Customized commercial metrics and presentation via integrated virtual environment devices

A method of providing customized commercial content to a user includes providing first commercial content to a user, determining, using an integrated virtual environment device, whether the user substantially viewed the first commercial content, and providing second commercial content to the user based on the first commercial content and whether the user substantially viewed the first commercial content.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to systems and techniques for delivering media content, advertisements, and other content to home entertainment systems. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to the use of integrated virtual environment devices to provide custom commercial content to users.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, it has increasingly become difficult for advertisers to effectively reach viewers. This is due in part to the popularity of digital video recorders and other such devices that allow the user to fast forward through commercials. Furthermore, even when commercial content is displayed to the user, it is not possible to determine whether the user actually viewed the commercial content. That is, the user may choose to leave the environment during the commercial content or may be distracted by other objects or events occurring in the environment. Accordingly, the mere fact that commercial content was provided to a user does not provide an effective indicator of whether that user actually viewed the content.

It is therefore desirable to provide improved systems and methods for determining whether a user has viewed certain commercial content. These and other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In general, the embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods for providing customized commercial content to a user by determining, using an integrated virtual environment device (e.g., a wearable computing device), whether the user substantially viewed certain commercial content in the past (e.g., based on user viewing patterns stored in an external “personality server”). In that regard, the following detailed description of the invention is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the invention or the application and uses of the invention. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any theory presented in the preceding background or the following detailed description.

FIG. 1presents a conceptual overview of a system in which the present systems and methods may be implemented. As shown, a user102is represented schematically as facing a display device170, for example, a liquid crystal display (LCD), organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, or other such display. Display device170is communicatively coupled (e.g., via any convenient form of wired or wireless communication) to an external component such as a set-top box (STB)110and/or other media sources that provide a signal that is processed and ultimately results in an image displayed by the display device170. At any particular time, the image will typically include media content (e.g., a movie, TV show, or the like) and/or commercial content172, as illustrated.

Media sources may include a wide range of sources now known or later developed, including, for example, broadcast television, cable television, satellite television, “video-on-demand” or similar sources, digital video disk (DVD) players and other removable media, video camera systems, video game consoles, STB systems, Internet media sources (e.g., YouTube), and the like. The systems and methods described herein may be implemented in conjunction with a variety of home entertainment devices and/or other media components. For example, the present invention may be implemented in the context of a placeshifting system.

User102interacts with some form of integrated virtual environment device105. In general, integrated virtual environment device (or simply “device”)105comprises any combination of hardware and software capable of determining whether user102is, at any particular time, viewing the image (e.g., commercial content172) presented on display170. A wide range of devices may be used for this purpose. In recent years, for example, various types of wearable computing devices have become popular, including eyewear that incorporates advanced functionality.

With momentary reference toFIG. 2, for example, device105may comprise eyewear (or any other wearable structure) incorporating one or more forward-facing cameras203and one or more backward-facing cameras202attached to frame front211, temple components210, or other portions of the frame. In one embodiment, backward-facing cameras202are adapted for tracking the position of one or more of the user's eyes (e.g., eye107inFIG. 1) and determining whether the user's eyes are open or closed. Forward facing camera203is capable of capturing an image and/or video stream corresponding to whatever is within the user's field of view. Device105may also include a microprocessor (204) integrated into the wearable structure, memory, a wireless interface (e.g., Bluetooth, WiFi, etc.), a touch pad, an integrated display screen within the eye-line of the user, an electronic compass, a multi-axis accelerometer, a locationing component (e.g., GPS), as well as other software and hardware traditionally incorporated into mobile computing devices. In general, then, through the use of these components, device105is able to determine the direction a user is facing and whether the user is actually watching whatever is within the user's field of view (referred to generally as the user's “viewing patterns”).

Referring again toFIG. 1, device105is communicatively coupled through one or more networks and/or other communication channels to a personality server130, which is capable of storing and processing information regarding the viewing patterns of user102. In one embodiment, as illustrated, device105is wirelessly coupled to a conventional IEEE 802.11 (WiFi) access point120and/or router that is coupled to network190(e.g., the Internet). The embodiments are not so limited, however. Device105may, for example, communicate through a Bluetooth connection with a smart-phone or other mobile device, which is then coupled to network190through WiFi, a cellular network, or the like. In general, the present embodiments comprehend any architecture that allows device105to communicate with personality server130.

As depicted inFIG. 1, commercial content172may be presented to user102via display170. Through the use of device105in conjunction with other components of the system, personality server also receives information regarding whether user102is viewing or has viewed particular commercial content. That is, device105determines whether user102is facing display170while his eyes are open and tracking commercial content172. Device105may directly determine that display170contains commercial content (e.g., via visual cues in the image, etc.), or STB110may coordinate with device105to determine whether and to what extent user102is viewing particular commercial content172. For example, the video signal provided to display170from STB110may itself contain metadata or the like that identifies commercial content.

The commercial content itself may be provided, for example, by third party servers140, which might also receive information regarding the viewing patterns of user102. Subsequently, user102may be presented with additional commercial content based on previous viewing patterns.

During a typical use case, user102is presented with commercial content172—for example, an advertisement for a particular science fiction series. Device105determines whether and to what extent the user has viewed that commercial content (i.e., whether display170was within the field of view of device105). For example, it may be determined that user102substantially viewed the commercial content (e.g., viewed a substantial proportion of the entire commercial content). The resulting viewing pattern is then communicated to personality server130. The viewing pattern information may take any suitable form and include a wide range of information. For example, the viewing pattern might simply note that user102viewed the advertisement for the science fiction series for at least a predetermined percentage of the total commercial at a particular time.

After storing and processing the viewing patterns for user102, personality server130might then infer that user102is generally interested in science fiction, and may then select additional commercial content (e.g., commercial content regarding another science fiction or fantasy show) to be provided to user102. In some embodiments, the user's viewing patterns are shared with third parties (e.g., via servers140) which may then pay a fee to the organization associated with personality server130.

The commercial content may be provided to display170and/or other devices operated by user102, including, for example, mobile devices122and device105itself. For example, once personality server130determines, through the user's viewing patterns, that user102will typically watch commercial content relating to science fiction, related commercial content may then be provided to the user through, for example, social networking sites, search engines, e-mail accounts, etc., to which user102subscribes and which may be accessed by user102via one or more mobile devices122. Stated another way, the related commercial content may be provided to the user via a different communication channel than that used to provide the first commercial content.

The examples described above are discussed in the context of a device105that is worn by user102. This embodiments are not so limited, however. One or more devices that are external to user102(e.g., mounted within the environment) may also be employed to determine whether and to what extent user102is viewing commercial content172.

While several exemplary embodiments have been presented in the foregoing detailed description, it should be appreciated that a vast number of alternate but equivalent variations exist, and the examples presented herein are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the invention in any way. To the contrary, various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements described without departing from the scope of the claims and their legal equivalents.