Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7634789?ie=ISO-8859-1
Timestamp: 2014-12-25 18:24:23
Document Index: 596135525

Matched Legal Cases: ['art1', 'art1', 'art2', 'art2', 'art1', 'art 1', 'art1', 'art2', 'art 2', 'art2']

Patent US7634789 - System and method for displaying advertising in an interactive program guide - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign inAdvanced Patent SearchPatentsAn interactive program guide containing schedule data for multiple channels and advertising data is provided to viewers on a screen. The advertising may be related to the programs adjacent thereto in the guide and to time slots displayed on the screen. The advertising srolls in various directions in...http://www.google.com/patents/US7634789?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7634789 - System and method for displaying advertising in an interactive program guideAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7634789 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 09/929,506Publication dateDec 15, 2009Filing dateAug 14, 2001Priority dateAug 14, 2000Fee statusPaidAlso published asCA2419780A1, CA2419780C, DE60136377D1, EP1329099A1, EP1329099A4, EP1329099B1, US20020138834, WO2002015571A1, WO2002015571A9Publication number09929506, 929506, US 7634789 B2, US 7634789B2, US-B2-7634789, US7634789 B2, US7634789B2InventorsGeorge Gerba, Michael R. NicholsOriginal AssigneeCorporate Media PartnersExport CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (41), Non-Patent Citations (1), Referenced by (21), Classifications (17), Legal Events (3) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetSystem and method for displaying advertising in an interactive program guideUS 7634789 B2Abstract An interactive program guide containing schedule data for multiple channels and advertising data is provided to viewers on a screen. The advertising may be related to the programs adjacent thereto in the guide and to time slots displayed on the screen. The advertising srolls in various directions in response to the viewer's scrolling of the grid, but at a different pace and according to a different scheme than the scrolling of the schedule data itself. For example, the advertising may remain on the screen in a predetermined location while the viewer scrolls the schedule data, and then scroll off the screen to be replaced by new ads after a predetermined number of channels scroll off the screen, or on the basis of time slots and/or adjacent channels displayed on the screen. This provides for greater viewer attention to the advertising and for greater control by advertisers over the manner and length in which advertising is presented to viewers.
1. A method for displaying advertising in an electronic program guide on a display device, the electronic program guide comprising at least a list of program cells each containing a program choice available for viewing, the method comprising:
moving the advertisement cell in the first direction in accordance with a second scheme different than the first scrolling scheme as the list of program cells scrolls in the first direction, wherein moving the advertisement cell in accordance with the second scheme comprises scrolling the advertisement cell in concurrence with the scrolling of the program cell list during a first time portion, keeping the advertisement cell stationary during a second time portion in which the program cell list scrolls, the second time portion based upon a first number of program cells which will move past the advertisement cell while the advertisement cell is kept stationary, and scrolling the advertisement cell in concurrence with the scrolling of the program cell list upon expiration of the second time portion.
3. The method of claim 1, comprising receiving the first number of program cells from a location remote from the display device.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first direction comprises a vertical scrolling direction on the display device.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the program cell list contains a top cell and a bottom cell displayed on the display device, wherein keeping the advertisement cell stationary comprises keeping the advertisement cell stationary when the advertisement cell reaches the top or bottom cell of the program cell list.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein keeping the advertisement cell stationary comprises keeping the advertisement cell stationary during scrolling of a set number of program cells in the program cell list.
7. The method of claim 1, comprising inserting an advertisement into the advertisement cell which advertisement is related to one or more program cells displayed in the program guide on the display screen.
8. The method of claim 7, comprising replacing the inserted advertisement in the advertisement cell with another advertisement when the program choices displayed in the program guide change due to scrolling of the list of program cells.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic program guide comprises program choices available for viewing at scheduled times, and wherein the list of program cells are arranged according to the scheduled times of the program choices.
10. The method of claim 9, comprising inserting an advertisement into the advertisement cell which advertisement is related to a program choice available for viewing at a time close in time to the scheduled times of the program choices displayed on the display screen.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein inserting the advertisement comprises inserting the advertisement related to a program choice available for viewing at a time which is past the scheduled times of the program choices displayed on the display screen.
receiving a scrolling scheme parameter from a central station, the scrolling scheme parameter defining the first number of program cells,
wherein the second time portion is based upon the scrolling scheme parameter and the first number of program cells that will move past the advertisement cell while the advertisement cell is kept stationary.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the remote location includes a head end of a cable system.
14. The method of claim 12, wherein the scrolling scheme parameter further defines a position of the advertisement prior to the moving of the advertisement cell in the first direction.
15. An apparatus to present an interactive program guide displayable on a display device, comprising:
a plurality of program cells deployed in the memory, executable by the processor, and arranged in at least one row or column on a display device, the program cells being movable on a display device in response to user input; and
wherein during a first time the program cells and advertisement cell move in concurrent fashion and during a second time the advertisement cell remains stationary on the display device during movement of the program cells, wherein the first time and the second time occurs during a single scrolling movement of program cells in one direction, the second time is based upon a first number of program cells which will move past the advertisement cell while the advertisement cell is kept stationary and moving the advertisement cell in concurrent fashion with the program cells upon expiration of the second time.
16. An apparatus to present an interactive program guide displayable on a display device comprising:
a list of program choices deployed in the memory, executable by the processor, and arranged in at least one row or column on a display device, the listing being navigated by a user through scrolling in accordance with a first scrolling scheme; and
an advertisement cell contained within the program listing column or row, the advertisement cell being configured to move on the display device in accordance with a second scrolling scheme different than the first scrolling scheme while the listing is scrolling in accordance with the first scrolling scheme, wherein moving the advertisement cell in accordance with the second scrolling scheme comprises scrolling the advertisement cell in concurrence with the scrolling of the program cell list during a first time portion, keeping the advertisement cell stationary during a second time portion in which the program cell list scrolls, the second time portion is determined based upon a first number of program cells which will move past the advertisement cell while the advertisement cell is kept stationary, and scrolling the advertisement cell in concurrence with the scrolling of the program cell list upon the expiration of the second time portion.
17. The apparatus of claim 16, comprising a list of service identifiers displayed in association with the program choices in the program choice listings and an advertisement identifier contained in the list of service identifiers and displayed in association with the advertisement cell.
provisional application Ser. No. 60/225,209, titled �SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DISPLAYING ADVERTISING IN AN INTERACTIVE PROGRAM GUIDE,� filed Aug. 14, 2000; and provisional application Ser. No. 60/283,921, titled �INTERACTIVE TELEVISION NAVIGATION SYSTEM,� filed Apr. 16, 2001. RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is related to patent application Ser. No. 09/018,541, titled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR NAVIGATING THROUGH CONTENT IN AN ORGANIZED AND CATEGORIZED FASHION, filed Feb. 4, 1998, now pending, which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application in its entirety.
This application is related to patent application Ser. No. 09/103,317, titled METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING USER INTERFACE FOR ELECTRONIC PROGRAM GUIDE, filed Jun. 24, 1998, now pending, which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application in its entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention disclosed herein relates generally to electronic program guides. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for displaying more effective banner and tune-in ads in an interactive program guide.
Because of this necessity to use an electronic program guide, an opportunity is presented to advertise various products and services in the EPG contemporaneously with program schedule data. Examples of the use of advertising with programs guides are shown in International Application No. PCT/US97/23852 titled �EPG with Advertising Inserts,� and U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,073 titled �Method and System for Displaying Other Information in a TV Program Guide,� both of which are hereby incorporated by reference into this application. PCT application PCT/US97/23852 discusses the insertion of an advertisement between television program listings in an EPG screen. The advertisement appears as a single line in the program guide grid and scrolls or otherwise moves along with and in identical fashion as the rest of the program listings. U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,073 discusses an EPG having an area on the EPG display, separate from the program listings portion of the display, for advertising programs, products and services, where the advertising information changes as the user moves the EPG cursor from cell to cell or after the passage of a predetermined number of seconds.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a system and method for contemporaneously displaying schedule data and advertising data in an interactive program guide in a fashion which increases the likelihood of receiving user attention to the advertisement, but which keeps the ad from becoming obtrusive or annoying to the user. The advertising data may be related to programs scheduled for broadcast and time slots at which programs are scheduled for broadcast. As such, the advertisement may serve as a �tune-in� ad for upcoming programming.
The present invention further includes improved user interface designs for an interactive program guide. According to one embodiment, the improved user interface contains a listing of program choices arranged in at least one row or column on a display device, the listing being navigated by a user through scrolling in accordance with a first scrolling scheme, and an advertisement cell contained within the program listing column or row. The advertisement cell is configured to move on the display device in accordance with a second scrolling scheme, the second scrolling scheme being different than the first scrolling scheme. In addition, a list of service identifiers, such as television channel numbers or operators, is displayed in association with the program choices in the program choice listings, and an advertisement identifier, such as the word �AD,� is contained in the list of service identifiers and displayed in association with the advertisement cell. Thus, the content of the advertisement cell is clearly identifying as an ad and not necessarily a program choice such as may otherwise be displayed in a currently scheduled time slot in the guide.
FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of the interactive program guide when the viewer activates the �up� function to scroll the scheduling data in grid 300 in the direction of arrow U in FIG. 9;
FIG. 14 shows a block diagram of the interactive program guide when the viewer activates the �left� function to scroll the scheduling data in grid 300 in the direction of arrow L in FIG. 9;
FIG. 15 shows a block diagram of the interactive program guide when the viewer activates the �right� function to scroll the scheduling data in grid 300 in the direction of arrow R in FIG. 9;
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As a general overview, the present invention includes a system and method for providing advertisements in an interactive program guide. The interactive program guide is displayed on a monitor such as in the form of a grid that contains multiple rows and columns, thereby dividing the grid into a number of cells. Each row of data in the interactive program guide represents programming data provided on a specific channel at sequential times, and the columns of information in the grid represent different programs available within a given time slot. According to the present invention, at least one of the rows does not contain the names of programs starting at particular times, but instead contains advertising data. In one aspect of the present invention, the advertising data is related to a time slot in which the advertising data is displayed. In another aspect of the present invention, the advertising data may also be related to substantially adjacent channels displayed on the screen. In addition, the viewer may interact with the advertisements appearing in the interactive program guide. These as well as additional features of the advertisements in the interactive program guide according to the present invention are described in detail below.
One embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures. In particular and as described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,256,785, incorporated herein by reference, FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a digital broadcast system 100 which includes a head end 102 and a receiving end 104. The head end 102 includes a head end system 106 coupled, in a representative embodiment, to a microwave transmission dish 108. The receiving end 104 includes microwave receiving antenna 110 coupled to a set-top box 112 which, in turn, is coupled to television monitor 114. The transmission in this embodiment is direct dish-to-dish microwave. Alternatively, the digital broadcast may be transmitted from the head end system 102 to a satellite, where the broadcast is �bounced� off for retransmission to the receiving end 104. Furthermore, a wire (cable) connection may be utilized as a digital broadcast medium. Those of skill in the art will appreciate that any conventional television distribution system may be used within the scope of the invention.
Exemplary screen displays for the IPG user interface of the present invention are shown in FIGS. 3-8. As shown in FIG. 3, this embodiment of an IPG consists of a grid 200 with program cells 202 having program choices contained therein, arranged in a two-dimensional grid of time 206 vs. channel 208. An advertisement cell or cells 204 are contained within the grid portion 200 of the IPG, with the word �AD� contained in the channel list 208 displayed adjacent the advertisement cell 204. The advertisement cell 204 is larger than the program cells 202, having in this case about the height of three program cells 202. The advertisement is a bit-mapped graphic arranged either horizontally or vertically, and may further contain animated graphics, such as with animated GIFs, sprite animation such as Flash or Shockwave, or other technology as allowed by the set top box and operating system.
FIG. 3 shows two advertisements in the advertisement cells. One ad is for a television show �Spin City� airing at 8:30 pm that night. Note that the grid is currently displaying shows airing at 7:00 pm, 7:30 pm and 8:00 pm, so that this ad is for a show just to the future of the current time slot. The second ad is for a program called �CatDog� scheduled to air at 7:30 pm on Tuesdays. This again relates the time of the program featured in the ad to the currently displayed time 206 in the grid 200.
An alternative advertisement which may appear in the advertisement cell is shown in FIG. 4. This ad 212 is a large sized ad, filling up over two columns of the grid row with a single ad. This ad 212 features a movie called �A Bug's Life,� scheduled to air at 8:00 pm on an upcoming Saturday. Here to, the ad relates in time to the time of the program cells in the IPG.
In accordance with one embodiment, the user enters the IPG screen with stationary highlight cell 214 (described in the above referenced application including Ser. No. 09/103,317) positioned over the last program that the viewer had been watching. The ad 204 appears at the top of the grid. If the viewer presses the down arrow on his or her remote control device, the grid lines move up off the screen, and the lines of the grid scroll up under the ad 204. The ad 204 sticks in place until an addressable number of lines, sometimes referred to herein as a page, have scrolled beneath it, then unsticks and scrolls up off-screen with the text. As the ad 204 scrolls off the top of the grid, another ad scrolls up from the bottom, so that when the first ad has completely scrolled off screen, the new ad completely occupies the bottom three lines of the scrolling grid. If the viewer continues to scroll, the ad scrolls up into the highlight lens 214, which expands or �trombones� vertically and horizontally to accommodate the different size of the ad. This is shown in FIG. 5. If the viewer scrolls the ad out of the lens 214, it sticks in place when it reaches the top of the screen, restarting the cycle.
Further in accordance with embodiments of the invention, when an ad is not in the lens 214, left/right scrolling of the grid has no effect on the ad. The scrolling grid scrolls independently of the ad. Likewise, when an ad is in the lens, left/right scrolling has no effect on a the grid. When an ad is in the lens, left/right scrolling causes the ads to scroll at the rate of one complete ad per left/right arrow execution. Ads are not �slippery� and do not get truncated as program cells do. If an ad is in the lens and the viewer presses the right arrow, the ad to the right of the ad in the lens scrolls into the lens, and a new ad scrolls in from off-screen to replace it, as shown in FIG. 7. Depending upon the size of an ad buffer, as described further below, the new ad may be the ad that was originally in the lens, or it may be an entirely new ad. If the system only supports two ads at a time, the same two ads will simply loop, as shown in FIG. 7, where the ad for Spin City moved in from the right as the new ad.
Further shown in FIG. 9 is lens 318 responsive to a remote control (not shown) operated by the viewer. By activating directional buttons (left, right, up, down) on the remote control, the viewer moves the lens 318 from one cell to another in grid 300. As described in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/103,317, the lens may be stationary while the grid scrolls behind it. Alternatively, lens 318 may move or �slide� in a desired direction across the cell boundaries, or alternatively may �jump� to the next cell to accommodate the size of that cell when the viewer presses the directional button.
As also described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/103,317, the current video program is presented to the viewer on the screen when the viewer presses a �Gimme� or enter button on the remote control, provided the activated video program is currently in progress. Alternatively, another function activated in response to the viewer pressing the �Gimme� button on the remote control allows the viewer to tag future video programs for later viewing or recording. Thoroughly explained in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/103,317, the description of these functions will not be repeated herein in order not to detract from the present invention.
The IPG data, including scheduling and advertising data, presented in grid 300 may be scrolled up, down, left or right in response to the viewer pressing directional buttons on the remote control. For example, when the viewer activates the �down� function to scroll the scheduling data in grid 300 in the direction of arrow D in FIG. 9, the program schedule data moves down. In accordance with the present invention, the advertisement in ad row 312 does not move down immediately but rather stays in the same position on the display, at least for a given number of program cells scrolled. In contrast to the embodiments described above with reference to FIGS. 3-8 in which the advertisement data became temporarily stationary at the top or bottom while a certain number of program cells scrolled past, the advertisement row 312 in this embodiment is shown to be temporarily stationary in the middle portion of the grid 300. The exact position of the advertisement during its period of temporary non-movement is a matter of design choice. Scheduling data for new video channels appear at the top of the grid while the scheduling data for video channels HBO and Bravo scrolls off the monitor screen.
Similarly, when the viewer activates the �down� function to scroll the scheduling data in grid 300 in the direction of arrow U in FIG. 9, grid 300 acquires the appearance as shown in FIG. 10. Scheduling data for new video channels Cinemax and Pay-Per-View appears in rows 324 and 326, respectively, for time slots 7:00 p.m., 7:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., while the scheduling data for video channels CBS and NBC scrolls off the monitor screen. FIG. 10 shows grid 300 after the viewer moved it up by 2 rows such that the scheduling data is displayed in the rows for the following channels (top to bottom in grid 300): ABC, Disney, HBO, Bravo, Cinemax, Pay-Per-View. The advertisements in ad row 312 have not moved during this brief scrolling operation.
FIG. 10 shows that ad row 312 containing the advertising data remains in the same position as before the scrolling operation of the scheduling data. As the viewer activates the �down� or �up� function for moving the scheduling data within grid 300, the scheduling data for adjacent video channels (Disney, HBO in FIG. 10) scrolls underneath ad row 312 containing advertisements. The scheduling data re-appears below or above ad row 312 during the scrolling operation.
In one aspect of the present invention, the contents of ad row 312 are replaced with different advertising material after a predetermined number of channels are scrolled off the screen in response to the viewer using �up� and/or �down� buttons on the remote control device. As the viewer chooses to scroll the scheduling data up or down to view the scheduling information for other video channels, ad row 312 starts moving in the direction of the scrolling operation. As shown in FIG. 11, ad row 312 �unsticks� and moves in the scrolling direction, along with other video channels displayed in the grid 300, after a predetermined number of video channels are scrolled off the screen. Thus, as the viewer scrolls the scheduling data up or down in grid 300, ad row 312 starts moving as illustrated in FIG. 11.
After ad row 312 scrolls off the screen, another row of ad data 312′ appears at the top or bottom of the screen, depending on the scrolling direction. Hence, if the previous ad data scrolls off the screen as shown in FIG. 11, new ad data in ad row 312′ appears at the bottom of the screen as shown in FIG. 12. If the viewer continues the scrolling operation in the same direction, the new ad data in ad row 312′ scrolls in that direction until it gets to a predetermined location on the screen. In this embodiment of the present invention, the predetermined location for the ad row is substantially in the center of the screen. At that time, the new advertising data in ad row 312′ �sticks� in the predetermined location despite the viewer's scrolling operation of the scheduling data in grid 300. Of course, the viewer may reverse the scrolling direction prior to the new advertising data in ad row 312′ reaching its destination. In this situation, ad row 312′ does not �stick� anywhere, and instead, the new advertising data continues to scroll off the screen in the new direction and may once again re-appear on the screen from a different direction.
In another aspect of the present invention, if the viewer scrolls the scheduling data up or down causing the rows of grid 300 to move off the screen and causing the advertisements to move from the center row, the ads �stick� at the top and/or bottom of the screen depending on the scrolling direction. As shown in FIG. 13, the advertisements remain in the top schedule row 328 until a predetermined number of rows is scrolled beneath the ads. Then, the advertisements in the top schedule row 328 �unstick� and scroll off the screen. Alternatively, the ads in the top schedule row 328 may �unstick� and are replaced by a new advertisement based on the video channels that scroll into view and are in proximity of the top schedule row 328 in grid 300 as described hereinabove.
As briefly mentioned, the viewer may scroll the scheduling data in grid 300 to the left in the direction of arrow L or to the right in the direction of arrow R shown in FIG. 3. For example, when the viewer activates the �left� function to scroll the scheduling data in grid 300 in the direction of arrow L in FIG. 9, grid 300 has the appearance as shown in FIG. 14. The scheduling data for the same video channels as in FIG. 9 appears in grid 300 for the new time slots 5:30 p.m., 6:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. FIG. 14 shows grid 300 after the viewer moved it to the left by 3 columns.
Similarly, when the viewer activates the �right� function to scroll the scheduling data in grid 300 in the direction of arrow R in FIG. 9, grid 300 has the appearance as shown in FIG. 15. The scheduling data for the same video channels as in FIG. 9 appears in grid 300 for time slots 7:30 p.m., 8:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. FIG. 15 shows grid 300 after the viewer moved it right by 1 column.
FIGS. 14 and 15 further show that the advertising data �sticks� in ad row 312 remains in the same position as before the left scrolling or right scrolling operation of the scheduling data. That is, as the viewer activates the �left scroll� or �right scroll� function for moving the scheduling data within grid 300, the advertisements do not change. As explained above, this occurs when the advertisement data is not positioned in the lens 318 (the lens not being specifically shown in FIGS. 14 and 15). Left/right scrolling has no effect on the ads, and the scheduling data in grid 300 scrolls independently of the ads.
As described above, the viewer may move lens 318 from one cell to another over the entire grid, or may move the grid around while the lens stays stationary on the display and cells enter and leave it, in either case thereby selecting different cells. Using lens 318, the viewer may highlight the ad cell. In this situation, lens 318 �trombones� both vertically and horizontally in order to properly display the ad because the ad will generally not be the precise width of the grid columns surrounding it. This �tromboning� action is functionally similar to the �tromboning� that takes place with program cells in the program guide; that is, lens 318 changes size dynamically as the ad scrolls into it. With ad cell scrolling, lens 318 �trombones� vertically and/or horizontally to accomodate the difference in height and/or width between ad cells and program cells.
The viewer may press a �Gimme� button on the remote control while the ad is in lens 318. The following operations may take place depending on the contents of the ad which was activated by the viewer. If the ad is for a currently airing program, or a program airing within a predetermined time period, pressing the �Gimme� button while the ad is in the lens takes the viewer to the channel showing the program. If the ad is for a program that is airing at some time in the future, pressing the �Gimme� button initiates a tag sequence at an appropriate point for later viewing. If the ad is for a Pay-Per-View event, pressing the �Gimme� button begins a buy sequence at an appropriate point to purchase the requested event. If the ad is for another product or service, pressing the �Gimme� button takes the viewer to the information page for that service. Alternatively, a store-and-forward or other type of purchase may be initiated for the advertised product or service upon pressing of the �Gimme� button.
As further shown in FIG. 19, in block 1410 it is determined whether the viewer scrolled the schedule data to display another channel listing. If so, in block 1412 a new ad related to the new channel listing in grid 300 is provided in ad row 312. Otherwise, in block 1414 a decision is made whether the viewer placed lens 318 over the ad in row 312. If this is the case, additional information about the ad in the lens is displayed on the screen in block 1416. In block 1418, another decision is made whether the viewer selected an ad using the �Gimme� button. If so, in block 1420 various functions are performed depending on the contents of the ad as described above.
APPENDIX The Appendix, which forms part of the present application, contains the definitions for the fields in the advertisment delivery table shown in FIG. 20. Some of the terminology, including names of levels and zones, is best understood with reference to prior applications incorporated herein by reference, such as Ser. No.09/018,541.
Version of the content contained in this
Version of the table format definition. For
Size of the fields in bytes between block
size and 1st _loop_size.
offset_start_date_time
The date and time from which all time and
cdatetime[48]
display_page_size_tv
For the Guide Level in the TV Zone, the
display_page_size_ec
For the Guide Level in the express cinema
display_page_size_croads
For the Guide Level in the Crossroads
1st fixed loop size
Size of the first fixed length loop.
Number of fixed-length records in this
lineup_bitmap
A bitmap of lineups where least
bit_flag[24],
significant bit is lineup 1 and most
navigator_zone
Navigator zones in which this ad appears
dom_flags
0 � 01 TV zone;
0 � 02 Express zone;
0 � 04 Crossroads zone;
0 � 08 through 0 � 80 are reserved.
navigator_level
Navigator levels in which this ad appears
active_flags
0 � 01 Host level;
0 � 02 Multiview level;
0 � 04 Guide level;
0 � 08 Channel level;
0 � 10 Info level;
0 � 20 Custom level;
0 � 40 through 0 � 80 are reserved.
Date/time when this data becomes
Date/time when this data expires
The duration (in minutes) that Ad remains
asset_type_part1
The type of asset used for the initially
0 � 00 Not applicable,
0 � 01 Text;
0 � 02 Graphic;
0 � 03 Video;
0 � 04 Shock
0 � 05 URL;
0 � 06 HTML;
0 � 07 through 0 � FF are reserved.
asset_id_part1
Unique identifier for the initially viewable
asset_type_part2
The type of asset used for extended lens
0 � 00 Not applicable;
0 � 04 Shock;
asset_id_part2
Unique identifier for the extended lens
asset_type_PIP
The type of asset used for display in the
asset_id_PIP
Unique identifier for the PIP portion of the
The Priority of the AD. A value of 0 is
intended_audience_bitmask
Bitmask which indicates the audience for
audience_flags
which this ad is intended:
The ID of the pre-defined or user-defined
Defines the type of ad for this record
(Phase 1 supports 0 � 00, 0 � 01, 0 � 02, 0 � 06
and 0 � 07 ads)
0 � 00 reserved
0 � 01 half length banner ad;
0 � 02 full length banner ad;
0 � 03 Parent Virtual Channel Ad
0 � 04 Fixed Virtual Channel Ad
0 � 05 Highlighted Channel Ad (HCA);
0 � 06 sort category banner ad (upper);
0 � 07 sort category banner ad (lower);
0 � 09 Hot Spot ad;
0 � 10 Message ad;
0 � 1A through 0 � FF are reserved.
beg_display_row
For full and half ads, the first row in the
end_display_row
For full and half ads, the last row in the
display_row_pack-
For full, half and FVCA ads, the number
of discrete row ranges in/on which ad
display is intended.
position_service_id
For PVCA ads, the parent service ID for
M: PVCA and
the row in the guide below which the ad
The left/right display information for the
M: hot spot
position of the ad. This is a stub for future
table�s column index, depending on the ad
The top/bottom display information for
the position of the ad. This is a stub for
table�s row index, depending on the ad
The percent opacity of the ad. This is a
M hot spot
stub for future (Phase 3) ads, such as hot
Action type associated with �G� key
(Phase I only supports 0 � 00):
0 � 00 no action is associated with
0 � 01 a destination URL will carry out
0 � 02 event for autotune/mark/mark-to-
0 � 03 marquee for autotune/purchase/
0 � 04 generally purchasable product
0 � 05 a destination virtual channel
The identifier for the service on which the
M: action type
advertised program in the ad is to be aired.
with action type 0 � 02 (i.e. event for
action types other than 0 � 02, this value
GMT date and time the program�s
broadcast begins. This helps identify
programs with action type 0 � 02 (i.e. event
marquee_id
The identifier for the marquee record for
autotune/purchase/purchase-and-record.
For action types other than 0 � 03, this
The identifier for the generally
TBD (dependent
purchasable item.
virtual_page_id
The identifier for the virtual page to be
TBD (depends on
accessed in order to carry out the action.
how Crossroads
This is used for ads with action type 0 � 05
virtual pages are
(i.e. a page in the Crossroads zone). Note,
the variable_data section should be used.
variable_data_offset
Starting position offset (in Bytes) of the
data_count field
variable_data_count
Number of records that follow
url_string_length
Specifies the length of the URL field
For URL ad types, the URL associated
vstring[~]
Specifies the length of the display row
age_length
package field.
beg_display_row_range[]
The first row in this guide range after
end_display_row_range[]
For half and full ads, the last row in this
ad_part1_text_length
Specifies the length of the text for part 1,
ad_part1_text
ad_part2_text_length
Specifies the length of the text for part 2,
ad_part2_text
Description of the ad.
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OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNOR:CORPORATE MEDIA PARTNERS;REEL/FRAME:029249/0889Jan 22, 2002ASAssignmentOwner name: CORPORATE MEDIA PARTNERS, ILLINOISFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:GERBA, GEORGE;NICHOLS, MICHAEL R.;REEL/FRAME:012546/0582Effective date: 20011214RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services©2012 Google