Method and a system for targeted video stream insertion

A network transmission device for delivering a video stream, the network transmission device comprising:

• a streaming server having an interface to a head end for identifying and receiving
• a stream sent to a plurality of subscribers;
• a protocol recognizer for locating a promotional segment in the identified stream, the locating being executed by the steps of:
• identifying a splice point in the stream, the splice point indicative of a start of the promotional segment;
• identifying a splice-out point indicative of the end of the promotional segment;
• and
• targeting logic configured to:
• obtain a first replaced promotional segment and a second replaced promotional segment, each of the first replaced promotional segment and the second replaced promotional segment being in a respective format, the first replaced promotional segment and the second promotional segment in response to a subscriber attribute, the subscriber attribute based on a subscriber receiving the stream;
• determine a respective protocol corresponding to respective rendering devices associated with the first and second subscribers;
• transcode the first and second replaced promotional segments from their respective formats into the respective protocol corresponding to the respective rendering devices associated with the first and second subscribers;
• a subscriber drop for transmitting a first replaced promotional segment transcoded in the respective protocol to a first subscriber and for transmitting a second replaced promotional segment transcoded in the respective protocol to a second subscriber, the first replaced promotional segment and the second replaced promotional segment having been selected by the targeting logic based on a respective subscriber attribute, the first and second replaced segments replacing the promotional segment;
• the transmitting being executed by means of:
• splicing the first and second replaced promotional segments transcribed into respective protocols into respective streams transcoded according to rendering devices of each of the first and second subscribers, the first and second replaced promotional segments being different;
• terminating the first and second replaced promotional segments at the splice out point;
• the subscriber drop configured to resume transmitting of the identified stream to the first subscriber and the second subscriber following the transmission of the respective one of the first and second replaced promotional segments.

At least one non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions encoded thereon, the instructions when executed on a host computing device cause the host computing device to perform a method comprising:

• identifying a stream sent to a plurality of subscribers;
• locating a promotional segment in the identified stream, the locating being executed by the steps of:
• identifying a splice point in the stream, the splice point indicative of a start of the promotional segment;
• identifying a splice-out point indicative of the end of the promotional segment;
• and
• obtaining a first replaced promotional segment and a second replaced promotional segment, each of the first replaced promotional segment and the second replaced promotional segment being in a respective format;
• determining a respective protocol corresponding to respective rendering devices associated with the first and second subscribers;
• transcoding the first and second replaced promotional segments from their respective formats into the respective protocol corresponding to the respective rendering devices associated with the first and second subscribers;
• transmitting the first replaced promotional segment transcoded in the respective protocol to a first subscriber, the first replaced promotional segment having been selected based on a subscriber attribute associated with the first subscriber, the first replaced promotional segment replacing at least a portion of the promotional segment;
• transmitting the second replaced promotional segment transcoded in the respective protocol to a second subscriber the second replaced promotional segment having been selected based on a subscriber attribute associated with the second subscriber, the second replaced promotional segment replacing at least a portion of the promotional segment;
• the transmitting being executed by means of:
• splicing the first and second replaced promotional segments transcribed into respective protocols into respective streams transcoded according to rendering devices of each of the first and second subscribers, the first and second replaced promotional segments being different;
• terminating the first and second replaced promotional segments at the splice out point;
• resuming transmitting of the identified stream to the first subscriber and the second subscriber following transmission of the respective first and second replaced promotional segments.