1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an advertisement managing method and a broadcasting apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Broadcasting stations have been broadcasting commercials with contents thereof (descriptions and images of a product and/or service) and background music (hereinafter referred to as BGM).
These commercials are usually created by, for example, commercial creators so as to efficiently attract audiences and give a good impression of the product and/or service.
In the meantime, systems for providing commercials that match preference of individual viewers are proposed (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication No. 2002-7873).
However, such methods and systems are not desirable in that the BGM of the commercials does not always match the preference of the viewers, and therefore fails to achieve expected effects. Specifically, the commercials created with these methods and systems are not able to attract the viewers or to give a good impression of the product and/or service.
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a method for broadcasting an advertisement with background music that matches the preference of a viewer.
To overcome the above drawbacks, the present invention provides an advertisement managing method for a broadcasting apparatus to transmit a broadcast, comprising a data acquisition information receiving step receiving, from a broadcast receiver, data acquisition information about an acquisition of data relating to music contained in the broadcast by the broadcast receiver, a preference information accumulating step accumulating the data acquisition information received in the data acquisition information receiving step as music preference information of a viewer, and a background music changing step changing background music of an advertisement based on the preference information prior to broadcasting the advertisement.
According to the present invention, the advertisement can be broadcasted with the background music that matches the preference of a viewer.
In order to overcome above drawbacks, the present invention may also be embodied in the form of a broadcasting apparatus to transmit a broadcast.
Hereinafter, exemplarily embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The broadcasting apparatus 1 in the broadcasting station 100, as is described later, provides streaming broadcasts of programs such as dramas and commercials, and also transmits data of music (music data) in file formats to the broadcast receiver 2 (to be described later) so that a viewer (hereinafter also referred to as user) can preview or purchase the music via the broadcast receiver 2.
The broadcast receiver 2 receives the programs and commercials broadcasted by the broadcasting apparatus 1, and also transmits information (hereinafter referred to as bookmark information), which indicates that the user has downloaded, previewed, or purchased the music data, to the broadcasting apparatus 1 via the network 5 in response to the user's request. A specific example of the broadcast receiver 2 is a digital television.
The broadcasting apparatus 1 receives and accumulates the bookmark information, changes BGM of a commercial based on the accumulated bookmark information, and broadcasts the commercial.
An example of hardware of the broadcasting apparatus 1 is provided below with reference to
The hardware of the broadcasting apparatus 1 shown in
The input unit 10 comprises a keyboard and a mouse, which are used by an operator of the broadcasting apparatus 1 to input various control signals in the broadcasting apparatus 1.
The display unit 11 comprises a display, which is used by the operator of the broadcasting apparatus 1 to view various information items.
The interface unit 17 is an interface for connecting the broadcasting apparatus 1 to the network 5.
A commercial management program is provided in the form of the recording medium 13 such as a CD-ROM or is downloaded via the network 5 so as to execute bookmark accumulating operations, track and/or genre detecting operations and BGM changing operations, which are described later. When the recording medium 13 is loaded in the drive unit 12, the commercial management program is installed in the ROM 14 through the drive unit 12.
The ROM 14 stores data, the commercial management program and the like. The RAM 15 reads out the commercial management program when the broadcasting apparatus 1 is started, and holds the program therein. The CPU 16 executes operations according to the commercial management program held by the RAM 15.
The HD 18 stores data, files, and later-described various databases (hereinafter, referred to as DBs).
An example of functional structure of the broadcasting apparatus 1 is provided below with reference to
In
The change managing part 41 receives the bookmark information from the broadcast receiver 2 and accumulates the bookmark information in the bookmark DB 61, and detects a track and/or genre above a predetermined threshold based on the accumulated bookmark information in the bookmark DB 61 to inform the transmission control part 44.
The transmission control part 44 changes BGM of a commercial acquired from the commercial storing part 47 based on the information sent by the change managing part 41, and stores the commercial with another BGM in the commercial storing part 47.
The image data storing part 45 stores image data used for commercials, while the music data storing part 46 stores music data used for BGM of the commercials. Although the broadcasting apparatus 1 of
The commercial storing part 47 stores commercials scheduled to be broadcasted, while the program storing part 48 stores programs scheduled to be broadcasted.
The commercial/program output managing part 49 sends a commercial scheduled to be broadcasted and a program scheduled to be broadcasted to the main output part 51 respectively from the commercial storing part 47 and the program storing part 48 according to a predetermined schedule, and requests an output thereof. Simultaneously, the commercial/program output managing part 49 acquires music data to be used for the commercial and program from the music data storing part 46, and provides the data to the main output part 51.
The main output part 51 provides streaming broadcasts of the commercial and/or program in response to the request from the commercial/program output managing part 49.
The sub output managing part 50 acquires music data for music related to the commercial and/or program from the music data storing part 46, sends the music data to the sub output part 52 in conjunction with the commercial/program output managing part 49, and requests an output thereof.
The sub output part 52 transmits the music data in a file format to the broadcast receiver 2 in response to the request from the sub output managing part 50.
The bookmark DB 61 stores the bookmark information. The bookmark DB 61 is described later in detail with reference to
The user management DB 62 stores information on users who watch broadcasts using the broadcast receiver 2. The user management DB 62 is described later in detail with reference to
The music list DB 63 stores information on music. The music list DB 63 is described later in detail with reference to
The commercial material DB 64 stores information on commercials and music of the commercials. The commercial material DB 64 is described later in detail with reference to
An example of the user management DB 62 is provided below with reference to
The user management DB 62 includes the table shown in
A cell for the user ID stores an identifier for identifying a user who watches a broadcast.
A cell of the residence area ID code stores an ID code for identifying the residence area of the user. A post code is an example of the residence area ID code. Having the residence area ID code makes it possible, for example, to count the number of pieces of bookmark information for each prefecture or each city so as to change BGM of a commercial on an area basis.
A cell of the year of birth stores the year of birth of the user. Having the year of birth makes it possible, for example, to count the number of pieces of bookmark information by age so as to change BGM of a commercial on an age basis.
A cell for the occupation ID code stores an ID code for identifying the occupation of the user. Having the occupation ID code makes it possible, for example, to count the number of pieces of bookmark information for each occupation code so as to change BGM of a commercial on an occupation basis. The occupation ID code is associated with an occupation. For example, “01”, “02”, . . . in the cells for the occupation ID code in
An example of the music list DB 63 is provided below with reference to
The music list DB 63 includes the table shown in
A cell for the track code stores an ID code for identifying music.
A cell for the title stores the title of the music.
A cell for the artist stores the name of the artist who plays the music.
A cell for the genre stores the genre of the music. For simplifying the explanation, words of the music genres such as JAZZ and TECHNO are stored in the cells for the genre in
An example of bookmark accumulating operations is provided below with reference to
The change managing part 41 starts the following operations upon receiving a notice indicating that a commercial and/or program is output from the commercial/program output managing part 49 and a music-related broadcast is started (e.g. a broadcast of music in a music show is started, or a broadcast of music as BGM of a program is started).
In step S10, the change managing part 41 receives bookmark information transmitted from the broadcast receiver 2, and counts the number of pieces of bookmark information.
The process proceeds from step S10 to step S11, in which the change managing part 41 determines whether the music-related broadcast is ended. If the change managing part 41 determines that the music-related broadcast is ended (if Yes in step S11), the process proceeds to step S12. Otherwise, if the change managing part 41 determines that the music-related broadcast is not ended (if No in step S11), the operation returns to step S10.
For instance, when the change managing part 41 receives a notice indicating that the music-related broadcast is ended from the commercial/program output managing part 49, the change managing part 41 determines that the music-related broadcast is ended.
In step S12, the change managing part 41 stores a count result of the bookmark information in the bookmark DB 61.
An example of the bookmark DB 61 is given with reference to
The bookmark DB 61 includes the table shown in
A cell for the program code stores an ID code for identifying a program during which music is broadcasted.
A cell for the area stores the area of a user who transmits the bookmark information using the broadcast receiver 2. The area is a prefecture, a city or the like.
For instance, the change managing part 41 identifies the area of the user who transmits the bookmark information by referring to the residence area ID codes in the user management DB 62.
A cell for the track code stores an ID code for identifying music.
A cell for the number of bookmarks stores the number of pieces of bookmark information.
As shown in
Associating the number of bookmarks with the program code makes it possible to know preferences of viewers who watch the program, change BGM of a commercial to be broadcasted during the program, and broadcast the commercial.
Also, associating the number of bookmarks with the area makes it possible to know preferences of viewers who watch the program in the area, change BGM of a commercial to be broadcasted during the program, and broadcast the commercial.
An example of operations for detecting music above a threshold is provided below with reference to
In step S20, the change managing part 41 detects music above a threshold within a research target from the bookmark DB 61.
The research target is specified, for example, by program codes or areas. The research target is set based on information, which may be acquired by the change managing part 41, such as direct inputs from the operator of the broadcasting apparatus 1, or research target information defined in a research target definition file.
Likewise, the threshold is set based on information, which may be acquired by the change managing part 41, such as direct inputs from the operator of the broadcasting apparatus 1, or threshold information defined in a threshold definition file.
For instance, when the research target is program code “0001” with the area “Tokyo” and the threshold is “music with 300 or more bookmarks”, the change managing part 41 searches the table of the bookmark DB 61 based on these search conditions and acquires a track code of the music that meets the conditions as above-threshold music. In the case of the table of the bookmark DB 61 shown in
The process proceeds from step S20 to step S21, in which the change managing part 41 acquires genre information of the music detected in step S20 from the music list DB 63.
For example, when the track codes 0004, 0005, 0007 and 0008 are detected in step S20, the change managing part 41 refers to the music list DB 63 to acquire the genre information of the music respectively as JAZZ, JAZZ, ROCK and TECHNO.
The process proceeds from step S21 to step S22, in which the change managing part 41 calculates the genre allocation of the above-threshold music based on the genre information acquired in step S21.
For example, when track code 0004=JAZZ, track code 0005=JAZZ, track code 0007=ROCK and track code 0008=TECNO in step S21, the genre allocation calculated by the change managing part 41 is JAZZ:ROCK:TECNO=2:1:1:1.
The process proceeds from step S22 to step S23, where the change managing part 41 sends a notice (hereinafter referred to as change notice) that directs a BGM change for a commercial to the transmission control part 44.
These operations shown in
An example of the change notice is described below with reference to
The change notice shown in
An example of BGM changing operations is described below with reference to
When the transmission control part 44 receives a change notice as shown in
In step S30, the transmission control part 44 acquires notice information contained in the received change notice.
To take the change notice shown in
The process proceeds from step S30 to step S31, in which the transmission control part 44 acquires a commercial scheduled to be broadcasted in a program corresponding to the program code, and the number of times that the commercial is scheduled to be broadcasted from the commercial storing part 47.
For example, a default genre (e.g. TECHNO) is set to a commercial, and the transmission control part 44 acquires information indicating that the program code: 0001, the commercial code: 10005, the BGM genre: TECHNO, the track code: 4085, and the number of times to be broadcasted: 12 times and the like from the commercial storing part 47.
The process proceeds from step S31 to step S32, in which the transmission control part 44 selects information on a commercial that uses BGM of the specified genre from the commercial material DB 64 based on the genre allocation acquired in step S30.
The commercial material DB 64 includes the table shown in
A cell for the track code stores an ID code for identifying music.
A cell for the advertiser stores an advertiser name that provides the commercial.
A cell for the BGM genre stores a BGM genre of the commercial.
A cell for the BGM name stores the name of the BGM.
A cell for the track code stores an ID code for identifying the BGM.
For example, in step S32 in
The process proceeds from step S32 to step S33, in which the transmission control part 44 stores the commercials selected in step S32 into the commercial storing part 47 based on the genre allocation acquired in step S30.
For example, if the commercial with the commercial code: 10005 is originally scheduled to be broadcasted 12 times, the transmission control part 44 stores the commercial with the commercial code 10003 (BGM: JAZZ) so as to be broadcasted 6 times, the commercial with the commercial code 10002 (BGM: ROCK) 3 times, and the commercial with the commercial code 10005 (BGM: TECHNO) 3 times in the commercial storing part 47.
For rounding fractions appearing in the allocation, e.g., if the commercial with the commercial code: 10005 is originally scheduled to be broadcasted 10 times, the priority may be given to the commercial for which BGM has the highest allocation. In this case, the transmission control part 44 stores the commercial with the commercial code 10003 (BGM: JAZZ) so as to be broadcasted 6 times, the commercial with the commercial code 10002 (BGM: ROCK) 3 times, and the commercial with the commercial code 10005 (BGM: TECHNO) 3 times in the commercial storing part 47.
The commercial/program output managing part 49 broadcasts the commercials stored in the commercial storing part 47 according to the schedule (e.g. JAZZ: 3 times, ROCK: 3 times, and TECHNO: 3 times).
These operations shown in
The BGM of the commercial can be changed until just before the commercial is broadcasted, so that the latest preference information of the users is reflected in the BGM of the commercial to be broadcasted.
Another example of the bookmark DB 61 is provided below with reference to
The bookmark DB 61 includes the table shown in
A cell for the program code stores an ID code for identifying a program during which music is broadcasted.
A cell for the user ID stores an identifier for identifying a user who watches a broadcast.
A cell for the track code stores an ID code for identifying music.
A cell for the number of bookmarks stores the number of pieces of bookmark information.
As shown in
Associating the number of bookmarks with the program code makes it possible to know music preferences of each user, change BGM of a commercial to be broadcasted on the user basis, and broadcast the commercial.
Still another example of the table of the bookmark DB 61 is provided below with reference to
The bookmark DB 61 includes the table shown in
A cell for the user ID stores an identifier for identifying a user who watches a broadcast.
A cell for the number of bookmarks stores the number of bookmarks per genre.
The change managing part 41 classifies music into genres based on bookmark information accumulated for a certain period (e.g. one month) with reference to the music list DB 63, and stores the number of bookmarks in the table shown in
An example of operations for detecting a genre above a threshold is provided below with reference to
In step S40, the change managing part 41 detects a genre above a threshold from the bookmark DB 61.
The threshold is set based on information, which may be acquired by the change managing part 41, such as direct inputs from the operator of the broadcasting apparatus 1, or threshold information defined in a threshold definition file.
For instance, when the threshold is “genre with 20 or more bookmarks”, the change managing part 41 searches the table shown in
The process proceeds from step S40 to step S41, in which the change managing part 41 calculates the genre allocation of the above-threshold genre based on the genre information acquired in step S40 and the number of bookmarks.
For example, when the number of bookmarks of POPS is 42 and ROCK is 21 in step 40, the genre allocation calculated by the change managing part 41 is POPS:ROCK=2:1.
The process proceeds from step S41 to step S42, the change managing part 41 transmits a change notice that directs a BGM change for a commercial to the transmission control part 44.
These operations shown in
Another example of the change notice is provided below with reference to
The change notice shown in
BGM changing operations in the second embodiment are generally the same as those in the first embodiment shown in
In the second embodiment, since the commercials are broadcasted with BGM changed on the user basis, the broadcasting apparatus 1 may determine whether the broadcast receiver 2 of the user is active at the time of broadcasting the commercials.
An example of broadcasting a commercial to a user is provided below with reference to
The commercial/program output managing part 49 starts the following operations upon receiving information indicating that the broadcast receiver 2 is active from the change managing part 41 or the like.
The commercial/program output managing part 49 broadcasts commercials of which BGM are changed based on bookmark information stored in the commercial storing part 47 according to a schedule and a specified allocation.
In the case of the examples shown in
The process proceeds from step S50 to step S51, in which the commercial/program output managing part 49 determines whether the broadcast receiver 2 is active. If the commercial/program output managing part 49 determines that the broadcast receiver 2 is active (if YES in step S51), the operation returns to step S50. Otherwise, if the commercial/program output managing part 49 determines that the broadcast receiver 2 is not active (if No in step S11), the operations are ended.
For instance, when the commercial/program output managing part 49 receives information indicating that the broadcast receiver 2 is not active from the change managing part 41, the commercial/program output managing part 49 determines that the broadcast receiver 2 is not active.
These operations shown in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2003-088143 | Mar 2003 | JP | national |
This is a U.S. continuation application filed under 35 USC 111(a) claiming benefit under 35 USC 120 and 365(c) of PCT application JP2004/001137, filed on Feb. 4, 2004, which claims priority to Application Ser. No. 2003-088143, filed in Japan on Mar. 27, 2003. The foregoing applications are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/JP04/01137 | Feb 2004 | US |
Child | 11077154 | Mar 2005 | US |