Lee Ming Chen

US Patent:

6925649, Aug 2, 2005

Filed:

Mar 30, 2001

Appl. No.:

09/823863

Inventors:

Eddie M. Schwalb - Irvine CA, US
Lee M. Chen - Irvine CA, US

Assignee:

Sharp Laboratories of America, Inc. - Camus WA

International Classification:

H04N007/025

US Classification:

725 32, 725 42, 725131, 725136, 725151

Abstract:

Methods and systems for the mass customization of Digital Television broadcasts through the broadcasting of commercials in the form of software applications. Ad-applications are injected into various sub-streams of the transport stream and received in a dormant state by the client-side set-top box. When a commercial is to be shown, a broadcaster broadcasts a generic time-stamped trigger to a dispatching application that performs a keyword matching algorithm to decide which ad-application among those received at the receiver is to be executed. The dispatching application uses the results of the latter comparison to decide which specific dormant ad-application to route to; it then converts the generic trigger into a chosen-ad trigger that is routed to the chosen ad-application. Upon receipt of the chosen-ad trigger, the chosen ad-application executes, thereby displaying an ad customized to the individual viewer's interests.

US Patent:

20020120929, Aug 29, 2002

Filed:

Feb 28, 2001

Appl. No.:

09/796190

Inventors:

Eddie Schwalb - Irvine CA, US
Lee Chen - Irvine CA, US

International Classification:

H04N007/025
H04N007/10
G06F003/00
H04N005/445
G06F013/00

US Classification:

725/032000, 725/034000, 725/035000, 725/036000, 725/046000

Abstract:

A method and system for the mass customization of Digital Television broadcasts that involves the broadcasting of synchronized sub-streams. Each sub-stream is divided into segments of equal length and marked by time-stamped tags. The sub-streams include keywords describing the video content, and the sub-stream keywords are compared with viewer keywords at the client-side set-top box to derive a match score. The set-top box then switches to the sub-stream having the best match score. Thus, the client-side set-top box can automatically select commercials that best fit the personal interests of each viewer, resulting in better targeted commercials and simultaneously benefitting the viewer and advertiser.