Abstract:
The invention provides a method and system for customizing advertisements to the individual viewer or user receiving a content which may be generic or customized, subject to or independent of, a broadcast schedule.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
       [0001]    This Application is a Continuation-In-Part of application Ser. No. 10/090,439, filed Oct. 31, 2002; which is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 09/487,120 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,434,747). 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    The present invention relates generally to the transmission of broadcast media over a data network, and more particularly to, a method and system for providing a customized media list to a user over that data network, such that customized advertisements can be individually tailored to customized or uncustomized content.  
           [0004]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0005]    Broadcast media (including visual and audio media over any electronic network) has been provided to viewers and listeners for decades and typically falls under the paradigm illustrated in prior art FIG. 1. Prior art FIG. 1 is a block diagram view of a conventional broadcast media paradigm. In prior art FIG. 1, media  5 , includes both content  10  (e.g. television shows, sports, news, weather, movies, concerts, etc.) and advertising  15 . The content  10  is provided to the viewer. and listener for entertainment or information purposes, while the advertising  15  is typically used to provide revenues for the broadcaster  20 . The broadcaster  20  also shares the advertising revenues with the content  10  providers. Thus, from FIG. 1, the broadcaster  20  is the distributor  25  of the content  10  and the advertising  15  to the viewer and listener  30  through a distribution means  35 . The distribution means  35  includes public broadcast  40 , cable  45  distribution and satellite  50  distribution, and internet  55  distribution. In essence, the broadcaster  20  distributes the content  10  and advertising  15  through the distribution means  35  and generally shares the costs of distributing such content  10  and advertising  15  with the viewer and listener  30  through the distribution means  35  to a video or audio receiver, such as television, computer, handheld communication device, or datapad  65 .  
           [0006]    Advertisers are subjected to several disadvantages with the paradigm art FIG. 1. As is known, advertisers can only guess as to the number of the target audiences viewing the content  10 . Well known audience surveyors only estimate the number or actual viewers and listeners that watch and listen to the content  10  and advertising  15 . The advertisers  15  target audiences based on such estimated ratings. Thus, advertisers are paying for advertising that may never reach the full target audience. This is because the advertisement is not reaching 100 percent of the target audience. In fact, it has been widely reported that only 5% of advertisements reach any viewers at all, a phenomenon that will be heightened by the proliferation of such screeners as TIVO and the cable services and receptors that have currently or soon will have TIVO-like features built in. Taken in the meaning of this art, the term ‘advertiser’, encompasses both an advertising provider and a content provider involved in tailoring advertisements for the individual or specific users.  
           [0007]    Another disadvantage with the paradigm of prior art FIG. 1 is that television and radio channels are not customized to individual viewers and listeners, thus making targeted advertisement virtually impossible.  
           [0008]    Moreover, a disadvantage is found in the fact that broadcast television and most cable and satellite content  10  is subject to a schedule, which viewers and listeners may not always be available to adhere to. Thus, they are forced to miss the scheduled content or record the content with devices that can block out conventional advertisements.  
           [0009]    A need therefore exists for a method and system that mitigates or removes these disadvantages.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0010]    The invention provides a method for an advertiser providing a customized advertisement over a data network to a viewer/user, the customized advertisement being presented together with or placed within generic or customized digitized media delivered over an electronic network, such as broadcast television, cable satellite, the internet, and any wireless assisted communication system. Such delivery may or may not be subject to a broadcast schedule. The customized advertisement may take the form of a periodic intermittent message or a product or service placed within the content itself.  
           [0011]    The customized advertisement is selected for the individual viewer/user based on a viewer&#39;s expressed preference or viewing habits, wherein the preferences or viewing habits are transmitted over the data network to the advertisers or content distributors or others contracting with the advertisers to reach targeted audiences. Such contractors may include a time frame for reaching the targeted audience.  
           [0012]    The data network may include a communication layer, content module, or selection menu. The data network may include a content display device, an intelligent television, a computer, personal digital assistant or a cellular telephone  
           [0013]    According to one embodiment the advertisement is customized according to viewer/user responses to an offered selection of advertisements over the data network during or before content distribution.  
           [0014]    The advertisement is selected directly or indirectly by the viewer/user from messages, products, product information, or purchase offers.  
           [0015]    The advertiser can also be a content provider.  
           [0016]    The selection menu may be based on a profile data, including viewing habits, of the viewers.  
           [0017]    In one embodiment the viewer preferences, profiles or viewing habits are provided only to the advertisers.  
           [0018]    In another embodiment of the method of the invention, the data network connects advertiser, content provider and individual viewer/user by viewing and communication means, so as to transmit advertisements by the viewers/users during transmission of the content to when the advertisements or advertised products or services added or embedded within.  
           [0019]    There are several different ways in which the individualized advertisement can be brought to the attention of the viewer. One way would entail interrupting a broadcast of, e.g., a show, movie or news report (newscast) such that the advertisement would break into or interrupt the content transmission. Another way would mean incorporating the advertisement concurrently but spatially separately from the broadcast. The third way to a customized advertisement would integrate the advertisement or advertised products or services into the content of the broadcast thereby modifying the broadcast contract with individualized messages in the form of labeled products, for example.  
           [0020]    More specifically, reference is taken to the customized advertisement associated or presented with or placed into or within the content of FIGS. 4 and 5, in particular.  
           [0021]    The invention provides an embodiment to combine individualized advertisements with content, which content may or may not customized and may or may not be subject to a broadcast schedule.  
           [0022]    In particular, individual searches conducted through electronic network search engines would add an individually tailored advertisement to the category or characteristics. For example, the category of search could generate individually tailored advertisements related to education (on-line degree), art history (group trip to Paris), medicine (insurance, drugs), nursing (upcoming course offerings), religion (books or tapes), mechanics (tools, magazines), archeology (upcoming “dig” advertised on-line), or meteorology (telescopes).  
           [0023]    The present invention provides customized advertising presented with or placed into content, be it generic or customized, subject to, or independent of, a broadcast schedule. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0024]    A more complete appreciation of the invention and any of the advantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes better understood by reference to the detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 1 is a prior art block diagram view of a broadcast media industry paradigm;  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 2 is a block diagram view of an embodiment of the computer system of the present invention;  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 3 is a block diagram view of an embodiment of the server of the present invention;  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 4 is a block diagram view of an embodiment of the user of the present invention; and  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 5 is a block diagram view of an embodiment of the advertising modification of content to user system. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0030]    [0030]FIG. 2 is a block diagram view of an embodiment of the computer system of the present invention. In FIG. 2, a computer system  200  is shown having a server storage medium  205 . The server storage medium  205  may be any type of storage device as are well known in the art, for example, any type of disc including floppy disc, optical disc, DVD, CD-ROMS, magnetic optical discs, RAM, EPROM, EEPROM, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of storage media that is suitable for storing electronic instructions/data. The server storage medium  205  contains individual databases including an entire content media  210 , an entire advertising media  215  and a personalized data database  220  of a user  240 . It is noted that the personalized database  220  may also contain personalized data of multiple users. Each of these databases store either content  210 , advertising  215  or personalized data  220  for use in the computer system  200  using an embodiment of the method of the present invention as described below. The computer system  200  further includes a server  225 , which may have the embodiment of any general purpose computer as shown in FIG. 7 described below. It is noted that the computer system  200 , as shown in the embodiment of FIG. 2, shows a server  225  and client  235  as two separate general purpose computers (FIG. 7). However, as is apparent to one skilled in the art, the server  225  and client  235  connected by the data network  230  may, in fact, be a single general purpose computer, where the data network  230  is a bus rather than a data network such as the Internet. That is, while the embodiment of FIG. 2 shows the server and client as separate entities, those entities may in fact be one general purpose computer.  
         [0031]    Still in FIG. 2, a data network  230  connects the server  225  and the client  235 . The data network  230  may be an Internet, an Intranet, an ethernet-type bus, or any type of connection that is able to transfer data between the server  225  and client  235 . In one embodiment, the data network  230  is the Internet, where data is transmitted from different geographical locations where the server  225  and the client  235  are located. The server  225  includes a server processor (not shown), which may be any well-known central processing unit (CPU) or a microprocessor (whether a single microprocessor or a plurality of microprocessors). The server processor, in one embodiment of the present invention, generates a customized media list  226  from personalized data  241  that is entered by the user  240  to the client  235 . Thus, as more fully described below, a user  240  will provide personalized data  241  to the client  235 . Again, the client  235  is a computer system  200 , which may be any general purpose computer.  
         [0032]    After the user provides a profile  241  to the client  235 , that profile  241  is transferred through the data network  230  to the server  225 , which is also part of the computer system  200 . Once at the server  225 , a server processor generates a customized advertisement list  226  from said profile by reviewing the entire advertising media  215  to match it to profile  241  to create a customized advertisement list  226 . By match, it is understood that particular algorithms are provided, within the server  225 , in order to provide a customized advertisement list  226 . The match occurs using properties of the advertising  215  as described below. An algorithm, a personalized advertising service module (FIG. 3), generates a customized advertising list  226 . The algorithm is created using software programming techniques that may be programmed using languages such as Java, C++ or any basic conditional programming language. Any such algorithm would attempt to optimize the targeted viewers&#39; response to the customized advertising.  
         [0033]    Once the customized advertisement list  226  is generated by the server  225  using the algorithm described above, said list is transmitted through the data network  230  by any transmitting means. In one embodiment, the transmitting means would be any means of data communications including modem lines, cable, satellite, DSL, fiber optic lines or other well-known similar means for transmitting data between two remote locations. In a further embodiment, the transmitting means may be the bus described in the general purpose computer. Furthermore, the client  235  may be a single client, or a single general purpose computer such as the computer (FIG. 1), or may be multiple clients as shown in FIG. 2. A client processor (not shown) retrieves the selected customized advertising. That is, the client  235  receives the content to be associated with the customized advertisement, then the client processor may retrieve the selected customized advertising from other locations, based on the customized advertisement list  226 . Once at the client  235 , the content and customized advertisement list  226  are stored on a client storage medium. Again, the client storage medium may be any type of medium as described with regard to the server storage medium and the general purpose computer of FIG. 1.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 3 is a block diagram view of the server  225  shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 3, various software layers or modules are shown within the server  225 . As is well known to one skilled in the art, these layers or modules are implemented in computer code to perform the functions described herein. It is noted that while the server  225  is shown with the layers or modules depicted in FIG. 3, various other hardware and software modules may exist within server  225  including, for example, the server processor, storage means, etc. to make the server a general purpose computer as exemplified in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1.  
         [0035]    Still in FIG. 3, the server  225  is in communication with the data network  230  as depicted in FIG. 2. Within the server  225  are multiple software modules and/or layers. A client communication layer  300  manages the manner in which the server  225  communicates with the user  240 . The client communications layer  300  is replaceable depending on the type of data network  230  utilized as well as the type of client utilized. Also in the server  225  is a personalized advertisement service module  305 . The personalized advertisement service module  305  matches the advertisement contained in the entire advertising media  215  to the viewers&#39; profiles. It is noted that these modules are implemented using software programming languages as described above. Also contained on the server  225  is the inventory management module  315 . This module  315  works in conjunction with the personalized advertisement service module  305  efficiently provide those services  305  to a user. That is, the inventory management  315  is shared by the module  305 .  
         [0036]    The user management module  320  is used by the server  225  to receive the personalized data  241  of FIG. 3 and store such information on typical storage mediums. The user management module  320  takes the personalized data that consists of the personal profile of the user, the television show preference of the user and the past viewing habits of the user and stores that data on a storage medium in the server  225 . That information is later transmitted to the personalized advertisement service module  305  that is later used to generate the customized advertisement list being returned to the user. The media transport service module  325  is also located on the server  225  and performs the function of retrieving the customized advertising that is based on the customized advertisement list  226 . The media transport service module  325  communicates with the advertising media  210  to deliver the customized advertising to the user. It is noted that the server storage medium  205  contains the entire content media  215 , the entire advertising media  210  and the profile of the user may be physical databases contained within the server or, in a further embodiment, may be databases located throughout remote data networks or remote servers that may be retrieved by the server  225 . The database service module  330 , much like the client communication layer  300 , facilitates the communication between the server storage medium  205  and the modules  305 ,  310 ,  315 ,  320  and  325 .  
         [0037]    Numerous advantages exist with the method and system of the present invention as claimed below.  
         [0038]    For example, with reference to the embodiment diagrammed in FIG. 4, the user/viewer  410  utilizes either through intelligent television or computer system  415  to access information. The computer system  415  encompasses electronic data storage in the server device  420  as aforementioned. The server device  420  accesses the data network  425  to receive information network data  430 . Depending on the type of information sought, the user  410  gains information content data from the multiple content data stores  440 . The targeted content of the multiple content data stores  440  can be added to the personalized data  445  which then are used to modify, customize or individualize advertisement  450  which is fed back in return to the server  420 .  
         [0039]    In an embodiment diagrammed in FIG. 5, the user/viewer  550  and advertiser  510  are connected and operate within a data network through a computer device or intelligent TV  500 . The advertiser  510  receives information in the form of personalized data  530  from the user  550 . The personalized data  530  are utilized by the advertiser  510  to modify or select advertising  515 . The individually customized advertisement  515  is added to content  520  offered to the user/viewer  550 .  
         [0040]    First, advertisers now have highly personalized data on each user so that the advertising may be directed closely to the particular audience that advertisers wish to attract. Second, with knowledge of the personal data on the user/viewer, advertisers may be more confident in the percentage of those users/viewers that fit within its specific target audience, thereby reaching a higher percentage of that target audience than in the past.  
         [0041]    Although the present invention has been described in detail with respect to certain embodiments and examples, variations and modifications exist which are within the scope of the present invention as defined in the following claims.