Patent Application
20120278834
Current delivery of commercials is essentially a one-way transaction. The commercials are included in the broadcast media content. The viewer is presented with the commercials whether they are of interest or not. The only way for an advertiser to determine effectiveness of a commercial is to analyze information of typical viewers of the broadcast event associated with the commercial.
Accordingly, there exists a need to determine effectiveness or likeability of commercials, thereby improving the effectiveness of commercials.
Exemplary embodiments provide systems and methods for altering of commercials presented, based on user likes and dislikes of commercials. In an exemplary embodiment, a plurality of commercials are received and stored at a media device. A commercial user interface is presented with at least one commercial. A user selection associated with the presented commercial is received via the commercial user interface, wherein the user selection corresponds to one of a user dislike and a user like of the first commercial. Future presentation of at least one next commercial is altered based on the received user selection and the stored plurality of commercials.
In one aspect, the presentation of commercials in future commercial time slots is altered, based on user selection information.
In another aspect, the user selection information is saved and sent to a server device that will send updated commercials based on the received user selection information.
Preferred and alternative embodiments are described in detail below with reference to the following drawings:
The media devices 102 are configured by a user to select one of the plurality of simultaneously broadcast media content events for presentation on a media presentation system 108. An exemplary media device 102 includes, but is not limited to, a set-top box (STB) that is communicatively coupled to the broadcast system 104. Other embodiments of the media device 102 include a television (TV), a digital video disc (DVD) player, a game-playing device, a personal computer (PC), a cellular phone, a portable media device, or a personal digital assistant (PDA). The media devices 102 present and/or store selected media content events and commercials that are included in the media content stream. Exemplary media presentation systems 108 include, but are not limited to, TVs, stereos, radios, surround-sound systems, personal computers, or the like that may be communicatively coupled to the media device 102. In some embodiments, the media device 102 and the media presentation system 108 may be a single integrated electronic media device, such as a PDA.
The media devices 102 may be identical to, or may be substantially similar to, other media devices 102. Or, the media devices 102 may be quite different from each other. Further, the media devices 102 may be coupled to different types of broadcast systems 104.
An exemplary broadcast system 104 includes a satellite broadcast system 110. One or more of the media content streams resides in a transport channel that is uplinked to a plurality of satellites 112, via a corresponding transmit antenna 114. The respective transport channels are then wirelessly communicated, from one or more of the satellites 112 to a receiver antenna 116 that is communicatively coupled to the media device 102. The received wireless signal (with the media content stream) is then communicated from the receiver antenna 116 to the media device 102. In one embodiment, the receiver antenna 116 and the media device 102 receive multiple wireless signals from a plurality of satellites 112.
Alternatively, or additionally, the plurality of media content events is broadcast to the media devices 102 via an over-the-air (OTA) system 118. For example, the media content broadcast facility 120 may be a local program provider that wirelessly broadcasts media content events to the media devices 102. The wireless signal with the media content stream is received at the receiver antenna 116, or is received directly by a receiver (not shown) residing in the media device 102.
Alternatively, or additionally, the plurality of media content events and a plurality of commercials are broadcast to the media devices 102 via a cable system 122. For example, the media content broadcast facility 120 may employ a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, or comparable cable that is coupled to the media device 102 for transmitting the media content stream.
Alternatively, or additionally, the media device 102 may receive the media content event and commercials directly from a server device, such as the media content broadcast facility 120 or from another source over the communication system 106, via a communication (network) link. In an exemplary embodiment, the communication system 106 includes a public (the Internet) or private data network. The communication link between the media device 102 and the communication system 106 may be a dedicated communication link, such as an Ethernet communication link, a fiber optic communication link, a wireless link, a cable link, or the like. In some embodiments, the communication links may be established through the communication system 106, or may be established through a portion of the communication system 106.
Alternatively, or additionally, commercials may be sent to the media device 102 well prior to when a corresponding media content event is sent to the media device 102. These prior received commercials are stored in local memory and retrieved for playback at an appropriate time slot associated with the corresponding media content event.
The media content broadcast facility 120 is also in communication with one or more third-party systems 124. The media content broadcast facility 120 may transmit commercial time slot information or other program-related information to the third-party system 124 via the communication system 106.
In an exemplary embodiment, the media content stream is received by the media content stream interface 202. One or more tuners 224 in the media content stream interface 202 selectively tune to a particular media content stream (i.e., media content event with commercials) in accordance with instructions received from the processor system 204. The processor system 204, executing the media device logic 218 and based upon a request for a program of interest specified by a user, parses out program content associated with the specified media content event. The media content event of interest with associated commercials is then assembled into a stream of video and/or audio information, which may be stored by the program buffer 208, such that the program content and commercials can be streamed out to the media presentation system 108, via the presentation device interface 212. Alternatively, or additionally, the parsed-out program content may be saved into the DVR 210 for later presentation. The DVR 210 may be directly provided in, locally connected to, or remotely connected to the media device 102. Alternatively, or additionally, the commercials are received prior to when they are to be streamed out to the media presentation system 108 and stored in the memory 206 until the media device logic 218 and the commercial processing logic 220 commands the processor system 204 to retrieve them.
In this embodiment, the presentation device interface 212 is illustrated as coupled to the media presentation system 108 that includes a visual display device 226, such as a television (hereafter, generically, a TV). Other types of presentation devices may also be coupled to the media device 102, including those providing any sort of stimuli sensible by a human being, such as temperature, vibration, and the like. The video portion of the streamed program content is displayed on a TV display 228 and the audio portion of the streamed program content is reproduced as sounds.
The exemplary media device 102 is configured to receive commands from a user via a remote control 230. The remote control 230 includes one or more controllers 232. The user, by actuating one or more of the controllers 232, causes the remote control 230 to generate and transmit commands, via a wireless signal, to the media device 102. The commands control the media device 102 and/or control the media presentation system 108. The wireless signal may be an infrared (IR) signal or a radio frequency (RF) signal.
The above processes performed by the media device 102 are generally implemented by the processor system 204 while executing the media device logic 218. Thus, the media device 102 may perform a variety of functions relating to the processing and presentation of the media content event.
The communication system interface 216 provides connectivity of the media device 102 to other remote devices (e.g., the third-party systems 124 and the media content broadcast facility 120) via the communication system 106. In an exemplary embodiment that is configured with Internet connectivity, the communication system interface 216 may be a suitable modem, or a device configured to connect to a modem. For example, the exemplary browser 222 may be used to access and/or retrieve the data from a remote site, such as a Web site. The accessed data may be searched, filtered, sorted, or otherwise processed at the media device 102. Additionally, or alternatively, the retrieved data may be stored by the media device 102, such as in the DVR 210, memory 206, or another suitable memory medium. Commercials received from the third-party system 124 or the media content broadcast facility 120 are stored in the memory 206. The communication system interface 216 may be any suitable device that is configured to provide connectivity of the media device 102 to the communication system 106.
At a block 310, user interaction with the presented commercial user interface is received. The user interaction may be stored in the memory 206. Then at a block 312, presentation of the stored commercials is adjusted based on the received user interaction (i.e., the commercial selection logic is altered). For example, if the user interaction indicates that the user liked a particular beer ad, then the commercial selection logic is altered such that a similar beer ad (possibly an ad for the same product as in the previous ad) is requested to be presented in the following time slot. The alteration of the commercial selection logic may take on many forms. For example, the commercial selection logic may be altered to select ads produced by the same advertising agency that produced the previous ad. At a block 314, at least a portion of the collected information is sent to a server (e.g., the third-party system 124 or the media content broadcast facility 120) over the communication system 106.
The user interface 402 includes a menu selectable 404 and thumbs-down selectable 406 and a thumbs-up selectable 408. If a user highlights or otherwise activates the thumbs-down selectable 406, the processor system 204 records in the memory 206 that the user dislikes the presented commercial. In an exemplary embodiment, the commercial processing logic 220 may alter the retrieval of one or more next presented commercials from the memory 206 for presentation into future commercial time slots in the media content stream based on the recorded dislike. For example, if the user indicates that they disliked a particular car ad, then the commercial selection logic is altered such that stored commercials that are similar (e.g., same product, same ad agency, similar product) are excluded from or given less likelihood of being presented in upcoming time slots. In an exemplary embodiment, the processor system 204 sends the recorded dislikes information to a server device (e.g., the third-party system 124) via the communication system 106.
If a user highlights or otherwise activates the thumbs-up selectable 408, the processor system 204 records in the memory 206 that the user likes the presented commercial. In an exemplary embodiment, the commercial processing logic 220 may alter the retrieval of one or more next presented commercials from the memory 206 for presentation into future commercial time slots in the media content stream based on the recorded like. For example, if the user indicates that they liked a particular beer ad, then the commercial selection logic is altered such that a similar beer ad (possibly an ad for the same product) is requested to be presented in one of the following time slots. In an exemplary embodiment, the processor system 204 sends the recorded likes information to the server device (e.g., the third-party system 124) via the communication system 106.
The commercial menu 500 may also present information (nonselectable) relating to the presented commercial. As shown in
The information associated with a currently viewed (e.g., currently presented) commercial may include information regarding one or more next presented commercials associated with the currently viewed commercial. The associated one or more next presented commercials are ones that are scheduled to be viewed in a later time slot for a currently associated media content event or the associated commercials could be selected for immediate viewing or for indicating dislike. Also, feedback that the viewer likes a particular group of commercials can be accepted.
In an exemplary embodiment, other user interactions with a presented commercial are recorded and used for determining presentation of commercials in later time slots. The analysis of these other user interactions is analyzed to infer a user like or user dislike of the commercial. One of the other user interactions includes skipping a commercial. The processor system 204 interprets a skip command generated by the user as a dislike for the commercial(s) being skipped. Another of the other user interactions includes fast forwarding through a commercial. The processor system 204 interprets a fast forwarding as a user dislike for the commercial(s) being fast forwarded. One other user interaction is rewinding to replay at least part of a commercial. The processor system 204 interprets a rewind action as a user like for the commercial being replayed.
In an exemplary embodiment, user commercial-viewing preference information is stored at a remote system (e.g., the media content broadcast facility 120 or the third party system 124). The system (e.g., the media content broadcast facility 120 or the third party system 124) delivers the commercials according to the stored user commercial-viewing preference information. For example, if the user's commercial-viewing preference information states a preference for longer, story-based commercials, then the system retrieves and delivers longer, story-based commercials to the media device 102.
Alternatively, or additionally, user commercial-viewing preference information is stored in the memory 206 of the media device 102. The processor system 204 retrieves commercials previously stored in the memory 206 according to the stored user commercial-viewing preference information.
It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of the system 100 are merely possible examples of implementations of the invention. Many variations and modifications may be made to the above-described embodiments. All such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.
