Advertisement insertion decisions for set top box management of advertisements

A method of inserting local ad assets within an ad avail in a video stream at a client device, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) defining a plurality of ad assets, the ad assets being compatible with the video stream,
• (b) defining one or more groups to which the client device is a member, the client device being added to a group of the one or more groups based on attributes of a user of the client device,
• (c) transmitting the ad assets to the client device,
• (d) inserting local ad assets into the ad avail by one of three decision modes, a first decision mode including the steps of:
• i) formulating a first decision matrix for use by the client device, the first decision matrix providing an ordered list of decisions, each decision setting forth identification of a group and representing an ad asset, the most valuable ad assets being higher in the ordered list than the least valuable ad assets,
• ii) transmitting the first decision matrix to the client device for the client device to select an ad asset transmitted to the client device based at least in part on group membership of that client device and the highest matched group identified in the decisions of the first decision matrix, and
• iii) transmitting ad avail information to the client device, the ad avail information including splice-coming, splice-out and splice-in signals encoded into the video stream;
• (e) inserting local ad assets into the ad avail by one of the three decision modes of said step (d), a second decision mode including the steps of:
• i) receiving a request from the client device for a decision on which ad asset to insert in an upcoming ad avail,
• ii) formulating a second decision matrix including a list of ordered decisions for the most valuable ad assets specifically for the groups to which the client device belongs,
• iii) transmitting the second decision matrix to the client device for the client device to select an ad asset transmitted to the client device based at least in part on the highest value ad asset in the decisions of the second decision matrix, and
• iv) transmitting ad avail information to the client device, the ad avail information including splice-coming, splice-out and splice-in signals encoded into the video stream;
• and
• (f) inserting local ad assets into the ad avail by one of the three decision modes of said step (d), a third decision mode including a combination of the first and second modes of operation.

A method of inserting local ad assets within an ad avail in a video stream at a client device, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) receiving a plurality of ad assets at the client device;
• (b) receiving at the client device a list of groups to which the client device is assigned, the assignment of the client device to a group on the list of groups based on attributes of a user of the client device;
• (c) receiving at the client device a decision matrix including an ordered list of decisions, each decision setting forth identification of a group and representing an ad asset, the most valuable ad assets being higher in the ordered list than the least valuable ad assets;
• (d) receiving the video stream;
• (e) determining a splice-coming point in the video stream in advance of a coming ad avail in the video stream;
• (f) selecting an ad asset from the decision matrix received in said step (c), the selection based at least in part on group membership of the client device and the highest matched group identified in the decisions of the decision matrix;
• (g) determining a splice-out point in the video stream for the client device to switch the feed from the video stream to the selected ad asset;
• (h) determining a splice-in point in the video stream for the client device to switch the feed from the selected ad asset back to the video stream;
• and
• (i) splicing the selected ad asset in the ad avail of the video stream.