Conditioning segmented content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11800159-B2
Application number	US-202117249507-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2021
Priority date	May 12, 2017
Publication date	Oct 24, 2023
Grant date	Oct 24, 2023

Abstract

Methods and systems are described herein for inserting placement opportunities into content assets. A content distributor may receive a content asset comprising a plurality of content fragments. The content distributor may be further configured to adjust a playback duration of a portion of the content fragments so that the placement opportunity may be inserted at the content asset fragment boundaries.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving primary content;
causing sending of at least a first fragment of the primary content for output on one or more output devices;
receiving information associated with supplemental content, wherein the information indicates a location in a second fragment of the primary content for output of at least a portion of the supplemental content;
determining, based on the received information and the second fragment, a first modified fragment of the primary content having a first playback duration and a second modified fragment of the primary content having a second playback duration that is different than the first playback duration, wherein the first playback duration of the first modified fragment is shorter than a playback duration of the second fragment and wherein the first modified fragment comprises a first portion of the second fragment and the second modified fragment comprises another portion of the second fragment and at least a portion of a third fragment of the plurality of content fragments; and
causing sending of the first modified fragment and the second modified fragment for output on the one or more output devices.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information associated with the supplemental content is received after the causing sending of at least the first fragment of the primary content for output on the output device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first modified fragment and the second modified fragment are determined after the causing sending of at least the first fragment of the primary content for output on the output device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second fragment and the third fragment have an equal playback duration that is different from the first playback duration and the second playback duration.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein an end of the first modified fragment and a start of the second modified fragment is the location for output of the supplemental content.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating an updated manifest that identifies the first modified fragment and the second modified fragment.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the updated manifest indicates the playback duration of the first modified fragment, the playback duration of the second modified fragment, and the playback duration of the supplemental content.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising segmenting the primary content into a plurality of fragments including at least the first fragment, the second fragment, and the third fragment.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of fragments each have an equal playback duration.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising generating a manifest that identifies the plurality of fragments.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transcoding the primary content into a different format.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the different format is a Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) standard.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental content is an advertisement.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the advertisement is selected based on the output device.

15. An apparatus comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
receive primary content;
cause sending of at least a first fragment of the primary content for output on one or more output devices;
receive information associated with supplemental content, wherein the information indicates a location in a second fragment of the primary content for output of at least a portion of the supplemental content;
determine, based on the received information and the second fragment, a first modified fragment of the primary content having a first playback duration and a second modified fragment of the primary content having a second playback duration that is different than the first playback duration, wherein the first playback duration of the first modified fragment is shorter than a playback duration of the second fragment and wherein the first modified fragment comprises a first portion of the second fragment and the second modified fragment comprises another portion of the second fragment and at least a portion of a third fragment of the plurality of content fragments; and
cause sending of the first modified fragment and the second modified fragment for output on the one or more output devices.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the apparatus to determine the first modified fragment and the second modified fragment after the causing sending of at least the first fragment of the primary content for output on the output device.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause:
receiving primary content;
causing sending of at least a first fragment of the primary content for output on one or more output devices;
receiving information associated with supplemental content, wherein the information indicates a location in a second fragment of the primary content for output of at least a portion of the supplemental content;
determining, based on the received information and the second fragment, a first modified fragment of the primary content having a first playback duration and a second modified fragment of the primary content having a second playback duration that is different than the first playback duration, wherein the first playback duration of the first modified fragment is shorter than a playback duration of the second fragment and wherein the first modified fragment comprises a first portion of the second fragment and the second modified fragment comprises another portion of the second fragment and at least a portion of a third fragment of the plurality of content fragments; and
causing sending of the first modified fragment and the second modified fragment for output on the one or more output devices.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause determining the first modified fragment and the second modified fragment after the causing sending of at least the first fragment of the primary content for output on the output device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the second fragment and the third fragment have an equal playback duration that is different from the first playback duration and the second playback duration.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause segmenting the primary content into a plurality of fragments including at least the first fragment, the second fragment, and the third fragment.

Assignees

• Comcast Cable Comm Llc

Inventors

• Barkley James
• Mlodzinski Walter

Classifications

• H04N21/23424 Primary

  involving splicing one content stream with another content stream, e.g. for inserting or substituting an advertisement · CPC title

• H04N21/234345

  the reformatting operation being performed only on part of the stream, e.g. a region of the image or a time segment · CPC title

• H04N21/812

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

• H04N21/8456 Primary

  by decomposing the content in the time domain, e.g. in time segments · CPC title