1. Technical Field
The invention relates to presenting large advertisements on internet connected display-devices, hereafter ICDDs, and specifically to displaying large advertisements with multiple creatives in a preferred order to achieve maximum impact of the advertisement campaign. Each creative is a small ad display that conveys a message or part of a message. Each large advertisement is an advertisement that contains multiple creatives that when presented in a predefined sequence convey a cohesive message to the viewer.
2. Description of the Background Art
Advertisements with multiple creatives are being generated and used during ad campaigns by advertisers.
Today large advertisements with multiple creatives are being generated and used during ad campaigns by advertisers. At the same time ICDDs, such as mobile handheld display devices, hereafter MHDDs, have become a main access for displaying ads to users. The ICDDs are individual communication devices and can be accessed for ad display only during the period when the user is viewing content.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a method and an apparatus for displaying multiple creatives of an ad in a preferred sequence on an ICDD. It would be further advantageous to change the order of display of the creatives based on user preference and the frequency of display in order to achieve maximum impact of the ad.
A method and system are provided for displaying on internet connected display-devices large advertisements having multiple sequential creatives belonging to an advertisement campaign. Examples of internet connected display-devices include; wireless enabled smart-phones; internet enabled phablets and tablets; personal-computer; laptops; note-books and smart-TVs. Since one or more of these devices can be owned by a single user and used at different times, the ads can be displayed only during the period when a particular device is switched on and content is being viewed on that particular device by a user. This makes tracking of creatives of large-advertisements belonging to a brand and a campaign requiring sequential viewing on a specific ICDD difficult. Thus a method is provided using the processing power and storage capability of the ICDD, with an installed micro-splicer, for sequencing of creatives and monitoring of the display for completion.
Today large advertisements with multiple creatives, that need to be displayed in specific sequence, are being generated and used during ad campaigns by advertisers. The large advertisement comprising the client's message has multiple creatives, and in many advertisements the creatives convey the impact of the message of the client by having a predefined sequential order to be displayed. ICDDs are now a main vehicle for displaying ads to users. The ICDDs are individual communication devices specific to a user and can provide the capability for delivery of focused ads to individual users. A feature of the ICDD, due to it being a personally controlled multimedia device, is that it is not always available for ad display. For example, ICDDs may be in off states or may be used by the user in a use mode not compatible with ad display.
In an embodiment shown in
In embodiments more than one creative may be displayed during a single ad-spot. The micro-splicer 115 will load the necessary number of creatives to be displayed into the alternate content display buffer for display during any ad-spot based on instructions in the metadata and the length of the ad-spot.
In embodiments, the micro-splicer 115 working with the processor 113 is configured to keep track of the completion of display of any creative that is uploaded into the alternate content display buffer for display. This allows the micro-splicer to manage the predefined sequence for the display of the creatives. In the embodiment shown in
In embodiments the micro-splicer 115 together with the processor 113 on the ICDD are used to ensure that the display of a creative is completed before the next sequential creative is loaded and displayed. This is beneficial in the case of large ads with multiple creatives to be displayed in a predefined sequence as the message to be conveyed by the ad in its entirety is impacted if some creatives are displayed only partially due to the intermittent operation of the ICDD 110 by the user. This intermittent use may be caused for example by the user switching off the ICDD 110 before completion of the display of the creative.
Selected advertisements and alternate content for an ad campaign developed by a client are selected for a user of a ICDD, in this embodiment shown as an MHDD, and the ICDD is enabled to download the advertisement and store it in an alternate content buffer on the ICDD (S701).
Metadata providing information on the advertisement and insertion instructions is downloaded and stored on the ICDD with the advertisement in the memory of the ICDD (S702).
Content stream is downloaded via wireless connection by the ICDD (S703).
Downloaded content is buffered in a display buffer location that is linked to a display module of the ICDD, in the memory of the ICDD (S704).
Once the content stream information has been received the micro-splicer on the ICDD in conjunction with a processor on the ICDD select the appropriate advertisement or alternate data to be displayed with the content based on the information contained in the metadata associated with the advertisement (S705).
The micro-splicer also identifies the predefined sequence of the creatives to be displayed and selects the next creative to be displayed with the content ready for display on the ICDD (S706).
The selected and identified creative is uploaded into an alternate content display buffer location within the memory of the ICDD (S707).
Micro-splicer instructs the processor to enable connection of the content display buffer to the display module for rendering and display of the contents of the content display buffer location on the display of the ICDD for the viewing by the user (S708).
When an ad spot within the content stream received is detected the start and end of the ad spot are identified and its characteristics, such as duration, are extracted and the information fed to the micro-splicer (S709).
At the start of display of the ad-spot the micro-splicer instructs the processor to disconnect the content display buffer from the display module and instead connect the alternate content display buffer to the display module to display selected creative that is currently within the alternate content display buffer (S710).
Since the ICDD can be switched off or used for some purpose other than content viewing, it is necessary to ensure completion of display of the selected alternate content, such as a creative, in the alternate content display buffer before the next creative is displayed. In order to ensure complete display of each creative, the end of the ad spot is monitored. The detection of the end of an ad spot indicates completion of display of the loaded creative. In the case where no end of ad spot is detected, this indicates that the ICDD has been diverted to some alternate use or switched off and the content of the alternate content display buffer has not been completely viewed (S711).
In the case where the content of the alternate content display buffer has not been viewed in full, micro-splicer instructs the processor to disconnect the alternate content display buffer from the display module and connect the content display buffer to the display module for current or future use. The micro-splicer also instructs the processor to re-load the alternate content display buffer with the current alternate content or creative that is the chosen creative if it has been corrupted, so that the creative can be displayed during the next ad spot available (S710). If the ICDD is switched off before the display of the creative is complete, the same creative is left in the alternate content display buffer for the next ad spot when the content viewing is re-started (S712).
In the case where the end of an ad spot is detected, the micro-splicer instructs the CPU to disconnect the alternate content display buffer from the display module and connect the content display buffer to the display module to continue viewing the content on the ICDD (S713).
The micro-splicer instructs the CPU to check the selected ad for additional creatives to be displayed in the predefined sequence. If any creatives in the predefined sequence have not been displayed the next creative in the sequence is loaded into the alternate content display buffer as shown at step (S706) for display during the next ad spot (S714).
If the creative displayed is the last creative in the predefined sequence of the advertisement, the microprocessor determines the next advertisement to be displayed based on the content being viewed based on the metadata and repeats the process from step (S705) to display the creative of that ad in the approved sequence (S715).
In embodiments the micro-splicer 115 on the ICDD 110 enhances the customer experience by identifying the most interesting creatives of the advertisements from the user preference information from past history available on the ICDD 110 or the user's interaction with the creatives of an advertisement, based on the user's response to a creative such as time spent on the creative or user interaction with the creative. This information can be further used to prioritize the display of creatives to the user for maximizing the impact of the message of the advertisements being displayed.
It will be evident to one of ordinary skill in the art that the techniques described herein above can be used to great advantage in providing significant capability to the process of displaying large advertisements with multiple creatives. It enables the organized display of large advertisements on an ICDD, where the creatives are displayed in a predefined sequence. The sequence of display of the creatives is defined by the client who develops the message of the advertisement. Further the method allows each creative in the sequence to be completed to allow the message to be completed and have the necessary impact defined by the client.
It will be readily appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that application of these techniques will produce more reliable, impact for the message of the advertisements. As will be understood by those familiar with the art, the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Likewise, the particular naming and division of the members, features, attributes, and other aspects are not mandatory or significant, and the mechanisms that implement the invention or its features may have different names, divisions and/or formats. Further, the invention may be implemented as software executing on appropriate hardware, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof for implementation on ICDD.
The computer system 1600 includes a processor 1602, a main memory 1604 and a static memory 1606, which communicate with each other via a bus 1608. The computer system 1600 may further include a display unit 1610, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT). The computer system 1600 also includes an alphanumeric input device 1612, for example, a keyboard; a cursor control device 1614, for example, a mouse; a disk drive unit 1616, a signal generation device 1618, for example, a speaker, and a network interface device 1628.
The disk drive unit 1616 includes a machine-readable medium 1624 on which is stored a set of executable instructions, i.e., software, 1626 embodying any one, or all, of the methodologies described herein below. The software 1626 is also shown to reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 1604 and/or within the processor 1602. The software 1626 may further be transmitted or received over a network 1630 by means of a network interface device 1628.
In contrast to the system 1600 discussed above, a different embodiment uses logic circuitry instead of computer-executed instructions to implement processing entities. Depending upon the particular requirements of the application in the areas of speed, expense, tooling costs, and the like, this logic may be implemented by constructing an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) having thousands of tiny integrated transistors. Such an ASIC may be implemented with CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor), TTL (transistor-transistor logic), VLSI (very large systems integration), or another suitable construction. Other alternatives include a digital signal processing chip (DSP), discrete circuitry (such as resistors, capacitors, diodes, inductors, and transistors), field programmable gate array (FPGA), programmable logic array (PLA), programmable logic device (PLD), and the like.
It is to be understood that embodiments may be used as or to support software programs or software modules executed upon some form of processing core (such as the CPU of a computer) or otherwise implemented or realized upon or within a machine or computer readable medium. A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine, e.g., a computer. For example, a machine readable medium includes read-only memory (ROM); random access memory (RAM); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical, optical, acoustical or other form of propagated signals, for example, carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.; or any other type of media suitable for storing or transmitting information.
Although the invention is described herein with reference to the preferred embodiment, one skilled in the art will readily appreciate that other applications may be substituted for those set forth herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention should only be limited by the Claims included below.