# US 11,451,879 B2 · Controlling playout of advertisement content during video-on-demand video streaming on an end-user terminal > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,451,879 B2 - Document ID: US11451879B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/770,650 - Filed: 2017-12-13 - Published: 2020-09-24 - Granted: 2022-09-20 - Earliest claimed: 2017-12-13 - Assignees: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ) - Applicants: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ) - Inventors: Selim Ickin - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11451879B2 ## CPC - H04N 21/812: {involving advertisement data (advertising per se G06Q30/02)} - H04N 21/44004: {involving video buffer management, e.g. video decoder buffer or video display buffer} - H04N 21/44209: {Monitoring of downstream path of the transmission network originating from a server, e.g. bandwidth variations of a wireless network (arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896)} - H04N 21/458: Scheduling content for creating a personalised stream, e.g. by combining a locally stored advertisement with an incoming stream; Updating operations, e.g. for OS modules {; time-related management operations (arrangements for replacing or switching information during the broadcast or during the distribution H04H20/10)} - H04N 21/4622: {Retrieving content or additional data from different sources, e.g. from a broadcast channel and the Internet (web site content organization and management for information retrieval from the Internet G06F16/958; transmission by internet of broadcast information H04H60/82; stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services including data channel over packet-switching network H04L12/1859)} - H04N 21/47202: {for requesting content on demand, e.g. video on demand} - H04N: PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION ## Abstract A method (100) of controlling playout of advertisement content during video-on-demand video streaming on an end-user client terminal comprising steps of: receiving (110) advertisement content from an advertisement server; receiving (112) video-on-demand, VoD, content from a content delivery network; obtaining (114) network quality metrics between the end-user terminal and the content delivery network; predicting (116) whether a stalling event will occur during playout of VoD content within a prediction time window based on the network quality metrics; and playing out (118) received VoD content and received advertisement content, wherein playout of advertisement content within the prediction time window is dependent on a result of the prediction. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of controlling playout of advertisement content during video-on-demand video streaming on an end-user terminal, the method comprising: receiving advertisement content from an advertisement server; receiving video-on-demand (VoD) content from a content delivery network, wherein the VoD content has a video session duration; dividing the video session duration into a plurality of equal length prediction time windows such that there is at most one pre-set playout time for the received advertisement content within each prediction time window; obtaining network quality metrics between the end-user terminal and the content delivery network; predicting whether a stalling event will occur during playout of VoD content within a current prediction time window based on the network quality metrics obtained during a preceding prediction time window; and playing out the received VoD content and the received advertisement content, wherein playout of the received advertisement content within the current prediction time window is dependent on a result of the prediction. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising bringing forward playout of the received advertisement content having a pre-set playout time that is later than a predicted stalling event within the current prediction time window so that the received advertisement content is played out during the predicted stalling event. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising delaying playout of the received advertisement content having a pre-set playout time that is earlier than a predicted stalling event within the current prediction time window so that the received advertisement content is played out during the predicted stalling event. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting a stalling event during playout of received VoD content; and bringing forward playout of the received advertisement content having a pre-set playout time that is later than the detected stalling event so that the received advertisement content is played out during the detected stalling event. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1: wherein the received advertisement content has a pre-set playout time in the current prediction time window or in a next prediction time window that is later than a predicted stalling event in the current prediction time window; the method further comprising bringing forward the pre-set playout time so that the received advertisement content is played out during the predicted stalling event within the current prediction time window. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising, if a predicted stalling event or a detected stalling event has a duration of less than or equal to 3 seconds, ignoring the stalling event and playing out the received advertisement content at a pre-set playout time for the received advertisement content. ### Claim 7 An end-user terminal comprising: processing circuitry; and memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the end-user terminal is operative to: receive advertisement content from an advertisement server; receive video-on-demand (VoD) content from a content delivery network, wherein the VoD content has a video session duration; divide the video session duration into a plurality of equal length prediction time windows such that there is at most one pre-set playout time for the received advertisement content within each prediction time window; obtain network quality metrics between the end-user terminal and the content delivery network; predict whether a stalling event will occur during playout of the VoD content within a current prediction time window based on the network quality metrics obtained during a preceding prediction time window; and play out the received VoD content and the received advertisement content, wherein playout of the received advertisement content within the current prediction time window is dependent on a result of the prediction. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The end-user terminal of claim 7, wherein the instructions are such that the end-user terminal is operative to bring forward playout of the received advertisement content having a pre-set playout time that is later than a predicted stalling event within the current prediction time window so that the received advertisement content is played out during the stalling event. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The end-user terminal of claim 7, wherein the instructions are such that the end-user terminal is operative to delay playout of the received advertisement content having a pre-set playout time that is earlier than a predicted stalling event within the current prediction time window so that the received advertisement content is played out during the predicted stalling event. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The end-user terminal of claim 7, wherein the instructions are such that the end-user terminal is operative to: detect a stalling event during VoD content playout; and bring forward playout of the received advertisement content having a pre-set playout time that is later than a detected stalling event so that the received advertisement content is played out during the detected stalling event. ### Claim 11 (depends on 7) The end-user terminal of claim 7: wherein the received advertisement content has a pre-set playout time in the current prediction time window or in a next prediction time window that is later than a predicted stalling event in the current prediction time window; and wherein the instructions are such that the end-user terminal is operative to bring forward playout of the received advertisement content from the pre-set playout time so that the received advertisement content is played out during the stalling event within the current prediction time window. ### Claim 12 (depends on 7) The end-user terminal of claim 7, wherein the instructions are such that the end-user terminal is operative to ignore a predicted stalling event or a detected stalling event that has a duration of less than or equal to 3 seconds, such that playout of the received advertisement content is not varied from a pre-set playout time. ### Claim 13 A non-transitory computer readable recording medium storing a computer program product for controlling playout of advertisement content during video-on-demand video streaming on an end-user terminal, the computer program product comprising program instructions which, when run on processing circuitry of the end-user terminal, causes the end-user terminal to: receive advertisement content from an advertisement server; receive video-on-demand (VoD) content from a content delivery network, wherein the VoD content has a video session duration; divide the video session duration into a plurality of equal length prediction time windows such that there is at most one pre-set playout time for the received advertisement content within each prediction time window; obtain network quality metrics between the end-user terminal and the content delivery network; predict whether a stalling event will occur during playout of the VoD content within a current prediction time window based on the network quality metrics obtained during a preceding prediction time window; and play out the received VoD content and the received advertisement content, wherein playout of the received advertisement content within the current prediction time window is dependent on a result of the prediction. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of equal length prediction time windows comprises the current prediction time window and the preceding prediction time window.