Interactive video distribution systems – Program – message – or commercial insertion or substitution – Specific to individual user or household
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-15
2004-02-24
Faile, Andrew (Department: 2611)
Interactive video distribution systems
Program, message, or commercial insertion or substitution
Specific to individual user or household
C725S032000, C725S068000, C725S134000, C725S139000, C707S793000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06698020
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to displaying advertisements to viewers of video programming. In particular, the present invention is directed to methods and systems for selecting and inserting advertisements into a video programming feed at the household level.
2. The Prior State of the Art
A major source of revenue for commercial television broadcasters is the sale of broadcast time to advertisers. Advertising is the main source of income for national television broadcasters and their local over-the-air affiliates. Likewise, cable networks derive their income from a combination of the sale of advertising time and the receipt of cable subscription fees. Advertising revenue is a leading factor in the currently available diverse selection of commercial television programming.
Advertisers have typically attempted to maximize the return on their advertising investment by targeting specific viewer segments that are likely to be most receptive to the commercial message embodied in the advertisements. One of the most widespread and simplest ways of targeting viewers involves identifying what types of viewers are associated with specific television programs. For example, it may be found that sports programming is viewed by a segment of the population that includes a disproportionate number of persons who are likely to purchase automobiles. In another example, it may be found that news programs are viewed most frequently by persons who are more interested in investment services than the public at large.
Advertisers offering goods or services that coincide with the interests of the viewers of a particular program are usually willing to pay a premium for advertising time associated with the program. Accordingly, broadcasters have a financial incentive to provide programming that is easily associated with specific segments of the viewing population and to facilitate the identification of the profiles of viewers.
Another method of targeting specific viewing audiences involves selecting advertisements according to the geographical region in which they are to be broadcast. Frequently, viewers in one local or regional area may be more likely to be receptive to an advertiser's message than viewers in a different area. For example, some advertisements are presented by businesses operating in a limited geographical area. Accordingly, advertising success and the advertising revenues received by broadcasters are maximized when different advertisements may be broadcast to different geographical areas.
FIG. 1
illustrates a conventional example of a system for selectively broadcasting different advertisements to households in different geographical regions. A typical broadcasting system includes content providers
10
that distribute television programming to households
12
,
14
, and
16
. In this example, content providers
10
include a national broadcaster
18
, which is one of the national television broadcasting networks. Each national broadcaster
18
typically provides programming, including advertisements
20
, to a plurality of local affiliates
22
,
24
, and others scattered across the country.
Local affiliates
22
and
24
contractually agree with national broadcaster
18
to provide the broadcasting equipment and services for distributing the programming of national broadcaster
18
to a local or regional area. In compensation for broadcasting the programming, national broadcaster
18
allows local affiliates
22
and
24
to sell and broadcast local advertisements
26
and
28
. In this example, it is to be understood that local affiliate
22
serves a different geographical region than local affiliate
24
. Accordingly, many of the advertisements
26
broadcast by local affiliate
22
are likely to be different than the advertisements
28
broadcast by local affiliate
24
. Such geographical differentiation of advertisements is often of great interest to advertisers. Local advertisers may find it cost-effective to purchase advertising time from local affiliate
22
or
24
in order to specifically target local viewers, while it would be impractical to purchase an advertisement
20
for national distribution. In this conventional approach to selling advertisement time, the contractual arrangement between national broadcaster
18
and local affiliates
22
and
24
ordinarily attempt to strike a balance between local advertisements
26
and
28
and national advertisements
20
in order to maximize overall advertising income.
Another important segment of the television broadcast industry involves cable networks
30
, which are generally not associated with local affiliates. Instead, cable networks
30
distribute their programming to cable providers
32
by means of satellite or other communication systems. Cable networks
30
sell advertising time to national advertisers generally in a similar manner as national broadcaster
18
. Accordingly, the typical advertisement
34
broadcast by cable network
30
is targeted to the national viewing audience. As a financial incentive to encourage cable providers
32
to make the programming of cable network
30
available to cable subscribers (i.e., household
16
), cable network
30
often designates selected time slots that may be sold to local advertisers by the cable provider. Thus, many cable providers insert local advertisements
36
into the programming of cable networks
30
.
Frequently, the geographical area served by a cable provider
32
is significantly smaller than the geographical area served by a local affiliate
22
or
24
. Accordingly, the advertisements
36
distributed by cable provider
32
may be targeted to relatively small geographically areas, such as a specific city.
The effects of the conventional distribution of advertising time between local and national advertisers may be more fully understood by considering the system of
FIG. 1
from the standpoint of viewers in households
12
,
14
, and
16
. In this example, it is assumed that household
12
is in a first geographical region served by local affiliate
22
while households
14
and
16
are in a second geographical region served by local affiliate
24
. Furthermore, household
16
is in a specific city served by cable provider
32
within the second geographical region. In this example, a viewer in household
12
receives advertisements
20
from national broadcaster
18
and advertisements
26
from local affiliate
22
. Household
14
receives the same advertisements
20
from national broadcaster
18
but receives advertisements
28
that are specifically targeted to the second geographical region served by local affiliate
24
. Household
16
also receives advertisements
20
from national broadcaster
18
and advertisements
28
from local affiliate
24
. In addition, household
16
receives national advertisements
34
from cable network
30
and local advertisements
36
from cable provider
32
.
FIG. 2A
illustrates a conventional system whereby a local affiliate inserts local advertisements into a video programming feed received from a national broadcaster. In
FIG. 2A
, a series of advertisements
20
are included at a predetermined time in programming feed
38
by the national broadcaster
18
of FIG.
1
. According to the contractual agreement between the national broadcaster
18
and local affiliate
24
, the national broadcaster includes in the programming feed
38
an occasional time slot
40
that is filled by local advertisements
28
sold to advertisers by the local affiliate.
FIG. 2B
illustrates a conventional system whereby a cable provider inserts local advertisements into a video programming feed received from a national broadcaster. In this example, cable network
30
broadcasts a series of advertisements
34
at a predetermined time in its programming feed
39
. According to the contractual agreement between the cable provider
32
and the cable network
30
, the cable provider is given the option of inserting advertisements
36
into specified time slots
42
in programmi
Goldman Phillip Y.
Zigmond Daniel J.
Faile Andrew
Tran Hai V.
WebTV Networks Inc.
Workman Nydegger
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