Patent Application
20070291747
In accordance with the present invention, users of a digital television delivery service, can create customized advertisements and target the advertisements to other users of the digital television delivery service. As used herein, the term “user” refers to a subscriber, customer, or viewer of the digital television delivery service. A digital television delivery service is any service in which television programming is transmitted to a user device in the form of a digital data stream. The digital data stream is addressable to individual user devices, such as set top boxes. For example, the digital data stream can transmit television programming in the form of addressable data packets. Examples of digital television services include Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), digital cable, etc. The present invention is described below as being implemented using IPTV, but is not limited thereto. Accordingly, the present invention can also be implemented in any other digital television service, such as, digital cable or the like.
IPTV service is provided by a service provider, which transmits IPTV streams to IPTV client devices of the users. IPTV streams are streams of data packets which the IPTV client devices convert into video signals. The data packets in an IPTV stream can correspond to programming content. Programming content is specific content that is scheduled for delivery at a predetermined time. The delivery time for the specific content is made available publicly prior to delivery so that the viewer can elect to view the specific content at the scheduled time. For example, the schedule for regularly scheduled television programming is published before viewing so that the viewer can select which specific program he/she wants to view at the published time. Programming content can also include specific content that is delivered at a time selected by the viewer, as in video on demand. In this embodiment of programming content, although the viewing time is not prescheduled, the viewer can select specific content for viewing at a specific time.
As opposed to programming content, advertising content, while it includes specific content, is not the subject of published scheduling based on the specific content. That is, the schedule for delivery of advertising content is not made publicly available prior to delivery. Quite to the contrary, in its commercial embodiment, the effectiveness of advertising is that the schedule for delivery of specific advertising content is not made publicly available, and is hence delivered to a semi captive audience. Of course, as disclosed herein, the delivery of advertising content need not be commercially motivated. It may, for example, be motivated by a desire to satisfy the public interest, as with public notice “advertising”, or may simply be personal messages.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, data packets corresponding to the advertising content are included in an IPTV stream along with data packets corresponding to programming content. IPTV client devices may be embodied as set top boxes which transmit the video signals to a display device, such as a television to be viewed by a user. It is also possible that an IPTV client device and a display device be provided in the same device, such as an IPTV ready television.
The targeted advertising method according to the present invention can be used by businesses. For example this method can be used by a business to offer a special promotion to a specific individual, or group of individuals, to thank an individual for a purchase. The targeting advertising method can also be used by individual users. For example, individuals can send invitations, reminders of meetings, birthday greetings, etc., in the form of an advertisement on the television of targeted users. The above uses of the present invention are purely exemplary, and are not intended to limit the invention.
At step 102, advertising information is received from a user. The advertising information is received from a user via an IP network. For example, the advertising information can be input by the user through a web interface. The web interface may be displayed on a dedicated IPTV channel. It is also possible that the web interface be accessible through a web browser on a personal computer, or the like. Accordingly, when the user wishes to create and/or send an advertisement to another user or to a group of users, the user accesses the web interface via the dedicated IPTV channel or a web browser. In an embodiment of the present invention, when the user accesses the web interface, the user must be authenticated. For example, the user may be required to enter a user ID and password.
Advertising information refers to information which defines the format and characteristics of the advertisement that the user wishes to create. The web interface may offer one or more menus of advertisement characteristics. For example, a menu corresponding to a type of advertisement (i.e., text or video) and a menu corresponding to the duration of the advertisement can be displayed by the web browser to allow the user to set these characteristics. The user can also be offered a plurality of pre-designed advertisements that act as templates for the user's advertisement. These templates can be modified using stored or uploaded graphics, audio and video in order to customize the advertisement to the targeted user or group. The web interface can also include text, graphics, audio, and video technology to allow the user to design an original advertisement. The advertising information received from the user may also be video content uploaded by the user using the web interface. This video content can be used as a portion of the advertisement or the entire advertisement.
At step 104, the advertisement is created using the advertising information received at step 102. The web interface can offer the option of previewing the advertisement to the user. If a template is selected, the template is combined with the settings specified by the user and any additional graphics, audio, or video to create the user's advertisement, which is stored in the computer system of the service provider. If a template is not selected, the advertisement designed or uploaded by the user using the web interface is stored on the computer system as the user's advertisement.
At step 106, delivery information is received from the user. The delivery information is received from the user via an IP network, such as through the web interface. The delivery information refers to settings for delivering the advertisement, as well as at least one target user to whom the advertisement is to be delivered. The capability for addressing individual set top boxes is present in IPTV networks, and is being implemented in digital cable networks. The present invention exposes the set top box addresses to all users. Thereby, the target users may be chosen from among the pool of all IPTV subscribers. The target users may be specified by giving the name and address of the user. The interface can include a mechanism for confirming that the selected target users are indeed service subscribers.
The web interface can include various menus corresponding to various delivery settings. For example, the web interface can include a menu for setting an approximate time to deliver the advertisement. This menu can include an “immediately” setting to deliver the advertisement immediately. The web interface may also include menus to specify multiple delivery (i.e., how many times the user wants the advertisement to be delivered) and to request recipient verification.
The web interface can also include a directory of users to allow the user to select one or more target users. It is possible for the web interface to have an address book function to conveniently store a private list of frequently targeted users. The received delivery information, including the delivery time and the targeted users, is stored on the computer system of the service provided along with the advertisement.
At step 108, the advertisement is delivered to the targeted users according to the specified delivery options. For example, at the delivery time input by the user through the web interface, the advertisement stored on the computer system is transmitted to the targeted users. The advertisement can be sent at the first commercial break after the delivery time while the targeted user's TV is turned on, or immediately the next time a targeted user turns on the TV. The advertisement is transmitted as part of the IPTV stream being streamed to a targeted user.
The advertisement can be delivered in the IPTV stream of a targeted user in a variety of ways. In one embodiment, the service provider has a dedicated slot in streamed programming content corresponding to a certain commercial (i.e., the first commercial of every commercial break) for personalized advertisements. In this case, the service provider streams targeted advertisements to targeted users in this slot, and streams a default commercial to users who are not targeted for a personalized advertisement. It is possible that a targeted user be alerted that a targeted advertisement is being delivered so that targeted user does not leave or switch channels during the commercial break.
In another embodiment, the targeted advertisements are played on a dedicated IPTV channel, and a targeted user is notified when a targeted message is delivered by a pop-up window or a scrolling message on the screen. The user can then switch to the dedicated IPTV channel to view the targeted advertisement. It is also possible that if the targeted user has a digital video recorder (DVR), the regular programming content could be automatically diverted to the DVR so that a targeted advertisement can be delivered immediately.
It is also possible that a message identifying the user who created the advertisement is added to the beginning or end of the advertisement. This can be implemented as scrolling text, a pop up window, or the like. Accordingly, a targeted user can determine the importance of the advertisement based on who created the advertisement.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the user who creates the advertisement must pay a fee before the advertisement is delivered. For example, the user can pay the fee via the web interface using a credit card. The fee for the targeted advertisement may alternatively be included on a monthly bill of the user.
At step 110, the delivery of the advertisement can be verified. If the user who creates the add requests recipient verification, the advertisement can require a verification input from the targeted user in order to end the advertisement. For example, the targeted user may be required to enter a specified key on a remote control to verify that the advertisement has been viewed. If targeted advertisements are played on a dedicated IPTV channel, the act of a targeted user switching to the dedicated IPTV channel can be considered verification.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the targeted advertisement may offer a menu to allow the targeted user to respond to the sender of the targeted advertisement via the IP network. For example, a menu can be displayed at the end of an advertisement with choices that are selectable using a remote control. The choices can include creating an advertisement to send back to the sender, initiating a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) call to the sender, or emailing the sender. In this embodiment, a response using one of the menu choices acts as verification that the advertisement has been viewed. The menu choices can also include a standardized response, such as for an invitation. The viewer, for example, may choose between two options such as “will attend” and “will not aftend”. The choice selected by each targeted user is returned to the sender's account, and may be viewed, for example, on the same web interface that was used to create the advertisement.
The targeted advertising method according to the present invention can be implemented as a computer program executed by computer system of a digital television programming delivery service provider. For example, the method may be implemented on a computer using well known computer processors, memory units, storage devices, computer software, and other components. A high level block diagram of such a computer is illustrated in
The foregoing Detailed Description is to be understood as being in every respect illustrative and exemplary, but not restrictive, and the scope of the invention disclosed herein is not to be determined from the Detailed Description, but rather from the claims as interpreted according to the full breadth permitted by the patent laws. It is to be understood that the embodiments shown and described herein are only illustrative of the principles of the present invention and that various modifications may be implemented by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Those skilled in the art could implement various other feature combinations without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.
