Interactive video distribution systems – Program – message – or commercial insertion or substitution – Specific to individual user or household
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-17
2002-09-03
Faile, Andrew (Department: 2611)
Interactive video distribution systems
Program, message, or commercial insertion or substitution
Specific to individual user or household
C725S032000, C725S035000, C725S064000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06446261
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to set top video reception devices, and particularly, enhancing them to allow insertion of targeted indicia Into video.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic devices for inserting images into live video signals, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,933 by Rosser, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,517 by Kreitman et al., have been developed and used commercially for the purpose of inserting advertising and other indicia into video sequences, including live broadcasts of sporting events. These devices are capable of seamlessly and realistically incorporating logos or other indicia into the original video in real time, even as the original scene is zoomed, panned, or otherwise altered in size or perspective.
Live video insertion of indicia requires several steps. The event video must be recognized, tracked, and adjusted for the potential insert perspective and occluding objects prior to actual insertion. In the systems discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,264,933 by Rosser, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,517 by Kreitman et al. it was assumed that the broadcaster would perform the complete process, including recognition, tracking, creating an occlusion mask, warping inserts to correctly match the current image, and correctly mixing the original video, warped insert and occlusion mask.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,856 of Rosser, et al., a Live Video insertion System (LVIS) split into two functional parts is described, with an upstream, “master” part performing recognition and occlusion mask generation, and sending this information downstream, along with various control parameters, to a less computationally endowed downstream “slave” part, capable of warping inserts to correctly match the current image, and correctly mixing the original video, warped insert and occlusion mask.
A number of current trends in television, video, and computer technology make it feasible and economically likely that a “slave” LVIS unit will be included within future set-top units. One trend is toward broadcasters sending compressed video signals directly to the home. Compression is driven by a limited availability of broadcast bandwidth, especially satellite based broadcasts. In order to decompress the compressed video, users require a set-top device that has significant computing power and memory. These set top devices are required to run decompression algorithms in real time. Memory and computing power could also be utilized to make the set-top device act as a downstream “slave” part of an LVIS system.
A second trend is the decreasing price of memory and computing power thereby increasing a personal computer's ability to process video bandwidths of information.
A third trend is the movement by telephone companies and other wire network providers to higher bandwidth networks. There is also the possibility that the World Wide Web, or some similar computer network, could become a means for large-scale data exchange or broadcast of high quality video information. Compressed video, still necessary to traverse networks with limited bandwidths, is decompressed by the personal computer receiving the data. The video processing power of the personal computer may be sufficient to also be utilized as the downstream “slave” section of an LVIS system.
Yet another trend is towards sending digital television signals directly to the home. This means that the television set itself will be a digital processor, potentially powerful enough to be programmed and used for the Image warping and the other processes required of a downstream slave unit of an LVIS system.
In all these scenarios, the significant point, as far as this invention is concerned, is that the set-top device, the last link of the video transmission chain, has significant computing power and memory. When this computing power and memory is sufficient for the viewer's set-top device to act as the downstream or “slave” section of an LVIS system, a very interesting possibility arises-the possibility to target advertising within a mass medium. In particular, it makes narrow casting of advertising possible, particularly insertions, in television and other video transmissions.
To understand the benefits of narrow casting to television and video audiences, which is the subject of this application, it is useful to understand the concepts of targeting advertising.
The most pervasive, and precise, of existing methods of narrow-casting or target advertising is direct mail (aka junk-mail) which uses mail to deliver material to selected audiences. The starting point for direct mail is a database of addresses. These databases can also be cross-linked to so called profile factors, or personal information, pertaining to the residents at each address. These profile factors are typically age, income, family composition, number of children and their ages, type of automobile owned, dwelling type, zip code and various other demographic, psychographic and life-style information. The more of these profile factors the data base contains, the more useful it is for targeting the advertising. The data base is sorted by computer to generate a mailing list of candidates whose profile factors match an advertiser selected sub-set. The advertiser believes that clients whose profile factors fall within this selected sub set will be more responsive to buying the product the advertiser is selling, so that by mailing only to those people, the advertiser (or their client) can reach all of the audience who are highly predisposed to purchase their product, with the minimum of expense.
The use of these databases has three problems. The first is that they are only effective for mail. The more influential mass media, especially television, cannot be targeted, with anything like the same geographic precision because of the broadcast nature of the transmission. The second is the problem of trying to keep the data bases up to date. Typical sources of data used to compile such data bases, such as census information, professional licensed databases, credit card transactions, warranty cards, reverse directories and consumer surveys can be months, and more typically, years out of date, leading to considerable waste and to missing a substantial fraction of potential prospects. Even good data bases only guarantee 80-90% deliverability—i.e. 10-20% of the addresses are no longer valid. The third is the concern for privacy. The existence of such centralized data bases worries many people because of their potential misuse by agencies, including but not limited to government agencies, having authorized or unauthorized access to the data bases, and also their potential use by criminals for targeting theft, con schemes and other misdeeds.
The set-top downstream version of LVIS solves all three of these problems. First, it brings the power of direct marketing to video, in particular to the mass market medium of television. Moreover, it can do this in a way that avoids the need for centralized data bases, with their privacy and out-of-date concerns. The proposed targeting mechanism of this, application, Anonymous Target Profiling, effectively targets viewers profile factors without making them publicly available in a way that ensures profile factors are close to 100% current.
SUMMARY
The invention comprises both a method and an apparatus to act as a Live Video Insertion System (LVIS), split into two functional parts, with an upstream, “master” part doing the recognition and occlusion mask generation, and sending this information downstream, along with various control parameters, to a less computationally endowed downstream “slave” part, capable of warping inserts to correctly match the current image, and correctly mixing the original video, warped insert and occlusion mask, where the downstream section is part of a set-top device in a viewer's home.
Because of the location of the set-top device at the viewer's television set, it becomes possible to narrow-cast video insertions to a single household, which may be a single person
Faile Andrew
Princeton Video Image, Inc.
Tran Hai V.
Woodbridge Richard C.
Woodbridge & Associates PC
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