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US 8,544,036 B2Granted
Methods and apparatus for scheduling broadcast commercials
AssigneeNBCUniversal Media, LLC
InventorsSrinivas Bollapragada, Marc Anthony Garbiras
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for scheduling broadcast commercials includes receiving a plurality of scheduling criteria, and automatically scheduling a plurality of commercials based on the received criteria.
Claims24
A method for scheduling broadcast commercials prior to broadcast, the method comprising:
- via a computer processing circuit:
- receiving a listing of a plurality of commercials;
- receiving scheduling criteria;
- implementing a goal program for scheduling the plurality of commercials, wherein the goal program weights a first factor of the scheduling criteria greater than a second factor of the scheduling criteria;
- and
- automatically generating a schedule for the plurality of commercials within a list of commercial slots based on at least the goal program and the scheduling criteria, wherein the schedule reduces a plurality of conflicts, and wherein automatically generating the schedule comprises heuristically re-ordering commercials within the list of commercial slots;
- wherein the re-ordering comprises re-ordering the plurality of commercials such that a first subset of a client's commercials are in an initial position within a commercial break, a second subset of the client's commercials are in at least one middle position within a commercial break, and a third subset of the client's commercials are in a final position within a commercial break, such that an equitable rotation of the client's commercials from the plurality of commercials may be placed in the initial position, middle position, and the final position;
- and
- wherein the client is a purchaser of at least one commercial slot in the list of commercial slots.
6 more elements
A computer programmed to:
- receive a selected list of a plurality of commercials;
- receive scheduling criteria for scheduling the plurality of commercials;
- generate, prior to displaying the plurality of commercials, a schedule based on a goal program and the scheduling criteria, wherein the goal program weights a first factor of the scheduling criteria greater than a second factor of the scheduling criteria, wherein the plurality of commercials are heuristically ordered, and wherein the schedule reduces a plurality of conflicts;
- and
- re-order the plurality of commercials, prior to displaying the plurality of commercials, such that a first subset of a client's commercials are in an initial position within a commercial break, a second subset of the client's commercials are in at least one middle position within a commercial break, and a third subset of the client's commercials are in a final position within a commercial break, such that an equitable rotation of the client's commercials and other clients' commercials from the plurality of commercials may be placed in the initial position, middle position, and the final position;
- and
- wherein the client and the other clients are purchasers of at least one commercial slot in the list of commercial slots.
4 more elements
A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with a program configured to instruct a computer to:
- receive a selection of a plurality of commercials;
- receive a plurality of scheduling criteria for scheduling the plurality of commercials;
- generate a schedule of the plurality of commercials based on at least the plurality of scheduling criteria, a goal program, and an integer program, wherein the goal program weights a first factor of the scheduling criteria greater than a second factor of the scheduling criteria, and wherein the schedule reduces a plurality of conflicts;
- and
- re-order the plurality of commercials such that a first subset of a client's commercials are in an initial position within a commercial break, a second subset of the client's commercials are in at least one middle position within a commercial break, and a third subset of the client's commercials are in a final position within a commercial break, such that an equitable rotation of the client's commercials and other clients' commercials from the plurality of commercials may be placed in the initial position, middle position, and the final position;
- and
- wherein the client and the other clients are purchasers of at least one commercial slot in the list of commercial slots.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.