WO2010058896A2

WO2010058896A2 - Advertisement service server and digital television system be linked with the server

Info

Publication number: WO2010058896A2
Application number: PCT/KR2009/004792
Authority: WO
Inventors: Byong-Kwon Moon; Sang-Hyeun Lee; Byung-Tak Lee; Jai-Sang Koh; Sim-Kwon Yoon
Original assignee: Electronics And Telecommunications Research Institute
Priority date: 2008-11-24
Filing date: 2009-08-27
Publication date: 2010-05-27
Also published as: KR20100058309A; WO2010058896A3; KR101174060B1

Abstract

An IP-based two-way advertising system is provided. In particular, an IP-based advertising service server system and a digital television broadcast receiving system which interacts with the IP-based advertising service server system are provided. An advertisement in which a selection criterion value set by an advertiser for advertisement output is identical to a subscriber side selection criterion value is selected and transmitted to a subscriber terminal. Advertisement associated information transmitted to the subscriber terminal includes information for accessing a primary advertisement for intuitively expressing minimal information about a product and information for accessing a secondary advertisement for expressing detail information. The primary advertisement and the secondary advertisement are output according to selection of a subscriber. Therefore, an advertising service can be provided regardless of different broadcasting middleware standards which depend on the broadcasting system, such as IPTV broadcasting, satellite broadcasting and digital cable broadcasting. Also, since an advertiser can register an advertisement by himself/herself without help of an advertising agency which produces an advertisement and includes the produced advertisement in a broadcast program, the self-employed can place an advertisement on television at a low cost.

Description

ADVERTISEMENT SERVICE SERVER AND DIGITAL TELEVISION SYSTEM BE LINKED WITH THE SERVER

The present invention relates to an IP-based two-way advertising system, and more particularly, to a digital television broadcast receiving system which interacts with an IP-based advertising service server system.

Digitalization of broadcasting is inevitably bringing about a natural change in the form of broadcast advertisements from one-way advertisements to two-way advertisements. In broadcasting systems such as IPTV broadcasting, digital cable broadcasting, and satellite broadcasting systems, broadcast contents are transmitted to broadcast receiving client devices such as set-top boxes (STBs) in the form of digital data streams. In such digital broadcasting systems, digital data streams are transmitted via respective transmission networks, and a return channel for a two-way advertisement commonly uses an IP network. However, in IPTV broadcasting, both a transmission channel for transmitting broadcast contents and a return channel for a two-way advertisement use the IP network, so that more efficient control functions are provided compared to other digital television broadcasting systems.

A two-way advertisement (which is also called a commercial in program (CIP)) is provided in a digital television broadcasting system such that primary advertisement data is included in broadcast content and transmitted in the form of a stream, and a receiving device detects and displays the primary advertisement data in the form of text or a banner, and displays a detailed advertisement which is a secondary advertisement when the advertisement in text or banner form is selected by a user.

However, since a broadcasting middleware standard (ACAP or OCAP) used in a digital television broadcasting system depends on the broadcasting system, in order to provide an advertisement associated with a certain broadcast program in a system which uses a different broadcasting middleware standard, advertisement data has to be generated according to a corresponding middleware standard and included in a broadcast program. Since a process for producing an advertisement and including the produced advertisement in a broadcast stream requires special skills, this is commonly performed by an advertising agency. Therefore, it is very difficult for the self-employed to place an advertisement on television.

Meanwhile, in digital television broadcasting systems, in addition to a two-way advertising technique, a customized advertising technique is also being utilized. A representative customized advertising technique is a personalized advertising technique in which interests of audiences are statistically searched and analyzed, and an advertisement is exposed to audiences according to their interests. The customized advertising technique is an audience-centered advertising technique. A new technique which may easily reflect the position of an advertiser is required in order to maximize advertising effect.

The present invention provides an advertising system in which two-way advertising services are provided in a plurality of digital television broadcasting systems, using an IP network that is independent of networks through which broadcast contents are transmitted, regardless of a broadcasting middleware standard.

The present invention also provides an advertising system in which an advertising service is provided conveniently without including a produced advertisement in broadcast content and without using additional hardware equipment.

The present invention also provides an advertising system in which an advertiser-centered customized advertisement as well as an audience-centered customized advertisement is provided to maximize advertising effect, and a digital television broadcast receiving system which interacts with the advertising system to select and display an advertisement.

According to an exemplary aspect, there is provided an IP-based advertising service server system which provides an advertising service to a subscriber terminal for receiving digital television broadcasting, the system including an advertisement register which suggests a selection criteria list for selecting an output advertisement, receives a selection criterion value input or selected according to a selection criterion selected by an advertiser, access information of a primary advertisement for intuitively expressing minimal information about a product and access information of a secondary advertisement for expressing detailed information about the product from an advertiser terminal having access to a server, and registers the selection criterion value, the access information of the primary advertisement and the access information of the secondary advertisement in a database as advertisement associated information having an advertisement identification (ID), and a metadata transmitter which transmits the advertisement associated information registered in the database to the subscriber terminal in metadata form.

The IP-based advertising service server system further includes an advertisement data transmitter which transmits primary advertisement information registered in the database in response to a primary advertisement transmission request received from the subscriber terminal.

The advertisement data transmitter transmits secondary advertisement information registered in the database in response to a secondary advertisement transmission request.

According to another exemplary aspect, there is provided an IP-based advertising service server system which provides an advertising service to a subscriber terminal for receiving digital television broadcasting, the system including an advertisement register which suggests a selection criteria list for selecting an output advertisement, receives a selection criterion value input or selected according to a selection criterion selected by an advertiser, one of primary advertisement information for intuitively expressing minimal information about a product and primary advertisement access information and one of secondary advertisement information for expressing detailed information about the product and secondary advertisement access information from an advertiser terminal having access to a server, and registers the selection criterion value, the one of the primary advertisement information and the primary advertisement access information and the one of the secondary advertisement information and the secondary advertisement access information in a database as advertisement associated information having an advertisement identification (ID), a subscriber information receiver which receives a subscriber side selection criterion value from the subscriber terminal; an advertisement selector which checks whether or not the received subscriber side selection criterion value is identical to a selection criterion value registered by the advertiser to select an advertisement, and a metadata transmitter which transmits the selected advertisement associated information of the advertiser to the subscriber terminal in metadata form.

Additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention.

According to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, there is an advantage in that an advertising service may be provided by the same method regardless of different broadcasting middleware standards which depend on the broadcasting system, such as an IPTV broadcasting system, a satellite broadcasting system and a digital cable broadcasting system. Since an advertiser may produce and register an advertisement by himself/herself without help of an advertising agency which traditionally produces an advertisement and includes the produced advertisement in a broadcast program, the low-income self-employed may place an advertisement on television at a low cost.

Also, since an advertisement does not need to be included in a broadcast stream, a service provider which runs an advertising system may do advertising business using only an advertising server without additional hardware equipment. Also, since an advertiser-centered customized advertisement is provided as well as an audience-centered customized advertisement, advertising effect is maximized.

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an advertising service system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an advertising service server 100 system according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows advertisement associated information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a digital television broadcast receiving system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an IP-based advertising service according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is screens illustrating primary and secondary advertisements displayed on a client terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an advertising server 100 system according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Descriptions of well-known functions and configurations which would detract from the clarity and concision of the present disclosure will be omitted. For reference, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described focusing on a system which provides digital television broadcasting through an IP network.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an advertising service system configuration according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, an IPTV service provider server provides broadcast contents to subscriber terminals 200 via an IP network. An advertising service server 100 provides advertisement associated information to the subscriber terminals 200 via the IP network and provides a primary advertisement or a secondary advertisement at a subscriber's request. The primary advertisement refers to an advertisement for intuitively expressing minimal information about a product, and the secondary advertisement refers to an advertisement for expressing detailed information about a product. The advertising service server 100 may receive primary advertisement information or secondary advertisement information from an advertiser terminal and provide the primary advertisement information or secondary advertisement information to the subscriber terminal 200, or receive primary advertisement access information or secondary advertisement access information registered in an external server such as a FTP server and provide the primary advertisement access information or secondary advertisement access information to the subscriber terminal 200. That is, a task for selecting the primary advertisement may be performed in the advertising service server 100 or the subscriber terminal 200, which will be described in detail later.

The subscriber terminal 200 receives broadcast contents from the IPTV service provider server and outputs the broadcast contents, and receives advertisement information from the advertising service server 100 or the external server through an advertising agent downloaded from the advertising service server 100 and outputs the advertisement information. That is, a service subscriber may watch the primary advertisement selected by an advertising agent as well as the broadcast contents through the subscriber terminal 200, and may also watch the secondary advertisement selected by himself/herself. The subscriber may order an advertised product and make payment through the secondary advertisement.

In FIG. 1, an EPG server provides electronic program guide (EPG) information to an advertiser which has access to the advertising service server 100, and a settlement server is used for settling payment for an advertised product ordered by the subscriber.

The advertising service server 100 will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an advertising server 100 system according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In particular, in the advertising service server 100 system of FIG. 2, it is assumed that the primary advertisement is selected through the subscriber terminal 200. FIG. 3 shows advertisement associated information according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, the advertising service server 100 system basically includes a database 170 in which much information is registered, an advertisement register 110 for registering advertisement association information in the database 170, and a metadata transmitter 120.

In further detail, the advertisement register 110 suggests a list of advertisement selection criteria (an area, a broadcast program name, absolute time, an order of priority, etc.), which is used to select an output advertisement which has to be output on the subscriber terminal 200, to the advertiser terminal on the web. The advertisement register 110 receives a selection criterion value which is input or selected according to a selection criterion selected by an advertiser, access information of the primary advertisement for intuitively expressing minimal information about a product and access information of the secondary advertisement for expressing detailed information about a product from the advertiser terminal having access to the server. The advertisement register registers the selection criterion value, the primary advertisement access information and the secondary advertisement access information in the database 170 as advertisement associated information having an advertisement identification (ID).

To this end, the advertisement register 110 includes an area information provider 111 which provides area information necessary for selecting an area or a place in which a subscriber is located to the advertiser terminal, a map information display 113 which provides map information matching GPS coordinates to the advertiser terminal, and an EPG information provider 115 which provides EPG information or EPG server access information which is used for selecting a broadcast program name to the advertiser terminal. Here, the number of the area information provider 111, the map information display 113 and the EPG information provider 115 may depend on a system implementation method.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the advertisement associated information registered by the advertiser. Referring to FIG. 3, the advertisement associated information includes an advertisement ID, which is automatically allocated when the advertisement associated information is registered by the advertiser, and advertisement selection criterion information suggested to and selected by the advertiser. As the advertisement selection criterion, area information, GPS coordinates, a broadcast program name, absolute time, an order of priority, a subscriber profile, and a category may be used, and the advertiser may select at least one of the advertisement selection criteria. The advertisement associated information includes a selection criterion value which is input or selected according to a selection criterion selected by the advertiser. For example, if the area information is used as the selection criterion, area names identified by administrative area addresses are provided through the area information provider 111, and the advertiser may select a certain address as a selection criterion value of an area name which is the selection criterion. For example, the advertiser may select Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul†or 1201, A Building 15th floor, 2nd Street, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul† Since the area information may be transformed into an area code which has a depth based on an address, an administrative area address may be selected as a selection criterion value of an area name. If the GPS coordinates are used as the selection criterion, the map information display 113 displays map information corresponding to an area name input by the advertiser, and the advertiser selects a certain place on the map, so that the GPS coordinates of the selected place are input as the selection criterion value of the GPS coordinates which are the selection criterion. GPS coordinates of areas surrounding the selected place may be input as the selection criterion value.

The advertisement associated information includes access information of the primary advertisement which intuitively expresses minimal information about a product and access information of the secondary advertisement which expresses detailed information about a product. The primary advertisement access information and the secondary advertisement access information are information of places in which advertisements which the advertiser desires to register are stored. That is, when the advertiser directly registers the primary advertisement and the secondary advertisement in the database 170, the access information is a storing location of the database 170, and in the case in which the primary advertisement and the secondary advertisement are registered in the external server such as the FTP server, the access information is access information of the external server. Alternatively, a configuration in which the primary advertisement may be stored in the database 170 and the secondary advertisement may be stored in the external server is possible, or a configuration in which the primary advertisement may be stored in the external server and the secondary advertisement may be stored in the database 170 is possible.

The advertisement register 110 may include a template provider 117 in order to make it easy for the advertiser to register the primary advertisement or the secondary advertisement. The template provider 117 accesses template information (for example, for restaurants or for sports shops) in the database 170 which is selected by the advertiser, and provides the template information to the advertiser terminal. The advertiser may upload or input a product price, a product description, and a product image onto the provided template to generate the secondary advertisement. Here, the advertisement may be interpreted as a concept including a moving picture and a web page.

The metadata transmitter 120 transmits the advertisement associated information registered in the database 170 to the subscriber terminal 200 in metadata form. The advertisement associated information may be transmitted using a broadcasting technique or a unicasting technique.

As described above, the advertising service server 100 system has the advertisement register 110, the metadata transmitter 120 and the database 170 as a basic configuration. This is because the primary advertisement and the secondary advertisement may be stored in the external server. When the primary advertisement and the secondary advertisement are stored in the external server, an advertising agent, which will be described later, asks the external server to transmit the primary advertisement and the secondary advertisement at the subscriber's request.

In a case in which the primary advertisement and/or the secondary advertisement are registered by the advertiser, the primary advertisement and/or the secondary advertisement need to be extracted and transmitted to the subscriber terminal 200. To this end, the advertising service server 100 system may further include an advertisement data transmitter 130 which transmits the primary advertisement information registered in the database 170 in response to a primary advertisement transmission request received from the subscriber terminal 200. The advertisement data transmitter 130 may further transmit the secondary advertisement information registered in the database 170 in response to a secondary advertisement transmission request.

The advertising service server 100 may further include a subscriber profile register 140 which receives profile information including at least a subscriber's place of residence and registers the profile information in the database 170, and a subscriber profile transmitter 150 which transmits the registered subscriber profile to the corresponding subscriber terminal 200. The subscriber profile is transmitted in response to a transmission request of an advertising agent installed in the subscriber terminal 200.

Due to a configuration in which the advertising service server 100 includes the subscriber profile register 140 and the subscriber profile transmitter 150, the client terminal 200 can select an advertisement when the selection criterion of the advertisement associated information registered by the advertiser is area information, which will be described in further detail later.

In addition to the above-described configuration, the advertising service server 100 system may further include a settlement processor 160 which processes an order and payment for the secondary advertisement product from the subscriber. Therefore, the settlement processor 160 allows the subscriber to directly purchase an advertised product.

A digital television broadcast receiving system having a function of selectively receiving an advertising service from the advertising service server 100 will be described below.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a digital television broadcast receiving system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, that is, the subscriber terminal 200. As shown in FIG. 4, like a general IPTV receiver terminal, the subscriber terminal 200 having a function of receiving broadcast contents via the IP network includes a data transceiver 210 which transmits or receives data via the IP network, a storage 240 which stores broadcast contents and advertisement information, and an IPTV player 250 which reproduces and controls broadcast contents transmitted or stored according to subscriber instructions. The subscriber terminal 200 further includes an advertising agent 260 which is necessary for implementing the present invention.

The advertising agent 260 includes an information receiver 261 which receives the advertisement associated information including the advertisement selection criterion value registered by the advertiser from the server 100 system, an advertisement selector 263 which checks whether or not at least one of subscriber information, content viewing information, present time, and GPS coordinates which correspond to a subscriber side selection criterion value is identical to an advertisement selection criterion value registered by the advertiser to select the received advertisement associated information, an advertisement information requester 265 which requests transmission of an advertisement included in the selected advertisement associated information, and an advertisement display 267 which displays advertisement information received in response to the request.

That is, the advertising agent 260 compares the advertisement selection criterion value transmitted from the advertising service server 100 system and the advertisement selection criterion value of the subscriber side to select the advertisement associated information to be output, and requests the advertising service server 100 or the external server to transmit the primary advertisement or the secondary advertisement included in the selected advertisement associated information and outputs the received primary advertisement or the received secondary advertisement to a subscriber. The advertising agent 260 may further include a subscriber information requester 268 which requests the server 100 system to transmit a subscriber profile each time subscriber authentication is performed.

An advertising service providing process between the advertising service server 100 system and the subscriber terminal 200 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an IP-based advertising service according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is screens illustrating primary and secondary advertisements displayed on the client terminal according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the advertiser accesses the advertising service server 100 system through the subscriber terminal 200 and registers advertisement associated information of a desired advertisement (operation S1). In order to register the advertisement associated information, the advertisement register 110 suggests selection criteria for selecting an advertisement to the advertiser, and the advertiser selects at least one of the selection criteria. For example, if the advertiser desires to expose an advertisement to subscribers who reside in a certain area, the advertiser selects area information among the selection criteria. When area information is selected, the area information provider 111 of the advertisement register 110 asks the advertiser to select or input an administrative area address as the selection criterion value. The advertiser selects a desired administrative area name through a display window for selecting an administrative area name. For example, the advertiser selects 1201, A Building 15th floor, 2nd Street, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul†

When the selection criterion value corresponding to the advertisement selection criterion is input as described above, the advertiser registers the primary advertisement and the secondary advertisement which are produced by himself/herself in the database 170 and then finishes the advertisement associated information registration process. The advertisement register 110 imparts an advertisement ID to the advertisement associated information input by the advertiser and registers the advertisement associated information in the database 170.

In the above-described embodiment, the area information is input as the selection criterion, but GPS coordinates, absolute time, or a broadcast program name may be selected or input as the selection criterion value corresponding to the selection criterion, and different selection criterion values may be input for each of at least one of selection criteria.

When the advertisement associated information is registered by the advertiser as described above, the metadata transmitter 120 transmits the advertisement associated information registered in the database 170 to the subscriber terminal 200 in metadata form (operation S2). The advertisement associated information is preferably transmitted using a multicasting technique.

When the advertisement associated information is transmitted from the advertising service server 100 system, the information receiver 261 of the subscriber terminal 200 receives the advertisement associated information and stores the advertisement associated information in the database 240. The advertisement selector 263 checks whether or not at least one of subscriber information, content viewing information, present time, and GPS coordinates which correspond to the subscriber side selection criterion value is identical to the selection criterion value of the received advertisement associated information. The subscriber information is subscriber profile information which is input by the subscriber into the subscriber terminal 200 which is the digital television broadcast receiving system and includes at least an address. In the case in which subscriber information cannot be registered in the subscriber terminal 200, the subscriber information may be obtained through the advertising agent 260 including the subscriber information requester 268. That is, when the subscriber terminal 200 is initially installed or a subscriber's address is changed due to, for example, moving, the subscriber may access the advertising service server 100 to register or change his/her profile information. In this state, the subscriber information requester 268 requests the server 100 system to transmit the subscriber profile, and receives and stores the subscriber information each time subscriber authentication is performed to authenticate the subscriber terminal 200. Of course, an area code to which the subscriber terminal 200 belongs may be imparted, and the subscriber profile may be manually registered in the subscriber terminal 200 in advance or changed using the area code. The advertisement selector 263 may select the advertisement associated information having the selection criterion value which is identical to the selection criterion value (for example, area information) registered in the subscriber terminal 200 as described above (operation S3).

For example, if an address registered in the subscriber terminal 200 is 2nd Street, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul†and a selection criterion value corresponding to an advertisement selection criterion registered by the advertiser and transmitted includes 2nd Street, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul† the advertisement associated information including the selection criterion value is selected. When the advertisement associated information is selected as described above, the advertisement information requester 265 requests the advertising service server 100 to transmit the primary advertisement information using the primary advertisement access information included in the corresponding advertisement associated information. The advertisement data transmitter 130 of the advertising service server 100 system accesses the database 170 and transmits the corresponding primary advertisement information to the subscriber terminal 200 (operation S4).

The advertisement display 267 of the subscriber terminal 200 displays the received primary advertisement in the form of a bar or an island as shown in (a) and (b) of FIG. 6 (operation S5).

When the subscriber has an interest in and selects the primary advertisement displayed together with the broadcast content (operation S6), the advertisement information requester 265 requests the advertising service server 100 to transmit the secondary advertisement using the advertisement ID of the selected primary advertisement and the secondary advertisement access information of the advertisement associated information having the advertisement ID (operation S7).

The advertisement data transmitter 130 of the advertising service server 100 system extracts the requested secondary advertisement information from the database 170 (operation S8) and transmits the extracted secondary advertisement information to the subscriber terminal 200 (operation S9). The advertisement display 267 of the subscriber terminal 200 transmits the received secondary advertisement to the IPTV player to display the secondary advertisement (operation S10). A display screen of the secondary advertisement is shown in (c) of FIG. 6. The subscriber may order an advertised product through the display screen.

When an order for an advertised product is received from the subscriber, the settlement processor 160 of the advertising service server 100 system requests the subscriber terminal 200 to transmit settlement information for settlement processing, transmits the received settlement information to the settlement server and requests settlement approval. When settlement processing is normally completed by the settlement approval request, the order information and the settlement information are stored in the database 170 (operation S13), and the result is reported to the subscriber terminal 200 (operation S14).

Therefore, the subscriber may view both the primary advertisement and the secondary advertisement which are provided by the advertising service server 100 through the digital television broadcast receiving system which is the subscriber terminal 200 and order the secondary advertisement product.

As described above, in the advertising service server 100 system according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the advertiser can produce and register an advertisement by himself/herself without help of an advertising agency and select subscribers, so that an advertiser-centered customized advertisement as well as a subscriber-centered customized advertisement can be provided. Also, the exemplary embodiment has been described focusing on the IPTV system, but since the advertising service is provided via the IP network independent of path through which broadcast contents are transmitted, the advertising service can be provided by the same method regardless of different broadcasting middleware standards which depend on the broadcasting system, such as an IPTV broadcasting system, a satellite broadcasting system and a digital cable broadcasting system.

In the exemplary embodiment, a case in which the advertisement associated information is registered using area information among selection criteria has been described. In order to help understand the present invention, a method for selecting other selection criteria will be described below.

In the case in which the selection criterion is GPS coordinates, the advertiser inputs GPS coordinates of a desired area as the selection criterion value through the map information display 113 as described above. For example, when a desired area name is input, an area within a certain radius of the input area name may be set as an advertisement target area. According to the case, the certain radius may be input when the desired area name is input or selected through the map information display 113. In this case, GPS coordinates of the input or selected area and the radius information are transmitted to the subscriber terminal 200 in metadata form. The subscriber terminal 200 computes GPS coordinates obtained from a GPS receiver and the GPS coordinates received from the server and selects the advertisement associated information if the GPS coordinates obtained from the GPS receiver are within the radius of the GPS coordinates received from the server.

In the case in which the selection criterion is a broadcast program, an ID value of a broadcast program may be input as the selection criterion value. A program ID value may be obtained from the EPG server. The EPG server may be accessed through a web link when an advertisement is registered, and a program may be selected directly through an EPG, so that the program ID can be easily input. The advertiser may select a plurality of broadcast programs for one advertisement. Of course, one program ID may be used as the selection criterion value, but a genre may be selected as the selection criterion value.

A category may be set as the selection criterion. That is, the advertiser may set a desired category to an advertisement. The subscriber terminal 200 may select all advertisements for which categories are set and then select desired advertisements among selected advertisements when the subscriber selects a certain category, or select desired advertisements according to a category among advertisements selected using information other than category (for example, area information).

In the case in which absolute time is the selection criterion, the advertiser may input an advertising time zone as the selection criterion value. For example, in the case of food advertisements, mealtimes may be set as an advertising time zone. A plurality of time zones may be selected. In the case in which an immediate advertisement†is selected as the selection criterion value, a corresponding advertisement may be immediately output through the subscriber terminal 200 even though the subscriber terminal 200 does not transmit an advertisement exposure request. For example, the immediate advertisement may be useful in disaster broadcasting advertisements. An effective period in which an advertisement is published may be set by inputting general time instead of absolute time.

Also, an order of priority may be selected as the selection criterion, and in this case, a grade or a value of an advertisement exposure frequency or an advertisement exposure location may be input as the selection criterion value. The advertisement exposure frequency may be set to, for example, the number of times per minute and distinguished as a top grade, a middle grade or a bottom grade, so that an order of priority of advertisements having the same criterion value for the exposure frequency may be determined.

In the case in which a user profile is the selection criterion, age, sex, and interests of a user may be input as the selection criterion value. In the case in which a category is the selection criterion, the advertiser may input category information such as food, sports, TV dramas, and movies as the selection criterion value.

The system in which the subscriber terminal 200 side selects an advertisement has been described above. Next, a configuration of the advertising service server 100 system in which the server side selects an advertisement according to subscriber will be described.

The advertising service server 100 system of FIG. 7 includes a database 390 in which much information is registered, and an advertisement register 310 for registering advertisement association information produced by the advertiser in the database 390. The advertisement referring unit 310 has the same configuration and function as the advertisement register 110 shown in FIG. 2, and thus it will not be described again.

The advertising service server 100 system according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention further includes a subscriber information receiver 320 which receives the subscriber side selection criterion value from the subscriber terminal 200, an advertisement selector 330 which checks whether or not the received subscriber side selection criterion value is identical to the registered selection criterion value to select an advertisement, and a metadata transmitter 340 which transmits the selected advertisement associated information of the advertiser to the subscriber terminal 200 in metadata form. The subscriber side selection criterion value may include a name of a broadcast program which is being reproduced in the subscriber terminal 200, a broadcast program category, subscriber profile information, and address information.

The advertising service server 100 system according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention may further include an advertisement data transmitter 390 which transmits the primary advertisement information and/or the secondary advertisement information registered in the database 390 in response to a primary advertisement transmission request received from the certain subscriber terminal 200, a subscriber profile register 360 which receives profile information including at least a subscriber's place of residence and registers the profile information in the database 390, a subscriber profile transmitter 370 which transmits the registered subscriber profile to the corresponding subscriber terminal 200, and a settlement processor 380 which processes an order and payment for the secondary advertisement product from the subscriber.

Operation of the advertising service server 100 system having the above-described configuration will be described in detail below.

First, the advertiser accesses the advertising service server 100 system through the subscriber terminal 200 and registers advertisement associated information of a desired advertisement. The advertisement associated information includes the selection criterion value which corresponds to the selection criterion input by the advertiser, primary advertisement access information and secondary advertisement access information as described in FIG. 5.

When the advertisement associated information is registered by the advertiser, the advertisement selector 330 checks whether or not the subscriber side selection criterion value which is received from the subscriber terminal 200 and registered matches the selection criterion value registered by the advertiser to select the matching advertisement associated information. The subscriber side selection criterion value is information received from each subscriber terminal 200 through the subscriber information receiver 320. The subscriber side selection criterion value may include a broadcast program which the subscriber prefers, category information or a name of a broadcast program which is currently being viewed by the subscriber. If the subscriber profile register 360 is not installed in the system, address information of the subscriber may be additionally included as the subscriber side selection criterion value.

When the advertisement associated information in which the subscriber side selection criterion value matches the selection criterion value registered by the advertiser is selected, the metadata transmitter 340 transmits the selected advertisement information to the corresponding subscriber terminal 200 in metadata form.

The advertisement information requester installed in the advertising agent of the subscriber terminal 200 which has received the selected advertisement associated information requests transmission of corresponding advertisement information using the primary advertisement access information included in the advertisement associated information. The advertisement data transmitter 350 of the advertising service server 100 system extracts and transmits the requested primary advertisement, and the advertisement display of the subscriber terminal 200 displays the received primary advertisement in the form of a bar or an island as shown in (a) and (b) of FIG. 6.

At this time, when the subscriber has an interest in the primary advertisement displayed together with the broadcast content and selects the corresponding primary advertisement, the advertisement information requester requests the advertising service server 100 to transmit the secondary advertisement using an advertisement ID of the selected primary advertisement and the secondary advertisement access information included in the advertisement associated information having the advertisement ID. The advertisement data transmitter 350 of the advertising service server 100 system extracts the requested secondary advertisement information from the database 390 and transmits the extracted secondary advertisement information to the subscriber terminal 200. The advertisement display of the subscriber terminal 200 transmits the received secondary advertisement to the IPTV player to display the secondary advertisement, so that the subscriber may view the secondary advertisement as a direct advertisement of a product. The subscriber may order an advertised product through a screen on which the secondary advertisement is displayed. Settlement processing may be performed in the same way as described in FIG. 5.

In the advertising service server 100 system according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention, since the advertiser can produce and register an advertisement and select subscribers without help of an advertising agency, the same effect as the first exemplary embodiment is obtained except that an advertisement is selected at the server side.

To aid in understanding the present invention, exemplary embodiments have been described above as using a certain selection criterion such as an area name and a selection criterion value corresponding thereto, but this is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to the described exemplary embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover all modifications that come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

An IP-based advertising service server system which provides an advertising service to a subscriber terminal for receiving digital television broadcasting, the system comprising:

an advertisement register which suggests a selection criteria list for selecting an output advertisement, receives a selection criterion value input or selected according to a selection criterion selected by an advertiser, access information of a primary advertisement for intuitively expressing minimal information about a product and access information of a secondary advertisement for expressing detailed information about the product from an advertiser terminal having access to a server, and registers the selection criterion value, the access information of the primary advertisement and the access information of the secondary advertisement in a database as advertisement associated information having an advertisement identification (ID); and

a metadata transmitter which transmits the advertisement associated information registered in the database to the subscriber terminal in metadata form.
The IP-based advertising service server system of claim 1, further comprising an advertisement data transmitter which transmits primary advertisement information registered in the database in response to a primary advertisement transmission request received from the subscriber terminal.
The IP-based advertising service server system of claim 2, wherein the advertisement data transmitter transmits secondary advertisement information registered in the database in response to a secondary advertisement transmission request.
The IP-based advertising service server system of claim 3, further comprising a settlement processor which processes an order and payment for a secondary advertisement product.
The IP-based advertising service server system of claim 2, further comprising:

a subscriber profile register which receives subscriber profile information including at least subscriber residence area information and registers the subscriber profile information in the database; and

a subscriber profile transmitter which transmits the registered subscriber profile information to the subscriber terminal.
The IP-based advertising service server system of claim 5, wherein the subscriber profile information is transmitted in response to a transmission request of an advertising agent installed in the subscriber terminal.
The IP-based advertising service server system of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the advertisement register suggests a selection criteria list from which at least one of area information, GPS coordinates, a broadcast program name, absolute time, an order of priority, a subscriber profile, and a category is selected in order to select an advertisement output target.
The IP-based advertising service server system of claim 7, wherein in order to input a selection criterion value according to a selection criterion selected by the advertiser, the advertisement register further comprises:

an area information provider which provides area information for selecting an area code to the subscriber terminal;

a map information display which provides map information matching the GPS coordinates to the subscriber terminal; and

an EPG information provider which provides EPG information or EPG server access information for selecting a broadcast program name to the subscriber terminal.
The IP-based advertising service server system of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the advertisement register comprises a template provider which provides template information for producing a primary advertisement or a secondary advertisement to the advertiser terminal.
An IP-based advertising service server system which provides an advertising service to a subscriber terminal for receiving digital television broadcasting, the system comprising:

an advertisement register which suggests a selection criteria list for selecting an output advertisement, receives a selection criterion value input or selected according to a selection criterion selected by an advertiser, one of primary advertisement information for intuitively expressing minimal information about a product and primary advertisement access information and one of secondary advertisement information for expressing detailed information about the product and secondary advertisement access information from an advertiser terminal having access to a server, and registers the selection criterion value, the one of the primary advertisement information and the primary advertisement access information and the one of the secondary advertisement information and the secondary advertisement access information in a database as advertisement associated information having an advertisement identification (ID); and

a subscriber information receiver which receives a subscriber side selection criterion value from the subscriber terminal;

an advertisement selector which checks whether or not the received subscriber side selection criterion value is identical to a selection criterion value registered by the advertiser to select an advertisement; and

a metadata transmitter which transmits the selected advertisement associated information of the advertiser to the subscriber terminal in metadata form.
The IP-based advertising service server system of claim 10, further comprising an advertisement data transmitter which transmits the primary advertisement information registered in the database in response to a primary advertisement transmission request received from the subscriber terminal.
The IP-based advertising service server system of claim 11, wherein the advertisement data transmitter transmits secondary advertisement information registered in the database in response to a secondary advertisement transmission request.
The IP-based advertising service server system of claim 12, further comprising a settlement processor which processes an order and payment for a secondary advertisement product.
The IP-based advertising service server system of claim 11, further comprising:

a subscriber profile register which receives subscriber profile information including at least subscriber residence area information and registers the subscriber profile information in the database; and

a subscriber profile transmitter which transmits the registered subscriber profile information to the subscriber terminal.
The IP-based advertising service server system of claim 14, wherein the subscriber profile information is transmitted in response to a transmission request of an advertising agent installed in the subscriber terminal.
The IP-based advertising service server system of any one of claims 10 to 15, wherein the advertisement register suggests a selection criteria list from which at least one of area information, GPS coordinates, a broadcast program name, absolute time, an order of priority, a subscriber profile, and a category is selected in order to select an advertisement output target.
The IP-based advertising service server system of claim 16, wherein in order to input a selection criterion value according to a selection criterion selected by the advertiser, the advertisement register further comprises:

an area information provider which provides area information for selecting an area code to the subscriber terminal;

a map information display which provides map information matching the GPS coordinates to the subscriber terminal; and

an EPG information provider which provides EPG information or EPG server access information for selecting a broadcast program name to the subscriber terminal.
A digital television broadcast receiving system, comprising:

an advertising agent which has access to an advertising service server system via an IP network and comprises:

an information receiver which receives advertisement associated information including an advertisement selection criterion value registered by an advertiser from the server system;

an advertisement selector which checks whether or not a subscriber side selection criterion value is identical to the advertisement selection criterion value registered by the advertiser to select advertisement associated information to be output;

an advertisement information requester which requests transmission of an advertisement included in the selected advertisement associated information; and

an advertisement display which displays advertisement information received in response to the request.
The digital television broadcast receiving system of claim 18, further comprising a subscriber information requester which requests the server system to transmit a subscriber profile each time subscriber authentication is performed.
The digital television broadcast receiving system of claim 18 or 19, wherein the advertisement information requester requests transmission of a primary advertisement for intuitively expressing minimal information about a product and a secondary advertisement for expressing detailed information about the product using advertisement access information included in the advertisement associated information, and transmission of the secondary advertisement is requested according to selection of a subscriber.
The digital television broadcast receiving system of claim 18 or 19, wherein the advertising agent is an aggregate of program data which can be downloaded from the server system and executed.