Patent Publication Number: US-2002010928-A1

Title: Method and system for integrating internet advertising with television commercials

Description:
RELATED APPLICATION  
     [0001] This application is related to and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application 60/199,686 entitled, “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRANSFORMING CONTENT FOR EXECUTION ON MULTIPLE PLATFORMS,” filed on Apr. 24, 2000, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002] The present invention relates generally to interactive television. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system for integrating Internet advertising with television commercials.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003] Today, advancements in television systems provide a wide variety of services and applications for television users. One such advancement is interactive television (“iTV”). In an iTV environment, enhanced, interactive content can be provided to a user via the TV. For example, a user can access interactive content (e.g., a web page) on the Internet or World Wide Web via a browser operating on the TV. Thus, iTV allows the interactive and transactional capabilities of the Internet to be provided to TV users.  
       [0004] In addition, the iTV environment extends capabilities for traditional TV advertisers. For instance, TV advertisers can modify a TV commercial with interactive content to provide interactivity with TV users (“interactive commercials”). Hence, interactive commercials allow advertisers to present a wide range of possibilities for TV users that were not available in traditional television systems such as on-line purchasing of goods and services associated with a TV commercial.  
       [0005] A disadvantage with current implementations for providing interactive commercials is that the producer of a television commercial must modify the commercial to add interactive data and content before broadcasting the commercial. Thus, such a process requires additional production and editing of the commercial. Furthermore, if the interactive elements are Internet content, the elements have to be downloaded, which creates an unacceptable delay for users. Another disadvantage of current implementations is that integrating interactive content with commercials requires creation of specific new assets and new targeting and campaign software for each commercial. As such, current implementations do not provide a seamless integration of existing assets to generate new interactive commercial advertising services.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006] A method and system are disclosed for integrating Internet advertising with television commercials. In one embodiment, interactive content (e.g., Internet advertising content) is automatically integrated with television (TV) broadcast content (e.g., TV commercial content) for display. The interactive content can be integrated with the TV broadcast content without modification of the original interactive content and TV broadcast content.  
       [0007] Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings, and from the detailed description, which follows below. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0008] The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:  
     [0009]FIG. 1A illustrates an exemplary interactive television system in which the present invention can be implemented;  
     [0010]FIG. 1B illustrates a simplified internal block diagram of the set-top box of FIG. 1A according to one embodiment;  
     [0011]FIG. 2 illustrates an integration platform architecture of FIG. 1A according to one embodiment;  
     [0012]FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of a basic operation for automatically integrating Internet advertising content with television commercial content according to one embodiment;  
     [0013]FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of an operation to launch interactive services via an Internet advertisement integrated with a TV commercial according to one embodiment;  
     [0014]FIG. 5A illustrates an exemplary screen shot of interactive advertising content integrated with a television commercial; and  
     [0015]FIG. 5B illustrates an exemplary screen shot of Internet content that is launched from the interactive advertising content of FIG. 5A. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
     [0016] A method and system are described for integrating Internet advertising with television commercials. In one embodiment, interactive content (e.g., Internet advertising content) is automatically integrated with television (TV) broadcast content (e.g., TV commercial content) for display. The interactive content can be integrated with the TV broadcast content without modification of the original interactive content and TV broadcast content.  
     [0017] The content integration techniques described herein can avoid using additional production or editing of existing TV commercials to make them interactive. In particular, existing television commercials and existing Internet advertising banners can be easily integrated and combined into a complete end-to-end system. Such a system can integrate existing Internet advertising inventory systems and existing TV commercial inventory systems with interactive television subsystems into a single cohesive system. In such a system, broadcasters or content providers can target specific users with interactive content (e.g., an advertisement banner) integrated with specific TV commercial content.  
     [0018] In the following embodiments, content integration techniques are described in connection with integrating Internet advertising content with TV commercial content. However, the content integration techniques described herein are not intended to be limited to any specific types of content and can easily be implemented with other types of content. For example, the techniques described herein can be used to integrate interactive Internet content related to a baseball team (e.g., a URL of a website for a baseball team) with a broadcast of a baseball game in which the baseball team is playing.  
     [0019]FIG. 1A illustrates an exemplary interactive television system  100  in which the present invention can be implemented. Referring to FIG. 1, interactive television system  100  includes a set-top box  106  connected to a TV  104 . Set-top box  106  and TV  104  can receive inputs from a remote controller  122 . TV  104  is shown to have a network  102  connection capability. That is, TV  104  can be connected to network  102  via set-top box  106 . In one embodiment, TV  104  can receive and display Internet advertisement content  112  integrated with TV commercial  108 . Internet advertisement content  112  can interact with content on web server  112 . Set-top box  106  can be connected to network  102  through integration platform architecture  110  or directly through an input/output (I/O) interface such as a telephone line.  
     [0020] Set-top box  106  is a receiver for TV  104 . TV  104  is a display device. TV  104  can support analog, Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) or any of the other known TV standards. Set-top box receives input signals  120  (e.g., television signals) to display on TV  104 . Input signals  120  can be broadcast signals from a plurality of programming sources. For example, settop box  106  can receive broadcast signals as input signals  120  from an antenna, cable, or satellite source. Input signals  120  can be analog or digital signals. Set-top box  106  can provide on-screen displays (OSDs) or graphical user interfaces (GULs) to facilitate interactive services, e.g., accessing content on the Internet. As shown in FIG. 1A, settop box  106  can be controlled by a user of remote controller  122 . Alternatively, set-top box  106  can be controlled by other types of input devices such as, for example, an infrared (IR) keyboard.  
     [0021] Set-top box  106  also receives input from integration platform architecture  110 . In one embodiment, integration platform architecture  110  provides set-top box  106  with Internet advertising content  112  that is integrated automatically with TV commercial  108  for display on TV  104 . As will be described in further detail below, integration platform architecture  110  can integrate automatically specific types of TV commercials with specific types of Internet advertisements. For example, an Internet advertisement banner for a clothing company obtained from a website can be integrated with a TV commercial for the same clothing company on TV  104 .  
     [0022] Integration platform architecture  110  can be a computing system including multiple sub-systems for automatically integrating and delivering Internet advertisements with TV commercials. Alternatively, integration platform architecture  110  can include hardware and/or software modules operating within set-top box  106  to integrate automatically Internet advertising content with TV commercials. Integration platform architecture  110  can also transform content, e.g., a web page on web server  112 , to be displayable for an application, e.g., a browser running on TV  104 .  
     [0023] In one embodiment, integration platform architecture  110  integrates existing Internet advertisement content (e.g., a standard add banner from a website) with specific TV commercial content or programming in a synchronized manner. Integration platform architecture  110  can also link automatically the Internet advertisement content with the broadcasting of the TV commercial content. Such an automatic linking of Internet advertisement content with TV commercial content can be automatically “triggered” from a series of rules and instructions. The triggering can be based on personalization rules and demographic targeting rules.  
     [0024] For example, integration platform architecture  110  can target a specific audience (e.g., young adults) by integrating Internet advertisement content  112  for TV commercial  108  during a popular young adult program defined by a rule. In another embodiment, integration platform architecture  110  can target specific set-top boxes of a geographical area for integrating Internet advertising content  112  with TV commercial  108  defined by another rule. Such integration can use existing Internet advertisement content (e.g., an add banner) and TV commercials. Thus, integration platform architecture  110  allows a TV commercial to be enhanced with existing Internet advertisement content without any modifications to the TV commercial.  
     [0025] In one embodiment, network  102  is the Internet hosting the World Wide Web (WWW). The WWW allows for a uniform way of accessing information on the Internet using HTML compliant browsers. Network  102  can be other types of networks such as, for example, a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN). Network  102  can also represent wired or wireless networks. Although one web server  102  is shown in FIG. 1A, any number of web servers can be connected to network  102 . Furthermore, other types of network devices can also be connected to network  102 , which can provide content for TV  104 , such as, for example, a network router, bridge, gateway, or other like network devices.  
     [0026] Remote controller  122  is a control device for a user to provide inputs (e.g., infrared (IR) or radio frequency (RF) signals) to set-top box  106  and/or TV  104 . Remote controller  122  can include alphanumeric keys, options keys, functions keys, and other like keys to operate set-top box  106  or TV  104 . In one embodiment, a user can interact with Internet advertising content  112  using remote controller  122 . n particular, a user can access and navigate through set-top browser  108  on TV  104  by pressing selectively certain buttons or keys on remote controller  122 . Interactive television system  100  can also be implemented in numerous configurations. For example, TV  104  can have the functionality of set-top box  106  contained internally. TV  104  can also be a computing device, which can display television signals. Furthermore, the functionality of integration platform architecture  110  can be separate processing units or hardware and/or software modules operating within set-top box  106 .  
     [0027]FIG. 1B illustrates a simplified internal block diagram of the set-top box  106  of FIG. 1A according to one embodiment. For purposes of clarity, only the basic components of set-top box  106  are shown in block diagram form. Set-top box  106  is configured to provide interactive television content. For example, set-top box  106  can support and operate interactive TV standards such as, for example, Advanced Television Enhancement Form (ATVEF), Internet Protocol (IP) multicasting, multi-protocol encapsulation for Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), or broadcast HTML standards for Digital Television (DTV). Set-top box  106  thus provides for enhanced, interactive television content services.  
     [0028] Referring to FIG. 1B, set-top box  106  includes a central processing unit (CPU)  134  coupled to memory devices  138 , input/output ( 110 ) interfaces  136 , decoder  132 , and device frameworks  270 . Decoder  302  can receive inputs signals  120  and/or integrated content, e.g., Internet advertising content  112  integrated with TV commercial  108 . The integrated content can be enhanced, interactive television content. Decoder  132  can receive input signals  120  as analog (NTSC) or digital (ATSC) signals from a number sources including terrestrial, cable, and satellite sources. Decoder  132  outputs a TV signal to TV  104 , which can be enhanced with the integrated content as described herein.  
     [0029] CPU  134  is the central control mechanism for set-top box  106 . CPU  134  can execute code or instructions stored in memory devices  138  or device frameworks  270  or external storage devices via network  102 . For example, I/O interfaces  136  may include a connection to network  102  provided by a dial-up modem. I/O interfaces  136  can also include an (IR) or (RF) interface for receiving inputs from remote controller  122 .  
     [0030] Device frameworks  270  include software modules, which are used to implement interactive television services for set-top box  106 . In one embodiment, device frameworks  270  are thin client software modules operating within set-top box  108 . In an alternative embodiment, device frameworks  270  are thin client software modules operating within integration platform architecture  110 . As will be explained in further detail below, device frameworks  270  interface with applications within set-top box  106  to display integrated Internet advertisement content with TV commercials. In one embodiment, frameworks  270  receive “triggers” to allow for the integration of Internet advertisement content with TV commercials. For example, device frameworks  270  can store instructions to enable real time response to trigger automatically interactive Internet content with TV commercial content.  
     [0031] Memory devices  138  can include a machine-readable medium that provides (i.e., stores and/or transmits) information in a form readable, e.g., by CPU  134 . Memory devices  308  may include a read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, or flash memory devices. The code or instructions stored in memory devices  138  can be represented by carrier wave signals, infrared signals, digital signals, and by other like signals.  
     [0032]FIG. 2 illustrates an integration platform architecture  110  of FIG. 1A according to one embodiment. Integration platform architecture  110  provides details of the subsystems and networks to integrate Internet advertising content with television commercials. The subsystems can include hardware and/or software modules to integrate the content as described herein. For purposes of illustration, integration platform architecture  110  is shown communicating with a single set-top box  106 . Integration platform architecture  110 , however, can be implemented to communicate with a plurality of set-top boxes.  
     [0033] Referring to FIG. 2, set-top box  106  can receive TV and data broadcast from a plurality of sources such a satellite source  290 , wireless Multipoint Microwave Distribution System (MMDS) source  219 , x digital subscriber loop (DSL) source  221 , cable modem source  223 , and video server and tape machine source  210  via broadcast network  290 . Integration platform architecture  110  includes device frameworks  270 , application server  240 , advertising server  230 , advertising response database  235 , traffic server  250 , traffic management database  255 , broadcasting server  260 , and electronic program guide (EPG) and broadcast database  265 .  
     [0034] Device frameworks  270  are software modules. In one embodiment, device frameworks  270  are software modules operating within set-top box  106 . In an alternative embodiment, device frameworks  270  are software modules operating within a separate processing device external to set-top box  106 . In one embodiment, applications or code for device frameworks  270  are downloaded into set-top box  106 . Applications or code can also be pre-loaded in set-top box  106 , e.g., in a flash memory device.  
     [0035] In one embodiment, device frameworks  270  receive ATVEF triggers and content from application server  240 . Application server  240  can also send data and/or media assets from broadcasting server  260  to device frameworks  270 . Device frameworks  270  operate to handle events based on received ATVEF triggers and data and/or media content sent from application server  240 . ATVEF triggers are mechanisms to alert receivers or set-top boxes (e.g., set-top box  106 ) of incoming content enhancements.  
     [0036] In particular, ATVEF triggers include information about enhancements that are available to the user. For example, an ATVEF trigger can include a standard Universal Resource Locator (URL) location for enhanced content. The enhanced content can be broadcasted via broadcast network  290  or stored and transmitted via a local network such as network  280 . Furthermore, the enhanced content may be already stored within set-top box  106 . For example, as shown in FIG. 5A, device frameworks  270  can receive a “trigger” to combine commercial  520  with enhanced content  510  showing a URL location “http://www.xyz.com,” which is a location of an exemplary clothing retail website.  
     [0037] In another embodiment, the trigger may include readable description of content such as, for example, “press the browse button for more information about the product being advertised,” which can be displayed on TV  104  by set-top box  106 . The trigger can also include JavaScript code. For example, the trigger can be used to execute another piece of JavaScript code within an webpage. The trigger can also be used for other purposes such as synchronization of enhanced content with specific broadcast content. For example, the trigger can be used to integrate enhanced content  510  when commercial  520  is being broadcasted.  
     [0038] Device frameworks  270  communicates with application server  240  via network  275 , which can include a residential broadband network. In one embodiment, application server  240  provides the necessary information and data and instructs device frameworks  270  to integrate automatically an existing Internet advertising content, e.g., an advertisement banner, with a television commercial being broadcasted to set-top box  106  via broadcast network  290 . As such, existing television broadcast assets (“commercial”) can be quickly made interactive by taking existing Internet advertising content and integrating them into a single video broadcast for TV  104 .  
     [0039] Application server  240  is responsible for the overall logic, control, and management of the interactive subsystems, which include advertising server  230 , traffic  2 r: server  250 , and broadcasting server  260  and corresponding databases  235 ,  255 , and  265 , respectively. The servers  230 ,  240 ,  250 , and  260  can communicate with each other using a Remote Method Invocation (RMI) protocol, CORBA, COM+, or another well-known communication protocols.  
     [0040] Application server  240  interfaces with existing Internet resource managers (not shown in this view) for handling user requests and routing them to appropriate servers  230 ,  250 , and  260  for fulfillment. For example, if a user wants more information regarding a particular advertisement, application server  240  can send a request to advertising server  230  to access further content related to the advertisement in advertising response database  225 . If the requested content is not available in advertising response database  225 , application server  240  can search the Internet, e.g., accessing network  280  for the requested content.  
     [0041] Application server  240  can also track user actions operating set-top box  106 . For instance, application server  240  can track the number of times a user of a specific set-top box  106  selects a particular interactive service. In particular, application server  240  can be used to track the number of times a user interacts with Internet advertising content  112  each time commercial  108  was displayed on TV  104 . In one embodiment, device frameworks  207  is programmed or configured to provide such information to application server  240 . Application server  240  can than store tracked information in a database.  
     [0042] Advertising server  230  interfaces with advertising response database  235 . Advertising response database  235  stores Internet based advertising content that can be integrated with a TV commercial being broadcasted on TV  104 . In one embodiment, advertising content stored in advertising response database  235  is tagged with meta-data, which can be used to categorize the content and to link the content with a particular TV commercial. For example, as shown in FIG. 5A, interactive content  510  can be stored in advertising response database  235  and tagged with meta-data to be associated with commercial  520 . The meta-data is used to localize and personalize the interactive content based on, e.g., zip code of residence of the user, demographic profiling, collaborative filtering rules, or business logic rules.  
     [0043] Application server  240  uses advertising server  230  to manage and deliver the interactive advertising content stored in advertising response database  235  to users of set-top box  106  or other like receivers. For example, advertising response data  235  can store a plurality of ATVEF triggers to provide interactive enhancements on TV  104 . In one embodiment, advertising server  230  can be used to customize and localize interactive Internet advertisement for a specific market or geographic region. For example, advertising server  230  can store specific rules, which specify the personalization of content for a particular user, i.e., providing a local restaurant advertisement content with a local TV commercial for the restaurant.  
     [0044] Traffic server  250  interfaces with traffic management database  255 . In one embodiment, traffic management database  255  is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) database, which stores TV commercial content. Traffic management database  255  can also store meta-data related to the stored TV commercial content. For example, the meta-data can include TV commercial type information, length of TV commercial content, times to play the TV commercial content, and etc.  
     [0045] Traffic server  250  can be managed by application server  240  to deliver selectively TV commercial content stored in traffic management database  255  for display on TV  104 . Traffic server  250  can be used to update dynamically information stored in traffic management database  255 . For example, a TV producer or technical staff can control application server  240  or traffic server  250  to update information in traffic management database  255 . In one embodiment, traffic server  250  is responsible for providing all TV commercial content to be displayed on TV  104  and on other TV sets.  
     [0046] Broadcasting server  260  interfaces with electronic program guide (EPG) &amp; broadcast database  265  (“broadcast database  265 ”). Broadcasting server  260  also interfaces with mutliplexer/encoder  215 . Multiplexer/encoder  215  can provide ATVEF, VBI Encoding, MPEG Multiplexing, or IP encapsulation services to insert the data, media and content into a video broadcast stream (e.g., a TV commercial). In one embodiment, the formatting and structure of the content is based on ATVEF broadcast and delivery standards.  
     [0047] Broadcasting server  260  manages the delivery of content, triggers and media to the TV &amp; data broadcast (“TV broadcast”). In one embodiment, broadcasting server  260  is synchronized with advertising server  230  and traffic server  250  to provide TV commercial content stored in traffic management database  255  and Internet advertising content (e.g., by way of an ATVEF trigger) stored in advertising response database  225  to the TV broadcast via multiplexer/encoder  215 .  
     [0048] In one embodiment, broadcasting server  260  stores advertising content and TV commercial content in advance in broadcast database  265 . Broadcasting server  260  can also store scheduling and asset information in broadcast database  265 , which can be used to determine timing and scheduling for broadcasting the integrated content. In one embodiment, broadcasting server  260  sends the TV commercial content with an ATVEF trigger and/or advertising data or content to multiplexer/encoder  215 , which uses the ATVEF trigger to integrate the advertising content with the TV commercial content.  
     [0049] Broadcasting server  260  can be used to search, load and package advertising content. In one embodiment, broadcasting server  260  can store advertising content as CDF package files based on ATVEF standard. In an alternative embodiment, broadcasting server  260  can use a different standards such as EIA- 608  for recommended line  21  data insertion service or DVB standards. In one embodiment, broadcasting server  260  uses a scheduling algorithm to trigger or integrate content for set-top box  106 . For example, broadcasting server  260  can use “cache-ahead value” process to assign for each residential network (e.g., network  275 ) exact times to trigger integration of Internet advertising content with TV commercials.  
     [0050]FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of a basic operation  300  for automatically integrating Internet advertising content with television commercial content according to one embodiment. Initially, operation  300  begins at operation  310 .  
     [0051] At operation  310 , a TV commercial is linked with an Internet advertisement. For example, advertising server  230  can store links as meta-data in advertising response database  235  that can link TV commercial  520  with interactive content  510  as shown in FIG. 5A.  
     [0052] At operation  320 , a determination is made if the TV commercial is being broadcasted or is to be broadcasted. For example, application server  240  can determine if set-top box  106  is to receive TV commercial content, which is to be “triggered” for integrating an Internet advertising content such as interactive content  510 .  
     [0053] At operation  330 , the Internet advertisement is automatically integrated with the TV commercial. For example, broadcasting server  260  can integrate the content, which is to be delivered to multiplexer/encoder  215  (e.g., by inserting an ATVEF trigger) and then sent to set-top box  106 , or, alternatively, to be delivered to settop box  270  via application server  240  and device frameworks  270 .  
     [0054]FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of an operation  400  to launch interactive services via an Internet advertisement integrated with a TV commercial according to one embodiment. Initially, operation  400  begins at operation  410 .  
     [0055] At operation  410 , a video data stream is transmitted. For example, video server  210  can send a video datastream to multiplexer/encoder  215 .  
     [0056] At operation  420 , the video data stream is received by multiplexer/encoder  215 .  
     [0057] At operation  425 , multiplexer/encoder  215  queries broadcasting server  260  to determine if the video stream is to be integrated with interactive content. If not, multiplexer/encoder  215  can transmit the video stream to set-top box as is without the integrated interactive content.  
     [0058] At operation  430 , if broadcasting server  260  responds to multiplexer/encoder  215  that the video stream is to be integrated with interactive content, broadcasting server  260  will send an ATVEF trigger to multiplexer/encoder  215 . Multiplexer/encoder  215  then integrates interactive content in realtime based on the ATVEF trigger.  
     [0059] At operation  435 , multiplexer/encoder  215  then transmits the integrated content to set-top box  106 .  
     [0060] At operation  440 , set-top box  106  receives the integrated content. Device frameworks  270  within set-top  106  may further process the integrated content for display on TV  104 . For example, as shown in FIG. 5A, set-top  106  sends interactive content of a URL location “http://www.xyz.com” for a clothing retailer with TV commercial  520 , which is a commercial for the clothing retailer, for display on TV  104 .  
     [0061] At operation  445 , a user of TV  104  can launch interactive services by accessing interactive content  510 . For example, a user accessing interactive content  510  will begin interacting with a website as shown in FIG. 5B related to the clothing retailer.  
     [0062] Thus, a method and system for integrating Internet advertising with television commercials have been described. The method and system provide an end-to-end framework for network operators and broadcasters to integrate seamlessly existing assets to generate new interactive advertising services. In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.