Methods and systems for handling advertisements during a trick play mode

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9615144-B2
Application number	US-201414248808-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 9, 2014
Priority date	Apr 9, 2014
Publication date	Apr 4, 2017
Grant date	Apr 4, 2017

Abstract

Various arrangements for handling broadcast of advertiser content are presented. A plurality of frames of an advertisement may be analyzed for an advertiser-specific graphical identifier. A frame of the plurality of frames may be selected based on the advertiser-specific graphical identifier being present. The broadcast content may be encoded into a format for transmission to a plurality of television receivers. Encoding may include defining the frame selected from the plurality of frames such that the frame can be decoded independently of other frames of the plurality of frames. A subset of the plurality of frames may require decoding of the selected frame to be performed prior to decoding of any individual frame of the subset of frames.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for handling broadcast of advertiser content, the method comprising:
receiving, by a television service provider computer system, broadcast content from a content provider, wherein the broadcast content comprises a video-based advertisement and a television program;
decoding, by the television service provider computer system, the broadcast content from the content provider;
receiving, by the television service provider computer system, an ordered listing of a plurality of preferred frames from an advertiser associated with the video-based advertisement, wherein the ordered listing lists the preferred frames in an order preferred by the advertiser for presentation;
selecting a frame of the plurality of frames based on the ordered listing provided by the advertiser;
re-encoding the broadcast content into an MPEG format for transmission to a plurality of television receivers, such encoding comprising:
encoding the frame selected from the plurality of frames as an I-frame such that the frame can be decoded independently of other frames of the plurality of frames, wherein:
the other frames of the plurality of frames comprise P-frames, B-frames, or both; and
for presentation, at least a subset of the P-frames and the B-frames of the plurality of frames require decoding of the selected frame encoded as the I-frame to be performed prior to decoding of any individual frame of the subset of frames; and

broadcasting, by the television service provider system, the re-encoded broadcast content in the MPEG format for transmission to the plurality of television receivers via a television service provider distribution network.

2. The method for handling broadcast of advertiser content of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
receiving, by a television receiver, the encoded broadcast content;
decoding, by the television receiver, the encoded broadcast content; and
commencing output, by the television receiver, for presentation, the decoded broadcast content.

3. The method for handling broadcast of advertiser content of claim 2 , the method further comprising:
receiving, by the television receiver, user input specifying playback of the decoded broadcast content should be performed in a trick mode;
switching, by the television receiver, output of the decoded broadcast content to the trick mode;
while in the trick mode, output for presentation, by the television receiver, the selected frame; and
while in the trick mode, skipping, by the television receiver, output for presentation of the subset of the plurality of frames.

4. The method for handling broadcast of advertiser content of claim 1 , further comprising:
outputting, by a television receiver, while in a trick play mode, only I-frames.

5. The method for handling broadcast of advertiser content of claim 1 , wherein the advertiser-specific graphical identifier being present comprises a graphical indication selected from the group consisting of:
a graphical logo of an advertiser; and
text identifying the advertiser.

6. The method for handling broadcast of advertiser content of claim 1 , wherein selecting the frame of the plurality of frames based on the advertiser-specific graphical identifier being present is based on an advertiser frame identification received from the content provider.

7. A system for handling broadcast of advertiser content, the system comprising:
an encoding management engine comprising:
one or more processors; and
a memory communicatively coupled with and readable by the one or more processors and having stored therein processor-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive broadcast content from a content provider, wherein the broadcast content comprises a video-based advertisement and a television program;
decode the broadcast content from the content provider;
receive an ordered listing of a plurality of preferred frames from an advertiser associated with the video-based advertisement, wherein the ordered listing lists the preferred frames in an order preferred by the advertiser;
select a frame of the plurality of frames based on the ordered listing provided by the advertiser; and
re-encode the broadcast content into an MPEG format for transmission to a plurality of television receivers, such encoding comprising:
encoding the frame selected from the plurality of frames as an I-frame such that the frame can be decoded independently of other frames of the plurality of frames, wherein:
 the other frames of the plurality of frames comprise P-frames, B-frames, or both; and
 for presentation, at least a subset of the P-frames and the B-frames of the plurality of frames require decoding of the selected frame encoded as the I-frame to be performed prior to decoding of any individual frame of the subset of frames; and

cause the re-encoded broadcast content to be broadcast in the MPEG format to the plurality of television receivers via a television service provider distribution network.

8. The system for handling broadcast of advertiser content of claim 7 , the system further comprising:
a television receiver, configured to:
receive the encoded broadcast content;
decode the encoded broadcast content; and
output, for presentation, the decoded broadcast content.

9. The system for handling broadcast of advertiser content of claim 8 , wherein the television receiver is further configured to:
receive user input specifying playback of the decoded broadcast content should be performed in a trick mode;
switch output of the decoded broadcast content to the trick mode;
while in the trick mode, output for presentation the selected frame; and
while in the trick mode, skip output for presentation of the subset of the plurality of frames.

10. The system for handling broadcast of advertiser content of claim 7 , wherein the advertiser-specific graphical identifier being present comprises a graphical indication selected from the group consisting of:
a graphical logo of the advertiser; and
text identifying the advertiser.

11. The system for handling broadcast of advertiser content of claim 7 , wherein the processor-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to select the frame of the plurality of frames based on the advertiser-specific graphical identifier being present is based on an advertiser frame identification received from the content provider.

12. A non-transitory processor-readable medium for handling broadcast of advertiser content, comprising processor-readable instructions configured to cause one or more processors to
receive broadcast content from a content provider, wherein the broadcast content comprises a video-based advertisement;
decode the broadcast content from the content provider;
receive an ordered listing of a plurality of preferred frames, wherein the ordered listing lists the preferred frames in a preferred order;
select a frame of the plurality of frames based on the ordered listing;
re-encode the broadcast content into a format for transmission to a plurality of television receivers, such encoding comprising:
encoding the frame selected from the plurality of frames such that the frame can be decoded independently of other frames of the plurality of frames, wherein:
for presentation, at least a subset of frames from the plurality of frames requires decoding of the selected frame to be performed prior to decoding of any individual frame of the subset of frames; and

cause the re-encoded broadcast content to be broadcast in the format to the plurality of television receivers via a television service provi

Assignees

• Eldon Tech Ltd
• Echostar Uk Holdings Ltd

Inventors

• Macleod Scott

Classifications

• H04N21/812

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

• G11B27/10

  Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel · CPC title

• H04N21/23418 Primary

  involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics (television picture signal circuitry for scene change detection H04N5/147; filtering for image enhancement G06T5/00; methods or arrangements for recognising scenes G06V20/00; arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59) · CPC title

• H04N21/47217

  for controlling playback functions for recorded or on-demand content, e.g. using progress bars, mode or play-point indicators or bookmarks (specific graphical features in visual interfaces H04N21/4312) · CPC title

• H04N21/8458

  involving uncompressed content · CPC title