Method and system for scheduling commercial advertisement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9344750-B2
Application number	US-201514705642-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 6, 2015
Priority date	Oct 12, 2011
Publication date	May 17, 2016
Grant date	May 17, 2016

Abstract

A method and system for scheduling commercial advertisement are described in which a data processing system having the spot scheduler solver may be operable to receive an advertiser's order to place advertisement or commercial spots into one or more commercial television breaks. The order may comprise various constraints and requirements corresponding to the spots. The spots may be assigned to inventory buckets within the commercial breaks based on the constraints and requirements. When a conflict arises, a prioritization scheme may be performed to complete the assignment of spots not assigned and to generate a commercial break schedule. The prioritization scheme may be based on spot arrival lead time or on maximizing the sum of the rates corresponding to the spots. The data processing system may maximize the spread of the spots over the commercial break schedule. The commercial break schedule may be adjusted when additional orders are received.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
in a data processing system comprising one or more processors that are operable to process data:
receiving an advertiser's order to place one or more spots into one or more commercial breaks, wherein the advertiser's order comprises airing constraints and placement requirements corresponding to the one or more spots, and each of the one or more commercial breaks comprises a plurality of inventory buckets;
assigning each of the one or more spots to at least one of the plurality of inventory buckets that are within each of the one or more commercial breaks based on the airing constraints and placement requirements;
assigning, when at least one of the one or more spots are not assigned to the at least one of the plurality of inventory buckets that are within each of the one or more commercial breaks, the at least one of the one or more spots that are not assigned based on a prioritization scheme, wherein spots are prioritized based on arrival lead time, all spots for a particular order are given same priority, and priorities are chosen such that a sum of all priorities post a certain arrival time is less than a priority on any spot prior to the certain arrival time; and
generating a commercial break schedule based on the completed assignment of the one or more spots that are not assigned.

2. The method according to claim 1 , comprising maximizing spread of days in which the one or more spots occur over the duration of the commercial break schedule.

3. The method according to claim 1 , comprising maximizing a sum of rates corresponding to the one or more spots that are not assigned.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the airing constraints corresponding to each of the one or more spots comprise one or more of network constraints, selling title constraints, inventory type constraints, allowable date and time constraints, and advertiser conflict constraints.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the placement requirements corresponding to each of the one or more spots comprise one or more of associative constraints, position constraints, time separation constraints, franchise and/or title exclusion constraints, and spot pinning constraints.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the associative constraints define the positioning of any two or more spots relative to each other within the same one of the at least one of the plurality of inventory buckets or in adjacent inventory buckets.

7. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the position constraints define the positioning of any one spot in one of the at least one of the plurality of inventory buckets and/or in a commercial break.

8. The method according to claim 1 , comprising:
receiving an additional advertiser's order to place one or more additional spots into the one or more commercial breaks, wherein the additional advertiser's order comprises constraints and placement requirements corresponding to the one or more additional spots; and
assigning each of the one or more spots and the one or more additional spots to at least one of the plurality of inventory buckets within the one or more commercial breaks based on the corresponding constraints and placement requirements.

9. The method according to claim 8 , comprising, assigning the one or more spots and the one or more additional spots that is not assigned, when at least one of the one or more spots and the one or more additional spots is not assigned, to complete the assignment of the at least one of the one or more spots and the one or more additional spots is not assigned.

10. The method according to claim 9 , comprising modifying the generated commercial break schedule based on the completed assignment of the at least one of the one or more spots and the one or more additional spots is not assigned.

11. An apparatus, comprising:
a data processing system comprising at least one hardware processor operable to process data, the at least one hardware processor being operable to:
receive an advertiser's order to place one or more spots into one or more commercial breaks, wherein the advertiser's order comprises airing constraints and placement requirements corresponding to the one or more spots, and each of the one or more commercial breaks comprises a plurality of inventory buckets;
assign each of the one or more spots to at least one of the plurality of inventory buckets that are within each of the one or more commercial breaks based on the airing constraints and placement requirements;
assign, when at least one of the one or more spots are not assigned to the at least one of the plurality of inventory buckets that are within each of the one or more commercial breaks, the at least one of the one or more spots that are not assigned based on a prioritization scheme, wherein spots are prioritized based on arrival lead time, all spots for a particular order are given same priority, and priorities are chosen such that a sum of all priorities post a certain arrival time is less than a priority on any spot prior to the certain arrival time; and
generate a commercial break schedule based on the completed assignment of the one or more spots that are not assigned.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the at least one hardware processor is operable to maximize spread of days in which the one or more spots occur over the duration of the commercial break schedule.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the at least one hardware processor is operable to maximize a sum of rates corresponding to the one or more spots that are not assigned.

14. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the airing constraints corresponding to each of the one or more spots comprise one or more of network constraints, selling title constraints, inventory type constraints, allowable date and time constraints, and advertiser conflict constraints.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the placement requirements corresponding to each of the one or more spots comprise one or more of associative constraints, position constraints, time separation constraints, franchise and/or title exclusion constraints, and spot pinning constraints.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the associative constraints define the positioning of any two or more spots relative to each other within the same one of the at least one of the plurality of inventory buckets or in adjacent inventory buckets.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the position constraints define the positioning of any one spot in one of the at least one of the plurality of inventory buckets and/or in a commercial break.

18. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the at least one hardware processor is operable to:
receive an additional advertiser's order to place one or more additional spots into the one or more commercial breaks, wherein the additional advertiser's order comprises constraints and placement requirements corresponding to the one or more additional spots; and
assign each of the one or more spots and the one or more additional spots to at least one of the plurality of inventory buckets within the one or more commercial breaks based on the corresponding constraints and placement requirements.

19. The apparatus according to claim 18 , comprising, assigning the one or more spots and the one or more additional spots that is not assigned, when at least one of the one or more spots and the one or more additional spots is not assigned, to complete the assignment of the at least one of the one or more spots and the o

Assignees

• Turner Broadcasting Sys Inc

Inventors

• Popescu Andreea
• Ritsema John David
• Benoit David

Classifications

• H04N21/26241 Primary

  involving the time of distribution, e.g. the best time of the day for inserting an advertisement or airing a children programme · CPC title

• H04N21/23424

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

• H04N21/8455

  involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream · CPC title

• H04N21/812

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

• H04N21/26208 Primary

  the scheduling operation being performed under constraints · CPC title