Set-Top Box IP Ad Provisioning via Lookup Table
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional television advertising lacks precision in delivering advertisements to the appropriate audience, resulting in a delay of up to three days for targeted advertisements to be provisioned at set-top boxes, which hampers timely brand presentation to consumers.
Innovation Solution
The system employs an IP-based asset package distribution method that monitors an announcement stream on a satellite connection to update a lookup table at the set-top box, allowing for faster provisioning of targeted advertisements by correlating advertisement data with metadata and requesting relevant media files from a remote server.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If traditional television advertising is used, then advertisers can reach consumers, but the provisioning time for targeted advertisements is delayed by up to three days
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-processing and categorizing advertisement packages into different groups (e.g., by category, brand, or target audience) before they reach the set-top box. The STB maintains a lookup table with pre-organized ad package information, enabling rapid matching and provisioning without waiting through lengthy parsing processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the large volume of actively broadcast advertisements into manageable portions by creating categorized groups and using a lookup table structure. This segmentation allows the STB to efficiently query and retrieve only relevant advertisement packages rather than parsing through all 7000-8000 active ads, reducing provisioning time from three days to less than one day.
2Measurement precision
If a set-top box parses through a large number of actively broadcast advertisements, then relevant advertisements can be identified, but the process takes about three days and delays provisioning
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary classification and organization of advertisement packages into structured groups with metadata before they are broadcast. The lookup table stores pre-organized information about ad packages, their categories, and relevance criteria, enabling the STB to quickly identify relevant ads without time-consuming parsing operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The lookup table acts as an intermediary between the broadcast advertisement stream and the STB's ad selection process. Instead of directly parsing through all active advertisements, the STB queries the lookup table which pre-processes and organizes ad information, significantly reducing the time required to identify relevant advertisements.
3Productivity
If advertisers use traditional advertising methods, then they can present brands to consumers, but the rollout is delayed and brands cannot be presented by certain dates
Solution Approach 1:
Advertisers can submit their advertisement packages in advance, and the system pre-processes and organizes them in the lookup table before the required rollout date. This preliminary action enables advertisers to meet tight deadlines and present their brands to consumers by specific dates rather than facing three-day delays.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically updates the lookup table with new advertisement packages as they become available, allowing the STB to quickly retrieve and provision relevant ads. This dynamic mechanism enables fast rollout of new advertisements without waiting for lengthy parsing processes, helping advertisers meet their presentation deadlines.
Data Source
AI summary
Embodiments are related to faster provisioning of targeted advertisements at a set-top box (STB) via an Internet Protocol (IP) connection between the STB and a remote server. The disclosed IP-based advertisement distribution system enables targeted advertisements to be pulled from the remote server efficiently, causing the advertisements to be made available within a short time frame (e.g., less than one day from the time when the advertisements are available). The disclosed methods enables a STB to determine whether to retain existing targeted advertisements, discard them, or provision newly-available advertisements. The targeted advertisements can depend on various factors such as demographic information of an owner of the STB, lifestyle information of the owner of the STB, etc.