Universally interactive request for information

Abstract

A request for information (RFI) system is provided for use in communications networks including broadcast networks and the Internet. In one implementation, a code identifying an item of media content of interest (e.g. television, newspaper, magazines, billboards, radio) is captured and input to an RFI system that includes stored media tags and a search tool for matching inputs to the stored media tags. Upon receipt of the captured code, the RFI system matches the captured code with the stored media tags and provides a response to the user based on the match. The response may include or relate to follow-on or premium information relating to the content of interest. Using this information, an RFI data center or an RFI platform may credit value to a rewards account established for the network user based on the user's verified consumption of assets and / or data requests. Further, the RFI data center or RFI platform may be used to collect consumer behavior information, including purchasing decisions made by the user after consumption of assets, and correlate the consumer behavior information with the user's verified asset consumption.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to U.S. Provisional Application 61 / 409,002, entitled “UNIVERSALLY INTERACTIVE REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION,” filed on Nov. 1, 2010 and to U.S. Provisional Patent Application 61 / 367,588, entitled “REQUEST FOR INFORMATION RELATED TO MEDIA CONTENT,” filed on Jul. 26, 2010, both of which are related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 467,890, entitled “REQUEST FOR INFORMATION RELATED TO BROADCAST NETWORK CONTENT,” filed on May 18, 2009, which is a continuation-in-part to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12 / 024,714, entitled “VERIFYING AND ENCOURAGING ASSET CONSUMPTION IN A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK,” filed on Feb. 1, 2008, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 887,750, entitled “COMPENSATING FOR AD-SKIPPING IN A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK,” filed on Feb. 1, 2007, the entire contents of all of which are incorporated by reference herein as if set forth in ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0019]As discussed above, an important aspect of the present invention relates to allowing users to easily request and receive follow-on assets relating to any content of interest. Such follow-on assets may include information such as product and / or service information or marketing materials, coupons, or other materials regarding the content. Certain proposals in this regard have been limited to specific interactive environments, specific media, or have required substantial production modification to accommodate this functionality. For example, interactive assets broadcast on a television network may require complex code at a set top box to implement interactivity. Moreover, such interactive assets may require assets to be developed through a production process that defines the interactive behavior of the asset. Interactive assets distributed through a broadcast network may also require that metadata be transmitted along with the interactive asset for processing by the set top box software. These interactive television asset systems may not extend to digital video recorder (DVR) time shifting environments and do not extend to certain broadcast environments such as airwave broadcasting, analog cable broadcasting, or digital cable broadcasting without interactive logic. Moreover, proposed solutions are generally limited to particular media and do not provide a common platform to support a variety of media including television, radio, print, billboard, and the like. Nor do they provide a common platform to support non-media content of interest.

[0033]To provide additional incentive to users to opt-in to the RFI program, members may be given access to advanced functionalities for organizing, filtering, and even forwarding tags for associated assets. Members may also take advantage of auto-tagging capabilities that allow the user to pre-define follow-on assets that the user would prefer to receive automatically without the need to submit an individual RFI request for each asset.

[0039]The utility described above provides several benefits to broadcast network users, MVPDs, programming networks, asset providers, and RFI providers. First, the utility allows asset providers to more effectively target assets to users because asset providers may craft follow-on assets and information that are tailored to particular user profiles. Second, users are able to consume content of interest (e.g., television or radio program, magazine articles) without interruption and consume follow-on assets in an interactive environment at a separate time, allowing asset providers to achieve the benefits of high impact, large reach advertising as well as the opportunity to engage interested users in an interactive mode with the potential of instantaneous transaction consummation. Third, the utility provides a mechanism for obtaining reliable statistical feedback regarding what users are consuming their content, and further, what users that are requesting additional information relating to their content and ultimately purchasing related products and / or services. Fourth, virtually any person, place, or thing may be RFI enabled in a manner that is not tied to any one particular technology or device, making follow-on assets convenient and attractive to a large array of asset providers as well as users.

[0040]A targeted asset delivery environment serves to further enhance the RFI utility discussed above in relation to broadcast television content. A targeted asset delivery system allows for delivery of targeted assets to desired groups of individuals or individuals having desired characteristics or audience classification parameters including personal information, demographic information, geographic information, psychographic information, or any other information that may be relevant to an asset provider in identifying a target audience. First, targeted asset delivery systems generally employ software resident at the user equipment device / digital set top box or another network location such as the head end that is aware of the targeted assets selected for or delivered to the set top. Thus, any express RFI input from a user may directly specify the asset to which the RFI input relates, and therefore, the MVPD or other RFI provider need not manipulate the click-stream data to associate a particular click with an RFI input. Second, while a user's indication of interest may be express (e.g., an RFI input), as discussed above, a targeted asset delivery system accommodates targeting of assets in a broadcast network with a high degree of granularity based on different audience classifications. As a result, the mere fact that an asset is selected for a particular user may be considered an implied indication of interest in the products, services, or asset provider associated with the selected asset. Thus, follow-on information may be directed to the user based only on the delivery, or delivery and consumption, of a targeted asset. Third, because many households include multiple users, targeting based on household demographics alone may have limited effectiveness. In this regard, targeted asset delivery systems include mechanisms to distinguish between multiple users of a single set top box such that any RFI request may stipulate which of multiple users associated with the set top box has indicated interested in particular content, and in turn, any follow-on asset may be crafted for that particular user.

Problems solved by technology

Of course, though, there are limitations to the effectiveness of television advertising.

For example, air time for such advertising is expensive, particularly in connection with programming having the largest audiences of the most desirable demographics.

In part because of the high value of such advertising spots, advertisers are limited, as a practical matter, to brief time intervals to make the desired impression and convey sufficient information to advance potential sales opportunities.

Moreover, because of the passive nature of the broadcast experience, viewers are generally not in a position to immediately consummate a transaction or even, in most cases, to record information for later use.

However, print advertising often lacks the reach of some other advertising modes such as broadcast advertising.

In addition, because use of print materials is self-directed and the consumer is therefore not “captive,” print materials can be easily ignored by consumers.

However, those consumers may be distracted by other activities or fail to notice the advertisement altogether.

Ambient advertising, like broadcast advertising, also suffers from the disadvantage that consumers are generally not able to immediately consummate a transaction or even record information for later use.

However, such data network advertising is not effective in reaching some consumers.

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