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Patent 3199704 Summary

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Claims and Abstract availability

Any discrepancies in the text and image of the Claims and Abstract are due to differing posting times. Text of the Claims and Abstract are posted:

  • At the time the application is open to public inspection;
  • At the time of issue of the patent (grant).
(12) Patent Application: (11) CA 3199704
(54) English Title: VIDEO ADVERTISEMENT AUGMENTATION WITH DYNAMIC WEB CONTENT
(54) French Title: AUGMENTATION DE PUBLICITE VIDEO AVEC UN CONTENU WEB DYNAMIQUE
Status: Compliant
Bibliographic Data
(51) International Patent Classification (IPC):
  • H04N 21/4722 (2011.01)
  • H04N 21/443 (2011.01)
  • H04N 21/4725 (2011.01)
  • H04N 21/4782 (2011.01)
  • H04N 21/81 (2011.01)
(72) Inventors :
  • ROSS, TIMOTHY (United States of America)
  • SCHACHT, CHRISTOPHER (United States of America)
  • SIDMAN, DAVID (United States of America)
(73) Owners :
  • CONTENT DIRECTIONS, INC. DBA LINKSTORM (United States of America)
(71) Applicants :
  • CONTENT DIRECTIONS, INC. DBA LINKSTORM (United States of America)
(74) Agent: MILTONS IP/P.I.
(74) Associate agent:
(45) Issued:
(86) PCT Filing Date: 2020-11-19
(87) Open to Public Inspection: 2022-05-27
Availability of licence: N/A
(25) Language of filing: English

Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT): Yes
(86) PCT Filing Number: PCT/US2020/061350
(87) International Publication Number: WO2022/108588
(85) National Entry: 2023-05-19

(30) Application Priority Data: None

Abstracts

English Abstract

A system and method for augmenting video media displayed via web browser to add interactive functionality is disclosed. The method begins with adding elements to a structured media definition to cause the media to instantiate one or more new elements on a webpage when the media is played, including a script that includes instructions to generate an interactive menu, such that selection of any option from the interactive menu will call one or more application programming interface (API) functions provided by a remote server. The structured media definition is transmitted to the web browser to cause it to load a video and execute the instructions. A server backend receives and processes API calls from the script when executed by the web browser, and transmits a response to the API call to the web browser to be acted upon by the script.


French Abstract

L'invention concerne un système et un procédé permettant d?augmenter un contenu multimédia vidéo affiché par l'intermédiaire d'un navigateur web pour ajouter une fonctionnalité interactive. Le procédé commence par l'ajout d'éléments à une définition multimédia structurée pour amener le support à instancier un ou plusieurs nouveaux éléments sur une page web lorsque le support est lu, comprenant un script qui comprend des instructions pour générer un menu interactif, de telle sorte que la sélection de toute option à partir du menu interactif appellera une ou plusieurs fonctions d?interfaces de programmation d'applications (API) fournies par un serveur distant. La définition multimédia structurée est transmise au navigateur web pour l'amener à charger une vidéo et à exécuter les instructions. Un système principal de serveur reçoit et traite des appels d'API à partir du script lorsqu'il est exécuté par le navigateur web, et transmet une réponse à l'appel d'API au navigateur web pour que le script y donne suite.

Claims

Note: Claims are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.


CLAIMS
What is claimed:
1. A system for augmenting video media displayed via web browser to add
interactive
functionality, comprising:
a network-connected server comprising one or more processors and non-
transitory
memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more
processors, cause the
one or more processors to:
receive an identification of video media to be augmented;
provide a user interface for definition of a multi-level menu having one or
more
interactive elements to be overlaid when the video media is displayed to a
consumer;
automatically generate a structured media definition that instructs a video
player on a
web browser of the consumer to load a script that will be executed by the web
browser and
will instantiate the multi-level menu and the one or more interactive elements
within the web
browser during display of the video media, further causing the web browser to
load a script
that will cause one or more application programming interface (API) calls to
uniform resource
locators (URLs) located at the network-connected server when the one or more
interactive
elements are interacted with by the consumer;
upon receiving the one or more API calls, establish or update a profile of
consumer
behavior based on which interactive elements were interacted with by the
consumer; and
dynamically re-target or re-optimize future video media delivered to the
consumer by
causing content within the future video media to focus on products in which
the consumer has
previously shown interest via interaction with the interactive elements,
and/or selecting
interactive elements to be added to the multi-level menu in future video media
different from
interactive elements that would have been added by default.
2. A system for augmenting video media displayed via web browser to add
interactive
functionality, comprising:
one or more processors,
non-transitory memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the one
or more
processors, cause the one or more processors to:
provide a server backend to receive and process API calls that originate from
the web
browser;
add elements to a structured media definition to cause the video media to
instantiate
one or more new webpage elements when the video media is played, including a
script that
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includes instructions to generate an interactive menu, such that selection of
any option from
the interactive menu will call one or more functions of the API;
cause the structured media definition to be transmitted to the web browser and
thereby
cause the web browser to load a video and execute the instructions;
receive an API call from the web browser based on a consumer's interaction
with the
interactive menu; and
transmit a response to the API call to the web browser be acted upon by the
script.
3. The system of Claim 2, wherein the response, when acted upon by the
script, causes a
different video to be played.
4. The system of Claim 2, further comprising providing, within the
instructions,
in structi on s to determine whether the con sum er interacted with the vi deo
m edi a at a previ ous
point in time, and if so, to automatically update a user interface of the
video media in
accordance with the previous interaction.
5. The system of Claim 4, wherein the automatic update of the user
interface of the video
media in accordance with the previous interaction returns the user interface
to an identical state
the consumer had caused the user interface to assume during the previous
interaction.
6. The system of Claim 2, wherein the structured media definition i s in a
VPAID-
compliant format and the script is written in JavaScript.
7. The system of Claim 2, wherein the one or more new webpage elements
include an
iFrame to shield operations of the script and elements of the user interface
from interference
by any scripting or name collision in a webpage hosting the video media.
8. The system of Claim 2, wherein the interactive menu is a multi-leveled,
hierarchical
menu that presents different visual options in a secondary menu each time a
consumer selects
a different option from a primary menu.
9. The system of Claim 2, wherein selection of an option from the
interactive menu
subsequent to the loading of the video causes a different video to begin
playing instead of the
already loaded video.
1 O. The system of Claim 2, wherein the instructions, when executed
by the one or more
processors, further cause the one or more processors to:
retrieve data from a third party indicating previous interest in a product by
a consumer
viewing the video media; and
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dynamically update the interactive menu to include one or more new options
based on
the data indicating previous interest.
11. The system of CI aim 2, wherein the instructi on s, when executed by
the one or m ore
processors, further cause the one or more processors to:
retrieve data from a third party indicating one or more of demographic,
location, and
pui chase behavioi of a consumei viewing the video media, and
dynamically update the interactive menu to include one or more new options
based on
the data indicating one or more of demographic, location, and purchase
behavior.
12. A computer-implemented method of augmenting video media displayed via
web
browser to add interactive functionality, comprising:
providing a server backend to receive and process APT calls that originate
from the web
browser;
adding elements to a structured media definition to cause the video media to
instantiate
one or more new webpage elements when the video media is played, including a
script that
includes in structi on s to gen erate an interactive m enu, such that s el
ecti on of any opti on from
the interactive menu will call one or more functions of the API;
causing the structured media definition to be transmitted to the web browser
and
thereby cause the web browser to load a video and execute the instructions;
receiving an API call from the web browser based on a consumer's interaction
with the
interactive menu; and
transmitting a response to the API call to the web browser be acted upon by
the script.
13. The method of Claim 12, wherein the response, when acted upon by the
script, causes
a different video to be played in the video media.
14. The method of Claim 12, further comprising providing, within the
instructions,
instructions to determine whether the consumer interacted with the video media
at a previous
point in time, and if so, to automatically update a user interface of the
video media in
accordance with the previ ous interacti on .
15. The method of Claim 14, wherein the automatic update of the user
interface of the
video media in accordance with the previous interaction returns the user
interface to an
identical state the consumer had caused the user interface to assume during
the previous
interaction.
16. The method of Claim 12, wherein the structured media definition is in a
VPA1D-
compliant format and the script is written in JavaScript.
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17. The method of Claim 12, wherein the one or more new webpage elements
include an
iFrame to shield operations of the script and elements of the user interface
from interference
by any scripting or name collision in a webpage hosting the video media.
18. The method of Claim 12, wherein the interactive menu is a multi-
leveled, hierarchical
menu that presents different visual options in a secondary menu each time a
consumer selects
a different option fi om a primaly menu.
19. The method of Claim 12, wherein selection of an option from the
interactive menu
subsequent to the loading of the video causes a different video to begin
playing instead of the
already loaded video.
20. The method of Claim 12, further comprising:
retrieving data from a third party indicating previous interest in a product
by a
consumer viewing the video media; and
dynamically updating the interactive menu to include one or more new options
based
on the data indicating previous interest.
21. The method of Claim 12, further comprising:
retrieving data from a third party indicating one or more of demographic,
location, and
purchase behavior of a con sum er vi ewing the vi deo m edi a; and
dynamically updating the interactive menu to include one or more new options
based
on the data indicating one or more of demographic, location, and purchase
behavior.
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Description

Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.


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VIDEO ADVERTISEMENT AUGMENTATION WITH DYNAMIC WEB CONTENT
FIELD OF INVENTION
[0001] The presently described innovations generally address systems and
methods for
augmenting an online video advertisement to add executable code, including
code for creating
interactive menus with cross-domain communications.
BACKGROUND
[0002] In virtually all communications media before the 21st century, such as
television, radio,
and printed text, advertisements have been of limited effectiveness. A
broadcast or publication
is the same for all recipients, is viewed or heard passively by the recipient,
is limited to one-
way communication and requires use of another medium to purchase what is
advertised, and
provides the advertiser with no confirmation that the recipient has viewed or
heard the
advertisement.
Traditionally, even with the sophisticated features and two-way
communication made possible by computer networks, measures of consumer
engagement with
an online advertisement are limited to confirming that the consumer has been
exposed to the
advertisement, and perhaps that a certain portion of a video advertisement,
such as the first,
second, and third quartiles of the video, have been shown to the consumer. No
reporting exists
for confirming that a consumer paid attention to the advertisement, nor has
there been any way
to confirm that a sale or other consumer action is connected to the
advertisement, unless the
consumer happens to click, tap, or otherwise interact with the advertisement
to pass through
the advertisement to an online store and complete a purchase in the same
moment.
[0003] The digital advertising industry, primarily through its trade
organization, the Interactive
Advertising Bureau (JAB), has promulgated several de facto industry standards
to facilitate the
distribution of digital advertisements on the Internet. In Video Advertising,
two such standards
are
VAST (Video Advertisement Serving Template) and VP AID (Video Player
Advertisement-Serving Interface Definition), which were preceded by a standard
for mobile
application advertisements, MRAID (Mobile Rich Media Advertisement Interface
Definition).
The IAB' s intention is to combine all of these standards into a new standard,
SIMID (Secure
Interactive Media Interface Definition), which is intended to add security to
the above
standards as well as to consolidate and streamline them. These standards, when
adopted by
HTML5-based or other video playing software, allow an advertisement to be
defined with
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additional features, including enabling external files to be loaded and
executed by the video
player.
100041 Thus, there are advantages to a system that can create video
advertisements that more
directly link an advertisement to the purchase, that capture and quantify the
consumer's self-
expressed, "first-party" data (which is of higher quality and greater interest
to advertisers than
conjecture about what a consumer merely might be interested in), and that
provide interactivity
and facilitate cross-domain communication for more functional and engaging
forms of video
advertisements.
BRIEF SUMMARY
100051 The presently disclosed methods and systems take the advertisement
viewing
experience to a much richer, deeper, more multi-faceted level by supplementing
a primary
video message with additional content reinforcing the message, such as an
interactive menu
allowing the direct purchase of items depicted in the advertisement or related
to items depicted,
and enriching it with additional aspects. This can even take the form of
multiple additional
videos that either replace or complement the primary video, so that the
advertiser is able to
display many videos to a willing consumer instead of just the one.
100061 Augmented video advertisements can achieve a "full funnel- marketing
strategy.
Traditional advertising strategies often involve three tiers as consumers are
"funneled" into a
purchase: an "upper" or "broad" funnel that merely advertises a brand to
funnel consumers
into that brand over its competitors; a medium funnel that directs consumers
interested in a
brand to increase awareness of particular classes of goods available within
that brand, and a
"lower" or "narrow" funnel that attempts to seal the deal and encourage the
consumer to
purchase a particular good after viewing the advertisement. Augmented video
advertisements
can play all three roles by starting off with a video advertising a brand, but
also providing a
menu to browse products within that brand and even allow consumers to add the
items to an
online shopping cart while remaining in the advertisement itself.
100071 Supplementing a video advertisement with a truly interactive navigation
menu
transforms the consumer experience into a "lean-forward," actively-engaged
consumer
experience that renders the advertisement significantly more useful and
informative, and this
makes it conducive to taking action such as clicking or tapping through the
advertisement to
make a purchase. While a video advertisement is playing, a menu enables the
consumer to
simultaneously browse and click or tap directly to deeper levels of product
information and to
the specific products themselves, or to whatever other information is most
relevant to them.
For example, a video may be overlaid with a multi-level menu displaying
categories of
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products, and clicking on any category may further display a set of available
products within
that category.
100081 By using an easy-to-navigate, cascading menu format, the consumer can
preview in
advance all possible elements of the menu that they might be interested in,
and then click, tap,
or otherwise select just once to go directly to the specific product,
information, transaction or
other destination they desire. The interface can be adapted to match the
advertiser's website
such that it becomes like bringing the website to the person within the
advertisement.
100091 Code included within the video advertisement also allows the tracking
of which
branches of the menu the consumer explored, for how long (down to the precise
moment),
which videos they consumed and for how long, which specific products they
viewed and/or
clicked through and/or purchased, etc. This consumer interaction data is not
only extremely
granular and precise, but it is also far more useful than conventional
advertising metrics
because it documents what the consumer actually selected as a self-declared
indication of
interest and intent.
100101 In one aspect of the disclosure, a system for augmenting video media
displayed via web
browser to add interactive functionality is disclosed. The system includes a
network-connected
server having one or more processors and non-transitory memory comprising
instructions that,
when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors
to perform a
series of steps. First, the server receives an identification of video media
to be augmented and
provides a user interface for definition of a multi-level menu having one or
more interactive
elements to be overlaid when the video media is displayed to a consumer. Next,
the server
automatically generates a structured media definition that instructs a video
player on a web
browser of the consumer to load a script that will be executed by the web
browser and will
instantiate the multi-level menu and the one or more interactive elements
within the web
browser during display of the video media. The web browser will load a script
that will cause
one or more application programming interface (API) calls to uniform resource
locators (URLs)
located at the network-connected server when the one or more interactive
elements are
interacted with by the consumer. Upon receiving the one or more API calls, the
server
establishes or updates a profile of consumer behavior based on which
interactive elements were
interacted with by the consumer. The server also dynamically re-targets or re-
optimizes future
video media delivered to the consumer by causing content within the future
video media to
focus on products in which the consumer has previously shown interest via
interaction with
the interactive elements, and/or selecting interactive elements to be added to
the multi-level
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menu in future video media different from interactive elements that would have
been added by
default.
100111 In another aspect of this disclosure, a system and method for
augmenting video media
displayed via a web browser to add interactive functionality are disclosed.
The method
performed by the system includes adding elements to a structured media
definition to cause
the video media to instantiate one or more new webpage elements when the video
media is
played, including a script. The script includes instructions to generate an
interactive menu,
such that selection of any option from the interactive menu will call one or
more application
programming interface (API) functions located at a remote server. The
structured media
definition is transmitted to the web browser to cause it to load a video and
execute the
instructions. A server providing the API backend receives and processes API
calls from the
script when the script is executed by the web browser and the consumer
interacts with the
interactive menu. A response to the API call is then transmitted to the web
browser to be acted
upon by the script. This two-way communications cycle can be used to enable
countless
interactions that create value for consumers and advertisers alike, including
dynamically
changing the displayed video, dynamically updating a user interface, and
enabling shopping,
social networking, gaming, and other interactions, all from within the video
advertisement.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] Other aspects, features and advantages will become more fully apparent
from the
following detailed description, the appended claims, and the accompanying
drawings,
provided solely for purposes of illustration without restricting the scope of
any embodiment.
[0013] FIGS. 1A-1G depict several exemplary video advertisements with
different styles and
functions of a multi-level menu;
100141 FIG. 2 depicts a network of representative computing devices to be used
in a system
for providing webpages that include interactive video advertisements with two-
way cross-
domain communication capabilities;
[0015] FIG. 3 depicts a representative web-based interface incorporating a
video augmented
with advertisements;
[0016] FIG. 4 depicts, in simplified form, a method of providing an augmented
video
advertisement to a consumer;
[0017] FIG. 5 depicts, in simplified form, a method of receiving
communications from an
augmented video advertisement to update a profile or cart associated with a
consumer;
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100181 FIG. 6A depicts, in simplified form, a method of dynamically
retargeting an
advertisement based on a consumer's previous inputs or engagement with the
advertisement
or a similar advertisement;
100191 FIGS. 6B and 6C depict an example of a dynamically retargeted
advertisement before
and after retargeting, respectively;
100201 FIGS. 7A and 7B depict a user interface for defining interactive menus
to be associated
with a given video advertisement;
100211 FIG. 8 depicts a method for reviewing and recreating a consumer's
advertisement
engagement experience; and
100221 FIG. 9 is a high-level block diagram of a representative computing
device that may be
utilized to implement various features and processes described herein.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
100231 In order to address the issues described above, methods and systems are
provided to
facilitate augmentation of a video advertisement by incorporating a script
into the definition of
the video, such that the script is executed by a native HTML5 video player or
other video
player, creating an interactive menu overlay or other user interface and
allowing that
interactive menu or interface to convey a variety of consumer input to a
remote server and
receive communications in response while a consumer views the advertisement.
A/B tests
have shown that when consumers encounter interactive navigation menus within
an
advertisement, they click through and convert (i.e., purchase an item,
register an account, sign
up as a sales lead, or whatever action the advertiser may be seeking) at
vastly higher rates
compared with advertisements that lack a navigation menu, even if the
advertisement is
otherwise highly engaging or interactive. Prior A/B testing has shown that
such advertisements
performed up to 15x better in click-through rate and up to 17x better in
conversion rate
compared to non-interactive video advertisements.
100241 Throughout this written description, a number of particular industry
standards are
mentioned, and the preferred embodiment will use many of the most common
technologies in
use today for maximal interoperability with the systems that consumers use to
access content
and the advertisements that are injected into that content. However, many of
the presently
described features and functionalities can be adapted to other technological
platforms or
contexts without undue experimentation by a software developer. For example,
although the
HTML5 video player previously mentioned is preferred, other forms of
deprecated standards
for displaying content, such as Adobe Flash, QuickTime, etc., or future
standards, such as
HT1VIL6 will be when it is eventually established, could be modified to work
within the scheme
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presently described, albeit with less interoperability and support among
modern web browsers.
Other aspects of the written description focus on delivery of websites over
the Internet via the
HTTP protocol, but different networks (cable television, satellite networks, a
local area
network or ethernet, a wide area network, etc.), content (streaming video, e-
books, online
magazines, blogs, emails, social media posts, computer games, mobile apps,
other software, or
any other elements of individual or episodic content), or protocols (the QAM
[quadrature
amplitude modification] used in cable television, or other application-level
content delivery
protocols, such as FTP, IMAP, or XMPP) could be used to deliver augmented
video
advertisements to a consumer.
100251 Further, although the preferred embodiment described is delivery of
advertisements
embedded within webpages for display on a computing device's web browser,
completely
different forms of content delivery may benefit from the same principles. For
example,
advertisements during television shows on cable television or before streaming
a video on a
television might be interacted with via a television remote control, and
options selected either
through pressing buttons on the remote, or through a voice command interface
and a
microphone of the remote control. Similarly, an advertisement shown on a
display may be
navigated or controlled by a voice interface of an automated personal
assistant device in the
home, such as Amazon Echo's Alexa, Google Home, Apple's Sin, or a similar
interface.
Advertisements might even be delivered within a virtual reality (VR) headset
and interacted
with via hand movements that are picked up by a motion capturing accelerometer
in a held
controller, or by a motion capturing camera associated with the VR system.
These and any
other forms of human-machine interface may be used to select options, traverse
a list of options,
enter information or other inputs, and display outputs of the video
advertisement to the
consumer.
100261 As an introduction to the core concepts discussed throughout the
remainder of the
written description, FIGS. 1A-1G depict several exemplary video advertisements
with
different styles and functions of a multi-level menu.
100271 When a video advertisement 100 is first displayed to a consumer (as
depicted in FIG.
1A), an interactive menu 105 is visible, overlaid on top of the video playing
beneath it, the
menu 105 containing multiple options or elements 110A-110D with which the
consumer can
interact. Upon clicking on or mousing over, or otherwise selecting one of the
options 110A, a
new submenu 115 may appear and be populated to include content related to the
clicked
element 110A (as depicted in FIG. 1B). This content may include images 120,
text 125, or
hyperlinks 130; in this case, images of vehicles for sale, information about
the vehicles, and
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links that, when clicked, take the consumer to the advertiser's web site to
learn more and/or
make a purchase. Upon interacting with a different element 110B, the submenu
115 is
repopulated to include different content (as depicted in FIG. 1C). Clicking an
"exit" button
135 can cause the submenu 115 to disappear and playback of the video continues
while only
displaying the menu 105.
100281 FIGS. ID-1F depict an advertisement 100 that exemplifies the "full-
funnel" advertising
strategy previously described. When the video advertisement 100 first begins
to play (as
depicted in FIG. 1D), the video is not occluded by any interface elements
except for an
unobtrusive menu option 110A labeled "Explore". Even if the consumer never
attempts to
interact with the "Explore" button 110A, he or she will be exposed to the
brand being
advertised, and the desired "upper" funnel effect will have been accomplished.
Clicking or
tapping the "Explore" button 110A causes the rest of the menu 105 to become
visible (as
depicted in FIG. 1E), further familiarizing the consumer with a number of
brand options 110B-
110F and potentially driving the consumer to investigate further and see what
will happen if
the consumer clicks or taps one of the options. The "Explore- button 110A is
also replaced
with a "Close" button 135 that can be clicked or tapped by the consumer to
return to viewing
the video alone. If the consumer selects a menu option 110C (as depicted in
FIG. 1F), the
video advertisement itself changes to a new video emphasizing the brand
depicted in the menu
option 110C, and the submenu 115 is populated with image prompts 120
accompanied by
hyperlinks 130 allowing the consumer to immediately buy the products depicted.
In this way,
each stage of the funnel can drive consumer interest further along, and the
consumer can
proceed through the funnel as long as he or she is willing, even to the point
of making a
purchase, when perhaps at the time the advertisement was first shown, the
consumer was
unaware of the options associated with the brand being advertised.
100291 FIG. 1G depicts an advertisement 100 where both the menu 105 and
submenu 115 are
filled with images of brand options 110A-110D and images representing
particular options
within each brand¨in this case, studios or cinematic universes, and trailers
for movies
associated with each. Each time an option is selected from submenu 115, a new
trailer begins
playing within the main body of the advertisement 100, allowing the consumer
to view any or
all of the trailers available. Unlike the interfaces in FIGS. 1A-1F, most menu
options do not
cause the consumer to navigate away from the video advertisement, and instead
merely
exercise control over the video playing. However, a final menu option 110E may
be clicked
or tapped to cause the consumer to be taken to an external webpage for signing
up to a service
or purchasing one or more goods advertised.
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100301 Although described throughout this document and in the various FIGS. 1A-
1G as a
"video advertisement-, the technology described herein can also be used for
video content that
does not advertise a particular good or service nor propose a financial
transaction. "Video
advertisement" should be construed to include any form of video media intended
to convey a
message to an end recipient, whether or not the recipient was necessarily
seeking the message
out. For example, various governmental, non-profit, or other organizations
might equally
benefit from interactive media content containing public service
announcements, inclement
weather warnings and alerts, solicitations for donations or charity, requests
to sign petitions,
and/or calls for public vigilance or action such as an Amber alert or a "Get
Out the Vote"
exhortation.
100311 FIG. 2 depicts a network of representative computing devices to be used
in a system
for providing webpages that include interactive video advertisements with two-
way cross-
domain communication capabilities.
100321 A consumer computing device 200 with software including a web browser
is used to
connect to the Internet 205 or another similar network for connecting various
remote devices.
The consumer computing device 200 may be a personal computer such as a laptop
or desktop,
a mobile phone, a tablet, a gaming console, or any other device capable of
using a web browser
to display a webpage to a consumer.
100331 A web browser operating on the consumer computing device 200 is used to
request or
navigate to a URL at a particular domain provided by a web server 210. The
webpage at that
URL (depicted as element 300 in FIG. 3) incorporates instructions to the
consumer's web
browser, described further below in relation to FIG. 4, to load a video
advertisement or other
dynamic content supplied by an advertisement content server 220 or other
content server that
stores video content or other information that will be dynamically inserted at
the moment that
an advertisement is loaded.
100341 An advertisement management server 215 is used to distribute the
information to
generate advertisements to the web server 210, as well as to provide an API
for receiving
communications from the consumer's computing device 200 once the consumer
begins
watching and interacting with the advertisement. The advertisement management
server 215
may also provide a user interface for creating advertisements, as depicted and
described further
below in relation to FIGS. 7A and 7B.
100351 The servers 210 and 215 might conceivably store all necessary
information to their
functions locally on the servers themselves, but in a preferred embodiment,
they will be
communicatively coupled to a web server database 225 and an advertisement
management
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database 230, respectively. The web server database 225 would not only store
the content
related to a website that a consumer might request, but also the specified
definitions of
augmented advertisements generated for embedding in that web site, as
described further in the
discussion of the following Figures. The advertisement management database 230
would store
information regarding all advertisements generated using the user interface
described in FIGS.
7A and 7B, as well as a log of consumer impressions of and interactions with
advertisements
already served, as described further in relation to FIGS. 4-6, below.
100361 Although a particular division of functions between devices is
described in the system
above, other configurations are possible in which functions are divided among
devices
differently. For example, any or all of the functions of the web server 210,
the advertisement
management server 215, the advertisement content server 220, and the databases
225 and 230
could theoretically be performed by a single device executing one or more
different software
modules simultaneously. Further, although the first web server 210, the
advertisement
management server 215, the advertisement content server 220, and the databases
225 and 230
are each described as if they are one computing device or database each, a
cloud-based solution
with multiple access points to similar systems that synchronize their data and
that are all
available as backups to one another is preferable to a unique set of computing
devices all stored
at one location. The specific number of computing devices and whether
communication
between them is network transmission between separate computing devices or
accessing a local
memory of a single computing device is not so important as the functionality
that each part has
in the overall scheme.
100371 FIG. 3 depicts a representative web-based interface incorporating a
video augmented
with advertisements.
100381 A webpage 300 may include multiple content regions 305 as well as an
advertisement
region 310. In a preferred embodiment, an iFrame is created in the
advertisement region 310
and loads the video and any other elements within the iFrame such that the
iFrame shields the
advertisement from the rest of the webpage 300's functionality, and any
scripts running on the
webpage 300. As a result, there will be no name collisions if a script running
on the webpage
300 attempts to affect an element having a particular name or ID, or tries to
affect elements of
the webpage in general.
100391 In some embodiments, the advertisement region 310 will be limited to a
banner or
floating element to one side of the webpage, as depicted in FIG. 3. In other
embodiments, a
modal box or other element 310 may be created taking up all of or a
significant portion of the
webpage, such that the rest of the webpage 300 cannot be interacted with until
the video
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advertisement has completed and then allows the consumer to progress to the
rest of the
webpage.
[0040] The advertisement region 310 can also be adapted as part of a
responsive design, using
CSS, JavaScript, or other methods to dynamically resize the advertisement
region based on the
dimensions available to a viewing device, the dimensions of a webpage
incorporating the
advertisement, and/or the layout of the webpage incorporating the
advertisement.
[0041] FIG. 4 depicts, in simplified form, a method of providing an augmented
video
advertisement to a consumer.
[0042] Initially, the consumer requests to view a webpage via their computing
device 200
(Step 400), and the web server 210 receives the request (Step 405).
[0043] The web server 210 responds to the request with HTML data for the
website, and
further includes a VPAID-specified advertisement with the response (Step 410).
VPAID is an
XML-based specification that includes a number of elements or tags relevant to
displaying a
video to a consumer, tracking the consumer's engagement with the video, and
enabling
inclusion of additional content such as JavaScript or other executable code.
An example
VPAID-specified advertisement designed to work with the presently described
systems and
methods is provided below:
<VAST xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="vast.xsd" version ="3.0"
<Ad id=1234567
<InLine>
<AdSystem>Linkstorm</AdSystem>
<AdTitle>Linear VPAID Example</AdTitle>
<Description>Vpaid Linear Video Ad</Description>
<Error>https://listener.linkstorm.net/error/eyJJSUQi0iAiV1BBRF
9HT1JDX0OzNUQifQ==</Error>
<Impression>https://listener.linkstorm.net/impression/eyJJSUQi
OiAiVIBBRF9HT1JDXUQzNUQirQ==</Impression>
<Creatives>
<Creative sequence="1"
<Linear>
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<Duration>00:00:30</Duration>
<TrackingEvents>
<Tracking
event="start">https://1istener.1inkstorm.net/start/eyJJSUQi0iA
iV1BBRF9HT1JDX0QzNUQifQ--</Tracking>
<Tracking
event="firstQuartile">https://listener.linkstorm.net/firstQuar
tile/eyJJSUQi0iAiV1BBRF9HT1JDX0QzNUQifQ==</Tracking>
<Tracking
event="midpoint">https://listener.linkstorm.net/midpoint/eyJJS
UQi0iAiV1BBRF9HT1JDX0QzNUQifQ==</Tracking>
<Tracking
event="thirdQuartile">https://listener.linkstorm.net/thirdQuar
tile/eyJJSUQi0iAiV1BBRF9HT1JDX0QzNUQifQ==</Tracking>
<Tracking
event="complete">https://listener.linkstorm.net/complete/eyJJS
UQi0iAiV1BBRF9HT1JDX0QzNUQifQ==</Tracking>
<Tracking
event="mute">https://1istener.1inkstorm.net/mute/eyJJSUQi0iAiV
1BBRF9HT1JDX0QzNUQifQ==</Tracking>
<Tracking
event="unmute">https://listener.linkstorm.net/unmute/eyJJSUQi0
iAiV1BBRF9HT1JDX0QzNUQifQ==</Tracking>
<Tracking
event="pause">https://1istener.1inkstorm.net/pause/eyJJSUQi0iA
iV1BBRF9HT1JDX0QzNUQifQ==</Tracking>
<Tracking
event="resume">https://listener.linkstorm.net/resume/eyJJSUQi0
iAiV1BBRF9HT1JDX0QzNUQifQ==</Tracking>
</TrackingEvents>
<AdParameters>
<![CDATA[
"videos":[
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"ur1":"https://cache.linkstorm.net/images/dsny/gnrc/disneyplus
main.mp4?92363",
"mimetype":"video/mp4"
1,
"adDuration":"00:00:30",
"outstream":"false",
"adSkippableState":"false",
"controls": "false"
11>
</AdParameters>
<VideoClicks>
<ClickTracking id="linkstorm"
<![CDATA[https://listener.linkstorm.net/clicktracking/eyJJSUQi
OiAiV1BBRF9HT1JDX0QzNUOifQ==]1>
</ClickTracking>
</VideoClicks>
<MediaFiles>
<MediaFile
id="3224257" height="304" width="540"
type="application/javascript"
delivery="progressive"
maintainAspectRatio="true" scalable=" true"
apiFramework="VPAID"
https://serveit.linkstorm.net/sb/VPAD GNRC D35D/vpaid.js?IID=V
PAD GNRC D35D&amp;74579
</MediaFile>
</MediaFiles>
</Linear>
</Creative>
</Creatives>
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</InLine>
</Ad>
</VAST>
100441 In alternative embodiments, specifications other than VPAID could be
used. For
example, in the future, advertisements will likely be specified according to
SIIVIID rather than
VPAID for security reasons, but SIIVIID is capable of the same dynamic loading
process. Any
form of advertisement definition that instructs a video player to load a
series of instructions
capable of modifying the contents of the webpage may be used instead, and
VPAID will be
subsequently used for the sake of convenience throughout this written
description rather than
clarifying in each instance that a more general form of advertisement
definition could be used
equally well.
100451 In the code above, the XML element
"<MediaFile type="application/javascript" apiFramework="VPAID">
https://serveit.linkstorm.net/sb/VPAD GNRC D35D/vpaid.js?IID=VPAD GNRC D35D8za

mp;74579 </MediaFile>"
will cause a video file to load a particular JavaScript file entitled
"vpaid.js" and begin
executing it while an advertisement is playing.
100461 The code above also includes tags such as "<Error>", "<Impression>",
and
"<TrackingEvents>" that each specify one or more possible events that can
occur while a
consumer is watching the advertisement (i.e., failure to load and play the
video, confirmation
that the advertisement has been displayed, and various temporal checkpoints or
consumer
actions while watching the video, respectively). In each case of the above
example, the tag
specifies a URL at the advertisement management server 215 to which an HTTP
request will
be transmitted if the event occurs. The URLs can serve as a RESTful
(representational state
transfer) API where each distinct HTTP request encodes in the URL itself the
event that has
occurred, the consumer who triggered the event, and any other relevant
information. In other
embodiments, another form of communication may be used either that does not
rely on an
HTTP request to a specific URL, or that is not a RESTful API, but nevertheless
ensures that a
message gets through to the advertisement management server 215.
100471 This enables the advertisement management server 215 to store the
events associated
with the consumer, and react to them in several ways. The advertisement
management server
215 may better target advertisements in the future based on which
advertisements a consumer
engages with for a longer period of time or that a consumer chooses to resume
or unmute after
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having previously paused or muted the advertisement. The events can also be
used to recreate
the consumer's experience (see the discussion of FIG. 8, further below) during
a postmortem
evaluation to understand the consumer's possible thought process while viewing
the
advertisement, based on the actions taken by the consumer while watching.
[0048] The consumer's browser receives the webpage and the VPAID advertisement

definition (Step 415), and, as called for by the webpage, instantiates an
HTML5 video player
or other video player to display the advertisement. Code to accomplish the
instantiation and
that is capable of parsing and complying with the VPAID definition may be
found in, for
example, the Interactive Media Ads Software Development Kits provided by
Google.
[0049] The HTML5 video player or other video player within the consumer's
browser begins
executing the VPAID instructions, including loading a video from the
advertisement content
server 220 and executing the JavaScript specified in the "<MediaFile>" tag of
the VPAID
instructions (Step 420).
[0050] The JavaScript includes instructions to create a new iFrame element in
the HTML of
the page (Step 425). As previously mentioned, an iFrame is preferred as a
better method of
protecting the contents from interference by other scripts that may be running
on the page. Use
of an iFrame can also enable cross-domain communication that might be blocked
by security
settings of a web browser if a script directing HTTP requests to the
advertisement management
server 215 were to apparently do so from a domain served by the web server
210. However,
in other embodiments, a "<div>" or other HTML element capable of storing other
HTML
elements within it might be used instead.
[0051] The iFrame is then populated with user interface elements and
JavaScript necessary to
respond to consumer manipulation of those elements (Step 430). This may
include, most
obviously, the menu of the sort depicted in FIGS. 1A-1C. However, in
alternative forms of
video advertisement, numerous other forms of interactive content might be
included, such as:
= filling out and submitting a form, including for purposes of registering
a new user of a
service, logging in as an existing user of a service, or providing contact
information
and consent to future communications such as a mailing list for coupons or
special
offers,
= browsing through a selection of additional content, documents, or other
files and
submitting a request to download one or more of these files,
= filling out a survey or voting in a poll, and viewing results of the
survey or poll in real
time,
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= bidding in an online auction, viewing the current status of the auction,
or otherwise
browsing and participating in other interactive marketplaces with user-
submitted
content,
= viewing the status of a local or multiplayer game, and participating in
the game by
logging in, selecting options, and/or selecting moves or providing input to
control one's
character or one's assets within the game,
= entering information to be posted to one or more social media networks
with which the
consumer has an account, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc.,
including
textual content, image content, or "likes" or other interactions facilitated
by those social
networks, and viewing content submitted by others to social media networks,
= viewing or sending instant messages, texts/SMS, emails, or other forms of
electronic
communication,
= connecting to additional input devices of the consumer's computer 200,
such as a
microphone, camera, fingerprint reader,
= confirming of one's identity, providing a password, supplying a temporary
or ad-hoc
access code, uploading an identity-confirming token or file, or any other form
of
logging into a server or providing the second factor in a service's two-factor

authentication,
= browsing or shopping within an online store, adding items to an online
shopping cart,
and/or providing payment and shipping information to check out and complete a
purchase from within the advertisement¨a functionality described in other
advertising
contexts in pending U.S. Pat. App. 63/081,157, filed September 21, 2020 and
titled
"METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR CROSS-DOMAIN TWO-WAY
COMMUNICATION BY DYNAMIC WEB CONTENT", herein incorporated by
reference in its entirety¨and/or
= any other form of communications to or from the advertisement, especially
to facilitate
dynamic retargeting and dynamic optimization, described more fully below.
100521 The video player begins playing the advertisement (Step 435), such that
the consumer
now sees both an underlying video playing and the persistent, interactive menu
(or other
functionality, as described in the paragraph above) that can be browsed while
the underlying
video plays.
[0053] If the consumer at any point provides input (Step 440), such as by
clicking one of the
menu options 110, the JavaScript running in the iFrame updates the menu or
other user
interface elements accordingly (Step 445), by populating a submenu with
options, displaying
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a different video, displaying a confirmation that an event has been recorded
on a different
website (such as an indication that a shopping cart now contains items, or a
confirmation that
a new username has been created), or any other reaction to the user's input.
In any event, the
video continues playing (back to Step 435) until it is either paused or closed
by the consumer,
it finishes playing and self-closes if that behavior is desired by the
advertiser, or the video is
replaced with another dynamically loaded video in response to consumer input.
[0054] FIG. 5 depicts, in simplified form, a method of receiving
communications from an
augmented video advertisement to update a profile or cart associated with a
consumer.
[0055] Initially, the server passively waits for input (Step 500) in the form
of an HTTP request
to a particular predefined URL that specifies a particular advertisement and a
particular event
or action associated with that advertisement.
[0056] If input is provided via the URL API previously described (Step 505),
then various
actions may take place on the server side (Step 510). Inputs may include
active consumer
decisions such as clicks, taps, or other indicators of consumer intent, but
may also include other
information such as the total view time of a particular menu element before
the consumer
passed on to a different user interface element. An augmented VPAID
advertisement is thus
able to track every second of viewing, clicks within each menu, and time spent
on each branch
of the menu¨not only statistics at the quartile level, as previous, non-
augmented VPAID
advertisements were limited to.
[0057] As a result of this finer granularity of information, advertising
platforms are able to
offer alternative payment models for advertisements other than cost per
impression (or more
commonly, cost per thousand impressions) or cost per click (which is rarely
offered because
of the staggeringly low rate of click-through on video advertisements). In
addition to an
increased click-through rate that makes a cost per click feasible, the
presently described
augmented video advertisements allow for calculation of and assessment of a
cost per second
of video shown, a cost per second of engagement (for example, for a period of
time that the
consumer was interacting with a menu and thus was guaranteed to be seeing the
video rather
than a different portion of the webpage), and/or a fixed fee for each instance
of a particular
action by the consumer. Such actions may include completing a video,
completing a quartile
of a video, or engaging with the interactive interface, such as by clicking on
the menu to open
a submenu, adding an item to a shopping cart, or logging into a website
through the interface.
The tracking of the consumer may also allow for a cost to be assessed as a
percentage of sales
generated by the advertisement, based on the consumer's later purchase of
items that were
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displayed in the advertisement or that the consumer interacted with in a menu
during the
advertisement.
100581 If the input demands a response (Step 515), then the advertisement
management server
215 will transmit an appropriate response (Step 520). A response might include
a mere
acknowledgement, or more detailed instructions to update an aspect of the user
interface, such
as loading new menu elements, prompting a consumer to login to a third-party
web site or single
sign-on system, showing that an item has been added to a shopping cart, etc.
100591 Once action has been undertaken and a response has been provided, the
system returns
to waiting for input (Step 500) in a cycle so long as the server is running
and expecting possible
input related to advertisements.
100601 FIG. 6A depicts, in simplified form, a method of dynamically
retargeting an
advertisement based on a consumer's previous inputs or engagement with the
advertisement
or a similar advertisement.
100611 When an advertisement is viewed for a second time, Steps 400-430, as
depicted in FIG.
4, repeat as before from the consumer's point of view.
100621 A JavaScript call to the server 215 notifies the advertisement
management server 215
of the identity of the consumer (or provides information that was stored in
cookies, a tracking
pixel, or other tracking assets associated with the web browser of the
consumer) that has been
detected (Step 600).
100631 Next, the advertisement management server 215 looks up in its local
storage or an
associated database that advertisement and that consumer (Step 605) to review
any events that
were previously captured when the consumer viewed the advertisement the first
time.
100641 Upon determining that the consumer had interacted with the
advertisement (Step 610),
the advertisement management server 215 transmits instructions to dynamically
retarget an
aspect of the user interface or advertisement (for example, show a different
video, or go down
a menu branch) (Step 615).
100651 In some embodiments, this dynamically retargeted aspect may be as
simple as
automatically returning the advertisement to a state in which the consumer had
previously left
it, such as automatically opening a menu branch that the user had previously
opened, or
automatically displaying a secondary video that the consumer had caused to be
displayed
instead of the primary video.
100661 In other embodiments, other data, including third party data associated
with the
consumer, may be consulted. For example, the advertisement management server
215 may
access information documenting which products the consumer has viewed on the
advertiser's
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own website, then pull information from a product database the content
describing those
products (typically based on the products' unique identifiers such as SKUs or
UPCs or ISBNs),
including product names, images, prices, categories, etc., and then place that
content within
the interactive menu that is served to the consumer, so that the consumer is
presented with the
products they had previously expressed an interest in. The menu may also have
a new menu
branch for "Recently Viewed" items which then expands to show all products
that had been
viewed by the consumer and direct the consumer's attention to the most likely
items for the
consumer to engage with.
100671 Other applications may include, for example, an advertisement for
online dating
services being customized to show the profiles and/or photos of potential
dating candidates the
consumer had been considering; an advertisement for travel services being
customized to show
the destinations the consumer had been exploring; an advertisement for an
online music service
being customized to include references or even audio clips of music recordings
that the
consumer had searched for or browsed on the site, or from music artists the
consumer had
searched or browsed; an advertisement for an source of medical information or
equipment
being customized to show references to diseases, symptoms or medicines as
driven by the
consumer's previous searches; or an advertisement for an aggregator of medical
or legal or
other services being customized to show service providers that the consumer
had viewed or
other service providers in the same field.
100681 Other forms of optimizing the advertisement may include a consumer
viewing tourism
information being shown hotels or travel packages for those locations, even if
the consumer
had not specifically viewed those hotels or travel packages; a consumer whose
location had
been determined via a geo-location mechanism being shown an advertisement
customized to
display restaurants or stores or offices or bank branches near their location,
even if the
consumer had not specifically seen those entities online; other optimizations
based on the
combination of the consumer's location with other online or offline data about
that consumer;
or any other customization based on location-related data, demographic data,
credit card
purchase data, or any other source of data that could be used as a basis for
targeting individuals
with advertisements.
100691 If, instead, there are no relevant prior events to consider related to
the consumer, the
server will acknowledge the transmission without additional instructions (Step
620).
100701 In either event, the advertisement management server 215 then waits for
additional
input (returning to and repeating Steps 500-520).
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100711 FIGS. 6B and 6C depict an example of a dynamically retargeted
advertisement before
and after retargeting, respectively.
100721 The first time an advertisement 650 is displayed (as in FIG. 6B), the
advertisement is
generically supporting a particular brand according to the "full funnel"
concept, and the
consumer is encouraged to browse a menu 655, moving down the hierarchy into a
submenu
660 with a particular model being advertised. The consumer's clicking or
tapping to arrive at
the submenu 660 is recorded at the advertisement management server even though
the
consumer never makes the purchase of that particular model.
100731 However, the second time the advertisement 650 is displayed (as in FIG.
6C), there are
several distinct changes. First, the main content of the advertisement 650 is
different; no longer
is a "full funnel" strategy being pursued for this advertisement view, because
it is already
known that the consumer is familiar with and at least curious about the brand
and at least one
model within that brand. The main content of the advertisement is centered on
the particular
model known to have caught the consumer's eye in the past. The menu 655 now
adds a
"Recently Viewed- option 665, and its contents are dynamically loaded with
items that the
consumer has viewed either in past iterations of the advertisement, or that
the consumer had
viewed on the advertiser's website directly, with that information being
provided to the
advertiser via either a direct channel from the advertiser's website, or via
cookies or other
tracking markers stored on the consumer's web browser. The advertisement is
thus hyper-
targeted, focusing first on a model that the consumer has previously
investigated, second on
recently viewed other items of interest, and only third on other items from
the advertiser for
which there is less data to gauge the consumer's interest. The higher density
of interesting
offers to the consumer is likely to drive a much higher rate of click-through,
even compared to
an interactive but non-targeted advertisement.
100741 FIGS. 7A and 7B depict a user interface for defining interactive menus
to be associated
with a given video advertisement.
[0075] A user interface 700 can be used to create new advertisement campaigns,
whether from
scratch or by using a cloning tool 705 on an existing campaign.
100761 After selecting a particular advertisement to edit, a popup window 750
allows the
creation of a menu tree 755 having multiple layers (to populate both a primary
menu 105 and
a submenu 115, as well as potentially a tertiary menu or other hierarchical
structures). Each
option on the menu tree can be associated with a further submenu, and each
menu or submenu
item can be provided with a textual label 760, content 765 such as an image or
even potentially
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a video or other interactive content within that portion of the menu, and a
URL 770 that
hyperlinks the option and will take the consumer to a different webpage if
they click it.
100771 The user interface also allows the advertisement to be associated with
a tracking pixel
that will be generated when the JavaScript or other scripting language is
executed on the
browser to create the menu. This allows for limited tracking of consumer
engagement to occur
in parallel with the primary engagement via the menu; even if the consumer
never clicks the
menu, by loading an image from the advertisement management server 215 or the
advertisement content server 220, the advertiser is notified that the
advertisement has been
loaded. The use of tracking pixels also allows a third party working with the
advertiser to be
notified that a consumer has been showed the advertisement.
100781 Upon clicking a publish button 710, the JavaScript or other scripting
language
necessary to generate the interactive menu will be automatically created and
stored on either
the advertisement management server 215 or the advertisement content server
220. The
VPAID or other definition for the advertisement will also be generated and
distributed to the
web server 210 to be included with the webpages distributed by that server.
Other features of
the interface may include previewing a live rendering of the advertisement
during editing,
generating a demo page for client review and/or demo purposes outside of a
live campaign,
and adding tracking assets other than tracking pixels, such as scripts for
analytics or other
purposes
100791 FIG. 8 depicts a method for reviewing and recreating a consumer's
advertisement
engagement experience.
[0080] When an advertiser wants to review consumers' experience with a
particular
advertisement, a user interface may be provided to browse, first based on
selection of an
advertisement (Step 800) and then upon selection of a particular consumer from
a set of
consumers who have viewed that advertisement (Step 805), those interactions.
After retrieving
from the storage of all consumer events received all events that are at the
intersection of that
consumer and that advertisement (Step 810), the events can be temporally
ordered (Step 815)
to establish a log of the consumer's experience.
[0081] This log may be visually structured in two ways to facilitate
comprehension. In one
visualization, a timeline may be created (Step 820) to show lengths of time
spent watching the
video and at what points of the video the consumer began to interact with the
menu or other
user interface elements. For example, an advertiser may be able to see that
the consumer
viewed the video for 7 seconds before clicking on a menu item and opening a
submenu, then
only paused for 1 second before clicking a particular item of that submenu,
showing a particular
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interest in that one item based on the lack of hesitation of engagement once
that item was
visible to the consumer. Having only the data that the consumer clicked that
item 8 seconds
after the video began is not nearly as valuable in demonstrating the
consumer's interest.
100821 In some embodiments, the log data may be used to generate an animation
recreating
the consumer's experience almost exactly (Step 825). For example, the video
could begin
playing for the advertiser with a cursor representing the consumer's own
cursor visible on the
screen. At the exact moments in the video playback that the consumer
interacted with a user
interface element, the displayed cursor can be moved to the same element and
the user interface
in the animation updated to show the user interface as that consumer saw it at
that moment.
This information may be invaluable for getting a gut feeling as to how
consumers are
interacting with the advertisement, as well as helping to troubleshoot any
unforeseen problems
with interaction between an advertisement and the user interface, such as a
selected color
scheme of the user interface being difficult to see or illegible when the
underlying video uses
similar coloring in the same region at the same moment the user interface is
being displayed.
100831 Although FIG. 2 depicts a preferred configuration of computing devices
to accomplish
the software-implemented methods described above, those methods do not
inherently rely on
the use of any particular specialized computing devices, as opposed to
standard desktop
computers and/or web servers. For the purpose of illustrating possible such
computing devices,
FIG. 9 is a high-level block diagram of a representative computing device that
may be utilized
for each of the computing devices and/or systems to implement various features
and processes
described herein. The computing device may be described in the general context
of computer
system-executable instructions, such as program modules, being executed by a
computer
system. Generally, program modules may include routines, programs, objects,
components,
logic, data structures, and so on that perform particular tasks or implement
particular abstract
data types.
100841 As shown in FIG. 9, the components of the computing device may include
(but are not
limited to) one or more processors or processing units 500, a system memory
510, and a bus
515 that couples various system components including memory 510 to processor
500.
100851 Bus 515 represents one or more of any of several types of bus
structures, including a
memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics
port, and a
processor or local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of
example, and not
limitation, such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA)
bus, Micro Channel
Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards
Association
(VESA) local bus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus.
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100861 Processing unit(s) 500 may execute computer programs stored in memory
510. Any
suitable programming language can be used to implement the routines of
particular
embodiments including C, C++, Java, assembly language, etc. Different
programming
techniques can be employed such as procedural or object oriented. The routines
can execute
on a single computing device or multiple computing devices. Further, multiple
processors 500
may be used.
[0087] The computing device typically includes a variety of computer system
readable media.
Such media may be any available media that is accessible by the computing
device, and it
includes both volatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable
media.
[0088] System memory 510 can include computer system readable media in the
form of
volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 520 and/or cache memory
530 The
computing device may further include other removable/non-removable,
volatile/non-volatile
computer system storage media. By way of example only, storage system 540 can
be provided
for reading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media
(not shown and
typically referred to as a "hard drive-). Although not shown, a magnetic disk
drive for reading
from and writing to a removable, non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a "floppy
disk"), and an
optical disk drive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile
optical disk such as
a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided. In such instances,
each can
be connected to bus 515 by one or more data media interfaces. As will be
further depicted and
described below, memory 510 may include at least one program product having a
set (e.g., at
least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out the functions
of embodiments
described in this disclosure.
[0089] Program/utility 550, having a set (at least one) of program modules
555, may be stored
in memory 510 by way of example, and not limitation, as well as an operating
system, one or
more application software, other program modules, and program data. Each of
the operating
system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program
data or some
combination thereof, may include an implementation of a networking
environment.
[0090] The computing device may also communicate with one or more external
devices 570
such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display, etc.; one or more devices
that enable a user to
interact with the computing device; and/or any devices (e.g., network card,
modem, etc.) that
enable the computing device to communicate with one or more other computing
devices. Such
communication can occur via Input/Output (I/O) interface(s) 560.
[0091] In addition, as described above, the computing device can communicate
with one or
more networks, such as a local area network (LAN), a general wide area network
(WAN)
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and/or a public network (e.g., the Internet) via network adaptor 580. As
depicted, network
adaptor 580 communicates with other components of the computing device via bus
515. It
should be understood that although not shown, other hardware and/or software
components
could be used in conjunction with the computing device. Examples include (but
are not limited
to) microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive
arrays, RAID
systems, tape drives, and data archival storage systems, etc.
[0092] The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computer
program product
at any possible technical detail level of integration. The computer program
product may
include a computer readable storage medium (or media) having computer readable
program
instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the
present invention.
[0093] The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can
retain and
store instructions for use by an instruction execution device. The computer
readable storage
medium may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic storage
device, a magnetic
storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device,
a semiconductor
storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A non-exhaustive
list of more
specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the
following: a portable
computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only
memory (ROM),
an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static
random
access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a
digital
versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded
device such as
punch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded
thereon, and any
suitable combination of the foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as
used herein,
is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves
or other freely
propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a
wavegui de
or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses passing through a fiber-optic
cable), or electrical
signals transmitted through a wire.
[0094] Computer readable program instructions described herein can be
downloaded to
respective computing/processing devices from a computer readable storage
medium or to an
external computer or external storage device via a network, for example, the
Internet, a local
area network, a wide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may
use copper
transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wireless transmission,
routers, firewalls,
switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. A network adapter card or
network interface
in each computing/processing device receives computer readable program
instructions from
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the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for
storage in a computer
readable storage medium within the respective computing/processing device.
100951 Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of
the present
invention may be assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA)
instructions,
machine instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware
instructions, state-
setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, or either source
code or object code
written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an
object
oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and
procedural
programming languages, such as the "C" programming language or similar
programming
languages. The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on
the user's
computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package,
partly on the user's
computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or
server. In
the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's
computer through any
type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network
(WAN), or the
connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the
Internet using an
Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry
including, for example,
programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or
programmable logic
arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions by
utilizing state
information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the
electronic
circuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.
100961 Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to
flowchart
illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and
computer program
products according to embodiments of the invention. It is understood that each
block of the
flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in
the flowchart
illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer readable
program
instructions.
100971 These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a
processor of a
general-purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data
processing
apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via
the processor of
the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for
implementing
the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or
blocks. These
computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer
readable storage
medium that can direct a computer, a programmable data processing apparatus,
and/or other
devices to function in a particular manner, such that the computer readable
storage medium
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having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture
including instructions
which implement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or
block diagram
block or blocks.
100981 The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a
computer, other
programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to cause a series of
operational steps
to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other device
to produce a
computer implemented process, such that the instructions which execute on the
computer,
other programmable apparatus, or other device implement the functions/acts
specified in the
flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
100991 The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the
architecture,
functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods,
and computer
program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In
this regard,
each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment,
or portion of
instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for
implementing the
specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the
functions noted in the
blocks may occur out of the order noted in the Figures. For example, two
blocks shown in
succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks
may sometimes
be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved.
It will also be
noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and
combinations of
blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented
by special
purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or
carry out
combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
101001 The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present invention
have been
presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intended to be exhaustive
or limited to the
embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to
those of
ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the
described
embodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the
principles of the
embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement over
technologies found in
the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to
understand the embodiments
disclosed herein.
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Representative Drawing
A single figure which represents the drawing illustrating the invention.
Administrative Status

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Administrative Status

Title Date
Forecasted Issue Date Unavailable
(86) PCT Filing Date 2020-11-19
(87) PCT Publication Date 2022-05-27
(85) National Entry 2023-05-19

Abandonment History

There is no abandonment history.

Maintenance Fee

Last Payment of $50.00 was received on 2023-10-31


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Payment History

Fee Type Anniversary Year Due Date Amount Paid Paid Date
Application Fee $210.51 2023-05-19
Maintenance Fee - Application - New Act 2 2022-11-21 $50.00 2023-05-19
Maintenance Fee - Application - New Act 3 2023-11-20 $50.00 2023-10-31
Owners on Record

Note: Records showing the ownership history in alphabetical order.

Current Owners on Record
CONTENT DIRECTIONS, INC. DBA LINKSTORM
Past Owners on Record
None
Past Owners that do not appear in the "Owners on Record" listing will appear in other documentation within the application.
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National Entry Request 2023-05-19 2 41
Miscellaneous correspondence 2023-05-19 1 41
Declaration of Entitlement 2023-05-19 1 22
Miscellaneous correspondence 2023-05-19 2 41
Representative Drawing 2023-05-19 1 52
Description 2023-05-19 25 1,391
Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) 2023-05-19 1 77
Claims 2023-05-19 4 175
Drawings 2023-05-19 13 505
International Search Report 2023-05-19 3 95
Correspondence 2023-05-19 2 48
National Entry Request 2023-05-19 9 250
Abstract 2023-05-19 1 19
Office Letter 2024-03-28 2 188
Office Letter 2024-03-28 2 188
Cover Page 2023-08-25 1 68