Patent ID: 8667531

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for accelerating advertising placement decisions, comprising: receiving, at a programmed computer, a source signal stream having a channel identifier and an indication that an advertisement placement opportunity is located in the signal stream a time period prior to an advertisement signal point; transmitting, using the programmed computer, the channel identifier to a session manager; receiving, from the session manager at the programmed computer, a list of sessions corresponding to a number of recipients currently viewing a channel corresponding to the channel identifier; transmitting, using the programmed computer, the list of sessions and the channel identifier to a subscriber information service; receiving, by the programmed computer from the subscriber information service, a list of sets of audience qualifiers correlated to the list of sessions and the channel identifier; transmitting, to an ad decision service using the programmed computer, an ad call for each session in the list of sessions; receiving, from the ad decision service at the programmed computer, a plurality of advertisements targeted to the list of sessions; and storing, using the programmed computer, the plurality of advertisements in at least one cache prior to expiration of the time period, wherein the advertisement signal point is detected by the programmed computer.