U.S. patent application number 11/120274 was filed with the patent office on 2005-09-01 for advertisement subgroups for digital streams.
Invention is credited to Eldering, Charles A..
Application Number | 20050193410 11/120274 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 22458424 |
Filed Date | 2005-09-01 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050193410 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Eldering, Charles A. |
September 1, 2005 |
Advertisement subgroups for digital streams
Abstract
A targeted advertising system based on subgroups. Different
subgroups are formed based on one or more subscriber
characteristics, and different targeted advertisements transmitted
to the different subgroups. In the Internet-environment, the
subgroups are formed by utilizing multicast addresses. In
cable-based and satellite-based systems, the subgroups are formed
by node configurations. The targeted advertisements are inserted in
the program streams at a centralized distribution point such as a
router or a cable television head-end. An apparatus is presented
which receives m program streams, n advertisements, and creates p
presentation streams containing targeted advertisements, where p is
greater than m.
Inventors: |
Eldering, Charles A.;
(Doylestown, PA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Technology, Patents and Licensing Inc.
6206 Kellers Church Road
Pipersville
PA
18947
US
|
Family ID: |
22458424 |
Appl. No.: |
11/120274 |
Filed: |
May 2, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11120274 |
May 2, 2005 |
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09568084 |
May 10, 2000 |
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60133398 |
May 10, 1999 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
725/34 ;
348/E7.063; 375/E7.023; 375/E7.024; 725/32; 725/35; 725/46 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N 21/4622 20130101;
H04N 21/6118 20130101; H04N 21/64 20130101; H04N 21/252 20130101;
H04N 21/6125 20130101; H04N 21/4307 20130101; H04N 21/6405
20130101; H04N 21/812 20130101; H04N 21/8456 20130101; H04N
21/25891 20130101; H04N 21/235 20130101; H04N 21/44016 20130101;
H04N 7/165 20130101; H04N 21/25841 20130101; H04N 21/2221 20130101;
H04N 21/4331 20130101; H04N 21/25883 20130101; H04N 21/8455
20130101; H04N 21/23424 20130101; H04N 21/2668 20130101; H04N
21/222 20130101; H04N 21/435 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
725/034 ;
725/046; 725/035; 725/032 |
International
Class: |
H04N 005/445; G06F
003/00; H04N 007/10; H04N 007/025; G06F 013/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method of presenting targeted advertisements to subscribers in
a packetized video environment, the method comprising: (a)
retrieving, from a plurality of subscriber locations, data
characterizing subscribers associated with the subscriber
locations; (b) forming, based on at least one subscriber
characteristic obtained from data, a set of addressable subgroups,
each addressable subgroup being characterized by one or more of the
subscriber characteristics and including one or more of the
subscribers; (c) receiving, at a centralized location, a program
stream containing at least one advertising opportunity; (d)
retrieving, at the centralized location, a plurality of targeted
advertisements; (e) creating, at the centralized location, a set of
targeted advertisement streams from the plurality of targeted
advertisements, the set of targeted advertisement streams
corresponding to set of addressable subgroups; (f) transmitting the
set of targeted advertisement streams from the centralized location
to the addressable subgroups; (g) storing, at the subscriber
locations, at least one targeted advertisement from the targeted
advertisement stream transmitted to the associated subgroup; (h)
transmitting the program stream from the centralized location to
the addressable subgroups; (i) receiving the program stream at the
subscriber locations; and (j) creating a set of presentation
streams containing different targeted advertisements by inserting,
at the subscriber locations, at least one stored targeted
advertisement into the at least one advertising opportunity of the
received program stream.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the subgroups are formed based on
geographic location.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the data includes at least one
demographic parameter.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the subscribers of the addressable
subgroups are served by different delivery networks.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the subscriber locations are
geographically dispersed.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of presentation streams
are continuous presentable streams containing content and at least
one targeted advertisement.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein each presentation stream in the
set of presentation streams includes a different targeted
advertisement.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one advertising
opportunity includes at least one default advertisement.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one targeted
advertisement stored at the subscriber location corresponds to the
one or more subscriber characteristics of the associated
subgroup.
10. The method of claim 1 wherein the targeted advertisements are
not synchronized with the at least one advertising opportunity.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of copending U.S. patent
application Ser. No. 09/568,084, filed on May 10, 2000, and
entitled "Advertisement Subgroups for Digital Video Streams", which
claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/133,398,
filed on May 10, 1999, and entitled "Advertisement Subgroup
Multicasting", each of the disclosures of which are incorporated
herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The development of compression and transmission techniques
for digital video and audio signals coupled with the advent of the
Internet have resulted in an ability to transmit audio and video
programming to subscribers from a multitude of locations. Reception
areas are no longer limited to the reception area of a radio or
television transmitting tower, a cable TV head end, a telephone
central office or another geographically determined location.
Instead, the subscribers of programming may be distributed over a
wide geographical range and in fact exist in a multitude of
countries.
[0003] For example, a group of subscribers distributed across the
globe having a specific interest can have simultaneous access to
the programming of interest. In cable television systems, these
programs are generally transmitted to groups of subscribers, each
group being associated with a node. A node is traditionally
associated with a receiver which receives an optical signal from
the cable TV head end, converts the signal to an electrical signal,
and transmits the signals to the homes. The video programming is
frequently transmitted from one central location to multiple cable
television head ends, and then distributed to the nodes and
ultimately to the subscribers. Although the viewership for the
programs transmitted in this manner may be quite large, generally,
there exists characteristics that can be associated with each node
due to the respective geographic location.
[0004] The nodes in certain areas may have subscribers with a
particular range of household income or other demographic
characteristics that are distinct from the subscribers in other
nodes both nearby and distant.
[0005] Similar characteristics exist for the television systems
that receive digital programming from satellites. Generally, the
digital video programming is frequently transmitted from one
central location to multiple cable television head ends, and then
distributed to the nodes and ultimately to the subscribers.
[0006] The transmission of the programming based on specific
geographic areas continues to exist, especially in cable-based
systems and satellite-based systems, but is substantially affected
by the advent of the Internet. In the Internet environment, the
information contents may be received from any computer on the
network, irrespective of where the subscriber is located.
Furthermore, in the Internet environment, the information contents
may be customized based on subscriber needs and preferences.
[0007] In all of the above-mentioned systems, including
cable-based, satellite-based and Internet-based systems, the
program contents also include one or more advertisements. These
advertisements are generally inserted in the program streams by
evaluating the program contents, making a rough determination of
the target audience, and finding suitable advertisements. For
example, beer advertisements may be inserted into the football game
programming, and gardening tool advertisements may be inserted into
home improvement programming. In cable-based and satellite-based
systems, these advertisements are generally displayed as spot
messages, and in the Internet environment, these advertisements are
displayed as banner advertisements.
[0008] Internet environments also provide for multicasting where
audio and video streams are simultaneously transmitted to a
plurality of subscribers. The subscribers are grouped based on the
type of program contents they receive, but there is no distinction
for the purpose of advertising.
[0009] Thus, even though prior art advertising schemes try to match
the program contents and the advertisements that are displayed
within the program contents, such advertisement schemes are not
fully effective. What is lacking in these advertising schemes is
the idea of targeted advertising, i.e., presenting different
advertisements to different subscribers based on one or more
subscriber characteristics or different versions of the same
advertisement to different subscribers based on one or more
subscriber characteristics.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] The present invention is directed at an apparatus and a
method for creating subgroups based on one or more subscriber
characteristics. Each subgroup corresponds to one or more
subscribers and receives a particular program stream and one or
more targeted advertisements directed at that set of
subscribers.
[0011] The subgroups may be created in many different ways. In an
Internet environment, the subgroups may be created by utilizing
multicasting features. Generally, the subgroups are created within
a multicast group based on one or more shared subscriber
characteristics. The subgroup may comprise a group of subscribers,
a group of households, an individual subscriber or a single
household. In a cable environment, the subgroups may be created
based on the configuration of a regional head-end and one or more
local head-ends, e.g., each node configured to a local head-end may
represent a subgroup.
[0012] In another embodiment, an apparatus is presented in which n
digital program streams are received along with m digital
advertisement streams, and p digital presentation streams
containing inserted advertisements are created, where p is greater
than n. Each of the digital presentation streams corresponds to a
different subgroup, e.g., a first presentation is transmitted to a
first subgroup, and a second presentation is transmitted to a
second subgroup, etc.
[0013] In one implementation, different presentation streams are
formed for different subgroups created within a multicast group.
First, different advertisements or different versions of the same
advertisements are selected. Then a plurality of presentation
streams are created by multiplexing the program contents with one
or more targeted advertisements. These presentation streams are
then transmitted to different subgroups. Each of the subgroups
receives a presentation stream that comprises program content and
one or more targeted advertisements. The presentation streams may
be digital video streams or digital audio streams.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0014] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and
form a part of the specification, illustrate the embodiments of the
present invention and, together with the description serve to
explain the principles of the invention.
[0015] In the drawings:
[0016] FIG. 1 illustrates the migration from broadcast and low
bandwidth unicast services to multicast and high bandwidth
services;
[0017] FIG. 2 illustrates current broadcast services and dial-up
Internet access;
[0018] FIG. 3 illustrates the formation of multicast subgroups by
utilizing different routers;
[0019] FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary case of formation of
multicast groups in a cable-based network;
[0020] FIG. 5 illustrates the process of inserting targeted
advertisements at a centralized point;
[0021] FIG. 6A illustrates an exemplary ad insertion
multiplexer;
[0022] FIG. 6B illustrates time independent ad reception and
insertion using an ad insertion multiplexer; and
[0023] FIG. 7 illustrates the migration of advertising from
broadcast advertisements or advertisements in unicast IP addressed
streams to multicast ads and services, and to unicast ad and
unicast services.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0024] In describing a preferred embodiment of the invention
illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology will be used for
the sake of clarity. However, the invention is not intended to be
limited to the specific terms so selected, and it is to be
understood that each specific term includes all technical
equivalents which operate in a similar manner to accomplish a
similar purpose.
[0025] With reference to the drawings, in general, and FIGS. 1
through 7 in particular, the method and apparatus of the present
invention is disclosed.
[0026] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the broadcast entertainment and
telecommunications services are migrating from the classifications
of broadcast programming and low bandwidth unicast 101 transmission
to multicast and medium bandwidth unicast 103 systems in which the
number of subscribers in the receiving group is reduced, or the
bandwidth to a subscriber receiving an individualized service is
increased. This migration is present in traditional television
broadcasting as well as Internet access environments.
[0027] The increased availability of bandwidth to subscribers
results in the formation of smaller broadcasting groups that can be
referred to as multicast groups. In addition, the amount of
bandwidth available to each subscriber for unicast services such as
connections to Web sites, high-speed point-to-point data
connections, and videoconferencing, is increased. This results in
medium bandwidth unicast connections that can support new
services.
[0028] The increased bandwidth also enables video on demand
services that are essentially high bandwidth unicast (illustrated
as 105 in FIG. 1) connections providing a subscriber with specific
programming at a specific point in the program stream.
[0029] In accordance with the principles of the present invention,
a number of new services may also be provided based on these
unicast connections. One of these services is the relay of targeted
advertisements.
[0030] In one embodiment of the present invention, the targeted
advertisements are relayed based on subgroups, wherein each
subgroup may comprise one or more subscribers, or one or more
households. The method and system for creating subgroups is
applicable for both the television broadcasting (video
transmission) environment and the Internet environment, and may be
realized in traditional networks.
[0031] FIG. 2 illustrates exemplary illustrations for traditional
television broadcasting and Internet access environments. The
present broadcast audio and video entertainment services fall in
the category of broadcast services that are delivered by
traditional radio, cable TV and wireless broadcasting techniques
wherein a client (receiver) 209 receives programming from a central
unit 211. The central unit 211 may be a base-station or a head-end
or a cable distribution point. In the Internet world, a web-server
207 broadcasts the information over an Internet network 205 to an
Internet Service Provider (ISP) 203 which ultimately delivers the
information to a client 201. The broadcasting is accomplished by
utilizing one or more different multicasting protocols over the
Internet.
[0032] The point-to-point connection for Internet access
illustrated in FIG. 2 is also representative of unicast services
that can be defined as the point-to-point transmission of signals
from a source or a subscriber to another subscriber. This includes
telephone service and point-to-point data connections to data
sources.
[0033] In accordance with the principles of the present invention,
the actual formation of subgroups for advertising is performed by
creating multiple lists or tables of subscribers that share one or
more subscriber characteristics. The subgroups may be based on (1)
geographic segmentation, (2) demographic segmentation, (3)
psychological segmentation, (4) psychographic segmentation, (5)
sociocultural segmentation, (6) use-related segmentation, (7)
use-situation segmentation, (8) benefit segmentation, and (9)
hybrid segmentation. More information may be found in a book
entitled Consumer Behavior, by Leon G. Schiffman and Leslie Lazar
Kanuk published by Prentice Hall, New Jersey 1999.
[0034] The analysis of different segmentations permit the
advertisement to be directed to specific users or groups of users
who fit certain criteria. For instance, an advertisement for a baby
stroller could reach parents of children under five years old--and
only those individuals in that group. Other publicly or privately
available data regarding the subscribers may also be collected.
This data may also be mined to form a subgroup of subscribers which
has a common characteristic which matches the characteristics of
the target group.
[0035] One technique for forming subgroups involves utilization of
geographic location information. Each subgroup may consist of
subscribers located in a particular state, city, or associated with
a cable television node. Another technique for forming subgroups is
based on knowledge of the viewership of the actual programming. For
example, many companies collect data related to the viewing of the
television programming and such information may be used to form
subgroups. Once such collection of data is known as the Nielsen
rating which is based on samples of information related to the
viewing of television programming. Other types of similar
information are also available. The subgroups may be based on the
actual viewership information, or on an estimate of the current
viewership, or on the statistical measurement of the
viewership.
[0036] The actual formation of subgroups may be accomplished in
many different ways. In an Internet environment, the subgroups may
be formed by utilizing multicast addresses. Currently, the
multicast addresses are utilized to form a group of subscribers
that are interested in receiving the same information, e.g.,
listening to the same radio station, being members of some
listserv, etc. In accordance with the principles of the present
invention, the members of a multicast group may be further
classified into subgroups (i.e., multicast subgroups). These
subgroups may be formed based on geographic locations, e.g.,
country of residence, as can be determined from a subscriber e-mail
address, IP address, or other Internet-related parameters. These
subgroups may also be formed based on a subscriber's operating
system, data transmission rate, or other transmission related
parameters. In this implementation, each subgroup may comprise a
country, e.g., subscribers from the USA may be grouped in the first
subgroup, and subscribers from Mexico may be grouped in the second
subgroup. The formation of subgroups based on geographic
information assists in selecting target advertisements that are
suitable for each group.
[0037] As shown in FIG. 3, in one embodiment, the multicast
subgroups may be formed by utilizing different routers. In FIG. 3,
a transmitter/provider of information (sender) 301 is directly
connected to Router 1 303. The sender 301 may be a web-based server
or a network-based server or other comparable means configured to
distribute information to a plurality of receivers 305 via one or
more routers 303. As shown in FIG. 3, Router 1 is directly coupled
to the sender 301 and thereby forms a multicast group. Different
receivers 305 belonging to the multicast group of Router 1 are
further distributed in subgroups. Receiver 1 and Receiver 2 belong
to a first subgroup served directly by Router 1. Receiver 3 is in a
second subgroup served by Router 2. Receiver 4 and 5 are in a third
subgroup and are served by Router 3. Receiver 6 and 7 are in a
fourth subgroup and are served by Router 4.
[0038] Standard Internet multicasting protocols may be used to
create these subgroups. Internet-based multicast protocols are well
known to those skilled in the art and include Internet Group
Management Protocol (IGMP) protocols and other Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) related protocols. Some of
these multicast protocols are described in the book entitled
Routing in the Internet authored by Christian Huitema, and
published by Prentice-Hall in 1995, and in the volumes 1 and 2 of
the books entitled Internetworking with TCP/IP, authored by Douglas
E. Corner and Douglas E. Corner and David L. Stevens respectively,
published by Prentice-Hall in 1995 and 1999. The aforementioned
books are incorporated herein by reference.
[0039] The Internet Engineering Task Force RFCs 1112, 1458, 1301
and 966 specify protocols for multicasting and are incorporated
herein by reference.
[0040] Other multicasting techniques may also be used to create
lists of subscribers that form part of one or more multicast
groups. These groups may be subscribers in diverse locations
receiving a program stream, or may be a group of subscribers
belonging to the listserv.
[0041] In the cable systems and satellite-based systems, the
subgroups may be created by utilizing the existing configuration of
cable networks. As an example, in a cable television system, the
subscribers associated with a node may be considered to form a
subgroup. As illustrated in FIG. 4, in a traditional cable-based
network 300, a regional head end 302 is coupled to one or more
local ends 304. Each local end 304 serves one or more nodes 306.
Each node 306 serves one or more set-tops 308, and each set-top 308
in turn may serve one or more television sets 310. In general, the
viewers of the information transmitted to the television sets are
the subscribers.
[0042] The subgroups may be formed utilizing the configuration of a
local head end 304, or a node 306. The nodes are preferred because
traditionally a local head end serves a large number of
viewers/households, wherein a node serves only few households and
thus may be used appropriately to form subgroups.
[0043] In a traditional cable-based system, a node 306 is
configured to a plurality of set-tops 308 whereby the set-tops 308
receive transmission signals from the nodes 306. These transmission
signals include programming contents as well as advertisements.
Generally, the information is delivered via transmission signal to
one or more set-tops 308 located within the household, and for
tracking purposes, a set-top 308 represents a subscriber. However,
in actual practice, a single set-top 308 may serve one or more
television sets 310.
[0044] As described before, depending on the application and the
desired size of the subgroups, the subgroups may be based on the
local head end 304 or may be based on the nodes 306. Alternatively,
the subgroups may be narrowed and may be based upon the different
set-tops 308, whereby a household represents a subgroup.
[0045] In the future, the subgroups will be further narrowed to the
level of a television set 310 served from a single set-top 308.
Thus, a single set-top 308 may represent a plurality of
subscribers. In this case, different members of a household are
different subscribers and the individual members of the household
may be grouped in different subgroups for receiving different
targeted advertisements. For example, the parents may receive a
first target advertisement in their bedroom television, and the
television in the children's bedroom may receive a second target
advertisement (even though the parents and the children may be
watching the same program).
[0046] The cable-based systems and satellite-based systems may
further utilize cable modems or other devices configured to
communicate with the Internet. For example, set-top boxes can
include Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS)
cable modems and be assigned, and thus identified, by an IP
address. The DOCSIS cable modem can receive multiple channels via
this IP address.
[0047] In one embodiment, the advertisement streams (also referred
as ad streams) are sent via a DOCSIS channel setup to the DOCSIS
cable modem within the set-top from a Cable Modem Termination
System (CMTS). The CMTS relays all ad streams transmitted by the
sender. The sender obtains, from the CMTS, the IP address of the
set-top box which integrates a DOCSIS cable modem and transmits the
advertisements to that IP address through the CMTS. The IP address
can be part of a multicast group or it can be a unicast address.
The ad streams may be transmitted using Internet technologies such
as streaming media or other real time protocols.
[0048] The subscriber information relating to the nodes may be
further customized/modified. For example, the addresses of the
homes served by the node may be used along with public records to
determine the average price that was paid for the home. The public
records that sufficiently provide this information include tax
records and other real estate information, e.g., the real estate
information that associates zip codes with the median house prices
may be used to determine the median house price of households
served by a node. Other demographic information that may be of
interest includes the predominant language which is spoken by the
subscribers in the node, the average household size for households
served by the node, and the average disposable income of households
served by the node.
[0049] The present node sizes in cable television systems range
from 300 to 1,500 subscribers, but the node sizes are likely to
decrease as more bandwidth is required per home. This will result
in smaller nodes, each node being fed by a fiber-optic cable which
transmits and receives signals from the head end. As node size is
reduced the subgroup for advertising will also be reduced, thus
permitting more directed advertisements.
[0050] In cable-based systems, and in Internet-based systems, once
the target advertisements have been identified, the actual
insertion of the advertisements in the program streams may occur at
a centralized point (e.g., a server) or at a local point (e.g., at
a client end).
[0051] FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary process of inserting target
advertisements at a centralized point. FIG. 5 is particularly
applicable in an Internet environment. As shown in FIG. 5, there
exists a plurality of target advertisements 502 that may have been
received from many different advertisement servers 504. At a
centralized point 506, these target advertisements are inserted
into one or more actual program streams 508 to form a plurality of
presentation streams (PS1-PS3). Each presentation stream contains a
different target advertisement. For exemplary purposes, it is shown
that a sender 510 routes a first presentation stream (PS1) via one
or more routers 512 to a first receiver, labeled Receiver 1. The
second presentation stream (PS2) is being routed via another router
to Receiver 2. The third presentation stream 3 (PS3) is routed via
the use of yet another router to Receivers 3 and 4. Additional
routers may be used to form different subgroups and for the
transmission of the advertisements to these subgroups.
[0052] The process of centralized insertion is also applicable for
the cable-based or for the satellite-based systems. In a cable
television environment, the routing function may be accomplished in
the head end, instead of being accomplished in the routers.
Similarly, the receivers shown in FIG. 5 may correspond to one or
more geographic nodes within the cable television system.
[0053] FIGS. 6A and 6B illustrate another exemplary process of
inserting advertisements at a centralized point. This process may
be used for cable-based systems. FIG. 6A illustrates an exemplary
advertisement insertion system (also referred as ad insertion
system) 600. The ad insertion system 600 comprises an advertisement
insertion multiplexer (also referred as ad insertion mux) 602,
where a number of program streams (P1-Pn) are received and
initially decoded by demux units DC1, DC2, through DCn. The
advertisements are labeled as AD1-ADm and are received separately.
The timing modules AT1, AT2 through ATm are used to determine the
appropriate insertion point for a new advertisement. The ad
insertion mux 602 is responsible for multiplexing the program
streams with the appropriate advertisements and creating a
plurality of presentation streams PS1-PSp.
[0054] The program streams P1-Pn may comprise empty segments and
the ad insertion mux 602 may insert target-advertisements in these
segments to create various presentation streams 1 through p.
Alternatively, the program streams may contain original
advertisements within the program contents and the ad insertion mux
602 may substitute the original advertisement with one of the
selected advertisements and create presentation streams 1 through
p.
[0055] Thus, one feature of the system is the ability to take n
program streams and m advertisements and create p presentation
streams with p being larger than n. This represents the fact that
the initial program streams have been used in conjunction with the
multicast subgroups to create presentation streams with
advertisements that are specifically directed at subgroups.
[0056] FIG. 6B illustrates the time independent feature of the
advertisement insertion mux 602. This feature allows advertisements
to be received at times not corresponding to the presentation
times. The advertisements may be received shortly in advance of or
well in advance of the insertion time, and may be stored in a
temporary storage unit for insertion at a later time. As previously
described, the advertisements may be received over a low bandwidth
channel such that a 30 second advertisement is received in a period
of minutes or even longer. The local digital storage unit such as a
magnetic storage unit, a magneto-optic storage unit, or an optical
storage unit allows insertion any time subsequent to the
reception.
[0057] In an exemplary case, the programming may be received at
digital data rates in the 27-155 Mb/s range. Thus, a fiber optic
transmission system based on OC-3 transport rates or greater is
used for the transport of digital video programming. The
advertisements may be received over a lower data rate line, such as
a T1 line operating at 1.5 Mb/s. In this example, the transmission
of the digital video programming must occur over the fiber optic
transmission system (special facility), while the current cable
television system can be used for the transmission of the
advertisements.
[0058] Generally, the insertion of advertisements in program
streams is handled by a combination of cue-tone detectors,
switching equipment and tape players which hold the advertising
material. Upon receipt of the cue tone, an insertion controller
automatically turns on a tape player containing the advertisement.
Switching equipment then switches the system output from the video
and audio signals received from the programming source to the
output of the tape player. The tape player remains on for the
duration of the advertising, after which the insertion controller
causes the switching equipment to switch back to the video and
audio channels of the programming source. When switched, these
successive program and advertising segments usually feed to a
radio-frequency (RF) modulator for delivery to the subscribers.
[0059] Many subscriber television systems, such as cable television
systems are currently being converted to digital equipment. These
new digital systems compress the data being transmitted to
subscribers using compression standards such as Motion Picture
Experts Group 2 (MPEG-2) standard. The compressed advertisement
data is stored as a digital file on a large disk drive or several
drives. Upon receipt of the cue tone, the digital system spools
("plays") the file off of the drive to a decompressor. The video
and accompanying audio data are decompressed back to a standard
video and audio, and switched into the video/audio feed of the RF
modulator for delivery to the subscriber.
[0060] A compressed program stream, generally, is a collection of
video, audio, and data streams which usually share a common time
base.
[0061] To enable the inserting of different advertisements in
compressed program streams, different advertising breaks or splice
points are identified. Splice points in a compressed program stream
provide opportunities to switch from one program to another. They
indicate a safe place to switch, a place in the bit stream, where a
switch can be made, and result in good visual and audio quality.
They are analogous to the vertical (blanking) interval used to
switch uncompressed video. Unlike uncompressed video, frame
boundaries in an MPEG-2 bit stream are not evenly spaced.
Therefore, the syntax of the transport packet itself is used to
convey where these splice points may occur.
[0062] There exists a plurality of standards in the current
technologies that provides a description of splice points and other
constraints for encoding and inserting in program streams, e.g.,
MPEG-2 transport streams. In systems utilizing MPEG-2, the
transport streams may be spliced without modifying the Packetized
Elementary Stream (PES) packet payload. The systems are in
compliance with existing Society of Motion Picture and Television
Engineers (SMPTE) standards, e.g., SMPTE 312M-1999, and the
constraints specified in the standard are applied individually to
program streams within transport streams.
[0063] Splicing of MPEG bit streams also requires managing buffer
fullness of the decoder's buffers. When MPEG bit streams are
encoded, there is an inherent buffer occupancy at every point in
time. The buffer fullness corresponds to a delay, the amount of
time that a byte spends in the buffer. When splicing two separately
encoded bit streams, the delay at the splice point will not usually
match. This mismatch in delay can cause the buffer to overflow or
underflow at some time in the future.
[0064] To avoid unpredictable underflows and overflows, the
splicing method requires that the MPEG encoder match the delay at
splicing points to a given value. Alternatively, the syntax of the
transport packet itself may be used to convey where these splicing
points may occur.
[0065] Two different types of splice points may be defined: Out
Points and In Points. In Points are places in the bit streams where
it is safe to enter and start decoding that bit stream. Out points
are places where it is safe to exit the bit stream. Out Points and
In Points are imaginary points in the bit stream located between
two transport stream packets. An Out Point and an In Point may be
co-located, that is, a single packet boundary may serve as both a
safe place to leave a bit stream and a safe place to enter it.
[0066] The SMPTE standard describes requirements for grouping In
Points of a set of program identifier (PID) streams into program In
Points, and for grouping Out Points of a set of PID streams into
program Out points which correspond in presentation time to the
underlying data. Furthermore, because MPEG video and audio frames
have different durations and their presentation times do not
necessarily align, this standard defines exactly what it means for
PID stream splice points to correspond in time. More information on
this standard may be found in a document entitled "SMPTE Standard
for Television, Splice Points for MPEG-2 Transport Schemes",
published by the Society of Motion Picture and Television
Engineers, 595 W. Hartsdale Avenue, White Plains, N.Y. 10607.
[0067] Thus, one object of the invention is to provide for
efficient real-time distribution of one or more variable bit-rate
(VBR) programs to one or more receivers. In cases where a plurality
of programs are multiplexed together and distributed
simultaneously, it is possible, in the context of the present
invention, for one or more of these programs to be encoded at a
constant bit rate (CBR). Typically, each VBR or CBR program
consists of a video stream component, one or more audio stream
components, and possibly one or more data stream components. Each
of these real-time distributed programs is hereinafter referred to
as a primary program.
[0068] It is another object of the invention to selectively
distribute advertisements in the form of auxiliary data to one or
more receivers. The auxiliary data is distributed in non-real time
using any available channel capacity, and is stored locally at the
selected receivers for real-time presentation at a later time. In
accordance with the foregoing, one aspect of the invention
comprises a method and apparatus for efficient CBR distribution of
program streams, along with advertisements (auxiliary data) to one
or more receivers. A primary data stream, comprising at least one
VBR program, and possibly one or more CBR programs, is converted to
a CBR data stream by inserting advertisements where fill packets
would have otherwise been used to create a CBR data stream. The
distribution of the program streams and advertisements is based on
subgroups.
[0069] Furthermore, the advertisements in the form of the auxiliary
data may be differentiated from the primary programs in that the
auxiliary data need not be distributed in real time. By doing away
with the requirement for real-time or near real-time distribution
of at least a portion of the program multiplex, it becomes easier
to efficiently utilize the available channel bandwidth.
[0070] In an exemplary embodiment of this aspect of the invention,
the program streams and the advertisements (auxiliary data) are
each assumed to be divided into segments or packets. The packets of
auxiliary data are inserted in between the packets of the primary
programs whenever the distribution channel is idle for a time
interval that is at least as long as the time interval needed to
transmit the next packet of auxiliary data. In addition,
MPEG-compliant program map data illustrating the location of each
of the primary program or auxiliary data stream components in the
multiplexed data stream are inserted into the data stream for use
at the receivers. Such program maps are described in .sctn.2.4.4 of
the MPEG system layer documentation, ISO/IEC 13818-1.
[0071] In connection with the foregoing, another aspect of the
invention comprises a method and apparatus for receiving the CBR
distribution data stream at a particular receiver, and combining
selected program streams with selected advertisements to create a
customized augmented program for that particular receiver. The
receiver is configured with sufficient local storage to buffer the
selected advertisements until they are needed, for insertion into
the selected primary program or for other presentations, at a later
time.
[0072] In an exemplary embodiment of this aspect of the invention,
a receiver program selector receives the distribution data stream
and uses a program map embedded therein to direct program and
auxiliary data multiplexers (MUXes) to extract a selected primary
program and selected portions of the auxiliary data stream,
respectively. A video augmentation unit then inserts the selected
auxiliary data into the primary program stream to create an
augmented primary program which is supplied for decoding and
viewing. In the typical case, the auxiliary data comprises short
program segments including both video and audio data.
[0073] In this way, individual receivers which include some form of
local storage could be programmed to receive certain program
segments or certain types of program segments at any time of the
day. For example, all new car advertisements could be classified
together and assigned a unique group identification number. If such
advertisements are periodically extracted from an auxiliary data
library and combined with the multiplexed primary programs prior to
distribution, then the program map embedded in the distribution
data stream would be updated to reflect such additions. A receiver
that has been programmed to receive all advertisements pertaining
to new automobiles, and which is monitoring the received bit stream
could detect such an advertisement by matching the relevant group
classification number in the embedded program table with an
internal list representative of the types of programs which it has
been programmed to receive. The PIDs corresponding to any
associated audio, video, or data streams comprising the
advertisement, could then be extracted from the distribution data
stream and copied to local storage for viewing at a later time.
[0074] FIG. 7 illustrates the migration of services from the
present suite of services that are transmitted as broadcast
services with program IDs (PIDs) 902 and broadcast services with IP
addressing 904, to medium bandwidth services 906 which can include
broadcast programming labeled by program identifiers and combined
with multicast advertisements, as well as multicast programming
with multicast advertisements. Also illustrated in FIG. 7 is the
migration from medium bandwidth services 906 to unicast services
908 including unicast programming and unicast advertisements. In
unicast services, the individual advertisements are delivered
directly to the subscriber along with the individually selected
programming.
[0075] The advertisements may be inserted into program streams to
create a plurality of presentation streams that are directly
transmitted to a group of subscribers. An example of this
embodiment is the substitution of generic advertisements in a cable
television system at the cable TV head end and transmission of the
new program presentation stream directly to the subscriber. In
another embodiment, an Internet sender inserts advertisements
destined for a subgroup multicast and multicasts the new
presentation stream to the subscribers in that multicast subgroup.
Alternatively, the program streams may contain one or more empty
segments where one or more targeted advertisements may be
inserted.
[0076] Generally, the programming or entertainment program streams
include digital video or audio streams that contain programming of
interest to the subscriber. This programming may be entertainment
programming in the form of shows, news, theatre, and movies, or may
be data programming including but not limited to stock quotes,
travel information, or other types of information that may be
broadcasted to a plurality of subscribers.
[0077] Generally, the program streams are digitized and compressed
in order to be transmitted over a limited bandwidth channel. A
variety of compression schemes may be used. For video, these
techniques include the motion pictures expert group (MPEG)
compression standard, as well as any of the video streaming
standards used for the transmission of video over the Internet. For
audio systems, a variety of audio compression and transmission
techniques may be used including the compression and transmission
system developed by Real Networks and sold under the trademark
REALAUDIO, as well as other audio compression and transmission
systems available for use on the Internet. These video and audio
compression and transmission systems allow for the incorporation of
generic/default advertisements when initially placed in the audio
or video stream. Once placed in the stream, a variety of techniques
may be used to detect their presence, and these generic
advertisements may be substituted with target advertisements. The
compressed audio or video streams may also contain one or more
empty segments where one or more target advertisements may be
inserted.
[0078] One technique that may be used to detect an advertisement
break in the compressed digital stream is the placement of an
audible or inaudible tone within the digital stream. This tone may
be used to mark the beginning or end of the advertisement. An
alternate technique is to place a known digital code in the audio
or video stream that permits recognition of the advertisement. This
code may indicate the duration of the advertisement. Using this
technique, digital circuitry may be used to recognize the beginning
of the advertisement. Other techniques are also envisioned.
[0079] Once the advertisement is located and removed from the audio
or video stream, it may be necessary to "heal" the stream such that
there is no disruption in the compression algorithms which may rely
on information which is interspersed in the advertisement. The
interspersing of information may be such that programming
information is included in a digitized advertisement which will be
replaced. A healing technique may be used to replace the original
audio or video information and inserted advertisement, and consists
of locating the information in the stream which is related to the
programming and insuring that it is contained within the new
advertisement that is inserted into the programming.
[0080] Although this invention has been illustrated by reference to
specific embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the
art that various changes and modifications may be made which
clearly fall within the scope of the invention. The invention is
intended to be protected broadly within the spirit and scope of the
appended claims.
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