WO2002019581B1 - Targeted advertising at the set top box - Google Patents

Targeted advertising at the set top box

Info

Publication number
WO2002019581B1
WO2002019581B1 PCT/US2001/027217 US0127217W WO0219581B1 WO 2002019581 B1 WO2002019581 B1 WO 2002019581B1 US 0127217 W US0127217 W US 0127217W WO 0219581 B1 WO0219581 B1 WO 0219581B1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
advertisement
advertisements
queue
determining
stream
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2001/027217
Other languages
French (fr)
Other versions
WO2002019581A8 (en
WO2002019581A1 (en
Inventor
Charles A Eldering
John P Blasko
John A Schlack
Andrew M Sutton
Kyle Mehling
Gregory C Flickinger
Original Assignee
Expanse Networks Inc
Charles A Eldering
John P Blasko
John A Schlack
Andrew M Sutton
Kyle Mehling
Gregory C Flickinger
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Priority claimed from US09/712,790 external-priority patent/US8151295B1/en
Priority claimed from US09/731,605 external-priority patent/US20020083435A1/en
Priority claimed from US09/731,606 external-priority patent/US20020072966A1/en
Priority claimed from US09/742,852 external-priority patent/US20020083439A1/en
Priority claimed from US09/742,506 external-priority patent/US20020026638A1/en
Priority claimed from US09/748,943 external-priority patent/US20020083445A1/en
Priority claimed from US09/748,949 external-priority patent/US20020083441A1/en
Priority claimed from US09/748,942 external-priority patent/US7328448B2/en
Priority claimed from US09/824,434 external-priority patent/US20020144263A1/en
Priority to AU2001286998A priority Critical patent/AU2001286998A1/en
Application filed by Expanse Networks Inc, Charles A Eldering, John P Blasko, John A Schlack, Andrew M Sutton, Kyle Mehling, Gregory C Flickinger filed Critical Expanse Networks Inc
Publication of WO2002019581A1 publication Critical patent/WO2002019581A1/en
Publication of WO2002019581B1 publication Critical patent/WO2002019581B1/en
Publication of WO2002019581A8 publication Critical patent/WO2002019581A8/en

Links

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04H—BROADCAST COMMUNICATION
    • H04H20/00—Arrangements for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast
    • H04H20/10—Arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or the distribution
    • H04H20/106—Receiver-side switching
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q30/00—Commerce
    • G06Q30/02—Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04H—BROADCAST COMMUNICATION
    • H04H20/00—Arrangements for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast
    • H04H20/40—Arrangements for broadcast specially adapted for accumulation-type receivers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
    • H04N21/258—Client or end-user data management, e.g. managing client capabilities, user preferences or demographics, processing of multiple end-users preferences to derive collaborative data
    • H04N21/25866—Management of end-user data
    • H04N21/25883—Management of end-user data being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
    • H04N21/258—Client or end-user data management, e.g. managing client capabilities, user preferences or demographics, processing of multiple end-users preferences to derive collaborative data
    • H04N21/25866—Management of end-user data
    • H04N21/25891—Management of end-user data being end-user preferences
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
    • H04N21/262—Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists
    • H04N21/26208—Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists the scheduling operation being performed under constraints
    • H04N21/26233—Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists the scheduling operation being performed under constraints involving content or additional data duration or size, e.g. length of a movie, size of an executable file
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
    • H04N21/262—Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists
    • H04N21/26208—Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists the scheduling operation being performed under constraints
    • H04N21/26241—Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists the scheduling operation being performed under constraints involving the time of distribution, e.g. the best time of the day for inserting an advertisement or airing a children program
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
    • H04N21/266—Channel or content management, e.g. generation and management of keys and entitlement messages in a conditional access system, merging a VOD unicast channel into a multicast channel
    • H04N21/2668—Creating a channel for a dedicated end-user group, e.g. insertion of targeted commercials based on end-user profiles
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
    • H04N21/426—Internal components of the client ; Characteristics thereof
    • H04N21/42684—Client identification by a unique number or address, e.g. serial number, MAC address, socket ID
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
    • H04N21/4508—Management of client data or end-user data
    • H04N21/4532—Management of client data or end-user data involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
    • H04N21/454—Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/47—End-user applications
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
    • H04N21/81—Monomedia components thereof
    • H04N21/812—Monomedia components thereof involving advertisement data
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
    • H04N7/162—Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing
    • H04N7/165—Centralised control of user terminal ; Registering at central
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
    • H04N7/173—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal
    • H04N7/17345—Control of the passage of the selected programme
    • H04N7/17354—Control of the passage of the selected programme in an intermediate station common to a plurality of user terminals
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
    • H04N7/173—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal
    • H04N7/17345—Control of the passage of the selected programme
    • H04N7/17363—Control of the passage of the selected programme at or near the user terminal
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/47—End-user applications
    • H04N21/478—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application

Abstract

In accordance with the invention, advertisement identifiers (833) are stored in a queue in memory in the set top box (809) or elsewhere corresponding to individual subscribers (120a, b, c) of a television service delivery network (110). The advertisements are retrieved and displayed in the order dictated by the queue (2004) as advertisement avails are detected in the particular channel information stream being watched by that subscriber. Accordingly, the subscriber sees the advertisements regardless of what channel or television program is being watched and sees them in the order dictated by the queue. The invention also is applicable to other information streams including Internet advertising, audio/radio advertising and advertising in electronic program guides.

Claims

AMENDED CLAIMS
[received by the International Bureau on 15 March 2002 (15 03 02), original claim 1-6, 8, 9, 12-14, 16, 19, 23-36, 48, 51-59, 67 and 75-79 , original claims 37-47 and 83-96 cancelled, remaining claims unchanged (17 pages)]
1 A method of selectively inserting advertisements into a stream of television programming at a set top box (STB), the method comprising transmitting the stream of television programming to a plurality of STBs, stoπng the advertisements, stoπng a queue, the queue comprising an ordered list of advertisements, determining an interval in the stream within which the advertisements may be inserted, retπeving, responsive to said determining, the advertisement that is next in the queue, and inserting the advertisement into the stream within the determined interval
2 The method of claim 1 , wherein the stream includes indicators that identify the start of an avail in the stream, wherein said determming includes detecting the indicators, and said inserting includes inserting the adv ertisement into the avail
3 The method of claim 2, wherein the indicator further identifies a duration of the avail and the queue further identifies a duration of the advertisements
4 The method of claim 3. wherein the order of the advertisements in the queue is based at least partially on the duration of the advertisements relative to the duration of avails detected in the stream
5 The method of claim 1 , further compπsing determining at least one characteπstic of a viewer of the stream, and
- 54 - ordeπng the queue based at least partially on the viewer determination
6 The method of claim 5, wherein said ordering includes ordeπng the queue in accordance with an algorithm that takes into consideration a prediction of characteπstics of the viewer based on the content of the stream pπor to the interval
7 The method of claim 1 , wherein the queues are stored locally at the STB to which they correspond.
8 The method of claim 2, wherein said transmitting includes receiving a plurality of channels of television programming and selecting one of the channels; said determming includes detecting the avails in the selected channel; and said inserting includes inserting the advertisement in the avails in the selected channel
9 The method of claim 1, further compπsing receiving instructions dictating how to order the advertisements in the queue, and ordeπng the queue in accordance with the instructions
10 The method of claim 1, wherein said stoπng advertisements includes stoπng the advertisements at the STB
11 The method of claim 1, further compπsing recording a portion of the stream for subsequent playback.
- 55 - 12 The method of claim 1 1, wherein said inserting includes inserting the advertisement into the stream as it is being recorded
13 The method of claim 1 1. wherein said inserting includes inserting the advertisement into the stream when it is played back
14 The method of claim 1 1 , wherein said inserting includes inserting the advertisement into the stream between the time it is recorded and the time it is played back
15 The method of claim 2, wherein the stream includes digital data and the indicator includes a digital cue tone
16 The method of claim 1 , wherein the order of the queue is based on at least numeπcal order of advertisement resource locators (ARLs) within the queue, the ARLs are associated with the advertisements and identify the location of the advertisements
17 The method of claim 1 , further compπsing determming the time of day that an avail is determined, and ordeπng the queue based at least partially on the time of day
18 The method of claim 1 , further compπsing determining whether or not a display device is operating, wherein said inserting is only performed in response to a determination that the display device is operating
19 The method of claim 1 , further compπsing stoπng a record of the inserted advertisements, and transmitting the record to a communications network
20 The method of claim 18, wherein said determining whether or not a display device is operating includes detecting a level of electrical current flowing to the display device, and determining whether or not the display device is operating based on the detected current level
21 The method of claim 18, wherein said determining whether or not a display device is operating includes detecting frequency characteπstics of a tuned signal of a local oscillator of the display device, and determining whether or not the display device is operating based on this detection
22 The method of claim 18, wherein said determining whether or not a display device is operating includes detecting a strength of a chroma sub earner frequency signal from radiations emitted by the display device, and determining whether or not the display device is operating based on this detection
23 An apparatus for selectively inserting advertisements from a first source into a media stream of television programming at a set top box (STB), said apparatus compπsing a tuner for receiving the media stream and extracting an appropπate channel from the media stream, a memory for stoπng a queue, the queue maintaining an ordered list of advertisements,
- 57 - a detector for detecting an avail in the appropπate channel within which the advertisements may be inserted, and an advertisement inserter for receiving the appropπate channel from said tuner, retπeving, responsive to said determining, from the queue the advertisement that is next in the order, and inserting the advertisement into the avail
24 The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the media stream includes indicators that identify the start of an avail and wherein said detector detects the indicators
25 The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the indicator further identifies a duration of the avail and the queue identifies a duration for each corresponding advertisement, and wherein said advertisement inserter selects the advertisement from the queue based at least partially on the duration of the advertisements relative to the duration of avails detected in the stream
26 The apparatus of claim 23, further compπsing a profiler for predicting at least one characteπstic of a viewer of the television programming, wherein at least a portion of the queue is based on results of said profiler and wherein said advertisement inserter selects the advertisement from the queue based at least partially on the results of said profiler
27 The apparatus of claim 23. wherein said detector further determines the time of day associated with the avail, wherein at least a portion of the queue is based on the time of day and wherein said advertisement inserter selects the advertisement from the queue based at least partially on the time of day
- 58 - 28 The apparatus of claim 23, further compπsing means, coupled to a display device associated with the subscπber, for determining whether or not the display device is operating, wherein said advertisement inserter will not operate unless said means for determming determines that the display device is operational
29 The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said means for determining detects a level of electrical current flowing to the display device, and determines whether or not the display device is operating based on the detected current level
30 The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said means for determining detects frequency characteπstics of a tuned signal of a local oscillator of the display device and determines whether or not the display device is operating based on this detection
31 The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said means for determming detects a strength of a chroma sub earner frequency signal from radiations emitted by the display device and determines whether or not the display device is operating based on this detection
32 The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said means for determining includes an inductive coupling for detecting whether or not the display device is operating
33 The apparatus of claim 23, further compπsing a trigger circuit for determining if the queue has reached a low-level, wherein at least one additional queue of advertisements is received in response to a low-level determination by said tπgger circuit
- 59 - WFNDED SHEET (ARTICLE 19) 34 The apparatus of claim 23, further compπsing a counter for tracking number of times each advertisement is displayed to the subscπber. wherein the advertisement will be removed from the queue if the advertisement has been displayed more than a predetermined number of times
35 The apparatus of claim 23, wherein for each advertisement within the queue the queue includes at least one of an expiration date of the advertisement, a maximum total number of times the advertisement should be displayed, a maximum number of times the advertisement should be displayed each day, a total number of times the advertisement has previously been displayed to the subscπber. and a number of times the advertisement has been displayed that day
36 The system of claim 33, wherein said tπgger circuit determines that the queue has reached a low-level if some subset of the following occur the queue has less than a particular number of slots remaining, the queue has less than a particular number of targeted advertisements remaining, and the queue has a particular number of targeted advertisements that are almost expired
48 A method of providing subscπber-specific advertisements using advertiser- specific target groups, the method compnstng
forming a set of advertiser-specific target groups for each of a plurality of advertisers based on advertiser-specific group characteπstics,
associating the target groups from each of the sets with at least one subscπber based on certain characteristics of the at least one subscπber,
- 60 - storing results of said associating step in an advertisement processing system: and providing subscriber-specific advertisements to the at least one subscriber based on the stored results.
49. The method of claim 48, wherein said associating includes: assigning a unique group identifier (ID) to each of the target groups, each group ID identifying the target group and the advertiser; and assigning a subscriber ID to the at least one subscriber for identifying the subscriber.
50. The method of claim 49, wherein said associating further includes: identifying the target groups to which the at least one subscriber belongs based on the characteristics of the at least one subscriber; and associating the group IDs of the identified target groups with the subscriber ID of the at least one subscriber; and preparing a group map based on results of the group ID associating step.
51. The method of claim 50, wherein, the group map identifies the at least one subscriber ID and the group IDs assigned to the at least one subscriber ID, and said storing includes storing the group map in the advertisement processing system.
52. The method of claim 51 , further comprising: updating the stored group map based on new advertiser-specific target groups from the advertisers.
53. The method of claim 50, wherein said providing includes:
- 61 - associating each of a plurality of advertisements with an appropπate group ID for identifying the target group to which the advertisement belongs, selecting the advertisements associated with the group IDs which match the group IDs associated with the subscπber ID of the at least one subscπber ID, and displaying the selected advertisements to the at least one subscπber
54 The method of claim 48, wherein said stoπng includes stonng the results of said associating in a set top box of the advertisement processing system
55 The method of claim 48. wherein said storing includes storing the results of said associating at a head end of the advertisement processing system
56 The method of claim 48, wherein said storing includes storing the results of said associating on a server in the advertisement processing system
57 A method of providing subscπber-specific advertisements, the method compnsing identifying a list of subscribers and a list of advertiser-specific target groups associated with each of the listed subscribers, storing results of said identifying locally to each of the listed subscribers, and selecting advertisements based on the stored results, so as to provide the subscriber- specific advertisements to each of the listed subscribers
58 The method of claim 57, wherein said storing includes storing as a group map, wherein the group map identifies the list of subscribers are identified with unique subscπber
IDs (identifiers), and the list ot advertiser-specific target groups with unique group IDs
- 62 - 59 The method of claim 58, wherein said selecting includes providing a plurality of advertisements each assigned with a group ID for identifying the target group to which the advertisement belongs, selecting, from the provided advertisements, advertisements with the group IDs associated with each of the listed subscπbers, wherein the advertisements selected for one subscπber differ from the advertisements selected for another subscπber
60 In a television network environment, a method for selectively stoπng targeted advertisements at a set-top box, the method compπsing receiving an advertisement channel having a plurality of advertisements, determining if an advertisement is appropπate for the set-top box, and retaining the advertisement if it is found to be appropπate
61 The method of claim 60, wherein said determining is performed in real-time or
62 The method of claim 60, further comprising stoπng the plurality of advertisements from the ad channel on a hard-dπve pπor to said determining
63 The method of claim 62, further compπsing deleting the advertisement from the hard drive if the advertisement is found to be inappropπate
64 The method of claim 60, wherein said determining is based on one or more pre- determined parameters
- 63 -
65. The method of claim 60, wherein said receiving includes receiving one or more targeted advertisements via the advertisement channel.
66. The method of claim 60, further comprising: assigning each advertisement within the ad channel a unique AD_ID; assigning each set-top box to one or more groups; forming an ADJD group table; forming an STB-group table; and joining the AD D table and STB-ADJD table to create a master STB-ADJD table.
67. The method of claim 66, wherein said determining is based on the STB-ADJD table.
68. The method of claim 60, wherein said receiving includes receiving metadata via the advertisement channel.
69. The method of claim 68, wherein the metadata is transmitted in a vertical blanking interval.
70. The method of claim 60, wherein said receiving includes receiving the metadata and splice iming information via the advertisement channel.
71. The method of claim 70, wherein the metadata and the splicejiming information is encoded as a data service on the advertisement channel.
- 64 - 72 The method of claim 71 , further compπsing decoding the data service and identifying the timing of the advertisement from the splicejiming information
73 The method of claim 72, wherein said retaining includes storing the advertisement duπng one or more splice windows identified by the splicejiming information
74 In a television network environment, an advertisement management system compnsmg an advertisement channel generator for receiving one or more advertisements and their corresponding metadata information from an advertisement server, and generating an advertisement channel compπsing the advertisements and the metadata information, and a set-top box for receiving the advertisement channel and retπeving the advertisements and the metadata information
75 The apparatus of claim 74, wherein said set-top box compπses a demodulator or decoder for demodulating or decoding the advertisement channel to differentiate between the metadata information and the advertisements
76 The apparatus of claim 75, wherein said set-top box further comprises a processor for decoding the metadata information to determine one or more corresponding instructions
77 The apparatus of claim 76, wherein said processor further associates the instructions to the received advertisements to select one or more appropriate advertisements
- 65 - 78 The apparatus of claim 77, wherein said set-top box further comprises a memory for storing the selected advertisements
79 The apparatus of claim 74, wherein said advertisement channel generator further compπses a vertical blanking interval encoder for encoding metadata information on an advertisement channel
80 The apparatus of claim 74, further compnsmg an advertisement sequencer/multiplexer for multiplexing the advertisements on the advertisement channel
81 A set-top box for inserting targeted advertisements in place of default advertisements within television program streams, the set-top box compπsing a communications interface for receiving a plurality of targeted advertisements and a queue identifying cπteπa for inserting the targeted advertisements, memory for storing the targeted advertisements and the queue, a processor for determining when and what targeted advertisement should be inserted into the program stream based on the queue, an inserter for inserting the targeted advertisement into the program stream, and a tπgger circuit for determining when the targeted advertisements and the queue need to be refreshed
82 A method for inserting targeted advertisements in place of default advertisements within television program streams, the method comprising receiving a plurality of targeted advertisements and a queue identifying criteria for inserting the targeted advertisements, stoπng the targeted advertisements and the queue in memory,
- 66 - determining when and what targeted advertisement should be inserted into the program stream based on the queue, inserting the targeted advertisement into the program stream, and determming when the targeted advertisements and the queue need to be refreshed
97 A method of inserting targeted advertisements at a set top box (STB), the method comprising maintaining an advertisement queue, wherein the advertisement queue includes a list of targeted advertisements, detecting an advertisement opportunity within a program stream being receiv ed at the
STB, retneving a targeted advertisement from the advertisement queue, and inserting the targeted advertisement in the advertisement opportunity
98 The method of claim 97, wherein said maintaining is performed at the STB
99 The method of claim 97, wherein said maintaining includes
forming a plurality of target groups, wherein each target group has a particular set of traits, associating advertisements with the target groups based on an intended target market of the advertisements,
associating subscribers with the target groups based on traits associated w ith the subscribers, generating a subscriber to advertisement correlation based on said associating advertisements and said associating subscπbers, and
- 67 - including advertisements in the advertisement queue based on the subscriber to advertisement correlation
100 The method of claim 97, wherein said maintaining includes correlating advertisement profiles with a subscπber profile, and including advertisements in the advertisement queue that meet a threshold correlation
101 The method of claim 100, wherein the advertisement profile includes traits associated with an intended target market of the advertisement and the subscπber profile includes traits associated with the subscriber
102 The method of claim 101 , wherein the traits include at least some subset of demographics, viewing preferences, viewing characteπstics, and interests
103 The method of claim 100. further compπsing transmitting the advertisement profile to the STB
104 The method of claim 103, wherein said correlating is performed at the STB
105 The method of claim 103, wherein said transmitting includes transmitting the advertisement profile to the STB via an advertisement channel
106 The method of claim 103, wherein said transmitting includes transmitting the advertisement profiles and the advertisements to the STB, wherein the advertisements that are included in the advertisement queue are stored on the STB
- 68 - 107 The method of claim 97, wherein said maintaining includes receiving an advertisement channel having a plurality of advertisements, determining if an advertisement is appropπate for the set-top box, including the advertisement in the advertisement queue if it is appropriate for the STB, and retaining the advertisements which are included in the queue in the STB
108 The method of claim 107, wherein said determining is performed in real-time
Figure imgf000018_0001
109 The method of claim 107, further compnsmg stonng the plurality of advertisements from the ad channel in the STB prior to said determining
1 10 The method of claim 109, further comprising deleting the advertisements from the STB that are found to be inappropriate
1 1 1 The method of claim 107, wherein said determining is based on one or more pre-determined parameters
1 12 The method of claim 103, wherein the advertisement profile is in the form of metadata
1 13 The method of claim 103, wherein said transmitting includes transmitting the advertisement profile in a vertical blanking interval
- 69 -
1 14. The method of claim 105, wherein said transmitting includes transmitting the advertisement profile encoded as a data service on the advertisement channel.
- 70 -
PCT/US2001/027217 2000-08-31 2001-08-31 Targeted advertising at the set top box WO2002019581A1 (en)

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US22915600P 2000-08-31 2000-08-31
US60/229,156 2000-08-31
US09/712,790 US8151295B1 (en) 2000-08-31 2000-11-14 Queue based advertisement scheduling and sales
US09/712,790 2000-11-14
US09/731,605 2000-12-07
US09/731,606 US20020072966A1 (en) 2000-08-31 2000-12-07 System for providing targeted advertisements using advertiser-specific target groups
US09/731,606 2000-12-07
US09/731,605 US20020083435A1 (en) 2000-08-31 2000-12-07 Method and system for addressing targeted advertisements using detection of operational status of display device
US09/742,506 US20020026638A1 (en) 2000-08-31 2000-12-21 Internet-based electronic program guide advertisement insertion method and apparatus
US09/742,852 2000-12-21
US09/742,852 US20020083439A1 (en) 2000-08-31 2000-12-21 System for rescheduling and inserting advertisements
US09/742,506 2000-12-21
US09/748,943 2000-12-27
US09/748,943 US20020083445A1 (en) 2000-08-31 2000-12-27 Delivering targeted advertisements to the set-top-box
US09/748,949 2000-12-27
US09/748,949 US20020083441A1 (en) 2000-08-31 2000-12-27 Advertisement filtering and storage for targeted advertisement systems
US09/748,942 US7328448B2 (en) 2000-08-31 2000-12-27 Advertisement distribution system for distributing targeted advertisements in television systems
US09/748,942 2000-12-27
US09/824,434 US20020144263A1 (en) 2000-08-31 2001-04-02 Grouping of advertisements on an advertising channel in a targeted advertisement system
US09/824,434 2001-04-02

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