JP5514821B2 - Content distribution system and storage medium - Google Patents

Description

  The characteristics of the present invention relate to (a) distribution of content (eg, audio-video media content) from various sources to people using portable memory devices, and (b) using such devices. The present invention relates to a technique for obtaining income related to distribution of such content.

  Although the techniques described in this section can be pursued, they are not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Accordingly, unless otherwise indicated herein, the techniques described in this section are not prior art to the claims of this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

  Many digitized audio and video content can be accessed via various sites on the Internet using browser applications such as Mozilla Firefox. Users can point their browser application to a website's uniform resource locator (URL) and click a link to watch a movie or listen to music. If the user later wants to watch a movie or listen to music, the user can instruct his browser application to download the data referenced by the link. In response, the browser application downloads the data and stores the data on the hard disk drive of the user's computer.

  Typically, such data is stored in a compressed and encoded form. Often, audiovisual content downloaded from the Internet is encoded according to the Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG) standard. Computers typically have applications that can decompress and decode such content for presentation to the user, but other older content-providing devices, such as televisions, have such content It usually does not have any mechanism for converting it into a form that can be presented to the user.

  From time to time, the user may wish to watch the content that the user has downloaded on his computer on television. If the computer has an appropriate interface, the user may be able to connect the computer to a television. An application that can read content from the computer's hard disk drive, decompress and decode the content into a form that can be presented by the television, and send the content in such form to the television through the interface. May have.

  However, computers cannot be easily carried from one location to another. Computers are usually relatively large and heavy. Laptop computers are generally smaller and lighter than desktop computers, but still consume a significant amount of power to power a hard disk drive that stores downloaded content. The user may wish to view the downloaded content on several different televisions in several different locations, but because of the size and weight of his computer, the user I don't feel like carrying it around. Furthermore, computers (especially laptop computers) are quite expensive. Many people have no financial means to purchase a laptop computer. The average person may be reluctant to purchase a laptop computer unless he or she has a need for a laptop computer other than simply watching a movie downloaded from the Internet or listening to music.

  In addition, there are so many websites from which content can be obtained that the user may not know the majority of the content that can be obtained. When a user is looking for content related to a particular topic, the user may attempt to enter a query word related to that topic into an Internet search engine. However, often the results returned by an Internet search engine may exclude references to content that the search engine does not know.

  Thus, despite the large amount of content stored on a number of servers in the Internet, people do not have an efficient and inexpensive way to discover and view that content, especially when people are moving a lot. .

  The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals refer to like elements.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for delivering content to a person via a portable device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the example of the internal component of the portable apparatus by one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 6 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system 300 upon which an embodiment of the invention may be implemented.

  In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures or devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the present invention.

  In the following discussion, reference is made to the same parts throughout the several views when referring to the figures.

Embodiments are described herein according to the following overview.
1.0 Overview 2.0 Example of Content Distribution System 3.0 Automatic Advertisement Matching 4.0 Bid-based Advertisement Selection 5.0 Example of Advertisement Presentation Technology 6.0 Example of Technology for Revenue from Content Distribution System 7.0 Implementation Mechanism-Hardware Overview

1.0 Overview According to one embodiment of the present invention, a portable device downloads (or streams) content (eg, audio-visual media content) from various remote content sources over the Internet. In one embodiment of the present invention, the portable device has a storage mechanism that persistently stores content on the portable device when the portable device receives the content. The portable device further (a) communicates with remote content sources over the Internet and / or other networks, and (b) streams content from a storage mechanism to a presentation device such as a television or monitor. A communication mechanism is provided. The presentation device plays back content received by a person via a visual display and / or an audio speaker.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the portable device includes an Ethernet interface and / or a wireless network interface through which the portable device communicates with a remote content source. In one embodiment of the invention, the portable device includes a high-resolution multimedia interface (HDMI) or other interface through which the portable device transmits content to the presentation device. In one embodiment of the present invention, the portable device includes a semiconductor memory (eg, flash memory, compact flash (CF) card, SD and SDHC card, USB memory stick, etc.) The portable device continuously stores the content received by the capable device from the remote content source. In one embodiment of the invention, the portable device is small enough and light in weight to be carried in a person's pocket.

  According to an embodiment of the present invention, after a user of a portable device streams content stored on the portable device to a presentation device at one location to the portable device, the A user of the portable device can carry the portable device to another presentation device at another location. The owner of the portable device can then stream the content stored on the portable device to another presentation device to the portable device at the other location. Thus, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a portable device can be used with a plurality of different presentation devices at different times and at different positions.

  Embodiments of the invention outlined above are described in more detail below, along with some alternative embodiments of the invention.

2.0 Example of Content Distribution System FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for distributing content to people via a portable device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system includes a portable device 102, a home media engine (HME) server 104, a web server 106, a content provider 108A-N, a content server 110A-N, an advertiser 112A-N, an ad server 114A-N, a display 116A-N, A metadata database 118 and the Internet 120 are included. The system illustrated in FIG. 1 is only one of many possible different alternative embodiments of the present invention. That is, alternative embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in alternative systems having fewer, more, or different components than those depicted in FIG. The displays 116A-N may be televisions, monitors, and other types of displays capable of displaying operational video.

  Each of the content providers 108A-N is a separate person or organization. In one embodiment of the invention, that of content providers 108A-N creates and / or owns different content items. As used herein, the term “content item” refers to any type of media content. The content item may be an audiovisual media such as a movie or a television program. The content item may be a moving image video content without sound. The content item may be audio without video. That is, for example, the content item may be music. The content item may be a single frame still image. The content item may be a computer-executable application. That is, for example, the content item may be a video game. Each of the content providers 108A-N has a computer through which the content provider communicates with other components of the system (particularly the web server 106) via the Internet 120.

  Content providers 108A-N store content in content servers 110A-N. For example, each of the content servers 110A-N may be a computer having a remote or local hard disk drive in which one or more content items are persistently stored. In one embodiment of the invention, various ones of content servers 110A-N are owned and operated by various ones of content providers 108A-N. In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, content servers 110A-N are owned and operated by entities other than content providers 108A-N. Content servers 110A-N are configured to communicate with other components of the system via the Internet 120. In one embodiment of the present invention, content providers 108A-N store these content items on content servers 110A-N by sending them over the Internet 120. Each of the content servers 110A-N may be associated with a different Internet domain name. Each content item stored on one of the content servers 110A-N is associated with a unique uniform resource locator (URL) that identifies both the content item and the content server on which the content item is stored. Also good.

  Each of advertisers 112A-N is a separate person or organization. In one embodiment of the invention, each of advertisers 112A-N creates and / or owns a different advertisement. The advertisement may be in the form of a still image, audio and / or video audio video media. The advertisement may be in the form of an interactive offer that a person can accept or reject. For example, an offer may advance a person to purchase a particular item of merchandise. If a person chooses to purchase a merchandise item, the offer may cause the entity to ship the merchandise item to the person's address. In addition, or alternatively, the advertisement may be in a game and / or other interactive form. Each of the advertisers 112A-N has a computer through which the advertiser communicates with other components of the system (especially the web server 106) via the Internet 120.

  Advertisers 112A-N store advertisements in advertisement servers 114A-N. For example, each of the advertisement servers 114A-N may be a computer having a hard disk drive in which one or more advertisements are persistently stored. In one embodiment of the invention, various ones of the advertising servers 114A-N are owned and operated by various ones of the advertisers 112A-N. In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, advertising servers 114A-N are owned and operated by entities other than advertisers 114A-N. Advertising servers 114A-N are configured to communicate with other components of the system via the Internet 120. In one embodiment of the present invention, advertisers 112A-N store their advertisements in advertisement server 114A-N by sending advertisements over the Internet 120. Each of the ad servers 114A-N may be associated with a different internet domain name. Each advertisement stored in one of the advertisement servers 114A-N may be associated with a unique uniform resource locator (URL) that identifies both the advertisement and the advertisement server where the advertisement is stored.

  Content providers 108A-N and advertisers 112A-N interact with web server 106 via the Internet 120. Web server 106 provides web pages including user interfaces to the content providers 108A-N and advertisers 112A-N's computers. Content providers 108A-N and advertisers 112A-N submit information to web server 106 via these user interfaces.

  The content providers 108A-N submit to the web server 106 information indicating the URLs of various content items stored in the content servers 110A-N. Along with each such URL, content providers 108A-N submit metadata that describes various characteristics (eg, title, year, director, actor, rating, summary, etc.) of the content item with which the URL is associated. Also good. For each URL, the metadata submitted in conjunction with the URL may indicate one or more content keywords selected by the content provider submitting the metadata. Content keywords are used to match advertisements to content items in an automatic manner that will be described in more detail below. In response to receiving the above information from content providers 108A-N, web server 106 stores the information in metadata database 118. The web server 106 establishes an association in the metadata database 118 between the content item URL and the metadata (including the content keyword) submitted with the content item URL.

  Advertisers 112A-N submit to web server 106 information indicating the URLs of the various advertisements stored in advertisement servers 114A-N. With each such URL, advertisers 112A-N may submit metadata that describes various characteristics of the advertisement with which the URL is associated. For each URL, the metadata submitted in association with the URL may indicate one or more advertising keywords that are selected by the advertiser submitting the metadata. Advertising keywords are used to match advertisements to content items with content items in an automatic manner that will be described in more detail below. In response to receiving the above information from advertisers 112A-N, web server 106 stores the information in metadata database 118. The web server 106 establishes an association in the metadata database 118 between the advertisement URL and the metadata (including the advertisement keyword) submitted with the advertisement URL.

  The portable device 102 has an interface through which the portable device 102 can communicate with other components of the system via the Internet 120. For example, the portable device 102 may have an Ethernet interface and / or a wireless network interface. The portable device 102 also has HDMI, through which the portable device 102 can send a television signal to any of the displays 116A-N. That is, each of the displays 116A-N also has HDMI to which the portable device 102 can be connected. Displays 116A-N may be located at different locations. For example, the display 116A may be located in one house and the display 116B may be located in another house. A person carrying the portable device 102 may select a particular one of the displays 116A-N that the portable device 102 currently wants to connect to. For example, portable device 102 may be connected to a television or monitor with HDMI.

  The portable device 102 receives user interface commands that the HME server 104 sends to the portable device 102 via the Internet 120. The user interface command may be matched to a specific remote display protocol, for example. In response to receiving a user interface command from the HME server 104, the portable device 102 selects a user interface element corresponding to the user interface command for a particular television (the portable device 102 of the displays 116A-N). A television signal to be displayed on the currently connected one) is transmitted to the specific television. Portable device 102 also receives user commands corresponding to what the viewer has selected from certain user interface elements in a wireless signal from a remote control device held by the viewer of a particular television. Each user command triggers a corresponding event. The portable device 102 notifies the HME server 104 of the occurrence of each such event via the Internet 120. In response to the occurrence of various events, the HME server 104 sends various corresponding sets of user interface commands to the portable device 102. Accordingly, what the viewer selects from the user interface element (via the remote control device) may cause the HME server 104 to instruct the portable device 102, which may be a specific television. Causes the particular television to display a user interface that is different from the currently displayed user interface.

  The HME server 104 queries the metadata database 118 for information for determining a set of content items stored in the content servers 110A-N. Based on the result of the inquiry, the HME server 104 generates a set of user interface commands that cause the portable device 102 to generate a television signal meaning a content guide. The content guide specifies a set of content items stored in the content servers 110A-N. For example, a content guide may include a list of content items that have been sorted and / or filtered (based on specific criteria). The HME server 102 transmits a set of user interface commands to the portable device 102 via the Internet 120. In response to receiving the set of user interface commands, the portable device 102 generates a television signal representing a content guide. The portable device 102 transmits these television signals to the particular one of the displays 116A-N to which the portable device 102 is currently connected. In response, the particular television displays a content guide.

  What the viewer has selected (via the remote control device) from the specific content item displayed in the content guide notifies the HME server 104 of the occurrence of an event corresponding to the selection from the specific content item. The portable device 102. In the notification, portable device 102 identifies the particular content item selected. In one embodiment of the present invention, the HME server 104 receives the notification and in response sends the URL of the specific content item (indicated in the association stored in the metadata database 118) to the portable device 102. To do. Portable device 102 sends a request for a particular content item (also identified by the URL) over the Internet 120 to a particular one of content servers 110A-N associated with the URL. To do. The particular content server receives the request and in response sends the particular content item to the portable device 102 via the Internet 120. Accordingly, portable device 102 downloads a particular content item from a particular content server. In one embodiment of the invention, the portable device 102 downloads the content item, but in an alternative embodiment of the invention, a particular content server streams the content item to the portable device 102.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, upon receipt of a particular content item, the portable device 102 may include a semiconductor memory (eg, flash memory, compact flash (CF) card, SD, and SD) within the portable device 102. The specific content item is stored in an SDHC card, USB memory stick, or the like. In one embodiment of the invention, the HME server 104 instructs the portable device 102 to play a particular content item. In response, the portable device 102 generates a television signal that causes a particular television to present (eg, plays and / or displays) a particular content item and transmits it to the particular television. The particular television presents the particular content item represented in the television signal.

  As described above, in one embodiment of the present invention, the HME server 104 sends the URL of the selected content item to the portable device 102 corresponding to the content item selected by the user. However, in an alternative embodiment of the present invention, the HME server 104 can carry multiple URLs for multiple content items even prior to the user of the portable device 102 selecting any particular content item. You may transmit to the apparatus 102. For example, the HME server 104 sends to the portable device 102 a URL for each content item included in the content guide described above (and possibly even a URL for content items not included in the content guide). May be sent to portable device 102 even before the user selects any particular content item. If the user does not actually select a content item corresponding to one such received URL, portable device 102 may store those URLs for later use.

  The content item may be stored in the content server 110A-N in a compressed and encoded form. For example, content items may be stored to conform to the Motion Picture Expert Group (MPEG) standard. Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, the portable device 102 generates a television signal that the portable device 102 transmits to a particular television and causes the particular television to present the content item. The portable device 102 decodes and decompresses the compressed and encoded content item. Content items remain in a compressed and encoded form to conserve memory, such as portable device 102 semiconductor memory (eg, flash memory, compact flash (CF) card, SD and SDHC cards, USB memory) It may be inside a stick).

3.0 Automatic Advertisement Matching As described above, in one embodiment of the present invention, advertisers 112A-N store advertisements on advertisement servers 114A-N. In addition, as described above, in one embodiment of the present invention, the advertisers 112A-N send information associating (a) URLs related to these advertisements and (b) metadata related to these advertisements to the web server. Submit to 106. The web server 106 stores the association between the advertisement URL and the advertisement metadata in the metadata database 118. As described above, in one embodiment of the present invention, the metadata about the advertisement includes one or more advertising keywords that may be related to the content or subject matter of the advertisement. For example, advertising keywords may include production type, service type, and / or brand name.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, if the HME server 104 detects the occurrence of an event indicating that the user of the portable device 102 has selected a content item from the content guide, the HME server 104 selects the selected content. The metadata database 118 is queried to determine content keywords associated with the item. The HME server 104 therefore queries the metadata database 118 to determine a set of advertisement matches. The HME server 104 matches the advertisement by finding at least one advertisement keyword that matches the at least one content keyword associated with the selected content item in the metadata database 118 and the associated advertisement in the metadata database 118. Determine the set of. A keyword can be a word, and alternatively, a keyword can be a phrase that includes multiple related words. For example, when the selected content item is related to the content keyword “Zippy Cola”, the HME server 104 determines the set of a plurality of advertisement URLs respectively associated with the advertising keyword “Zippy Cola” in order to determine the metadata database 118. Contact

  In one embodiment of the present invention, after the HME server 104 determines a set of matching advertisement URLs, the HME server 104 can carry one or more of the matching advertisements along with the URL of the selected content item. To 102 (via the Internet 120). Some examples of techniques by which the HME server 104 selects from matching advertising URLs are described in more detail below. In one embodiment of the present invention, the portable device 102 receives advertisement URLs, and accordingly, advertisements associated with these advertisement URLs from the appropriate one of the advertisement servers 114A-N (Internet 120). To download). Such advertisements may alternatively be streamed from the appropriate one of the advertisement servers 114A-N to the portable device 102. In one embodiment of the present invention, portable device 102 may display downloaded advertisements before, after, and / or during the time that portable device 102 plays or displays the selected content item. Play or display (via a particular one of the displays 116A-N to which the portable device 102 is currently connected). It is not necessary that the advertisement URL be sent to the portable device 102 at the exact time that the advertisement is downloaded by the portable device 102. In one embodiment of the present invention, the portable device 102 can preempt content that the portable device 102 may later need. For example, in one embodiment of the present invention, the portable device 102 receives a number of advertisement URLs associated with the URL of the content item selected by the user along with the URL of the content item selected by the user. The portable device 102 may receive the advertisement located at the advertisement URL simultaneously with receiving the content item selected by the user. The portable device 102 may store such advertisements for later display at an appropriate time interval relative to the presentation of the content item, for example, immediately after the presentation of the content item is over.

  In one embodiment of the invention, the HME server 104 obtains content (eg, content items and / or advertisements) from the portable device 102 and caches the content for later possible display. Instruct. The portable device 102 may store in the cache content that the portable device 102 has never actually presented to the user. The HME server 104 remotely manages the content cache of the portable device 102 to select which content is placed in the cache and which content is cleared from the cache when the cache is full. Also good. The determination by the HME server 104 of what content is cached by the portable device 102 may be based on information about the use of the portable device 102 and / or the user of the portable device 102. For example, the HME server 104 may select content to be cached on a specific portable device based on a user's content viewing history of the specific portable device. The HME server 104 may maintain such a content viewing history using information transmitted from the portable device 102 to the HME server 104 in response to viewing of the user's content.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, whenever an advertisement is presented via a television to which the portable device 102 is connected, the portable device 102 may: (a) identify the advertisement; (E.g., advertisement URL), and (b) a notification indicating that the advertisement is presented. Portable device 102 may decode and / or decompress downloaded advertisements to generate a television signal that causes displays 116A-N to display these advertisements. Examples of some techniques for the portable device 120 to play or display the downloaded advertisement are described further below.

4.0 Bid-Based Advertisement Selection As described above, in one embodiment of the invention, the HME server 104 automatically determines a set of advertisements that match the selected content item. In some cases, the number of matching ads may be large-too many of the matching ads to be displayed or played along with the content item in a reasonable amount of time. In such a situation, the HME server 104 selects one or more advertisements from the matching advertisements based on the amount of fees that the advertisers 112A-N are willing to pay to present the advertisements.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, when advertisers 112A-N submit advertisement metadata to web server 106, the advertiser also submits a bid for the display of the associated advertisement. The web server 106 stores these bids in the advertisement metadata that the web server 106 stores in the metadata database 118. For example, a certain amount of money is given to the service operator (eg, TiVo Inc.) each time an advertiser 112A is presented with a particular advertisement (eg, on portable device 102 or other similar portable device). Advertiser 112A may submit information to web server 106 indicating that it is willing to pay.

  In one embodiment of the invention, after determining the set of matching advertisements as described above, the HME server 104 determines the number of advertisement slots valid for the selected content item. In one embodiment of the invention, this number is selected by the content provider and indicated in the content metadata associated with the selected content item. The HME server 104 sorts the matching advertisements based on the bid amounts associated with these matching advertisements. Then, the HME server 104 selects a number of matching advertisements equal to the number of valid advertisement slots in order from the matching advertisement associated with the highest bid amount. The HME server 104 transmits the URL of the selected matching advertisement to the portable device 102 via the Internet 120. Using these URLs, the portable device 102 downloads the selected matching advertisement from the appropriate one of the advertisement servers 114A-N and presents the selected matching advertisement with the selected content item.

  In one embodiment of the invention, the HME server 104 instructs the portable device 102 to get the advertisement and store it in the cache even after the user of the portable device 102 selects any content item. . More specifically, in one embodiment of the present invention, the HME server 104 periodically selects a limited subset of advertisements currently associated with the highest bid among all valid advertisements. The HME server 104 periodically obtains those selected advertisements on the portable device 102 and later possible use or presentation (eg, later presented with one of those advertisements). The content item to be instructed to be cached in the storage device of the portable device 102 for the user to actually select). Thus, the portable device 102 may never have a user of the portable device 102 select a content item that requires one of those advertisements to be presented, and at least some of those advertisements will never Even if it is not presented, it is currently associated with the highest bid (eg, via download or streaming technology), even if it was eventually removed from the cache (eg, if other ads eventually received higher bids) Get your ads. In one embodiment of the present invention, the HME server 104 not only selects the advertisement associated with the highest bid for “proactive cash storage” by the portable device 102, but also the user's past browsing history. And based on the content item selection, it also chooses the ads that are likely to be presented in the end. Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, the HME server 104 (a) ranks this advertisement's current bid among current bids associated with other advertisements and (b) known content. The weight of each valid advertisement is determined based on some combination of the habit of viewing the item and the probability that the advertisement will actually be presented to the user. The HME server 104 therefore proactively instructs the portable device 102 to cache the advertisement associated with the most prominent weight. In order to prevent the bandwidth of the portable device 102 from being overused during time-constrained times, the HME server 104 may provide a specific off-peak time of day (eg, portable device of the day). 102 directs portable device 102 to obtain and store advertisements and other content in a cache at times when the user is unlikely to obtain those content items in response to the selection of content items. Also good.

  The service provider that owns and / or operates the HME server 104 may determine that there is a “premium” content item among the content items that the user of the portable device 102 wants to see. Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, the service provider causes the portable device 102 to obtain such potential content items (via the HME server 104) and store them in a cache. In situations where a “premium” content item is currently stored in the portable device's cache, but not yet presented, the HME server 104 represents the “premium” content item stored in the cache and stored in the cache. Advertisements that are specifically configured to direct the user to request the presentation of the “premium” content item that is displayed on the portable device 102 (other content items that the portable device 102 is currently presenting to the user) (With). This helps to ensure that the “premium” content item stored in the cache is actually requested and presented to the user by the user, and thus the bandwidth used to store the “premium” content item in the cache. The width and storage capacity are not wasted. In one embodiment of the present invention, the creator, owner, or distributor of a “premium” content item may: (a) store “premium” content item on portable device 102 in a cache and / or (b) ) Signing a contract with the service provider for paying the service provider a specific fee in exchange for the presentation of a special advertisement that promotes the use of the “premium” content item to the user of the portable device 102. In one embodiment of the present invention, the service provider does not allow the "premium" content item to be cached until such a contract is signed between the service provider and the item producer.

  In one embodiment of the invention, whenever the HME server 104 sends an advertising URL to the portable device 102, or alternatively, the portable device 102 presented an advertisement associated with such URL. Whenever the HME server 104 receives a notification to that effect, the HME server charges the bank account, invoice, or credit card associated with one of the advertisers 112A-N that bid for the advertisement. To do. The HME server 104 bills the bank account, invoice, or credit card for the amount specified for the bid for the advertisement. In one embodiment of the present invention, advertisers 112A-N submit bank account information and / or credit card information along with bids submitted by advertisers 112A-N via web server 106. In one embodiment of the present invention, the web server 106 stores such bank account information and / or credit card information in advertising metadata associated with an associated advertising URL in the metadata database 118.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, the bid amount is associated with the advertisement URL. However, in another embodiment of the present invention, advertisers 112A-N submit bids related to keywords chosen by the advertiser rather than a particular advertisement. The web server 106 stores, in the metadata database 118, the association between the advertisement keyword, the bid price, and the specific information of the advertiser who presented the bid price. In such alternative embodiments of the present invention, the HME server 104 selects one or more advertisements associated with the advertising keyword associated with the largest bid amount from the set of matching advertisements. Each advertisement may be associated with a plurality of different advertising keywords.

5.0 Examples of Advertisement Presentation Techniques There are a variety of different ways that the portable device 102 can present a downloaded advertisement along with the presentation of the URL of the content item. In one embodiment of the invention, portable device 102 presents one or more advertisements before presenting the content item. In one embodiment of the invention, the portable device 102 presents one or more advertisements after the presentation of the content item. In one embodiment of the invention, the portable device 102 presents one or more advertisements before the presentation of the content item and presents one or more advertisements after the presentation of the content item. For example, portable device 102 may play an advertisement for 5 minutes prior to the presentation of the content item, and portable device 102 may play the advertisement for 5 minutes after the presentation of the content item.

  In one embodiment of the invention, portable device 102 presents an advertisement during the presentation of a content item. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, the HME server 104 determines the aspect ratio of the content item before the portable device 102 presents the URL of the content item. In one such embodiment of the present invention, when the content item has an aspect ratio compared to the aspect ratio of the television on which the content item is to be presented, the content item will have black bands on the top and bottom or left and right. If the HME server 104 determines, the HME server 104 instructs the portable device 102 to play or display the advertisement in a display space not occupied by the content item. In response, the portable device 102 plays or displays those advertisements simultaneously with the presentation of the content item, but in a display space not occupied by the content item.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the portable device 102 presents advertisements at regular interruptions between the presentation of the content item portions. For example, a portable device presents 10 minutes of content items and presents one or more advertisements and presents the next 10 minutes of content items and presents one or more advertisements; Then, the next 10 minutes of content items may be presented.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, if one of the content providers 108A-N submits information to the web server 106 with the content item as described above, the content provider may insert an advertisement into the information. An indication of one or more possible time points may be included. The web server 106 stores one or more times in the content metadata associated with the content item URL in the metadata database 118. In such an embodiment of the present invention, the HME server 104 provides the list of points in time to the portable device 102 before the portable device 102 presents the content item associated with the point in time. In one embodiment of the present invention, when portable device 102 has played a content item up to one of the points in the list, portable device 102 notifies HME server 104 that the time has been reached. In response to this notification, the HME server 104 instructs the portable device 102 to play one or more advertisements and then continue to present the content item until the next point in the list. However, according to an alternative embodiment of the invention, instead of the HME server 104 announcing that the time has been reached, the portable device 102 can independently play one before continuing to present the content item. Select the above advertisement. Under such circumstances, portable device 102 may notify HME server 104 about which advertisements portable device 102 has selected and presented (or is currently presenting). The portable device 102 may select an advertisement URL from a list of advertisement URLs that the portable device 102 stores locally. Some such URLs may point to advertisements already stored in a cache maintained by the portable device 102, while other such URLs may represent various ones of the advertisement servers 114A-N. It may refer to a resource that is stored or maintained in one. Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, the advertisement presentation by the portable device 102 is performed while the portable device 102 automatically inserts the advertisement into the presentation stream, along with the content that the portable device 102 plays, and The portable device 102 is fully pre-calculated by the portable device 102 while the portable device 102 informs the HME server 104 about which advertisement the portable device 102 indicated when the portable device 102 presents the advertisement. Or downloaded.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the content provider indicates to the web server 106 the maximum amount of time that the content provider will play the advertisement at each time point in addition to the list of time points. In such an embodiment of the present invention, the HME server 104 instructs the portable device 102 to present an advertisement of a length that, when combined, does not exceed a specific maximum time value at each point in time.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the content provider presents the web server 106 with a list of the above time points, and further shows, for each time point, one or more content keywords associated with the time point. For example, the content provider 108A may associate the content keyword “soap” with a first time (eg, 5 o'clock) and the content keyword “beer” with a second time (eg, 10 o'clock). Content provider 108A may select a content keyword to be associated with a point in time based on the subject of the content item that is to be presented at a particular point in time. Continuing the above example, content provider 108A selects “soap” as associated with the first point in time, since the content item will be a television program where one of the actors is taking a shower at the first point in time. It may be. Similarly, in a television program, content provider 108A may choose “beer” as associated with the second time point because one of the actors will drink a bottle of beer at the second time point. . In such an embodiment of the present invention, when the portable device 102 notifies the HME server 104 that a specific point in time for presenting the content item has been reached, the HME server 104 may identify the specific in the metadata database 118. Determining one or more advertisements associated with the advertising keywords that match at least one content keyword associated with the current time point. The HME server 104 instructs the portable device 102 to present one or more of those advertisements so that they are not intrusive. For example, the portable device 102 may cause the television to present a banner or overlay on a portion of the screen while the content item is being played. Here, the banner or overlay may have elements from the matched advertisement. In another example, portable device 102 presents the television with an icon in the corner of the screen indicating that additional information is available in response to the viewer pressing a particular button on the remote control device. You may let them. Here, in response to the viewer pressing a particular button while the icon is displayed, the portable device 102 causes the television to show a matched advertisement that temporarily interrupts the presentation of the content item. May be. In each of the above examples, the portable device 102 may operate in response to an instruction from the HME server 104.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the fee charged by the content service provider to the advertiser who displayed the advertisement as described above is based, at least in part, on when the advertisement was displayed during the program. For example, in one embodiment of the invention, the content service provider charges the highest price for ads played during the beginning of the program and lowest for ads played during the end of the program Charge a fee. For advertisements played between the beginning and end of a program, the content service provider will charge a higher fee for advertisements played near the beginning of the program than advertisements played near the end of the program You may be charged a fee based on the ratio of (a) the amount of the replayed portion of the program to (b) the remaining amount of the replayed program. The HME server 104 may select which advertisements to present to the viewer from among multiple advertisements associated with different rates based at least in part on the rates associated with the playback of those ads. . For example, the HME server 104 may select a specific number of advertisements or a set of advertisements that produce the highest price while keeping a specific amount of total advertisement time in the program.

6.0 Example of technology for generating revenue from a content distribution system The operator of a content distribution service (eg, the owner of the web server 106 and / or the holder of the metadata of the metadata database 118) thereby allows the content distribution system There are many different technologies that can generate revenue from the actions that occur in As previously described, in one embodiment of the present invention, advertisers 112A-N present bids with the URLs of advertisements stored in advertisement servers 114A-N. In such an embodiment of the present invention, the HME server 104 selects one of the advertisements matched to the keyword based on the bid amount associated with these advertisements. The content distribution service operator (eg, TiVo Inc.) obtains revenue from advertisers 112A-N in the amount of bids associated with the advertisements that portable device 102 actually presented. Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, the content distribution service operator sells advertising opportunities to advertisers 112A-N using the online bidding process (via web server 106) described above.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the content distribution service operator offers to store the advertisements of advertisers 112A-N on a server owned or operated by the content distribution service operator. Advertisers 112A-N may find this offer possibility more attractive than storing advertisements on their own ad servers (eg, ad servers 114A-N). In one embodiment of the present invention, at the cost of the benefit of storing advertisements on the content distribution service operator's server, advertisers 112A-N agree to pay a specific amount to the content distribution service operator. For example, a content delivery service operator may charge advertisers 112A-N a specific amount each month. The specific amount may be based on the size of the advertisement (for example, the number of bytes) that the advertiser 112A stores in the server of the content distribution service operator, or the bandwidth consumed when sending the advertisement to a portable device May be based on width.

  In one embodiment of the invention, when content providers 108A-N submit content item URLs and associated metadata to web server 106, content providers 108A-N (eg, check boxes on web pages). A) a legally effective contract with the operator of the content distribution service. The contract specifies that the content provider permits the content distribution service operator to sell advertising opportunities to advertisers 112A-N. The contract further specifies that the content provider will receive a specific portion of the revenue earned from advertisers 112A-N. The operator of the content distribution service receives the remainder of the income. Such a contract serves as a trigger for content providers 108A-N to submit their content item URLs and associated metadata to web server 106.

  The previously described techniques are directed to generating revenue from advertisers 112A-N. Additionally or alternatively, techniques for generating revenue from content providers 108A-N may be used as described below. In one embodiment of the present invention, content providers 108A-N embed advertisements in their own content items stored on content servers 110A-N. In such an embodiment of the present invention, some of the content providers 108A-N that embed advertisements in their own content items contract with the operator of the content distribution service. The contract allows the content provider to embed an advertisement in a content item that the portable device 102 downloads (or receives, for example, via streaming technology) and presents, at the expense of the content provider. It states that each time (or similar device) downloads and / or presents one of the content providers' content items, it agrees to pay a certain amount to the content delivery service operator. Thus, in such an embodiment of the present invention, portable device 102 may communicate to HME server 104 each time portable device 102 downloads (or receives, for example, via streaming technology) and / or presents a content item. You may be notified. In response to receiving such notification, the HME server 104 may have a bank account, invoice, associated with one of the content providers 108A-N that the content item 108 can receive and / or present. Or charge the credit card. The HME server 104 charges the bank account, invoice, or credit card for the amount specified in the contract with the content provider. In one embodiment of the present invention, content providers 108A-N submit bank account information and / or credit card information along with content item URLs that content providers 108A-N submit via web server 106. In one embodiment of the invention, the web server 106 stores such bank account information, invoice and / or credit card information in content metadata associated with the associated content item URL in the metadata database 118. Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, content providers 108A-N sell advertising opportunities to advertisers 112A-N, rather than content distribution service operators, but content distribution service operators In return for allowing you to do so, you will earn revenue from content providers 108A-N.

  In one embodiment of the invention, the content provider embeds the advertisement in the content item, but also allows the content distribution service operator to sell some advertising opportunities to advertisers 112A-N. In such an embodiment of the present invention, the content provider may identify a set of points in the metadata database 118 at which the HME server 104 may instruct the portable device 102 to insert an advertisement that matches the keyword. Shown in the content metadata associated with the content item URL (eg, via the web server 106). The content provider may further specify a maximum time interval for each time point. In such an embodiment of the present invention, the HME server 104 instructs the portable device 102 to present an advertisement whose total length does not exceed the specified time interval maximum at each time point. Thus, during the display of a content item, the portable device 102 includes (a) an advertisement previously embedded by the content provider in the content item itself, and (b) a device that is automatically selected by the HME server 104 and portable. Both advertisements that have been instructed to be downloaded to 102 (using the keyword matching techniques described above) may be presented.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, when content providers 108A-N submit a content item URL to web server 106, content providers 108A-N further determine whether the corresponding content item is “premium” content. The web server 106 stores an indication as to whether or not the corresponding content item is “premium” in the content metadata associated with the content item URL in the metadata database 118. In such embodiments of the present invention, content providers 108A-N further, for each “premium” content item, portable device 102 receives (eg, downloads or via streaming) the “premium” content item. Identify the amount to be charged by the operator of the portable device 102 whenever it is received and / or presented (the operator of the content delivery service is portable so that the operator of the device uses the portable device) A service subscription may be requested from each operator of the device, and the content distribution service operator may maintain billing information for each periodic usage fee). In such an embodiment of the invention, some of the content providers 108A-N submitting “premium” content item URLs contract with an operator of the content distribution service. The contract states that the content distribution service operator will receive a specific portion of the amount charged by the operator of the portable device 102 when the portable device 102 downloads and / or presents a “premium” content item. Is described. In such an embodiment of the present invention, whenever the portable device 102 downloads and / or presents a “premium” content item, the HME server 104 may have a portable device 102 operator bank account, invoice, or Charge the credit card, direct a specific portion of the bill to the content distribution service operator, and pay the rest of the bill to the content provider. In one embodiment of the present invention, the portable device 102 may be portable before, during, or after (or with) the presentation of a “premium” content item paid for by the operator. Device 102 does not present any advertisements.

  In one embodiment of the present invention, the content distribution service operator charges the content providers 108A-N at the expense of providing the opportunity for the content providers 108A-N to temporarily control the portable device 102 to a limited extent. To earn revenue from content providers 108A-N. As described above, in one embodiment of the present invention, portable device 102 receives user interface commands from HME server 104 and generates a television signal or display signal based on these user interface commands. . In one embodiment of the present invention, the HME server 104 is owned by the content provider that submitted the particular content item in response to the user selecting a particular content item from the content guide presented by the portable device 102. The other device has an authorization on the portable device 102 for a limited time (eg, until the portable device 102 receives a command to resume controlled normal operation of the HME server 104). Allow sending user interface commands. In one embodiment of the invention, unlike the HME server 104, the content provider's server is not owned or operated by the content distribution service operator. Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, content providers 108A-N have the opportunity to more directly control the user interface that portable device 102 generates and presents to viewers via display 116A-N. Given. In such embodiments of the present invention, content distribution service operators charge such content providers for a specific agreed amount in return for the opportunity to control the portable device 102.

  While the content provider server controls the portable device 102, the content provider server can disable certain features of the portable device 102. For example, the content provider server may override the selection of the “skip advertisement” feature of the portable device 102 as long as the content provider server controls the portable device 102.

7.0 Hardware Overview FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating examples of internal components of portable device 102, according to one embodiment of the invention. In the described embodiment, portable device 102 includes Ethernet interface 202, wireless network interface 204, infrared receiver 206, semiconductor memory 208, processor 210, encryptor / decryptor 214, and HDMI 212. The example apparatus shown in FIG. 2 is only one of many possible different alternative embodiments of the present invention. Alternative embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in alternative devices having fewer, more or different components than the device described in FIG.

  In one embodiment of the invention, the portable device 102 has an Ethernet interface 202 or a wireless network interface 204, but not necessarily both. In other embodiments of the invention, the portable device includes both an Ethernet interface 202 and a wireless network interface 204. The portable device 102 can communicate with the content server 110A-N, the advertisement server 114A-N, and the HME server 104 over the Internet 120 via the Ethernet interface 202 and / or the wireless network interface 204.

  The infrared receiver 206 can receive an infrared signal from a remote control device. In response to a user button operation on the remote control device, the remote control device transmits an infrared signal to the portable device. The infrared signal represents a command that the user desires to activate the portable device 102. Circuitry in portable device 102 sends such commands to processor 210 in the form of electrical signals. The processor 210 may be any microprocessor or application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

  In one embodiment of the present invention, when the portable device 102 downloads content items and advertisements over the Internet 120, the portable device 102 may at least temporarily store the content items and advertisements in the semiconductor memory 208. Remember in. In one embodiment of the present invention, portable device 102 does not have any type of hard disk drive, thereby reducing the weight, size, price, and energy consumption of portable device 102. In one embodiment of the present invention, the portable device 102 operates with energy obtained from a replaceable battery. The processor 210 reads data from the semiconductor memory 208 and writes data to the semiconductor memory 208.

  Among other features, the processor 210 may receive user interface commands from the HME server 104 and generate a television signal representing a user interface that matches those commands. The processor 210 outputs such a television signal to one of the displays 116A-N to which the portable device 102 is currently connected via the HDMI 212. The HDMI 212 can be repeatedly connected and disconnected from each corresponding HDMI of the displays 116A-N at the discretion of the user.

  Further, in one embodiment of the present invention, processor 210 may decode and decompress content items and advertisements that have been encoded and compressed (eg, according to MPEG or other encoding or compression standards). . In one embodiment of the invention, the processor 210 reads the encoded and encrypted content items stored in the semiconductor memory 208, decodes and decompresses those content items, and represents the content items. John signal is generated. The processor 210 transmits the generated television signal via the HDMI 212.

  In the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2, the portable device 102 has a semiconductor memory 208, but in other embodiments of the present invention, the portable device 102 does not have a semiconductor memory 208. In one embodiment of the invention, instead of the portable device 102 storing content items and advertisements for download, the portable device 102 receives those content items and advertisements via the interface 202 or interface 204. The portable device 102 streams such content items and advertisements directly from the HDMI 212.

  In one embodiment of the invention, portable device 102 receives commands from a personal computer (not shown) over Internet 120 via interface 202 or interface 204. This command instructs the portable device 102 to perform a specific operation. For example, such a command instructs portable device 102 to download and store a particular content item. Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, portable device 102 is authorized in a manner similar to that which can be more locally controlled by the remote control device described above (e.g., It can be remotely controlled via the Internet 120 by an authorized Internet-connected laptop computer). In one embodiment of the invention, the remote device sends such commands (via the Internet 120) to the HME server 104, and the HME server 104 causes the portable device 102 to execute those commands. , Send the corresponding command to the portable device 102.

  In one embodiment of the invention, the encryptor / decryptor 214 encrypts the unencrypted signal into an encrypted signal and decrypts the encrypted signal into an unencrypted signal.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system 300 upon which an embodiment of the invention may be implemented. Computer system 300 includes a bus 302 or other communication mechanism for communicating information, and a processor 304 coupled with bus 302 for processing information. Computer system 300 also includes a main memory 306 coupled to bus 302 for storing information and instructions executed by processor 304, such as random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage devices. Main memory 306 may also be used to store temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions executed by processor 304. Computer system 300 further includes a read only memory (ROM) 308 or other static storage device coupled to bus 302 for storing static information and instructions for processor 304. A storage device 310 such as a magnetic disk or optical disk for storing information and instructions is provided and coupled to bus 302.

  Computer system 300 may be coupled via bus 302 to a display 312 for displaying information to a computer user, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT). Coupled to the bus 302 is an input device 314 that includes alphanumeric characters and other keys for communicating information and command selections to the processor 304. Another type of user input device is a cursor control 316, such as a mouse, trackball, or cursor direction key, for communicating direction information and command selections to the processor 304 and controlling cursor movement on the display 312. . The input device typically has two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (eg, x-axis) and a second axis (eg, y-axis), which means that the device is positioned on a plane. It is possible to specify.

  The invention is related to the use of computer system 300 for implementing the techniques described above. In accordance with one embodiment of the invention, these techniques are performed by computer system 300 in response to processor 304 executing one or more arrays of one or more instructions contained in main memory 306. Such instructions may be read into main memory 306 from other machine-readable media, such as storage device 310. Execution of the array of instructions contained in main memory 306 causes processor 304 to perform the steps of the processes described herein. In alternative embodiments, hardwired circuitry may be used instead of or in combination with software instructions to implement the present invention. Thus, embodiments of the invention are not limited to any specific combination of hardware circuitry and software.

  The term “machine-readable medium” as used herein refers to any medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operation in a specific form. In an embodiment implemented using computer system 300, various machine-readable media are involved in providing instructions to processor 304 for execution, for example. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to storage media and transmission media. Storage media includes both non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 310. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 306. Transmission media include coaxial cables, copper wires, and optical fibers including wires having a bus 302. Transmission media can also take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated during radio wave and infrared data communications. It should be clear that all such media allow instructions executed by the media to be detected by a physical mechanism that reads the instructions into a machine.

  Common forms of machine readable media include, for example, floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch card, Paper tape, any other physical medium with a hole pattern, RAM, PROM, EPROM, flash EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, carrier wave described below, or any other computer readable Medium.

  Various forms of machine-readable media may be involved in executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions to processor 304 for implementation. For example, the instructions may be first executed on a remote computer magnetic disk. The remote computer can load the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over a telephone line using a modem. A modem local to computer system 300 can receive the data on the telephone line and use an infra-red transmitter to convert the data to an infra-red signal. An infrared detector receives the data carried in the infrared signal and a suitable circuit can stream the data on the bus 302. Bus 302 carries data to main memory 306, from which processor 304 retrieves and executes instructions. The instructions received by main memory 306 may optionally be stored on storage device 310 either before or after implementation by processor 304.

  Computer system 300 also includes a communication interface 318 coupled to bus 302. Communication interface 318 provides a two-way data communication coupling to network link 320 connected to local network 322. For example, communication interface 318 may be an integrated digital network (ISDN) card or modem that provides a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, communication interface 318 may be a LAN card that provides a data communication connection to a compatible local area network (LAN). A radio link may be implemented. In any such implementation, communication interface 318 sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.

  Network link 320 typically provides data communication to other data devices over one or more networks. For example, the network link 320 may provide a connection to a data device operated by the host computer 324 or Internet service provider (ISP) 326 via the local network 322. Similarly, ISP 326 provides data communication services through a global packet data communication network commonly referred to as the “Internet” 328. Local network 322 and Internet 328 both use electrical, electromagnetic, or optical signals that carry digital data streams. Various networked signals that carry digital data to or from computer system 300 and signals over network link 320 and over communication interface 318 are illustrative forms of carrier waves that carry information. Take.

  The computer system 300 can send messages and receive data including program code via the network, network link 320, and communication interface 318. In the Internet example, the server 330 may send the requested code for the application program over the Internet 328, ISP 326, local network 322 and communication interface 318.

  The received code may be executed by processor 304 when received and / or stored in storage device 310, or other non-volatile storage for later execution. In this way, computer system 300 can obtain application code in the form of a carrier wave.

  In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the invention have been described with reference to numerous specific details that may vary from implementation to implementation. Thus, the only and exclusive indication of what is the present invention and what is intended as the present invention by the applicant is a set of claims arising from this application, and any of the following Such claims arise in certain forms, including modifications. Any definitions expressly disclosed herein from terms contained in such claims shall affect the meaning of such terms as used in the claims. Therefore, no limitation, element, property, feature, advantage or attribute that is not expressly recited in a claim should limit the scope of such claim in any way. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.

Claims (26)

A database in which (a) first metadata associating content data with one or more content keywords and (b) second metadata associating advertisement data with one or more advertising keywords;
Based on the first metadata and the second metadata, a set of one or more advertisements associated with one or more specific advertising keywords that match one or more specific content keywords is determined. A media server;
(A) from the media server to receive one or more uniform resource locators associated with the one or more ads, (b) from advertising server during a particular time of the day, the one or more Download the pre-cached ad data associated with at least one of the uniform resource locators, and (c) cache the pre-cached ad data on a portable device for subsequent presentation A portable device, and
The content keyword is from a first source;
The advertising keyword is from a second source separate from the first source;
Both the first source and the second source are separate from the portable device and a user of the portable device;
Content distribution system. (A) from a content provider, (1) a specific uniform resource locator associated with specific content data stored in a content server, and (2) one associated with the subject represented by the specific content data And (b) further including a web server that stores metadata that associates the specific uniform resource locator with the one or more sets of content keywords in the database.
The system of claim 1. (A) from a content provider, (1) a specific uniform resource locator associated with specific content data stored in a content server, and (2) a device capable of carrying the specific content represented by the specific content data Receiving a bid amount that the content provider is willing to pay as a price to be presented, and (b) storing in the database metadata that associates the particular uniform resource locator with the bid amount Further having
The system of claim 1. The portable device (a) receives a list of points in time associated with the content data from the media server, and (b) at least one of the one or more advertisements at each point in the list of points in time. The system of claim 1, wherein one advertisement is presented. The media server is: (a) a particular number of selected advertisements associated with a highest bid among bids associated with the one or more advertisements among the one or more advertisements. The system of claim 1, wherein (b) sends a uniform resource locator associated with the selected advertisement to the portable device. The system of claim 1, wherein the portable device includes a semiconductor memory but does not include a hard disk drive. The portable device, the portable device can be notified of the sending a representation of the content data on a display on the media server, the media server, the portable device is the representative of the content data The system of claim 1, wherein a charge is charged to a content provider account in response to receiving a notification from the portable device that an item has been sent to the display. The media server (a) determines a set of content items stored on one or more content servers, (b) generates a content guide identifying the set of content items, and (c) displays the content guide on the display. The system of claim 1, wherein a user interface command is sent to the portable device that instructs the portable device to display a content guide. The media server receives (a) information indicating a specific content item selected by the user from the content guide from the portable device, and (b) based on the metadata stored in the database, 9. The system of claim 8, wherein a specific uniform resource locator associated with a specific content item is determined and (c) transmitting the specific uniform resource locator to the portable device over the Internet. The portable device (a) receives the specific uniform resource locator from the media server, and (b) downloads the specific content item from a specific content server associated with the specific uniform resource locator. (C) storing the specific content item in a semiconductor memory of the portable device; (d) generating one or more display signals based on the specific content item stored in the semiconductor memory; 10. The system of claim 9, wherein (e) transmits the one or more display signals to a display. When generating the one or more display signals, the display signal representing at least one frame including both (a) information from the particular content item and (b) information from the advertisement data; A portable device generates and in the at least one frame the information from the advertising data is the specific content item for information from the specific content item having an aspect ratio different from the aspect ratio of the display. 10. The system of claim 9, located in a portion of the frame not occupied by the information from.   The set of content items includes at least a first content item stored in a first content server of the content servers, and the set of content items is stored in a second content server of the content servers. 9. The system of claim 8, comprising at least a second content item, wherein the first content server is separate from the second content server. The system of claim 8 , wherein the media server selects the two or more advertisements to be cached on the portable device based at least in part on a previous viewing history of a user of the device. The media server, based at least in part on monetary bids that are associated with the two or more advertisements, selects the two or more advertisements to be cached in the portable device, according to claim 8 System. The media server instructs to cache the portable device to obtain a specific content item to the portable device, wherein said particular content item, the portable for viewing (a) not yet been selected by the user of the device possible, cost of caching the particular content item in (b) the portable device, pay party that provides the particular content item, according to claim 1 The system described in. One or more uses that encourage the user to select the particular content item cached on the portable device for presentation along with the presentation of content items other than the particular content item to present to obtain a promotion ad, it instructs the portable device, system of claim 1 5. A non-volatile or volatile computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to perform the following steps:
In the media server, based on (a) first metadata that associates content data with one or more content keywords, and (b) second metadata that associates advertising data with one or more advertising keywords, determining a set of one or more advertisements associated with one or more particular ad keywords that match one or more particular content keywords,
Transmitting one or more uniform resource locators associated with the one or more advertisements from the media server to a portable device, thereby transmitting the portable device with the one or more uniform resources. Advertising data associated with at least one of the locators is downloaded from an advertising server during a specific time of day, and the portable device sends the advertising data to the portable device for later presentation. Cache, step, and
Prepared ,
The content keyword is from a first source;
The advertising keyword is from a second source separate from the first source;
The first both the originating and the second source is a separate with a user of the both portable device the portable device,
Computer readable storage medium. (1) A specific uniform resource locator associated with specific content data stored in the content server is converted into (2) a set of one or more content keywords associated with the subject represented by the specific content data. The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17 , wherein the first metadata and the second metadata are stored in a database that also stores associated metadata. (1) a specific uniform resource locator associated with specific content data stored in the content server; (2) the content as a price for the portable device to present the specific content represented by the specific content data. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the first metadata and the second metadata are stored in a database that also stores metadata associated with a bid amount that the provider is willing to pay. Said step is
And from the media server to the portable device sends said list of time associated with the content data, whereby, in the portable device, at each time point in the list of the time, the one or more Further comprising presenting at least one advertisement from the advertisement;
The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17 . Said step is
Selecting from the one or more advertisements a particular number of selected advertisements associated with the highest bid among the bids associated with the one or more advertisements;
Sending a uniform resource locator associated with the selected advertisement to the portable device;
The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17 . The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the portable device includes a semiconductor memory but does not include a hard disk drive. Said step is
Receiving a notification from the portable device at the media server to notify the media server that the portable device has transmitted what the content data represents to a display;
Charging a content provider account from the media server in response to receiving the notification;
The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17 . Said step is
Determining a set of content items stored in one or more content servers at the media server;
Generating a content guide identifying the set of content items in the media server;
Further comprising: sending a user interface command from the media server to the portable device that instructs the portable device to display the content guide on a display;
The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 17 . Said step is
Receiving information indicating a specific content item selected by the user from the content guide from the portable device in the media server;
In the media server, and that based on the metadata stored in the database to determine the specific uniform resource locator associated with the particular content item,
Transmitting the specific uniform resource locator from the media server to the portable device via the Internet,
The computer-readable storage medium according to claim 24. The set of content items includes at least a first content item stored in a first content server of the content servers, and the set of content items is stored in a second content server of the content servers. the second at least include content items, wherein the first content server the second content server are separate, computer-readable storage medium of claim 2 4.

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