SE516203C2 - System and method for distributing advertising messages over a communication network - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a direct information channel via a communications network to e.g. households for advertising purposes. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention a method for use in a network for sending promotional messages to target groups provided with a display comprises the steps of inputting a promotional message; selecting a target group; allocating a promotion channel in said network for said promotional message; allocating a portion of said display for said promotion channel; sending said promotional message over said network in said promotion channel; and outputting said promotional message in the allocated portion of said display at the selected target group.

Description

516 203 gïïgrïëïï * 2 Another disadvantage, although Wachob mentions the possibility for the viewer to enter demographic data, is that the prior art systems are simplex systems, ie they do not provide the consumer with the opportunity to interact * j with displayed advertising messages. It would therefore be advantageous to be able to offer a method and a system for, based on demographic data, providing different advertising messages to different target groups, without the above-mentioned disadvantages.

SUMMARY This invention provides, via a communication network, a direct information channel for advertising purposes to households. As is apparent from the appended claims, the invention encompasses both a method and a system. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, a method for sending advertising messages in a network to target groups provided with a display comprises the following steps: - input of an advertising message; - choice of target group; - allocating an advertising channel in said advertising message network; assigning a portion of said display to said advertising channel; sending said advertising message over said network in said advertising channel; and - outputting said advertising message in the assigned part of said display of the selected target group.

A system according to a preferred embodiment for sending advertising messages in a network to target groups provided with a display is characterized by - means for inputting an advertising message; - target selection body; means for allocating an advertising channel in said network for the advertising message; means for assigning a part of said display to said advertising channel; means for transmitting said advertising message over said network in said advertising channel; and - means for outputting said advertising message in the assigned part of said display of the selected target group.

Additional features follow in the claims and in the description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a system implementation in accordance with the invention; Figure 2 shows an example of a TV picture with an advertising message in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION SYSTEM OVERVIEW Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a system according to the invention for distributing advertising messages over a communication network to a display. The dashed lines indicate the fate of the logical information. The physical fate takes place to / from / within the lntem. As shown in Figure 1, the system consists of a main advertising application 1, a central advertising controller 2, a regional advertising controller 3, an application in the cable TV network checkpoint 4, a response collector 5, a set-top box 6 and a display 7. 516 203 3 The main advertising application l controls which advertising messages are to be displayed where, when and how.

The main advertising application 1 is given, which will be described in more detail below, input from a variety of sources such as advertisers, demographic databases, customer-specific databases, consumer profiles, data from previous campaigns, etc. The processing of said input results in selection conditions which in turn results in a target group (by eg households), a time for issuing the advertising message, and if desired, an amplified advertising message. In this way, the greatest possible benefit for the advertiser is ensured. The result of the main advertising application 1 constitutes input data for the central advertising manager 2. The central advertising manager 2 comprises the main advertising database in which advertising messages and related information obtained from said main advertising application 1 are stored.

The central advertising manager 2 is also responsible for the distribution of information to the regional advertising manager 3 if necessary. The main task of the regional advertising manager 3 is to relieve the central advertising manager 2, depending on the large number of households, time slots and advertising messages that the system has to handle. The regional advertising manager 3 can keep a quick memory of advertising messages and related information to speed up the distribution to a subset of households. The regional advertising controller 3 can, for example, also keep track of when it is time to send out an advertising message in order to receive it in time, taking into account any bandwidth limitations.

The main task of the application in the cable TV network's control point 4 is to act as an interface between the network (and the displays connected therein) and the rest of the system. The application in the cable TV network's control point 4 interacts with all set-top boxes 6 within its segment over an advertising channel.

The application in the cable TV network's control point 4 handles, based on selected target groups, the individual addressing of the set-top box 6 and receives the consumer interaction. The application in the cable TV network's control point 4 can, by examining the user profile for each logged in household, match this with the selected target group and send appropriate advertising messages to the respective set-top box 6.

The main task of the response collector 5 is to act on the consumer's interaction when an advertising message is displayed. This is done by the set-top box 6 detecting the consumer interaction and forwarding this information via the application in the cable TV network's control point 4 to the response collector 5. In this situation, the response collector 5 typically retrieves a reference to a Website for display from the main advertising application 1, and updates the campaign statistics. with respect to consumer interaction. The main task for set-top box 6 is to manage user interfaces and user interaction. The goal here is to create a thin GUI client connected to a server where the server functionality is shared with other applications. The application in the set-top box 6 is called the set-top box advertising application and can be connected to the application in the cable TV network's control point that provides the business logic in the user interface. Although the system has been described as containing both central and regional advertising directors, it is quite possible to merge these into a single director. It is also the case that the system can consist of any number of central advertising controllers, regional advertising controllers, and cable network ports. Although we have talked about households above, of course the said system can handle displays located anywhere, for example, in shops, banks, or restaurants. The above-mentioned parts of the system can be connected to the system and can use standardized communication mechanisms, no part needs to be directly connected to any other part. Said parts describe functional blocks. The final location of these blocks can be in any server set up for the system. All, any, or none of the blocks could reside in the same server. The reason that the blocks are separated here is to show the functionality at system level.

TIME SLOTS According to the invention, the advertising channel is divided into a number of time slots. A time slot is of the order of minutes. During a time slot, the advertising message controls what is output on the part of the display assigned to the advertising channel. Each household can be handled individually, thus different advertising messages can be output in different households during the same time slot. The possibility to output e.g. BMW advertising at the same time as a car is shown in e.g. however, a James Bond film would require time slots of the order of 5 seconds if the output were to be controlled using time slots. This would lead to an unmanageable number of time slots / days and it is therefore more appropriate to make the advertising message intelligent so that it can decide for itself when within a time slot it should be shown on a certain display.

The application in the control point 4 of the cable TV network has means for monitoring synchronization signals.

Which these may be varies over time and the functionality of the application. The application offers a number of services accessible to the advertising message via the set-top box application. Synchronization can take place 5 16 2 03 - íšï-Éfš - 2. :: f Eel based on signals from the TV channel, eg Video Tape Recorder (VTR) signal at program start or other synchronization signals such as at start of commercial.

Advertising messages to be displayed during your time slots can be a campaign. A campaign can also make use of a number of advertising messages, each of which can be displayed over a number of time slots. The advertising messages are sent to households that comply with the campaign's selection conditions. The invention supports any number of simultaneous campaigns. Campaigns can then of course overlap, but this is handled by the system.

Since the advertising messages are dependent on time slots, it is necessary that the system's units have the same perception of time, ie that time slots occur simultaneously for all households.

The accuracy requirement is reduced if the advertising message can be synchronized with the help of extreme events, otherwise one becomes dependent on the start time of the time slots.

TV companies are in different time zones. It is therefore convenient to use an internal time which is independent of where the set-top box 6 is located. In the United States, East Standard Time is used and in Europe Greenwich Mean Time, GMT. An advantage of GMT is that GMT is not affected by summer time.

The conversion between GMT and local time is done by the application in the cable TV network's control point 4. When a campaign is defined, local time is normally used as the time base. The main advertising application l may possibly convert the specified time slot to GMT. The application in the cable TV network's control point knows which time zone applies in its cable TV segment and converts received time data to local time. In the set-top box 6, both local time, GMT and the time of the campaign (which is selected when the campaign is defined) can be made accessible for the advertising message. The reason for not using just one time is that it should be possible to use the same advertising message worldwide. On the other hand, the set-top box 6 must know local time in order for consumer-defined events to be handled. Note that different time zones mean that the local time is different when a program is broadcast.

CONSUMER PROFILES Consumer profiles reflect the consumer's interests, and “soft” characteristics of the consumer.

The profile can be the system's only source of information for controlling advertising messages. According to this invention, each household is provided with a distributed profile in connection with the start of the subscription. This profile is called the default profile. This invention also employs additional profiles that can be defined by the consumer himself. The consumer is free to define these profiles. This means that different people in a household can have their own profile, reflecting the interests of the individual. The individual can also use different profiles on different occasions. The number of profiles is free, and profiles must be able to be changed and removed by the consumer. Consumer profiles are stored locally and the selected profile is sent to advertising boards 2, 3. If only the default profile is defined, the consumer does not have to select a profile when the TV is switched on, but the default profile will be used automatically. The default profile can also be used if no profile is selected after a certain time. This time can be set to a number of seconds, and the consumer can change this time himself. Consumer problems can not be linked to people using this procedure. This fact is not considered to be a disadvantage because most of the time people are watching at the same time. The profile that will be used is then probably a synthesis of interests in the household. Offering fl your possible profiles gives the consumer (s) who are currently viewing the opportunity to choose a profile that more precisely corresponds to their interests. Before statistics are collected, the system will use the default profile.

The system continuously monitors the profiles. As the profiles are stored locally in the set-top box 6 and the consumer can change the profiles locally, the contents of the profiles are not known until the consumer chooses to use the profile. Profiles also contain volatile data, such as “selected channel”. The system must therefore make statistical assessments based on profile measurements in order to be able to predict the hit image when designing a campaign. 516 2 03 -. SELECTION OF TARGET GROUP According to the invention, the selection conditions when a target group is to be selected for a campaign can be formed with the aid of information from a number of sources: 1. Publicly available demographic data, for example household size and the age of household members. Some such data can be obtained at the start of the subscription, other parts can be obtained from public sources.

Private knowledge of households.

Previous campaign results.

Consumer profiles.

Selected TV channel. É-'HDPKN Data from the first three sources do not change significantly in the time between defining a campaign and the time of broadcast, and are therefore called invalid. Data from the other sources vary within the said time and are called fl yktig. In fact, this data depends on who is watching at the moment, and can therefore vary rapidly.

STATISTICAL According to the invention, the system can in a realization allocate time slots statically when the campaign is initiated.

Households and time slots are selected when the campaign is defined based on static data.

DYNAMIC When advertising messages are to be sent to large populations, for example millions of households, static allocation as above will not handle the case that households come into being and disappear as subscribers.

One problem related to disappearing households is the fact that the TV may not be turned on. Static allocation also does not take into account that the consumer may have chosen the profile, or which TV channel the consumer is watching.

According to the invention, therefore, dynamic assignment is preferred. In the case of dynamic assignment, the system will describe the target group with a selection condition that is executed only in close connection with the current time slot. This then handles, for example, additional households. A problem with dynamic allocation is that when a campaign is defined, the system does not know exactly how many households will be included in the target group.

The process that controls which advertising message is to be sent to which households at what time can, according to the invention, be described as follows: Time slot or time slots when an advertising message is to be sent are selected. The time slots can be the same length.

Target group is selected based on non-efficient consumer data, for example demographic data, which is retrieved either from public sources or from static parts of the consumer profile. The selection condition within the target group is created based on efficient consumer data, for example stated interests in the consumer profile. Selection conditions and priority are sent to applications in the cable TV network's control point (s) 4 that control the target group. The priority can be set by the main advertising application l when the selection condition is created. Selection conditions are queued for each household and time slot. As the time slot approaches, all selection conditions in the queue are examined in order of priority. If a selection condition matches the consumer profile, the advertising message associated with the selection condition is sent / displayed.

It is of course possible to make the selection central, based on the used consumer profile if it is assumed that the same profile is used for a certain period of time. When the consumer changes profile, new advertising messages can be distributed. However, if the selection conditions are based on which TV channel the consumer is watching, and it is assumed that the channel change takes place at intervals of the order of minutes (s), too much load is created on the network.

According to the invention, the following alternative process can be used: As above, a time slot or time slots are selected when an advertising message is to be sent, target group is selected based on non-essential data and selection conditions within the group are based on volatile data. When the consumer then logs in or changes profile, a message is sent to controllers 2, 3, which calculates advertising messages for a time ahead, assuming that the profile does not change. The advertising messages are sent to the application in the cable TV network control point 4 which forwards to the applicable set-top boxes 6. If the consumer changes his profile, new advertising messages sent to the application in the cable TV network control point 4 are calculated for further distribution. This alternative process 516 205: zffz - 6 requires less memory but probably requires more bandwidth overall in the network. The process also places higher demands on response times.

Due to the above-mentioned selection conditions, some households will probably not be selected during certain time slots. This is not optimal, and in order to fill these time slots, the selection condition must be able to contain a condition that enables the sending of an advertising message that is sent when nothing else is to be sent. By giving this background activity a priority, your background campaigns can be managed.

Higher-priority campaigns are likely to cost more.

SCREEN ALLOCATION According to the invention, there are no free spaces on the TV screen available for advertising messages.

Even before the transition from 4: 3 to l6: 9 farms many different image formats for movies and video. The number of combination possibilities will be large, and today's TVs can also reshape the displayed image both vertically and horizontally, in order to utilize the entire cutting surface. The invention therefore provides advertising messages on a part of the screen, see Figure 1, on top of the existing screen.

The advertising message thus hides parts of the original screen image for a short time. In concrete form, the invention demands that advertising messages be displayed as banners 8, 9 near the edges of the screen, see Figure 2. These banners 8, 9 are placed in the upper and left part of the screen as these surfaces normally appear to contain the least information. Text strips are often displayed in the lower part of the screen, and channel information is displayed in the upper right corner, this makes these surfaces less suitable. Said banners 8, 9 are shown as thin rectangular surfaces, but can, if desired, assume any shape and size and be placed on any suitable part of the screen.

This information channel is always available regardless of which TV channel the consumer has chosen. The information channel requires only a small part of the screen area and occupies this small area only for short periods for display of advertising message.

INTERACTION A specific feature of the invention consists of predefined interaction buttons 10, 11, 12 within the advertising message. These buttons that are displayed located in the corner of the screen can of course be placed anywhere on the screen. The function of the buttons is modal, ie depends on the advertising message. From an aesthetic point of view, said banners 8, 9, including the interaction buttons 10, 1, 1, 12, would cover the entire edge of the screen. The upper banner 8 contains the advertisement. The left bar 9 is used for services requested by the consumer, for example timed alarm messages. The upper interactive buttons 10, 11 are assigned to the advertising message, and the lower button 12 is used in connection with services requested by the consumer.

The consumer interacts with the set-top box application using a standard remote control with extended functionality to also be able to control a cursor (cursor) on the TV screen.

The interaction with the buttons 10, 11, 12 is monitored by the system, preferably by the set-top box 6 and is stored centrally for statistical purposes and analysis of campaign results. The advertisement is preferably removed from the screen at the touch of a button. The number of buttons, what button presses should lead to, etc. are defined in connection with the campaign. In a preferred embodiment, one of the upper buttons l0, l l can be used for "More" or "Order" and the other for "Finish". The number of registered clicks on "Order" then reflects the success of a campaign, and shows how many consumers actually interacted with the advertising message. The consumer response is registered for each campaign and a campaign report is created.

Nonnalt links the button to a Web page. The button is not controlled by any Web browser, but by an advertising application that can thus monitor consumers' responses during the campaign. When the campaign is defined, the link to the Web page is also defined. Control of the screen can, when requested, be transferred to a Web browser that is included as standard in the set-top box 6.

The sum of "Order" and "Finish" gives the minimum number of consumers who have seen an advertising message.

If a consumer interacts with an advertising message, a verified hit has been obtained. If the consumer has seen the message but has not interacted, an unverified hit has been received.

It is advisable to keep the number of advertisements moderate so as not to disturb the consumer too much. ø n n n .- 5 16 20 3 šïï * ~ í fi ëëiië - Li? SPECIAL FEATURES AND FEATURES According to the invention, a “start panel” can be displayed on the screen by pressing a button on the set-top box remote control. The start panel is mainly a menu from which a number of applications can be started. The start panel is part of the standard application in the set-top box 6, with extended functionality to enable interaction with advertising messages according to the invention. The expanded functionality includes handling consumer problems, launching Web browsers, downloading electronic discount coupons, retrieving advertising messages, and handling consumer-defined services such as alarms.

The properties of the Web browser accessible via the start panel depend on the same. Visited pages are saved in a history list. The set-top box 6 saves pages in a local quick memory.

Each advertisement can be stored locally and recalled from the start panel. In addition, there is an overview and categorization of received advertising messages, and advertising messages including electronic discount coupons can be revoked. The consumer can have the system automatically handle electronic discount coupons, which can later be revoked from the start panel. This feature will increase the incentive for the consumer to use the profile concept. The web browser's history list is separated from the history list by advertisements. This facilitates the insertion of third-party web browsers into the system. Consumer profiles can be password protected. The list of promotional messages does not contain messages from other password-protected items. Advertising messages can contain an offer that the consumer accepts in the form of an electronic discount coupon that can be transferred to a smart card. Discount coupons can be saved in a folder and transferred to a smart card when the consumer so wishes, for later use in a store or similar. Set-top box 6 supports smart card which can be used as follows: - identification of households. Smart card enables downloading of all subscription data. Smart card is used to identify the household when the set-top box is started for the first time or when the power is switched on.

- Handling of electronic discount coupons. Discount coupons are stored on the card for later use in stores. - identification of consumer profile. The identification includes identification of households and pro fi l.

This information can be used when the consumer is not at home, but wants access to their profile and their own defined services. This can, for example, be used by business people traveling.

USE CASES To better understand the invention, a number of use cases including consumer-controlled advertising, advertising simultaneously with TV programs, block / reinforce advertising, test campaigns and consumer-requested information will be described below. The following applies to all use cases: l. A time slot is allocated based on the criteria of the use case. 2. A group of households is selected based on demographic data, private information about households and / or consumer profiles. 3. A selection condition based on consumer profile is created for the group.

CONSUMER PROFILE-CONTROLLED ADVERTISING Targeted advertising for various consumer groups, for example diaper advertising for households with small children, or advertising for bank loans to low-income households. The time slot for advertising is probably not as critical as in the following use cases. The location of the time slot is probably not dependent on which second is selected. The selection conditions for the group are based on which consumer group the advertisement is aimed at.

ADVERTISING AT THE SAME TIME OF TV PROGRAMS Although the invention provides a method of broadcasting advertising regardless of which TV channel the consumer is currently watching, and regardless of traditional advertising interruptions, it may be desirable to be able to display, for example, BMW advertising while the car is being displayed. on the TV screen.

The time slot is calculated based on the start time of the program or movie. The selection condition is based on the selected TV channel and, for example, income. This presupposes that the system knows which TV channel the consumer is watching, ie that the selection condition can use the consumer profile.

BLOCK / ENHANGE ADVERTISING Blocking / Reinforcing advertising is shown linked to competing / collaborative advertising in the TV channel.

The time slot is based on when the advertisement in the TV channel is broadcast. The selection condition is based on consumer group and selected TV channel. This case presupposes that the system knows which TV channel the consumer is watching, ie that the selection condition can use the consumer profile. From a technical point of view, this use case is the same as "Advertising at the same time as TV program". The advertisement is synchronized with an event that is extreme for the advertising message.

TEST CAMPAIGN Two different advertising messages are used to be sent to a target group generated in the same way.

Consumers' responses (hit image, number of interested parties, number of buyers) are compiled and a report is generated for the campaigns. The time slot for the advertisements is probably not that important with regard to the selection conditions, but the two groups must receive the advertisements at the same time in order for the campaign results to be comparable. The selection conditions must be made so that the system's forecast algorithm can ensure that the two groups are similar and equal in size. It should be noted that the system can never guarantee that the groups will be identical.

CONSUMER REQUESTED INFORMATION This use case differs from the others in that it does not contain an advertising message, but includes that the consumer has requested some form of information. The information can, for example, be an alarm when a program starts on another TV channel. The use case requires that there is an application that provides, for example, a calendar function. When certain events occur, the application sends out an "advertising message" to the consumer. This "advertising message" must then be displayed in a place other than real advertising messages. Although the invention has been described in a preferred embodiment, those skilled in the art will recognize that a variety of variations and modifications are conceivable without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, as described in the appended claims.

Claims (12)

516 203 7 PATENT REQUIREMENTS A method for transmitting advertising messages in a cable TV network to target groups provided with a monitor connected to or comprising a so-called set top box comprising entering an advertising message; target group selection; attaching information, including the address of the set top box, to said advertising message; sending said advertising message over the network based on said attached information; allocating a portion of said monitor for said advertisement message; and outputting said advertisement message in the assigned part of said monitor of the selected target group. 2.. The method of claim 1 further comprising defining a plurality of time slots; assigning said advertising message to a time slot; and including said tarpaulin in said information. A method according to any one of the preceding claims further comprising identifying non-target groups; selection of a background advertisement for said non-target groups. A method according to any one of the preceding claims further comprising providing interacting means at said monitor, which is associated with said advertising message; registration of user interaction with said interaction means. A method according to any one of the preceding claims further comprising selecting the target group; 516 203 / O - outputting a first advertising message to a first subgroup of said target group; outputting a second advertising message to a second subgroup of said target group; collection of consumer responses from the first and second subgroups respectively A method according to any one of the preceding claims further comprising - selecting said target group based on volatile and non-volatile data. System for transmitting advertising messages in a cable TV network to target groups provided with a monitor (7) connected to or comprising a so-called set top box (6) characterized by means (1) for inputting an advertising message; - target group (1); - means (1) for adhering information, comprising the address of the set top box (6), to said advertising message; means (2,3,4) for sending said advertising message over the network based on said attached information; means (1) for assigning a part of said monitor (7) for said advertising message; and - means (6) for outputting said advertising message in the assigned part of said monitor (7) of the selected target group. A system according to claim (7) further characterized by means (1) for defining a number of time slots; means (1) for assigning said advertising message to a time slot; and means (1) for including said time slot in said information. System according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by - means (1) for identifying non-target groups; means (1) for selecting a background advertisement for said non-target groups. System according to one of the preceding claims, characterized by 11. 516 203 / I interacting means (10,11,12) at said monitor (7), which is associated with said advertising message; means (4,5,6) for registering user interaction with said interacting means (10,11,12) System according to any one of the preceding claims characterized by means (1) for selecting target group; means (6) for outputting a first advertising message to a first subgroup of said target group; means (6) for outputting a second advertising message to a second subgroup of said target group; means (4,5,6) for collecting consumer responses from said first and second target groups respectively. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized by -selection of said target group based on flvalent and flvalent data.