Method and apparatus for demand assignment of content display opportunities

摘要

On-demand scheduling for presentations in movie theatres is enabled by providing users with the ability to communicate content, theatre and time slot selections. The communication can use message or telephone based devices. By tabulating the selections of plural users, selections which will attract an audience greater in number than a predetermined threshold for the presentation in a given venue and time of a particular content can be identified. Feeding this information back to an exhibitor allows the presentation to be implemented. Communicating the fact of the scheduling to the selecting users and others who may also have interest in the presentation multiplies the potential audience. Others who may have an interest in the scheduled presentation include a) individuals associated in a social network with a selecting user and b) individuals registered with social networking or specialty web sites devoted to content which is the same as, or similar to, the scheduled presentation.

主权项

1. A system useful in increasing efficient use of cinema resources, said system including:
a) a first database of content items available for display; b) a second database storing data sets, each data set identifying:
1) a particular content item;2) a theatre; and3) related temporal data, said related temporal data representing a time slot for display of the particular content item at the theatre, and c) a processor responsive to user selection of a data set comprising a particular content item, a theatre and related temporal data for writing said data set to said second database only for instances wherein plural users have identified identical data sets; wherein said processor includes: c1) means responsive to user selection of a data set representing a particular content item, a particular theatre and related temporal data for recording said data set in a third database and associating identification of said user with said recorded data; c2) means for determining that a number of users have selected identical identification of a theatre, a particular content item and related temporal data, and c3) means for comparing the number of said users having selected identical identification of a theatre, a particular content item and related temporal data with a predetermined threshold wherein said processor writes said data set to said second database only where a number of users greater then a predetermined threshold have created identical data sets.