Patent Application
20090133053
The present invention is generally related to advertisement insertion, and more particularly to the advertisement and content distribution in Internet Protocol multicast networks.
Television viewers sometimes “surf” channels. That is to say, they rapidly change from channel to channel searching for a program they want to watch. It is possible that, while surfing, a viewer may come to a channel that is currently showing a program the viewer would like to watch, but unfortunately that program is currently showing a commercial. Because the viewer only sees the commercial, the viewer quickly surfs past the program and ends up watching another channel or nothing at all. As such, what is needed is a solution to overcome the problems and limitations described above.
The present invention provides a system, method, and computer readable medium for advertisement insertion with free samples. Effectively, the present invention allows television viewers to bypass a commercial if one is currently airing when initially tuning in to a television program.
Once a viewer locates and maintains a program to watch, the viewer will then see all forthcoming commercials, as they would normally appear. Since viewers are able to bypass all commercials or advertisements currently airing until a desired program is located and maintained, the viewers would know exactly what is on each channel as they “surf” for something to watch. They are, therefore, more likely to become Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service consumers. Furthermore, the present invention is equally as appealing to broadcasters in view of the fact that broadcasters are more likely to distribute their programs over IPTV services.
The present invention is related to broadcast television programs that are distributed using Internet Protocol (IP) multicast technology. There is currently no known method to reliably make this technology work utilizing satellite, cable, or terrestrial broadcast communications. This ultimately gives Internet Protocol (IP) multicast a unique advantage over its competition.
This technology takes advantage of two facts:
In one example embodiment of the present invention, a method of television program insertion during an advertisement time slot includes tuning into a channel via user interaction with a set top box during an advertisement time slot of an otherwise regularly scheduled program, and receiving a stream of video content containing at least a portion of the regularly scheduled program currently being offered on the channel in response to the tuning operation.
In one example embodiment of the present invention, a system of television program insertion during an advertisement time slot includes a set top box configured to receive and display media content, and a digital subscriber line access module (DSLAM) which provides content to the set top box and switches between providing the user with a regularly scheduled program and advertisements, and during an advertisement time slot and in response to a channel change operation, the DSLAM checks the status of at least one bit stored in memory and provides a user with at least one of a portion of the regularly scheduled program and an advertisement depending on the status of the at least one bit.
In one example embodiment of the present invention, a method of television program insertion during an advertisement time slot includes tuning into a channel via user interaction with a set top box (STB) during an advertisement time slot of an otherwise regularly scheduled program, and receiving a stream of video content containing at least a portion of the regularly scheduled program instead of advertisements regularly scheduled to be offered during said advertisement time slot, and wherein the at least a portion of the regularly scheduled program is inserted into the stream of video content as a result of at least one bit stored in memory indicating whether the user recently accessed said channel.
Referring to
A common scenario often experienced by a viewer 107 watching television may include the viewer 107 tuning into channel 100 during one of the AD time slots 104, 105 or 106. In such a case, the viewer 107 may be more inclined to change the channel due to the displaying of an advertisement during one of the AD time slots 104, 105 or 106. Generally, the preference of the viewer 107, would be to change the channel away from channel 100 upon viewing an advertisement displayed on the viewer's television, except in rare circumstances that include highly anticipated advertisements, such as, for example, the national football league (NFL) Super Bowl.
One alternative to displaying an advertisement during an advertisement time slot interval would be to offer a portion or sample of the television program during one or more of the advertisement time slot intervals 104, 105 and 106. The program sample may be created automatically by recording a section of the program preceding an advertisement time slot interval.
Referring to
The free program sample 208 may be a repeated portion of a section of the program 201 preceding the commercial interval 204, or may instead be a summary of the portion of the program 201 that came before the commercial. Alternatively, the sample 208 may be a pre-recorded trailer representing a preview of the entire show including parts from segments 201, 202 and 203, or, may even be other content used to persuade the viewer 207 to stop channel surfing and begin watching the contents of channel 200.
Once the viewer 207 commits to watching the television channel 200, over time, the viewer 207 will continue to see the regularly scheduled advertisements (e.g., AD 2′ 205 and AD 3′ 206) and the program segments (e.g., 202 and 203) as originally intended. Furthermore, the viewer 207 may be able to view the contents of AD 1′ 204 subsequent to its originally intended time slot interval 204. The commercials originally scheduled for time slot interval 204 may be forwarded to replace one or more of the next advertisement intervals 205/206, or, alternatively, the commercials may be tacked on to one or more of time slot intervals 202/203.
Commercial substitution may be used in an IP multicast and/or unicast network.
Tree one 301 is designated to distribute a broadcast television program plus a set of advertisements AD1. Tree two 320 may distribute the same broadcast television stream plus a different set of advertisements AD2. A Set Top Box (STB) 305 may be configured to receive packets from multicast tree one 301, and the other STB′ 328 may be configured to receive packets from multicast tree two 320 while both STBs 305 and 328 are coupled in communication with the same DLSAM 312.
The difference between
Multicast configuration one 400a represents the content of a television channel being viewed by viewer 428. The content may include a program and/or AD or combinations of both. Tree one 401a and tree two 421a deliver packets by way of packet forwarding devices 406, 407, 408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 413, 414, 415, 416, 417, 418, 419 and 420 from tree one 401a, and by way of packet forwarding devices 422, 423, 424, 425, 426, 427 from AD source tree 421a. The packets may originate from a VHO 402 or SHO 403.
According to an example embodiment of the general inventive concept, when it comes time to display a commercial/advertisement, the Digital Subscriber Line Access Module (DSLAM) 412 switches the Set Top Box (STB) 405 from program source tree 401a to AD source tree 421a, which contains the advertisement content.
The DSLAM 404 (which represents one or more of DSLAMs 409-412) may detect the first time a viewer tunes to a new program. If that newly viewed program is currently presenting a commercial, the DSLAM 404 replaces the commercial with a section of the program. This section of the program is referred to as a “free program sample.” To a network, a free program sample appears to be nothing more or nothing less than a commercial.
Multicast configuration 400b illustrates the process of switching from a program source tree 401b to an AD source tree 421b. The dotted line between DSLAM 412′ and STB 405′ indicates the content being received at the STB 405′ from the AD source tree 421b and not from the program source tree 401b. Multicast configuration two 400b illustrates the same television channel as in configuration one 400a except in configuration 400b the viewer 428 is viewing a commercial.
Tree one 401b and tree two 421b deliver packets by way of packet forwarding devices 406′, 407′, 408′, 409′, 410′, 411′, 412′, 413′, 414′, 415′, 416′, 417′, 418′ and 419′ from tree one 401b, and by way of packet forwarding devices 422′, 423′, 424′, 425′, 426′, 427′ from tree 421b. The packets are sent from the VHO 402′ or SHO 403′. The DSLAM 404′ switches the STB 405′ from the tree that contains the program to the tree that contains the commercials. That way, the viewer then views the commercial content from the AD source tree 421b.
In practice,
Referring to
At the point of packet forwarding device 512 where a commercial would be inserted, the DSLAM 504 switches the STB 505 from the accessibility of both program source tree 501 and commercial tree 519 to free program sample tree 527. In a normal scenario, STB 505 would receive program content from program source 501 and during a commercial interval would receive a commercial packet at the point of delivery 526 from commercial tree 519.
Once a transition from program source tree 501 and commercial source tree 519 has occurred, a free program sample may be inserted via free program sample tree 527 as a replacement to the regularly scheduled content. After the transition, the STB 505′ may receive the prerecorded program sample at the point of delivery 534 during a regularly scheduled commercial time slot interval. The prerecorded program sample may then be viewed by a viewer 538 in place of the regularly scheduled commercial.
Another example embodiment may include the DSLAM 504 monitoring and keeping track of which programs are being received by the STBs within the control of that particular DSLAM 504. The DSLAM 504 may store one bit of data per channel per STB indicating whether or not this particular STB has already accessed some portion of a current program.
Each time a new program begins the bits for that program may all be set to zero. When a viewer tunes into a new program on another channel, the DSLAM 504 may perform a couple of operations. For example, the DSLAM 504 may determine whether or not the channel is currently in a commercial time slot interval, and the status of the free sample bit. If, for example, the program has been interrupted by a commercial and the bit is zero, the DSLAM 504 may send the STB 505′ a free program sample and set the bit to one. If the program is not in a commercial and/or the bit is one, the DSLAM 504 may continue to display the program in the normal manner and set the bit to one.
In one scenario, if a viewer tunes in to a channel for the first time, then rapidly changes to a second channel, and then rapidly returns to the first channel, the viewer may no longer require a free sample program on the first channel. There would be no need to provide a viewer a second instance of a free program sample because the viewer actions indicate that he/she already knows what program is airing on that channel.
A similar scheme can be implemented using the STB. In this scheme the STB would send out a request for either a commercial or a free program sample. The STB would designate one bit per channel and use an algorithm similar to the one described above. The STB-based scheme may have the additional advantage that it can work with satellite, cable, and terrestrial broadcast.
While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, it is to be understood that the embodiments described are illustrative only and the scope of the invention is to be defined solely by the appended claims when considered with a full range of equivalents and modifications (e.g., protocols, hardware devices, software platforms etc.) thereto.
