Patent Application
20120158511
With conventional linear media, including but not limited to television shows, movies, music (including music videos), etc., when a user sees or hears about an object of interest while consuming the media, such as a particular car, clothing, accessory, etc., the media offers the user no mechanism to discover additional information about the object. More recently, various network media providers have begun to offer hypervideo content that allow a user to interact with an intra-video object to bring up information on the object. Such hypervideo links may often be linked to a specific file or page such that the same content is accessed each time users interact with the intra-video object.
Accordingly, various embodiments related to the provision of contextual advertising in an electronic media environment are disclosed. For example, one embodiment provides, on a computing device comprising a media player and an advertising layer configured to display advertising information related to media played via the media player, a method of presenting advertising content for media. The method comprises receiving an input requesting playback of a media content item, sending a request for the media content item to a media server, receiving the media content item from the media server, and receiving advertising layer information from the media server. The method further comprises associating trigger points in the advertising layer information with the media content item, playing the media content item, and upon reaching a selected trigger point during playback of the media content item, triggering display of a notification to notify the user of available advertising content.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.
In order to provide a mechanism for discovery of additional information in connection with objects of interest in video and/or audio media content, embodiments are disclosed herein that related to the provision of contextual, advertising in an electronic media environment via an advertising layer for a media player. As will be described in more detail below, the disclosed embodiments allow a user to easily discover and interact with advertising content relevant to the context of a media content item being consumed by the user. The term “advertising layer” as used herein signifies a program executable by a client computing device along with a media player to obtain and present advertising content while the media player is currently playing, thereby allowing the presentation of the advertising content without interrupting the primary media consumption experience.
Prior to describing these embodiments, an example media and advertising provision environment 100 is described with reference to
Media content server system 102 comprises, or otherwise is configured to access, media content 104 and advertising layer information 110 for provision to client devices 106. Media content server system 102 further comprises user account information 112 configured to allow one or more users to log onto media content server system 102 and interact with media content server system 102 in an authenticated session. In this manner, user account information, such as demographic information, interests, past media consumption history, etc. may be accessed and used to search for targeted advertising.
As described in more detail below, advertising layer information 110 may comprise a list of trigger points 111 corresponding to intra-media objects in a media content item. Further, advertising layer information 110 comprises intra-media metadata 113 associated with each trigger point 111, and also advertising content 115. Such advertising layer information may be provided to a client along with a requested media content item. Then, during playback of the requested media content item, when a trigger point is reached, relevant advertising content information may be obtained and presented to a user in an interactive manner.
In
It is to be understood that virtually any computer architecture may be used for media content server system 102 without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Further, media content server system 102 may comprise any other suitable components other than those depicted in
Logic subsystem 118 is configured to execute instructions stored in a data-holding subsystem 120 to provide the media content items, corresponding advertising layer information, and advertising content to requesting client devices 106. Logic subsystem 118 may include one or more physical devices configured to execute one or more instructions. For example, logic subsystem 118 may be configured to execute one or more instructions that are part of one or more applications, services, programs, routines, libraries, objects, components, data structures, or other logical constructs. Such instructions may be implemented to perform a task, implement a data type, transform the state of one or more devices, or otherwise arrive at a desired result.
Logic subsystem 118 may include one or more processors that are configured to execute software instructions. Additionally or alternatively, logic subsystem 118 may include one or more hardware or firmware logic machines configured to execute hardware or firmware instructions. Processors of logic subsystem 118 may be single core or multicore, and the programs executed thereon may be configured for parallel or distributed processing. Logic subsystem 118 may optionally include individual components that are distributed throughout two or more devices, which may be remotely located and/or configured for coordinated processing. One or more aspects of logic subsystem 118 may be virtualized and executed by remotely accessible networked computing devices configured in a cloud computing configuration.
Data-holding subsystem 120 may include one or more physical, non-transitory, devices configured to hold data and/or instructions executable by the logic subsystem to implement the herein described methods and processes. When such methods and processes are implemented, the state of data-holding subsystem 120 may be transformed (e.g., to hold different data).
Data-holding subsystem 120 may include removable media and/or built-in devices. Data-holding subsystem 120 may include optical memory devices (e.g., CD, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-Ray Disc, etc.), semiconductor memory devices (e.g., RAM, EPROM, EEPROM, etc.) and/or magnetic memory devices (e.g., hard disk drive, floppy disk drive, tape drive, MRAM, etc.), among others. Data-holding subsystem 120 may include devices with one or more of the following characteristics: volatile, nonvolatile, dynamic, static, read/write, read-only, random access, sequential access, location addressable, file addressable, and content addressable. In some embodiments, Logic subsystem 118 and data-holding subsystem 120 may be integrated into one or more common devices, such as an application specific integrated circuit or a system on a chip.
It is to be appreciated that a “service”, as used herein, may be an application program executable across multiple user sessions and available to one or more system components, programs, and/or other services. In some implementations, a service may run on a server responsive to a request from a client via client devices 106.
Client devices 106 may comprise any suitable types of devices, including but not limited to televisions, set-top boxes, smart phones, portable media players, desktop computers, laptop computers, notepad computers, etc. In some instances, a user, indicated by dashed-line box 122, may consume media content via multiple different client devices, as indicated by client 1 and client 2 inside of box 122. For example, a user may consume video content on a television, a laptop computer, a notepad computer, a mobile smart phone, a portable media player, a slate device, a desktop computer, and a handheld gaming device, and all of these devices may be linked to the user account information 112 stored on or otherwise accessible by media content server system 102.
In the present embodiment, client 1 is a computerized system such as an interactive entertainment system configured to provide television, movies, video games, and other such media content. Client 1 is depicted as including a display 128 (e.g. a television or monitor), a logic subsystem 126, and a data-holding subsystem 132. Logic subsystem 126 may be configured to execute instructions stored in data-holding subsystem 132 to perform various user requested functions, such as streaming or downloading of media content items, as well as obtaining and presenting advertising information.
Display 128 may be used to present a visual representation of data held by data-holding subsystem 132. As the herein described methods and processes change the data held by the data-holding subsystem 132, and thus transform the state of the data-holding subsystem 132, the state of display 128 may likewise be transformed to visually represent changes in the underlying data. As such, display 128 may be viewed by a user in order to watch and interact with downloaded and/or streamed media content items and advertising information. Display 128 may include one or more display devices utilizing virtually any type of technology. Such display devices may be combined with logic subsystem 126 and/or data-holding subsystem 132 in a shared enclosure, or such display devices may be peripheral display devices.
As mentioned above, one or more users may interact with media content server system 102 in an authenticated session.
Users 1 and 2 also have other client devices that the media content server associates with the users based upon the user account information 112. As shown in
Client 1 receives the media content item and the advertising layer information at 212 and 214, respectively. In 216, client 1 loads the advertising layer information, including associated trigger points with the requested media content item, into the advertising layer. Either before or at this time, client 1 also loads the media content item into a media player associated with the advertising layer. The advertising layer information and the requested media content item are next synchronized, at 218. The advertising layer information and the requested media content item are time-synched such that the advertising layer is contextually relevant to what is playing back at any instance of time. For example, if a requested video includes an actor wearing a specific type a shoe, an advertisement for the shoe may be triggered at the time it can be viewed in the video.
An example embodiment of a media content item playback timeline 300 is schematically depicted in
Each of the plurality of trigger points 320 triggers the advertising layer to contact the advertising server to obtain updated advertising information. Further, each trigger point may comprise intra-media metadata that is send to the media content server when requesting advertising content. Such intra-media metadata may describe any suitable characteristic or characteristics of an intra-media object. For example, where an intra-media object is a consumer item, the intra-media metadata may include an identity, manufacturer, retailer, etc. of the consumer item. The intra-media metadata may be compiled and associated with the trigger points in any suitable manner, including manually and/or automatically via facial/object recognition techniques.
Various metadata items may be sent to the advertising server along with the request for advertising content. Examples of such metadata may include, but are not limited to, metadata that describes the media content item, intra-media metadata associated with a trigger point that describes objects presented in the media content item, time of day, time of year (e.g. upcoming holidays, season, etc.), the type of device on which advertising playback will occur, and the like. Further, such metadata also may include an identity/gender/age/geographic location/etc. of the users currently logged into the system. It will be understood that some metadata (e.g. user account info such as age, gender, hobbies/interest, past consumption history, as well as temporal information such as time of day, time of year) also may be accessed directly on the server system, rather than being sent by the client.
The metadata sent to the media content server, and/or metadata stored remotely on the server, may be used by the media content server to locate context-specific advertising. For example, a different advertisement may be shown at a same trigger point depending upon the time of year the media content item is consumed (e.g. during summer or near Christmas) on the age/gender/media consumption history/advertisement interaction history of the user(s), consuming the media content item, geographic location of the users, or based upon any other suitable metadata.
Returning again to
Referring next to
As another example, in some embodiments, advertisers may be permitted to bid on keywords that are, for example, related to advertiser's products. Then, when a call is made to the advertising content server at a trigger point, the advertising content may be selected based upon the bids submitted by the advertisers. As a more specific example, an advertisement of a highest bidder may be selected more frequently than an advertisement of a next-highest bidder. It will be understood that these examples of methods of selecting advertisements are provided for the purpose of example, and are not intended to be limiting in any manner.
Continuing with
Upon receiving the advertising content, the client or clients that receive the advertising content next display a notification to a user that advertising content is available. For example, in the case of a media content item being displayed on a television or monitor, the notification at 238 may be displayed in such a manner as to be noticeable but not to detract from the primary experience of the media content item. Where the notification is displayed on a companion device such as client 2 (at 246) and/or client 3 (at 252), the notification may be more prominent, as it does not share screen space with the primary experience and is being displayed on a smaller screen. It will be understood that the notification may take any suitable form. For example, the notification may display a portion of the advertising content, a smaller version of the advertising content, or may take the form of a generic notification.
The notification may be displayed for any suitable duration, including but not limited to a duration of the appearance of a corresponding object in the media content item. If a user chooses not to interact with an advertising notification during this duration, the advertising notification will disappear from the display, as the method returns to 220 of
In some embodiments, the advertising information displayed may be configured to allow a user to purchase an item by interacting with the advertisement. Thus, method 200 may comprise displaying a shopping interface at 242. In such a case, the media content server may send additional advertising content as a user browses through shopping catalog pages displayed in shopping interface 242, may receive an order for an item from a client device, and also may receive an input of a payment. Payment may be received in any suitable manner, for example, in prepaid points, via credit or debit cards, via a line of credit with the company operating the media server, etc. It will be understood that a user may interact with the displayed advertising content in any suitable manner, including but not limited to via a touch screen input, a cursor control device, motions detected via a natural user interface such as a depth-sensing camera, voice commands using a microphone or microphone array, or in any other suitable manner.
At t1, an advertising layer trigger is reached, thereby triggering the request for and receipt of advertising information, and also triggering the display of an advertising notification 404 on the display screen. The advertising notification 404 is illustrated in the depicted embodiment as being located in the lower right-hand corner of the display screen 402. In other embodiments, the advertising notification may appear in any other suitable area of the screen. In some embodiments, the advertising notification may appear to slide into the screen from the bottom of the screen as a “toast”, or may fade in.
Next, at t2, the advertising notification 404 is selected by a user. In the depicted embodiment, this is shown as a user interacting with the advertising notification 404 via a cursor 406. In other embodiments wherein display screen 402 is a touch screen, the advertising notification 404 may be selected by touch. Further, if the client device 400 is a mobile device, the advertising notification may be selected by an integral control button of the device, for example.
Next, at t3, upon selection of the advertising notification, display screen 402 shows two regions including a media content play area 410 and an advertising content area 412 including a shopping interface 414 with which the user may interact.
As mentioned above, in the multi-client, multi-user environment, notifications and advertising content may be displayed in any of a number of ways to users. For example, as shown in
Next, when a user interacts with a notification, advertising content is displayed. In the multi-client, multi-user environment, advertising content may be displayed in any of a number of ways. For example, if a user interacts with a notification displayed on the primary experience client (client 1 in
In this manner, contextually relevant advertising may be presented during playback of a media content item without disturbing playback of the media content item. It will be appreciated that the advertising layer may be configured to be controllable by a user such that a user can elect to turn off the display of notifications and advertising content. It is to be further understood that the configurations and/or approaches described herein are exemplary in nature, and that these specific embodiments or examples are not to be considered in a limiting sense, because numerous variations are possible. The specific routines or methods described herein may represent one or more of any number of processing strategies. As such, various acts illustrated may be performed in the sequence illustrated, in other sequences, in parallel, or in some cases omitted. Likewise, the order of the above-described processes may be changed.
The subject matter of the present disclosure includes all novel and nonobvious combinations and subcombinations of the various processes, systems and configurations, and other features, functions, acts, and/or properties disclosed herein, as well as any and all equivalents thereof.
