HK1173015B - Provision of contextual advertising - Google Patents

Description

Providing contextual advertisements

Technical Field

The invention relates to providing contextual advertising.

Background

In the case of conventional linear media including, but not limited to, television programs, movies, music (including music videos), and the like, when a user sees or hears an object of interest while consuming the media, such as a particular car, clothing, accessory, and the like, the media does not provide a mechanism for the user to discover additional information about the object. Recently, various network media providers have begun to provide hypervideo that allow users to interact with objects within a video to bring up information about the objects. These hypervideo links can typically link to a particular file or page so that the same content is accessed each time a user interacts with an object within the video.

Disclosure of Invention

Accordingly, various embodiments are disclosed that relate to providing contextual advertisements in an electronic media environment. For example, one embodiment provides a method of presenting advertising content for media on a computing device that includes a media player and an advertising layer configured to display advertising information related to media played via the media player. The method includes 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 also includes associating a trigger point in the advertising layer information with the media content item, playing the media content item, and when the selected trigger point is reached 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.

Drawings

FIG. 1 illustrates an example embodiment of a media and advertisement serving and consuming environment.

FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram depicting an embodiment of a method for providing advertising content during playback of a media content item.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of a media content item timeline and an advertising layer timeline.

Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a client device displaying advertisement layer information.

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic diagram of an embodiment of displaying advertisement layer information in an example multi-user, multi-client environment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT (S) OF INVENTION

To provide mechanisms for discovering additional information related to objects of interest in video and/or audio media content, embodiments are disclosed herein that relate to providing contextual advertisements via an advertising layer for a media player in an electronic media environment. As will be described in greater detail below, the disclosed embodiments allow a user to easily discover and interact with advertising content that is contextually relevant to the media content item that the user is consuming. The term "ad layer" as used herein refers to a program executable by a client computing device as well as a media player to retrieve and present advertising content while the media player is currently playing, thereby allowing the advertising content to be presented without interrupting the primary media consumption experience.

Before describing these embodiments, an example media and advertisement delivery environment 100 is described with reference to FIG. 1. The environment 100 includes a media content server system 102, which may include one or more physical server computing devices, data storage devices, and the like. The media content server system 102 is configured to provide streaming and/or downloadable media content 104, such as live content, recorded video, video games, and/or audio content, to client devices 106, shown as any number of client devices, via a network 108.

The media content server system 102 includes or is otherwise configured to access media content 104 and advertising layer information 110 for provision to client devices 106. The media content server system 102 also includes user account information 112 configured to allow one or more users to log into the media content server system 102 and interact with the 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 advertisements.

As described in more detail below, the advertising layer information 110 may include a list of trigger points 111 corresponding to intra-media objects in the media content item. In addition, the advertisement layer information 110 includes in-media metadata 113 associated with each trigger point 111, as well as advertising content 115. This advertising layer information may be provided to the client along with the requested media content item. Then, during playback of the requested media content item, when the trigger point is reached, the relevant advertising content information can be retrieved and interactively presented to the user.

In fig. 1, the advertising layer information 110 is depicted as being stored separately from the media content 104, but it will be understood that the advertising layer information may be stored in the same or a different database than the associated media content item. It is also understood that the media content items and/or advertising layer information may also be stored in a remote location accessible by the media content server system 102 via the network 108, as shown in fig. 1 as media content 114 and advertising layer information 116, as well as advertising content 117.

It is understood that virtually any computer architecture may be used for the media content server system 102 without departing from the scope of this disclosure. Further, the media content server system 102 may include any other suitable components in addition to those depicted in fig. 1, including but not limited to user input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, game controller, camera, microphone, display, and/or touch screen, for example.

Logic subsystem 118 is configured to execute instructions stored in data-holding subsystem 120 to provide 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 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. The processors of logic subsystem 118 may be single-core or multi-core, and the programs executed thereon may be configured for parallel or distributed processing. Logic subsystem 118 may optionally include individual components distributed across 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. In implementing such methods and processes, 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.

FIG. 1 also illustrates an aspect of the data-holding subsystem in the form of removable computer-readable storage media 130, which removable computer-readable storage media 130 may be used to store and/or transfer data and/or instructions executable to implement the herein described methods and processes. Removable computer-readable storage medium 130 may take the form of, inter alia, a CD, DVD, HD-DVD, Blu-ray disc, EEPROM, and/or floppy disk.

It should be appreciated that a "service," as used herein, may be an application that is executable across multiple user sessions and is available to one or more system components, programs, and/or other services. In some implementations, the service may run on the server in response to a request from a client via the client device 106.

Client devices 106 may include any suitable type of device, including but not limited to televisions, set-top boxes, smart phones, portable media players, desktop computers, laptop computers, notebook computers, and the like. In some instances, the user indicated by dashed box 122 may consume media content via a plurality of different client devices, as indicated by client 1 and client 2 within box 122. For example, a user may consume video content on: televisions, laptop computers, notebook computers, mobile smart phones, portable media players, tablet devices, desktop computers, and handheld gaming devices, and all of these devices may be linked to user account information 112 stored on the media content server system 102 or otherwise accessible by the media content server system 102.

In the present embodiment, the 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 media content items and retrieving and presenting advertising information. FIG. 1 also depicts a removable computer-readable storage medium 134, which may be used to store and/or transfer data, such as executable instructions. The removable computer-readable storage medium may take the form of, inter alia, a CD, DVD, HD-DVD, blu-ray disc, EEPROM, and/or floppy disk.

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 the display 128 may likewise be transformed to visually represent changes in the underlying data. As such, the display 128 may be viewable by and interactive with the user to view and/or stream downloaded and/or streamed media content items and advertising information. Display 128 may include one or more display devices using virtually any type of technology. Such display devices may be combined in a shared enclosure with logic subsystem 126 and/or data-holding subsystem 132, or such display devices may be peripheral display devices.

As described above, one or more users may interact with the media content server system 102 in an authenticated session. Fig. 1 shows an example of a single user session 140 and a multi-user session 140. First, FIG. 1 shows user 1 participating in a multi-user session 150 with user 2. In this example, both user 1 and user 2 are logged into the media content server system 102 via client 1 to access the media content 104.

Users 1 and 2 also have other client devices that the media content server associates with the users based on the user account information 112. As shown in FIG. 1, client 2 is a mobile device 136 associated with user 1, and client 3 is a mobile device 138 associated with user 2. Each of the mobile device 136 and the mobile device 138 includes a display. In the event that both users 1 and 2 have logged in to an authenticated session with the media content server system 102 by client 1, the media content server system 102 may also interact with these users via clients 2 and 3 as companion devices to present advertising content on these devices. Further, different advertising content may be presented to each of these users based on demographics, history, user preferences, and other such information, as described in more detail below. The media content server system 102 may access the user account information 112 to determine demographics, user-specific settings, and/or user history for each of user 1 and user 2.

Fig. 2A and 2B illustrate an embodiment of a method 200 of providing advertising content in a media consumption environment. The method 200 is described in the context of a multi-user session as shown in fig. 1, but it will be understood that the concepts may be extended to a single client/single user session, or to any other suitable user session involving any suitable number of clients and/or users. First, at 201, a login request is sent from client 1 for user 1 (associated with client 1 and client 2) and user 2 (associated with client 3). In this example, client 1 may be an interactive entertainment system such as a video game console, while clients 2 and 3 may be mobile devices. The media content server receives and authenticates the request to login to user 1 as shown at 202. Next, at 204, client 1 receives a user input from user 1 or user 2 requesting playback of a media content item, such as a video. The media content server receives the request at 206 and sends the requested media content item to client 1 at 208. At 210, the media content server additionally transmits advertising layer information corresponding to the requested media content item.

Client 1 receives the media content item and advertising layer information at 212 and 214, respectively. In 216, client 1 loads advertisement layer information including trigger points associated with the requested media content item into the advertisement layer. Before or at this time, the client 1 also loads the media content item into the media player associated with the advertising layer. At 218, the advertising layer information and the requested media content item are next synchronized. The advertising layer information and the requested media content item are time synchronized such that the advertising layer is contextually related to the content played back at any moment in time. For example, if the requested video includes an actor wearing a particular type of shoe, an advertisement for that shoe may be triggered when the shoe can be seen in the video.

An example embodiment of a media content item playback timeline 300 is schematically depicted in fig. 3, with fig. 3 showing a media content item timeline 302 and an advertising layer timeline 304. In this example embodiment, the advertising layer information 306 is synchronized with the media content item 308 via synchronization points 312 and 314 located in the media content item 308 and the advertising layer information 306, respectively. The ad layer information 306 includes a plurality of trigger points 320, each of which corresponds to an event 322, such as the occurrence of a particular object or action in the media content item 308. The width of each event 322 indicates how long the object represented by the event occurred in the media content item 308. When the media content item 308 is played, the play starts at time 0(t ═ 0) and after the duration of the media content item 308 (t ═ t)_{End up}) And (6) ending. The trigger point 320 occurs at a specified intermediate point in time.

Each of the plurality of trigger points 320 triggers the ad layer to contact the ad server to obtain updated ad information. Further, each trigger point may include in-media metadata that is transmitted to a media content server when advertising content is requested. Such in-media metadata may describe any suitable characteristic or characteristics of the in-media object. For example, where the in-media object is a consumable, the in-media metadata may include the identity, manufacturer, retailer, etc. of the consumable. The in-media metadata may be compiled and associated with the trigger points in any suitable manner, including manually and/or automatically via face/object recognition techniques.

Various metadata items may be sent to the ad server along with a request for ad content. Examples of such metadata may include, but are not limited to, metadata describing the media content item, in-media metadata associated with trigger points describing objects presented in the media content item, time of day, time of year (e.g., upcoming holidays, seasons, etc.), the type of device on which the advertisement is to be played back, and so forth. Further, such metadata may also include the identity/gender/age/geographic location, etc. of the user that is currently logged into the system. It will be appreciated that certain metadata (e.g., user account information such as age, gender, interests/hobbies, past consumption history, and time information such as time of day, time of year, etc.) may also 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 advertisements. For example, different advertisements may be displayed at the same trigger point depending on the time of year the media content item was consumed (e.g., during the summer or near christmas), the age/gender/media consumption history/advertisement interaction history of the user consuming the media content item, the geographic location of the user, or based on any other suitable metadata.

Returning again to FIG. 2A, at 220, client 1 renders and plays the media content item. When the media content item reaches the trigger point, client 1 sends a request for advertising content to the server at 222.

Referring next to FIG. 2B, at 230, the server selects advertising content based on the metadata 226, and the advertising content is transmitted by the media content server to the client device at 232. The advertising content may be selected in any suitable manner. For example, in some situations, a paying sponsor may wish to insert product-specific advertisements displayed in a media content item that are manufactured by the sponsor. In this case, the advertising content provided by the sponsor may be provided when triggered. In some cases, the sponsor may provide different versions of the desired advertisement to select based on user demographic information or other contextual metadata.

As another example, in some embodiments, advertisers may be permitted to bid on keywords related to the advertiser's product, for example. Then, when a call is made to the advertising content server at the trigger point, advertising content can be selected based on the bids submitted by the advertisers. As a more specific example, the advertisement of the highest bidder may be selected more frequently than the advertisement of the next highest bidder. It will be understood that these examples of methods of selecting advertisements are provided for illustrative purposes and are not intended to be limiting in any way.

Continuing to FIG. 2B, after selecting the advertising content, the media content server sends the advertising content information to client 1 at 236. Additionally or alternatively, in some cases, a trigger on client 1 may result in advertising content being sent to client 2 (at 234) and/or client 3 (at 235). In this case, client 2 and/or client 3 act as companion devices to client device 1 in that client 2 and/or client 3 are used to present a secondary advertising experience in relation to the primary media content item playback experience provided by client 1. It will be appreciated that different advertisements may be sent to each client device based on, for example, demographic information, device type, and other factors described above.

When receiving the advertising content, the one or more clients receiving the advertising content next display a notification to the user that the advertising content is available. For example, where the media content item is being displayed on a television or monitor, the notification may be displayed at 238 in a manner that is perceptible but does not 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 because it does not share screen space with the main experience and is being displayed on a smaller screen. It will be appreciated 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 general notification.

The notification may be displayed for any suitable duration, including but not limited to the duration of the occurrence of the corresponding object in the media content item. If the user chooses not to interact with the advertising notification during the duration of time, the advertising notification will disappear from the display and the method returns to 220 of FIG. 2A. Alternatively, if the user elects to interact with an advertising notification, method 200 includes receiving user input interacting with a corresponding displayed advertising notification, as shown at 240 (client 1), 248 (client 2), and 254 (client 3). In this case, the client receiving the input may display the advertising content information as shown at 242, 250, and 256 corresponding to clients 1, 2, and 3, respectively.

In some embodiments, the displayed advertising information may be configured to allow a user to purchase an item by interacting with the advertisement. Thus, method 200 may include displaying a shopping interface at 242. In this case, the media content server may send additional advertising content while the user is browsing in a shopping catalog page displayed in shopping interface 242, may receive an item order from the client device, and may also receive payment input. The payment may be received in any suitable manner, such as with prepaid points, via a credit or debit card, via a credit line to a company operating the media server, and so forth. It will be appreciated that the user may interact with the displayed advertising content in any suitable manner, including but not limited to via touch screen input, a cursor control device, motion 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.

Fig. 4 and 5 illustrate various embodiments of providing advertising content for media content, as described above. First, FIG. 4 shows a client device 400, such as a television or computer monitor. At t₀Client device 400 is shown displaying media content 104 on display screen 402 during media playback.

At t₁The arrival of the ad layer trigger triggers the request and receipt of advertising information and also triggers the display of an advertising notification 404 on the display screen. The advertising notification 404 is shown 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 like "toast," or may fade in.

Then, at t₂The advertisement notification 404 is selected by the user. In the depicted embodiment, this is shown as the user interacting with advertising notification 404 via cursor 406. In other embodiments where display screen 402 is a touch screen, 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, for example, an integrated control button of the device.

Then, at t₃When an advertising notification is selected, display screen 402 displays two areas, including a media content playing area 410 and an advertising content area 412 that includes a shopping interface 414 with which a user may interact.

Fig. 5 shows a multi-user, multi-client session 500 that includes client 1, client 2, and client 3, where client 1 is a television or monitor and clients 2 and 3 are mobile devices of two users logged into client 1. At t₀Client 1 displays the media content on display screen 502 as a primary playback experience. Note that client 2 andthe client 3 does not display the media content. Then, at t₁The trigger point is reached, thereby triggering the request and receipt of advertising information, and also triggering the display of an advertising notification.

As described above, in a multi-client, multi-user environment, notifications and advertising content may be displayed to a user in any of a variety of ways. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a notification can be displayed on a client device (client 1 in FIG. 5) that is playing a media content item, as shown by the dashed rectangle 504 in the lower right-hand corner of the display screen 502 of client 1. Additionally or alternatively, a notification can be displayed on the companion device. In the depicted embodiment, Notification 1 and Notification 2 displayed on clients 2 and 3, respectively, may be the same Notification or may be different notices for different advertising content.

Next, the advertising content is displayed as the user interacts with the notification. In a multi-client, multi-user environment, advertising content may be displayed in any of a variety of ways. For example, if a user interacts with a notification displayed on the main experience client (client 1 in fig. 5), advertising content may be displayed on any of client 1, client 2, and client 3. In addition, different advertisement information may be displayed on different clients. Likewise, in the case where a user interacts with a notification on a companion client, such as client 2, but not with a notification on a companion client, such as client 3, then the advertising content may be displayed on client 2 but not on client 3.

In this manner, contextually relevant advertisements can be presented during playback of the media content item without interrupting playback of the media content item. It will be appreciated that the advertising layer may be configured to be controllable by the user to enable the user to select to turn off the display of the notification and advertising content. It will also be appreciated 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. Also, 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.

Claims (8)

1. 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 comprising:

receiving (204) an input requesting playback of a media content item;

sending (205) a request for the media content item to a media server;

receiving (212) the media content item from the media server;

receiving (214) advertising layer information from the media server;

associating (216) a trigger point in the advertising layer information with the media content item;

playing (220) the media content item; and

when a selected trigger point is reached (222) during playback of the media content item, transmitting a request for advertising content information to the media server, wherein transmitting the request for advertising content information comprises transmitting in-media metadata related to objects in the media content item;

receiving the advertising content information from the media server, triggering display (238) of a notification to notify a user of available advertising content;

wherein advertising content can be presented during playback of the media content without interfering with playback of the media content item.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the notification, receiving input interacting with the notification, and displaying advertising content in response to the user input.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the notification and the advertising content are displayed on the same display as the media content item.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein one or more of the notification and the advertising content are displayed on a different display than the media content item.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein one or more of the notification and the advertising content are displayed on a mobile device, wherein the media content item is displayed on a television.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the advertising content comprises a shopping interface configured to allow a user to purchase items corresponding to objects displayed during playback of the media content item.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the media content item is a video content item, and wherein the object in the media content item comprises a consumer product displayed in the video content item.

8. A media server system (102) configured to provide media content and advertising layer information to a client device, the media server (102) comprising:

a logic subsystem (118); and

a data-holding subsystem (120) including instructions stored thereon that are executable by the logic subsystem (118) to:

receiving (206) a request for a media content item from a client device;

sending (208) the media content item to the client device;

sending (210) advertisement layer information to the client device, the advertisement layer information comprising one or more trigger points each corresponding to an intra-media object in the media content item;

receiving (228), from the client device during playback of the media content item, a request for advertising content information corresponding to the selected trigger point in the advertising layer information, the request including metadata relating to the selected intra-media object;

selecting (230) advertising content based on metadata associated with the selected in-media object; and

transmitting (232) the advertising content.