Subscriber Group Targeting in Electronic Program Guides
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional television advertising methods lack the ability to differentiate advertisements within the same programming market, as they are typically broadcast to all viewers uniformly, failing to account for the varied demographics and preferences within a market.
Innovation Solution
A system where consumer devices maintain advertisement event data and present ads only to subscriber groups they belong to, using an electronic program guide to combine program and advertisement data and deliver targeted ads based on subscriber group membership.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If traditional uniform advertising is broadcast to all televisions within a programming market, then advertising coverage is maximized, but advertising precision and effectiveness are reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the uniform advertising audience into multiple subscriber groups based on demographics, preferences, and viewing habits. Each subscriber group receives customized advertisement content tailored to their specific characteristics, transforming a single broad audience into multiple targeted segments that can be addressed with precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by delivering different advertisement content to different subscriber groups within the same programming market. Instead of uniform advertising, each group receives advertisements with quality and relevance specific to their local characteristics, such as age group, gender, interests, and viewing behavior.
2Loss of energy
If advertisement data is presented to all consumer devices, then advertising reach is maximized, but advertising waste increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by pre-segmenting the audience into subscriber groups before advertisement distribution. Consumer devices are pre-configured with subscriber group identifiers, allowing the system to filter and deliver advertisements only to relevant groups in advance, eliminating the need to broadcast to all devices and reducing advertising waste.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts only the necessary advertisement data for each specific subscriber group from the total advertisement pool. Instead of distributing all advertisements to all devices, the system extracts and delivers only the subset of advertisements relevant to each consumer device's subscriber group membership, reducing unnecessary transmission and waste.
3Measurement precision
If subscriber group filtering is implemented at the consumer device level, then advertising targeting precision is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service by enabling consumer devices to autonomously determine their own subscriber group membership and filter advertisements locally without requiring complex centralized control. Each device maintains its own subscriber group identifiers and performs local comparison with incoming advertisement data, simplifying the overall system architecture while maintaining high targeting precision.
Data Source
AI summary
In accordance with one or more aspects, a consumer device obtains advertisement event data indicating a time when an advertisement is to be presented, and maintains the advertisement event data in a log. Advertisement data corresponding to the advertisement event data is presented at the indicated time if the advertisement event data corresponds to a subscriber group of which the consumer device is a member, otherwise the advertisement data is not presented. In accordance with one or more other aspects, program event data and advertisement event data are both obtained. Electronic program guide data is generated including both the program data and the advertisement event data, and is sent to one or more consumer devices.