System and method for targeted distribution of advertising without disclosure of personally identifiable information

A system for providing targeted advertising in a television distribution system, the system comprising:

• a networked control center storing segmented programming and advertising content on a content storage device, the network control center coupled to a plurality of clients over a network;
• a feature repository maintained by the networked control center, the feature repository comprising one or more features for each of a plurality of subscriber wherein each feature comprises a fact about a given subscriber;
• an advertisement management system (AMS and interchangeably ADM)) coupled to the networked control center over the network, the AMS operative to determine when a client requires an advertisement, the AMS operative to select one or more features related to subscribers in the television distribution system, the one or more of the selected features do not comprise personally identifiable information, the features selected from the feature repository, wherein the AMS, in response to receiving a command from the one or more clients, determines an identity of a given client from the one or more clients from which the command was received and selects the one or more features from the feature repository for the given client on the basis of an address for the client, the repository includes the plurality of features relating to each subscriber, the features indexed in the repository based on the address for the client;
• and
• an advertisement selection system (ADS) coupled to the AMS over the network, the ADS operative to receive the one or more features from the AMS, select an advertisement having advertisement content targeted according to the one or more features, and communicate the selected advertisement to the AMS, the AMS further operative to generate a first playlist in response to receiving the command from the one or more clients, the first playlist comprising segmented programming and the selected advertisement, and operative to communicate the first playlist to the network control center, the networked control center operative to deliver to the given client content according to the first playlist generated by the AMS;
• wherein when the command from the client is a request to play a previously recorded program, at least one of the AMS and the ADS is operative to determine an advertisement displayed with an original broadcast of the program, and wherein the AMS is operative to generate a second playlist in response to the request to play the previously recorded program further comprising the advertisement displayed with the previously recorded broadcast of the program.

A method for providing targeted advertising in a television distribution system, the method comprising:

• storing segmented programming and advertising content on a networked content storage device associated with a networked control center coupled to a plurality of clients over a network;
• electronically monitoring, using a processing device, a state of one or more of the plurality of clients in the television distribution system;
• electronically receiving a command from the one or more clients;
• in response to the command from the one or more clients, electronically selecting, using the processing device, one or more features related to subscribers in the television distribution system, the one or more of the selected features do not comprise personally identifiable information, the features selected from a feature repository maintained by the networked control center;
• in response to the command from the one or more clients, electronically determining, using the processing device, an identity of a client in the television distribution system and selecting the one or more features from the feature repository for the given client from which the command was received on the basis of an address for the client, the repository includes the plurality of features relating to each subscriber, the features indexed in the repository based on the address for the client;
• electronically selecting an advertisement having advertisement content according to the one or more selected features and the identity of the given client;
• generating a first playlist in response to the command from the one or more clients, the first playlist comprising segmented programming and the selected advertisement;
• delivering to the given client content according to the first playlist generated;
• and
• wherein the command from the client is a request to play a previously recorded program, generating a second playlist in response to the request to play the previously recorded program further comprising the advertisement displayed with the previously recorded broadcast of the program and delivering to the given client content according to the second playlist generated.

A method for providing targeting advertising in a television distribution system, the method comprising:

• receiving a request for an advertisement from an advertisement management system (AMS and interchangeably ADM)) in response to the AMS receiving a command from one or more clients coupled to the AMS over a network;
• determining, using the AMS, an identity of a given client in the television distribution system from which the command was received, the identity determined on the basis of an address for the client's set top terminal;
• querying a feature repository maintained by a networked control center coupled to the AMS and a plurality of clients over the network, and selecting one or more features that do not comprise personally identifiable information, the features related to subscribers in the television distribution system, the repository includes the plurality of features relating to each subscriber, the features indexed in the repository based on the address for the client;
• and
• selecting an advertisement by using an advertisement selection system (ADS) coupled to the AMS over the network, the advertisement having content according to the one or more selected features and the identity of the client;
• generating a first playlist in response to the command from the one or more clients, the first playlist comprising segmented programming and the selected advertisement;
• delivering to the given client content according to the first playlist generated;
• and
• wherein the command from the client is a request to play a previously recorded program, generating a second playlist in response to the request to play the previously recorded program further comprising the advertisement displayed with the previously recorded broadcast of the program and delivering to the given client content according to the second playlist generated.