stored closed captioning data;

(f) inferring at least one consumer demographic characteristic based on the aggregated closed captioning data; and

(g) displaying advertisements to the consumer based on the at least one demographic characteristic of step (g).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the evaluating of step (c) includes comparing the at least one keyword to words in the closed captioning data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the evaluating of step (c) includes comparing synonyms of the at least one keyword to words in the closed captioning data.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(e) selecting an advertisement for presentation to the consumer based at least in part on the inferred age range.

7. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method of inferring the age of a subscriber based on the subscriber'"'"'s interaction with targeted programming, the method comprising:

(a) monitoring the subscriber'"'"'s viewing habits in a television system;

(b) retrieving information associated with programs viewed by the subscriber, the information including a program description;

(c) applying a set of one or more pre-defined heuristic rules, wherein the set of predefined heuristic rules is selected based on the program descriptions associated with the subscriber'"'"'s viewing habits;

(d) inferring at least one subscriber characteristic of the subscriber based on the application of the pre-defined heuristic rules;

(e) correlating the at least one subscriber characteristic with at least one characteristic of an age range; and

(f) associating the subscriber with the age range if there is a sufficient correlation between the at least one subscriber characteristic and the at least one characteristic of the age range.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the pre-defined heuristic rules assign probabilities of the subscriber having the at least one subscriber characteristic.

9. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the at least one subscriber characteristic is based on subscriber interactions that are aggregated over multiple viewing sessions.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein step (a) includes determining the extent to which the subscriber interacts with the programming.

11. The computer program product of claim 7, further comprising:

(g) selecting an advertisement for presentation to the consumer based at least in part on the age range.

12. A user profiling system for selecting an advertisement in a multimedia environment, said system comprising:

a collection module configured to receive closed captioning data of a television show being presented to a consumer;

a profiling module configured to retrieve at least one keyword and a probabilistic measure of age associated with the at least one keyword, to evaluate the closed captioning data for the at least one keyword and to infer an age range of the consumer based on the probabilistic measure of age; and

an advertisement selection module configured to select an advertisement for presentation to the consumer based at least in part on the inferred age range.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one keyword is obtained through the use of one or more pre-defined heuristic rules, wherein the pre-defined heuristic rules relate an age range to keywords contained in television programs.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the profiling module is further configured to aggregate the closed captioning data with previously stored closed captioning data and to infer at least one consumer demographic characteristic based on the aggregated closed captioning data.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the advertising selection module is further configured to display advertisements at least in part on the consumer demographic characteristic.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the profiling module evaluates the closed captioning data by comparing the at least one keyword to words in the closed captioning data.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the profiling module evaluates the closed captioning data by comparing synonyms of the at least one keyword to words in the closed captioning data.

18. A computer implemented method of inferring the age of a subscriber based on the subscriber'"'"'s interaction with targeted programming, the method comprising:

(a) monitoring, by a computer, the subscriber'"'"'s viewing habits in a television system;

(b) retrieving, by the computer, information associated with programs viewed by the subscriber, the information including a program description;

(c) applying, by the computer, a set of one or more pre-defined heuristic rules, wherein the set of predefined heuristic rules is selected based on the program descriptions associated with the subscriber'"'"'s viewing habits;

(d) inferring, by the computer, at least one subscriber characteristic of the subscriber based on the application of the pre-defined heuristic rules;

(e) correlating, by the computer, the at least one subscriber characteristic with at least one characteristic of an age range; and

(f) associating, by the computer, the subscriber with the age range if there is a sufficient correlation between the at least one subscriber characteristic and the at least one characteristic of the age range.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the pre-defined heuristic rules assign probabilities of the subscriber having the at least one subscriber characteristic.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

(g) selecting an advertisement for presentation to the consumer based at least in part on the age range.