Delivering content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10257573-B2
Application number	US-201515531331-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 26, 2015
Priority date	Nov 26, 2014
Publication date	Apr 9, 2019
Grant date	Apr 9, 2019

Abstract

In one embodiment, there is a content delivery system comprising: a communication network; a media component configured to transmit media content and associated metadata to user devices; a store holding permission vouchers for users of the system; an auxiliary content management component configured to: receive a request for auxiliary content insertion information from a user device, the request comprising an identifier of a user of the user device and an identifier of desired media content; access said store to determine permission for consumption of the desired media content in a resource constrained playout mode at the device based on at least one permission voucher for the user; generate auxiliary content insertion information based on the identifier of the user, the identifier of the desired media content and the at least one permission voucher; and transmit the generated auxiliary content insertion information to the user device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An auxiliary content management component for a content delivery system, the auxiliary content management component comprising:
a processor having an input configured to receive a request for auxiliary content information from a user device, the request comprising an identifier of a user associated with the user device and an identifier of desired media content transmitted to the user device from a media component; and
a store for holding at least one permission voucher for users of the content delivery system, the permission voucher indicating that auxiliary content for a user based on the received request can be deferred in a constrained playout mode in which auxiliary content associated with the desired media content is reduced for the user,
wherein the processor is configured to:
apply an analysis to the received request to determine auxiliary content information for the user for the desired media content;
apply a second analysis to determine if the constrained playout mode is enabled for the user;
carry out an access to the store, if the constrained playout mode is enabled, to identify the at least one permission voucher for the user;
apply a modification to generate adapted auxiliary content information based on the at least one permission voucher for the user, to exclude the deferred auxiliary content;
carry out an access to the store to store information identifying the deferred auxiliary content; and
carry out transmission of the auxiliary content information to the user device during a playout session,
wherein on a subsequent request for auxiliary content from the user, the processor is configured to access the store to determine whether playout of auxiliary content has previously been deferred, and apply such deferred auxiliary content responsive to such subsequent request.

2. An auxiliary content management component according to claim 1 , wherein for each piece of auxiliary content that is to be inserted in the playout session, metadata associated with the piece of auxiliary content comprises at least (i) an identifier enabling access to the piece of auxiliary content stored in an auxiliary content store connected to the communication network; and (ii) a timing offset indicating when the piece of auxiliary content is to be played out in the playout session in relation to the desired media content.

3. An auxiliary content management component according to claim 2 , wherein for each piece of auxiliary content that is to be inserted in the playout session, metadata associated with the piece of auxiliary content further comprises an event trigger that causes the user device to transmit a tracking message to the auxiliary content management component upon detecting that playout of the piece of auxiliary content has been skipped by the user.

4. An auxiliary content management component according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one permission voucher comprises a permission voucher granting permission for the user to consume the desired media content in the playout session with no auxiliary content inserted in at least one location in the playout session, and the auxiliary content management component is configured to generate the auxiliary content information to not include any metadata of auxiliary content to be inserted at said at least one location that would otherwise be included by the auxiliary content management component based on only the identifier of the user and the identifier of the desired media content.

5. An auxiliary content management component according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one permission voucher comprises a permission voucher granting permission for the user to consume the desired media content in the playout session with reduced auxiliary content inserted in at least one location in the playout session, and the auxiliary content management component is configured to generate the auxiliary content information to include metadata identifying a reduced number of pieces of auxiliary content to be inserted at said at least one location than that which would otherwise be identified based on only the identifier of the user and the identifier of the desired media content.

6. An auxiliary content management component according to claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary content that is to be deferred, is to be played out to the user at a later point in time, and the auxiliary content management component is configured to store the metadata of the auxiliary content and timing information indicating when the auxiliary content is to be played out to the user, for use in generating auxiliary content information when a subsequent request for auxiliary content information is received that comprises the identifier of the user.

7. An auxiliary content management component according to claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary content that is to be deferred, is deferred to a companion user device associated with the user, and the auxiliary content management component is configured to store the metadata of the auxiliary content for use in generating auxiliary content information when a subsequent request for auxiliary content information is received from the companion user device that comprises the identifier of the user.

8. An auxiliary content management component according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one permission voucher grants permission for the user to consume the desired media contact in at least one location, the at least one location comprising one or any combination of:
a location before playout of the desired media content;
one or more locations during playout of the desired media content; and
a location after playout of the desired media content.

9. An auxiliary content management component according to claim 1 , further configured to obtain information on one or any combination of: a genre of the desired media content, a gender of the user, an age of the user and a device type of the user device, and determine the auxiliary content that is to be inserted in the playout session based on said information; wherein the auxiliary content management component is configured to obtain said information based on at least one of: (i) extracting said information from said request, and (ii) accessing said information from a store in the content delivery system using the identifier of the user.

10. A content delivery system comprising:
a communication network;
a media component connected to the communication network and configured in response to receiving a request for desired media content from a user device, to transmit the desired media content and metadata associated with the media content to the user device;
a store holding permission vouchers for users of the content delivery system;
an auxiliary content management component according to claim 1 .

11. A method for an auxiliary content management component in a content delivery system, the method comprising:
receiving, by a processor, a request for auxiliary content information from a user device, the request comprising an identifier of a user associated with the user device and an identifier of desired media content transmitted to the user device from a media component;
storing, by the processor, at least one permission voucher for users of the content delivery system, the permission voucher indicating that auxiliary content for a user based on the received request can be deferred in a constrained playout mode in which auxiliary content associated with the desired media content is reduced for the user,
applying, by the processor, an analysis to the received request to determine auxiliary content information for the user for the desired media content;
applying, by the processor, a second analy

Assignees

• Piksel Inc

Inventors

• Shaw Philip
• Maas Hans-Jurgen
• Christie Mark

Classifications

• H04N21/8453

  by locking or enabling a set of features, e.g. optional functionalities in an executable program · CPC title

• H04N21/258

  Client or end-user data management, e.g. managing client capabilities, user preferences or demographics, processing of multiple end-users preferences to derive collaborative data {(arrangements for services using the result on the distributing side of broadcast systems H04H60/66; profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/30)} · CPC title

• H04N21/251

  Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies (details of learning user preferences for the retrieval of video data in a video database G06F16/739; computer systems using learning methods G06N3/08) · CPC title

• H04N21/25435

  involving characteristics of content or additional data, e.g. video resolution or the amount of advertising · CPC title

• H04N21/44218

  Detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the room or changes his face expression during a TV programme (methods or arrangements for recognising human body or animal bodies or body parts G06V40/10; methods or arrangements for acquiring or recognising human faces, facial parts, facial sketches, facial expressions G06V40/16; methods or arrangements for recognising movements or behaviour G06V40/20; arrangements for identifying users in broadcast systems H04H60/45) · CPC title