Patent ID: 7028071

Claim:
A method of selectively substituting content into content streams for transmission to one or more users comprising the steps of: generating a broadcast data stream comprising a plurality of content blocks and at least one floating reference content block, each of said content blocks comprising content, said floating reference content block being an empty block having metadata but no content; transmitting said broadcast data stream; selecting content to be provided in said broadcast data stream via said floating reference content block by comparing and determining an optimal match between at least two criteria selected from the group consisting of a profile of a broadcast station from which said broadcast data stream is transmitted, a profile of an advertisement spot in said broadcast data stream corresponding to said floating reference content block, a profile of a user group comprising a plurality of said users, a profile of one of said users, a profile of said broadcast data stream, and profiles of content available for substitution into said broadcast data stream; and creating a reference content block comprising at least one of selected content and a reference with which to obtain said selected content from a storage location, said selected content corresponding to said optimal match, said reference content block being used in said broadcast data stream in lieu of said floating reference content block.