Advertisement Distribution in a Subscriber Network

A method for providing Advertisement Decision Management (ADM) services from a subscriber device to a subscriber network that connects a plurality of display devices, comprising:

• acquiring a network program media stream associated with a network service from a provider network;
• delivering the network program media stream to said plurality of display devices;
• collecting usage data for said plurality of display devices;
• detecting an advertising opportunity in the network program media stream, the advertising opportunity having a start time and an end time;
• selecting an advertisement to fulfill the advertising opportunity, where the selection of the advertisement is performed by the subscriber device based on the usage data;
• delivering the advertisement to said plurality of display devices at the start time of the advertising opportunity;
• and
• delivering the network program media stream to said plurality of display devices at the end time of the advertising opportunity.

A computing device, comprising:

• a communication interface to connect the computing device to a subscriber network;
• a memory device resident in the computing device;
• and
• a processor disposed in communication with the communication interface and the memory device, the processor configured to:
• receive a list of network services for a provider network;
• select one of the network services;
• send the selected network service to a subscriber device that connects to the subscriber network, and that provides Advertisement Decision Management (ADM) services for the subscriber network;
• and
• receive a network program media stream associated with the selected network service from the subscriber device,
• wherein the subscriber device acquires the network program media stream, collects usage data for the computing device, detects an advertising opportunity in the network program media stream, the advertising opportunity having a start time and an end time, selects an advertisement to fulfill the advertising opportunity, where the selection of the advertisement is based on the usage data, delivers the advertisement to the computing device at the start time of the advertising opportunity, and delivers the network program media stream to the computing device at the end time of the advertising opportunity.

A method in a computing device, comprising:

• receiving a list of network services for a provider network;
• selecting one of the network services;
• sending the selected network service to a subscriber device that connects to the subscriber network, and that provides Advertisement Decision Management (ADM) services for the subscriber network;
• and
• receiving a network program media stream associated with the selected network service from the subscriber device,
• wherein the subscriber device acquires the network program media stream, collects usage data for the computing device, detects an advertising opportunity in the network program media stream, the advertising opportunity having a start time and an end time, selects an advertisement to fulfill the advertising opportunity, where the selection of the advertisement is based on the usage data, delivers the advertisement to the computing device at the start time of the advertising opportunity, and delivers the network program media stream to the computing device at the end time of the advertising opportunity.

An advertisement distribution system, comprising:

• a provider network for connecting and providing access to:
• an electronic programming guide (EPG)/video on demand (VOD) server to provide a listing of network services from a provider;
• and
• an advertisement server to provide advertisements for each network program media stream;
• a subscriber network for connecting and providing access to:
• a plurality of display devices;
• and
• a subscriber device that provides Advertisement Decision Management (ADM) services to the subscriber network and is configured to:
• acquire a network program media stream that is associated with a selected network service from the listing of network services from the provider;
• deliver the network program media stream to said plurality of display devices;
• collect usage data for said plurality of display devices;
• detect an advertising opportunity in the network program media stream, the advertising opportunity having a start time and an end time;
• select an advertisement to fulfill the advertising opportunity, where the selection of the advertisement is based on the usage data;
• deliver the advertisement to said plurality of display devices at the start time of the advertising opportunity;
• and
• deliver the network program media stream to said plurality of display devices at the end time of the advertising opportunity.