GENERATING MEDIA STREAM INCLUDING CONTEXTUAL MARKERS

1 . A method of generating a media stream being delivered to an end user, the method comprising:

receiving media items at a streaming server;

receiving an item schedule at the streaming server;

assembling the media items into the media stream based on timing relationships specified by the item schedule, wherein the media stream includes:

an advertising spot block including advertising media content; and

an adjacent spot block including other media content;

inserting a contextual marker into the advertising spot block, wherein the contextual marker includes information identifying the other media content in the adjacent spot block; and

transmitting the media stream to an end-user media player configured to process the contextual marker.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the contextual marker further includes format information specifying a protocol the end-user media player uses to generate and transmit a tracking call.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the contextual marker further includes address information specifying a tracking-call destination address.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the contextual marker further includes an encrypted show code identifier configured to be stripped from the contextual marker and inserted into the tracking call.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the contextual marker further includes information related to the advertising media content.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

transmitting the end-user media player to an end-user mobile device.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

inserting the contextual marker into the advertising spot block includes inserting an in-band Uniform Resource Locator (URL) into the advertising spot block.

8 . A streaming server comprising:

at least one processor and associated memory;

a communications interface coupled to the at least one processor and the associated memory, the communications interface configured to:

receive media items;

receive an item schedule;

the at least one processor and the associated memory are configured to:

assemble the media items into a media stream based on timing relationships specified by the item schedule, wherein the media stream includes:

an advertising spot block including advertising media content; and

an adjacent spot block including other media content;

insert a contextual marker into the advertising spot block, wherein the contextual marker includes information identifying the other media content in the adjacent spot block; and

the communications interface is further configured to transmit the media stream to an end-user media player configured to process the contextual marker.

9 . The streaming server of claim 8 , wherein:

the contextual marker further includes format information specifying a protocol the end-user media player uses to generate and transmit a tracking call.

10 . The streaming server of claim 9 , wherein:

the contextual marker further includes address information specifying a tracking-call destination address.

11 . The streaming server of claim 9 , wherein:

the contextual marker further includes an encrypted show code identifier configured to be stripped from the contextual marker and inserted into the tracking call.

12 . The streaming server of claim 8 , wherein:

the contextual marker further includes information related to the advertising media content.

13 . The streaming server of claim 8 , wherein:

wherein the communications interface is further configured to transmit the end-user media player to an end-user mobile device.

14 . The streaming server of claim 8 wherein:

the at least one processor and the associated memory are configured to insert an in-band Uniform Resource Locator (URL) into the advertising spot block.

15 . A streaming server comprising:

at least one processor and associated memory configured to implement a contextual marker insertion module, wherein the contextual marker insertion module:

assembles media items into a media stream based on timing relationships specified by an item schedule, wherein the media stream includes:

an advertising spot block including advertising media content; and

an adjacent spot block including other media content;

inserts a contextual marker into the advertising spot block, wherein the contextual marker includes information identifying the other media content in the adjacent spot block; and

a communications interface coupled to the at least one processor and the associated memory, the communications interface configured to transmit the media stream, via a content distribution network, to an end-user media player configured to process the contextual marker.

16 . The streaming server of claim 15 , wherein:

the contextual marker further includes format information specifying a protocol the end-user media player uses to generate and transmit a tracking call.

17 . The streaming server of claim 16 , wherein:

the contextual marker further includes address information specifying a tracking-call destination address.

18 . The streaming server of claim 16 , wherein:

the contextual marker further includes an encrypted show code identifier configured to be stripped from the contextual marker and inserted into the tracking call.

19 . The streaming server of claim 15 , wherein:

the contextual marker further includes information related to the advertising media content.

20 . The streaming server of claim 15 , wherein:

the information identifying the other media content in the adjacent spot block includes information sufficient to identify a particular instance of the other media content.