Queue-based head-end advertisement scheduling method and apparatus

An apparatus for transmitting television programming and advertising from a head end of a communications system to subscribers at a plurality of subscriber nodes, the apparatus comprising:

• a receiver for receiving a plurality of programming channels of television programming;
• a plurality of splitters, each splitter coupled to receive one of said programming channels and split said programming channel into a plurality of presentation channels;
• a first memory storing a plurality of advertisements for insertion into advertising avails in said presentation channels;
• a second memory storing, for each presentation channel, a queue comprising an ordered list of advertisement resource locators (ARLs), said ARLs comprising a pointer to a location of an advertisement;
• a circuit for determining advertising avails in each of said presentation channels;
• an advertisement management circuit coupled to said second memory and adapted to consult said queues to determine which advertisements are to be inserted in which avails in said presentation channels, wherein said advertising management circuit is configured to generate an advertising group map disclosing an advertising group to which each subscriber belongs;
• an advertisement insertion circuit coupled to said presentation channels and adapted to insert said advertisements into said avails in accordance with the ordered lists as dictated by said queues;
• and
• a transmitter adapted to transmit each of said plurality of presentation channels to at least those subscriber nodes in at least one of a plurality of subscriber groups, the at least one group corresponding to said presentation channel wherein the advertisement management circuit causes said transmitter to transmit said advertising group map to said subscriber nodes.

A method of receiving at a subscriber node at least one channel of television programming and advertising from a head end of a television service delivery system, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) assigning said subscriber node to an advertising group;
• (b) simultaneously transmitting a plurality of presentation channels via said television service delivery system to said subscriber node, the presentation channels corresponding to a programming channel, said programming channel comprising television programming and advertising avails, wherein said plurality of presentation channels contain identical programming and different advertising within said advertising avails;
• (c) storing, at said subscriber node, data indicating one of the presentation channels that corresponds to said advertising group;
• (d) based on said assigning, enabling said subscriber node to select, receive and cause to be displayed on a monitoring device said one of the presentation channels;
• (e) receiving a presentation channel map disclosing for each presentation channel how said subscriber node can select that presentation channel for reception and display on the monitoring device;
• and
• (f) creating an individual channel map for said subscriber node indicating which presentation channel to select in step (d).

An apparatus for receiving at a subscriber node a plurality of presentation channels of television programming and advertising from a head end of a television service delivery system, each presentation channel corresponding to an individual one of a plurality of programming channels, wherein each of the presentation channels that corresponds to the same one of said programming channels comprises the same programming content as the programming channel to which it corresponds, but different advertising content, said apparatus comprising:

• a memory at said subscriber node;
• an individual advertising group map stored in said memory indicating, for each of said programming channels, one of said corresponding presentation channels, wherein each of said programming channels comprises television programming and advertising avails, and wherein each of the presentation channels that correspond to the same one of said programming channels contains identical programming as the programming channel to which it corresponds and different advertising within said advertising avails;
• a circuit for receiving data via said television service delivery system from which said individual advertising group map can be created, wherein said data received by said circuit for receiving comprises a system wide advertising group map mapping said subscriber node to an advertising group and a presentation channel map disclosing for each presentation channel how said subscriber node can select one of said presentation channels;
• a circuit for generating said individual advertising group map from said received data, wherein said circuit for generating comprises circuitry for correlating said system wide advertising group map and said presentation channel map with said individual advertising group map to create said individual advertising group map;
• a circuit for enabling said subscriber node to select the one of said presentation channels dictated by responsive to an instruction selecting a programming channel for viewing;
• and
• a circuit for causing said selected presentation channel to be displayed on a monitoring device.

A method of receiving at a subscriber node at least one channel of television programming and advertising from a head end of a television service delivery system, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) assigning said subscriber node to an advertising group and receiving a map via said television service delivery system mapping a plurality of subscribers to advertising groups and determining from said map to which advertising group said subscriber node belongs;
• (b) simultaneously transmitting a plurality of presentation channels via said television service delivery system to said subscriber node, the presentation channels corresponding to a programming channel, said programming channel comprising television programming and advertising avails, wherein said plurality of presentation channels contain identical programming and different advertising within said advertising avails;
• (c) storing, at said subscriber node, data indicating one of the presentation channels that corresponds to said advertising group;
• and
• (d) based on said assigning, enabling said subscriber node to select, receive and cause to be displayed on a monitoring device said one of the presentation channels.

A method of receiving at a subscriber node at least one channel of television programming and advertising from a head end of a television service delivery system, said method comprising the steps of:

• (a) assigning said subscriber node to an advertising group;
• (b) simultaneously transmitting a plurality of presentation channels via said television service delivery system to said subscriber node, the presentation channels corresponding to a programming channel, said programming channel comprising television programming and advertising avails, wherein said plurality of presentation channels contain identical programming and different advertising within said advertising avails;
• (c) storing, at said subscriber node, data indicating one of the presentation channels that corresponds to said advertising group;
• and
• (d) based on said assigning, enabling said subscriber node to select, receive and cause to be displayed on a monitoring device said one of the presentation channels, wherein the television service delivery system includes a plurality of programming channels, each programming channel having a plurality of corresponding presentation channels for selection, reception and display by said subscriber node.