US20060288366A1 - Interactive television program guide system with local advertisements - Google Patents

Abstract

A program guide system is provided in which local advertisements may be distributed to interactive television program guides implemented on the user television equipment associated with a television distribution facility such as a cable system headend. The local advertisements contain information that is directed toward the particular users in a local area. The local advertisements may be displayed when a user selects a related global advertisement. The local advertisements may also be displayed automatically by cycling global advertisements and local advertisements. Advertisements may be blocked based on content or time shifted. Policies regarding advertisement usage may be enforced.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
• This invention relates to interactive television program guides, and more particularly, to techniques for providing local advertising with such interactive television program guides.
• Passive television program guides provide a scrolling or paged list of television program listings on a dedicated television channel. A television user may view the television program listings by tuning to the dedicated channel. The upper portion of a passive program guide display may be used to display advertising videos and associated text descriptions. The content of the text descriptions may be targeted toward particular regions.
• Interactive television program guides allow television users to perform more advanced operations, such as displaying program listings in formats that are selected by the user, genre searching, pay-per-view ordering, etc. Interactive program guides are typically implemented on microprocessor-based set-top boxes. Program listings data is transmitted to the set-top boxes from a centralized data distribution facility via the user's cable system headend. The program listings data is typically stored in memory in the set-top box, where it may be accessed by the interactive program guide.
• Interactive program guides may be used to display advertisements, as described in Knudson et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/034,939, filed Mar. 4, 1998, Knudson et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/070,604, filed Apr. 30, 1998, Knudson et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/070,555, filed Apr. 30, 1998, and Boylan, III et al. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/070,700, filed Apr. 30, 1998, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. Interactive program guide advertisements provide the user with useful information on various products and services. For example, interactive program guide advertisements may be used to promote upcoming television programs. Interactive program guide advertisements may also be used to promote non-programming products and services.
• Because interactive television program guide advertisements may be distributed nationally from a central facility, such advertisements are suitable for promoting products and services on a national basis. If interactive program guide advertisements are distributed only on a national basis, however, users will not be provided with as much useful local advertising information as might otherwise be possible.
• It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an interactive television program guide system in which users may be provided with local program guide advertising.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
• This and other objects of the invention are accomplished in accordance with the principles of the present invention by providing a system in which local (i.e., non-global) advertisements are provided to interactive television program guides that are implemented on the user television equipment associated with a television distribution facility.
• The data for the local advertisements may be distributed to the interactive television program guides in a number of ways. For example, local advertising data may be included in a global data stream that is transmitted from a main facility to multiple television distribution facilities. The global data stream may also contain global advertising data and program guide data. The television distribution facilities distribute the global data stream to the user television equipment. The interactive program guides in the user television equipment may extract the local advertising data that is addressed to that user television equipment or to its associated television distribution facility.
• Another approach involves inserting local advertising data into the global data stream. Local advertising data may be inserted into a portion of the bandwidth of the global data stream that is reserved for local advertisements. Local advertising data may also be inserted into the global data stream by overwriting certain global advertisements. If desired, local advertising data may be transmitted from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment using a separate data stream. These advertising distribution schemes are illustrative. Any suitable form of digital multiplexing may be used to distribute global and local advertisements on single or multiple data streams if desired.
• Local advertisements may be displayed on the user television equipment by the interactive television program guide. Local advertisements may be displayed whenever a user selects a displayed global advertisement. A local advertisement that is displayed in this way may have content that is related to the content of the selected global advertisement. If desired, the program guide may cycle global and local advertisements on the user television equipment. Local advertisements may also be shown in place of certain global advertisements if desired.
• Further features of the invention, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
• FIG. 1 is a diagram of a conventional arrangement for providing a passive television program guide channel.
• FIG. 2 is a display provided by a conventional passive program guide.
• FIG. 3 is a diagram of a conventional interactive program guide data distribution system.
• FIG. 4 is a diagram showing how a conventional program guide may display pay-per-view ordering information when a user selects a program listing in a conventional program guide pay-per-view program listings screen.
• FIG. 5 is a diagram of an illustrative interactive television program guide system for providing local advertisements in accordance with the present invention.
• FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating how data may be distributed to multiple television distribution facilities in accordance with the present invention.
• FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating how local advertising data may be distributed from the main facility as part of a global data stream in accordance with the present invention.
• FIG. 8 is a diagram of an illustrative program guide system in which the television distribution facility contains a filter for filtering out all but the local advertisements addressed to the user television equipment associated with that television distribution facility.
• FIG. 9 is a diagram of an illustrative program guide system in which filters are provided in the user television equipment for filtering out all but the local advertisements addressed to that user television equipment.
• FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating how local advertising data may be inserted into a global data stream in accordance with the present invention.
• FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating how local advertising data may be inserted into a global data stream at a television distribution facility in accordance with the present invention.
• FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating how a separate local data stream may be provided when local advertisements are transmitted from the television distribution facility to the user television equipment in accordance with the present invention.
• FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating how a local advertisement may be provided when the user selects a global advertisement in accordance with the present invention.
• FIG. 14 is a flow chart of steps involved in providing the user with local advertising information such as shown inFIG. 13 in accordance with the present invention.
• FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating how global advertisements and local advertisements may be cycled in accordance with the present invention.
• FIG. 16 is a flow chart of steps involved in displaying cycled global and local advertisements such as shown inFIG. 15 in accordance with the present invention.
• FIG. 17 is a flow chart of steps involved in displaying local advertisements in accordance with the present invention.
• FIG. 18 is a flow chart of steps involved in providing advertisements with tags based on their content in accordance with the present invention.
• FIG. 19 is a flow chart of steps involved in time shifting certain advertisements in accordance with the present invention.
• FIG. 20 is a flow chart of steps involved in implementing an advertisement usage policy in accordance with the present invention.
• FIG. 21 is a flow chart of steps involved in implementing an advertisement usage policy using policy flags in accordance with the present invention.
• FIG. 22 is a flow chart of steps involved in implementing an advertisement usage policy using a policy message in accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
• A conventional passive televisionprogram guide system10 is shown inFIG. 1. Data for television program listings such as channel, title, and broadcast time information is stored in aprogram listings database12 in adata transmission facility14. Promotional videos are stored inpromotional videos database16. Advertising text associated with the promotional videos is stored in regionaladvertising text database18. The promotional videos are distributed nationally via satellite in a global video stream. The associated advertising text is distributed in a global data stream. Program listings are also distributed in a global data stream.
• The global video and data streams are transmitted to multiple cable system headends20. The cable system headends are typically in different geographic regions. The cable system headend in each region contains a computer that extracts the advertising text appropriate for that region and the television program listings for the region. The region-appropriate advertising text is combined on a single screen with the promotional videos and the program listings for that region. The combined screen is provided to cable system subscribers attelevisions22 viacable links24 on a dedicated television channel. The layout of a typical passive program guide screen is shown inFIG. 2.
• The passive program guide system ofFIGS. 1 and 2 provides users with program guide information, promotional information, and regionalized advertising information without requiring that the user have any special television equipment other than a standard television. However, because the program guide ofFIGS. 1 and 2 is a passive program guide, it is not capable of providing the user with any interactive features.
• A conventional interactive television program guide system is shown inFIG. 3. Program listings information such as program titles, channels, descriptions, etc. is stored inprogram guide database26 ofdata transmission facility28. The program listings information is distributed nationally via satellite to multiple cable system headends30. Cable system headends30 are located in different geographic regions across the country. Eachheadend30 redistributes the program listings information viacable links32 to the set-top boxes34 of the users for that headend. Program listings information is typically distributed to set-top boxes34 using an out-of-band channel, digital in-band channel, or the vertical blanking interval (VBI) of one of the channels oncable links32.
• Set-top boxes34 contain memory in which the program listings information is stored. Set-top boxes34 also contain a processor for implementing the interactive television program guide. The program guide implemented on each set-top box34 is capable of displaying various program listings on an associatedtelevision36. For example, program listings for pay-per-view programs may be displayed, as shown in the upper screen ofFIG. 4. If the user selects one of the pay-per-view listings38, the program guide may display orderinginformation40, as shown in the lower screen ofFIG. 4. Orderinginformation40 may contain information such as pay-per-viewordering telephone number42 that is specific to the user's geographic region. Pay-per-view ordering telephone numbers are distributed nationally, but each set-top box34 extracts only the pay-per-view ordering telephone number appropriate for the user's geographic location.
• Although the arrangement ofFIGS. 3 and 4 allows users to obtain regionalized telephone number information, the arrangement ofFIGS. 3 and 4 is unable to provide local advertising information.
• An illustrativeprogram guide system44 in accordance with the present invention is shown inFIG. 5.Main facility46 contains aprogram guide database48 for storing program guide information such as television program guide listings data, pay-per-view ordering information, television program promotional information, etc.Main facility46 also contains anadvertising database50 for storing advertising information. Information fromdatabases48 and50 may be transmitted to multiple television distribution facilities such astelevision distribution facility52 via communications links such as communications link53.Link53 may be a satellite link, a telephone network link, a high-speed telephone link, a cable or fiber-optic link, a microwave link, a combination of such links, or any other suitable communications path. If it is desired to transmit video signals (e.g., for advertising and promotional videos) overlink53 in addition to data signals, a relatively high bandwidth link such as a satellite link is generally preferable to a relatively low bandwidth link such as a telephone line.
• Television distribution facility52 is a facility for distributing television signals to users, such as a cable system headend, a broadcast distribution facility, or a satellite television distribution facility.
• The program guide information transmitted bymain facility46 totelevision distribution facility52 includes television program listings data such as program times, channels, titles, descriptions, etc. Transmitted program information also includes pay program data such as pricing information for individual programs and subscription channels, time windows for ordering programs and channels, telephone numbers for placing orders that cannot be impulse ordered, etc.
• The advertising information transmitted bymain facility46 totelevision distribution facility52 may include text, graphics, and video advertisements for various products and services. Global advertisements (e.g., national advertisements or advertisements distributed uniformly over some other suitable wide-scale geographic area) may be distributed frommain facility46 to multipletelevision distribution facilities52, as shown inFIG. 6. Only onetelevision distribution facility52 is shown inFIG. 5 to avoid over-complicating the drawing.
• Eachtelevision distribution facility52 distributes advertisements to users at associateduser television equipment54 via communications links56. If desired, some advertising information may be provided usingadvertising database57 intelevision distribution facility52. For example, local advertising may be provided usingadvertising database57.Advertising database57 may also be used to temporarily cache national advertising data transmitted frommain facility46.Advertising database57 may contain a server capable of handling text, graphics, and video.
• User television equipment54 may be any suitable equipment for providing television to the user that contains sufficient processing capabilities to implement an interactive television program guide.Paths56 may be cable links, fiber-optic links, satellite links, broadcast links, or other suitable link or combination of such links. Any suitable communications scheme may be used to transmit data overpaths56, including in-band transmissions, vertical blanking interval transmissions, out-of-band transmissions, digital transmissions, analog transmissions, cable transmissions, satellite transmissions, over-the-air transmissions, multichannel multipoint distribution services (MMDS) transmissions, etc.
• The data distribution technique that is used to distribute data onpaths56 depends on the type of information that is being distributed. For example, text and graphics may be distributed over an out-of-band channel using an out-of-band modulator. Video information may also be distributed in this way, although large quantities of video information may be more efficiently distributed using one or more digital channels onpath56. Such digital channels may also be used for distributing text and graphics.
• Each user has a receiver, which is typically a set-top box such as set-top box58, but which may be other suitable television equipment such as an advanced television receiver into which circuitry similar to set-top-box circuitry has been integrated or a personal computer television (PC/TV). Data such as program guide data may be distributed to set-top boxes periodically.Television distribution facility52 may also poll set-top boxes58 periodically for certain information (e.g., pay program account information or information regarding programs that have been purchased and viewed using locally-generated authorization techniques).
• Main facility46 preferably contains a processor to handle information distribution tasks. Each set-top box58 preferably contains a processor to handle tasks associated with implementing the interactive television program guide.Television distribution facility52 may contain a processor for handling tasks associated with data distribution.
• Each set-top box58 is typically connected to anoptional videocassette recorder60 so that selected television programs may be recorded. Eachvideocassette recorder60 is connected to atelevision62. To record a program, the interactive television program guide implemented on set-top box58 tunes set-top box58 to a particular channel and sends control signals to videocassette recorder60 (e.g., using an infrared transmitter) thatdirect videocassette recorder60 to start and stop recording at the appropriate times.
• During use of the program guide, television program listings, advertisements, and other information may be displayed ontelevision62. Each set-top box58,videocassette recorder60, andtelevision62 may be controlled by one or moreremote controls64 or any other suitable user input interface such as a wireless keyboard, mouse, trackball, dedicated set of keys, etc. A typicalremote control64 has cursor keys for positioning a highlight region on the program guide screen and an “OK” or select button for selecting a highlighted item on the screen. Other typical remote control buttons include function buttons such as a record button, channel up and down buttons, volume control buttons, numeric keys, etc.
• Communications paths56 preferably have sufficient bandwidth to allowtelevision distribution facility52 to distribute television programming, program listings information, advertisements, and other information touser television equipment54. Multiple television and audio channels (analog, digital, or both analog and digital) may be provided touser television equipment54 viacommunications paths56. If desired, certain data such as program listings data may be distributed by one or more distribution facilities that are separate fromtelevision distribution facility52 using communications paths that are at least partly separate fromcommunications paths56.
• Certain functions such as pay program purchasing or the purchasing of products or services may require thatuser television equipment54 transmit data totelevision distribution facility52 overcommunications paths56. If desired, such data may be transmitted over telephone lines or other separate communications paths. If functions such as these are provided using facilities separate fromtelevision distribution facility52, some of the communications involvinguser television equipment54 may be made directly with the separate facilities.
• Users of the interactive television program guide may interactively order additional information, products, or services. For example, a user may place an order by selecting an advertisement displayed in the program guide. Such orders may be satisfied byfulfillment facilities66 and68. If desired, orders may be transmitted directly to fulfillment facilities such asfulfillment facility66 vialinks70, which may be telephone links, the Internet, or other suitable communications links. Orders may also be transmitted totelevision distribution facility52 via links56 (e.g., two-way cable), where the billing system of the television distribution facility may be used. After thetelevision distribution facility52 has processed the user's order,television distribution facility52 may transmit the order tofulfillment facility68 vialink72.
• A number of suitable techniques may be used to distribute videos related to advertising fromtelevision distribution facility52 touser television equipment54. For example, if eachpath56 includes a number of traditional analog television channels, one or more of these channels may be used to support a number of digital channels. The bandwidth of each analog channel that is used to support digital channels may support ten or more of such digital channels. If desired, videos may be provided fromtelevision distribution facility52 in a continuously looped arrangement on these digital channels. Information provided to set-top box58 may then be used to determine which digital channels to tune to when it is time to display a desired video. For example, if it is desired to display a local advertisement in place of a national advertisement, set-top box58 may tune to a digital channel containing the local advertisement at an appropriate time. Alternatively, videos may be provided bytelevision distribution facility52 on demand. With this approach, set-top box58 andtelevision distribution facility52 may negotiate to determine a channel on which to provide the desired video. Videos that originate frommain facility46, a separate facility, or from television distribution facility52 (e.g., from advertising database57) may be distributed touser television equipment54 using these or other suitable techniques. If desired, videos and other information may be distributed touser television equipment54 using servers located at network nodes betweentelevision distribution facility52 anduser television equipment54.
• Graphics information for advertisements may be downloaded fromtelevision distribution facility52 touser television equipment54 periodically (e.g., once every10 minutes or once per day). The graphics information may be accessed locally when needed by the program guide. Alternatively, graphics information may be provided in a continuously-looped arrangement on one or more digital channels onpaths56. With such a continuously-looped arrangement, a map indicating the location of the latest graphics information is preferably downloaded periodically to set-top boxes58 (e.g., once per day). This allows the content on the digital channels to be updated. The program guides on set-top boxes58 may use the map to locate desired graphics information on the digital channels. Another approach involves usingadvertising database57 to provide the graphics information after a set-top box58 andtelevision distribution facility52 have negotiated to set up a download operation. A bitmap or other suitable set of graphics information may then be downloaded from the advertising database to the set-top box. If desired,television distribution facility52 may download instructions informing the set-top box where the desired graphics information can be located on a particular digital channel. The graphics information can be updated periodically ifuser television equipment54 is informed of the current location of the graphics information.
• Text information for advertisements may be distributed fromtelevision distribution facility52 touser television equipment54 using the same paths that are used for distributing program guide data. For example, advertising data may be distributed over an out-of-band channel onpaths56. The text information may be stored locally in set-top boxes58 and updated periodically (e.g., once per day).
• Videos, graphics, and text for advertisements may also be distributed fromtelevision distribution facility52 touser television equipment54 using a combination of these techniques or any other suitable technique.
• Television distribution facility52 distributes both global and local advertisements touser television equipment54. Global advertisements are national advertisements or advertisements that are distributed uniformly over some other such large geographic area. A typical global advertisement might be for a certain brand of automobile, because the same automobiles are typically available nationwide. Local advertisements are advertisements whose content is generally tailored to a particular region or to a particular group of users. Examples of typical regions for which local advertisements may be provided include cities, metropolitan areas, states, multi-state regions (e.g., New England), etc. A typical local advertisement for one such region might be for an automobile dealership, because automobile dealerships usually serve only certain geographic regions. An example of a special group of users for which local advertisements may be provided is the group of users that are associated with all of the cable systems of a given cable system operator. A typical local advertisement for this type of group might be an advertisement for a new cable system channel or a promotional offer.
• Global advertisements are preferably distributed to alltelevision distribution facilities52 in a global area in parallel. For example, iftelevision distribution facilities52 are cable system headends or groups of headends at various locations around the country and link53 is a satellite link, a national advertisement for an automobile may be transmitted to, e.g., thousands of such cable system headends via satellite at substantially the same time. Such wide-scale distribution makes efficient use of the parallel data distribution capabilities ofsystem44. Parallel distribution of global data by satellite is, however, only one illustrative way in which global advertising data may be distributed. Any other suitable data distribution technique, including serial data distribution schemes and data distribution schemes using other types ofcommunications links53, may be used if desired.
• Local advertisements may be provided totelevision distribution facilities52 for redistribution touser equipment54 using a number of different techniques. As shown inFIG. 7,local advertising data74 may be transmitted frommain facility46 totelevision distribution facility52 as part of the same global data stream in whichglobal advertising data76 is transmitted. The local advertising data for each local advertisement has an associatedaddress78. Eachaddress78 defines the destination of its associated local advertisement. The destination is typically a local geographic area such as a city or a state, but may be a non-geographic type of destination such as all cable systems operated by the same cable system operator, all households with a certain income level (as determined, for example, by zip code information or other suitable resource), or any other suitable criteria for defining a non-global destination.
• Other data80 such as program listings data may also be transmitted in the global data stream. This type of distribution scheme may be most appropriate for local advertisements containing text and graphics, although local advertisements containing video may also be distributed in this way if desired.
• As shown inFIG. 8, each television distribution facility such astelevision distribution facility52 may be provided with a correspondinglocal advertisement filter82. Whenmain facility46 transmits the global data stream ofFIG. 7 to televisiondistribution television facility52,filter82 extracts the local advertisements from the data stream that are addressed to either the local area in whichtelevision distribution facility52 and its associateduser television equipment54 are located or to a group of users associated withtelevision distribution facility52. Users are therefore provided with local advertisements whose content is tailored to the user's geographic location or whose content is tailored to the intended group of recipients of the local advertisement (as in the case with an advertisement addressed to all of the cable customers of a particular cable system operator, etc.).
• As shown inFIG. 9, filtering may be accomplished using afilter84 that is located at the user television equipment. With theFIG. 9 arrangement, the set-top box58 (FIG. 5) or other such device in each user'suser television equipment54 filters out all but the local advertisements that are addressed to that user'suser television equipment54.
• If desired, filters may be used at bothtelevision distribution facilities52 anduser television equipment54. With such an arrangement, the filter at eachtelevision distribution facility52 may provide a first layer of filtering and the filters at theuser television equipment54 associated with eachtelevision distribution facility52 may provide a second layer of filtering.
• Another way in which local advertisements may be provided to users is shown inFIG. 10. As shown in the upper data stream ofFIG. 10, the global data stream transmitted frommain facility46 totelevision distribution facility52 may containglobal advertising data82 andother data86 such as program guide data. A portion of the bandwidth of the global data stream may be reserved for subsequent insertion of local advertising data. For example, slots such asslot88 may be reserved for data insertion. Local advertising data is inserted intoslot88 attelevision distribution facility52. Local advertising data may also be inserted into the global data stream by overwriting an existing global advertisement.
• After the local advertisement has been inserted into the global data stream,television distribution facility52 may transmit the lower data stream ofFIG. 10 touser television equipment54, as shown inFIG. 11. As shown in the lower stream ofFIG. 10,local advertising data90 has been inserted by overwritingglobal advertising data84 andlocal advertising data92 has been inserted into theslot88 that was reserved for insertion of a local advertisement. Because the local advertisements are inserted into the data stream attelevision distribution facility52, the local advertisements that are provided to theuser television equipment54 associated with thattelevision distribution facility52 are appropriate for the users' geographic region, and in general no filtering atuser television equipment54 is required if the local advertisements are intended for all users in that region. If the local advertisements are intended for a certain subset of the users in that geographic region (e.g., all users with a particular demographic trait such as a given income level), additional filtering may be used atuser television equipment54. If desired, local advertisements may be provided to the user in a separate data stream transmitted from the television distribution facility in parallel with the global data stream, as shown inFIG. 12.
• FIGS. 11 and 12 show how acomputer94 at the television distribution facility may be used in providing the local data.Computer94 may be used to implement or manage an advertising database such asadvertising database57 ofFIG. 5. Local advertisements may be retrieved fromadvertising database57 bycomputer94 as needed for transmission touser television equipment54.
• The program guide implemented onuser television equipment54 may present local advertisements to the user in a number of different ways. For example, the program guide may initially display a program guide screen such asprogram guide screen95, which is shown as the upper screen inFIG. 13.Program guide screen95 containsprogram listings region96, which contains a grid, list, or table of program listings.Program guide screen95 also containslogos98 andglobal panel advertisements100. A user may, for example, select one ofglobal advertisements100 by positioning a highlight such ashighlight102 on a desired advertisement with remote control cursor keys and pressing a select or OK remote control button. In response, the program guide may display an associatedlocal advertisement104, as shown in the lower screen ofFIG. 13.
• Steps involved in presentinglocal advertisement104 ofFIG. 13 to the user are shown inFIG. 14. Atstep106, the program guide displays a global advertisement in the program guide on a suitable program guide display screen. At step108, the program guide provides the user with an opportunity to select the global advertisement. Atstep110, after the user has selected a desired global advertisement, the program guide displays a corresponding local advertisement having content that may be related to the content of the selected global advertisement.
• Another arrangement for displaying local advertisements is shown inFIG. 15. The upper program guide screen ofFIG. 15 containsprogram listings region112 andglobal banner advertisements114 and116. Periodically, local advertisements are displayed in place of the global banner advertisements. For example, as shown in the lower program guide screen ofFIG. 15,local advertisement118 has been displayed in place ofglobal advertisement116. The content oflocal advertisement118 may be related to the content ofglobal advertisement116 if desired.
• Steps involved in displaying local advertisements using the arrangement ofFIG. 15 are shown inFIG. 16. Atstep120, the program guide displays a global advertisement. Atstep122, the program guide displays a local advertisement. The local advertisement may be displayed in place of the global advertisement as shown inFIG. 15. Atstep124, the cycle repeats (i.e.,global advertisement116 is displayed in place oflocal advertisement118 inFIG. 15, etc.). Alternatively, a different advertisement (global or local) may be displayed atstep124.
• The arrangements ofFIGS. 13 and 15 are illustrative only. Any suitable arrangement may be used for displaying local advertisements. For example, it is not necessary to display local advertisements in conjunction with global advertisements. Local advertisements may be displayed entirely on their own (e.g, according to a predetermined schedule or other suitable arrangement). Moreover, global and local advertisements may be displayed in any desired format, including the panel advertisement format ofFIG. 13, the banner advertisement format ofFIG. 15, or any other suitable format. Both global and local advertisements may be selectable.
• If such advertisements are selectable, the user may be provided with an opportunity to purchase an advertised product or service. The user may place an order for a product by selecting an advertisement, may request a catalog by selecting an advertisement, may generate a coupon by selecting an advertisement, may request a telephone call from a salesperson by selecting an advertisement, may request information on how to contact a salesperson at a local store by selecting an advertisement, etc. These examples are illustrative only. Any suitable type of product or service may be promoted or ordered using a selectable advertisement if desired.
• The user may also be provided with an opportunity to purchase programming by selecting an advertisement. For example, the user may be provided with an opportunity to impulse purchase a pay-per-view program. The user may also be provided with an opportunity to purchase a video-on-demand program or a near-video-on-demand program. These examples are illustrative. The user may purchase any suitable type of programming by selecting a selectable advertisement if desired.
• In addition, the user may be provided with an opportunity for setting a reminder for a particular program when the user selects a selectable advertisement for a program. The program guide may also be directed to take other actions in the program guide when the user selects a selectable advertisement. For example, the program guide may be directed to record a given program when the use selects an advertisement for a that program. These examples are illustrative, the program guide may be directed to take any suitable action in the program guide when the user selects a selectable advertisement if desired.
• As illustrated inFIG. 15, a local advertisement may be displayed (at step126) for which there is no corresponding global advertisement. This type of local advertisement may be particularly suitable for advertising businesses with a small geographic region of interest (e.g., Joe's pizzeria). If it is desired to advertise a product or service that has a more national appeal, but that has a corresponding aspect that requires more localized promotion (e.g., a brand of automobile for which it is desired to promote various dealerships), then at step128 a suitable global advertisement may be displayed and a corresponding local advertisement may be displayed by the program guide at step130 (after, e.g., the user selects the global advertisement).
• Another aspect of the invention relates to providing advertisements with content tags so that users or the operators of television distribution facilities may block certain advertisements based on their content. This may be useful when certain advertisements (e.g., advertisements for adult programming) offend the sensibilities of a particular user or community. As shown inFIG. 18, advertisements may be provided with content tags at step132 (e.g., atadvertising database50 in main facility46). Suitable content tags include tags for graphic language, violence, and sexual content. If desired, genre tags may be provided (e.g., tags that identify the content of advertisements by programming genre such as comedy, sports, movies, etc.) Tags may also be provided that identify the content of advertisements by subject matter such as home improvement, automotive, clothing, sports equipment, shoes, photographic, electronics, musical instruments, books, etc.
• Atstep134, the advertisements with content tags are distributed bysystem53. Advertisements with undesired content are blocked atstep136. If desired, a suitable global advertisement, local advertisement, or back-up message (e.g., a blank screen or an advertisement for a service provider) may be displayed by the program guide in place of the blocked advertisement atstep138. The advertisement displayed in place of an advertisement that was blocked because it was deemed to be offensive preferably contains inoffensive material.
• The distribution and blocking ofsteps134 and136 may be performed using any suitable arrangement. For example, advertisements with content tags may be distributed in one or more data streams touser television equipment54 bymain facility46 andtelevision distribution facilities52 and undesired advertisements may be filtered from such a data stream or streams atuser television equipment54. Another approach is fortelevision distribution facilities52 to perform filtering of the undesired advertisements. These approaches are illustrative only. Any suitable approach may be used for blocking advertisements based on content if desired. For example, user television equipment may block advertisements based on a keyword search (e.g., for words of graphic language in the text of the advertisement or for words based on an item of interest), rather than relying on content tags supplied atmain facility46.
• Atstep140, the user, system operator, or other entity may select the blocking (filtering) criteria to be used atstep136. For example, the system operator might block all advertisements for adult programming. The user might block all advertisements with graphic language. The user might also selectively allow advertisements for electronic equipment to be displayed by selecting the electronic equipment category. If the user selects a category such as the electronic equipment category, atstep136 all advertisements are blocked except those with a content (as indicated by content tags, keyword search, or other suitable technique) that is related to equipment.
• Another aspect of the invention relates to time shifting certain advertisements. In some circumstances it may be desirable for an advertisement to be time shifted, so that it may better reach its intended audience. For example, a network television program may be broadcast at 8:00 PM eastern time and 7:00 PM mountain time (even though eastern time and mountain time are two time zones apart). If an advertisement is distributed nationally and aired just before 8:00 PM eastern time (e.g., at 7:55 PM eastern time), that advertisement (if not time shifted) will be aired at 5:55 PM mountain time. This may be undesirable, because a 5:55 PM advertisement for a 7:00 PM television program may not be as effective as a 6:55 PM advertisement for a 7:00 PM television program. Accordingly, in this situation it may be desirable to delay (time shift) the display of the 5:55 PM mountain time advertisement until 6:55 PM mountain time.
• Steps involved in advertisement time shifting are shown inFIG. 19. Atstep142, global advertisements are distributed. In those time zones in which it is desired to time shift a given global advertisement, the advertisement may be temporarily stored (e.g., inadvertising database57 of television distribution facility52) atstep144. Elsewhere, the global advertisement may be displayed normally. Atstep146, the time-shifted advertisements are displayed by the program guide (e.g., they are transmitted fromadvertising database57 intelevision distribution facility52 touser television equipment54 and displayed by the program guide on television62).
• Another aspect of the invention relates to implementing policies related to advertisement usage bytelevision distribution facilities52. For example, it may be desired to prohibittelevision distribution facilities52 from time-shifting certain advertisements. It may also be desired to prohibittelevision distribution facilities52 from modifying a given advertisement (e.g., by overwriting that advertisement or by providing a corresponding local advertisement).
• As shown inFIG. 20,system44 may facilitate enforcement of advertisement usage policies by providing advertisements with information defining how those advertisements may be used (i.e., advertisement usage information) atstep148. The advertisement usage policies may be enforced atstep150, whentelevision distribution facilities52 attempt to time shift certain advertisements and modify certain advertisements (e.g., by attempting to overwrite such advertisements or by attempting to provide corresponding local advertisements).
• One illustrative approach for implementing the steps ofFIG. 20 is shown inFIG. 21. Atstep152, advertisements are provided with usage policy flags (e.g., inadvertising database50 at main facility46). The policy flags indicate how the advertisements may be used (e.g., whether the advertisements may be time shifted or modified by overwriting or by providing a corresponding local advertisement, etc.). Atstep154, the advertisements with their usage policy flags are distributed totelevision distribution facilities52. Atstep156,television distribution facilities52 distribute the advertisements for display by the program guide onuser television equipment54 in accordance with the advertisement usage policies defined by the policy flags. For example, if an advertisement has an accompanying policy flag that indicates no time shifting is permitted for that advertisement, atelevision distribution facility52 that would otherwise desire to time shift that advertisement will not be allowed to perform such a time shifting operation, but will distribute the advertisement touser television equipment54 normally.
• Another approach for implementing the steps ofFIG. 20 is shown inFIG. 22. At step158,main facility46 distributes an advertisement usage policy message totelevision distribution facilities52 that defines the usage policies for various advertisements. Atstep160,television distribution facilities52 distribute the advertisements for display by the program guide onuser television equipment54 in accordance with the advertisement usage policies defined by the policy message. For example, if the policy message indicates that an advertisement may not be time shifted, atelevision distribution facility52 that would otherwise desire to time shift that advertisement will not be allowed to perform such a time shifting operation, but will distribute the advertisement touser television equipment54 normally.
• The foregoing is merely illustrative of the principles of this invention and various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Claims (18)

1-46. (canceled)

47. A system in which advertisements are distributed to user television equipment on which an interactive television program guide is implemented, comprising:

means for distributing the advertisements to the user television equipment; and

means for displaying only some of the advertisements on the user television equipment with the interactive television program guide based on the content of the advertisements.

48. The system defined inclaim 47 further comprising means for providing the advertisements with content tags indicating the content of the advertisements.

49. The system defined inclaim 47 further comprising:

means for providing the advertisements with content tags indicating the content of the advertisements; and

means for displaying only those advertisements with desired content tags.

50. The system defined inclaim 47 further comprising means for selecting blocking criteria that are used to determine which of the advertisements are displayed.

51. The system defined inclaim 47 further comprising means for distributing advertisements with content tags.

52. The system defined inclaim 47 further comprising means for blocking advertisements with undesired content tags.

53. The system defined inclaim 47 further comprising means for displaying information in place of those advertisements that are not displayed based on their content.

54. The system defined inclaim 47 further comprising means for displaying a back-up advertisement in place of those advertisements that are not displayed based on their content.

55. A method for using a system in which advertisements are distributed to user television equipment on which an interactive television program guide is implemented, comprising the steps of:

distributing the advertisements to the user television equipment; and

displaying only some of the advertisements on the user television equipment with the interactive television program guide based on the content of the advertisements.

56. The method defined inclaim 55 further comprising the step of providing the advertisements with content tags indicating the content of the advertisements.

57. The method defined inclaim 55 further comprising the steps of:

providing the advertisements with content tags indicating the content of the advertisements; and

displaying only those advertisements with desired content tags.

58. The method defined inclaim 55 further comprising the step of selecting blocking criteria that are used to determine which of the advertisements are displayed.

59. The method defined inclaim 55 further comprising the step of distributing advertisements with content tags.

60. The method defined inclaim 55 further comprising the step of blocking advertisements with undesired content tags.

61. The method defined inclaim 55 further comprising the step of displaying information in place of those advertisements that are not displayed based on their content.

62. The method defined inclaim 55 further comprising the step of displaying a back-up advertisement in place of those advertisements that are not displayed based on their content.

63-74. (canceled)

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