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System and method for providing sequential video and interactive content

System and method for providing sequential video and interactive content description/claims

This application claims priority to, and is a continuation-in-part of, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/963,352, filed Dec. 21, 2007; and this application claims priority to, and is a continuation-in-part of, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/750,665, filed May 18, 2007 and this application also claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/941,354 filed Jun. 1, 2007, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

The present invention generally relates to a system and method for delivering video and interactive content and more particularly, to a system and method for selecting and delivering a plurality of videos and interactive content to users via a packet based communication system such as the Internet.

In broadcast networks, such as broadcast television and radio, video content is inserted into the media stream for presentation to all the end users tuned to a particular channel. In conventional internet based video delivery systems, a user selects a video to watch that is received and viewed by the user. After the initial video is watched, the user typically must select another video to watch.

Furthermore, in broadcast networks the same advertisement is typically inserted into the media stream for presentation to all the end users. In such networks, there typically is no means for determining with precision how many end users experienced (e.g., viewed) an advertisement, which end users experienced the advertisement, or which end users responded to the advertisement. In addition, advertisements communicated via a broadcast network are not interactive, and, therefore, do not allow the operator to provide contextual advertising based on information about the viewer (e.g., the view's location, demographics, etc.), allow the viewer to supply personal information or request additional information, or facilitate impulse responses to the advertisements.

In contrast, interactive networks such as the internet are more amenable to the selective and precise distribution of video and advertising. Internet advertising in which advertisements are sold based on the number of impressions or the number of click-throughs is well known. Typically, such internet advertisements comprise a still image (e.g., a banner ad) or a hyperlink that is presented as part of a static web page.

When the user requests a video, it would be desirable to provide additional videos as well as advertisements that are selected to be pertinent to the requested video and/or contextual information of the end user such as the user's location, demographics, personal information, user's interests, information about the end user's computing device, information about the network to which the end user's computer is connected, and/or other information. In addition, it would be desirable to provide advertisements associated with one or more of the provided videos that are pertinent to the content of the video(s) such as the subject matter of the video, rating of the video, the contextual information, and/or other information.

Obtaining the contextual information, however, can be challenging. For example, end users typically do not wish to be bothered with providing information each time he or she views a video. Providing contextual advertisements—especially wherein the advertisement is personalized to the end user (e.g., includes the end user's name)—and customizing the video content based on the contextual information provides additional challenges. Consequently, there is a need for a system and method for selecting and providing video content and contextual advertisements for presentation with the selected video in a packet based communication system such as the Internet.

These and other advantages are provided by various embodiments of the present invention.

The present invention provides a system and method of providing sequential video and contextual based content to an end user viewing video content in a video player on an end user computing device. In one embodiment, the method comprises storing a plurality of videos in a memory, storing a plurality of advertisements in a memory, receiving a plurality of requests from a plurality of different clients and wherein each request includes information identifying a first video and each of the plurality of clients initiates its request from one of a plurality of web pages and wherein the plurality of web pages form part of a plurality of different web sites. In addition, the plurality of web pages may include program code configured to cause a video to be presented in the video player. The method further comprises for each received request, selecting a plurality of videos based on information of the first video; and selecting a plurality of advertisements, wherein at least one of the plurality of advertisements is selected based on information of the first video and at least one of the plurality of advertisements is selected based on information of a selected video. In addition, the method may comprise for each received request, transmitting the plurality of videos to the requesting client for sequential presentation by the client; and transmitting the plurality of advertisements to the requesting client and wherein at least some of the plurality of advertisements are configured to be presented concurrently with a received video.

The invention is further described in the detailed description that follows, by reference to the noted drawings by way of non-limiting illustrative embodiments of the invention, in which like reference numerals represent similar parts throughout the drawings. As should be understood, however, the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of one example architecture that may be used to implement some example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of an example video skin ad in accordance with some example embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of another example video skin in accordance with some example embodiments of the present invention.

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