Enhanced content distribution using advertisements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9106964-B2
Application number	US-201313763247-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 8, 2013
Priority date	Sep 13, 2012
Publication date	Aug 11, 2015
Grant date	Aug 11, 2015

Abstract

Methods, devices, and computer program products are provided to enhance viewing of an entertainment content in the presence of advertisements. At a compliant device, an indication is received that the entertainment content is associated with a content policy information relating to presentation of advertisements during, or prior to, presentation of the entertainment content. A further indication is received that the entertainment content is associated with an advertisement award program. An advertisement award program message provides that the advertisements may be presented in a modified form in exchange for a specific number of award points. Upon receiving an indication agreeing to such an exchange, advertisements are allowed to be presented in a modified form. The content policy information can be ascertained through extraction of watermarks embedded in the advertisements or the entertainment content and/or through computation and matching of fingerprints associated with the advertisements or the entertainment content.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving an indication at a compliant device that an entertainment content is associated with a content policy information, the content policy information relating to presentation of one or more advertisements during, or prior to, presentation of the entertainment content, the content policy information obtained using a content identifier (CID) that is ascertained through one or both of: (a) extraction of watermarks embedded in the one or more advertisements or the entertainment content or (b) computation and matching of fingerprints associated with the one or more advertisements or the entertainment content;
receiving an indication that the CID associated with the entertainment content or the one or more advertisements is associated with a plurality of advertisement award programs for a particular user of the complaint device;
providing an advertisement award program message indicating that modified presentation of the one or more advertisements is allowed in exchange for a specific number of award points of an advertisement award program;
upon receiving an indication that modified presentation of the one or more advertisements in exchange for the specific number of award points is desired, allowing the one or more advertisements to be presented in a modified form, and
upon receiving an indication that modified presentation of the one or more advertisements in exchange for the specific number of award points is not desired: (a) presenting the one or more advertisements without modification, wherein at least one of the one or more advertisements is associated with the CID that corresponds to more than one of the plurality of advertisement award programs for the particular user of the compliant device, (b) determining by the compliant device which of the plurality of the one or more advertisement award programs constitutes a preferred award program, and (c) crediting the preferred award program with award points associated with the at least one of the one or more advertisements that were presented in unmodified form.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content policy information is indicative that presentation of the one or more advertisements cannot be modified without receiving further input from a user or from a user device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the advertisement award program is associated with one of: the user, or the compliant device.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising accumulating further award points in return for one or more of the following:
presentation of one or more un-modified advertisements,
purchase of one or more specific entertainment contents, or
purchase of at least some of the specific number of award points.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising accumulating further award points in return for presentation of one or more unmodified advertisements on each of a plurality of devices associated with a user.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein modified presentation of the one or more advertisements includes one or more of: shortened presentation of the one or more advertisements or skipping of the one or more advertisements.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
upon receiving an indication that modified presentation of the one or more advertisements in exchange for the specific number of award points is not desired, presenting a message indicating that presentation of the entertainment content is allowed upon an agreement to view the one or more advertisement in unmodified format; and
upon receiving an indication as to an agreement to view the one or more advertisements in unmodified format, presenting the one or more advertisements without modification.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
upon receiving an indication that modified presentation of the one or more advertisements in exchange for the specific number of award points is not desired, presenting a message indicating that presentation of the entertainment content is allowed upon an agreement to view the one or more advertisement in unmodified format; and
upon receiving an indication as a lack of an agreement to view the one or more advertisements in unmodified format, providing a command to stop or prevent presentation of the entertainment content.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein each advertisement award program is owned by a particular entity, and award points of each advertisement award program are redeemable through other entities affiliated with the particular entity.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the particular entity is one of: an advertiser, a television network, an entertainment content owner, or a content distributor.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the advertisement award program is identified at least in-part by identifying the entertainment content using one or more of the following:
(A) watermarks that are embedded in the entertainment content,
(B) watermarks that are embedded in the one or more advertisements,
(C) fingerprints that are computed based on the entertainment content, or
(D) fingerprints that are computed based on the one or more advertisements.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the content policy information is associated with a specific aspect of the entertainment content, the specific aspect comprising one or more of:
a rights holder of the entertainment content,
a distribution channel of the entertainment content,
a platform on which the entertainment content is presented,
a genre of the entertainment content,
a release window of the entertainment content, or
a format of the entertainment content; and

the one or more advertisements in modified form are presented before allowing or resuming presentation of each entertainment content having the same specific aspect.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the rights holder of the entertainment content includes one of a creator or a distributor of the entertainment content.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the distribution channel includes one of over-the-top (OTT), over-the-air, video on demand (VOD), satellite, cable, wireless or Internet distribution channels.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the platform includes one of a mobile, desktop, or television platforms.

16. A device, comprising:
a receiver configured to receive one or both of (a) an entertainment content and (b) one or more advertisements; and
a processor configured:
to receive an indication that an entertainment content is associated with a content policy information, the content policy information relating to presentation of one or more advertisements during, or prior to, presentation of the entertainment content, the content policy information obtained using a content identifier (CID) that is ascertained through one or both of (A) watermarks embedded in the one or more advertisements or the entertainment content, or (B) computation of fingerprints associated with the one or more advertisements or the entertainment content;
to receive an indication that the CID associated with the entertainment content or the one or more advertisements is associated with a plurality of advertisement award programs for a particular user,
to provide an advertisement award program message indicating that modified presentation of the one or more advertisements is allowed in exchange for a specific number of award points of an advertisement award program,
upon receiving an indication that modified presentation of the one or more advertisements in exchange for the specific number of award points is desired, to allow the one or more advertisements to

Assignees

• Verance Corp

Inventors

• Zhao Jian

Classifications

• H04N21/4784 Primary

  receiving rewards · CPC title

• H04N21/812 Primary

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

• H04N21/435

  Processing of additional data, e.g. decrypting of additional data, reconstructing software from modules extracted from the transport stream · CPC title

• H04N21/4542

  Blocking scenes or portions of the received content, e.g. censoring scenes · CPC title

• H04N21/23892

  involving embedding information at multiplex stream level, e.g. embedding a watermark at packet level · CPC title