Refreshing advertisements in offline or virally distributed content
View Patent ↗A method, apparatus, and system are directed towards providing advertisement insertions at a point of consumption into digital content, such as broadcast television content. A content provider may initially mark the content for advertisement insertion, and create a metadata file indicating constraints, targets, expirations, or the like. A downstream user employs a plug-in component and provides an initial user profile, in part, to access the content with advertisements. As the content is played, and an advertising marker is encountered, fast forwarding or other skipping features are disabled, and an advertisement stream is spliced into the content stream. The advertisement stream is determined based on the user profile and/or other metadata. Moreover, the advertisement stream may be obtained over a network such that advertisements may be refreshed even years after the content has been acquired by the user. In one embodiment, the advertisement consumption may be tracked and reported.
1. A system for use in managing access to content comprising:
a first network-based computing device that is configured and arranged to perform actions, including:
inserting at least one marker into a file containing content, each marker identifying a location for playing a message, wherein the at least one marker is inserted into the file containing the content prior to providing it to a client device;
encrypting the file containing the contentp;
providing, via a network, the encrypted file containing the content for use by the client device; and
providing a plurality of messages to the client device; and
the client device configured to perform actions, including:
receiving the encrypted file containing the content;
storing the encrypted file containing the content in a secure content storage on the client device;
receiving and storing the plurality of messages, the messages stored in a secure offline storage on the client device and accessible by the client device without a network connection to the first network-based computing device, the secure offline storage different from the secure content storage;
determining a geographic location associated with the client device;
inhibiting playing of the content if the geographic location fails to satisfy a geo-filtering constraint;
responsive to the geographic location satisfying the geo-filtering constraint and the client device being offline from the first network-based computing device:
decrypting at least a portion of the requested content stored in the secure content storage;
playing the decrypted at least a portion of the received content; and
when the marker is detected in the played portion of the decrypted content:
selecting a message from among the plurality of messages stored in the secure offline storage based on the geographic location and user profile information describing a user of the client device;
disabling at least one feature of the client device that allows skipping past or fast forwarding through the selected message; and
playing the selected message at the location identified by the marker; and
responsive to the client device replaying the decrypted at least a portion of the received content and again detecting the marker:
selecting a different message than the selected message from among the plurality of messages stored in the secure offline storage; and
playing the different message at the location identified by the marker.
2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the client device is further configured to provide viewing statistics associated with the message, including at least when the message is played.
3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the client device is configured to perform actions, further including:
sending a registration request to enable access to the content;
receiving a content plug-in configured to manage access to the content and the plurality of messages, and wherein the content plug-in is further configured to provide metadata including a geographic region in which the client device resides.
4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
inhibiting playing of the content if the content is invalid for viewing at the client device.
5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the message is further selected based on metadata including at least one of a user viewing history, a temporal constraint indicating when the message can or cannot be played, and a priority of the message.
6. A method for use in managing access to content for play by a client device, comprising:
requesting, by the client device, content from a network-based content source via a network, wherein the content includes at least one marker that is inserted in an encrypted file containing the content, each marker identifying a location for playing a message;
receiving the encrypted file containing the requested content;
storing the encrypted file containing the requested content in a secure content storage on the client device;
receiving and storing a plurality of messages, the messages stored in a secure offline storage on the client device and accessible by the client device without a network connection to the network-based content source, the secure offline storage different from the secure content storage;
determining a geographic location associated with the client device;
inhibiting playing of the content if the geographic location fails to satisfy a geo-filtering constraint;
responsive to the geographic location satisfying the geo-filtering constraint and the client device being offline from the network-based content source:
decrypting at least a portion of the requested content stored in the secure content storage;
playing, at the client device, the decrypted at least a portion of the requested content;
when the marker is encountered during playing of the decrypted content:
selecting a message from among the plurality of messages stored in the secure offline storage based on the geographic location and user profile information describing a user of the client device;
temporarily disabling a feature at the client device arranged to enable fast-forwarding or skipping of playing of messages;
playing the selected message; and
when the selected message is completed playing at the client device, enabling the disabled feature; and
responsive to the client device replaying the decrypted at least a portion of the received content and again detecting the marker:
selecting a different message than the selected message from among the plurality of messages stored in the secure offline storage; and
playing the different message at the location identified by the marker.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
providing viewing statistics associated with the playing of the message, including at least when the message is played.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the message is further selected based on a priority.
9. A network device for managing access to content over a network, comprising:
a memory for storing logical instructions;
a processor for executing the logical instructions stored in the memory, the execution of the logical instructions causing actions to be performed, including:
providing to a client device a content plug-in that is configured to manage playing of content and a message, wherein during playing of the message the plug-in is configured to disable the client device from fast-forwarding or skipping past playing of the entire message;
inserting at least one marker into a file containing the content, each marker identifying a location for playing a message, wherein the at least one marker is inserted within the file containing the content prior to providing it to a client device;
encrypting the file containing the content;
sending to the client device via the network the encrypted file containing the content; and
sending to the client device a plurality of messages including a first message and a second message, the second message being different from the first message, the client device configured to store the plurality of messages in a secure offline storage on the client device that is accessible to the client device without a network connection to the network device;
the client device further configured to:
determine a geographic location associated with the client device;
inhibit playing of the content if the geographic location fails to satisfy a geo-filtering constraint;
responsive to the geographic location satisfying the geo-filtering constraint, select and play the first message based, in part, on the geographic location and user profile information about a user of the client device when the marker is encountered by the client device; and
responsive to the client device replaying the content, select and play the second message based, in part, on the geographic location and the user profile information when the marker is again encountered by the client device.
10. The network device of claim 9 , wherein sending to the client device content further comprises sending the content using at least one of a portable storage device or over the network.
11. A client device for use in managing access to content over a network, comprising:
a transceiver that is configured to send and to receive messages over a network; and
a processor, coupled to the transceiver, that is arranged to perform actions, including:
receiving an encrypted file containing content from a network-based content source, wherein the encrypted file includes a marker that is inserted within the encrypted file containing the content and indicates a location for playing a message;
storing the encrypted file containing the content in a secure content storage on the client device;
receiving and storing a plurality of messages, the messages stored in a secure offline storage on the client device and accessible by the client device without a network connection to the network-based content source, the secure offline storage different from the secure content storage;
determining a geographic location associated with the client device;
inhibiting playing of the content if the geographic location fails to satisfy a geo-filtering constraint;
responsive to the geographic location satisfying the geo-filtering constraint and
the client device being offline from the network-based content source:
decrypting at least a portion of the requested content stored in the secure content storage;
playing the decrypted at least a portion of the content; and
when the marker is detected:
selecting a message from among the plurality of messages stored in the secure offline storage based on user profile information describing a user of the client device;
disabling at least one feature of the client device that allows skipping past or fast forwarding through the selected message; and
playing the selected message at the location identified by the marker; and
responsive to the client device replaying the decrypted at least a portion of the content and again detecting the marker:
selecting a different message than the selected message from among the plurality of messages stored in the secure offline storage; and
playing the different message at the location identified by the marker.
12. The client device of claim 11 , wherein the processor is arranged to perform actions, further including: providing over the network to another device viewing statistics that includes at least information about playing of the message.
13. The client device of claim 11 , wherein a content plug-in is installed in the client device for use in managing at least a portion of the playing of the message.