METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ALTERNATE CONTENT SCHEDULING ON MOBILE DEVICES

摘要

Alternate digital content is inserted into mobile devices with a method and apparatus that comprises an alternate content scheduler, an alternate content reporter, and a micro-splicer. The alternate content scheduler further comprises a mobile network interface for interaction with a mobile data and broadcast network, a micro-splicer interface for interfacing with a micro-splicer, a rulebook that is shared with the network which provides the rules for alternate content scheduling, a preference provisioning module comprising an alternate content scheduler library for storing user or network preferences, a scheduler for providing tight synchronization between original program content and alternate content, and a metric recording interface to an alternate content reporter. The micro-splicer works in tandem with the alternate content scheduler to render synchronized display of alternate multimedia content on the mobile device.

主权项

1. An apparatus for inserting, rendering and displaying alternate content on a mobile device, the apparatus comprising:
a buffer configured to hold any of a content stream or alternate content; a memory configured to store a plurality of digital alternate content, wherein each of the plurality of targeted digital alternate content includes an attribute that specifies whether absolute or relative timing is to be used to synchronize the corresponding digital alternate content with the content stream; a scheduler configured to evaluate a set of rules for selecting a particular digital alternate content of the plurality of digital alternate content for rendering and display on the mobile device at a particular time, wherein the set of rules are based at least on a value of a second attribute of the particular digital alternate content; and a switching mechanism that is configured to work in tandem with the scheduler, for:
switching from loading the buffer with the content stream for rendering and display of the content stream;loading the selected particular digital alternate content for rendering and display; andwhen rendering and display of the selected particular digital alternate content is completed, switching back to loading the content stream into the display buffer for rendering and display of the content stream.