System and/or methods for distributing advertisements from a central advertisement network to a peripheral device via a local advertisement server
View Patent ↗Certain exemplary embodiments disclosed herein relate to systems and/or methods for distributing advertisements from a central advertisement network to one or more peripheral devices at a location via a local advertisement server. In certain exemplary embodiments, the local advertisement server within a location receives advertisements from the central advertisement network and rebroadcasts them to peripheral devices within that location. Advertising information may be tracked and reported, e.g., for accounting, revenue-sharing, and/or other purposes in certain exemplary embodiments. Thus, in certain exemplary embodiments, the distribution of advertisements is provided to peripherals via a non-web- and non-PC-dependent network. Moreover, in certain exemplary embodiments, reporting and advertising related communications are substantially bi-directional regardless of device type. Certain exemplary embodiments provide revenue sharing among some or all of the central advertising network provider, the proprietors of locations, operators tasked with maintaining the local ad server and/or the peripheral devices, etc.
1. A local advertisement server, comprising:
a network connection to a central advertising network located remote from the local advertisement server;
a storage location configured to store an advertisement database, the advertisement database including advertisements received from the central advertising network via the network connection along with content control data associated with each said advertisement;
an advertisement server advertisement queue;
a local connection to a plurality of peripheral devices and a digital jukebox device located in the same location as the local advertisement server, the jukebox device and at least some of said peripheral devices including respective storage locations and being configured to maintain respective jukebox device and peripheral device advertisement queues and log files, and to cause advertisements to be displayed from the respective advertisement queues without directly consulting the advertisement server advertisement queue; and
a display controller configured to cause peripheral devices connected to the local advertisement server via the local connection that do not include their own peripheral device advertisement queues to display at least some of the advertisements received from the central advertising network using the advertisement server advertisement queue and in dependence on the content control data associated with the advertisements.
2. The local advertisement server of claim 1 , wherein each said advertisement is one of a leader board, banner, or media clip.
3. The local advertisement server of claim 2 , wherein the content control data for each advertisement comprises indications of how and when the associated advertisement should be displayed.
4. The local advertisement server of claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of log files, a first log file comprising information regarding the distribution of advertisements from the central advertising network to the local advertisement server, and a second log file comprising information regarding the display of advertisements on the peripheral devices.
5. The local advertisement server of claim 1 , further comprising a media source connection configured to receive media from an external media source,
wherein the display controller is further configured to combine, in a predetermined format, the advertisements with the media received from the external media source via the media source connection to create a combined signal, the combined signal being sent to at least some of the peripheral devices for possible subsequent display.
6. The local advertisement server of claim 1 , wherein the advertisement server advertisement queue includes an advertisement queue for each peripheral device type, the display controller being further configured to cause peripheral devices connected to the local advertisement server via the local connection to display at least some of the advertisements received from the central advertising network in dependence on the content control data associated with the advertisements and the associated advertisement queue.
7. The local advertisement server of claim 3 , wherein the local advertisement server is built into the digital jukebox device.
8. The local advertisement server of claim 7 , wherein the local advertisement server and the digital jukebox device share a common processor and/or storage location.
9. The local advertisement server of claim 8 , wherein the digital jukebox device is configured to retrieve instances of media for playback via a central audiovisual network, the central audiovisual network being the same network as the central advertising network.
10. The local advertisement server of claim 1 , wherein the display controller is further configured to change or modify the advertisements being displayed in response to input provided, directly or indirectly, by a person to whom the advertisement is targeted.
11. The local advertisement server of claim 1 , further comprising an advertiser interface configured to allow advertisers to define or redefine an advertising campaign by creating at least one rule specifying how and where an advertisement should be run, said advertiser interface being accessible via the central advertising network.
12. An advertisement system comprising a plurality of the local advertisement servers of claim 1 , each said local advertisement server being located at a different location.
13. An advertising method for providing a plurality of electronic advertisements to peripheral devices distributed across a plurality of locations, the method comprising:
providing a plurality of local advertisement servers, each said local advertisement server being located at a different location;
providing a central advertising network located remote from the local advertisement servers;
distributing at least some electronic advertisements from the central advertising network to the local advertisement servers via network connections provided to the respective local advertisement servers;
storing, via storage locations provided to the respective local advertisement servers, advertisement databases, the advertisement databases including electronic advertisements received from the central advertising network via the respective network connection along with content control data associated with each said electronic advertisement;
causing, at each said local advertisement server, at least one advertisement server advertisement queue to be maintained;
wherein each said local server is connected to a plurality of peripheral devices and a digital jukebox device, the jukebox device and at least some of said peripheral devices including respective storage locations and being configured to maintain respective jukebox device and peripheral device advertisement queues and log files, and to cause advertisements to be displayed from the respective advertisement queues without directly consulting the advertisement server advertisement queue,
wherein each said local server further comprises a display controller configured to cause peripheral display devices connected thereto that do not include their own peripheral device advertisement queues to display at least some of the electronic advertisements received from the central advertising network in dependence on the content control data associated with the electronic advertisements and the respective at least one advertisement server advertisement queue,
wherein each said electronic advertisement is one of a leader board, banner, and media clip, and
wherein the content control data for each electronic advertisement comprises indications of how and when the associated electronic advertisement should be displayed.
14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising causing, at each said local advertisement server:
media to be received from an external media source;
a combining, in a predetermined format, via the respective display controllers, of the electronic advertisements with the media received from the external media source to create a combined signal;
the combined signal to be sent to peripheral display devices connected to the local advertisement server for display on the respective peripheral display device.
15. The method of claim 13 , wherein each said local advertisement server is built into the digital jukebox device to which the advertisement server is connected.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein each said local advertisement server shares a common processor and/or storage location with the associated digital jukebox device.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein each said the digital jukebox device is configured to retrieve instances of media for playback via a central audiovisual network, the central audiovisual network being the same network as the central advertising network.
18. The method of claim 13 , further comprising causing, at each said location, a changing or modifying to the electronic advertisements being displayed in response to input provided, directly or indirectly, by a person to whom the electronic advertisements is targeted.
19. The method of claim 13 , further comprising receiving input, via an advertiser interface, configured to allow advertisers to define or redefine an advertising campaign by creating at least one rule specifying how and where an electronic advertisement should be run, said advertiser interface being accessible via the central advertising network.
20. The method of claim 13 , further comprising receiving input when a new peripheral device is connected to a local advertisement server, the input including an identifier for the new peripheral device, as well as indications as to what ad types the new peripheral device supports, whether the new peripheral device has a dedicated storage location associated therewith, and whether the new peripheral device maintains its own advertisement queue and/or log files.