FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
As amended by the Patents (Amendment) Act, 2005
&
The Patents Rules, 2003
As amended by the Patents (Amendment) Rules, 2006
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10 and rule 13)
TITLE OF THE INVENTION
System and method for in-stream advertising on an internet connected device
APPLICANTS
NOVIX Media Technologies Private Limited, 201, Jinja, Opp Damani Estate Post Office, LBS Marg, Thane (W) 400 602, Maharashtra, India, an Indian company
INVENTORS
Barhate Ketan, Ghadi Lilesh and Lagwankar Kunal, all of NOVIX Media Technologies Private Limited, 201, Jinja, Opp Damani Estate Post Office, LBS Marg, Thane (W) 400 602, Maharashtra, India, all Indian nationals
PREAMBLE TO THE DESCRIPTION
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a system and method for in-stream advertising on an internet
connected device
The term internet connected or enabled device as used in this specification includes any device on which internet can be accessed. Typical examples of such device are mobile phones, computers, tablets, laptops or internet connected TV or set top box.
The term media or media content as used in this specification refers to audio, video or audio and video.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Advertising in a media content being streamed to viewers through the internet is a very effective and efficient way of reaching out to the public, especially for various product manufacturers and marketers and various service providers. Accessing of advertisements of interest on the internet enabled devices while listening and/or watching a media content being streamed is of great convenience and benefit to the users of the devices. Advertisement in a media content being streamed is generally accessed on an internet

enabled device as follows.
The internet enabled device and thereby the user thereof queries a streaming server for a media content. The streaming server responds back to the device with the media content. At a point where an advertisement is to be inserted in the media content (cue point), the internet enabled device queries an advertising server for the advertisement. The advertising server responds back to the device with the advertisement from an advertisement data base. On receipt of the advertisement, the internet connected device pauses the playback of the media content and starts playback of the advertisement. Once the advertisement playback is complete, the internet device resumes playback of the media content.
In such a system configuration, the internet enabled device is configured to communicate with both the servers separately. Whenever the internet service provider introduces a new advertisement fetching logic for running on internet connected device, it has to release upgrade of the advertisement fetching logic to all the users of the service. In other words the advertisement fetching logic will have to be configured and upgraded continuously in all the internet enabled devices. In this era of multiple devices and

multiple platforms for streaming media content and advertisement, installation of advertisement insert engines for each class of the internet connected devices is very costly, cumbersome and time consuming. Further, there is a buffering period or delay when the media content is paused and advertisement is started. Even if the advertisement is pre-fetched along with the media content (before the cue point is actually encountered), the buffering is likely to occur because the internet connected device has to pull out two streams, namely, media content and advertisement simultaneously. There is also a pause or delay or rebuffering between the completion of the play back of the advertisement and resumption of playback of the media content. Because of the delay and operational inconvenience, the interconnected device is also not user friendly. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the invention there is provided a system for in-stream advertising on an internet connected device comprising a media streaming server configured to receive a request from the internet connected device for an advertisement to be inserted in the media content being streamed by the media streaming server and to give a unique ID number to the request and to read and stream a file containing the media content and

advertisement simultaneously on the internet connected device; an adinsert interface configured to communicate with the media streaming server and read the request from the media streaming server: an adinsert engine configured to communicate with the adinsert interface and receive the request from the adinsert interface, query and receive the advertisement from an advertisement data base and concatenate the advertisement with the media content at predetermined cue points in the media content; and a file writer configured to communicate with the adinsert engine, write the media content and advertisement inserted in the media content in a single file, give a name to the file and pass on the file name and location to the media streaming server to enable the media streaming server to read and stream the file simultaneously on the internet connected device in a seamless manner.
According to the invention there is provided a method for in-stream advertising on an internet connected device comprising:
(i) making a request from the internet connected device to a media streaming
server streaming a media content for an advertisement to be inserted in the
media content being streamed; (ii) generating a unique ID number for the request in the media streaming

server;
(iii) reading the request from the media streaming server by an adinsert interface;
(iv) receiving the request from the adinsert interface in an adinsert engine;
(v) querying and receiving the advertisement by the adinsert engine from an advertisement data base and concatenating the advertisement with the media content at predetermined cue points in the media content; and
(vi) writing a file containing the media content and the advertisement inserted in the media content in a single file in a file writer and giving a name to the file in the file writer and passing on the file name and location from the file writer to the media streaming server to enable the media streaming server to read and stream the file simultaneously on the internet connected device in a seamless manner.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION WITH REFERENCE TO THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS:
Fig 1 of the accompanying drawings represents a block diagram of the system for in-

stream advertising on an internet connected device according to an embodiment of the invention. The system 1 comprises a media streaming server 2, an adinsert interface3, an adinsert engine 4 and a file writer 5. 6 is an internet connected or enabled device. The media steaming server is configured to receive a request from the internet connected device for an advertisement to be inserted in a media content being streamed by the media streaming server. The media streaming server is also configured to give a unique ID number to the request and to read and stream a file containing the media content and advertisement concatenated together simultaneously on the internet connected device. The adinsert interface is configured to communicate with the media streaming server and read the request from the media streaming server.
The adinsert engine is configured to communicate with and receive the request from the adinsert interface, query and receive the advertisement from an advertising server 7 storing advertisement data through an interface which allows the user of the internet connected device to convert all the advertisement inventory into various resolutions and bitrates which are close to those at which the media content is encoded. The adinsert engine is also confitured to concatenate the advertisement with the media content at

predetermined cue points in the media content. The file writer is configured to communicate with the adinsert engine, write the media content and advertisement inserted in the media content in a single file, give a name to the file and pass on the file name and location to the media streaming server.
Because of concatenating of the advertisement in the media content and matching of the resolutions and bitrates of the advertisement and media content and writing of both in a single file, the advertisement is integrated into the media content and becomes in-stream with the media content. Concatenating involves adjustment of advertisement and media content parameters like timestamps, serial ID, memory offsets or media format specific look up tables so that the internet connected device interprets the advertisement as a seamless part of the media content , Concatenation is performed on encoded advertisement and media content. That is to say the files are not decoded and then encoded. The media streaming server reads the file containing both the media content and advertisement and streams the file on the internet connected device in a seamless manner.

The adinsert interface works in close coordination with the media streaming server and acts as an interface between streaming server and adinsert engine. On receiving the request for insertion of an advertisement in the media content being streamed by the media streaming server, the request is redirected to the adinsert interface by the media streaming server. The adinsert interface gathers all the internet connected device parameters like IP address, time of connection, device type, user preferences or behavior available on or communicated by the internet connected device and abstracts out the details of a variety of streaming servers in use and passes on the details to the adinsert engine.
On receiving the request from the adinsert interface, the adinsert engine queries the advertising server based on the various above parameters. The advertising server responds back with the advertisement based on pre-decided business logic. Advertisements also could be stored locally on the same hardware as that of the adinsert engine instead of being stored on the advertising server. Therefore, the advertising server is optional. The adinsert engine also does the task of concatenating the advertisement with the media content at pre-designated cue points on receiving the

request from the adinsert interface. The file writer starts writing the advertisement and media content in a single file. The name of the file is decided based on the unique client ID number generated by the streaming server. Location of this file with the file name is passed on to the streaming server to enable the streaming server to stream the advertisement inserted in the media content in a continuous manner.
The adinsert engine also calculates the duration of the resultant file (media content + advertisement) and then informs the file writer to start saving the file. On being informed by the file writer, the media streaming server starts reading the file and streaming it to the internet connected device. The file writer keeps writing and saving both the advertisement and media content in the file. The file is read by the streaming server and written by the filewriter at the same time. The speed with which data is written by the filewriter is much higher than that at which the streaming server reads the file ensuring that there is no rebuffering while streaming. The streaming of both the media content and advertisement takes places in a seamless manner.

The adinsert interface, adinsert engine and file writer all may reside on the same physical hardware as that on which the media streaming server resides or all may be configured separately. The media streaming server, adinsert interface, adinsert engine and file writer all are configured to handle a single advertisement request or different advertisement requests simultaneously.
According to the invention there is no need for the internet connected device to communicate separately with an advertising server and make a request for the advertisement. The request for the advertisement received through the media streaming server is initated by the adinsert engine at appropriate cue points, and streamed in a seamless manner by the media streaming server after it is stitched together or concatenated with the media content. This ensures a smooth transition from media content to advertisement streaming and back to media content streaming. As a result buffering and rebuffering during streaming of the media content and the advertisement are avoided giving a better viewing experience for the user on the internet connected device.

The system of the invention is installed at the media streaming server and all the actions take p\ate at the media streaming server end, The system ehimnates the need for the service provider to introduce new advertisement fetching logic running on internet connected devices each time an upgrade is required. Installation of the system at the media streaming server end will automatically enable all the internet connected devices to receive the advertisement. Therefore, there is tremendous cost benefit, especially in this era of multiple devices and multiple platforms for streaming media content and advertisements. Besides cost benefit, the whole operation becomes easy and convenient. Operation of the internet connected device also becomes user friendly in terms of convenience and time.

We claim:
1. A system for in-stream advertising on an internet connected device comprising a
media streaming server configured to receive a request from the internet connected device for an advertisement to be inserted in the media content being streamed by the media streaming server and to give a unique ID number to the request and to read and stream a file containing the media content and advertisement simultaneously on the internet connected device; an adinsert interface configured to communicate with the media streaming server and read the request from the media streaming server; an adinsert engine configured to communicate with the adinsert interface and receive the request from the adinsert interface, query and receive the advertisement from an advertisement data base and concatenate the advertisement with the media content at predetermined cue points in the media content; and a file writer configured to communicate with the adinsert engine, write the media content and advertisement inserted in the media content in a single file, give a name to the file and pass on the file name and location to the media streaming server to enable the media streaming server to read and stream the file simultaneously on the internet connected device in a seamless manner.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the advertisement data base is stored on an advertising server.
3. The system as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the adinsert engine is configured to receive the advertisement from the advertisement data base through an interface which allows the user of the internet connected device to convert all the advertisement inventory into various resolutions and bitrates which are close to those at which the media content is encoded.
4. The system as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the file writer writes the file at a greater speed as compared to the speed at which the media streaming server reads the file and streams the data in the file simultaneously in order to read the file and stream it on the internet enabled device in a seamless manner.
5. A method for in-stream advertising on an internet connected device comprising:
(i) making a request from the internet connected device to a media streaming server streaming a media content for an advertisement to be inserted in the media content being streamed;
(ii) generating a unique ID number for the request in the media streaming

server;
(iii) reading the request from the media streaming server by an adinsert interface;
(iv) receiving the request from the adinsert interface in an adinsert engine;
(v) querying and receiving the advertisement by the adinsert engine from an advertisement data base and concatenating the advertisement with the media content at predetermined cue points in the media content; and
(vi) writing a file containing the media content and the advertisement inserted in the media content in a single file in a file writer and giving a name to the file in the file writer and passing on the file name and location from the file writer to the media streaming server to enable the media streaming server to read and stream the file simultaneously on the internet connected device in a seamless manner.
6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the advertisement data base is stored on an advertising server.
7. The method as claimed in claim 5 or 6, wherein the file writer writes the file at a speed greater than the speed at which the media streaming server reads and

streams the file on the internet connected device simultaneously in order to read the file and stream it on the internet enabled device in a seamless manner. 8. The method as claimed.in claim 5, 6 or 7, wherein the adinsert engine is configured to receive the advertisement from the advertisement data base through an interface which allows the user of the internet connected device to convert all the advertisement inventory into various resolutions and bitrates which are close to those at which the media content is encoded.