Systems and methods for advertising continuity

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10623795-B2
Application number	US-201815991904-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 29, 2018
Priority date	Mar 24, 2016
Publication date	Apr 14, 2020
Grant date	Apr 14, 2020

Abstract

Methods and systems are described for generating content identification files, such as manifest files, for ensuring content and advertising continuity when changes occur during playback. A user device can request content at a particular bitrate, and a first manifest file comprising references to the content and selected associated content such as advertisements can be created in response to the request. While one of the advertisements is being displayed, the user device can request a change, such as for a different bitrate. A computing device, such as a manifest server can access the first manifest file to determine the content and the associated content, such the advertisements, that were intended for the user. The manifest server can then create a second manifest file in response to the request, where second manifest file can be created with the associated content, for example, the advertisements in the first manifest file.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining, by a first manifest server, based on a request from a user device for content at a first bitrate, a first manifest file and state information, wherein the first manifest file comprises a reference to the content at the first bitrate and one or more references to fragments of one or more advertisements at the first bitrate;
sending, to the user device, the first manifest file;
sending, to a second manifest server, the state information;
determining, by the second manifest server, based on the state information, a second manifest file comprising a reference to the content at a second bitrate and one or more references to fragments of one or more advertisements at the second bitrate; and
sending, to the user device, based on a request from the user device for the content at the second bitrate, the second manifest file.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fragments of the one or more advertisements at the first bitrate correspond to the fragments of the one or more advertisements at the second bitrate.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving the request from the user device for the content at the second bitrate, wherein the request comprises a device identifier of the user device; and
wherein, determining, by the second manifest server, the second manifest file is further based on the device identifier of the user device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more advertisements at the second bitrate comprise the same content as the one or more advertisements at the first bitrate.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request from the user device for the content at the first bitrate comprises a device identifier of the user device; and wherein sending, to the second manifest server, the state information further comprises sending, to the second manifest server, the device identifier of the user device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the state information comprises a device identifier of the user device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second manifest file comprises a reference to one or more fragments of additional advertisements.

8. A method comprising:
sending, by a first manifest server to an advertisement server, based on a request from a user device for content at a first bitrate, a request for one or more advertisements at the first bitrate;
receiving, based on the request, first information associated with the one or more advertisements at the first bitrate;
determining, based on the first information, a first manifest file and state information, wherein the first manifest file comprises a reference to the content at the first bitrate and one or more references to fragments of the one or more advertisements at the first bitrate;
determining, based on a request from the user device for the content at a second bitrate and the state information, one or more identifiers of the one or more advertisements;
sending, to the advertisement server, a request for the one or more advertisements at the second bitrate, wherein the request comprises the one or more identifiers;
receiving, based on the request for the one or more advertisements at the second bitrate, second information associated with the one or more advertisements at the second bitrate; and
determining, based on the second information, a second manifest file comprising a reference to the content at the second bitrate and one or more references to fragments of the one or more advertisements at the second bitrate.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the fragments of the one or more advertisements at the first bitrate correspond to the fragments of the one or more advertisements at the second bitrate.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
sending, to the user device, the first manifest file; and
sending, to the user device, the second manifest file.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the request from the user device for the content at the first bitrate comprises a device identifier of the user device; and wherein the state information comprises the device identifier of the user device.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the request from the user device for the content at the second bitrate comprises a device identifier of the user device; and wherein the state information comprises the device identifier of the user device.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first information comprises at least one of a codec or a format of the one or more advertisements at the first bitrate.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the second information comprises at least one of a codec or a format associated with the one or more advertisements at the second bitrate.

15. A method comprising:
sending a request for content at a first bitrate;
receiving, from a first manifest server based on the request for the content at the first bitrate, a first manifest file, wherein the first manifest file comprises a reference to the content at the first bitrate and one or more references to fragments of one or more advertisements at the first bitrate;
receiving, based on the first manifest file, the content at the first bitrate;
sending a request for the content at a second bitrate;
receiving, from a second manifest server based on the request for the content at the second bitrate, a second manifest file, wherein the second manifest file comprises a reference to the content at the second bitrate and one or more references to fragments of the one or more advertisements at the second bitrate; and
receiving, based on the second manifest file, the content at the second bitrate.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the fragments of the one or more advertisements at the first bitrate correspond to the fragments of the one or more advertisements at the second bitrate.

17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the request for the content at the first bitrate comprises a device identifier of a user device; and wherein the request for the content at the second bitrate comprises the device identifier of the user device.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first manifest file further comprises one or more of an identifier associated with a user device, an identifier associated with the content at the first bitrate, or an attribute of the content.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the second manifest file further comprises one or more of an identifier associated with the user device, an identifier associated with the content at the second bitrate, or an attribute of the content.

20. The method of claim 15 , further comprising causing display of the content at the second bitrate.

Assignees

• Comcast Cable Communications Man Llc

Inventors

• Ramaley Alan

Classifications

• H04N21/64322

  IP · CPC title

• H04N21/6373

  for rate control {, e.g. request to the server to modify its transmission rate (flow control in packet networks H04L47/10)} · CPC title

• H04N21/812

  involving advertisement data (advertising per se G06Q30/02) · CPC title

• H04N21/25825

  involving client display capabilities, e.g. screen resolution of a mobile phone (optimising the visualisation of content during browsing in the Internet G06F16/9577; processing of terminal status or physical abilities in wireless networks H04W8/22; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06) · CPC title

• G06Q30/0241 Primary

  Advertisements · CPC title