US 2016/0261925 A9 · METHOD FOR ADVERTISERS TO SPONSOR BROADCASTS WITHOUT COMMERCIALS

Abstract

A system and method that allows content to be broadcast without commercial interruption, yet lets the company or companies that sponsor the broadcast to offer advertisements and discounts and various special offers to the viewers at a later time. The amount of time a viewer spends watching a particular broadcast is recorded along with information about the sponsoring companies or organizations for the broadcast. The viewer later accesses a central database, which sends back to the viewer advertisements, coupons, discounts, contests, and other enticements to purchase products, based on the amount of time the viewer spent watching broadcasts or segments of broadcasts that were sponsored by the advertiser.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

receiving a broadcast with embedded information and content, the embedded information including information indicative of an incentive associated with the content;
extracting and presenting the content from the broadcast to a viewer;
extracting and storing the embedded information from the broadcast;
collecting viewer information including a user identifier and information indicative of the viewer's viewing activity relative to the content, wherein the collected viewer information is passively collected without prompted viewer feedback;
and
causing the incentive associated with the content to be provided to the viewer based on the collected viewer information.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application

13/632,574Filed 1 Oct 2012

Priority

22 Jan 2001

Published

8 Sep 2016

Term ends

Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification12 codes

H04N 21/812
Monomedia components thereof: involving advertisement data
G06F 3/1454
Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units: involving copying of the…
G06Q 30/0207
Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising: discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
H04L 41/22
Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks: comprising specially…

Family

Application09/767,819Continuation · filed 22 Jan 2001

Application13/632,574Continuation

US 10,116,999 B2Related patent

US 2002/0100055 A1Published application

US 2013/0031573 A1Published application

US 8,316,390 B2Related patent

US 2016/0261925 A9This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Method for advertisers to sponsor broadcasts without commercials

Life of this patent

Method for advertisers to sponsor broadcasts without commercials

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims21