Granted Patent B1

US 12,632,166 · App. 19/332,420 · Granted May 19, 2026

Inventor: Brad Vespe (Norristown, PA)

Assignee: Where Is It At

G06F3/04847G06Q30/0277H04N21/83

Abstract

Claims (72)

1 . A method, comprising:

receiving, by a digital content platform executing on a client device, a digital media stream depicting a business, a service, or an event, wherein the digital media stream is decoded and rendered by a content rendering engine of the client device;

determining, by a context determination module executing instructions on the client device, a contextual attribute of a viewer, wherein the contextual attribute comprises at least one of a geographic location determined from a positioning signal, a demographic attribute retrieved from a user profile, a behavioral attribute inferred from a historical engagement log, a device attribute obtained from a system call, or a temporal attribute derived from a system clock;

extracting, by a content analysis module executing instructions on the client device or a remote server, a contextual attribute associated with the business, the service, or the event by analyzing at least one of metadata embedded in the digital media stream, a hashtag parsed from an associated caption, an object detected using a computer vision model, audio transcribed by a speech-to-text engine, or a contextual feature inferred by an artificial intelligence model;

correlating, by a correlation engine, the contextual attribute of the viewer with the contextual attribute of the business, the service, or the event, wherein the correlation engine applies one of a distance calculation algorithm, a similarity scoring algorithm, or a temporal alignment algorithm to produce a correlation score;

generating, by a user interface generator, an actionable control rendered within or adjacent to the digital media stream, wherein the actionable control is drawn to a rendering layer of the display interface using a markup template and style definition; and

executing, responsive to activation of the actionable control by a viewer input detected through a touch sensor, pointer device, or gesture recognition system, a transaction with a third-party provider by invoking an application programming interface call or launching a sandboxed micro-application.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the actionable control is presented in a format selected from a banner, a pop-up icon, a sticker, a swipe-up element, a floating panel, a side panel, or an embedded widget, wherein the format is determined by a layout engine configured to evaluate a device type identifier retrieved from the system call, a screen resolution parameter provided by a rendering subsystem, a platform constraint defined in an operating system application programming interface, or a stored viewer preference record.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the contextual attribute of the viewer comprises a geographic location determined by a location determination module configured to:

receive a raw location input comprising at least one of:

a satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) signal comprising a pseudorange measurement;

an Internet Protocol (IP) address resolved to a geographic region using a network geolocation service;

a Wi-Fi triangulation measurement based on a media access control (MAC) address and a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) from an access point; or

a cell tower triangulation measurement derived from cell identity (Cell ID), timing advance, or signal strength of a plurality of cellular base station;

execute a sensor fusion algorithm, comprising at least one of an extended Kalman filter, particle filter, or weighted least-squares estimator, to reconcile the raw input into a unified geographic estimate; and

output a normalized coordinate pair comprising a latitude value and a longitude value to generate the viewer context signal.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising categorizing a correlation into a contextual label comprising one of a local proximity category, a regional proximity category, a long-distance travel category, a temporal engagement category, or a demographic affinity category, wherein the categorization is performed by:

applying a thresholding algorithm to the correlation score; and

generating the actionable control configured to correspond to the contextual label, wherein the actionable control comprises one of a purchase control, a reservation control, or a deferred engagement control.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

storing metadata associated with the business, service, or event in response to a deferred engagement input captured by an interaction listener, wherein the metadata is stored in a persistent storage medium and comprises at least one of a business identifier, a contextual attribute, or a timestamp; and

resurfacing a notification comprising the actionable control by triggering a scheduling engine configured to evaluate one of a preset interval, a schedule associated with the business, or a predicted engagement time determined by a predictive model trained on historical interaction data.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising modifying the actionable control in real time by an update engine, wherein the modification is performed in response to transportation data retrieved via an application programming interface, a business operating hour retrieved from a directory service, a reservation availability queried from a booking system, a product inventory obtained from a point-of-sale interface, or a trending activity determined from an engagement analytic, wherein the modification comprises dynamically altering a displayed label, a visual state, or a navigation target of the actionable control.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying the actionable control during a live broadcast stream, wherein the actionable control is triggered by one of a parsing time-coded metadata within a manifest file, detecting an audio feature using a speech recognition model, detecting a visual feature using a computer vision classifier, or extracting text using an optical character recognition engine, wherein the actionable control is injected into the rendering layer at a frame index aligned with the detected broadcast stream.

8 . A system, comprising:

a client device comprising a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the client device to:

determine a contextual attribute of a viewer by invoking a context determination module, wherein the contextual attribute comprises at least one of a geographic location obtained from a positioning service, a demographic attribute retrieved from a user profile, a behavioral attribute inferred from a logged interaction, a device attribute obtained from a system call, or a temporal attribute determined from a system clock;

analyze digital content using a content analysis module to extract a contextual attribute of a business, a service, or an event by applying one of metadata parsing, image recognition, audio transcription, or artificial intelligence inference;

correlate the contextual attribute of the viewer with the contextual attribute of the business, the service, or the event by executing a correlation engine that computes a correlation score;

generate an actionable control within or adjacent to a display region of the digital content using a user interface generator; and

initiate, upon detection of a viewer input activating the actionable control, a transaction with a third-party provider by invoking a communication channel; and

a remote server comprising a processor and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the remote server to receive the contextual information from the client device, generate a transaction instruction, and transmit the transaction instruction to the third-party provider using a transaction execution engine.

9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the client device further comprises a user interface generator configured to select a format of the actionable control from a banner, a pop-up, a sticker, a swipe-up, a floating panel, a side panel, or an embedded widget, wherein the format is determined based on a rendering context parameter received from a graphics subsystem, an accessibility parameter defined by an operating system setting, or a platform-specific guideline, and rendered using a style sheet instruction.

10 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the remote server further comprises a correlation engine configured to categorize the correlation into a contextual label, wherein:

the categorization is performed by applying one of a geospatial threshold algorithm, a demographic similarity function, or a behavioral clustering function; and

the contextual label determines whether the actionable control is instantiated as an order control, a reservation control, or a deferred engagement control.

11 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the remote server further comprises a monetization module configured to:

embed into the actionable control a monetization artifact selected from the group consisting of an affiliate link, a referral link, a cost-per-action link, or a revenue-sharing link; and

select a preferred link from a plurality of candidate links by applying a prioritization algorithm that weighs:

a commission rate associated with the candidate link;

a latency of provider response; and

an engagement history metric reflecting a prior viewer interaction or conversion.

12 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the client device further comprises a deferred engagement module configured to:

store a contextual attribute of the business, the service, or the event in a local or cloud database; and

re-activate the actionable control when a subsequent contextual attribute of the viewer satisfies a re-activation condition, wherein the re-activation condition comprises one of a geofence trigger, a temporal trigger, or a behavioral trigger.

13 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the client device further comprises a personalization engine configured to adjust at least one of a size, a color scheme, a placement, a timing of display, or an animation of the actionable control, wherein:

the adjustment is determined by a machine learning model trained on historical viewer interaction data; and

the model is periodically updated based on a reinforcement learning feedback from an engagement metric.

14 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the remote server further comprises a context analysis module configured to:

obtain real-time external data comprising at least one of transportation data, inventory data, or trending social activity; and

update the actionable control by modifying a displayed content, a travel estimate, or a recommendation ranking.

15 . An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to:

determine a contextual attribute of a viewer, wherein the contextual attribute comprises at least one of a geographic location derived from a positioning signal, a demographic attribute retrieved from a stored profile, a behavioral attribute determined from a logged user interaction, a device attribute obtained via a system call, or a temporal attribute determined from a system clock;

analyze digital content to identify a contextual attribute of a business, a service, or an event using metadata parsing, object recognition, audio transcription, or machine learning inference;

correlate the contextual attribute of the viewer with the contextual attribute of the business, the service, or the event by applying a correlation function to generate a correlation score;

generate an actionable control comprising at least one of an order control, a reservation control, a deferred engagement control, or a directions control, wherein the actionable control is rendered to a user interface layer; and

initiate, responsive to activation of the actionable control, a transaction with a third-party provider by transmitting transaction data over a secure communication channel.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein:

the memory further stores instructions that cause the apparatus to suppress generation of the actionable control when the correlation score falls below a relevance threshold; and

the relevance threshold being defined as a geospatial distance limit, a demographic dissimilarity score, or a temporal misalignment score.

17 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the memory further stores instructions that cause the apparatus to transmit a contextual parameter comprising at least one of a geographic coordinate, a demographic identifier, a behavioral vector, or a transaction type to a third-party provider using a communication protocol comprising a digital signature.

18 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the memory further stores instructions that cause the apparatus to select a link to a service provider by applying a weighting algorithm configured to:

assign numerical weights to a plurality of provider attributes including at least a commission parameter, a promotional factor, a latency or responsiveness measure, and a platform-priority value;

compute a composite score for each candidate provider link as a function of the assigned weights and the corresponding attribute values; and

select the provider link associated with the highest composite score for embedding into an actionable overlay.

19 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the memory further stores instructions that cause the apparatus to generate an actionable control configured to present wagering, betting, or predictive engagement options during a live event, wherein the actionable control is dynamically updated based on a score feed, a betting odds feed, or a prediction from a statistical model.

20 . The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein:

the memory further stores instructions that cause the apparatus to generate an engagement overlay comprising a polling control, a predictive outcome control, or a survey control;

the overlay is synchronized with media content using time-coded metadata; and

transmit a response from the overlay to a back-end analytics server.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (7)

References Cited (12)