KR20090115411A - Multimedia Advertising System and Multimedia Player Apparatus and Control Method Thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A multimedia advertising system, a multimedia reproducing device and a control method thereof are provided to reduce the load of a CPU in an advertisement server by distributing the processing procedure of the advertisement server to user clients. CONSTITUTION: According to an external request, a contents server(2) transmits contents multimedia data to a terminal and an advertisement server(3) transmits advertisement multimedia data to the terminal. According to information of contents multimedia file to be reproduced, a user client(10) performs the scheduling for reproducing advertisement multimedia. According to the scheduling, the user client selectively receives multimedia data from the contents server or the advertisement server.

Description

Multimedia Advertising System and Multimedia Playback Apparatus and Control Method {Multimedia Advertising System and Multimedia Player Apparatus and Control Method Thereof}

The present invention relates to a multimedia advertising system, a multimedia playback apparatus, and a control method thereof.

In general, a method of providing multimedia contents through the Internet includes multimedia information such as pictures and audio other than the existing text information, such as MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions). A method of providing a user to a user using the method and transmitting the compressed multimedia data from the content provider to a user client equipped with a realtime playback program, and receiving the data from the client's realtime playback program to play back in real time. And the like.

Multimedia content providers have recently created profits by allowing users to watch advertising videos in exchange for providing multimedia content. Here, the method of playing the advertisement multimedia together with the reproduction of the multimedia content corresponds to a known technique.

Specifically, there is a method of mounting a real-time playback program on a web browser of a user client and inserting a banner advertisement without interfering with a content multimedia playback screen in the corresponding browser. Similarly, there is a method of inserting a banner advertisement into a screen on which multimedia content is being played.

Also, a technique for playing a high quality video advertisement before playing the content and playing the content only when the user first watches the video advertisement has been developed. Recently, a mechanism for inserting an advertisement by dividing the middle of a content multimedia file has also been developed. However, the conventional technology of inserting an advertisement by dividing the middle of the content multimedia file has the following problems.

In the related art, in order to insert an advertisement video into a content multimedia file, the existing content multimedia file has to be divided and stored. After dividing the existing multimedia file as described above, the advertisement video was to be played between the divided multimedia files.

This conventional technique is inefficient in the characteristics of the processing time and storage space of the multimedia file in the processing of the server that needs to divide the multimedia file. In addition, the management of content is further complicated by the divided multimedia file. In particular, according to the conventional video advertising method, there is a problem that the server takes a lot of load because it provides the advertisement multimedia to each user client while calculating the time point when the server directly plays the real-time advertisement.

The content server or the advertisement server must provide content and advertisements to multiple user clients at the same time. However, since the conventional technology puts a lot of load on the server, there is a high risk of failing to achieve the primary goal of playing multimedia files in real time.

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems according to the prior art, to promote the stability of the advertising server by distributing the load of the advertisement processing (load) to the user client, through which the advertisement multimedia is played in the middle of the content playback An object of the present invention is to provide a multimedia advertisement system and a multimedia playback device that can process the process more efficiently.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, a multimedia advertisement system includes a content server transmitting content multimedia data to a requesting terminal according to an external request, an advertisement server transmitting advertisement multimedia data to a requesting terminal according to an external request, and information of a content multimedia file to be played. According to the present invention, the user may schedule a reproduction of the advertisement multimedia and selectively receive and play multimedia data from the content server or the advertisement server accordingly.

In this case, the user client may deactivate a menu for manipulating playback of the multimedia while the advertisement multimedia is played. The user client may receive at least one advertisement multimedia play time or a play count from a user and use the same to schedule the play of the advertisement multimedia. Further, when a pause command or a stop command is input during content multimedia playback, the user client may play at least one advertisement multimedia after pausing or stopping playback of the content multimedia. have.

In addition, the multimedia advertising system according to the present invention may further include a web server for providing a list of the multimedia content that can be provided to the user client and the software for playing the multimedia content.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for reproducing multimedia uses a communication interface for transmitting and receiving multimedia-related data from an external server, and schedules advertisement reproduction using information of a content multimedia file that has been requested to be reproduced. A scheduler for requesting transmission of data or advertisement multimedia data and a multimedia player for reproducing content multimedia data or advertisement multimedia data received through the communication interface.

In this case, the multimedia playback apparatus according to the present invention receives a content request processing unit for receiving content multimedia data by accessing an external server in response to a multimedia data transmission request of a scheduler, and receiving advertisement multimedia data by accessing an external server according to the request of the scheduler. The advertisement request processing unit may further include.

In addition, the scheduler may receive at least one advertisement multimedia play time or a play count from a user, and use the scheduler to schedule the play of the advertisement multimedia.

In addition, the multimedia playback apparatus provides a navigation menu for controlling the multimedia playback to the user, and when a pause command or a stop command is input from the user, the multimedia playback apparatus pauses the playback of the content multimedia at least. It may further include a main controller for playing one advertisement multimedia.

Here, the main controller may deactivate the search menu while the advertisement multimedia is played.

Finally, the multimedia playback control method according to another aspect of the present invention, the multimedia playback device receives the information on the multimedia file and the advertising multimedia file of the content to be played from the web server and using the same to determine the playback schedule, multimedia playback The device may be connected to a content server according to the play schedule to receive and play multimedia data about the content, and the multimedia play device may access the advertisement server when the current play time of the multimedia file reaches the play time of the intermediate advertisement. Receiving and playing the advertisement multimedia data.

As described above, the multimedia advertisement system and the multimedia player according to the present invention can reduce the cost of dividing the content multimedia file and storing it in a new space in order to insert the advertisement multimedia between the content multimedia file. By distributing the processing to the user client, the burden on the advertisement server central processing unit can be reduced, and more efficient content reproduction and intermediate advertisement reproduction can be achieved.

Hereinafter, a multimedia advertisement system, a multimedia player, and a control method thereof according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a view showing the configuration of a multimedia advertising system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the multimedia advertisement system may include a web server 1, a content server 2, an advertisement server 3, and a user client 10.

The web server 1 corresponds to a server that operates a portal site, a broadcaster site, and the like. The web server 1 provides a list of multimedia contents that can be provided to the user client 10 and software for playing the multimedia contents. Of course, the provided software is installed in the user client 10.

The content server 2 is a server that transmits multimedia data corresponding to the content requested by the user client 10 to the user client 10. Similar to the content server 2, the advertisement server 3 corresponds to a server that transmits data about an advertisement to be played in the user client 10 to the user client 10 in response to a request of the user client 10.

The user client 10 is provided with software for playing multimedia content on the web server 1 or the like. By using the software for multimedia content reproduction, the user can instruct the reproduction of the multimedia content desired by the user.

The user client 10 that receives the multimedia playback command from the user requests the web server 1 for file information of the multimedia to be played back.

Accordingly, the web server 1 transmits the information about the content multimedia file to be played and the information about the advertisement multimedia file to be played together with the multimedia content to the user client 10. The file information transmitted at this time includes various multimedia information such as the address of the server where the file is located, a file name, a codec, and a runtime.

The user client 10 determines how many advertisement multimedia files to play during content multimedia file playback by referring to information such as the playing time of the multimedia file. For example, assume that there is a policy that a user must view a single advertisement multimedia file in order to view content for 20 minutes and multimedia content having 50 minutes of runtime. In this case, the user client 10 may determine to play a total of two advertisement multimedia files.

The user client 10 performs playback scheduling of content in consideration of the number of multimedia advertisements determined above. In the above example, when playing the advertisement multimedia file twice, the user client 10 schedules to play the advertisement multimedia file after playing the content for 20 minutes.

Specifically, the position where the advertisement is inserted in the middle of the above can be calculated as "running time / (n + 1)", where n is the number of times the advertisement is played. In this case, the user client 10 plays back the contents for 20 minutes after the advertisement multimedia file is played, and then plays another advertisement multimedia file.

In addition, the user may directly decide to insert the advertisement at a desired position instead of simply “running time / (n + 1)” (where n is the number of times the advertisement is played). You can see it in the middle, or you can drive two or three in 80% of multimedia.

Meanwhile, the user client 10 periodically checks the pressing of the pause button and controls to play one or more advertisements after pausing the multimedia when detecting the pressing of the pause button. Could be Of course, the above control may be performed using a stop button instead of a pause button.

The user client 10 selectively connects to the content server 2 or the advertisement server 3 according to the determined schedule, receives multimedia data to be played from each of the servers 2 and 3 and reproduces the data in real time. Through such a system configuration, the user can play the content he / she wants under the condition of playing the advertisement multimedia file at a predetermined number or time points.

In the case of using the configuration of FIG. 1, the content server 2 and the advertisement server 3 only need to check a user's request and transmit multimedia data accordingly. Accordingly, since a lower load is applied to the content server 2 and the advertisement server 3, it is possible to provide more efficient multimedia files related to content and advertisement.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a user client included in the multimedia advertisement system of FIG. 1.

As described above, the user client 10 corresponds to a component for playing content or advertisement desired by the user. Therefore, the user client 10 corresponds to a multimedia playback device. Of course, the user client 10 may be sold as an independent product, but it is more preferable that the user client 10 implement the configuration of FIG. 2 by downloading and installing software from the web server 1 or the like.

The multimedia player 10 of FIG. 2 corresponding to the user client 10 includes a main controller 11, a scheduler 12, an external communication interface 13, a content request processor 14, an advertisement request processor 15, and Multimedia playback unit 16 or the like.

Of course, the multimedia playback apparatus 10 generally includes components such as a user interface (not shown) for user manipulation. However, these components are not related to the features of the present invention, so detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The external communication interface 13 corresponds to a component for connecting the multimedia reproducing apparatus 10 to external servers 2 and 3 so as to transmit and receive various data. The external communication interface 13 connects to an external server or the like using various methods such as xDSL, optical cable, dedicated line, and the like. However, the external communication interface 13 is not limited to the above communication interface.

The main controller 11 receives a content file or a list to be played back from the user through a user interface or the like. Furthermore, the main controller 11 checks the information on the one or more content files that the user requests to play and delivers the information to the scheduler 12.

Here, the main control unit 11 requests the information of the content file to the external web server 1, and the information of the corresponding content file such as the address of the server where the file exists, the running time and the advertisement file from the web server 1 And so on.

The scheduler 12 performs scheduling of how many times the intermediate advertisement is to be played and when the intermediate advertisement is to be played using information of the content file and the advertisement file. This determination is preferably made based on the advertisement playback frequency policy or the user's direct selection.

As an example of an advertisement play count policy, a policy of playing one advertisement multimedia every 20 minutes of playing multimedia may be considered. The advertisement play count policy may be changed by a company that provides content or advertisement multimedia. In addition, the user may directly select the number or time of playing the advertisement in the middle of the content. The number of advertisements and the time point are not directly determined by the web server 1 or the like, but are directly determined by the user during content playback.

The scheduler 12 controls to play the content or the advertisement multimedia file according to the determined schedule.

Specifically, the scheduler 12 first controls the content request processing unit 14 to play the multimedia file for the content requested by the user. The content request processing unit 14 accesses the content server 2 and requests content multimedia data. The content multimedia data transmitted from the external content server 2 is transmitted to the multimedia player 16.

Meanwhile, the scheduler 12 continuously checks the current playback time of the content to determine whether the current playback time of the content matches the start time of the intermediate advertisement multimedia. If the current playback time of the content coincides with the intermediate advertisement multimedia start time, the scheduler 12 pauses the operation of the content request processor 14.

Thereafter, the scheduler 12 controls the advertisement request processing unit 15 to play the advertisement multimedia file. The advertisement request processor 15 connects to an external advertisement server 3 and requests advertisement multimedia data. The advertisement multimedia data transmitted from the external advertisement server 3 is transferred to the multimedia player 16 and reproduced.

Meanwhile, the scheduler 12 notifies the main controller 11 that the advertisement is played. The main controller 11 that provides a multimedia playback control menu as the search bar may deactivate a menu for manipulating playback of multimedia such as a search bar of a multimedia player while an advertisement is played.

The reproduction end of the advertisement multimedia inserted and played in the middle may be detected by the multimedia player 16. The multimedia player 16 notifies the scheduler 12 when the play of the intermediate advertisement multimedia is finished. The scheduler 12 causes the content request processing unit 14 to play back the content requested by the user.

Meanwhile, the user client 10 of FIG. 2 is illustrated as an independent multimedia player. However, each block of the multimedia player 10 may be implemented by installing one software or ActiveX program on a general PC. In particular, as described above, the user client 10 may acquire software or an ActiveX program through a download from the web server 1 or the like.

That is, the multimedia playback control described above may be performed by being delivered to a general PC as a plug-in of a web browser using one software or ActiveX including a software block corresponding to each component of FIG. 2.

Here, Active X is provided to share and execute various applications created by C ++, visual basic, JAVA, etc. on Windows 95 / NT or higher operating system in Web server 1 Means technology.

In addition, ActiveX supports multimedia execution programs to play AVI (Audio Video Interleaved), MPEG (Moving Picture Exports Group) videos, and to filter non-HTML documents such as Excel or Word through web filtering. .

3 is a diagram illustrating a multimedia playback control method according to another embodiment of the present invention.

First, when the user requests to play the content, the multimedia player 10 receives information about the multimedia file and the advertisement multimedia file of the content to be played back from the web server 1 (S301), and operates the multimedia playback scheduler (S302). ).

The scheduler determines the playback schedule by using the information of the multimedia file requested to be played (S303). Here, the scheduler determines the number of play of the intermediate advertisement and the time at which the intermediate advertisement is played as a play schedule.

The scheduler first controls the multimedia reproducing apparatus 10 to access the content server 2 to receive and reproduce multimedia data about the content (S304).

The scheduler of the multimedia player 10 periodically checks whether the current playback time of the multimedia file has reached the time at which the intermediate advertisement is to be played (S305).

If the current playback time of the multimedia file reaches the time at which the intermediate advertisement is to be played, the scheduler controls the multimedia playback device to play the advertisement multimedia (S306 to S309).

First, under the control of the scheduler, the multimedia player 10 connects to the advertisement server 3 (S306). After connecting to the advertisement server 3, the multimedia player 10 receives and plays data corresponding to the advertisement multimedia from the advertisement server 3 (S307).

As discussed above, the user may schedule the insertion of the ad at the desired location, rather than the “running time / (n + 1)” where n is the number of times the ad is played. have. You can see it in the middle, or drive two or three with 80% multimedia.

On the other hand, the scheduler preferably controls to deactivate the multimedia playback control menu such as the multimedia playback search bar in step S306 and S307 (S308).

The multimedia player 10 checks whether the reproduction of the advertisement multimedia is completed (S309). When the reproduction of the advertisement multimedia is completed, the multimedia playback apparatus 10 proceeds to S304 and subsequently plays the content requested by the user.

The multimedia playback apparatus 10 activates a menu such as a multimedia playback search bar (S310). Thereafter, the multimedia player 10 connects to the content server 2 (S311), receives content multimedia data from the content server 2, and reproduces it (S312).

The multimedia playback apparatus 10 checks the completion of playback of the content file (S313). If the reproduction of the content file is not completed, the process proceeds to step S304 and the above process is repeated. If playback of the content file is completed, the multimedia player 10 ends the multimedia playback control method of FIG. 3.

Although the present invention has been described in detail through the representative embodiments, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains can make various modifications without departing from the scope of the present invention. I will understand. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims below and equivalents thereof.

1 is a view showing the configuration of a multimedia advertising system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user client configuration included in the multimedia advertisement system of FIG. 1. FIG.

3 is a diagram showing a multimedia playback control method according to another embodiment of the present invention.

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

1: web server

2: Content Server

3: ad server

4: User Client (Multimedia Playback Device)

11: main control unit

12: scheduler

13: external communication interface

14: content request processing unit

15; Ad request processor

16: multimedia playback unit

Claims (11)

In the multimedia advertising system, A content server for transmitting content multimedia data to a requesting terminal according to an external request; An advertisement server for transmitting advertisement multimedia data to a requesting terminal according to an external request; And And a user client that schedules the reproduction of the advertisement multimedia according to the information of the content multimedia file to be reproduced, and selectively receives and plays the multimedia data from the content server or the advertisement server according to the scheduling. The method of claim 1, And the user client deactivates a menu for manipulating the playback of the multimedia while the advertising multimedia is playing. The method of claim 1, And a web server for providing a list of the multimedia contents that can be provided to the user client and the software for playing the multimedia contents. The method of claim 1, The user client, And receiving at least one advertisement multimedia playing time or a playing count from a user, and scheduling the playing of the advertising multimedia using the same. The method of claim 1, The user client, When a pause command or a stop command is input during content multimedia playback, at least one advertising multimedia is played after the content multimedia is paused or stopped. In the multimedia playback device, A communication interface for transmitting and receiving multimedia related data from an external server; A scheduler for scheduling advertisement reproduction using information of a content multimedia file that has been requested to be reproduced and requesting transmission of contents multimedia data or advertisement multimedia data through a communication interface according to the scheduling; And And a multimedia player for playing content multimedia data or advertisement multimedia data received through the communication interface. The method of claim 6, A content request processor configured to receive content multimedia data by accessing an external server according to the multimedia data transmission request of the scheduler; Wow And an advertisement request processing unit for receiving advertisement multimedia data by accessing an external server according to a request of the scheduler. The method of claim 6, And the scheduler receives at least one advertisement multimedia playing time or the number of playing times from a user and uses the same to schedule scheduling of the advertising multimedia. The method of claim 6, Providing a navigation menu for controlling multimedia playback to the user, and when a pause command or a stop command is input from the user, at least one advertisement multimedia is paused after the content multimedia is paused or stopped. A multimedia playback device further comprising a main control unit for playing. The method of claim 9, And the main controller deactivates the search menu while an advertisement multimedia is played. In the multimedia playback control method, The multimedia playback apparatus may include receiving information about a multimedia file and an advertisement multimedia file of a content to be played back from a web server and using the same, determining a playback schedule; The multimedia playback apparatus accessing a content server according to the playback schedule to receive and play multimedia data about content; And The multimedia playback apparatus, if the current playback time of the multimedia file reaches the time when the intermediate commercials to play, the multimedia playback control method comprising the step of connecting to the advertising server to receive and play the advertising multimedia data.

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