Epg with advertising inserts

CA 02275720 2009-01-14

-ΙΕΡΟ WITH ADVERTISING INSERTS

BACKGROUND

This invention relates to electronic program guides that incorporate advertising messages or words.

As the number of television channels available on cable and by satellite expands, an on- screen electronic program guide (EPG) become more indispensable. Such an EPG permits the user to sort the available present and future programming by theme, time, and channel. As a result, the user can find a program of interest more easily.

It is costly to collect EPG data for display and to transmit such data to the consumer. Thus, there is a need to find a way to recover the cost of these activities.

SUMMARY

In accordance with one aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus for displaying advertisements. The apparatus includes a memory for storing electronic program guide data and advertising data associated with a plurality of advertisements. The apparatus also includes a display monitor having a screen, and provisions for accessing the memory to recover electronic program guide data corresponding to a number of television programs. The apparatus further includes provisions for displaying recovered electronic program guide data on the screen in lines of television program listings, each of the lines of television program listing being displayed in a separate line and provisions for displaying time and channel for at least some of the displayed television program listings. The apparatus further includes provisions for selecting an advertisement for display from said plurality of advertisements stored in the memory. The apparatus further includes provisions for accessing the memory to recover advertising data associated with a selected advertisement, and provisions for using said advertising data associated with said selected advertisement to insert the selected advertisement in a separate line on the screen between lines of the television program listings.

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-2The recovered electronic program guide data may be displayed in a first area of the screen, and the apparatus may further include provisions for highlighting one of the lines of electronic program guide data on the screen with a cursor, provisions for displaying a detail window in a second area of the screen, and provisions for inserting a description of the television program listing highlighted by the cursor in the second area.

The apparatus may further include provisions for highlighting the line of advertising data on the screen with a cursor, and provisions for inserting information relating to the advertising data highlighted by the cursor in the second area.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a system for displaying advertisements in an electronic program guide (EPG) including a memory for storing EPG data and advertising data, and a display monitor having a screen. The system further includes a microprocessor for accessing the memory to retrieve a portion of the EPG data and for accessing the memory to retrieve selected advertising data therefrom, and a video processor for displaying on the display monitor the retrieved portion of the EPG data in a plurality of rows of schedule information items and for displaying the time and channel for at least a segment of the displayed television schedule information items and for displaying on the display monitor the retrieved selected advertisement on a separate row between two adjacent rows of the plurality rows of schedule information items simultaneously with the displayed retrieved portion of the EPG data.

The retrieved selected advertisement may be interactive.

The retrieved selected advertisement may include text.

The retrieved selected advertisement may be related to one or more of a product and service.

The advertising data may be displayed independently of the displayed EPG data.

The advertising data may be displayed independently of user selections of the displayed EPG data.

The advertising data may contain information other than a channel name, channel number, and a program title.

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-3The EPG data may be displayed for a user selectable time and the advertising data may be displayed independently of the user selected time.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a method for simultaneously displaying advertisements with an electronic program guide (EPG). The method involves displaying television schedule information in a plurality of rows of schedule information items and displaying the time and channel for at least some of the displayed television schedule information items. The method further involves selecting an advertisement for display from a plurality of advertisements, and displaying the selected advertisement on a separate row between two adjacent rows of the plurality rows of schedule information items simultaneously with said at least some of the displayed plurality of television schedule information items.

The selected advertisement may be interactive.

The selected advertisement may include text.

The selected advertisement may be related to a product or service.

The method may further involve highlighting a row of the displayed schedule information items with a cursor, displaying a detail window in a second area of the screen, and displaying a description corresponding to the highlighted row of the displayed schedule information items in a second area of the screen.

The method may further involve highlighting the displayed channel advertisement with a cursor, and displaying information relating to the highlighted channel advertisement in a second area of the screen.

The displayed channel advertisement may have substantially the same horizontal width of each of the displayed plurality of rows of schedule information items.

The displayed channel advertisement may have substantially the same vertical height of each of the displayed plurality of rows of schedule information items.

The method may further involve transmitting the advertisements and the schedule information in a vertical blanking interval of a television signal.

The displayed channel advertisement may be displayed independent of the displayed schedule information. The displayed channel advertisement may be displayed independent of user selections of the displayed schedule information.

The displayed channel advertisement may be displayed independent of a channel.

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-4In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus for displaying advertisements. The apparatus includes a memory for storing electronic program guide data and advertising data. The apparatus further includes a display monitor having a screen, provisions for accessing the memory to recover electronic program guide data corresponding to a number of television programs, and provisions for displaying the recovered electronic program guide data on the screen in lines of television program listings, each of the lines of television program listings being displayed in a separate line. The apparatus further includes provisions for accessing the memory to recover the advertising data, and provisions for inserting the recovered advertising data in a separate line on the screen between lines of the television program listings, wherein the advertising data contains information other than a channel name, channel number, and a program title.

The electronic program guide data may be displayed in a first area of the screen, and the apparatus may further include provisions for highlighting one of the lines of electronic program guide data on the screen with a cursor, provisions for displaying a detail window in a second area of the screen simultaneously with the displayed electronic program guide data, and provisions for inserting a description of the television program listing highlighted by the cursor in the second area.

The apparatus may further include provisions for highlighting the line of the advertising data on the screen with a cursor; and provisions for inserting information relating to the advertising data highlighted by the cursor in the second area to be displayed simultaneously with the displayed electronic program guide data.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus for displaying advertisements. The apparatus includes a memory that stores electronic program guide data and advertising data, a display monitor having a screen, and a microprocessor that accesses the memory to recover the electronic program guide data corresponding to a number of television programs and accesses the memory to recover the advertising data. The apparatus further includes a video processor that displays the recovered electronic program guide data on the screen in lines of television program listings, each of the lines of television program listings being displayed in a separate line, the video processor configured to insert the recovered advertising data in a separate line on the screen between lines of the

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-5television program listings, wherein the advertising data contains information other than a channel name, channel number, and a program title.

The electronic program guide data may be displayed in a first area of the screen, and the apparatus may additionally include a viewer input device that highlights one of the lines of television program listings with a cursor, wherein in the video processor is configured to display a detail window in a second area of the screen, and wherein the video processor is configured to insert a description corresponding to the highlighted one of the lines of television program listings in the second area of the screen to be displayed simultaneously with the displayed electronic program guide data.

The viewer input device may be further configured to highlight the inserted line of advertising data with a cursor, and wherein the video processor may be further configured to display information relating to the highlighted line of advertising data in the second area of the screen to be displayed simultaneously with the displayed electronic program guide data.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a method for displaying advertisements in an electronic program guide. The method involves storing electronic program guide data and advertising data in a memory, the electronic program guide data corresponding to a plurality of television programs. The method further involves retrieving the electronic program guide data from memory, displaying the electronic program guide data in a display in lines of television program listings, each of the lines of television program listings being displayed in a separate line, retrieving the advertising data from memory, and inserting the retrieved advertising data in a separate line on the screen between lines of the television program listings, wherein the advertising data contains information other than a channel name, channel number, and a program title.

The method may further involve highlighting one of the lines of television program listings with a cursor, displaying a detail window in a second area of the screen, and displaying a description corresponding to the highlighted one of the lines of television program listings in the second area of the screen simultaneously with the displayed electronic program guide data.

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-6The method may further involve highlighting the inserted line of advertising data with a cursor, and displaying information relating to the highlighted line of advertising data in the second area of the screen simultaneously with the displayed electronic program guide data.

The method may further involve transmitting the advertising data and the electronic program guide data in the vertical blanking interval.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a system for displaying channel advertisements in an electronic program guide (EPG). The system includes a memory for storing EPG data, a display monitor having a screen, a microprocessor for accessing the memory to retrieve a portion of the EPG data, and a video processor (1) for displaying on the display monitor the retrieved portion of the EPG data in a plurality of rows of schedule information items for a plurality of programs and displaying the time and channel for the displayed schedule information items, wherein one of the programs is sponsored by an advertiser and (2) for displaying on the display monitor an advertisement for the advertiser on a separate row between two rows of the schedule information items simultaneously with the displayed retrieved portion of the EPG data, wherein the displayed advertisement is displayed adjacent to the schedule information item for the program sponsored by the advertiser.

The displayed channel advertisement may be interactive.

The displayed channel advertisement may include text.

The displayed channel advertisement may be related to one or more of a product and service.

The advertisement may be displayed independent of the displayed EPG data.

The advertisement may be displayed independent of user selections of the displayed EPG data.

The advertisement may be displayed independent of a channel.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a method for simultaneously displaying channel advertisements with an electronic program guide (EPG). The method involves retrieving schedule information from a first memory, retrieving an advertisement from a second memory, displaying the schedule information in a plurality of rows of schedule information items and displaying the

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-7time and channel for the displayed schedule information items, and displaying the retrieved advertisement inserted on a separate row between two adjacent rows of schedule information items. The schedule information is displayed for a user selectable time and the advertisement is displayed independent of the user selected time.

The advertisement may be selected from a plurality of advertisements.

The advertisement may be other than a schedule information item.

The advertisement may be displayed independent of a channel.

The displayed advertisement may be interactive.

The displayed advertisement is related to at least one of a product and a service.

The advertisement may be selected for display based on the schedule information displayed in a row adjacent to the advertisement.

The method may further involve determining a location in the rows of schedule information items to insert the advertisement.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a system for displaying channel advertisements in an electronic program guide (EPG), including a first memory for storing EPG data, a second memory for storing advertising data, a display monitor having a screen, a microprocessor for accessing the first memory to retrieve a portion of the EPG data and accessing the second memory to retrieve an advertisement from the advertising data, and a video processor (1) for displaying on the display monitor the retrieved portion of the ERG data in a plurality of rows of schedule information items and displaying the time and channel for the displayed schedule information items and (2) for displaying on the display monitor the retrieved advertisement inserted in a separate row between two adjacent rows of schedule information items. The EPG data is displayed for a user selectable time and the advertisement is displayed independent of the user selected time.

The advertisement may be selected from a plurality of advertisements.

The advertisement may be other than a schedule information item.

The advertisement may be displayed independent of a channel.

The displayed advertisement may be interactive.

The displayed advertisement may be related to at least one of a product and a service.

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-8The advertisement may be selected for display based on the schedule information item displayed in a row adjacent to the advertisement.

The video processor may determine a location in the rows of schedule information items to insert the advertisement.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a method for simultaneously displaying channel advertisements with an electronic program guide (EPG). The method involves storing schedule information in memory for each of a plurality of programs, storing in the memory at least one advertisement as part of the stored schedule information, and displaying on a display at least a portion of the stored program schedule information and at least one of the stored advertisements. The at least a portion of the program schedule information and the at least one of the advertisements are displayed on the display as a plurality of row items, and the at least a portion of the program schedule information and the at least one of the advertisements are displayed on separate rows.

The at least one of the stored advertisements may be stored as an address that may link to the advertisement.

The at least one of the stored advertisements may be associated with at least one of the plurality of programs, and the step of displaying may involve displaying the at least one of the stored advertisements and the program schedule information of the program associated therewith in adjacent row items in the plurality of row items.

The association between the at least one of the stored advertisements and the at least one of the plurality of programs may be based on the scheduled time of the program.

The association between the at least one of the stored advertisements and the at least one of the plurality of programs may be based on sponsorship of the scheduled program.

At least one of the displayed advertisements may be interactive.

At least one of the displayed advertisements may relate to a service or a product.

The method may further involve highlighting a row of a displayed program schedule information item with a cursor, displaying a detail window in a second area

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-8aof the display, and displaying, in the second area of the screen, information relating to the displayed program schedule information item that was highlighted.

The method may further involve highlighting a row of a displayed advertisement with a cursor, displaying a detail window in a second area of the display, and displaying, in the second area of the screen, information relating to the displayed advertisement that was highlighted.

The portion of the stored program schedule information being displayed may relate to a user-selected time, and the displayed advertisement may be independent of the user-selected time.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a system for simultaneously displaying channel advertisements with an electronic program guide (EPG). The system includes a memory for storing schedule information and advertising data. The system also includes a display and a processor. The system is configured to store schedule information in the memory for each of a plurality of programs, store in the memory at least one advertisement as part of the stored schedule information, and display on the display at least a portion of the stored program schedule information and at least one of the stored advertisements. The at least a portion of the program schedule information and the at least one of the advertisements are displayed on the display as a plurality of row items, and the at least a portion of the program schedule information and the at least one of the advertisements are displayed on separate rows.

The at least one of the stored advertisements may be stored as an address that links to the advertisement.

The at least one of the stored advertisements may be associated with at least one of the plurality of programs, and the system may be further configured to display the at least one of the stored advertisements and the program schedule information of the program associated therewith in adjacent row items in the plurality of row items.

The association between the at least one of the stored advertisements and the at least one of the plurality of programs may be based on the scheduled time of the program.

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-8bThe association between the at least one of the stored advertisements and the at least one of the plurality of programs may be based on sponsorship of the scheduled program.

The at least one of the displayed advertisements may be interactive.

The at least one of the displayed advertisements may relate to a service or a product.

The system may be further configured to highl ight a row of a displayed program schedule information item with a cursor, display a detail window in a second area of the display, and display, in the second area of the screen, information relating to the displayed program schedule information item that was highlighted.

The system may be further configured to highl ight a row of a displayed advertisement with a cursor, display a detail window in a second area of the display, and display, in the second area of the screen, information relating to the displayed advertisement that was highlighted.

The portion of the stored program schedule information being displayed may relate to a user-selected time, and the displayed advertisement may be independent of the user-selected time.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided an apparatus for displaying advertisements in an electronic program guide. The apparatus includes a memory for storing electronic program guide (EPG) data and advertising data, a display monitor having a screen, and provisions for accessing the memory to recover EPG data corresponding to a number of television programs and an address for linking the advertising data with the recovered EPG data. The apparatus further includes provisions for displaying the recovered EPG data on the screen in lines of television program listings, each television program listing being displayed in a separate line, provisions for accessing the memory to recover the advertising data according to the recovered address, and provisions for displaying the recovered advertising data in a line on the screen with the television program listings.

The advertising data may be displayed as an insert instead of one of the television program listings.

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-8cThe EPG data may be displayed in a first area of the screen, and the apparatus may further include provisions for highlighting one of the lines of EPG data on the screen with a cursor, provisions for displaying a detail window in a second area of the screen and provisions for inserting a description of the television program listing highlighted by the cursor in the second area.

The apparatus may further include provisions for highlighting the advertising data on the screen with a cursor, and provisions for inserting information relating to the advertising data highlighted by the cursor in the second area.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention there is provided a method for displaying advertisements in an electronic program guide. The method includes storing in memory electronic program guide (EPG) data and advertising data, and accessing the memory to recover the EPG data corresponding to a number of television programs and an address for advertising data for linking the advertising data with the recovered EPG data. The method further includes displaying the recovered EPG data on the screen in lines of television program listings, each television program listing being displayed in a separate line, accessing the memory to recover the advertising data according to the recovered address, and displaying the recovered advertising data in a separate line on the screen with the television program listings.

The advertising data may be displayed as an insert instead of one of the television program listings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of apparatus for carrying out the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a screen format produced by the apparatus of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

United States patents 6,028,599 and 6,239,794 BI may be of interest in connection with this invention. A source of television signals 10 in FIG. 1 such as a terrestrial antenna, or a cable is connected to a television tuner 11. The output of tuner 11 is a modulated intermediate frequency signal containing video and audio television information. Tuner 11 is connected by an intermediate frequency amplifier (IF AMP)

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-8d12 to a picture detector (PICTURE DET) 13 and a sound detector (SOUND DET) 14, which produce base band video and audio signals, respectively. The audio signal is coupled by a sound amplifier (SOUND AMP) 15 to a loudspeaker 16. The video signal is coupled by a video amplifier not shown to one input of a switch 18. Sound detector 14 and picture detector 13 are connected to the audio and video inputs, respectively, of a video cassette recorder (VCR) 17.

(Alternatively, television signal source 10 could be directly connected to the RF input of VCR 17, if its internal tuner and demodulating circuitry is to be utilized.) The output of VCR 17 is connected to the other input of switch 18. The output of switch 18 is connected to one input of a conventional picture-in-picture (PIP) integrated circuit chip 19. The output of PIP chip 19 is connected to the video input of a television receiver or monitor (TV) 20 having a screen (not shown).

An updatable data base of the schedule of program listings of all the available channels for a prescribed period of time, e.g. a day or a week, is electronically stored in a program schedule memory 22. These program listings typically include for each program the title, a program description, the day of the week, the start time of the day, the program length, and the channel on which the program is transmitted and thus available for reception at source 10. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the period of time for which the program listings are stored is different for the guides, depending upon viewer priorities and preferences. For example, the information needed to display the time specific program guide (TSPG) and channel specific program guide (CSPG) may be stored for one or two days and the information needed to display the TSPG may be stored for a week or more. The data base can be updated by a continuous data link in the vertical blanking interval (VBI) of one television channel broadcast to the television receiver in well known fashion. Alternatively, the data base can be updated by unplugging memory 22 and replacing it with a memory having the updated data base. Memory 22 is connected to a microprocessor 24 that is programmed to control the operation of the described equipment. An operating program for microprocessor 24 is stored in a read only memory (ROM) 26. A viewer input device 28, preferably in the form of a remote IR controller, is coupled to microprocessor 24 to provide commands from the viewer.

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-8eA video processor 30 is coupled to microprocessor 24. When the viewer wishes to see television program listings, microprocessor 24 recalls a portion of the program schedule data base from memory 22 and couples it to video processor 30, where the program listings are formatted for display. Preferably, the information stored in video processor 30 is a bit map of what is displayed on the screen of television receiver 20. Video processor 30 is connected to the other input of PIP chip

19. Preferably, viewer input device 28 controls microprocessor 24 by cursor movement on the screen of television receiver 20. To this end, microprocessor 24 and video processor 30 are coupled to a cursor position register 32. (Alternatively, the viewer can select items of information displayed on the screen by keying into viewer input device 28 code numbers assigned to these items.) Microprocessor 24 is also coupled to tuner 11 for channel change, to VCR 17 for play/record selection and start/stop, to switch 18 for selection of one of its inputs, and to PIP chip 19 for selection of the mode of PIP operation.

The format of the electronic program guide is shown in FIG. 2. The format has a background area 40 and an overlaid PIP window 42 in the upper left-hand comer of the screen. The real time, i.e., 5:11 p.m., is displayed in a sub-area 42a of PIP window 42. Background area 40 includes a banner and message prompting area 43 at the top of the screen, a program description area 44 in the upper right-hand comer of the screen adjacent to PIP window 42, and a program schedule area 46 below areas 42 and 44. Program description area 44 includes the start time and length (duration) of the program being described. In area 46, EPG data retrieved from memory 22 is displayed in lines, each program listing being displayed in a separate line. The viewer can move a cursor 48 vertically to highlight one of the lines of program listings displayed in area 46. The highlighted background of cursor 48 and the background of program description area 44 are preferably the same color or shade. The complete, moving images of a currently broadcast television program in real time and the current time are displayed in PIP window 42 and the audio portion of the television program displayed in PIP window 42 is reproduced by the sound system of monitor

20.

Advertising inserts are displayed on the screen between the lines of program listings in program schedule area 46 and related information or announcements are

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-8fdisplayed in description area 44. With reference to FIG. 1, the advertising inserts are preferably transmitted in the VBI as part of the program schedule information and stored at the television receiver in RAM, represented functionally as an advertising insert memory 34. Preferably the inserts are transmitted as part of the packets of information about the programs, i.e., show information packages (SIPs), with which the advertising inserts are displayed. The apparatus of FIG. 1 functions as described in United States Patent No. 6,239,794, the advertising inserts being treated as part of the program listings displayed in area 46 and the brief program descriptions displayed in area 44.

In practice, memory 34 and memory 22 could be physically incorporated in a single RAM. Addresses for the advertising inserts could be stored as part of the preestablished time lists for the programs with which the advertising inserts are displayed. Thus, the addresses link the time lists to the advertising inserts, and each advertising insert is only stored once in memory 34. By linking the advertising inserts to the time lists, the displayed advertising insert becomes time dependent. Thus, the content of the displayed advertisements can, to some extent, be directed to the interests of the viewers. Advertisements of interest to housewives would be displayed in the morning and advertisements of interest to children would be displayed in the early evening.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, an advertising insert 50 is preferably displayed as a line below the listing, NBC 4 NEWS of the television program that the advertiser, e.g., Coca Cola, sponsors. However, it is not necessary that there be a relationship between the position of the advertiser and the television program, depending on the circumstances. To obtain more information about the subject of advertising insert 50, the viewer highlights the line with cursor 48; then such information is displayed in area 44, instead of information about a television program. For example, the announcement in area 44 could inform the viewer that the advertised product is on sale in a particular retail establishment at a particular price or give a more detailed product description.