Systems and methods for viewer decision-based targeted commercials

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9769540-B2
Application number	US-201414297279-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 5, 2014
Priority date	Jun 5, 2014
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

Various arrangements for targeting advertising to a television viewer are presented. A user interface may be output for presentation that permits the television viewer to select from among a plurality of advertising options. One or more selections may be received from the television viewer from among the plurality of advertising options. A television program may be output for presentation to the television viewer. One or more commercials may be selected that match the one or more selections from among the plurality of advertising options. The one or more commercials that match the one or more selections from among the plurality of advertising options may be output for presentation during a first commercial break in the television program.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for targeting advertising to a television viewer, the method comprising:
receiving, by one or more tuners of a television receiver, a television program wherein the television program comprises one or more commercials breaks;
outputting, by the television receiver, for presentation a user interface that permits the television viewer to select from among a plurality of advertising options for a predetermined minimum number of selections to be made by the television viewer prior to starting playback, wherein:
each advertising option of the plurality of advertising options corresponds to a commercial category; and
the user interface in response to a number of selections by the television viewer provides an indicator that indicates an additional number of selections required to be made by the television viewer from among the plurality of advertising options prior to starting playback;

receiving, by the television receiver, one or more selections from the television viewer from among the plurality of advertising options;
outputting, by the television receiver, the television program received via the one or more tuners for presentation to the television viewer;
selecting one or more commercials that match the one or more selections from among the plurality of advertising options;
tuning, by the television receiver, a tuner of the one or more tuners to a particular transponder stream on which the one or more commercials are received by the television receiver;
storing, by the television receiver, the one or more commercials received by the television receiver that match the one or more selections such that the one or more commercials are stored locally by the television receiver;
calculating, by the television receiver, a total incentive value awarded by totaling points associated with previously received ratings; and
outputting, by the television receiver, the one or more commercials that are stored locally and that match the one or more selections from among the plurality of advertising options during a first commercial break in the television program, wherein the one or more commercials are output for presentation with a user input feedback region that:
requests a rating from the television viewer for the one or more commercials;
presents the total incentive value awarded based on the totaled points associated with the previously received ratings; and
presents a commercial break duration that is determined at least in part on the total incentive value.

2. The method for targeting advertising to the television viewer of claim 1 , further comprising:
if the one or more selections from the television viewer have not been received when the television program begins, recording the television program while waiting for the one or more selections from the television viewer.

3. The method for targeting advertising to the television viewer of claim 1 , wherein the user interface is output for presentation prior to the television program beginning to be output for presentation to the television viewer.

4. The method for targeting advertising to the television viewer of claim 3 ,
wherein storing, by the television receiver, the one or more commercials further comprises storing, by the television receiver, the one or more commercials to a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium, and outputting the one or more commercials comprises accessing the non-transitory processor-readable storage medium for the one or more commercials.

5. The method for targeting advertising to the television viewer of claim 1 , wherein outputting of the television program for presentation to the television viewer occurs as a broadcast of the television program is received.

6. The method for targeting advertising to the television viewer of claim 1 , wherein the user interface that permits the television viewer to select from among the plurality of advertising options is presented for a predefined amount of time, after which a default advertising option is selected.

7. The method for targeting advertising to the television viewer of claim 1 , wherein the user interface is output for presentation at a beginning of the first commercial break occurring during the television program.

8. The method for targeting advertising to the television viewer of claim 1 , further comprising:
for the one or more commercials, receiving, by the television receiver, from the television viewer, a rating;
determining, by the television receiver, that a threshold incentive value has been met by the calculated total incentive value awarded based on the received ratings; and
selecting, by the television receiver, based on determining that the threshold incentive value has been reached by the calculated total incentive value, a second duration from a group comprising a first duration and a second duration, wherein the second duration is shorter than the first duration; and
outputting a second commercial break of the second duration.

9. The method for targeting advertising to the television viewer of claim 1 , wherein the one or more commercials that match the one or more selections are each shorter in duration as compared to one or more alternate commercials that would have been presented if the one or more selections were not received.

10. The method for targeting advertising to the television viewer of claim 1 , wherein the one or more commercials that match the one or more selections are fewer in number and/or duration as compared to multiple alternate commercials that would have been presented if the one or more selections were not received.

11. The method for targeting advertising to the television viewer of claim 1 , wherein the user input feedback region further presents an additional incentive value required to qualify for a second commercial break of a reduced duration.

12. The method for targeting advertising to the television viewer of claim 1 , wherein a higher incentive value is awarded for a positive feedback provided by the television viewer than a negative feedback provided by the television viewer.

13. The method for targeting advertising to the television viewer of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of advertising options for presentation in the user interface are determined based on a television channel on which the television program is broadcast.

14. A system for targeting advertising to a television viewer, the system 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, via one or more tuners, a television program wherein the television program comprises one or more commercials breaks;
output for presentation a user interface that permits the television viewer to select from among a plurality of advertising options, wherein each advertising option of the plurality of advertising options corresponds to a category of commercial, and the user interface in response to a number of selections by the television viewer provides an indicator that indicates an additional number of selections required to be made by the television viewer from among the plurality of advertising options prior to starting playback;
receive one or more selections from the television viewer from among the plurality of advertising options;
output the television program received via the one or more tuners for presentation to the television viewer;
select one or more commercials that match the one or more selections from among the plurali

Assignees

• Echostar Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Kummer David

Classifications

• H04N21/4532

  involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences (monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18) · CPC title

• H04N21/812 Primary

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

• H04N21/4784

  receiving rewards · CPC title

• H04N21/454

  Content {or additional data} filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements · CPC title

• H04N21/25891

  being end-user preferences (retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18) · CPC title