System and method for transmitting and displaying targeted infromation
View Patent ↗A system and method for transmitting and displaying information in a television distribution system ( 10 ), or the like, transmits information that is targeted to a viewer matching particular demographic data. The results of a viewer completed demographic survey are used to generate a database known as a bit mask ( 30 ) that is made up of the viewer's demographic data. The bit mask ( 30 ) is used to control the particular advertising or other related information that is received by each system viewer. In a first technique, the transmission signal carrying the program or advertisement displayed to all viewers is embedded with one or more codes. These codes are compared to the bit mask to determine whether the viewer fits the desired demographic profile, and should be provided with additional information. In a second technique, multiple ads for demographic selective receipt by each viewer are simultaneously transmitted, and are automatically selected for viewing, depending on the viewer's stored demographic data.
1. A system for transmitting information in a broadcast distribution system, the system comprising:
a) a network headend for transmitting at least one digital information stream to a plurality of users, the digital information stream comprising a plurality of advertisements and at least one code corresponding to each advertisement, each of the plurality of advertisements comprising a continuous stream of I-frames for a predetermined amount of time at the beginning and end of each advertisement;
b) a distribution network for transmitting the digital information stream; and
c) a plurality of terminal devices interfaced to the distribution network for receiving the digital information stream, each terminal device including a terminal processor and a user demographic database that contains demographic information about a user of the terminal device, the terminal processor being programmed to compare each code for each advertisement with the demographic information in said database and determine therefrom which of the plurality of advertisements the user is designated to receive.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein each advertisement comprises a data stream which is adapted so that during receipt of the data stream a decoder buffer is known to be at a particular state at the end of each advertisement.
3. The system of claim 2 , wherein each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements comprises digitally encoded data, and each advertisement of the plurality of advertisements contain the same amount of digitally encoded data.
4. The system of claim 1 , wherein said information stream is a video information stream, said broadcast distribution system is a cable television distribution system, and said terminal devices are each a set top converter box.