Ad Frame I-Frame Encoding for Trick Play Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Television viewers often record programs to skip commercials, which can lead to advertisers' content being fast-forwarded through, negatively impacting ad visibility and user experience, as existing technologies lack effective methods to ensure advertisers' content is displayed during trick play modes.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that analyze video advertisements for advertiser-specific graphical identifiers, encode selected frames as I-frames, and transmit them independently, ensuring they are decoded and displayed during trick play modes, even when other frames are skipped, using MPEG encoding to increase the likelihood of advertisers' content being presented.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If viewers fast forward through commercials during trick play mode, then viewing convenience is improved, but advertiser content visibility deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The video stream is segmented into different frame types (I-frames and non-I-frames). Advertiser content is specifically placed in I-frames which are independently decodable and displayed during trick play mode, while other frames can be skipped. This segmentation allows the system to preserve important advertiser information while enabling fast-forward functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary analysis of video frames to identify advertiser content before encoding. Advertiser-specific graphical identifiers are detected in advance, and frames containing such identifiers are designated as I-frames during the encoding process, ensuring they will be displayed during trick play mode without requiring real-time decision-making.
2Loss of information
If all frames are decoded and displayed during trick play mode, then advertiser content visibility is improved, but system complexity and processing load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the essential advertiser content frames (I-frames) during trick play mode decoding, rather than decoding and displaying all frames. The television receiver is configured to output only I-frames during trick play mode, significantly reducing processing load while maintaining advertiser visibility.
Solution Approach 2:
Different quality requirements are applied to different frame types. I-frames containing advertiser content are decoded and displayed with full quality, while non-I-frames are skipped during trick play mode. This local differentiation optimizes both advertiser visibility and system efficiency.
3Reliability
If I-frames are used for advertiser content, then frame independence and display reliability are improved, but bandwidth consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of encoding every frame as an independent I-frame (which would guarantee reliability but consume excessive bandwidth), the system uses partial action by selectively designating only frames containing advertiser content as I-frames. This approach achieves the necessary reliability for advertiser visibility while minimizing bandwidth consumption.
Data Source
AI summary
Various arrangements for handling broadcast of advertiser content are presented. A plurality of frames of an advertisement may be analyzed for an advertiser-specific graphical identifier. A frame of the plurality of frames may be selected based on the advertiser-specific graphical identifier being present. The broadcast content may be encoded into a format for transmission to a plurality of television receivers. Encoding may include defining the frame selected from the plurality of frames such that the frame can be decoded independently of other frames of the plurality of frames. A subset of the plurality of frames may require decoding of the selected frame to be performed prior to decoding of any individual frame of the subset of frames.