Famous Patents
The ice cream cone was invented at the St. Louis Worlds Fair by Ernest Hamwi in 1904. His waffle booth was next to an ice cream vendor who ran short of dishes. Hamwi rolled a waffle to hold ice cream and the cone was born.
PatentStorm News
Make the Most of Our Site
See this month's Top Inventors and Most Cited Patents.
Stay on top of the latest innovations by subscribing to an RSS feed.
Registered users: Manage your profile.
| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8191090 | Communication apparatus, communication system, and method of same A communication apparatus, a communication system, and a method of same enabling control of a mode of output of additional information such as advertisements on a user side. A program signal and an additional signal are separated from a broadcast signal received by ... | 05/29/2012 |
| 8185923 | System and method for selecting advertisements A method for displaying interactive advertisements on a television having a controller connected thereto and configured for receiving input from a viewer of the television is disclosed. The controller has a receiver operable to receive advertisements and a processor... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8176513 | Media programming to provide an integrated entertainment experience Embodiments of the present invention are described in which a plurality of mediums are selectively programmed with media content to provide an integrated entertainment experience to consumers. The content that is provided on different mediums is synchronized to prov... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8176512 | Method for enhancing digital video recorder television advertising viewership A method for enhancing digital video recorder television advertising viewership provides a method wherein the first or last number of seconds of a commercial break are carefully authored to provide a “teaser” to entice the viewer to watch multiple commercials du... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8171511 | Dynamic bandwidth allocation for addressable content Systems and methods for push-based dynamic bandwidth allocation deliver addressable, advertising content in a digital network. Bandwidth is allocated on a push basis in response to receiving a cue tone from a broadcast stream. The cue tone contains data indicating a... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8161508 | Image content and advertisement data providing method, system, and apparatus To provide an image content providing method capable of promoting advertisement effect by dynamically inserting an advertisement image to a distributed image content, an image content reproducing apparatus requests an image content providing apparatus to distribute ... | 04/17/2012 |
| 8151295 | Queue based advertisement scheduling and sales In accordance with the invention, advertisement identifiers are stored in a queue in memory in the set top box or elsewhere corresponding to individual subscribers of a television service delivery network. The advertisements are retrieved and displayed in the order ... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8151296 | Interactive program guide with continuous data stream and client-server data supplementation An interactive television program guide system is provided. An interactive television program guide implemented on user television equipment obtains program guide data from two data delivery mechanisms. Current program guide data is obtained from a continuous data s... | 04/03/2012 |
| 8136135 | Methods, systems, and products for blocking content Methods, systems, and products block objectionable content and substitute alternative content. Multiple fields of a preferred tag are retrieved from memory. Multiple fields of an alternative tag, associated with alternative content, are retrieved from the memory. A ... | 03/13/2012 |
| 8132202 | Methods and systems for providing targeted content A method and system for providing targeted advertisements over a networked media delivery system, especially interactive television networks, the system comprising tracking and storing viewer selections, analyzing the selections, and delivering targeted advertisemen... | 03/06/2012 |
| 8132203 | In-program content targeting In-program content targeting is described. A default data stream containing default content associated with multiple segments of a particular program is generated and transmitted. An alternate data stream containing alternate content for one or more of the multiple ... | 03/06/2012 |
| 8126763 | Automatic generation of trailers containing product placements This invention relates to a method and computer system for automatic generation of trailers. More specifically it relates to a method for generating revenues from providers of content data. The method generally comprises the steps of finding product placement data i... | 02/28/2012 |
| 8122468 | System and method for dynamically constructing audio in a video program Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and computer readable-media for dynamically constructing audio in a video program. The method includes extracting video metadata from a video program displayed on a playback device to a viewer, extracting component metadata fro... | 02/21/2012 |
| 8117635 | Method and apparatus for targeting of interactive virtual objects A method and an apparatus are used to target interactive virtual objects to subscribers in a television delivery system. Programs are selected and virtual object locations are defined in the selected programs. The virtual objects available for targeting are categori... | 02/14/2012 |
| 8108892 | Interactive television network and method including content searching The present invention is directed to content searching of various databases in an interactive television network; caching programming for rebroadcasting to interactive television network subscribers; and interactively offering goods and services referred to in broad... | 01/31/2012 |
| 8108893 | Targeted/addressable advertisement insertion into video streams delivered to users using a VLAN A method and apparatus for controllably delivering a multicast broadcast stream to a client via a VLAN channel and, in response to the detection of a splice point, delivering a unicast stream to the client via a sub-VLAN channel. ... | 01/31/2012 |
| 8099325 | System and method for selective transmission of multimedia based on subscriber behavioral model An advertisement system that provides subscribers with the most relevant advertisements based on their individual purchase prediction of the various products and contextual information such as location, ongoing public events, festivals and personal events. The syste... | 01/17/2012 |
| 8082565 | Converged communication server with transaction management A communications server increases the value of cable and communication services by enabling the integration of packet network content with directed advertising in a managed environment. Such services may include Video On Demand and videoconferencing running on a Con... | 12/20/2011 |
| 8082179 | Monitoring television content interaction to improve online advertisement selection Online advertisement selection techniques are described. In an implementation, data is obtained which describes interaction of one or more clients with television content. At least one online advertisement is selected to be output in conjunction with online content ... | 12/20/2011 |
| 8079045 | Personal video recorder and method for inserting a stored advertisement into a displayed broadcast stream The present invention may be regarded as personal video recorder and a method of displaying a targeted advertisement on a display in conjunction with displaying of a broadcast stream on the display. The method defines a viewer profile of a viewer of the display base... | 12/13/2011 |
| 8065703 | Reporting of user equipment selected content delivery A system and method is provided for use in connection with delivering content that is targeted to users of a broadcast network. In order to select content that is targeted to users of the broadcast network, signals are received from a plurality of customer premise e... | 11/22/2011 |
| 8051444 | Targeted television advertisements selected on the basis of an online user profile and presented with television programs or channels related to that profile In an automatic, computer-implemented method, a selected television advertisement is presented automatically in association with a television program or channel. A relationship is identified between an online user profile and the television program or channel, and t... | 11/01/2011 |
| 8010978 | Method and apparatus for providing personalized advertisements in internet protocol TV (IPTV) system Provided are an apparatus and method for providing an advertisement service personalized for each user or for each group. The personalized advertisement providing method includes: a personalized advertisement providing method which is used in an Internet Protocol Te... | 08/30/2011 |
| 8006261 | System and method for personalized message creation and delivery A system and method for dynamically creating individualized, multi-media messages and to deliver the messages to specific target groups or individual viewers. A message, story, or advertisement is assembled on demand, based upon rules applied to each viewer's profil... | 08/23/2011 |
| 7996862 | Metadata mapping to support targeted advertising A television server generates a metadata map that represents relationships among media content description data based on viewing patterns of multiple viewers. The television server sends the metadata map to a client device. The client device targets advertisements t... | 08/09/2011 |
| 7992168 | Dynamic zoning for targeted ad insertion A custom ad selection and delivery system may include an ad selector to select candidate ads for one or more ad avail opportunities, a bandwidth resource manager to provide information about available bandwidth in a content delivery system, and a policy manager to w... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7987479 | System and method for distribution of content over a network Mechanisms and techniques provide a method for distributing content over a network includes receiving content elements form content sources, queuing the elements for distribution on a transmission channel, and distributing the content elements over the transmission ... | 07/26/2011 |
| 7984466 | Advertising management system for digital video streams A method and apparatus for the managing advertisements in a digital environment, including methods for selecting suitable advertising based on subscriber profiles, and substituting advertisements in a program stream with targeted advertisements. The Ad Management Sy... | 07/19/2011 |
| 7971215 | System, method and computer readable medium for managing media streams A method, system and computer readable medium for managing media streams, the computer readable medium has computer-readable code embodied therein for sharing media content, the computer-readable code comprising instructions for: associating different program map ta... | 06/28/2011 |
| 7966631 | MPEG-4 remote communication device An MPEG-4 based multimedia system in connection with a service provider therefore, and a remote communication device therefore, is presented. The interactive content based remote communication unit simplifies and reduces the number of steps and buttons required for ... | 06/21/2011 |
| 7954123 | System, method, and computer-readable medium for synchronizing multicast customized content to facilitate DSLAM complexity reduction A method, computer readable medium, and system for advertisement and content distribution are provided. Supplementary content is synchronized with advertisement slots, or commercial intervals, of a program stream and distributed via separate multicast group addresse... | 05/31/2011 |
| 7945926 | Enhanced custom content television The present invention includes a system and method for combining television broadcast programming content with customized or personalized information and educational or entertainment content. The system includes a set-top box capable of receiving data transmissions ... | 05/17/2011 |
| 7934231 | Allocation of overhead bandwidth to set-top box A method includes receiving a channel change request from a set-top box (STB) coupled to a packet-based network, where the STB is located at a subscriber premises. The channel change request includes a value identifying one or more of a number of STBs and a number o... | 04/26/2011 |
| 7917923 | Metadata mapping to support targeted advertising A television server generates a metadata map that represents relationships among media content description data based on viewing patterns of multiple viewers. The television server sends the metadata map to a client device. The client device targets advertisements t... | 03/29/2011 |
| 7913275 | Method and apparatus for switching targeted advertisements at a set top terminal A system and method for switching targeted advertisements is described. In one embodiment one primary advertisement is assigned to a first channel, where the first channel carries a program. At least one alternate advertisement is assigned to one or more alternate c... | 03/22/2011 |
| 7895619 | Method for controlling display of audio-visual programmes, and receiver for displaying same The invention relates to a method for controlling of the display of audio-visual program by a receiver provided with means of receiving and recording audio-visual programs. The method comprises a step of recording a first program selected by the user; and subsequent... | 02/22/2011 |
| 7882518 | Method and apparatus for transmission, receipt and display of advertisements An apparatus for the intelligent display of advertisements to a television services user includes a transmitter, a receiver and a display on which an electronic television program guide, television programs, and advertisements are displayed. Advertising and electron... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7882519 | Advertisements in an end-user controlled playback environment This invention discloses a method for displaying advertisements transmitted to a user unit, the method includes receiving, at the user unit, at least one advertisement tagged with a delay tag indicating whether display of the at least one advertisement can be delaye... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7870576 | Targeted advertising through electronic program guide A mechanism for matching Electronic Program Guide (EPG) advertisements to subscribers or groups of subscribers and delivering those advertisements within the EPG. The subscribers are initially characterized in different groups by using commercially available data, s... | 01/11/2011 |
| 7861260 | Targeted television advertisements based on online behavior In a method for delivering targeted television advertisements based on online behavior, IP addresses indicating online access devices and IP addresses indicating television set-top boxes are electronically associated for a multitude of users. Using user profile info... | 12/28/2010 |
