US-12627850-B2 - Systems and methods for highlighting content within media assets

US12627850B2US 12627850 B2US12627850 B2US 12627850B2US-12627850-B2

Abstract

Systems and methods are described herein for highlighting objects with a primary content that are likely to be of interest to a user viewing the primary content. More particularly, when the system receives a segment of primary content to be displayed on a user equipment device for consumption, the system analyzes the received segment to identify an object within the received segment. The system then checks a database storing supplemental content to determine whether supplemental content associated with the identified object is available. When supplemental content associated with the identified object is available within the database, the system modifies the received segment of the primary content to highlight the identified object and displays the modified segment of the primary content on the user equipment device for consumption.

Inventors

Padmassri Chandrashekar
Daina Emmanuel
Reda Harb

Assignees

ADEIA GUIDES INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230424

Claims (20)

1 . A method comprising: accessing a primary content to be displayed on a user equipment device, wherein the primary content comprises a segment to be displayed at a first time during presentation of the primary content, and wherein the segment is indicated in a data structure associated with the primary content; identifying at least one upcoming advertisement break indicated in the data structure, wherein the at least one upcoming advertisement break is scheduled to occur at a second time during the presentation of the primary content to interrupt the display of the primary content with at least one advertisement, and wherein the second time is later than the first time; in response to identifying the at least one upcoming advertisement break, analyzing the segment of the primary content to identify a first object within the segment; identifying supplemental content associated with the first object; in response to determining that the supplemental content associated with the first identified object is available: (i) modifying the segment of the primary content to highlight the first identified object; and (ii) generating, for simultaneous display on the user equipment device, the modified segment of the primary content and at least one user selectable option for display with the modified segment of the primary content, wherein the at least one user selectable option comprises a first option to pause the primary content to view the supplemental content; and in response to receiving data indicative of a user selection of the first option to pause the primary content to view the supplemental content: modifying the indication of the at least one upcoming advertisement break in the data structure, to cause removal of the at least one upcoming advertisement break, previously scheduled to occur at the second time during the presentation of the primary content, from the presentation of the primary content; and providing the supplemental content for display on the user equipment device.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the supplemental content to be displayed on the user equipment device is determined based on a content consumption profile associated with a first user consuming the primary content, and wherein the data structure comprises a manifest file.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one user selectable option is a first at least one user selectable option, wherein the supplemental content is first supplemental content, the method further comprising: analyzing a second segment of the primary content to identify a second object within the second segment; and in response to determining that second supplemental content associated with the second identified object is available: (i) modifying the second segment of the primary content to highlight the second identified object; and (ii) generating a second at least one user selectable option for display with the modified second segment of the primary content, wherein the second at least one user selectable option comprises the first option to pause the primary content to view the second supplemental content.
4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising: in response to not receiving data indicative of a user selection of the second at least one user selectable option, processing a third segment of the primary content to be displayed on the user equipment device.
5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the generating the second at least one user selectable option comprises: generating a second option to simultaneously display the primary content and the second supplemental content, wherein the second supplemental content is displayed in a picture-in-picture mode; generating a third option to transmit the second supplemental content for display on a second user equipment device; and generating a fourth option to view a purchase offer related to the second identified object.
6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising: in response to receiving data indicative of the user selection of the second option to simultaneously display the primary content and the second supplemental content, providing the first supplemental content for simultaneous display with the primary content in a primary window and the second supplemental content on a secondary window as an overlay over the primary window.
7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising: preventing an audio component associated with the primary content from being output while displaying the second supplemental content in the secondary window; and providing for simultaneous display closed-captioning data associated with the primary content and the first supplemental content on the user equipment device.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the segment of the primary content to identify the first object within the segment comprises: identifying a plurality of objects within the segment; and from among the plurality of objects, prioritizing the first identified object to be highlighted based on user preferences.
9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein prioritizing the first identified object to be highlighted based on user preferences comprises: retrieving a web browser history associated with a content consumption profile; identifying at least one product included in the web browser history; comparing the at least one product included in the web browser history to the plurality of identified objects within the segment; and prioritizing the first identified object, based on determining a match between the first identified object and the at least one product included in the web browser history.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein modifying the segment of the primary content to highlight the first identified object comprises adding at least one of: an icon adjacent to the first identified object, a colored outline around the first identified object, or a shaded overlay over the first identified object.
11 . A system comprising: a storage database configured to store supplemental content associated with a plurality of objects; and control circuitry configured to: access a primary content to be displayed on a user equipment device, wherein the primary content comprises a segment to be displayed at a first time during presentation of the primary content, and wherein the segment is indicated in a data structure associated with the primary content; identify at least one upcoming advertisement break indicated in the data structure, wherein the at least one upcoming advertisement break is scheduled to occur at a second time during the presentation of the primary content to interrupt the display of the primary content with at least one advertisement, and wherein the second time is later than the first time; in response to identifying the at least one upcoming advertisement break, analyze the segment of the primary content to identify a first object within the segment; identify supplemental content associated with the first object; in response to determining that the supplemental content associated with the first identified object is available: (i) modify the segment of the primary content to highlight the first identified object; and (ii) generate, for simultaneous display on the user equipment device, the modified segment of the primary content and at least one user selectable option for display with the modified segment of the primary content, wherein the at least one user selectable option comprises a first option to pause the primary content to view the supplemental content; and in response to receiving data indicative of a user selection of the first option to pause the primary content to view the supplemental content: modify the indication of the at least one upcoming advertisement break in the data structure, to cause removal of the at least one upcoming advertisement break, previously scheduled to occur at the second time during the presentation of the primary content, from the presentation of the primary content; and provide the supplemental content for display on the user equipment device.
12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to determine the supplemental content to be displayed on the user equipment device based on a content consumption profile associated with a first user consuming the primary content, and wherein the data structure comprises a manifest file.
13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the at least one user selectable option is a first at least one user selectable option, wherein the supplemental content is first supplemental content, and wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: analyze a second segment of the primary content to identify a second object within the second segment; and in response to determining that second supplemental content associated with a second identified object is available: (i) modify the second segment of the primary content to highlight the second identified object; and (ii) generate a second at least one user selectable option for display with the modified second segment of the primary content, wherein the second at least one user selectable option comprises the first option to pause the primary content to view the second supplemental content.
14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: in response to not receiving data indicative of a user selection of the second at least one user selectable option, process a third segment of the primary content to be displayed on the user equipment device.
15 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to generate the second at least one user selectable option by: generating a second option to simultaneously display the primary content and the second supplemental content, wherein the second supplemental content is displayed in a picture-in-picture mode; generating a third option to transmit the second supplemental content for display on a second user equipment device; and generating a fourth option to view a purchase offer related to the second identified object.
16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: in response to receiving data indicative of the user selection of the second option to simultaneously display the primary content and the second supplemental content, provide the first supplemental content for simultaneous display with the primary content in a primary window and the second supplemental content on a secondary window as an overlay over the primary window.
17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: prevent an audio component associated with the primary content from being output while displaying the second supplemental content in the secondary window; and provide for simultaneous display closed-captioning data associated with the primary content and the first supplemental content on the user equipment device.
18 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of objects is a first plurality of objects, and wherein the control circuitry is configured to analyze the segment of the primary content to identify the first object within the segment by: identifying a second plurality of objects within the segment; and from among the second plurality of objects, prioritizing the first identified object to be highlighted based on user preferences.
19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to prioritize the first identified object to be highlighted based on user preferences by: retrieving a web browser history associated with a content consumption profile; identifying at least one product included in the web browser history; comparing the at least one product included in the web browser history to the plurality of identified objects within the segment; and prioritizing the first identified object, based on determining a match between the first identified object and the at least one product included in the web browser history.
20 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the control circuitry is configured to modify the segment of the primary content to highlight the first identified object by adding at least one of: an icon adjacent to the first identified object, a colored outline around the first identified object, or a shaded overlay over the first identified object.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/364,082, filed Jun. 30, 2021, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. BACKGROUND This disclosure is directed to highlighting objects with a primary content that are likely to be of interest to a user viewing the primary content. More specifically, techniques are disclosed for modifying display of segments of a primary content to highlight objects within the primary content to indicate availability of supplemental content (e.g., advertising content, purchasing information, etc.) related to the highlighted object. SUMMARY Businesses often advertise goods and services to consumers using advertisements presented to consumers via scheduled advertisement-breaks while consumers are watching media assets such as a movie or a serialized program. In-video stream advertising such as the presentation of short video advertisements before displaying the primary content (e.g., a movie), during, and after the end of the primary content have been used by many streaming platforms. However, such advertisements may not be of interest to the consumers and therefore lessen their effectiveness. In one approach, modern media distribution systems often present personalized advertisement content identified based on a profile of the consumers (e.g., based on age, geographic location, etc.) viewing these advertisements to in order to engage the consumers and increase the effectiveness of the advertising content. However, consumers viewing media assets such as a movie or a serialized program often use scheduled advertisement-breaks as opportunity to step away from the programming (e.g., to get snacks or to run other errands). Therefore, advertisement content which may be of interest to the consumers go unwatched, therefore reducing their effectiveness. Additionally, there may be products featured within the primary program being watched by the consumers that they may be interested in. For example, a character wearing a particular article of clothing (e.g., a jacket or a pair of shoes) or driving a vehicle may pique the interest of the consumers. However, the consumers have to manually search for advertisement content that match the products featured within the primary program, which wastes time, computing resources, and bandwidth due to a lack of available information available for the primary programs. For example, requests for needless advertising content as the consumers are searching for other products unnecessarily consume limited available bandwidth. To overcome these problems, systems and methods are provided herein for highlighting objects with a primary content that are likely to be of interest to a user viewing the primary content. More particularly, when the system receives a segment of primary content to be displayed on a user equipment device for consumption, the system analyzes the received segment to identify an object within the received segment. For example, the system may employ an object recognition algorithm to identify one or more objects (e.g., an article of clothing, etc.) present within the received segment. The system then checks a database storing supplemental content (e.g., advertising content) to determine whether supplemental content associated with the identified object is available. When supplemental content associated with the identified object is available within the database, the system modifies the display of the received segment of the primary content to highlight the identified object. In some aspects, the system may add a highlight in an overlay around a border of the identified object. In another aspect, the identified object can be highlighted by visually distinguishing the identified object from other objects within the received segment (e.g., by adding an icon adjacent to the identified object, by providing a shaded overlay over the identified object, etc.). Finally, the system displays the segment of the primary content with the highlighted object on the user equipment device for consumption. Accordingly, methods and systems disclosed herein allow businesses to present supplemental content (e.g., advertising content) to users while they are engaged with the primary content. Moreover, users viewing the primary content can easily view supplemental content associated with objects within the segment of the primary content that the users may be interested in. In some aspects, the system can identify a plurality of objects within the received segment of the primary content. In such an aspect, highlighting every identified object within the received segment of the primary content would overwhelm the user viewing the primary content and distract from enjoying the primary content. Accordingly, the system may prioritize one or two of the identified objects to be highlighted based on user preferences. For example, the system may retrieve a web browsing history associa