KR100823410B1 - Method and system for providing advertisement contents associated with vod contents - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and a system for providing AD(ADvertisement) contents related to VOD(Video On-Demand) contents are provided to prevent a user from getting bored until a predetermined amount of the VOD contents is downloaded before or interruption of VOD contents playback by transmitting the AD contents related to the VOD contents flexibly according to download speed. A data receiver(204) receives VOD contents through the network. An AD contents storing part(220) stores AD contents. A data processing/controlling part(206) processes and controls data including the VOD contents. The data processing/controlling part determines the AD contents to be played by referring to a reference table representing relation between the AD contents and the VOD contents, detects download speed of the VOD contents, and compares the detected download speed with a reference speed. The data processing/controlling part plays the determined AD contents repeatedly more than the download speed over the reference speed when the download speed is lower than the reference speed. A restoration algorithm storage unit(212) stores a restoration algorithm to decode an encoded contents, and an advertisement storage unit(220) stores an advertisement file which includes advertisement contents to be provided to a user.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING ADVERTISEMENT CONTENTS ASSOCIATED WITH VOD CONTENTS}

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a network configuration of a system for providing advertisement content associated with VOD content according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a set-top box according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a service providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a flow diagram illustrating the processing of advertising content in a set top box associated with the processing of VOD content delivered over a network to implement one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view of capturing and displaying a display screen of a computer of a VOD service operator for registering advertisement content. FIG.

6 is a table illustrating a correspondence relationship between advertisement content and VOD content.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a specific implementation of advertisement content actually played for each VOD content service step. FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating processing of VOD content delivered through a network when a user presses a hotkey of a remote controller and advertisement content processing in a set top box associated with the same, in order to implement another embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

102: set top box

104: service providing system

106: DNS server

202: input signal receiving unit

204: data receiving unit

206: Data processing and control

208: decoder

210: network interface

212: restore algorithm storage

214: RAM

216: content storage unit

218: Ad scheduler

220: advertising storage unit

U.S. Patents 4,506,387, 4,890,320, 4,995,078, 5,063,610, 5,206,722, 5,253,275

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a technique for reproducing advertisement content in an Internet protocol television, and more particularly, to a system and a method for varying a reproduction time of advertisement content according to a download speed of VOD content.

Recently, the standardization of digital broadcasting is progressing rapidly. Digital broadcasting has the advantage of being able to compress information data compared to analog broadcasting, and have high transmission speed and excellent sound quality and image quality. Such digital broadcasting is being applied to communication technology and its application is gradually expanding. IP television is located at the convergence of broadcasting and communication. IP television provides various advantages through the convergence of broadcasting technology and communication technology. For example, IP television provides users with digitized content by using the Internet network as a broadcasting network, while the user pays for and pays for the provided content. In addition, various tasks such as forum participation can be performed through the same network.

The hottest spot in IP television is Video On Demand (VOD). In general, video-on-demand service is a service that provides a large amount of video content in real time according to the user's request, the main service targets video content such as movies, dramas, music videos, etc., but also audio, music and still images It may also include services that provide on-demand, various digital data such as photos, games, documents, and the like.

See US Pat. Nos. 4,506,387, 4,890,320, 4,995,078, 5,063,610, 5,206,722, 5,253,275 for more details on ordering and viewing video on demand through digital broadcast.

Typically, in VOD services, if the user chooses to watch a particular VOD content, if the total amount of the VOD content is 2 GB, then a portion (eg, about 2% of the total) is downloaded to the set-top box. It may play a preset background image or provide a trailer for its VOD content. However, there has been a problem that the user has to wait boringly for a considerable time (sometimes several tens of seconds or several minutes depending on the network situation) until a certain amount of VOD content selected by the user is downloaded. In addition, sometimes the user may need to download a certain amount of the VOD content while stopping the playback of the VOD content and stopping the user's television screen due to a decrease in the download speed during the playback of the VOD content selected by the user. There was an increase in boredom.

Therefore, there is a need for a method that enables the user to feel less bored until the user downloads a certain amount of the VOD content before or when the user stops playing the selected VOD content.

An object of the present invention is to flexibly change the advertisement content associated with the VOD content according to the download speed so that the user can feel less bored until the user downloads a certain amount of the VOD content before or when the user stops playing the selected VOD content. It is to provide a system and method that can be provided by.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a system and method that can provide an opportunity to increase the revenue of the VOD service operator by playing advertising content related to the desired VOD content during the user's waiting time.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for providing advertisement content related to provision of VOD content is provided. In this method, a method of providing advertising content in a set-top box for connecting to a service providing system through a network to receive and play VOD content, the method comprising: a) receiving a request for VOD content from a user; Accessing the service providing system through a network and transmitting a download request of the requested VOD content, in response to the download request of the VOD content, the service providing system downloads the requested VOD content to the set top box; and c) playing advertising content associated with the requested VOD content. In this method, the step c) comprises: c1) detecting a download rate of the VOD content over the network, c2) comparing the download rate with a predetermined reference rate, and c3) the comparison result; And if the download rate is less than the predetermined reference rate, continuing to play the advertisement content for a longer time than if the download rate is greater than or equal to the selected reference rate. In this method, the step of repeatedly playing the advertising content stored in the set-top box before step a) may be further performed. Here, the advertisement content may be associated with each VOD content or may be associated with each genre code of the VOD content.

Here, the step c) may be repeatedly performed until the VOD content is played, or may continue until a predetermined amount of the total capacity of the VOD content is downloaded. In addition, the VOD content may be requested from the EPG received by the user's television in step a), or may be requested by using a hotkey of the user's remote controller. On the other hand, if it is necessary to stop the playback of the VOD content due to the decrease in the download speed during the playback of the VOD content, steps a) to c) may be performed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a set top box for receiving and playing back VOD content is provided. The set top box includes a data receiver for receiving VOD content through a network, and a data processing and control unit for performing a function of processing and controlling data including the VOD content. Here, the data processing and control unit detects a download rate of the VOD content through the network, and compares the download rate with a predetermined reference rate, when the download rate is less than the predetermined reference rate. It is operated to continue the playback of the advertising content for a longer time than if the predetermined reference speed or more. The advertisement content may be related for each VOD content or for each genre code of the VOD content. The set top box may further include an advertisement storage unit for storing the advertisement content.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a network configuration of a system for providing advertisement content associated with VOD content according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the present system, one or more user set top boxes 102 are connected to the service providing system 104 via the network 108. The set top box 102 may additionally also be connected to the DNS server 106 via the network 108. The set top box 102 and the service providing system 104 and the DNS server 106 may communicate via a network 108, whereby the network 108 may be used, for example, an IP based network, It is not limited to using an IP-based network, but can be applied to other types of networks in addition to maintaining the technical spirit of the present invention.

In such a network configuration, the set top box 102 requests the specific content to be delivered to the service providing system 104 via the network 108, and the service providing system 104 responds to the network 108 in response. Provide the requested content to the set top box 102. The content may be, for example, Video On Demand (VOD), but the invention is not limited to video on demand. The set-top box 102 downloads the content provided from the service providing system 104 and stores the content internally, wherein the set-top box 102 uses the known streaming technology to reproduce the content even if the download is completed. It may be configured to enable the start. On the other hand, the set-top box 102 may also display an advertisement to the user to promote the benefits of the service provider.

In the case where the set top box 102 connects to the service providing system 104, the set top box 102 may access through an address (ie, an IP address) that can directly access the service providing system 104. On the other hand, if the set-top box 102 does not know an IP address that can be directly connected to the service providing system 104, it requests the DNS server 106 to convert the domain name of the service providing system 104 into an IP address. The IP address may be used to connect to the service providing system 104 using the converted IP address.

2 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a set-top box according to an embodiment of the present invention. The set top box 102 may include an input signal receiver 202, a data receiver 204, a data processing and control unit 206, a decoder 208, a network interface 210, and an advertisement scheduler 218. The set top box 102 may further include storage such as a reconstruction algorithm storage 212, a random access memory (RAM) 214, a content storage 216, and an advertisement storage 220.

The input signal receiver 202 receives an input signal from a user. The input signal may be, for example, an input signal for selecting a program that the user wants to watch. The data receiver 204 may be used to receive data delivered from the service providing system 104 via the network 108. The received data may include, for example, an electronic program guide (EPG) and content data. The data processing and control unit 206 processes and controls various data including the EPG and content data. The decoder 208 functions to decode the content and display it on a display unit (not shown) connected to the set top box 102. The display may be, for example, a television. The decoder 208 may be configured as, for example, a decoding-only chip that stores a content execution program. In this case, the display unit may decode the content received from the service providing system using the content execution program and process the same on the display unit. Can be converted to the The network interface 210 provides network related infrastructure services so that the set top box can communicate over the network 108. Ad scheduler 218 performs ad playback control to provide advertisements to the user.

The reconstruction algorithm storage unit 212 stores a reconstruction algorithm for decrypting the encrypted content. The reconstruction algorithm storage unit 212 may be made of, for example, a flash memory. The RAM 214 may be used to temporarily store data processing and data processed by the controller. The content storage unit 216 may be used to store content received by a user for a predetermined period of time (eg, 3 days). Preferably, the content may be set to be automatically deleted after the predetermined period of time. The advertisement storage unit 220 stores an advertisement file containing the contents of the advertisement to be provided to the user. The advertisement file stored in the advertisement storage unit 220 may be reproduced and displayed to the user under the control of the advertisement scheduler 218. Here, the content storage unit 216 and the advertisement storage unit 220 may be configured using, for example, a large capacity hard disk.

3 is a view showing a schematic configuration of a service providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The service provision system 104 may include a headend server 302 and one or more content servers 304. The headend server 302 maintains user information and content information. The user information includes user identification information, user's billing information, paid channel information subscribed to by the user, and the content information includes information related to the content, such as a list of contents that can be provided to the user, and whether the specific content is paid content. And the like. The headend server 302 may perform authentication, granting access rights, etc. to the user based on the user information, and may maintain and maintain an electronic program guide (EPG) for a set top box. Here, the EPG refers to a guide service that transmits the information to the set top box of the user and shows information on the content. The user selects the desired content using the EPG.

Apart from the content information, the content itself may be maintained by the content server 304 instead of the headend server 302. In this case, the content information stored in the headend server 302 may further include an identifier of the content server 304 in which the content is stored and an identifier (eg, a file name) of the content in the corresponding content server 304. . In this configuration, when new content is distributed, the operator updates the content information of the headend server 302 and stores the new content in the content server 304. The content stored in the content server 304 may be compressed, encrypted, and stored, for example, in the H.264 format.

The service provision system 104 may further include a load balancer server 306. When there are a plurality of content servers 304, the load balancer server 306 determines the optimal content server 304 in consideration of traffic and the like, and transfers the content from the determined content server 304 to the set-top box 102. To be provided.

In addition, the service providing system 104 may include an advertisement file server 310. The advertisement file server 310 is responsible for providing the advertisement file to be provided to the user to the set-top box 102, wherein the advertisement file server 310 may be proactively provided, the set-top box 102 Can be made in response to a request from Provision of the advertisement file may also be made in response to the registration of the new advertisement file, or at regular time intervals. As will be described later, the advertisement file once provided to the set-top box 102 is stored in the advertisement storage unit 220 in the set-top box 102, and when the corresponding advertisement file is played later, the set-top is not connected to the advertisement file server 310. The box 102 can be configured to process internally.

Under the above configuration, the set top box 102 cooperates with the service providing system 104 to provide the user with various information such as content and metadata about the content. For example, set-top box 102 responds to a request for on-demand video content by a user, requests the on-demand video content to service providing system 104 via network 108, and requests video from service providing system 104. Content data and the like can be received.

According to the present invention, the set top box 102 may first connect to the headend server 302 and receive content information from the headend server 302. The content information received from the headend server 302 may include an identifier of the content server 304 in which the actual content is stored and an identifier (eg, a file name) of the content in the corresponding content server 304. When there is a request for receiving specific content from the user, the set-top box 102 receives the content by using the identifier of the content server 304 in which the content is stored and the identifier of the content in the content server 304. It is operated to provide it to the display unit (not shown) of the user.

In response to the advertisement metadata included in the content information, the advertisement scheduler 218 of the set-top box 102 selects an advertisement file corresponding to the advertisement metadata at an appropriate time, for example, before or after display of the corresponding content. Can be regenerated In this case, when an advertisement file corresponding to the advertisement metadata is stored in the advertisement storage unit 220, the advertisement file may be retrieved from the advertisement storage unit 220 to be played. According to one embodiment of the invention, the set-top box 102 compares the download speed with a predetermined reference speed, when the download speed is less than the reference speed for a longer time than when the download speed is more than the reference speed Playback of the advertising content can be continued.

In this case, the set top box 102 may be configured to go through a load balancer server 306 to receive content from the actual content server 304 using the identifier of the content server 304. According to the present invention, the load balancer server 306 receives the identifier of the content server 304 from the set-top box 102, traffic elements, etc. among a plurality of content servers corresponding to the identifier of the content server 304 In consideration of this, the optimal content server 304 may be selected and configured to transmit an address (ie, an IP address) that can be directly connected to the selected content server 304 to the set-top box 102. The set top box 102 may store the address of the content server 304 received from the load balancing server 306 in a storage such as a RAM 214.

In the above, the load balancing server 306 is described separately from the headend server 302, but the load balancing server 306 may be co-located on the same server as the headend server 302. In addition, the set-top box 102 has been described as receiving the content information from the head-end server 302, and requests the actual content server address to the load balancer server 306, according to one embodiment, the head-end server 302 Prior to sending the content information to the set top box 102, the headend server 302 communicates with the load balancer server 306 to select the optimal content server 304 and selects it as the set top box 102. It may also be configured to send an address directly accessible to the content server 304. In this case, the set top box 102 does not need to communicate with the load balancer server 306.

4 is a flowchart illustrating VOD content processing delivered through a network and advertisement content processing in a set-top box associated with it in order to implement an embodiment of the present invention. First, the data processing and control unit 206 of the set-top box 102 displays the background image and the EPG stored in the advertisement storage unit 220 (S401). If the user receives a request for a VOD content order from the user (S402), the set-top box 102 transmits the user's order information to the headend server 302 of the service providing system 104 (S403). Thereafter, the headend server 302 transmits the VOD content stored in the advertisement file server 310 to the set top box 102 (S404), and the set top box 102 transmits the VOD content from the advertisement file server 310. It receives (S405). At this time, the data processing and control unit 206 of the set-top box 102 measures the VOD content capacity and the download speed of the VOD content, and selects the advertisement content to be displayed during the buffering processing time based on the result (S406). The selected advertisement content is retrieved from the advertisement storage unit 220 and displayed during the buffering processing time (S407). If the selected advertisement content is not stored in the advertisement storage unit 220, it is displayed after being downloaded from the advertisement file server 310 of the service providing system 104. When the buffering process is completed, the VOD content selected by the user is displayed on the user television (S408).

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the above step S406 will be described in detail. The data processing and control unit 206 of the set-top box 102 first measures the download speed of the VOD content. If the download speed is equal to or greater than the reference speed (eg, 3 MB / sec), for example, 11 MB or more is downloaded and the VOD content is downloaded. If the download speed is less than the reference speed, for example, download more than 24M and play the VOD content. Preferably, the data processing and control unit 206 of the set-top box 102 is to check the capacity of the VOD content to play the advertising content until a certain amount (eg, 2% of the total capacity) is downloaded.

5 is a view capturing and displaying the display screen of the computer of the VOD service operator for registering the advertising content. In registering the advertisement content, the VOD service operator may press the channel selection button 501 to register for each channel number or, if necessary, press the genre selection button 502 to register for each genre code. The genre code may be, for example, set as 'domestic movie', 'overseas movie', 'television drama', 'entertainment / entertainment', 'infant', 'child' and the like. Ad content that is not related by channel number or genre code is provided only on the 'home' screen, and is not played in association with the user's VOD content selection.

6 is a table illustrating a correspondence relationship between advertisement content and VOD content. For example, the advertising content 'ad001.ts to ad003.ts' is associated with the channel numbers '1001' and '1050' but not the genre code, and the advertising content 'ad004.ts to ad007.ts' is the channel number. Not associated with, but associated with genre code "101", ad content "ad015.ts" is associated with channel number "1100" and genre code "102", and ad content "ad020.ts" and " ad080.ts' is not associated with any channel number or genre code.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a specific implementation of advertisement content actually played for each VOD content service step. FIG. First, the home screen, which is the first screen, sequentially provides a background image of the 'home' screen advertisement group. If the user selects the information of a specific channel '1001', the trailer of the corresponding channel is provided instead of the background image, and if the user selects to watch the channel '1001', the download speed of the VOD content is measured and the If the download speed is higher than the reference speed (eg, 3 MB / sec), for example, the advertisement contents 'ad001.ts to ad003.ts' are repeatedly provided until the download speed is higher than 11 MB. If the download speed is lower than the reference speed, For example, advertisement content 'ad001.ts to ad003.ts' is repeatedly provided until more than 24M is downloaded. At this time, the advertisement contents (ad001.ts to ad003.ts) associated with the channel 1001 are downloaded until a predetermined amount (eg, 2% of the total capacity) of the capacity of the VOD content of the corresponding channel '1001' is downloaded. It may be provided repeatedly. For example, when the user selects to watch another specific channel '1100', the advertisement content 'ad015.ts' associated with the channel '1100' is repeatedly provided for a predetermined time, or the advertisement content 'ad015.ts' And advertisement content 'ad008.ts to ad014.ts' associated with the genre code '102' to which the channel '1100' belongs. Meanwhile, advertisement contents (eg, 'ad020.ts' and 'ad080.ts') that are not associated with a channel number or genre code are used to provide on the 'home' screen. Lastly, when the user finishes watching the VOD content of a specific channel, the advertisement contents associated with the genre code to which the channel belongs may be played for a predetermined time. Of course, if there is no genre code to which the channel belongs, you can immediately play the advertisement contents in the 'home'.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating processing of VOD content delivered through a network when a user presses a hotkey of a remote controller and advertisement content processing in a set-top box associated with the same according to another embodiment of the present invention. The data processing and control unit 206 of the set top box 102 displays the background image and the EPG stored in the advertisement storage unit 220 (S801). When the user presses a hotkey of the remote controller while the promotional VOD content advertisement is issued, the headend server 302 transmits the VOD content stored in the advertisement file server 310 to the set top box 102 (S804). Here, the "hot key" refers to a special function key provided in the remote control, and refers to a key that enables a user to immediately watch VOD contents displayed for promotion on a user's television. Since the other steps S803 to S809 are the same as the steps S402 to S408 described with reference to FIG. 4, description thereof will be omitted.

While various embodiments of the invention have been described above, these are presented by way of example only, and not limitation of the invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.

According to the present invention, the advertisement content associated with the VOD content can be elasticized according to the download speed so that the user can feel less bored until the user downloads a certain amount of the VOD content before or when the user stops playing the selected VOD content. Can be provided as In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide an opportunity to increase the revenue of the VOD service operator by playing the advertising content related to the VOD content desired by the user during the waiting time of the user.

Claims (13)

A method of providing advertising content in a set-top box for receiving and playing VOD content by accessing a service providing system through a network, a) receiving a request for VOD content from a user, b) accessing the service providing system via the network and transmitting a download request of the requested VOD content, in response to the download request of the VOD content, the service providing system transfers the requested VOD content to the set top box. Downloaded-, and c) playing advertising content associated with the requested VOD content, C) determining at least one advertising content to play, c2) detecting a download speed of the VOD content over the network, with reference to a reference table indicating an association between at least one advertising content and VOD content. C3) comparing the download speed with a predetermined reference speed, and c4) when the download speed is less than the predetermined reference speed, the download speed is more than the predetermined reference speed. Repeatedly playing the determined advertising content a number of times; Ad content providing method comprising a. The method of claim 1, And repetitively playing the advertisement content stored in the set top box prior to the step a). The method of claim 1, In the reference table, the advertisement content is associated with each VOD content providing method. The method of claim 1, In the reference table, the advertisement content is associated with each genre code of the VOD content advertising method providing method. The method of claim 1, Step c) is repeatedly performed until the VOD content is played advertising content providing method. The method of claim 1, The step c) is the advertising content providing method is continued until a certain amount of the total capacity of the VOD content is downloaded. The method of claim 1, The method of claim 1, wherein the VOD content is requested from an electronic program guide (EPG) received by a user's television. The method of claim 1, In step a), the VOD content is requested by using a hot key of the user's remote control. The method of claim 1, If the playback of the VOD content is to be stopped due to the decrease in the download speed during the playback of the VOD content, the step of performing a) to c). Set-top box for receiving and playing VOD content. A data receiver for receiving VOD content through a network; And a data processing and control unit for performing a function of processing and controlling data including the VOD content, The data processing and control unit may determine one or more advertisement contents to play, detect a download rate of the VOD contents through the network, with reference to a reference table indicating an association between one or more advertisement contents and VOD contents, Comparing the speed with a predetermined reference speed, wherein the set top box is operable to repeatedly play the determined advertising content more times when the download speed is less than the predetermined reference speed than when the download speed is above the predetermined reference speed. . The method of claim 10, In the reference table, the advertisement content is associated with the VOD content set-top box. The method of claim 10, In the reference table, the advertisement content is associated with each genre code of the VOD content set-top box. The method of claim 10, Set top box further comprises an advertisement storage for storing the advertisement content.

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