Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EFFICIENT MANIFEST MANIPULATION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates generally to service provider video
networks, and
more particularly to a method and system for efficiently manipulating a
session manifest
when a length of an ad break pointed to by the manifest changes in length.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Traditionally, programming of broadcast and cable television and radio,
including
content (i.e., the video or audio program) and (the placement of) ads in a
video or audio
signal stream, has followed a linear model. Programming may be linear in the
sense that a
program begins and is streamed and in progress when a user chooses to view
entertainment content. Figure 1 illustrates a conventional linear or video-on-
demand
(VOD) model for advertisement placement. Entertainment content 2, when
processed as a
digital data stream over a cable network, may be divided into a number of time
intervals.
The time intervals 4 include time reserved for a viewed program (content),
such as
"Golden Girls." The intervals 6, 8, 9, represent sections of time reserved
for
advertisements or "avails." These "avails" may be viewed as advertisement
placement
opportunities. As used herein, a "placement opportunity" was traditional
called an avail
and is sometimes referred to as a slot (into which a spot (e.g., an ad or
content) is to be
inserted). A placement opportunity (PO) is a construct that represents an
opportunity to
insert an advertisement or entertainment content, and defines the rules for
that opportunity,
such as its duration, interactivity, ownership, and technical constraints.
[0003] As used herein, the term "binding" refers to an identification of
signals and content
within a placement opportunity (PO). PO's are frequently created for broad
amounts of
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content that are not yet published (i.e., any show on TNT network in the
evening). When
the show airs and a signal is detected, the signal is bound to the relevant
PO's for that
show.
[0004] As used herein, the term "impression" refers to a showing of an
advertisement to a
single viewer. For example, if a 30 second spot is placed in 50,000 video-on-
demand
(VOD) streams and it is known that 30,000 of the streams actually played the
ad, then
30,000 impressions of that advertisement have been generated.
[0005] As used herein, a "status notification" may be, but is not limited to,
an HTTP call
from a VOD server with a unique ID that was created when a decision was
delivered.
[0006] As used herein, the term "break" refers to all of the space in a stream
between
entertainment content. For example, a group of 4 consecutive 30 second spots
between 2
segments of "Two and a Half Men'' may be considered as a single break.
[0007] As used herein, an estimated starting location of a break in a signal
stream is
referred to as a signal point. In the context of advertisement placement,
these signal points
may be referred to as advertisement signal points.
[0008] In non-linear systems, such as Video-on-Demand (VOD), the intervals 6,
8, 9 may
take on new meanings. The interval 6 is called a pre-roll, i.e., the space in
a video that
occurs immediately after a user clicks to start a VOD video. The interval 9 is
known as a
post-roll, i.e., the space after all of the VOD video segments have finished
playing. The
intervals 8 may be mid-rolls, i.e., mini-breaks in the middle of a VOD video,
or may be
interstitials, i.e., pod-like locations between consecutive VOD video
segments. VOD
advertisement placement opportunities may appear based on space, time,
content, and user
context and may be highly non-linear (i.e., the user chooses to initiate the
playing of
content and in response, the content starts). All of the intervals 6, 8, 9 in
such play lists
are ripe for the insertion of advertisements, i.e., advertisement placement
opportunities.
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[0009] Figure 2 depicts a configuration of a conventional Internet-based cable
television
infrastructure 200 for performing advertising placement decisions in signal
streams. On
TV, the advertising network was formerly the national network, the cable
network, or the
cable operator. However, unlike the Internet, where browsers access/display
content and
then are separately "referred" to a shared advertisement network, the Internet-
based cable
television infrastructure 200 selects and assembles both the advertisement and
the content
together and delivers the combined result to customers' "smart appliances"
202a-202n
(e.g., Internet ready televisions, radios, smartphones, tablets, PCs, etc.).
[0010] Recently, smart appliances 202a-202n, such as Internet-ready
televisions, have
become capable of receiving content from Internet streaming services, such as
Netflix
movies, Pandora streaming radio, etc., over WiFi or direct Ethernet
connections. When a
user clicks on an icon for an "app" that appears on the television set
corresponding to one
of these services, the content is streamed to the smart appliance 202a-202n
from a content
delivery network (CDN) 204 directly to the application running in the smart
appliance
202a-202n without the need for a set top box.
[0011] A set top box may be configured to decode an analog representation of
two states
of a digital signal, as is known in the art, that is continuously streamed and
pushed to the
set top box through a broadcast facility over a coaxial or fiber optic cable
and the set top
box tunes to that channel and displays the content. When a user watches
Internet-
delivered program content, a browser within the smart appliance 202a-202n
fetching video
in predetermined time chunks --- generally two sometimes three, sometimes ten
second
chunks. The fetched chunks of video are seamlessly stitched together
dynamically in the
application software of the smart appliance 202a-202n and then displayed so as
to appear
as a smooth video on the smart appliance 202a-202n.
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[0012] A Multiple System/Service Operator (MSO - a cable TV organization that
owns
more than one cable system and may provide broadband Internet service) may
wish to
rebroadcast video streams on smart appliances. Unfortunately, every connected
device,
including smart appliances, needs to obtain video in the format that it can
consume.
Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, etc., have very specific and incompatible formats. To
overcome
this problem, each of these companies has constructed facilities called
content deliver
networks (CDN) 204 where a "set top box" for each channel is configured to
receive
broadcasts from satellites. A signal received by a "set top box" from upstream
devices
206 is fed to a transcoder 208 to place the signal in a desired format and to
fragment the
formatted signal into the predetermined (e.g., 2 second) segments of data.
These segments
are then stored at the CDN 204 on server farms located physically close to
where the
content is to be delivered.
[0013] To identify a particular channel data stream or "session", including
times when a
program has ended and before the next program begins, i.e., a placement
opportunity, a
cue tone is inserted in the channel data stream a predetermined time before
the next
program begins. The cue tone may be an instance of an SCTE-35 packet. An
observer
210, which may be the transcoder 208, informs placement opportunity
information service
(POTS) 211 of the arrival of the cue tone for subsequent placement of one or
more
advertisements into the channel data stream by an advertisement service (ADS)
212. If the
ADS 212 is known to the POTS 211, then the POIS 211 notifies the ADS 212 of
the cue
tone notification. The advertisement service 212, in turn, is waiting for the
subsequent
arrival of requests from a CDN 204 to place advertisements into breaks (i.e.
one or more
of the segments) in the channel data stream (session).
[0014] MS0s, national and local networks prefer to know whether an ad has been
played
and watched by a subscriber. Equipment manufacturers have traditionally
provided this
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feature in one of two ways: by building intelligence into each smart appliance
(e.g., 202a),
or by building intelligence into a reporting network, e.g., a cloud computing
network,
while not altering exiting smart appliances 202a-202n. Both techniques may
employ what
is known as a manifest file. As used herein, a manifest file, a manifest, or a
session
manifest, refers to a listing or index of what is contained in each of the
segments of a
session maintained by the CDN 204. More particularly, the session manifest may
include
a list of URLs which point to each of the segments or chunks and notes the
type of
segment: content or advertisement.
[0015] When intelligence is built into a smart appliance (e.g., 202a), the
smart appliance
202a may (1) maintain a copy of the session manifest, (2) perform the function
of splicing
an ad into a placement opportunity (3) mark the session manifest for each
segment played,
and (4) report a proportion of a session (e.g., the number of segments) played
to the MS0
or network.
[0016] MSOs and networks, however, may prefer to employ any manufacturer's
smart
appliance (e.g., 202a). Both the MSOs and the networks have been moving toward
= providing their own viewing experience by providing only applications
"apps" to a
subscriber's equipment without altering the equipment.
[0017] When intelligence is built into the network, then reporting networks
need to
maintain a separate manifest for each viewer session. Conventionally, a
manifest
manipulator may be employed to provide manifests to smart appliances or MSOs.
One
deficiency of conventional manifest manipulators is that it may be necessary
for a manifest
manipulator to maintain a very large number of manifests which need to be
updated
periodically (e.g., 10-30 seconds) for each subscriber. For some MSOs, the
number of
smart appliances 202a-202n may be in the thousands to hundreds of thousands.
In certain
situations, some or all of the smart appliances 202a-202n may request
manifests
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substantially simultaneously. Fortunately, alleviating factors include the
number of people
watching a given channel simultaneously and zoning.
[0018] The likelihood of 100,000 smart appliances 202a-202n all starting a VOD
is very,
very low, so the load for VOD advertising is rather smooth because not all the
smart
appliances 202a-202n are typically synchronized. Unfortunately, an MSO may
need to
render ad decisions for each active session during session startup when a
viewer clicks a
remote to watch the VOD, even if there may an ad that may be placed an hour
and a half
into a data stream corresponding to an active session. If a show transmitted
on one
channel is very popular, (e.g., the Super Bowl), the problem of handling
thousands of
manifests resurfaces.
[0019] To alleviate this problem, an MSO may divide a geographical area into a
plurality
of smaller geographical zones of service (e.g., 50 zones). A manifest
manipulator may be
placed in each of these zones to reduce the number of manifests that a
manifest
manipulator needs to manage. Under normal circumstances, an even smaller
number of ad
decisions need to be made per channel (e.g., 50).
[0020] Unfortunately, even for a small number of manifests to be handled per
channel,
there may be need to maintain multiple manifests for the same session.
Manifests served
to different smart appliances 202a-202n within a zone may become
"unsynchronized." As
discussed above, a manifest, which represents a playlist, may comprise a list
of URLs
pointing to a predetermined number of segments of streaming data corresponding
to a
fixed time interval (e.g., fifteen (15), two (2) second "chunks" for a total
of a 30 second
manifest). Referring now to Figure 3, a first manifest 302 representing a
total of 30
second of advertising (adl) may comprise, for example 15 URLs 304a-304o (URL1.-
URL15). In a particular zone, an MSO may swap the single 30 second ad (adl)
for two
(2), 15 second ads as shown in a second manifest 306 (ad2, ad3). Because the
segments
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308a-308p (URL1-URL16) are aligned on two second boundaries, the number of
URLs
increases by one to sixteen (URLl 6). Over time, manifest alignment may drift
when ads
are continuously swapped to change the total length of time of an ad break in
either a
negative direction or a positive direction as represented by the manifest.
[0021] Therefore, there is a need to maintain the integrity of the numbering
of URLs in a
manifest, and it is necessary to determine where to swap URLs in and out of a
manifest
when the length of one or more ads changes. Conventional manifest manipulators
alleviate this problem by maintaining an offset from an initial manifest
provided by the
transcoder 208 for each active session and for each channel. A separate thread
of
execution comprising a distinct instance of a manifest is created and
maintained for each
value of offset, for all active sessions, and for all active channels.
Unfortunately, this may
require processing power on the order of hundreds to thousands of threads of
execution,
translating to a need to maintain and operate a large number of multi-threaded
computers.
Accordingly, what would be desirable, but has not yet been provided, is a
method and
system for efficiently manipulating a session manifest when a length of an ad
break
pointed to by the manifest changes in length.
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SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0022] The above-described problems are addressed and a technical solution is
achieved
in the art by providing a method and system for manipulating a manifest. A
manifest
manipulator of a server receives from a smart appliance a request for a
manifest
corresponding to a session identifier. The manifest manipulator retrieves from
a session
server a session manifest based on the session identifier. The manifest
manipulator adjusts
a session offset based on a difference in a session length represented by the
session
manifest from a session length represented by a previous session manifest
corresponding
to the session. When the session manifest comprises an address of an ad break,
the
manifest manipulator identifies in a cache at least one advertisement to be
inserted into the
session and replaces at least one address corresponding to at least one
segment of the at
least one advertisement in the session manifest based on the difference. The
manifest
manipulator transmits the session manifest to the smart appliance.
[0023] In one embodiment, when the session manifest comprises an address of an
ad
break, the manifest manipulator instructs a client associated with an ad
decision service to
splice the at least one advertisement into the address of the ad break in the
session based
on the at least one replaced address of the session manifest.
[0024] In an embodiment, instructing an ad service to splice the at least one
advertisement
into the address of the ad break in the session may further comprise the
server
transmitting, to the ad decision service, at least one ad call for the address
of the ad break
corresponding to the session identifier, receiving, from the ad decision
service, at least one
advertisement, and storing the at least one advertisement in at least one
cache. Instructing
an ad service to splice the at least one ad into the address of the ad break
in the session
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may further comprise before said splicing, instructing the ad decision service
to retrieve
the at least one advertisement from the cache.
[0025] In an embodiment, the session offset and the previous session manifest
are stored
in a memory. The memory may be a static random access memory. The session
manifest
and the previous session manifest differ when the difference is non-zero. When
the smart
appliance tunes to another channel or terminates its session, the manifest
manipulator may
reset the session offset to zero.
[0026] In an embodiment, the manifest manipulator of the server may receive an
original
manifest from a transcoder. The manifest manipulator may initially assign a
zero offset to
the original manifest. The manifest manipulator may derive and maintain a
plurality of
stored manifests having different offsets from the original manifest. The
manifest
manipulator may replace one of the stored manifests with the session manifest
to produce
the previous session manifest.
[0027] In an embodiment, the session manifest and the previous session
manifest may
each comprise a corresponding plurality of URLs pointing to segments of a
session
corresponding to the session identifier. At least one of the URLs of the
session manifest
and at least one of the URLs of the previous session manifest may point to
different
segments of the session.
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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0028] The present invention will be more readily understood from the detailed
description of exemplary embodiments presented below considered in conjunction
with
the attached drawings, of which:
[0029] Figure 1 illustrates a conventional linear or video-on-demand model for
advertisement placement;
[0030] Figure 2 depicts a configuration of a conventional Internet-based cable
television
infrastructure for performing advertising placement decisions in signal
streams;
[0031] Figure 3 shows a block diagram of a two manifests that differ in the
number of
stored URLs that result when ads are continuously swapped to change the total
length of
time of an ad break;
[0032] Figure 4 depicts a configuration of one embodiment of a system for
manipulating
manifests;
[0033] Figure 5 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method for
accelerating advertising placement decisions in data streams from a point of
view of a
Server;
[0034] Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating a plurality manifests stored
in static
memory, where each of the stored manifests has a different offset from another
manifest;
[0035] Figure 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of a method for
manipulating a
manifest; and
[0036] Figure 8 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the
exemplary
form of a computer system within which a set of instructions, for causing the
machine to
perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be
executed.
[0037] It is to be understood that the attached drawings are for purposes of
illustrating the
concepts of the invention and may not be to scale.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0038] Certain embodiments of the present disclosure are compatible with and
make use
of elements defined according to the SCTE-130 standard. The SCTE-130 standard
provides a standardized and extensible message based interface defining a
minimal set of
cooperating logical services necessary to communicate placement opportunities,
placement decisions, and placement related event data necessary for
accountability
measurements. SCTE-130 defines an extensible framework of interfaces among a
set of
advertising system logical services. The SCTE-130 standard encompasses: a
minimal set
of cooperative logical services needed to implement advanced addressable
advertising
systems; the core data types and extensible message framework forming a
vocabulary
needed to communicate among the defined logical services; the interfaces among
these
logical services using the core data types and messages; and, mechanisms for
extensibility
that allow innovation while preserving backward compatibility with already
deployed
systems - thereby reducing the complexity for incorporating new features
within the
standard.
[0039] The normative parts of the SCTE-130 standard define mechanisms for
integrating
systems implementing features such as VOD-based advertising, linear-based
advertising,
enhanced advertising capabilities such as advertisement rotation groups
(rotation groups
refer to placement opportunities that run in rotation so that the same ad is
not viewed again
immediately), subscriber-based addressing for advertising or content
tailoring, extension
points for more advanced advertising or addressing features, logical services
that are
implemented as one or more physical systems created by the same vendor,
deployment of
a logical service that may simultaneously include systems from one or more
vendors, and
an implementation that may incorporate one or more of the defined logical
services and
interfaces
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[0040] The SCTE-130 standard defines a set of logical services comprising an
advanced
advertising system. Each logical service may itself be a complex system. In an
embodiment, one or more of the following logical services may be used by or
interact with
certain embodiments of the present invention.
[0041] An Advertisement Management Service (ADM) defines messages in support
of
advertisement insertion activities. The primary consumer of these messages is
an
Advertisement Decision Service (ADS). The message interfaces exposed by an ADM
permit both pre-configured advertisement decisions as well as real-time
fulfillment
models. An ADM implementation may incorporate some simple advertisement
selection
rules (e.g., advertisement rotations) but more complex advertisement decisions
are the
responsibility of an ADS.
[0042] An Advertisement Decision Service (ADS) determines how advertising
content is
combined with non-advertising (i.e., entertainment) content assets. The
decisions made by
an ADS may be straightforward (i.e., specific advertisement content placed at
a specific
time in a specific asset) or arbitrarily complex (based on subscriber data,
advertising zone,
etc.).
[0043] A Content Information Service (CIS) manages metadata describing assets
(both
advertising assets and non-advertising assets) available to the other SCTE-130
logical
services. The CIS provides query and notification interfaces to the other
logical services.
The query service is available on an ad-hoc basis and may be called by any
other logical
service at any time without any prior registration. Queries specify values or
patterns to be
sought in the query message metadata and the specified matching information
(or an error
indication) is returned in a response message.
[0044] The Content Information Service (CIS) is a storage and distribution
engine. It
stores metadata about entertainment and advertising assets; provides
notifications to
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registered clients when metadata is modified; registers, receives and
processes
notifications from other CIS services; and supports real-time metadata
queries. The CIS
permits an Advertising Manager (ADM) and/or Advertisement Decision Service
(ADS) to
retrieve and utilize content metadata in their advanced advertising decision
processing.
[0045] A Placement Opportunity Information Service (POTS) may hold, maintain,
and
retain descriptions of placement opportunities. The POIS may also contain
attributes and
constraints for each placement opportunity, platform compliance, rights, and
policies of
the content in which the placement opportunity exists. These placement
opportunities are
content specific, therefore attributes and constraints may vary by network,
geographic
region, or other content distribution dimension.
[0046] The POTS is a Placement Opportunity (PO) storage and inventory
execution
engine. It stores PO metadata and statistics; provides notifications to
registered clients
when PO metadata is modified; registers, receives and processes notifications
from other
POTS services; and supports real-time PO metadata queries. Through the POTS
appliance,
an Advertising Manager (ADM) and/or Advertisement Decision Service (ADS) can
retrieve and utilize placement opportunity metadata in their advanced
advertising decision
making.
[0047] The Subscriber Information Service (STS) manages per-subscriber
information
relevant to advertisement placement decisions. The SIS provides a mapping
between
subscriber or client identifiers, such as a MAC address, serial number, etc.,
and subscriber
or audience attributes, e.g., age, sex, location of a subscriber.
[0048] The term "computer" or "computer platform" is intended to include any
data
processing device, such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a tablet
computer, a
mainframe computer, a server, a handheld device, a digital signal processor
(DSP), an
embedded processor (an example of which is described in connection with Figure
8), or
=
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any other device able to process data. The computer/computer platform is
configured to
include one or more microprocessors communicatively connected to one or more
non-
transitory computer-readable media and one or more networks. The term
"communicatively connected" is intended to include any type of connection,
whether
wired or wireless, in which data may be communicated. The term
"communicatively
connected" is intended to include, but not limited to, a connection between
devices and/or
programs within a single computer or between devices and/or separate computers
over a
network. The term "network" is intended to include, but not limited to, OTA
(over-the-air
transmission, ATSC. DVB-T), packet-switched networks (TCP/IP, e.g., the
Internet),
satellite (microwave, MPEG transport stream or IP), direct broadcast
satellite, analog
cable transmission systems (RF), and digital video transmission systems (ATSC,
HD-SDI,
HDMI, DVI, VGA), etc.
[0049] Figure 4 depicts a configuration of a system 400 for manipulating
manifests. The
system 400 may be executed on a server 402, interconnected by one or more
networks (not
shown) and communicatively connected to one or more ADSs 404a-404n. The ADSs
404a-404n are configured to place advertisements into advertisement breaks in
subscriber
data streams at the request of a CDN 406 for delivery to one or more smart
appliances
408a-408n.
[0050] In one embodiment, the server 402 may be communicatively connected by
one or
more networks (not shown) to client devices 410a-410n. The client devices 410a-
410n are
configured to store and retrieve a predetermined number of advertisements
to/from
corresponding caches 412a-412n for delivery to corresponding ADSs 404a-404n
under the
control of the server 402 and the CDN 406.
[0051] The server 402 may be associated with or implement a CIS 416 for
receiving one
or more source signal streams from upstream devices 418 and corresponding cue
tones
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(i.e., instances of SCTE-35 packets) from an observer 420, which may be
incorporated
within a transcoder 422. The transcoder 422 is also configured to deliver IP
video, audio,
etc., in predetermined "chunks" or segments to the CDN 406 as described above.
The
transcoder 422 is also configured to generate one or more manifests of a
predetermined
time length (e.g., 30 seconds) that comprises the addresses (e.g., URLs) of
the segments of
a signal stream to one or more downstream devices (normally the CDN 406) based
on an
address stored in the transcoder 422 during a registration process. In one
embodiment, the
registered downstream device is the server 402.
[0052] The CIS 416 is also configured to identify metadata from the one or
more source
signal streams and deliver the identified metadata to the server 402. The
server 402 is
configured to pre-allocate a corresponding number of unconfirmed placement
opportunities (POs) without signals and to bind the source signal stream to a
plurality of
premade, but unconfirmed placement opportunities. Part of the identified
metadata
includes a channel identifier associated with a corresponding source signal
stream. The
CIS 416 is configured to return a globally unique value, a UUID, referred to
as a signal
identifier or signal ID that uniquely identifies a placement opportunity as a
confirmed
placement and its starting location within the end-to-end operational system
400. The CIS
416 is further configured to insert the signal ID and the channel identifier
into the
rnetadata of the source signal stream using the appropriate in-band carriage
format.
[0053] In one embodiment, when the downstream device that has registered with
the
transcoder 422 for receiving manifests is the server 402, the CIS 416 is
configured to
receive one or more original manifests cotTesponding to a data interval of the
source signal
stream from the transcoder 422.
[0054] In one embodiment, a POIS 424 may be implemented by the server 402. The
POIS
424 is configured to "confirm" unconfirmed placement opportunities by
identifying
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temporal starting locations of the unconfirmed placement opportunities (i.e.,
including
advertisement signal point(s)) relative to both the content stream and a wall
clock. The
POIS 424 is configured to return a globally unique value, a UUID, referred to
as a signal
identifier or signal ID that uniquely identifies a PO as a confirmed PO and
its starting
location within the end-to-end operational system. The POTS 424 then inserts
the signal ID
and the channel identifier into other extracted metadata of the source signal
stream using
the appropriate in-band carriage format.
[0055] The POTS 424 is configured to initiate a workflow where by the
confirmed signal
generates the set of confirmed placement opportunities and fires a look-ahead
decision
trigger with the signal ID as the trigger data. The look-ahead decision
trigger recipient is
an instance of an SCTE 130 Ad Management Service 426, or ADM 426 associated
with
the server 402. The ADM 426 is configured to identify a list representative of
a number of
recipient signal streams having the channel identifier. To identify the list,
in one
embodiment, the ADM 426 transmits and receives messages and data to/from the
session
manager 428 internally implemented by the server 402. In one embodiment, the
ADM
426 transmits the channel identifier to the session manager 428, which
provides the ADM
426 with a list of client identities indicative of a number of active
transport streams (e.g., a
number of sessions) having the channel identifier, e.g., a list of recipient
signal streams
having the same channel identifier that are currently being "watched" by
subscribers. The
ADM 426 is also configured to obtain a plurality of advertisements
corresponding to the
list of all active sessions from one or more ADSs 404a-404n. The ADM 426
receives,
from the ADSs 404a-404n, the plurality of advertisements targeted to the list
representative of the plurality of active signal streams.
[0056] The ADM 426 uses the signal ID plus a set of locally configured or
learned
targeting criteria to initiate a unique set of ad decision requests. The ad
decision requests
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evolve into targeted ad decision requests to the appropriate decision owners
and the results
are a set of ad placement decisions correlating to the placement opportunities
generated as
a result of signal confirmation.
[0057] The ADM 426 is also configured to stores the obtained list of
advertisements in
one or more caches 412a-412n under the control of corresponding clients 410a-
410n
associated with one or more ADSs 404a-404n. The ADM 426 associates the unique
signal
ID with each of the targeted/untargeted advertisements and stores the
targeted/untargeted
advertisements in the one or more caches 412a-412n. Since there may be
thousands to
millions of ads to be stored in the one or more caches 412a-412n, in an
embodiment, the
ADM 426 is configured to divide a time interval between reception of a cue
tone and the
arrival of a corresponding advertisement signal point into a predetermined
number of sub-
time intervals and divide the signal stream into a predetermined number of sub-
signal
streams.
[0058] In one embodiment, the ADM 426 is further configured to implement a
manifest
manipulator 430 and a memory 432, which may be, for example, a static random-
access
memory 432. The manifest manipulator 430 is configured to receive one or more
original
manifests from the CIS 416. For each active session in the list representative
of the
plurality of active sessions, the manifest manipulator 430 associates the
original manifest
with the corresponding channel identifier, a session identifier, and an
initial offset of zero
in the (static) memory 432. The manifest manipulator 430 is configured to
derive and
maintain in the (static) memory a plurality of stored manifests having
different offsets
from the original manifest.
[0059] In one embodiment, the manifest manipulator 430 is configured to
receive from a
smart appliance (e.g., 408a) a request for a manifest corresponding to a
session identifier
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and a channel identifier. The manifest manipulator 430 is configured to
retrieve from the
session manger 428 a session manifest based on the session identifier. The
manifest
manipulator 430 is configured to adjust a session offset based on a difference
in a session
length represented by the session manifest from a session length represented
by a previous
session manifest corresponding to the session. When the session manifest
comprises an
address of an ad break, the manifest manipulator 430 is configured to identify
in a cache
(e.g., 412a) at least one advertisement to be inserted into the session and
replaces at least
one address corresponding to at least one segment of the at least one
advertisement in the
session manifest based on the difference. The manifest manipulator 430 is
configured to
transmit the session manifest to the smart appliance (e.g., 408a).
[0060] In one embodiment, when the session manifest comprises an address of an
ad
break, the manifest manipulator 430 is configured to instruct a client (e.g.,
410a)
associated with an ad decision service (e.g., ADS 404a) to splice the at least
one
advertisement into the address of the ad break in the session based on the at
least one
replaced address of the session manifest.
[0061] In an embodiment, instructing an ad decision service (e.g., 404a) to
splice the at
least one advertisement into the address of the ad break in the session may
further
comprise the server 402 transmitting, to the ad decision service (e.g., 404a),
at least one ad
call for the 'address of the ad break corresponding to the session identifier,
receiving, from
the ad decision service (e.g., 404a), at least one advertisement, and storing
the at least one
advertisement in at least one cache (e.g., 412a). Instructing an ad decision
service (e.g.,
404a) to splice the at least one ad into the address of the ad break in the
session may
further comprise before the splicing, instructing the ad decision service
(e.g., 404a) to
retrieve the at least one advertisement from the cache (e.g., 412a).
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[0062] In an embodiment, the manifest manipulator 430 is configured to store
the session
offset and the previous session manifest in the memory 432. The memory 432 may
be a
static random access memory. The session manifest and the previous session
manifest
differ when the difference is non-zero. When the smart appliance (e.g., 408a)
tunes to
another channel or terminates its session, the manifest manipulator 430 may
reset the
session offset to zero.
[0063] In an embodiment, the manifest manipulator 430 of the server 402 may
receive an
original manifest from the transcoder 422. The manifest manipulator 430 may
initially
assign a zero offset to the original manifest. The manifest manipulator 430
may derive
and maintain a plurality of stored manifests having different offsets from the
original
manifest. The manifest manipulator 430 may replace one of the stored manifests
with the
session manifest to produce the previous session manifest.
[0064] Figure 5 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method 500
for
accelerating advertising placement decisions in data streams from a point of
view of a
server 402, according to an embodiment of the present invention. At block 505,
the server
402 ingests a source signal stream from the transcoder 422. More particularly,
the CIS 416
associated with the server 402 ingests a source signal stream (e.g., in MPEG-2
format)
having a channel identifier from the upstream devices 418.
[0065] A transcoder 422 associated with a specific vendor format for the
source signal
stream (e.g., TBS) receives the signal stream and converts the signal stream
to IP video.
In the process, an observer 420, which may be include in transcoder 422, notes
the
presence of an SCTE-35 cue tone. In one embodiment, the indication that an
advertisement placement opportunity is located in the signal stream is an
instance of an
SCTE-35 packet indicative of a cue tone. The cue tone also provides an
indication that an
advertisement placement opportunity is located in the signal stream a time
period prior to
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an advertisement signal point in the signal stream. The observer 420 of the
transcoder
422 then places a web call to the CIS 416 to inform the CIS 416 that the cue
tone for a
specific channel ID has been observed.
[0066] The transcoder 422 may identify the server 402 as previously registered
to receive
a series of original manifests associated the source signal stream (e.g.,
TBS). As a result
of the transcoder 422 dividing the source signal stream into a plurality of
data intervals of
a predetermined length (e.g., 30 second), and for each data interval, into a
plurality of
segments or "chunks" (e.g., 2 seconds). The transcoder 422 is further
configured to
construct and transmit an original manifest to the server 402. At block 510,
the CIS 416
further receives the original manifest corresponding to a data interval of the
source signal
stream from the transcoder 422. At block 515, the CIS 416 transmits the
original manifest
to the manifest manipulator 430 for further processing to be described below.
[0067] The arrival of the SCTE-35 packet is an indication of a number of
theoretical
placement opportunities (POs) for the specified channel ID (e.g., TBS). Each
unconfirmed
PO has an estimated starting location known as a signal point. The signal
point needs to be
confirmed. When an actual ad insertion starting location is encountered in
real-time, a
software process in the POIS 424 confirms the actual time of the signal point.
This
confirmed signal point results in the generation of confirmed POs that are now
ready for
ad insertion.
[0068] When the CIS 416 receives the theoretical placement opportunities, the
CIS 416 is
configured to pre-allocate a corresponding number of unconfirmed placement
opportunities without signals and to bind the source signal stream to a
plurality of
premade, but unconfirmed placement opportunities. Binding the source signal
stream to a
plurality of premade, but unconfirmed placement opportunities includes the CIS
416
extracting metadata including the channel identifier from the source signal
stream. As
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used herein, the term "binding" refers to an identification of signals and
content within a
PO. PO's are frequently created for broad amounts of content that are not yet
published
(i.e., any show on TNT network in the evening).
[0069] When a show "airs" and a source signal stream is detected, the source
signal stream
is bound to the relevant PO's for that show.
[0070] When confirmed POs are generated, the same signal point identifier that
generated
the POs is forwarded and captured by a listening ad decision resolution
process in the
ADM 426 associated with the server 402. This signal point forwarding is called
the look-
ahead placement decision trigger (or decision trigger for short) that
initiates a sequence of
software processes. As content is acquired by the CDN 406, the CDN 406
notifies the
POIS 424, and the POIS 424 "confirms" the temporal starting location of a
placement
opportunity relative to both the source signal stream and a wall clock. The
POIS 424
returns a globally unique value, a UUID, referred to as a signal identifier or
signal ID that
uniquely identifies a PO as a confirmed PO and its starting location within
the end-to-end
operational system. The POIS 424 then inserts the signal ID and the channel
identifier into
other extracted metadata of the source signal stream using the appropriate in-
band carriage
format.
[00711 In parallel, the POIS 424 initiates a workflow whereby the POIS
generates a set of
confirmed placement opportunities in the source signal stream and fires a look-
ahead
decision trigger with the signal ID as the trigger data. The look-ahead
decision trigger
recipient is an instance of an SCTE 130 Ad Management Service, or the ADM 426
associated with the server 402.
[0072] At block 520, the ADM 426 of the server 402 identifies a representative
of a
number of recipient signal streams having the channel identifier prior to
expiration of the
time period. The list representative of a plurality of recipient signal
streams having the
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channel identifier corresponds to the number of confirmed placement
opportunities. To
identify the list, the ADM 426 transmits the channel identifier to the session
manager 428,
which provides the ADM 426 with a list of session identifiers indicative of a
number of
recipients currently viewing a channel corresponding to the channel
identifier.
[0073] At block 525, the ADM 426 of the server 402 obtains from one or more
ADSs
404a-404n a plurality of advertisements corresponding to the list correlated
to the session
identifiers and the channel identifier. The ADM 426 receives from the ADSs
404a-404n,
the plurality of advertisements corresponding to the list representative of
the plurality of
recipient signal streams having the channel identifier.
[0074] At block 530, the ADM 426 of the server 402 stores the obtained list of
advertisements in at least one cache 412a-412n in the one or more ADSs 404a-
404n.
While storing the list of advertisements in the least one cache 412a-412n, the
ADM 426
associates unique signal IDs with each of the list of advertisements. Storing
the obtained
list of advertisement in the at least one cache 412a-412n may include
transmitting the list
of advertisements to at least one JAR (i.e., a Java archive) associated with
the one or more
clients 410a-410n. Since there may be thousands to millions of ads to be
stored in the
caches 412a-412n, in an embodiment, the ADM 426 divides the time interval from
the
reception of a cue tone to an expected arrival of the corresponding signal
point in the
source signal stream into a predetermined number of sub-time intervals and
divides the
number (i.e., the count) of received signal streams into a predetermined
number of sub-
signal streams. The predetermined number of sub-signal streams is distributed
over the
predetermined number of sub-time intervals to the caches 412a-412n associated
with the
clients 410a-410n.
[0075] At block 535, for each active session in .the list, the manifest
manipulator 430
associates the original manifest with a channel identifier, a session
identifier, and an initial
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offset of zero in a memory 432. In one embodiment, the memory 432 may be, for
example, a static memory. The offset indicates the number of segments and
corresponding
URLs of a session manifest to be delivered to a smart appliance (e.g., 408a)
deviates from
the number of segment in a corresponding previous session manifest (see Figure
7).
[0076] At block 540, the manifest manipulator 430 derives and maintains in the
static
memory (see Figure 6) a plurality of stored manifests 602 having different
offsets from
the original manifest. In one embodiment, the statically stored manifests/and
the
corresponding number of segments per stored manifest may be numbered
consecutively
from a minimum expected negative value, through 0, to positive maximum
expected
value. As ads are retrieved and inserted into ad breaks, the value of the
offset may change
and an original or a non-original "previous" session manifest may be replaced
(see Figure
7) depending on the length of one or more ads to be inserted into the ad
break.
[0077] Figure 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of a method 700 for
manipulating a manifest. The method 700 may be performed by a computer system
400 of
Figure 4 and may comprise hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic,
programmable logic,
microcode, etc.), software (e.g., instructions run on a processing device), or
a combination
thereof. In one example, the method 700 is performed by the manifest
manipulator 430 of
the server 402 of Figure 4.
[0078] As shown in Figure 7, at block 705, the manifest manipulator 430 of the
server 402
receives a request for a manifest corresponding to a session identifier from a
smart
appliance (e.g., 408a). At block 710, the manifest manipulator 430 identifies
a session
manifest from the session manager 432 and an offset based on the session
identifier. The
session manifest and current offset are identified as one of the stored
manifests and offsets
located in the static memory 432.
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[0079] At block 715, the manifest manipulator 430 adjusts a session offset
based on a
difference in a session length represented by the session manifest from a
session length
represented by a previous session manifest stored in the memory 432
corresponding to the
session. In one embodiment, based on the session identifier, the manifest
manipulator 430
identifies a client (e.g., 404a) from which to obtain the length of time of at
least one ad.
The manifest manipulator 430 adjusts the session offset based on the length of
the
retrieved at least one ad. The manifest manipulator 430 replaces the
previously stored
session offset in the memory 432 with the adjusted session offset.
[0080] At block 720, when the current manifest comprises an address of an ad
break, the
manifest manipulator 430 identifies in a cache (e.g. 412a) at least one
advertisement to be
inserted into the session and replaces at least one address corresponding to
at least one
segment of the at least one advertisement in the session manifest based on the
difference.
The manifest manipulator 430 replaces the previous session manifest (which may
be an
original session manifest or another updated previous manifest) in the memory
432 with
the updated session manifest.
[0081] At block 720, the manifest manipulator 430 transmits the updated
session manifest
to the smart appliance (e.g., 408a).
[0082] If the adjusted offset does not change because the total length of the
ad break does
not change, or if there is only content addressed by the current manifest,
then the
previously stored manifest is a copy of the cunent manifest. The previously
stored
manifest is a copy of another manifest different from the current manifest
when the
session offset change value. Further, when the smart appliance (e.g., 408a)
tunes to
another channel or terminates its session, the session offset is reset to
zero. The method of
Figure 7 is repeated whenever the transcoder 422 delivers a new original
manifest as the
transport stream progresses in time transmitted.
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[0083] In an embodiment, when the session manifest comprises an address of an
ad break,
the server 402 may instruct a client (e.g., 410a) associated with an ad
decision service
(e.g., 404a) to splice the at least one advertisement from an associated cache
(e.g., 412a)
into the address of the ad break in the session based on the at least one
replaced address of
the session manifest. Instructing an ad decision service (e.g., 404a) to
splice the at least
one advertisement into the address of the ad break in the session may further
comprise the
server 402 transmitting, to the ad decision service (e.g., 404a), at least one
ad call for the
address of the ad break corresponding to the session identifier, receiving,
from the ad
decision service (e.g., 404a) at least one advertisement, and storing the at
least one
advertisement in the associated cache (e.g., 412a). Instructing an ad decision
service (e.g.,
404a) to splice the at least one ad into the address of the ad break in the
session may
further comprise, before splicing, the manifest manipulator 430 instructing
the ad decision
service (e.g., 404a) to retrieve the at least one advertisement from the
associated cache
(e.g., 412a).
[0084] Figure 8 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the
example
form of a computer system 800 within which a set of instructions, for causing
the machine
to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be
executed. In
some examples, the machine may be connected (e.g., networked) to other
machines in a
LAN, an intranet, an extranet, or the Internet. The machine may operate in the
capacity of
a server machine in client-server network environment. The machine may be a
personal
computer (PC), a set-top box (STB), a server, a network router, switch or
bridge, or any
machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise)
that specify
actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single machine is
illustrated, the
term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that
individually
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or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one
or more of the
methodologies discussed herein.
[0085] The example
computer system 800 includes a processing device (processor)
802, a main memory 804 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, dynamic
random access memory (DRAM) such as synchronous DRAM (SDRAM)), a static
memory 806 (e.g., flash memory, static random access memory (SRAM)), and a
data
storage device 816, which communicate with each other via a bus 808.
[0086] Processor 802 represents one or more general-purpose processing devices
such as
a microprocessor, central processing unit, or the like. More particularly, the
processor 802
may be a complex instruction set computing (CISC) microprocessor, reduced
instruction
set computing (RISC) microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW)
microprocessor, or a processor implementing other instruction sets or
processors
implementing a combination of instruction sets. The processor 802 may also be
one or
more special-purpose processing devices such as an application specific
integrated circuit
(ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor
(DSP),
network processor, or the like. The manifest manipulator 830 shown in Figure 4
may be
executed by processor 802 configured to perform the operations and steps
discussed
herein.
[0087] The computer
system 800 may further include a network interface device 822.
The computer system 800 also may include a video display unit 810 (e.g., a
liquid crystal
display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), an alphanumeric input device 812
(e.g., a
keyboard), a cursor control device 814 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal
generation device 820
(e.g., a speaker).
[0088] A drive unit
816 may include a computer-readable medium 824 on which is
stored one or more sets of instructions (e.g., instructions of the manifest
manipulator 430)
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embodying any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein.
The
instructions of the manifest manipulator 430 may also reside, completely or at
least
partially, within the main memory 804 and/or within the processor 802 during
execution
thereof by the computer system 800, the main memory 804 and the processor 802
also
constituting computer-readable media. The instructions of the manifest
manipulator 430
may further be transmitted or received over a network via the network
interface device
827.
[0089] While the computer-readable storage medium 824 is shown in an
example to
be a single medium, the term "computer-readable storage medium" should be
taken to
include a single non-transitory medium or multiple non-transitory media (e.g.,
a
centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers)
that store the one
or more sets of instructions. The term "computer-readable storage medium"
shall also be
taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a
set of
instructions for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to
perform any one
or more of the methodologies of the present disclosure. The term "computer-
readable
storage medium" shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to,
solid-state
memories, optical media, and magnetic media.
[0090] In the above description, numerous details are set forth. It is
apparent,
however, to one of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this
disclosure, that
examples of the disclosure may be practiced without these specific details. In
some
instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form,
rather than
in detail, in order to avoid obscuring the description.
[0091] Some portions of the detailed description are presented in terms of
algorithms
and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer
memory. These
algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those
skilled in the
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data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to
others
skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a
self-consistent
sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring
physical
manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these
quantities
take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored,
transferred,
combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at
times,
principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits,
values, elements,
symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.
[0092] It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar
terms are to
be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely
convenient labels
applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise as apparent
from the
above discussion, it is appreciated that throughout the description,
discussions utilizing
terms such as "receiving", "writing", "maintaining", or the like, refer to the
actions and
processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that
manipulates
and transforms data represented as physical (e.g., electronic) quantities
within the
computer system's registers and memories into other data similarly represented
as physical
quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such
information
storage, transmission or display devices.
[0093] Examples of the disclosure also relate to an apparatus for
performing the
operations herein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the
required purposes,
or it may comprise a general purpose computer selectively activated or
reconfigured by a
computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored
in a
computer readable storage medium, such as, but not limited to, any type of
disk including
floppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only
memories
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(ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical
cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions.
[0094] The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently
related to any
particular computer or other apparatus. Various general purpose systems may be
used
with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove
convenient to
construct a more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps.
Example
structure for a variety of these systems appears from the description herein.
In addition,
the present disclosure is not described with reference to any particular
programming
language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may
be used to
implement the teachings of the disclosure as described herein.
[0095] It is to be understood that the above description is intended to be
illustrative,
and not restrictive. Many other examples will be apparent to those of skill in
the art upon
reading and understanding the above description. The scope of the disclosure
should,
therefore, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the
full scope
of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.
29
