System for unified ad delivery to consumer devices within service provider networks

A system for providing a unified video stream, including a video content item watched by a user and advertisement videos from multiple origins spliced into targeted ad spots in the content video, the multiple origins and the system forming part of a network, the system comprising:

• an ad services system, including:
• a server-side data collection service;
• and
• an ad service functionally associated with an ad management system;
• and
• a consumer device, adapted to be used by the user to watch the unified video stream, the consumer device including:
• an ad decision engine adapted to select the advertisement videos to be spliced into the targeted ad spots;
• a splicing engine adapted to process video triggers, and to manage splicing of the selected advertisement videos into the targeted ad spots, the splicing engine including the ad decision engine;
• at least one video cache, functionally associated with the splicing engine, said at least one video cache being adapted to cache advertisement videos provided thereto ahead of time from the multiple origins via one or more corresponding origin plugins, such that the cached advertisement videos are accessible to the splicing engine for seamless splicing and time-ordering thereof into the targeted ad spots;
• a media player, functionally associated with the splicing engine, and adapted to display the unified video stream;
• a client-side data collection service adapted to collect ad impressions data and user behavioral information, and to provide collected data to said server-side data collection service;
• and
• a plug-in based markup processing system including a markup processor, a plurality of markup plugins, and a markup configuration, the markup processor and the markup configuration being functionally associated with said ad service of said ad services system,
• wherein said ad service of said ad services system is adapted to analyze an available advertisement inventory provided by said ad management system and to provide to said consumer device an updated markup configuration, said updated markup configuration being generated by said ad services system based on ad target population segmentation rules, and provided to said consumer device prior to an expected available ad spot in the content video,
• wherein said updated markup configuration of said consumer device is adapted to provide at least one of a chain of markup rules for selection of advertisements from one or more allowed origins, segmentation rules based on geo-location, rules based on one or more obfuscated user profiles, and rules based on capabilities of said consumer device,
• wherein said ad service is adapted to dynamically refresh said markup configuration when new executable markup plugins become available,
• wherein said splicing engine is adapted to control video splice events and to ensure temporal ordering of video content played by said media player,
• wherein said splicing engine is adapted to filter ad triggers received from the origins, and to provide the filtered ad triggers to said markup processor for enrichment with targeting information, the enrichment utilizing at least one of said markup plugins utilized in a flexible sequence determined by said markup configuration, and
• wherein said ad decision engine is adapted to select the advertisement videos based on said markup configuration, instructions provided by said ad service, a state of available video origins and said at least one video cache, and based on a pre-defined ad targeting mechanism.