Description

CONTENT REPRODUCTION AND CONTENT PUBLICATION METHODS AND CLIENTS THEREFOR ENABLING CONTENT USER OR CONTENT PUBLISHER TO SELECT ADVERTISEMENT INSERTED IN MEDIA CONTENT

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to content reproduction and content publication methods and apparatus therefor, and more particularly, to content reproduction and content publication methods and apparatus therefor which enable a content user or a content publisher to select and to dynamically insert a predetermined advertisement in a media content. Background Art

[2] In line with the developments of wired/wireless networks, the use of media contents such as moving pictures and audio files has considerably increased. In particular, since the User Created Contents (UCC) culture has rapidly spread, to the general public, many users, who passively utilized media contents provided by content providers, now actively and directly publish media contents.

[3] When the content providers or service providers distribute media contents via wired/ wireless networks, they add provider-selected advertisements in the media contents. This is described in detail with reference to FIG. 1.

[4] FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a conventional method of inserting an advertisement in a media content and distributing the media content.

[5] Referring to FIG. 1, in operation 132, a client 120 requests transmission of a predetermined media content to a media server 110. That is, a personal user requests transmission of a desired media content to the media server 110 via the client 120.

[6] In operation 134, after the media server 110 has received the transmission request about the media content from the client 120, the media server 110 inserts a predetermined advertisement in the requested media content. After that, in operation 136, the media content having the predetermined advertisement is transmitted to the client 110.

[7] As shown in FIG. 1, the predetermined advertisement inserted in the media content in operation 134 is decided by a selection of a content provider or a service provider which operates the media server 110. When the content provider or the service provider selects an advertisement of an advertiser, which pays an advertisement rate, as a predetermined advertisement to be inserted in the media content, the client 120 passively reproduces the media content having the advertisement which was inserted

and transmitted by the media server 110.

[8] In general, a publisher of UCC is a personal user. Thus, ownership of the UCC generally belongs to the personal user. However, as shown in FIG. 1, if the media server 110 selects the advertisement to be inserted in the media content, this is unfair since the content provider or the service provider, which operates the media server 110, has an advertisement rate profit by using the media content created by the personal user.

Disclosure of Invention Technical Solution

[9] The present invention provides content reproduction and content publication methods and apparatus therefor which enable a content user or a content publisher to actively select an advertisement to be inserted in a media content for reproduction and publication of the media content.

[10] The present invention also provides a computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the content reproduction and content publication methods. Advantageous Effects

[11] The present invention enables a content user watching the media content to insert a user-desired advertisement in the media content and to reproduce the media content having the advertisement, thereby enabling to create various advertisement businesses. Also, the present invention enables a content publisher to directly decide an advertisement to be inserted in a media content of the content publisher, so that a true media content owner can receive an advertisement revenue. Description of Drawings

[12] The above and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached drawings in which:

[13] FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a conventional method of inserting an advertisement in a media content and distributing the media content;

[14] FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a content reproduction method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[15] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a client for reproducing a media content, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[16] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a content publication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[17] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating mapping information of an advertisement, according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

[18] FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a first client for publishing a media content and a second client for reproducing the media content, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Best Mode

[19] According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a content reproduction method enabling a client to reproduce a media content, the content reproduction method including the operations of selecting an advertisement to be inserted in the media content by referring to information about advertisements capable of being inserted in the media content; and receiving the media content from a media server, inserting the selected advertisement into the received media content, and reproducing the media content.

[20] The operation of selecting the advertisement may include the operations of requesting an advertisement server to transmit the information about the advertisements capable of being inserted in the media content; receiving the information about the advertisements capable of being inserted in the media content as a response to the request; and selecting the advertisement to be inserted in the media content, based on the received information.

[21] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a client for reproducing a media content, the client including an advertisement interface selecting an advertisement to be inserted in the media content by referring to information about advertisements capable of being inserted in the media content; a content interface receiving the media content from a media server; and a reproduction unit inserting the selected advertisement into the received media content, and reproducing the media content.

[22] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a content publication method of publishing a media content by a first client for providing the media content to a second client,, the content publication method including the operations of receiving information about advertisements capable of being inserted in the media content to be provided to the second client; selecting an advertisement to be inserted in the media content, based on the received information; and transmitting information about the selected advertisement and the media content, thereby enabling the second client to insert the selected advertisement in the media content and reproduce the media content.

[23] The operation of receiving the information may include the operation of receiving the information about the advertisements from an advertisement server which comprises the information about the advertisements capable of being inserted in the media content.

[24] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a content re-

production method enabling a second client to reproduce a media content published by a first client, the content reproduction method including the operations of transmitting a transmission request about the media content to a media server which provides the media content; and receiving the media content from the media server, inserting an advertisement selected by the first client into the received media content, and reproducing the media content.

[25] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a first client for publishing a media content to be provided to a second client, the first client including an advertisement interface receiving information about advertisements capable of being inserted in the media content to be provided to the second client, selecting an advertisement to be inserted in the media content, based on the received information, and transmitting information about the selected advertisement; and a content interface transmitting the media content, thereby enabling the second client to refer to the information about the selected advertisement and reproduce the media content.

[26] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a second client for reproducing a media content published by a first client, the second client including a content interface transmitting a transmission request about the media content to a media server which provides the media content, and receiving the media content from the media server as a response to the request; and a reproduction unit inserting an advertisement selected by the first client into the received media content, and reproducing the media content.

[27] According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the content reproduction method and the content publication method. Mode for Invention

[28] The present invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown.

[29] FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a content reproduction method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The flowchart of FIG. 2 corresponds to the case in which a content user reproduces a media content in a media server 210, by using a client 220. Hereinafter, content reproduction and content publication methods and apparatus therefor according to the present invention will be described under the assumption that an advertisement server and a media server are separated from each other. However, one of skill in the art to which the present invention pertains may easily construe that a function of the advertisement server and a function of the media server can be carried out by a single server.

[30] Referring to FIG. 2, in operations 242, 244, and 246, the client 220 refers to in-

formation about advertisements capable of being inserted in a media content to be reproduced by the client 220, and selects an advertisement to be inserted in the media content when reproduced.

[31] In operation 242, the client 220 requests an advertisement server 230 for the information about the advertisements capable of being inserted in the media content reproduced by the client 220. At this time, information about an advertisement library which is hold by the advertisement server 230 may be requested.

[32] In operation 244, the client 220 receives the information about the advertisements transmitted by the advertisement server 230, as a response to the request in operation 242. At this time, all pieces of the information about the advertisements capable of being inserted in the media content are received.

[33] In operation 246, the client 220 selects an advertisement to be inserted in the media content to be reproduced by the client 220, based on the information received in operation 244. The selection may be performed by directly designating the advertisement which is to be inserted in the media content from among the advertisements included in the advertisement library. However, it may be possible not to directly designate the advertisement to be inserted in the media content but to designate only a category of an advertisement to be inserted in the media content.

[34] The category such as a type of an advertised product, an entertainer appearing in an advertisement, or an advertised company may be designated. For example, when the client 220 attempts to insert advertisements, in which entertainer A appears, in the media content, a category of the entertainer A may be designated. Also, when the client 220 attempts to insert advertisements advertising a car in the media content, a category of the car may be designated.

[35] After the client 220 selects a predetermined advertisement or a predetermined category, the advertisement server 230 may set the selected advertisement or the selected category as an advertisement-of-interest or a category-of-interest to the client 220, and may manage information about the client 220 by storing information about the advertisement-of-interest or the category-of-interest.

[36] In operation 248, the client 220 requests the media server 210 to transmit the media content to be reproduced, and receives the media content as a response to the request. Similarly, in operation 250, the client 220 requests the advertisement server 230 to transmit the advertisement to be inserted in the media content, and receives the advertisement as a response to the request. In the case of a streaming transmission in which the media content is transmitted in real-time, the media server 210 and the advertisement server 220 exchange data, thereby enabling the client 220 to consecutively receive the media content and the advertisement in proper time. At this time, the data exchanged by the media server 210 and the advertisement server 220 may include

metadata of the media content and metadata of the selected advertisement.

[37] Also, in operation 250, when the client 220 receives the advertisement to be inserted in the media content to be reproduced, and additional information about the advertisement may also be received. A specification of an advertised product, a profile of an entertainer appearing in the advertisement, a history of an advertised company, or the like may be included in the additional information. A contact number for ordering the advertised product may also be included in the additional information.

[38] In operation 252, the client 220 inserts the advertisement received in operation 250 into the media content received in operation 248, and reproduces the media content having the advertisement. The advertisement may be inserted before the media content is reproduced or during the media content is reproduced. Another advertisement, except for the advertisement or the category selected by the client 220 in operation 246, may be inserted.

[39] In the case where the advertisement is directly designated in operation 246, other advertisements included in a category same as the designated advertisement may be inserted in the media contents and reproduced. In the case where the client 220 has designated only the category of the advertisement in operation 246, other advertisements included in a category similar to the designated category may be inserted in the media content and reproduced.

[40] In operation 254, after the reproduction of the media content is completed, the client

220 extracts only the advertisement inserted in the media content reproduced in operation 252, and reproduces again the advertisement. In the case where a user of the client 220, which was interested in contents of the advertisement during the reproduction of the media content, desires to watch again the advertisement, the client 220 may extract and reproduce again only the advertisement. In the case where the additional information about the advertisement was also received in operation 250, the additional information may also be provided to the user when only the advertisement is reproduced in operation 254.

[41] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the client 220 for reproducing a media content, according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the client 220 according to the present invention includes a content interface 302, an advertisement interface 304, and a reproduction unit 306.

[42] The content interface 302 requests the media content from the media server 210, and receives the media content as a response to the request.

[43] The advertisement interface 304 refers to information about advertisements capable of being inserted in the media content received by the content interface 302, and selects an advertisement to be inserted in the media content. The advertisement interface 304 requests the advertisement server 230 for the information about the ad-

vertisements capable of being inserted in the media content to be reproduced, and selects the advertisement to be inserted in the media content by referring to the information about the advertisements, wherein the information is received as a response to the request. The selection may be performed by directly designating the advertisement to be inserted, or may be performed by designating only a category of the advertisement to be inserted. A description regarding the category is described above with reference to FIG. 2.

[44] When the advertisement to be inserted in the media content is selected, the selected advertisement is requested, and as a response to the request, the advertisement is received from the advertisement server 230. At this time, additional information about the advertisement may also be received, as described above.

[45] The reproduction unit 306 inserts the advertisement received by the advertisement interface 304 into the media content received by the content interface 302, and reproduces the media content having the advertisement. In the case where the advertisement interface 302 designates the category so as to select the advertisement to be inserted, advertisements included in a category similar to the designated category may be inserted in the media content and reproduced.

[46] After the reproduction of the media content is completed, the reproduction unit 306 may also extract and separately reproduce only the inserted advertisements. A user may desire to re- watch the advertisements included in the media content, and in this case, only the advertisements are extracted and reproduced again. The additional information about the advertisement received by the advertisement interface 304 may also be provided to the user, as described above.

[47] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a content publication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[48] The flowchart of FIG. 4 corresponds to the case in which a first client 410 publishes a media content and uploads the published media content to a media server 430, and then a second client 440 reproduces the uploaded media content.

[49] In operation 452, the first client 410 requests an advertisement server 420 for information about advertisements capable of being inserted in the media content published by the first client 410, and receives the information about the advertisements, as a response to the request. The first client 410 may receive a list of the advertisements, which are capable of being inserted in the media content, from the advertisement server 420.

[50] The first client 410 may receive a list of advertisements, which are uploaded in the advertisement server 420 by an advertiser, from the advertisement server 420. If a category of a media content capable of using the advertisements is pre-selected by the advertiser, an advertisement may be inserted only in the media content corresponding

to the category. If the media content published by the first client 410 is not included in the category designated by the advertiser, the first client 410 receives the list of the advertisements, wherein the list excludes the advertisement of such an advertiser.

[51] FIG. 4 corresponds to the case in which the information about the advertisements, which are capable of being inserted in the media content, is received from the advertisement server 420. However, there is no limitation to a method of receiving the information about the advertisements by the first client 410. The information about the advertisements may be received from the media server 430 or another client, not from the advertisement server 420.

[52] In operation 454, the first client 410 refers to the information about the advertisements received in operation 452, and selects an advertisement to be inserted in the media content published by the first client 410. As described above with reference to FIG. 2, the advertisement to be inserted may be selected by directly designating an advertisement in the list of the advertisements or may be selected by designating only a category of the advertisement to be inserted.

[53] In operation 456, the first client 410 transmits information about the selected advertisement to the advertisement server 420. Mapping information is transmitted to the advertisement server 420, wherein the mapping information indicates a type of the media content published by the first client 410 and a type of the advertisement selected so as to be inserted in the media content.

[54] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating mapping information of an advertisement, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[55] The mapping information of FIG. 5 indicates that a content identifier of a media content published by the first client 410 is 'Content #1', and advertisements selected to be inserted in 'Content #1' are respectively 'AD #1', 'AD #2', and 'AD #3'. Information indicating positions of the media content may be selectively included in the mapping information, wherein the advertisements are inserted at the positions.

[56] Referring back to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 corresponds to the case in which the first client 410 transmits only the mapping information to the advertisement server 420 in operation 456. However, the first client 410 may transmit the mapping information not to the advertisement server 420 but to the media server 430. Also, the first client 410 may transmit the mapping information to all of the advertisement server 420 and the media server 430. The advertisement server 420 and the media server 430 mutually share the mapping information, thereby enabling the second client 440 to rotationally receive the media content and the advertisement in a proper timing.

[57] In operation 458, the first client 410 transmits the published media content to the media server 430. The first client 410 uploads the published media content to the media server 430 operated by a content provider or a service provider, thereby

enabling the second client 440 to receive and reproduce the media content.

[58] In operation 460, the second client 440 requests the advertisement to be inserted in the media content to be reproduced from the advertisement server 420. As a response to the request, the second client 440 receives the advertisement which is selected, as the advertisement to be inserted, by the first client 410 in operations 452 and 454. In operation 462, the second client 440 requests the media server 430 for the media content published by the first client 410, and receives the media content, as a response to the request.

[59] In operation 464, the second client 440 inserts the advertisement received in operation 460 into the media content received in operation 462, and reproduces the media content having the advertisement.

[60] FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the first client 410 for publishing a media content and the second client 440 for reproducing the media content, according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[61] Referring to FIG. 6, the first client 410 according to the present invention includes an advertisement interface 602, a content interface 604, and a content database 606.

[62] The advertisement interface 602 requests information on advertisements capable of being inserted in the media content from the advertisement server 420, and receives the information about the advertisements as a response to the request. The advertisement interface 602 receives a list of the advertisements, which are capable of being inserted in the media content, from the advertisement server 420. Also, the advertisement interface 602 selects an advertisement to be inserted in the media content, based on the information received from the advertisement server 420, and transmits information about the selected advertisement to the advertisement server 420.

[63] The mapping information including an identifier of the media content in which the advertisement is to be inserted, and including the information about the selected advertisement is transmitted to the advertisement server 420, as described above. The mapping information may be transmitted not to the advertisement server 420 but to the media server 430, or may be transmitted all of the advertisement server 420 and the media server 430.

[64] The content interface 604 transmits the published media content, which is stored in the content database 606, to the media server 430.

[65] The second client 440 according to the present invention includes an advertisement interface 612, a content interface 614, and a reproduction unit 616.

[66] The advertisement interface 612 requests an advertisement to be inserted in the media content to be reproduced from the advertisement server 420 and receives the advertisement selected by the first client 410 as a response to the request. The content interface 612 requests the media content, which is published by the first client 410 and

uploaded to the media server 430, to the media server 430 and receives the media content from the media server 430 as a response to the request.

[67] The reproduction unit 616 inserts the advertisement received by the advertisement interface 612 into the media content received by the content interface 614, and reproduces the media content having the advertisement.

[68] The embodiments of the present invention can be written as computer programs and can be implemented in general-use digital computers that execute the programs using a computer readable recording medium. In addition, a data structure used in the embodiments of the present invention can be written in a computer readable recording medium through various means. Examples of the computer readable recording medium include magnetic storage media (e.g., ROM, floppy disks, hard disks, etc.), optical recording media (e.g., CD-ROMs, or DVDs), and storage media such as carrier waves (e.g., transmission through the Internet). The computer readable recording medium can also be distributed over network coupled computer systems so that the computer readable code is stored and executed in a distributed fashion.

[69] While this invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. The exemplary embodiments should be considered in a descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. Therefore, the scope of the invention is defined not by the detailed description of the invention but by the appended claims, and all differences within the scope will be construed as being included in the present invention.