KR102144527B1 - Method and apparatus for server based advertisement provision - Google Patents

Abstract

Provided are a server-based advertisement providing method capable of avoiding advertisement blocking, and a device therefor. The advertisement providing device transmits a segment list that combines a list of advertisement image segments and a list of video segments in response to an image request from a client player, transmits an advertisement image segment when receiving a segment request first from the client player, and after all advertisement image segments are transmitted, transmits a corresponding video segment in response to a video segment request from the client player to the client player.

Description

Server-based advertisement provision method and apparatus TECHNICAL FIELD [Method and apparatus for server based advertisement provision]

The present invention relates to a method for providing advertisements, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for providing advertisements based on a server.

With the development of network-related technologies, various types of contents are provided through networks, and advertisements are provided in addition to contents. Advertisements on the network are provided using various types of exposure methods.

Recently, the AVoD (Advertisement based VoD) service is being activated as a major revenue model for the Internet Over-The-Top (OTT) service. AVoD service is a service where a content provider provides free videos including advertisements to users, and a content provider obtains advertising revenue from advertisers. Currently, a client-based advertisement insertion technology is used as a method for providing AVoD services. In the client-based ad insertion technology, when a user watches a video, a client player at the user end directly requests a video from the server, receives each advertisement video and content video provided from the server, and plays the received video continuously. This is the way to do it.

However, in recent years, a technology for blocking the playback of advertisement video by a client player by installing an advertisement blocking program at the user level has been spreading. In the client-based ad insertion technology, a client player at the user end requests each image as an HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) request message, respectively, and the ad blocking program installed at the user end is the client player. By analyzing the advertisement request HTTP Request message sent to the advertisement server and blocking the message, advertisement playback can be easily blocked. Accordingly, there is a problem of lowering the advertising revenue of AVoD service.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a server-based advertisement providing method and apparatus capable of avoiding advertisement blocking.

A method according to an embodiment of the present invention is a method of providing an advertisement in a streaming service, wherein the advertisement providing device generates a segment list in which a list of advertisement video segments and a list of video segments are combined according to a video request from a client player. Transmitting to the client player; Transmitting an advertisement video segment when the advertisement providing device first receives a segment request from the client player; And transmitting, by the advertisement providing device, a corresponding video segment to the client player in response to a video segment request from the client player after all advertisement video segments have been transmitted.

In the transmitting of the advertisement video segment, even if the segment request first received from the client player is a video segment request, an advertisement video segment may be transmitted instead of a corresponding video segment.

In addition, in the transmitting of the advertisement video segment, the first advertisement video segment among advertisement video segments may be transmitted regardless of whether the segment request first received from the client player is a video segment or an advertisement video segment request.

The method may further include, after transmitting the advertisement video segment, sequentially transmitting advertisement video segments for each segment request from the client player.

In addition, the method may further include the step of allocating, by the advertisement providing device, a session ID to the client player, and session IDs allocated for each client player may be different.

Meanwhile, the transmitting of the segment list to the client player may additionally transmit a session ID allocated to the client player, and the segment request received from the client player may include the allocated session ID.

Further, the transmitting of the video segment to the client player may include transmitting a discontinuous tag to the client player after all advertisement video segments are transmitted; And transmitting a corresponding video segment to the client player in response to a video segment request from the client player after transmitting the discontinuous tag.

In the transmitting of the discontinuous tag to the client player, a segment list in which a first segment of a video and a subsequent video segment are listed after an EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY tag may be transmitted to the client player.

According to another embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for providing advertisements in a streaming service includes: a transmitting/receiving unit for transmitting/receiving to/from a client player; And a processor configured to provide an advertisement video according to a video request from the client player received through the transmission/reception unit, wherein the processor combines a list of advertisement video segments and a list of video segments according to the video request. A list generation unit configured to generate a list and transmit it to the client player through the transmission/reception unit; And when a segment request is first received from the client player through the transmission/reception unit, an advertisement video segment is transmitted through the transmission/reception unit, and a video segment from the client player receiving through the transmission/reception unit after all of the advertisement video segments are transmitted. And a segment providing processing unit configured to transmit a corresponding video segment to the client player through the transmission/reception unit in response to a request.

Regardless of whether the segment request first received from the client player is a video segment or an advertisement video segment request, the segment providing processing unit transmits a first advertisement video segment among advertisement video segments through the transmission/reception unit, and from the client player It may be configured to sequentially transmit advertisement video segments for each segment request.

The processor may be configured to further include a session management unit configured to allocate a session ID to the client player, and session IDs allocated for each client player may be different.

The session management unit may be configured to transmit a session ID assigned to the client player to the segment list, and the segment request received from the client player may include the assigned session ID.

The segment providing processing unit may be further configured to transmit a discontinuous tag to the client player after all advertisement video segments are transmitted.

In addition, the segment providing processing unit may be specifically configured to transmit a segment list listing after the EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY tag to the client player in the first segment of the video and the subsequent video segment.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when a video request is requested from a client player of a user, the advertisement providing device combines the advertisement video and the video into a single video and streams it to the user, thereby neutralizing the blocking of the advertisement video request by the advertisement blocking program. Let it.

In particular, in response to the first segment request received from the client player, the advertisement video segment is transmitted, and after all the advertisement video segments are transmitted, the video segment requested by the client player starts to be transmitted. This is played first, followed by video playback.

Therefore, it is possible to disable advertisement blocking by the advertisement blocking program in the client player, and to preserve the advertisement revenue of the content provider.

1 is a diagram illustrating a server-side advertisement provision process in a streaming service.
FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure in which a server-based VoD video advertisement insertion method inserts an advertisement video segment into a video segment using an HTTP-based streaming method to serve.
3 is a flowchart of a server-based advertisement providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a diagram showing the structure of an advertisement providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those of ordinary skill in the art may easily implement the present invention. However, the present invention may be implemented in various different forms, and is not limited to the embodiments described herein. In the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention, and similar reference numerals are attached to similar parts throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a certain part "includes" a certain component, it means that other components may be further included rather than excluding other components unless specifically stated to the contrary.

Expressions described in the singular in the present specification may be interpreted as the singular or plural unless an explicit expression such as "one" or "single" is used.

In addition, terms including ordinal numbers such as first and second used in the embodiments of the present invention may be used to describe the elements, but the elements should not be limited by terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another. For example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, a first component may be referred to as a second component, and similarly, a second component may be referred to as a first component.

Hereinafter, a server-based advertisement providing method and apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating a server-side advertisement provision process in a streaming service.

When a streaming service is provided using a protocol such as Http Live Streaming (HLS) using HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), the video advertisement is a client-based ad insertion method or a server-based ad insertion method. Ad Insertion) method.

When advertisements are provided according to the server-based advertisement insertion method, as shown in FIG. 1, in accordance with a video content request from a client player, the advertisement image and video provided from the advertisement server in the advertisement combining platform are stored in one file or It is processed as a stream and provided to the client, and the client player plays the advertisement image and video.

The HTTP-based streaming technology has the characteristic of transmitting the entire video by breaking it into segments in small chunk units of several seconds. In the HTTP Live Streaming (HTTP Live Streaming, also called HLS) method, a media file corresponding to a video is stored, for example, as a file having a small length of about 10 seconds (usually 5 to 15 seconds). , MPEG-2 Transport Stream file). The fragmented file, that is, a segment, is composed of, for example, an MPEG-2 Transport Stream (TS) file. A playlist file (called a playlist file or a manifest file, hereinafter referred to as a segment list), which is meta information of segments, is provided to a client player. When a client player requests video content, the video server transmits a segment list to the client player, and the client player sequentially requests segments of the video recorded in the received segment list to the video server to play the video.

Advertisements can be provided in the HTTP live streaming method. In general, a video including advertisements is transmitted to a client player by inserting an advertisement video segment into a video segment. However, when the segment list generation method used in the existing VoD video advertisement insertion is used for live video transmission, segments of the advertisement video may be lost.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure in which a server-based VoD video advertisement insertion method inserts an advertisement video segment into a video segment using an HTTP-based streaming method to serve.

When the existing server-based VoD video ad insertion method uses an HTTP-based streaming method to insert an advertisement video segment into a video segment and serves, as shown in FIG. 2, when a user clicks the video play button, the user end The client player requests a video from the video server, and for this, transmits an HTTP Request message to the video server (S100).

When the video server receives the HTTP Request message from the client player, it requests an advertisement video to be inserted from the advertisement server (S110). The advertisement server provides an advertisement image to be inserted to the video server (S120).

The video server fragments the video to be provided into a plurality of segments, fragments the advertisement video into a plurality of segments, and creates a segment list file that combines the list of segments constituting the video and the list of segments constituting the advertisement video. Generate (S130). Then, the video server transmits an HTTP response message including a segment list file to the client player (S140).

The client player requests and receives an advertisement video segment and a video segment from the video server in the order specified in the segment list file, and sequentially plays them (S150 to S160).

In this case, in the case of a live video, the video cannot be sequentially played according to the type of the client player in steps S150 to S160, and thus an advertisement video may be lost. For example, the playback order in the segment list file received by the client player is #1660.ts, #1661.ts, #1662.ts,… In the case of, depending on the client player, you can request from the #1662.ts file. In this case, if it is an advertisement video from #1660.ts, part of the advertisement video may not be played, and in some cases, the entire advertisement video may not be played. In particular, this problem frequently occurs in the form of a pre-roll for a live video, that is, a video file is provided after an advertisement video file is provided.

In an embodiment of the present invention, upon receiving a first segment request from a client player, an advertisement video segment is provided so that the client player plays the advertisement video. Accordingly, when the segment list generation method used in VoD video advertisement insertion is used for live video transmission, it is possible to solve a problem in that pre-roll cannot be played depending on the client player.

3 is a flowchart of a server-based advertisement providing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Here, the video represents an original video serviced live, that is, a content video. When the server-based video ad insertion technology provides a live video by inserting an advertisement video segment into a video segment using HTTP-based streaming, as shown in FIG. 3, when the user clicks the video play button, the user's client The player 1 requests a video from the streaming server 2, and for this, transmits an HTTP Request message to the streaming server 2 (S300).

When the streaming server 2 receives the HTTP Request message from the client player 1, it requests an advertisement video to be inserted into the advertisement server 3 (S310). The advertisement server 3 provides an advertisement image to be inserted to the streaming server 2 (S320).

The streaming server 2 fragments the video to be provided into a plurality of segments, fragments the advertisement video into a plurality of segments, and a video playlist that combines a list of segments constituting the video and a list of segments constituting the advertisement video. That is, one segment list file is created and stored (S330). In an embodiment of the present invention, a different session ID is allocated for each client player, and the request includes the session ID. Even with the same request, different segments (advertising video segments or video segments) must be sent out for each client player. To distinguish this, a different session ID is assigned to each client player, and the request includes a session ID. The streaming server 2 manages session IDs allocated for each client player.

The streaming server 2 transmits an HTTP response message including a segment list file to the client player 1 (S340). At this time, for example, the HTTP response message includes the session ID assigned to the client player and transmits.

Upon receiving the HTTP response message including the segment list file, the client player 1 requests a segment from the streaming server 2 based on the order specified in the received segment list file (S350). At this time, for example, the client player transmits the segment request to the streaming server 2 including the session ID.

When the streaming server 2 receives the first segment request from the client player 1, it converts the requested segment into an advertisement video segment and transmits it to the client player 1 (S360). For example, as shown in FIG. 3, when the advertisement video segment is media_1660.ts~media_1664.ts and the video segment is from media_1665.ts, the segment request first received from the client player 1 is “media_1662.ts”. "Even though, the streaming server 2 transmits the advertisement video segment media_1660.ts.

The streaming server 2 converts the segment requested by the client player 1 into an advertisement video segment and transmits it to the client player 1 until all advertisement video segments are transmitted. After all the advertisement video segments are transmitted (S370), the streaming server 2 starts transmitting the video segments requested by the client player 1. For example, from the segment request "media_1662.ts" first received from the client player 1, the advertisement video segment media_1660.ts is started to be transmitted, and all advertisement video segments media_1660.ts~media_1664.ts are transmitted, and then all of the advertisement video segments media_1660.ts~media_1664.ts are transmitted. In response to the segment request "media_1667.ts" received from the client player 1, the video segment media_1667.ts is transmitted (S380, S390).

At this time, the streaming server 2 may transmit the video segment media_1667.ts after transmitting the EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY tag. The EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY tag represents a discontinuous tag for distinguishing an advertisement video segment and a video segment. Based on the EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY tag, the client player 1 can recognize that the previously described segment and the later described segment are discontinuous segments, and in this case, play the TS file received after EXT-X_DISCONTINUITY. You can also reset the player before playing the video.

The first segment of the video and subsequent video segments may be listed and delivered after the EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY tag of the segment list file.

On the other hand, the streaming server 2 checks the session based on the session ID included in the segment request from the client player, and transmits all advertisement video segments as described above according to the segment list file of the session. You can send video segments.

The client player 1 requests video segments from the streaming server 2 in the order specified in the segment list file and sequentially plays them.

In the embodiment of the present invention as described above, when the streaming server receives a first segment request from a client player, a process of converting the requested segment to an advertisement video segment and transmitting it will be described in more detail.

Here, the segment duration of the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) chunk (representing a TS file, corresponding to the segment) and the 　GOP (Group of Pictures) of the advertisement must be the same, or the segment duration must be a multiple of GOP. .

HLS client player requests from the first 　 segment in the segment list in case of VOD (there is an EXT-X-ENDLIST tag in the list), but in case of 　live (there is no EXT-X-ENDLIST tag in the list), the segment list is displayed according to the player. There is no way to know which segment to request. In consideration of this, in an embodiment of the present invention, an advertisement image is mapped and provided based on a segment request first received from a client player. In addition, the original segment list is delivered to the client without modification, and when the segment request is first received, the advertisement video segment is provided to the client player. Use X-DISCONTINUITY.

For example, if the interval of segments is 2 seconds and the advertisement video is 10 seconds, the advertisement video is composed of 5 segments. Let the ad video segment, which is a composed TS file, be ad1.ts ~ad5.ts. A segment list including a list of such advertisement video segments is provided to the client player. The provided segment list may be as shown in Table 1 below.

Based on this segment list, a client player requests a segment. Depending on the client player, the first segment of the segment list, media_16671.ts, may be requested, or the arbitrary segment, media_16672.ts, may be requested.

When the client 　 　 player 　 For example, if the first requested segment is "media_16672.ts", the video server sees this as the starting point of the advertisement and transmits the advertisement video segment. That is, instead of the first requested segment, media_16672.ts　, ad1.ts, an advertisement video segment, is transmitted.

After that, according to the 　segment list, when media_16673.ts is requested from the client　　player, the streaming server transmits ad2.ts, when media_16674.ts is requested, ad3.ts is transmitted, and ad4.ts is transmitted when media_16675.ts is requested, and ad4.ts is transmitted. When media_16676.ts is requested, ad5.ts is transmitted, and advertisement video segments ad1.ts ~ad5.ts are transmitted.

After receiving the first segment request from the client 　　 player, the advertisement video segment starts to be transmitted, and all advertisement video segments are transmitted according to the segment request from the client 　　 player, and then the video segment is transmitted. That is, ad5.ts is transmitted according to the request of media_16676.ts, and all advertisement video segments are transmitted to the client player. Then, if media_16677.ts is requested, the streaming server transmits the video segment 　media_16677.ts as it is.

At this time, the streaming server transmits EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY to inform the client player that the advertisement video stream has been changed to a video stream.

For example, as shown in Table 2 below, after ad5.ts is transmitted in response to the media_16676.ts request, EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY is transmitted, and the segment transmitted later is a discontinuous segment, that is, a segment of a video that is another stream. It tells you that.

For example, after transmitting all advertising video segments, as shown in Table 2 above, the first and subsequent video segments of the video transmit the list of segments listed after the EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY tag to the client player. , The video segment may be transmitted according to the segment request.

Meanwhile, in the case of other types of client 　　 players, unlike the above example, the segment requested first may be "media_16674.ts". In this case, the streaming server sees this as the starting point of the advertisement and transmits the advertisement video segment, and accordingly, the advertisement video segment ad1.ts ~ad5 in response to the request from "media_16674.ts" to "media_16678.ts" from the client player. The .ts is transmitted, and the corresponding video segment "media_16679.ts" is transmitted from the "media_16679.ts" request from the client player.

Even with the same request, different segments (advertising or video) must be sent for each client player (for example, in response to "media_16677.ts" of the first client player, a video segment is transmitted, while "media_16677 of the second client player" In response to ".ts", an advertisement video segment is transmitted), a different session ID is allocated for each client player, and a segment is transmitted by classifying a session based on this. Then, the client player requests a segment request including a session ID. To this end, the streaming server manages a segment list file transmitted to a corresponding client player in response to a session ID allocated for each client player, and records the segment details transmitted according to a segment request in response to the session ID. Accordingly, an advertisement video segment or a video segment is transmitted according to a segment request for each session.

According to the above-described embodiment, regardless of whether the segment request first received from the client player is a video segment or an advertisement video segment request, the first advertisement video segment among the advertisement video segments is transmitted, and then all advertisement video segments are transmitted. After that, you can start sending segments of the video that the client player requests. Accordingly, an advertisement video is always played first in a client player, and then a video is played back, thereby avoiding advertisement blocking in the client player.

4 is a diagram showing the structure of an advertisement providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in the accompanying FIG. 4, the advertisement providing apparatus 200 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a processor 210, a memory 220, and a transmission/reception unit 230. The advertisement providing device 200 may be implemented in a form included in a streaming server.

The processor 210 may be configured to implement the method and operation described based on FIG. 3 above. For example, the processor 210 includes a segment processing unit 211, a list generation unit 212, a session management unit 213, and a segment provision processing unit 214.

The segment processing unit 211 is configured to segment an advertisement image provided from the advertisement server 3 and a video, which is a content image for a streaming service, into a plurality of segment files.

The list generation unit 212 is configured to generate a segment list file, which is a video play list including a list of advertisement video segments and a list of video segments.

The session management unit 213 is configured to allocate a session ID for each client player, and to store and manage a segment list file and segment transmission details corresponding to the assigned session ID.

The segment providing processing unit 214 is configured to provide a corresponding piece file, that is, a segment according to a segment request from the client player 1. Specifically, when receiving a segment request from the client player 1 for the first time, the segment providing processing unit 214 converts the requested segment into an advertisement video segment and provides it to the client player 1, and transmits all advertisement video segments. Until then, the segment requested by the client player 1 is replaced with an advertisement video segment and provided to the client player 1. After all the advertisement video segments have been transmitted, the client player 1 starts transmitting the video segment requested. In addition, the segment providing processing unit 214 allows the first segment of the video and subsequent video segments to be listed and delivered after the EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY tag of the segment list file.

The memory 220 is connected to the processor 210 and stores various information related to the operation of the processor 210. The memory 220 may store instructions for an operation to be performed by the processor 210 or may temporarily store an instruction by loading it from a storage device (not shown). The memory 220 may be configured to include, for example, a separate storage device that stores an advertisement image and a video.

The processor 210 may execute an instruction stored or loaded in the memory 220. The processor 210 and the memory 220 are connected to each other through a bus (not shown), and an input/output interface (not shown) may also be connected to the bus.

The transmission/reception unit 230 is configured to output a result of processing by the processor 210 or provide received data to the processor 210. The transmission/reception unit 230 may, for example, transmit/receive with the advertisement server 2 to provide an advertisement image to the processor 210, or perform transmission/reception with the client player 1 to transmit/receive from the client player 1 It may be configured to transmit the segment request of the processor 210 and transmit the segment transmitted from the processor 210 to the client player 1.

The embodiments of the present invention are not implemented only through the apparatus and/or method described above, but may be implemented through a program for realizing a function corresponding to the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention, a recording medium in which the program is recorded. Also, this implementation can be easily implemented by an expert in the technical field to which the present invention belongs from the description of the above-described embodiment.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements by those skilled in the art using the basic concept of the present invention defined in the following claims are also provided. It belongs to the scope of rights.

Claims (14)

As a method of providing advertisements in a streaming service,
Transmitting, by an advertisement providing apparatus, a segment list obtained by combining a list of advertisement video segments and a list of video segments to the client player according to a video request from the client player;
When the advertisement providing device first receives a segment request from the client player after transmitting the segment list, the advertisement video segment is not a segment in the order corresponding to the first received segment request in the segment list Starting to transmit to the client player from the first advertisement video segment among them; And
After all of the advertisement video segments have been transmitted, by the advertisement providing device, transmitting a video segment in a corresponding order from the segment list to the client player in response to a video segment request received from the client player.
Advertising providing method comprising a. The method of claim 1,
The step of starting to transmit to the client player,
Even if the segment request first received from the client player is a video segment request, an advertisement video segment is transmitted instead of a corresponding video segment. delete The method according to claim 1 or 2,
The step of starting to transmit to the client player,
After transmitting the first advertisement video segment, sequentially transmitting advertisement video segments for each segment request from the client player
Containing, advertising providing method. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Allocating, by the advertisement providing device, a session ID to the client player
Including more,
A method of providing advertisements in which session IDs allocated for each client player are different. The method of claim 5,
Transmitting the segment list to the client player includes additionally transmitting a session ID assigned to the client player,
The segment request received from the client player includes the assigned session ID. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Transmitting the video segment to the client player,
Transmitting a discontinuous tag to the client player after all advertisement video segments have been transmitted; And
After transmitting the discontinuous tag, transmitting a corresponding video segment to the client player in response to a video segment request from the client player
Containing, advertising providing method. The method of claim 7,
The step of transmitting the discontinuous tag to the client player includes transmitting a segment list in which a first segment of a video and a subsequent video segment are listed after an EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY tag to the client player. As a device that provides advertisements in a streaming service,
A transmission/reception unit for performing transmission/reception with a client player; And
Processor configured to provide an advertisement image according to an image request from the client player received through the transmission/reception unit
Including,
The processor is
A list generation unit configured to generate a segment list in which a list of advertisement video segments and a list of video segments are combined according to the video request and transmit it to the client player through the transmission/reception unit; And
After transmitting the segment list, when a segment request is first received from the client player through the transmission/reception unit, advertisement video segments are not in the order corresponding to the segment request first received in the segment list. In response to a request for a video segment from the client player, which starts transmitting from the first advertisement video segment to the client player through the transmission/reception unit, and after all the advertisement video segments are transmitted, the segment list The segment providing processing unit configured to transmit the video segment in the corresponding order to the client player through the transceiver
Is configured to include, advertisement providing device. The method of claim 9,
The segment providing processing unit, after transmitting the first advertisement video segment, is configured to sequentially transmit advertisement video segments for each segment request from the client player. The method of claim 9,
The processor is configured to further include a session management unit configured to allocate a session ID to the client player,
An advertisement providing apparatus, in which session IDs allocated for each client player are different. The method of claim 11,
The session management unit is configured to add and transmit the session ID allocated to the client player to the segment list,
The segment request received from the client player includes the assigned session ID. The method of claim 9,
The segment providing processing unit is further configured to transmit a discontinuous tag to the client player after all advertisement video segments are transmitted. The method of claim 13,
The segment providing processing unit is specifically configured to transmit a segment list listed after an EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY tag to the client player in the first segment of the video and the subsequent video segment.

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