WO2000049805A1 - Systeme et procede permettant de distribuer des messages a caractere promotionnel sur un reseau de communications - Google Patents

Systeme et procede permettant de distribuer des messages a caractere promotionnel sur un reseau de communications Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2000049805A1
WO2000049805A1 PCT/SE2000/000312 SE0000312W WO0049805A1 WO 2000049805 A1 WO2000049805 A1 WO 2000049805A1 SE 0000312 W SE0000312 W SE 0000312W WO 0049805 A1 WO0049805 A1 WO 0049805A1
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WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
promotional message
promotional
target group
consumer
network
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/SE2000/000312
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
Klas Eriksson
David Sundqvist
Original Assignee
Personal View Ab
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Personal View Ab filed Critical Personal View Ab
Priority to AU32036/00A priority Critical patent/AU3203600A/en
Priority to EP00909857A priority patent/EP1161834A1/fr
Publication of WO2000049805A1 publication Critical patent/WO2000049805A1/fr

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
    • H04N7/162—Authorising the user terminal, e.g. by paying; Registering the use of a subscription channel, e.g. billing
    • H04N7/165—Centralised control of user terminal ; Registering at central
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/25—Management operations performed by the server for facilitating the content distribution or administrating data related to end-users or client devices, e.g. end-user or client device authentication, learning user preferences for recommending movies
    • H04N21/258—Client or end-user data management, e.g. managing client capabilities, user preferences or demographics, processing of multiple end-users preferences to derive collaborative data
    • H04N21/25866—Management of end-user data
    • H04N21/25891—Management of end-user data being end-user preferences
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
    • H04N21/442—Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk
    • H04N21/44213—Monitoring of end-user related data
    • H04N21/44222—Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity
    • H04N21/44224—Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
    • H04N21/462—Content or additional data management, e.g. creating a master electronic program guide from data received from the Internet and a Head-end, controlling the complexity of a video stream by scaling the resolution or bit-rate based on the client capabilities
    • H04N21/4622—Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/47—End-user applications
    • H04N21/478—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application
    • H04N21/4782—Web browsing, e.g. WebTV
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/80—Generation or processing of content or additional data by content creator independently of the distribution process; Content per se
    • H04N21/81—Monomedia components thereof
    • H04N21/812—Monomedia components thereof involving advertisement data
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/41—Structure of client; Structure of client peripherals
    • H04N21/422—Input-only peripherals, i.e. input devices connected to specially adapted client devices, e.g. global positioning system [GPS]
    • H04N21/42204—User interfaces specially adapted for controlling a client device through a remote control device; Remote control devices therefor
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/43—Processing of content or additional data, e.g. demultiplexing additional data from a digital video stream; Elementary client operations, e.g. monitoring of home network or synchronising decoder's clock; Client middleware
    • H04N21/431—Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering
    • H04N21/4312—Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations
    • H04N21/4316—Generation of visual interfaces for content selection or interaction; Content or additional data rendering involving specific graphical features, e.g. screen layout, special fonts or colors, blinking icons, highlights or animations for displaying supplemental content in a region of the screen, e.g. an advertisement in a separate window
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/45—Management operations performed by the client for facilitating the reception of or the interaction with the content or administrating data related to the end-user or to the client device itself, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies, resolving scheduling conflicts
    • H04N21/4508—Management of client data or end-user data
    • H04N21/4532—Management of client data or end-user data involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/47—End-user applications
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/47—End-user applications
    • H04N21/478—Supplemental services, e.g. displaying phone caller identification, shopping application

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to a system and method for distributing promotional messages over a communications network and more particularly, to the provision of different promotional messages to different targeted groups e.g. households.
  • the U.S. patent 5, 661, 516 entitled “System and method for selectively distributing promotional messages over a communications network" to Carles discloses a system and method for distributing promotional messages to an individually addressable subscriber terminal ("converter") in a network.
  • Promotional messages to be distributed over the network contain embedded information identifying categories of recipients for each message.
  • a server centrally located on the network, selectively tags promotional messages with the converter addresses of subscribers, satisfying the identifying categories.
  • the promotional messages are then transmitted over the network for receipt and display by a television receiver connected to the addressed converters.
  • the addresses are selected by the server based on information stored in a database related to demographic and other information relating to the household of the subscriber.
  • a first television channel contains television programs and periodic promotional messages.
  • a second television channel contains alternate promotional messages. Means are provided for determining when a promotional message break in a particular program channel is about to occur, and selection means based upon the viewer's demographic characteristics are responsive thereto for providing an appropriate promotional message from the first or second channel during the break. After the promotion break, the converter returns back to the original television program channel.
  • the head-end can transmit a plurality of television program channels each having periodic promotional message breaks, with each television program channel having a corresponding plurality of alternate promotional message channels associated therewith.
  • Demographic data can be input by a viewer via a remote control, downloaded to a subscriber's converter from a remote head-end, or programmed into the converter at installation. Prioritisation of the demographic characteristics of a plurality of television viewers watching a program together enables the promotional messages to be targeted to the viewer having highest priority.
  • the cable system operator who controls the head-end, is provided with the capability to insert commercials in the promotional break portions of programs carried on the main television program channel, and also for providing a plurality of alternate promotional channels targeted to different demographically defined audiences.
  • the present invention provides a direct information channel via a communications network to e.g. households for advertising purposes.
  • the invention comprises both a method and a system.
  • a method for use in a network for sending promotional messages to target groups provided with a display comprises the steps of
  • FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of the system in accordance with the invention
  • Figure 2 shows an embodiment of a television picture with a promotional banner in accordance with the invention.
  • Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a system in accordance with the invention for distributing promotional messages over a communications network to a display.
  • the dashed lines denotes logical information flow. The physical flow is to /from /within the Internet.
  • the system comprises a back-end control application 1, a central promotion scheduler 2, a regional promotion scheduler 3, a head-end application gateway 4, a response monitor 5, a set-top box 6 and a display 7.
  • the back-end control application 1 is the main application used in defining which promotional message that should be displayed where, when and how.
  • the back-end control application 1 receives input from a plurality of sources including advertising companies, demographical databases, proprietary customer databases, consumer interest profiles, data from previous campaigns etc.
  • the processing of the above sources results in selection criteria which in turn gives a target group of, e.g., households, a point in time to display the promotional message and, if so desired, an enhanced promotional message.
  • target group information e.g. an Internet address.
  • the output of the back-end control application 1 is fed to the central promotion scheduler 2.
  • the central promotion scheduler 2 comprises the main promotion database where promotional messages and related information obtained from said back-end control application 1 are stored.
  • the central promotion scheduler 2 is also responsible for distributing information to the regional promotion scheduler 3 if so required.
  • the main function of the regional promotion scheduler 3 is to off-load the central promotion scheduler 2 due to the large number of households, time slots and promotional messages that the system needs to handle.
  • the regional promotion scheduler 3 may contain a cache of promotional messages and related information to speed up the distribution of that information for a subset of the households.
  • the regional promotion scheduler 3 may keep track of when it is time to send a particular promotional message down the network in order for it to arrive in time considering potential bandwidth limitations.
  • the main function of the head-end application gateway 4 is to act as the interface between the rest of the system and the network and thus with the displays.
  • the head-end application gateway 4 interacts with all set-top boxes 6 within its segment in a promotion channel, which is part of the network.
  • the head-end application gateway 4 handles the individual addressing of the set top boxes 6 based upon the selected target groups and receives all consumer/viewer interaction.
  • the head-end application gateway 4 may for this purpose investigate each logged on consumer profile, match the profile with the selection criteria and forward the appropriate messages to the respective set- top boxes 6.
  • the main function of the response monitor 5 is to act upon consumer/viewer responses when a promotional message is shown.
  • the set- top box 6 is adapted to detect any consumer/viewer interaction with the promotional message and to forward this event via the head-end application gateway 4 to the response monitor 5 which retrieves e.g. a web page to hand over from the back-end control application 1. It also updates the campaign statistics with the event.
  • the main feature of the set-top box 6 is to handle the user interface and the interaction needed with the consumer. The goal is to create a thin GUI client, connected to a server where the server functionality is split between other applications.
  • the application in the set- top box 6 is denoted the set-top box promo application. It may be tightly connected to the head-end application, which contains the business logic of the user interface.
  • the system has been described to have a central as well as a regional promotion scheduler it is conceivable to merge the two into a single scheduler. It is also evident that the system can comprise any number of central promotion schedulers, regional promotion schedulers and head-end application gateways. Even if the expression households is used above it is evident that the above system may include displays not only located at households but anywhere, e.g. in shops, banks, restaurants, etc.
  • Each application above may have a connection to Internet, and may use standard communication mechanisms. Preferably, none of the applications has a direct access to any other application.
  • the different "application boxes" denotes functional blocks. The actual location of these blocks can be any server set up to support the system. All, some or none of the boxes could be located in the same server. The reason to divide them here is to separate the functionality on a system level.
  • the promotion channel is divided into a number of time slots.
  • the duration of each time slot is preferably in the order of minutes.
  • the promotional message controls what is displayed on the television screen portion allocated for the promotion channel.
  • Each household may be handled individually, i.e. different households may have different promotional messages displayed during the same time slot.
  • To be able to show e.g. BMW promotions when a car is displayed in e.g. a James Bond movie would, however, require time slots down to the order of 5 seconds, if the appearance of the promotional message is to be controlled by the time slot mechanism. This would then lead to an unreasonable number of time slots per calendar day and so it is preferred to make the promotional message intelligent so that it can decide itself when during the time slot it is supposed to appear on a particular display.
  • the head-end application gateway 4 is provided with means for monitoring synchronisation signals.
  • the available sources of these signals vary over time and the functionality of the application.
  • the application offers a number of services that are made visible to the promotional message through the set-top box application.
  • the sources of synchronisation information includes Video Tape Recorder (VTR) signals at program start provided by the broadcast channel, other synchronisation signals provided by the broadcast channel, e.g. promotion start synchronisation signals.
  • VTR Video Tape Recorder
  • a plurality of promotional messages that are to be shown during a plurality of time slots may be assembled into a campaign. There may also be more than one promotional message used and each of them may be used during a set of time slots.
  • the promotional messages are sent to a plurality of households that matches the selection criterion that is set up for the campaign.
  • the invention provides for any number of campaigns to be run simultaneously as each campaign makes its own selection of which households to target. Some campaigns may of course overlap, but this is can be handled by the present system.
  • the conversion between GMT and local time is used by the head-end application gateway 4.
  • the back-end control application 1 may transform the time slot specification to GMT.
  • the head-end application 1 is aware of the time zone for e.g. the CATV segment that it is responsible for and converts the time slot information to local time.
  • the promotional message can retrieve local time, GMT and campaign owner time, selected at the campaign set-up.
  • the reason for not using only local time is that it should be possible to use the same promotional message world- wide, regardless of the actual location of the set- top box 6.
  • the set-top box 6 must know the local time if it should be possible to manage consumer/viewer defined events. Note that different time zones means that the local time differs when a program is sent.
  • Consumer/viewer profiles denote a profile of interest. It reflects the "soft" parts of the people currently watching the television.
  • the profile may be the only source of information used by the system to select which viewers to direct promotional messages to.
  • each household is provided with a pre-allocated profile which is set up in advance e.g. when a subscription is made. This initial profile is called the default profile.
  • the present invention also features additional profiles, which the viewers can define themselves. The viewers freely select the content of those profiles. This means that different people in a household can define their own profiles reflecting what they are interested in, as well as allowing them to use different profiles at different times of the day. There may be any number of profiles. The user can also update and delete the consumer profiles.
  • the consumer profiles are stored locally, and the selected profile is sent to the promotion scheduler 2, 3 when selected. If only a default profile exists, the viewer need not specify any profile when switching on the television set since the default profile will be selected automatically by the system.
  • the default profile may also be used after a timeout period, if no profile has been selected. The timeout value may be set to a few seconds, but can be changed by the viewer.
  • the viewer profiles cannot be linked to a particular viewer because of the profile set-up procedure. This is not assumed to be a drawback since the normal situation is that there is more than one person watching the television. The profile that will be used is most likely some approximation of the interests of all the viewers watching within a particular household.
  • Providing multiple profiles allow the viewers to select profiles that more closely match the interests of the persons currently watching.
  • the default profile is also used by the present system when allocating promotional messages for the viewers before any statistics have been collected.
  • the usage of the profiles defined for a particular consumer is continuously monitored. Since the profiles themselves are stored locally on the set-top box, and the user can edit the profiles locally, the exact content of the profiles are not known until selected to be used by the user. There are also volatile parts of the profile such as current channel selected. The system therefore needs to do some statistical measurements on the usage of the categories within the profiles, to be able to make a forecast of the hit rate when defining a campaign
  • the selection criterion may be composed of information from a plurality of sources comprising:
  • demographical data e.g. number of household members and their age. Some of these data can be obtained at the time of subscription; others retrieved from public sources;
  • Data from the first three sources does not change substantially between the campaign definition and expiration of a time slot and is therefore called non-volatile data.
  • Data from the latter sources does indeed vary within the above time frame and is called volatile data. In fact, the latter data is dependent on the current viewer behaviour and may therefore change rapidly.
  • the allocation of time slots can in one embodiment be made statically at campaign set up time.
  • the households and time slots are then allocated during campaign definition by using a selection criterion that is based on the non-volatile data described above.
  • the static allocation strategy will have difficulties in coping with the fact that households are added and withdrawn from the subscriber list. If the target groups are selected several weeks in advance, new households will not be covered since they were not a part of the selection when the campaign was set up. Removed households will also affect the performance since there is a probability that households are removed from the selected group. A problem related to the removed households is the fact that some television receivers are not switched on during a particular time slot when a promotional message is dispatched. This will also affect the selected target group for a campaign. Moreover the above described static selection criterion does not take into account that the consumer/viewer may have e.g. selected a consumer profile or watch a particular television channel.
  • a dynamic allocation By using a dynamic allocation the system describes the target households with a selection criterion that is not executed until the actual time slot is approaching or is due. The criterion can then easily cope with added households since all households matching the criterion will be targeted.
  • One problem with this approach is that the system does not know at campaign set up time exactly how many households that will be targeted.
  • the time slot or slots when a promotional message should be presented is selected. Each time slot may be of equal length.
  • the targeted group of households is selected based on non-volatile consumer data e.g. demographical data. The data is retrieved either from public sources or from invariant/ static parts of the consumer profile.
  • the selection criterion within the group is set up and is based on the volatile consumer data e.g. categories of interest that the user has stated in the consumer profile.
  • the selection criterion is sent out to the head-end application gateway 4, which controls the group of households selected, together with a priority of that selection criterion.
  • the priority may be set by a back-end control application 1 when the selection criterion is defined.
  • the selection criterion For each household and time slot, the selection criterion is added to a priority queue of selection criteria. When the time slot is due, each selection criterion in the queue is tested, with the high priority ones first. When a criterion matches the consumer profile, the associated promotional message is selected to be displayed.
  • the targeted group of households is selected based on non-volatile consumer and the selection criterion within the group is set up and is based on the volatile consumer. Then, however, when the user logs on or changes consumer profile, a notification is sent to the scheduler application 2, 3, which calculates the promotional messages for a period of time ahead, and assuming that the consumer profile is the same.
  • the promotional messages are sent down to the head-end application gateway 4, which forwards the message to the appropriate set- top boxes 6.
  • the promotional messages are recalculated, and the new set of messages is sent down to the head-end application gateway 4 for further distribution.
  • the alternate process requires less memory, but will probably consume more bandwidth for the network in total, since a lot of data is wasted when the user changes profiles. The response requirements are also higher, since a lot of traffic is needed when a profile is changed.
  • selection criteria must be able to contain a condition that allows a promotional message to be displayed if no other one is. Extending this process to allow multiple "background" activities is possible if each background campaign is assigned a priority. If two background campaigns are selected for a household, the one with highest priority will be shown. It is likely that higher priority campaigns cost more.
  • the invention therefore provides the promotional message on top of the television broadcast in a portion of the screen as shown in Figure 1 , thus hiding or replacing a portion of the broadcast with the message during fractions of time.
  • the promotional message is shown as a banner 8, 9 close to the screen border.
  • the banners 8, 9 are located at the upper and left borders of the screen, respectively, since those areas seem to contain the least information. In the lower parts, the text strips normally appear, and in the top right corner the broadcast channel information is shown, which makes these two borders less useful.
  • the banners 8, 9 are shown as thin rectangular stripes, Nevertheless, if so desired said banner 8, 9 can be expanded to any suitable size and shape and/ or be located at any suitable location within the screen.
  • the information channel consequently is always available independent of which television channel a consumer/viewer has selected.
  • the new information channel requires only a small amount of the television screen to be allocated during short intervals for the promotional messages to be shown in an optimal way.
  • interaction buttons 10, 11, 12 within the promotional message.
  • these interaction buttons are shown to be located in the corners of the television screen but, of course, these interaction buttons 10, 11, 12 can be placed anywhere on the screen.
  • Their usage is modal e.g. their usage depends on the needs from the banners. From an esthetical point of view, the banners 8, 9 including the interaction buttons 10, 11, 12 could cover the entire border.
  • the upper banner 8 contains the promotional message of the present campaign.
  • the left banner 9 is allocated for services requested by the user, e.g. scheduled alerts.
  • the upper interaction buttons 10, 11 are allocated for the promotional message, and the lower 12 for usage related to user requested services.
  • the user interacts with the TV set-top box application by using a standard remote control, with enhanced functionality to also control a cursor on the TV screen.
  • the interaction with the interaction buttons 10, 11, 12 is monitored by the system, preferably by the set- top box 6, and stored centrally for statistical purposes and for analysis of the outcome of a campaign.
  • the promotional message is removed from the screen when any of the buttons is selected.
  • the number of buttons, what actions they are supposed to carry out etc. is defined at campaign set up.
  • one of the upper interaction buttons 10, 11 can be used for a "more” or "order” request and the other 10, 11 for a "quit” request.
  • the number of "order” button clicks then reflects the success of the campaign, i.e. the number of consumers /viewers that have actually interacted with the promotional message.
  • the consumer responses are collected for each campaign, and a campaign report is generated.
  • the button is a link to a Web page.
  • the button itself is however not displayed under the control of any browser. Instead, a promo application has control of the buttons, and can therefore collect the user responses on the campaign.
  • the link to the Web page is defined.
  • the control of the television screen is handed over to some browser, that is a part of the set-top box standard functionality.
  • a launch panel can be brought up on the television screen by e.g. a button on the set-top box's 6 remote control.
  • the launch panel is mainly a menu of applications that it is possible to execute.
  • the launch panel can be a part of the standard application in the set- top box 6, with added functionality according to the invention for interaction with the promotional messages.
  • the add-ins provided by the present invention can comprise management of consumer profiles, starting a web browser, downloading electronic coupons, retrieval of promotional messages, management of user defined services, such as alerts.
  • the features of the web browser available from the launch panel are defined by the browser application.
  • the history of visited pages can be stored in a history list.
  • a cache of pages can be stored locally in the set- top box 6. This can be administered by the browser application, which can be a part of the standard feature set in the set- top box 6.
  • Each shown promotional message may be stored locally, and may be recalled from the launch panel.
  • subcategories as well as overview of the promotional messages can be made available and promotional messages involving coupons can be re-run.
  • the viewer can request the system to survey coupons during non-watching hours. They can be retrieved later from the history. This feature will increase the incitement for the consumer to use the consumer profile concept.
  • the history list of the browser can be separated from the history list of promotional messages since these are managed by separated applications. This makes it easier to include a third party browser into the system.
  • the consumer profiles may be password protected.
  • the content of the history list of promotional messages preferably, does not contain entries from other consumer profiles that are password protected.
  • the content of the history list in the browser, as well as what pages are possible to view, can be restricted by the mechanisms available in the browser.
  • the promotional message may display an offer that the consumer may acknowledge. In this case, an electronic coupon is offered that can be loaded into a smart card that is used together with the application.
  • the coupons are stored in a personal coupon basket, which coupons upon command from the consumer can be loaded into a smart card, for later use in the store or the like.
  • the set-top box 6 can provide the means for using a smart card, which can be used for the following purposes:
  • Using a smart card makes it possible to download all subscription data.
  • the smart card can be used to identify the household.
  • the card can hold a coupon basket with electronic coupons that is later used in the stores.
  • the identification can include household identification as well as profile information. This information can be used when the consumer is not at home, but wishes to use the fine-tuned favourite profile and the personalised user defined services.
  • the later feature can e.g. be used by businessmen on travel, and in a hotel room ha can identify himself and then get the personalised settings.
  • a time slot is selected based on a criterion specific for the use case.
  • a group of households is selected based on a demographical data, proprietary customer knowledge, and/or the consumer profile.
  • a selection criterion based on the consumer profile is set up for the group
  • Targeted promotions for different consumer groups e.g. diaper promotion to be generated to customer households with small children, bank loan promotion to be generated to households with low income.
  • the time slot when the promotional message should be displayed might not be as critical as in the subsequent use cases. It is probably not a matter within seconds to display a certain message. Here is rather a time period more appropriate.
  • the selection criterion for the households is based on what consumer group the promotion is directed to.
  • the present invention provides a method for displaying promotional messages independent of which channel a viewer is currently watching and which are not linked to the traditional promotional breaks, it may be desirous to be able to show e.g. BMW promotions when the car is displayed on the television screen.
  • the time slot when the promotional message should be displayed is calculated based on the start time of the program or movie.
  • the selection criterion for the households is based on the selected television channel and e.g. income. This use case assumes that the system knows what television channel is currently selected by the consumer, i.e. that the selection criterion can act on the consumer profile.
  • Blocking/ enhancing promotion to be displayed in connection to competing/ same promotion in the television channel is based on the time the promotion is sent on the channel.
  • the selection criterion for the households is based on what consumer group the promotion is directed to and the television channel selected. This use case assumes the system knows what television channel is currently selected by the consumer, i.e. that the selection criterion can act on the consumer profile. From a technical standpoint, this use case is the same as "promo when in television”. It synchronises the promotional message to an external event from the promotional message point of view.
  • Two different targeted promotions are used and sent to two equally generated consumer groups.
  • the consumer response hit rate, interest rate, buy request rate
  • the time slot when the promotional message should be displayed might not be as important from the selection criterion point of view.
  • the two groups must have their messages at the same time to allow the results to be comparable.
  • the selection criterion for the households needs to be made in a way that allows the forecast algorithm to determine that the two groups are of equal size and contents. It should be noted that the system can never assure that the two groups are exactly equal, even if they are from a selection point of view, since the television set might not be on at the time of the promotional message. If only nonvolatile data is used for the selection criterion, the forecast will be more accurate. It will be up to those defining the campaign to decide how much uncertainty can be accepted.
  • This use case differs in that is does not contain any promotion to be presented to the consumer. Instead, the user has requested some information to be displayed in the same way as the promotions. It can be e.g. an alert when a television program starts on another television channel.
  • This use case differs significantly from the other. In this case, there must be applications available somewhere that implements e.g. a calendar function. When certain events occur, the applications send out a "promotion" to the television. This "promotion" needs to be shown somewhere else than the ordinary promotions.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
  • Multimedia (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Social Psychology (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
  • Computer Graphics (AREA)
  • Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Marketing (AREA)
  • Information Transfer Between Computers (AREA)
  • Two-Way Televisions, Distribution Of Moving Picture Or The Like (AREA)
  • Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)
  • Telephonic Communication Services (AREA)

Abstract

La présente invention concerne un canal direct d'informations qui passe par un réseau de communications à destination des ménages, par exemple, à des fins de publicité. Dans un mode de réalisation préféré de cette invention, un procédé utilisable dans un réseau, qui permet d'envoyer des messages à caractère promotionnel à des groupes cibles équipés d'écran, consiste à: entrer un message à caractère promotionnel; sélectionner un groupe cible; attribuer un canal de promotion dans le réseau pour ledit message; affecter une partie de l'écran au canal de promotion; envoyer le message à caractère promotionnel via le réseau dans ledit canal de promotion; et afficher le message à caractère promotionnel dans la partie attribuée de l'écran du groupe cible sélectionné.
PCT/SE2000/000312 1999-02-17 2000-02-16 Systeme et procede permettant de distribuer des messages a caractere promotionnel sur un reseau de communications WO2000049805A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU32036/00A AU3203600A (en) 1999-02-17 2000-02-16 System and method for distributing promotional messages over a communications network
EP00909857A EP1161834A1 (fr) 1999-02-17 2000-02-16 Systeme et procede permettant de distribuer des messages a caractere promotionnel sur un reseau de communications

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
SE9900513-4 1999-02-17
SE9900513A SE516203C2 (sv) 1999-02-17 1999-02-17 System och förfarande för distribution av reklammeddelanden över ett kommunikationsnätverk

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2000049805A1 true WO2000049805A1 (fr) 2000-08-24

Family

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Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/SE2000/000312 WO2000049805A1 (fr) 1999-02-17 2000-02-16 Systeme et procede permettant de distribuer des messages a caractere promotionnel sur un reseau de communications

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1161834A1 (fr)
AU (1) AU3203600A (fr)
SE (1) SE516203C2 (fr)
WO (1) WO2000049805A1 (fr)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2002023906A1 (fr) * 2000-09-15 2002-03-21 Grundig Aktiengesellschaft Systeme de television en hotel
WO2003015402A1 (fr) * 2001-08-06 2003-02-20 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Procede et dispositif permettant d'afficher des informations relatives a un programme dans une banniere
WO2006127516A2 (fr) * 2005-05-20 2006-11-30 Adam Kyle Barnes Presentation de multimedia affectes a un dispositif d'affichage

Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0424648A2 (fr) * 1989-10-23 1991-05-02 General Instrument Corporation Of Delaware Procédé, système et appareil pour fournir des émissions de télévision publicitaires visant des groupes démographiques
US5561708A (en) * 1991-10-03 1996-10-01 Viscorp Method and apparatus for interactive television through use of menu windows

Patent Citations (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP0424648A2 (fr) * 1989-10-23 1991-05-02 General Instrument Corporation Of Delaware Procédé, système et appareil pour fournir des émissions de télévision publicitaires visant des groupes démographiques
US5561708A (en) * 1991-10-03 1996-10-01 Viscorp Method and apparatus for interactive television through use of menu windows

Cited By (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
WO2002023906A1 (fr) * 2000-09-15 2002-03-21 Grundig Aktiengesellschaft Systeme de television en hotel
WO2003015402A1 (fr) * 2001-08-06 2003-02-20 Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. Procede et dispositif permettant d'afficher des informations relatives a un programme dans une banniere
WO2006127516A2 (fr) * 2005-05-20 2006-11-30 Adam Kyle Barnes Presentation de multimedia affectes a un dispositif d'affichage
WO2006127516A3 (fr) * 2005-05-20 2007-03-01 Adam Kyle Barnes Presentation de multimedia affectes a un dispositif d'affichage

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
SE9900513D0 (sv) 1999-02-17
SE516203C2 (sv) 2001-12-03
EP1161834A1 (fr) 2001-12-12
SE9900513L (sv) 2000-08-18
AU3203600A (en) 2000-09-04

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