Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
CA 02408792 2005-06-10
DYNAMICALLY CONTROLLING VIDEO AND DATA TRANSMISSIONS
Background
This invention relates generally to the distribution of video
and data to a plurality of receivers.
A variety of video distribution systems currently exist
including cable distribution networks, airwave broadcast networks,
and satellite distribution systems as examples. Like any service
provider, the broadcast system attempts to provide the viewers or
users of the system with the most desired content.
However, the determination of what is the most desired
content is a complex function of the viewer demographics. While
conventionally a broadcaster may predict that certain demographics
may watch certain types of broadcasts on certain days of the week,
certain times and under certain circumstances, the real
demographic profile is really much more dynamic. Accurate
prediction is not always possible.
Thus, there is a need for a way to more accurately predict
and deliver the content that current, active viewers are
interested in seeing on a video distribution system.
Summary of the Invention
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to at least
partially overcome some of the disadvantages of the prior art.
Accordingly, in one of its aspect, the present invention
resides in a method comprising: broadcasting a plurality of video
files to a plurality of viewers, said video files including
metadata tags to identify those files; receiving real time
feedback from those viewers indicative of the demographics of the
audience currently receiving said broadcast; and automatically
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modifying the content being broadcast based on the dynamic
broadcast demographics.
In a further aspect, the present invention resides in
an article comprising a medium storing instructions that
cause a processor-based system to: broadcast a plurality of
video files to a plurality of viewers, said plurality of
video files including hypertext markup language tags to
identify those files; receive real time feedback from said
viewers indicative of the demographics of the audience
currently receiving said broadcast; and automatically modify
the content being broadcast based on the dynamic broadcast
demographics.
In a still further aspect, the present invention
resides in a system comprising: a processor-based device;
and a medium storing therein software, said medium
associated with said processor-based device, said software
causing said processor-based device to broadcast a plurality
of programming files to a plurality of viewers, apply
hypertext markup language tags to identify said programming
files, receive real time feedback from said viewers
indicative of the demographics of the audience currently
receiving said broadcast, and automatically modify the
content being broadcast based on the dynamic broadcast
demographics.
In a further aspect, the present invention resides in a
method comprising: broadcasting a plurality of video files
to a plurality of receivers, said video files including
metadata tags to identify those files; receiving, from said
receivers, the metadata tags associated with the video files
actually selected for viewing on said receivers;
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mapping demographics of the viewers currently receiving
the broadcast based on the metadata obtained from said
received tags; and automatically modifying the content being
broadcast based on the mapping of the demographics of the
viewers currently receiving the broadcast based on the
metadata obtained from the received tags.
In a still further aspect, the present invention resides
in an article comprising a computer readable memory having
stored thereon a plurality of instructions that cause a
processor-based system to: broadcast a plurality of video
files to a plurality of viewers, said plurality of video
files including metadata tags to identify those files;
receive real time feedback from said viewers indicative of
demographics of the audience currently receiving said
broadcast, said feedback to include the metadata tags
associated with the files actually selected for viewing; and
automatically modify the content being broadcast based on the
mapping of the demographics of the viewers currently
receiving the broadcast based on the metadata obtained from
the received tags.
In a still further aspect, the present invention resides
in a system comprising: a processor-based device; and a
computer readable medium storing computer readable code
associated with said processor-based device that causes said
processor-based device to broadcast a plurality of
programming files to a plurality of viewers, apply metadata
tags to identify said programming files, receive real time
feedback from said viewers in the form of the metadata tags
associated with the programming that the audience is
currently viewing, and automatically modify the content being
broadcast based on the metadata tags received from said
viewers.
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In a further aspect, the present invention resides in a
method comprising: distributing programming to a plurality
of receivers; receiving real time feedback from the
receivers in the form of metadata tags obtained from the
programming that was actually selected for viewing on said
receivers; and selectively choosing in real time the content
of the programming being distributed based on a map of
demographics of the audience that is currently receiving the
programming, said map derived from the metadata obtained
from said tags.
Further aspect of the invention will become apparent
upon reading the following detailed description and
drawings, which illustrate the invention and preferred
embodiments of the invention.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Figure 1 is a block depiction of one embodiment of a
system in accordance with the present invention;
Figure 2, is a flow chart for software resident on the
receiver shown in Figure 1 in accordance with one embodiment
of the present invention.
Figure 3 is a flow chart for software resident on the
content selector shown in Figure 1 in accordance with one
embodiment of the present invention; and
Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing how the video
and data programming may be altered depending on the current
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viewer demographics at any given time, in accordance with
one embodiment of the present invention.
Detailed Description
Referring to Figure 1, a video distribution system 10
provides video content to a plurality of receivers such as
the receiver 26. The video distribution system 10 may use a
transport 24 such as an airwave transport, a cable transport
or a satellite transport, as examples.
The video content may initially reside on a content
database 20. The content contained on the database 20 may
be forwarded to the content selector 14. The content
selector 14 may be a processor-based system such as a
server. In the course of being forwarded, the content may
be tagged with metadata 22. The content files may be tagged
with metadata in order to facilitate the identification of
those files when receiving viewer feedback related to those
files. Thus, the tags provide a way to identify which
content viewers are interested in and for facilitating the
feedback of information from viewers to the content selector
14.
The tagged content files 18 may then be delivered to
the content selector 14. The content selector 14 may select
content for distribution over the system in accordance with
a preordained schedule 16. The information may be
distributed over the transport 24 for receipt by the
receivers 26.
The receivers 26, under control of software 28 resident
on those receivers, may provide feedback to a viewer
database 12. In particular, the feedback may be in the form
of responses to queries posed by the content selector 14
about what viewers would like to see. The feedback may also
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include information about the channels that have been tuned
by the receiver 26 over various time intervals.
The feedback may also be information about the
associated content that the receiver 26 has displayed in
response to viewer selections. For example, the content
provided by the content selector 14 may include not only
programming but also so-called ancillary data. The
ancillary data may include viewer selectable additional
information which may be related or unrelated to the
programming content. For example, the ancillary data may
provide links to Internet web pages that contain additional
information about the content or programming. Similarly,
the ancillary data may include advertising information. The
ancillary data may also include other information which the
content provider thinks viewers may wish to receive.
The viewers may select this ancillary information using
their receivers 26. For example, the receivers 26 may be
set-top boxes which allow the user to use a remote control
unit to mouse click on icons displayed on the display
screen. These icons may be indicative of the type of
ancillary data which is available for viewing. When the
user mouse clicks on an icon, the screen display may be
changed to access the ancillary data, either directly if
resident on the receiver 26 or indirectly through a back
channel 44 such as a link to the Internet. For example, the
viewer may be automatically directed to a particular web
site which contains the information which the content
selector 14 thinks the viewer will want to view.
The receiver 26 may collect and provide feedback to the
viewer database 12 about the content which is actually
selected for viewing by the user. This may provide valuable
information about the demographics of the currently active
viewers. The feedback may be used to dynamically tune the
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viewer database 12. The dynamically tuned database 12 may
be utilized to adapt the distributed content to the
aggregated dynamic nature of the current audience.
For example, audiences in any given city may be made up
of homebased workers during a week day. However, in those
cities experiencing heavy snow, school age children may be
viewing in unusually large numbers during the daytime. In
such case, the system 10 may detect the change in the
viewing habits of the currently active viewers. The content
selector 14 may then automatically modify the planned
schedule 16 to provide content which may be more attractive
to the currently actively viewing demographics.
The software 28 resident on the receiver may receive
content as indicated in block 30 in Figure 2 in accordance
with one embodiment of the present invention. That content
may be displayed on the viewer's receiver 26 as indicated in
block 32. The receiver 26 may then be called upon to
measure and store (block 34) the viewer's responses to a
variety of stimuli including ancillary data and associated
icons as one example. In addition, the system may measure
other activities currently ongoing on the receiver 26 to
gain an understanding of the currently active viewer. The
information about the user selections and other activities
may be compiled by the receiver 26 and transmitted as
indicated in block 35.
The software 28 may be part of the software which comes
with a receiver 26 such as a set-top box. It may also be in
the form of script which may be downloaded from the content
selector 14 to the receiver 26 upon approval of the viewer.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present
invention shown in Figure 3, content selector software 36
resident on the content selector 14, may receive the viewer
data from the viewer database 12 as indicated in block 38.
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The selector 14 may use this information to automatically
and dynamically modify pre-established demographic profile
assumptions.
The received viewer data may be in the form of metadata
derived from the tags which accompanied the broadcast
content. The metadata tags may be returned by the receiver
26 over the back channel 44 to the viewer database 12. The
metadata indicates the content which viewers actually viewed
either as programming or as ancillary data. This feedback
may be used to derive a dynamically changed demographic
mapping as indicated in block 40.
Based on the modified demographic mapping, different
content files may be selected for broadcast as indicated in
block 42. In other words, the ongoing programming or
ancillary data broadcasts may be modified to satisfy the
currently active viewing audience. The modified content may
then be transmitted by the content selector 14 over the
transport 24 to receivers 26 as indicated in block 44.
In a system 10 which broadcasts to a large geographic
audience, the content may be modified for that entire
audience. However, in another embodiment, the broadcast
content may be modified for some but not all geographic
areas.
Figure 4 illustrates schematically how the content may
be modified in one embodiment of the present invention to
accommodate for dynamically changing global or local
demographics. At the top of Figure 4, three story files
50a, 50b and 50c provide data for story A, story B and story
C. Each story may be a story which may be broadcast as part
of a news broadcast as one example. Each story file 50 may
have an add-on story file indicated as 52, 54 or 56. The
add-on stories may cater to specific demographics. Thus,
the base story file 50 may provide the basic information one
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needs to understand a news event. The enhancements
represented by the add-on story files 52, 54 and 56 may be
selectively added to the base story file 50 depending on the
demographics currently constituting the active viewers.
As shown at the bottom of Figure 4, the content
selector 14 may provide the broadcast schedule 58 depending
on the nature of the demographics. For example, three
different demographic profiles are indicated at 62 and four
different times 60 are indicated across the schedule 58. In
time one regardless of the demographic type, the story A is
broadcast. At time two for demographics type one, the add-
on story files 52a and 54a may be broadcast. For
demographics two or three, the story B may begin in time
two. Similarly, at time three, with demographics one, the
add-on story file 56a may be broadcast following by the
story C. In this case, the story B may have been omitted as
not being of interest to the currently active audience.
With demographics two, the add-on story file 56a is
skipped as is the story B and the broadcast content moves
immediately to story C. Similarly, if the demographics
number three is active, the story B may be supplemented with
the add-on file 52b and then followed by the story C. In
this case, the story C may be supplemented by the add-on
file 52c.
Thus, in one embodiment, the main story may be allotted
a given quantity of time and the add-on stories may be
allotted less time so that if add-on stories are selected, a
given number of add-on stories may be selected to complete
the available time interval taken by a story file 50. In
other cases, it may be immaterial that the time used by the
selected stories does not add up to the time originally
scheduled since the schedule may not be particularly time
sensitive.
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As an example, the midday news on a weekday may be
normally tailored to home workers. However, the programming
may be altered when feedback suggests the typical audience
has changed. For example, snow in one geographical area may
result in school closures increasing the number of school
age viewers. A news segment related to local entertainment
may be modified to include a segment related to
entertainment news of interest to children.
Thus, in accordance with embodiments of the present
invention, the real time broadcast of information over a
video distribution system may be modified dynamically. In
particular, the broadcast content may be modified
dynamically based on the currently active viewer
demographics. In some embodiments of the present invention,
an initial demographic assumption is utilized to control the
broadcast content. This assumption is then modified based
on feedback received from actual viewers. This feedback may
include what channels have been tuned to by the viewers,
what ancillary data has been selected by the viewers, the
amount of time that viewers are viewing various content as
well as other information which may be provided via a back
channel 44. Alternatively, in a two way transport system
24, the information may be provided back over the same
transport which was utilized to provide the content to the
receivers 26.
While the present invention has been described with
respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in
the art will appreciate numerous modifications and
variations therefrom. It is intended that the appended
claims cover all such modifications and variations as fall
within the true spirit and scope of this present invention.
What is claimed is:
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