Methods and apparatus that support addressable interactive applications

摘要

Methods and apparatus for supporting targeted advertising and/or other targeted applications in set top boxes which use data and/or applications, e.g., EBIF (Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format) applications, are described. Application level targeting is supported in which an application running on different STBs presents different application behavior and/or presents different visual sub-elements depending on the content of a subscriber profile on the particular individual STB. In the case of addressability at the Application Layer an EBIF application can target different viewers by checking private User Preference Items at runtime. Addressability at the signaling/platform level is also supported allowing targeting of a specific application or a sub-element within an application to a specific target group. In this scenario the particular applications/sub-elements are loaded on the set-tops that belong to a target group, e.g., satisfy targeting constraints specified in private targeting metadata that is received in an MPEG stream.

主权项

1. A method of operating a set top box, the method comprising:
receiving from a server, at the set top box, a subscriber profile associated with the set top box, including one or more addressable qualifier values, said one or more addressable qualifier values including at least one of an age value, sex value, income value or service subscription value; receiving at least one target qualifier value corresponding to a first portion of an application in a private EBIF User Preference Item, wherein the EBIF User Preference Item includes at least one Private User Preference Item name which is prefixed with an “x-” or “X-”, said application being an EBIF application and said first portion of said application being a first User Interface portion of said application; determining, at the set top box, if conditions relating to a set of target qualifier values corresponding to the first portion of the application are satisfied by the one or more addressable qualifier values in said subscriber profile; and executing, at the set top box, said first portion of said application when it is determined that said conditions relating to the set of target qualifier values corresponding to the first portion of said application are satisfied by said one or more addressable qualifier values in said subscriber profile, said first User Interface portion being one of a plurality of different User Interface portions executable by a User Agent on the set top box depending on a result of said determining if said conditions are satisfied.