SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING PROMOTIONS WITH RECORDED PROGRAMS
The invention provides systems and methods for providing promotions with recorded programs. These systems and methods provide for selecting a program to record, selecting a promotion, recording the selected program; and recording the promotion with the program or inserting the promotion during playback of the recorded program. The invention also provides a receiver for receiving signals and/or data (e.g., programs, promotions, program guides, etc.) on a single broadcast channel or on a plurality of broadcast channels, one or more memory storage units for storing signals and/or data, and a processor for selecting a program, selecting a promotion, causing selected programs to be recorded, and controlling the insertion of promotions into a program during recording of the program or during playback of the program.
1 . A method for providing a promotion during playback of a program on a user equipment comprising:
receiving a user selection of the program for playback from the user equipment;
determining a time of playback of the selected program;
determining an attribute of the selected program;
selecting a promotion based at least in part on the time of playback and the attribute; and
causing the selected promotion to be played with the selected program during playback on the user equipment.
2 . The method in claim 1 , wherein the program is a video on demand program.
3 . The method in claim 1 , wherein the user selection is received from a user input device.
4 . The method in claim 1 , wherein determining the attribute of the selected program comprises determining the content of the selected program, wherein the content is indicated by at least one of: tags, thumbnails, closed-caption data, teletext data, speech-to-text data recognition, audio classification, clip markings, recommended audience ratings, program informational display screens.
5 . The method in claim 1 , wherein causing the selected promotion to be played with the selected program during playback on the user equipment comprises:
sending a command to the user equipment to halt the playback of the program;
causing the equipment to display the selected promotion; and
sending a command to the user equipment to continue the playback of the program.
6 . The method in claim 1 , further comprising causing the user equipment to record the selected promotion with the selected program.
7 . The method in claim 1 , wherein causing the selected promotion to be played with the selected program during playback on the user equipment comprises:
transmit the selected program to the user equipment; and
inserting a promotional point within the transmitted program, wherein promotional points indicate when the promotion is to be played during playback.
8 . The method in claim 7 , further comprising causing the user equipment to retrieve the selected promotion to be played during playback at the promotional point.
9 . The method in claim 8 , wherein retrieving the selected promotion comprises retrieving the selected promotion from a local storage unit in the user equipment.
10 . The method in claim 8 , wherein retrieving the selected promotion comprises retrieving the selected promotion from a remote storage unit over a communications network.
11 . A system for providing a promotion during playback of a program on a user equipment comprising:
a processor configured to:
receive a user selection of the program for playback from the user equipment;
determine a time of playback of the selected program;
determine an attribute of the selected program;
select a promotion based at least in part on the time of playback and the attribute; and
cause the selected promotion to be played with the selected program during playback on the user equipment.
12 . The system in claim 11 , wherein the program is a video on demand program.
13 . The system in claim 11 , wherein the user selection is received from a user input device.
14 . The system in claim 11 , the processor is further configured to determine the content of the selected program, wherein the content is indicated by at least one of: tags, thumbnails, closed-caption data, teletext data, speech-to-text data recognition, audio classification, clip markings, recommended audience ratings, program informational display screens.
15 . The method in claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
send a command to the user equipment to halt the playback of the program;
cause the equipment to display the selected promotion; and
send a command to the user equipment to continue the playback of the program.
16 . The system in claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the user equipment to record the selected promotion with the selected program.
17 . The system in claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
transmit the selected program to the user equipment; and
insert a promotional point within the transmitted program, wherein promotional points indicate when the promotion is to be played during playback.
18 . The system in claim 17 , the processor is further configured to cause the user equipment to retrieve the selected promotion to be played during playback at the promotional point.
19 . The system in claim 18 , wherein the processor is further configured to retrieve the selected promotion from a local storage unit in the user equipments.
20 . The system in claim 18 , wherein the processor is further configured to retrieve the selected promotion from a remote storage unit over a communications network.