Methods and apparatus for targeted secondary content insertion

• US 8,813,124 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2009
• Issued: 08/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC (Charter Communications Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC (Charter Communications Incorporated)
• Inventors: Tidwell, Justin, Samame, Eduardo G., Santangelo, Bryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tilahun, Alazar
• Application Number:
  US12/503,710
• Publication Number:
  US 20110016479A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,861 Days
• Field of Search: 725 32- 36, 725/42
• US Class Current: 725/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/103 Transmitter-side switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/45 for identifying users
• 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 21/26241 involving the time of distribution, e.g. the best time of the day for inserting an advertisement or airing a children program
• 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 21/44213 Monitoring of end-user related data arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• 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

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for identification and insertion of content targeted to a particular audience within a content-based network, such as a cable television or satellite network. In one embodiment of the invention, audience qualities are identified and distributed to an advertisement decision maker, which uses the information to fulfill advertisement placement opportunities. Qualifiers about an existing or projected audience are classified utilizing an algorithm for qualifier weight and variance in order to determine the proximity any given qualifier may be to a target audience for an advertisement. Subscriber privacy and anonymity is also optionally maintained via e.g., hashing or encrypting data relating to the CPE and/or subscriber, thus ensuring that audience data is not traceable to a specific user account. Business methods are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A content management apparatus for use within a content delivery network, said apparatus comprising:

an advertising subsystem having an advertising content store, said advertising subsystem being configured to store a plurality of advertisements having descriptive information associated therewith, and to identify at least one advertising placement opportunity in delivered content;

a data collection subsystem;

a processing subsystem in data communication with said collection subsystem; and

a data storage subsystem in data communication with said processing subsystem;

wherein said data collection subsystem is configured to gather data related to an audience associated with said placement opportunity;

wherein said processing subsystem is adapted to utilize said descriptive information relating to said plurality of advertisements and said gathered data to selectively identify ones of said advertisements that are best suited for placement within said opportunity;

wherein said descriptive information comprises at least one weighted attribute and at least one variance, said weighted attribute and said variance relating to a desired audience quality of an advertisement with which said descriptive information is associated; and

wherein said processing subsystem is further adapted to allow a user to adjust said variance to enable creation of a range of said desired audience quality.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said data related to an audience comprises individual user data, and said individual user data is stored in said data storage subsystem based on at least one respective anonymous identifier.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said at least one anonymous identifier comprises a cryptographic hash of at least one of:

(i) a MAC address associated with a CPE of a user; and

(ii) a tuner-related variable.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said plurality of advertisements comprises advertisements from various different advertisers who have been pre-qualified by an operator of said content management apparatus.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said content delivery network comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) network, at least a portion of said advertisements being sent to said advertising content store via said IP network.

6. A non-transitory computer readable apparatus comprising media adapted to contain a computer program having a plurality of instructions which, when executed:

obtain a request for insertion of an advertisement segment, said request comprising a plurality of attributes;

access a plurality available advertisement segments, said plurality of available advertisement segments each being associated to a plurality of aspects descriptive of a respective target audience thereof;

determine a similarity of said plurality of attributes of said request to respective ones of said plurality of aspects descriptive of said target audience of said plurality of available advertisement segments; and

provide at least one of said available advertisement segments based at least on a predetermined threshold of similarity to said plurality of attributes of said request and on at least one permissible variance relating to a desired target audience quality of an advertisement with which said target audience is associated;

wherein said non-transitory computer readable apparatus is further adapted to allow a user to adjust said permissible variance to enable creation of a range of said desired target audience quality.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said plurality of available advertisement segments further comprises a profile with a plurality of aspects which correlate to at least some of said plurality of aspects of said request.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said plurality of aspects of said profile each have a mathematical weighing factor assigned thereto, and said review further comprises applying said weighing factors to respective ones of said plurality of aspects for each of said available advertisement segments.

9. A method of providing targeted advertisements in a content distribution network, said method comprising:

obtaining a request for insertion of an advertisement segment at a first server, said request comprising a plurality of attributes;

accessing a plurality of available advertisement segments, said plurality of available advertisement segments each being associated to a plurality of aspects descriptive of a respective target audience thereof;

determining a similarity of said plurality of attributes of said request to respective ones of said plurality of aspects descriptive of said target audience of said plurality of available advertisement segments;

providing at least one of said available advertisement segments based at least on a predetermined threshold of similarity to said plurality of attributes of said request and on at least one permissible variance relating to a desired target audience quality of an advertisement with which said target audience is associated; and

enabling a user to adjust said permissible variance to create a range of said desired target audience quality.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said plurality of attributes comprises a plurality of aspects, each aspect having a weighted value and range of allowable variation associated therewith.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said aspects comprise one or more of psychographic, demographic, and behavioral aspects.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein said act of determining said target audience comprises determining according to one or more of psychographic, demographic, and behavioral attributes.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein said act of providing is further based at least in part on one or more factors regarding revenue or profit associated with ones of said advertisements.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising identifying at least one opportunity for insertion of said advertisement segment within a delivery of primary content.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said at least one opportunity comprises at least one insertion opportunity in a digital video recorder (DVR) or a network personal video recorder (nPVR) presentation of said primary content.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein said at least one opportunity comprises at least one insertion opportunities in an electronic programming guide (EPG) or telephony user interface.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein said at least one opportunity comprises an opportunity for displaying within only a portion of a display area on a display device displaying a linear broadcast presentation of said primary content.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein said at least one opportunity comprises at least one insertion opportunity in a video on-demand (VoD) presentation of said primary content.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein said plurality of available advertisement segments each comprise programming from various different programming providers who have been pre-qualified by an operator of said content distribution network.

20. The method of claim 9, wherein said selected at least one of said available advertisement segments comprises selection of said plurality of attributes of said request having a highest level of similarity to said target audience.