DESC:FIELD OF THE INVENTION
Invention relates usually to a system, apparatus and method to create a multimedia, multi-lingual,
multidimensional electronic files to distribute in digital cinema theaters for promotion of good
and services more particularly transformation of different types of advertisement content in
multiple format used in traditional media advertisements into secured electronic file with
relatively superior image, video quality and three-dimensional sound and its exposure time
billing mapped with box office sales.
BACKGROUND
Historically advertising is noticed in artifacts from ancient Arabia, Egypt and Rome. Emergence
of printing in the 15th & 16th century triggered growth, visibility and popularity of advertising.
Today, advertising is done in various forms viz. print, radio, television, mobile and Internet.
Manufacturers and/or its distributors, dealers, promote their products to masses via print media
e.g. newspaper, magazines, multimedia channel viz. radio, television, hoarding at prominent
locations, banners on web site, mobile platform, internet enabled smart devices etc. Mostly, such
promotion material is christened as advertisement which can be either read, viewed or listened
i.e. stationary, moving, visible or audio.
For advertisers creation of such crisp, customized, appealing insertions in print or multimedia
publication in cost effective way is a big challenge.
Existing form like of advertisement like distribution of product Compact Discs, pen drives, radio,
television, web sites, mobile platform have limitation viz. consumer had liberty to skip/block the
advertised content. Also set of audience is not changing unless one changes location of transreception
of content., Moreover, all the above advertising media needs multiple copies for
various instruments, non-editable/upgradable version, logistic, inventory cost etc. Hence, overall
they do not leave lasting impact on audience.
Plurality of the customers consume read/view/listen advertisement compliant with their e.g.
gender, age, language, time zone, region, discount, brand, adoption culture eco-friendly, gluten
free product or services.
With stringent competition amongst manufacturers, globalization, deep penetration of digital
media, smart gadgets, e-commerce, vast youth population and paucity of time & attention with
audience, publishers have started organizing, classifying and cataloguing the advertisements.
Cinema advertising is a medium offering advertisers the opportunity to reach their target
consumers in a captive, distraction-free environment. Cinema advertising is becoming a more
essential, strategic part of the media plan, for many brand categories. Advertisement and
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accompanying information is typically provided to cinema audiences by media managers via
film projection technology
Literature reveals transmitting of motion picture cinematic information to movie theatres.
U.S. Patent No. 5,294,013 cites a method and apparatus for distributing digital data representing
motion picture cinematographic information from a central site to a motion picture theatre via
radio frequency communication. However it does not highlight means for providing
advertisement information to motion picture audiences nor of targeting specific audiences based
on their interests, nor of measuring the exposure of advertisements.
On the other hand advertising systems in other media have been disclosed as -
U.S. Patent No. 5,955,710 discloses a system for transmitting digital data representative of
advertisement information to elevator display units in elevators. Although it states catering to
miniature demographics with schedule but it lacks targeting of advertisements based on the
common interests of the riders in the elevator
Hence if such systems are implemented in cinema theatres, even with a digital distribution
system such as disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 5,294,013, it will not address advertisement
objectives of the present invention as targeted advertisement
Obviously there is vacuum and so is the need, hence, for a more proficient, enjoyable, and
operative form of advertising to movie theatre audiences.
CLASSIFED ADVERTISING
Consumers and advertisers found classification of advertisement as conserved resources.
Whereas, for publishers it was profitable as it can offer plurality of optional tariffs. It impart him
flexibility to efficiently use inventory of time and space effectively.
Thus beneficiaries being all the stake holders it have driven boom in classified advertisement.
Most the print media and cable television operators have their locality based classified
advertisement collection agents. With them, a potential advertiser, individual or an organization
can refer a publisher’s advertisement tariff and deposit the content in requisite format.
At the centrally situated publishers’ end, collection and organizing of the entire content
comprising of multiple advertisements originating from plurality of geographically spread agent
is manually but meticulously structured in searchable database.
Assorting is based on location of publication of advertisement in media, day and time slot of its
publication (daily, weekend, mid-day), format of content (color, font, type), frequency of its
publication, category & edition of print media such city or metro edition,
Entire process along with accounting and billing is lengthy, laborious, tedious and expensive.
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INVENTION
Various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described using terms commonly
employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the
art. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein
may be practiced with only some of the described aspects. For purposes of explanation, specific
numbers, materials and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding
of the illustrative embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the
embodiments described herein may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances,
well-known features are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the illustrative
embodiments.
Further, various operations and/or communications will be described as multiple discrete
operations and/or communications, in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the
embodiments described herein; however, the order of description should not be construed as to
imply that these operations and/or communications are necessarily order dependent. In
particular, these operations and/or communications need not be performed in the order of
presentation.
The phrase “in one embodiment” is used repeatedly. The phrase generally does not refer to the
same embodiment; however, it may. The terms “comprising,” “having” and “including” are
synonymous, unless the context dictates otherwise.
Inventors have overcome the demerits of manual assorting and dissemination of classified
advertisements. Inventor’s method of collection and distribution of advertisement is more
efficient and effective.
More specifically, it has also unlocked a new-fangled mass media locations i.e. movie theaters,
stadium, auditorium etc. which otherwise are not fully unexplored by many publishers,
advertisers, and product manufacturers, service providers etc.
Building upon its existing business of digital cinema, inventors provide the benefits of digital
delivery and projection to the advertising fraternity by providing digital cinema advertising.
Inventor’s solution will provide advertising solutions for national, regional and local marketing
needs to its advertisers to have targeted and affordable branding.
A theater offers an intrinsic advantage over traditional audience; as it avails a semi-dynamic
platform for advertiser who’s set of glued in immobile viewers keep altering with limited show
time and location of theater. Further, ambience of space, co-viewing or privacy option creates
profound impact of content than otherwise viewed elsewhere.
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One of the constituents of the invention is a retail advertisement platform (RAF). It is an online
portal. Through this a city level authorized agent of a given media company reservesdisplay
schedule of retailer’s advertisement in given type, location, number of digital theatres which are
currently in its existing media distribution network.
Unlike existing system, invention illustrates method to display secured, encoded and encrypted
advertisement content in video format specifically to be played only in digital cinema theaters.
The portal authenticates a registered agent to login thereby enabling him to upload the
advertisement from the potential client and correspondingly book the advertisement space in
plurality of theatres.
Agent would be billed based on the number of shows and duration of the booking. Availing of
such retail advertisement platform is a unique endeavor. Because it gives affordable and efficient
access to small scale brand owners viz. retail shops, coaching classes, event organizers, localized
service providers and other small businesses to advertise their products / services in the local
theatres.
Entire digital eco-system thus facilitates to create box office brand catering below the line and
above the line segments of advertisers having budgetary constraints to cash viewership data into
currency.
Additionally, although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it will
be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art and others, that a wide variety of alternate
and/or equivalent implementations may be substituted for the specific embodiment shown in the
described without departing from the scope of the embodiments described herein. This
application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the embodiment discussed
herein. While various embodiments have been illustrated and described, as noted above, many
changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments described
herein.
DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION
The system comprises of deployment of local collection agent who are equipped with a smart
device e.g. laptop, mobile handset, fablet or smart watch. It has biometric identification, audio,
video, image capturing component, speaker, processor, memory, and display unit and
communication hardware and energizer. It supports all latest versions of today’s open source and
proprietary operating system.
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Smart gadget gives flexibility to aforesaid classified advertisement collection agent even to
approach potential product or service providers at his preferred location. It simplifies collection
process by capturing is to be advertised multimedia content, issuing spot billing, and subsequent
feedback via SMS or e-mail.
Its memory unit stores and refreshes the depository of advertisements.
Display unit enable look and feel of the would be displayed advertisement in standard or high
definition, colored or black and white, audio or mute, still or video format etc.
System offers plurality of choice to its customer to display the said content in any of the
aforesaid format, duration, and location as per the governing business rules.
Only upon customer’s confirmation about his appropriate choice of aforesaid variants, and
acceptance of payment with other terms and conditions of inventor’s system, such approved
content is further queued up for theatrical display.
Today, the digital content delivered to movie theaters is in the form of digital cinema package
(DCP) comprising of collection of files which include one or more features presenting movie
trailer, advertisement and announcement. As per specifications of digital cinema initiative (DCI)
specification DCP has following components
? Picture file (MXF format) – digital images of e.g. advertisement - in JPEG or MPEG-2 in
frame rates
? Sound Files (MX format) – multiple language sound files corresponding to above digital
images
? An Asset Map file (XML format) – comprises of list of all files in DCP
? Composition Playlist file (XML format) – comprises of file that defines playback order of
picture and sound
? Package list file (XML format) – it comprise of hash obtained by hashing the files in
DCP to enable verification of proper receipt (ingestion) of DCP at the movie theater.
? Volume Index file (XML format) it provides mechanism to identify different parts of
DCP carried by different storage mechanism usually hard disk drives
Architecture
There are two components to the system
? Advertisement Portal (Ad Portal):
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A portal application hosted on the internet. This acts as the interface for the Retail Advertisement
agents to login and book advertisement packages.
? Digital multi-media content distribution company’s Enterprise Application:
It is the digital multi-media content distribution enterprise application where the actual
scheduling of the advertisement, broadcast of the advertisement and the billing would happen.
Aforesaid advertisement portal and Enterprise Application are connected via a secure link.
Enterprise Application exposes certain Web Service API’s to the Advertisement Portal using
which some of the master data and transactional data is be interchanged.
Technology Platform
Inventor’s solution uses following technology platform to execute the topology of highlighted
architecture as in Fig 1
? Microsoft ASP.NET, MVC, .NET Framework 4.5
? Database: MS SQL Server 2014
Figure 1: depicts the Schematic of retail advertisement platform
Figure – 2: depicts the procedure in Campaign Booking
Figure - 3: depicts the Collection Entry by DSA
Figure – 4: is a Flow chart DCP creation, theatrical distribution, billing of advertisements
METHODOLGY (as in Fig 2)
With image capturing component of the smart device, classified advertisement collection agent
captures the live multimedia content or can upload the offline content from the potential
customer. With its embedded graphic user interface, further, it split it up into text, audio and
video component and tags them with unique ids. Subsequently, it is packaged along with
metadata related to the advertisement.
Its processor is capable to process the scheduling of the advertisement by synchronizing the data
from advertisement depository with movie shows, their themes and corresponding database of
theaters in real time.
For security purpose, the content is encoded and encrypted. Secured content is further
transmitted in real time or aggregated and send at predefined time slot.
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Transmission of said content to central server is executed byelectromagnetic radio frequency
based communication. Central server pushes the content via satellite to plurality of theaters as
per the business rules of the advertisement management module of the algorithm.
Central server also maintains the logs of the displayed advertisements, their frequency of display,
schedule of display (date and time stamping of show), geographical location of the display i.e.
locality in city where theater, stadium, auditorium, property is located.
Inventor’s digital cinema advertising provides cinema marketing solutions to its advertising
clients on a national and local basis through on-screen sight, sound and motion - Cinema Spots.
Cinema spots are commercial advertisements that provide maximum impact when aired on the
big screen as a prelude to blockbuster entertainment. Cinema spots start at the feature film's
published show time in a lights-down environment ensuring advertiser's brands are seen by an
attentive audience.
Inventor’s system is highly flexible audio visual medium as it accepts & shows commercial
having duration of 10 sec or more.
It accepts digital advertisement content in media format such as .MOV/ HD/ SD. Content needs
to be provided in hardware e.g. such hard Disk, DVD, Digibeta, Beta, Negative or in print form.
To have best results inventors prefers converting directly from the advertisers master output from
the editing machine before it is dumped on to the Beta cam tape. Once the data is captured on to
inventor’s system it can deliver the same digitally to theatres, eliminating the need of an
advertisement print thus saving on the cost of the prints. The entire cost of conversion to
inventor’s digital format is borne by inventor.
System offers screening of in-theater advertising slides with 5.1 surround sound for different
duration to appear on silver screen.
Approved formats for aforesaid purpose are viz. Photoshop images with an extension of .psd,
.jpg, and .tif. Illustrator images with an extension of .ai & .eps. It is mandatory for all the digital
files to be in RGB color mode and with minimal resolution of at least 300 dpi. For cinema slides
audio material can be supplied in .wav file format. Further, censor compliance for each of the
commercials aired in theatres is obligatory. All advertisement material and release order must
reach at least e.g. 10 days in advance.
Thus system provides an efficient and transparent advertising platform to the local retail
advertiser to advertise in the local movie theatre and screens. It has country wide network Direct
Sales Associate appointed for each screen who will book the advertisements for the medium and
small retailers.
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There is a separate portal for DSA Registration, Ad Booking and Billing. This portal will
interface with the inventor’s Business Module from the backend.
DSA is billed according to pre-agreed tariffs towards integrated duration of exposures towards
prefixed duration and frequency based inventory of usage of inventor’s IT infrastructure for
satellite based digital media distribution in country wide networked theaters.
FUNCTIONALITIES(as in fig 3)
Typically DSA needs to fulfil eligibility criteria as person/organization with
• Entrepreneurial attitude
• Local knowledge
• Passion to serve and create value
• Investment of fixed sum e.g. Rs 50000
Role of a DSA?
• Set of 5-7 screens in a local geography are allocated to an assigned DSA
• DSA is the sole local representative to service retail clients who sources
advertisements from the local clients for assigned set of screens
• DSA has full access to inventor’s system for scheduling advertisements of his
clients
• Once the advertisements are played, DSA is able to retrieve the log details of the
campaign directly from inventor’s system and is empowered to provide the same
to his advertisers.
• Only mute and audio slides are accepted through the DSA network
Functionalities of the Advertisement Portal are as follows:
? Registration of Agents referred as Direct Sale Associate (DSA)
? Management of DSA’s Account and Credit Control
? DSA’s Invoicing, Collections and Receivables
? Manage Advertisement Packages
? Booking of Advertisement, Upload of Media File
? Playback Logs for each bookings
? Interfacing with digital media distribution company’sEnterprise Application
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Flexibility & Convenience -
• DSA has complete control of the campaign, one can start and stop a campaign at
any time
• Operations are completely technology driven, no phone/emails
• Advertising content can be scheduled directly by the DSA, no need to email or
courier
• Complete freedom to schedule campaigns with the help of internet access
• 100% online payment process
• Automated scheduling, billing and log generation.
• 24/7 operation
DSA are given Comprehensive Training & Support via Online interface.
Detail description of some of the functionality in as cited below.
User Management
? The Ad Portal will be used by two types of Users
? Administrators (Admin)
? Advertisement Agent (DSA)
? The Admin would be accessing the Portal via a separate Administration App.
? The Admin may further be subdivided into multiple groups and each group may have
access to different interfaces in the Admin App.
? The Agent shall access the application via the portal.
Theatre Master
? Theatres Master is available in the Enterprise Application. A Web Service API will be
provided to periodically pull the Theatre master information.
? The Ad Portal shall provide search and listing of the Theatres which are under digital
media Distribution Company’s Enterprise Application
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DSA - Agent Registration
? Agents Registration will happen from the Admin Application which shall be accessed by
the Admin. The Registration would capture the Agent Name, Address, Contact Details
and Email id.
? Once the Agent details are entered, the same shall be approved by another Admin user
who has the rights to approve Agent.
? Once approved, the Agent shall receive the registration details on his email id. The Agent
shall click on a link to verify and confirm the registration. The Agent shall enter a new
password at this point to confirm the registration.
? The Email Id shall be treated as a login Id.
? Agents shall be given rights to booking to certain Theatres only. Not all theatres would be
available for an Agent to book advertisement.
Ad Packages
? Advertisement packages are created by Admin based on the following (but not limited
to) criteria’s
? Grade of Theatre
? Grade of City
? Number of Spots (1 spot = 10 sec)
? Number of Shows
? Duration
? Position of the Advertisement (before movie start / during interval)
? Package details are created by the with each edit/create of same shall go thru an approval
process
? All changes in the Packages shall be logged for audit purpose.
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How to Advertise
How to advertise on a media distribution company’s multiple screen
Simplified 3 Step Process
Step 1:
Approach your nearest DSA. Find his address & contact of your nearest DSA from URL
Step 2:
Create your own advertisement slide using our ‘Easy To Use’ online template creator. Your DSA
will guide you through this process.
Step 3:
Choose your nearest screen, number of spots and duration for your advertisement.
Ad Creation
? The Advertisement Media File which shall be uploaded thru the Ad Portal would be in
the form of
? Video
? Slide Images
? The Video Media File shall be of certain specifications e.g. MPEG-4 . The final specs of
the advertisement depend upon the Media Distribution Company. The Ad Portal shall
have certain logic built in to validate the specifications including (not limited to)
? the size of the file
? the format of the file
? the frame rate of the file
? The Slide Images are nothing but a JPG image of certain resolution and quality. The
Agent can upload the slide image directly into the portal.
? Portal will also provide an Online Image Editor. This will allow the Agent to create a
Slide Image by
? defining a background Picture
? adding text element on top with different font, colour, size
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Thus created images can be view online and saved as a Slide Image media
? Preview of the Media File: The Ad Portal will view a preview of the media file online.
? Media File Approval: Once the media file is uploaded, it goes through technical
evaluation by the media distribution company’s Media team. This evaluation is an offline
process. Once such Media Team approves the Media File, the administrator shall approve
the Media File. This file is now ready for Ad booking. If the file is rejected, then the
same shall appear in the Ad Portal and the file will be deleted from the repository.
? Agents can upload multiple media such files in a repository.
Ad Booking
? While booking an advertisement, the agent shall select the following
? Media File Type (Video or Slide Image)
? Advertiser Name
? Period
? Package
? Theatre List – Where the Advertisement shall be scheduled
? The Ad booking is viewed by the Administrator and approved. On approval, the data is
pushed to the digital media distributor’s Enterprise Application for Scheduling and
Distribution.
? The Ad logs are collected at aforesaid Enterprise Application. The same shall be
uploaded into the Ad Portal.
? Invoices shall be generated by the aforesaid Enterprise Application and will be uploaded
to a specific FTP location. The Ad Portal shall call Web Service call at end of the day to
download the invoicing details and present it to the Agent.
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DSA- Agent Credit Control
? Admin with Credit control access shall have the rights to manage the Credit for each
Agent. Every Agent shall be given a limit based on the amount of booking / potential
bookings that the Agent is managing.
? On the Ad Portal, the Agent shall always be able see their credit limit. This limit defines
the amount of ad booking that they can do. Every booking would reduce this limit. Once
the limit reaches Zero, all booking shall be blocked.
? The invoices generated against the booking can be viewed by the Agent. Agent shall
make the payment to digital media Distribution Companyagainst the Invoices. These
payments will be received offline via Bank Transfer. The amount is entered in the Cash
Collection System of the aforesaid company’s Enterprise Application. The amount will
also update the Credit amount for the Agent. There will be a Web Service Call available
for the Ad Portal to update the current Credit amount.
Digital Media Distribution Company’s Enterprise Application API
? The following API’s shall be provided by the aforesaid Enterprise Application. These are
Web Service calls which the Ad Portal Software would call to update some of the
parameters and also to give data back to the said Enterprise Application
? API List (The list is tentative and some more may be added. The Naming convention is
not standard)
? Get Theatre: Get List of active Theatres
? Get Invoices: Get Invoices generated by said Enterprise Application for each
Agent created for a selected day
? Get Logs: Get logs against each advertisement booking
? Create RO: Create Release Order in said Enterprise Application after the
Advertisement Booking is completed in Ad Portal
? Get Payment List: Get Agent wise payments from said Enterprise Application for
the End Of Business Day
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Consumer Section in Portal
? There shall be some portions of the Ad Portal that will be visible to the general public.
These sections shall carry the following contents
? About Digital Media Distribution Company
? About said company’s Advertisement Opportunity
? List of Theatre with Search
? List of DSA- Agents, their Address and Search
There will be a login / password window for the DSA- Agents to login.
Benefits to the Advertiser
Captive Audience
• Unlike TV, Advertising in Cinema Screens guarantees a captive audience
• The absence of a 'remote control' offers significant higher reach.
Impact Advertising
• Our Digital Projection System is capable of delivering high definition images.
• Large format medium delivers incremental recall for brands
• Only large format Audio Video medium
Targeted & Hyper Local Advertising
• Cinema serves a fixed catchment population and is a perfect medium to reach-out
to this catchment without any spill over.
Next Door World Class Service
• High quality personalized service delivered through inventor’s media distribution
technology
• High quality service assured through trained and skilled DSAs
Speed to Market
• Ability to start a high quality cinema campaign in 24 hours
• No requirement of sourcing a CBFC certificate for the advertisement
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Value for Money
• Flexible Pricing
• Flexible Scheduling
• Preferential placement of ads
Transparent Processes
• Campaign Log based billing – The DSA will only be billed for the number of spot
exposures delivered through the campaign duration.
Merits of Inventors System
? Over conventional method of aggregation of classified advertisement, system it gives
flexibility of serving plurality of onsite customers by capturing multimedia content of
customer’s to be advertised product or services in compliant with government and other
socio-cultural regulator’s restrictions.
? Unlike traditional in-cinema advertising where each theatre requires an individual hard
print. Inventor’s system necessitates only single print or one Beta Tape which archives
various multimedia files in standard formats. It is adequate to screen said advertisement
in plurality of geographically distant theatres. Without incurring additional print’s cost,
inventor’s digital advertising format enables publisher to display their advertisement in
multiple theatres. Thus it accelerates economical, deeper reachability to remote, rural
audience simultaneously.
? Another unique but not limited aspect of invention is, being co-distributor of digital
rights management of multi-lingual, multi-media, multi-dimension entertainment, sport
alike content in plurality of geographically distinct theaters, system has intelligence to
beam tailored advertisement compatible with viewer’s meta data e.g. regional language,
gender, age, rural/urban/cosmopolitan, show schedule (family planning product
advertisement in late night show) etc. However, this eco-system works universally with
any other digital cinema projection technology.
? In traditional in-cinema advertising, if the advertiser wishes to play an advertisement in
different language, he requires those many number of prints. Aforesaid price tag is
completely eliminated with inventor’s system as one Beta Tape can suffice the
requirement of playing the commercial in different languages in different states.
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? Quality of the commercial screened remains unaltered irrespective of the number of
airings. In traditional advertising system, the print has a restricted life; therefore after
playing a commercial for limited duration, it needs to be replaced, which is a recurring
cost.
? Inventor’s system offers flexibility & remote capability as it gives freedom to make last
minute scheduling and content changes.
? Inventor’s in-cinema advertising platform simplifies the logistics of advertising, as it
offers in house control and arrange advertising on in house network, eliminating the
need for advertisers to deal with a large and fragmented group of exhibitors and
associated overheads.
? All advertisements are delivered directly via satellite to the theatres and stored onto the
servers for playback. Secured delivery can be grandiose to hundreds of theatres
simultaneously in real time.
? Digitization of the commercial ensures high quality images & sound. Inventor’s Digital
Cinema System is capable of delivering high definition images in the native 16:9 format.
Thus advertisements shot on high definition format can be displayed on inventor’s
system with no compromise on quality.
? Depending upon the consumer products highlighted in the ongoing movie, if business
rules permits, running of parallel bottom or sideways tickler, system is capable to
synchronize time slot and real physical appearance in terms of x-y co-ordinates of the
said content of advertisement on the silver screen e.g. sub title like silent mini
advertisement.
? Due to real time synchronization of multiple databases e.g. database of advertisements
with its metadata, database of schedule of movies, database of theaters with their
metadata system enables last moment editing to overcome a controversial content of
advertisement.
? System is fully geared to execute any last minute content change in real time thereby
facilitating social harmony.
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? System offers heavy discount if last minute inventory is free.
? Under claim 7 scenario systems even prioritize and promote advertisement creating
social awareness or ones having national interest crafted by NGOs or government
thereby encouraging corporate social responsibility.
? System generates shareable logs depicting frequency, location, date and time stamping
of displayed advertisement content thereby boost confidence of manufacturer or service
provider or government.
? System makes entire process of collection, assorting and distribution of classified
advertisements an efficient, effective, scalable, transparent, and accountable in real time,
thereby enhances advertiser’s confidence in the platform and theaters as medium.
Further, it provides phenomenal return on investment to advertisers, thereby translating
it into most resource conserving, real time, and customizable, targeted audio visual
advertising platform.
? System generates various MIS reports and logs for various stake holders e.g. DSA, retail
advertisers, publishers, government, regulators etc.
? Entire digital eco-system thus facilitates to create box office brand catering below the
line and above the line segments of advertisers having budgetary constraints translates
viewership data into currency.
? System displays secured, encoded and encrypted advertisement content in video format
specifically to be played only in digital cinema theater.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
System and apparatus comprising of a processer based system to obtain, store, recover, plan,
integrate and condensethe secured digital multimedia, multidimensional, multilingual content
e.g. social, safety messages, including advertisements, to fixed duration based stationary
audiences spread across geographically distinct movie theaters via satellite in a preferred
embodiment. Electronic content is procured in digital form from content providers over public
network or other digital means. It is organized, planned and stored on multiple servers. Further,
said content is secured is integrated into a video presentation according to a playlist schedule and
electronically rendered to its intended audience. Screening records are generated upon each show
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which is simultaneously interlined with box office sales to analyze audience exposure. Business
rules based screening tariffs are used for promoting, cost/benefit analysis and other purposes.
Use of the said system and method as per the example cited in the present invention, eliminates
need of physical media and associated drawback viz. heavy printing cost, distribution logistic,
human intervene based up-gradation, fragility or time based aging etc. Being low in overheads
and update cost, it makes this platform of market segmentation platform economically viable
from perspective of targeted advertising.
Objective of the invention is to reduce disbursed resources per update, enhance consistency,
regulate market fragmentation, expedite use of rich media formats, increase efficiency of the
placement interface and process, and provide detailed exposure reports. This way invention will
benefit to content provider immensely.
Another goal of the invention is to address issues of media manager who prefers to shrink the
labor required for placement and delivery, and reduce the consumption of materials. From
moviegoer perspective invention aims to proliferate the relevance and deliver an appealing
presentation.
Besides, present invention intends to cater content providers with a economical, speedy, and
highly secured mode to update content. This allows advertisers to keep movie advertisements
current with their changing advertising campaigns. This also allows advertisers to segment the
market in many new ways, by-movie and by-time, as well as by-location. To target by-movie
means that advertisers may segment the moviegoer market according to their preference of
movie. To target by-time means that advertisers may segment the moviegoer market according to
their preference of time of day to see a movie, by day of week, or time with respect to its release
date and expected life in the cinemas. By segmenting the market along one or more of these
dimensions (including by-location), advertisers can more effectively reach their target market,
which is of tremendous significance to advertisers.
A further goal of the invention is to provide advertisers the use of rich media formats. Electronic
formats, facilitated by the present invention, bring new opportunities for content, specifically
rich media formats. In addition to static and dynamic content implemented through streaming
video (which are akin to fixed and rolling stock) rich media includes other forms of time-variant
content, most notably animations. Rich media bridges the gap between fixed and rolling stock.
Proprietary rich media formats, viz. SHOCKWAVE, FLASH, and animated GIF, provide the
screen advertiser with new opportunities to catch the moviegoer's attention and make more
captivating impressions without the typically high cost of production for rolling stock.
A further goal of the invention is to provide advertisers with direct, efficient control over their
job placement. The present invention allows content providers to electronically transfer content
via the Internet. This means that content could flow from the content provider's desktop to
moviegoer audiences across the country and even other countries with no physical intervention.
However, the present invention includes safeguards in the workflow that may intervene in the
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event of malicious activity. The ability to deliver content to an audience within hours qualifies
the present invention as a vehicle for just-in-time advertising.
A further goal of the invention is to provide advertisers with detailed exposure reports. A system
of the present invention will generate logs at every showing. These logs will accurately record
the presentation of contents as the presentation proceeds. A system in accordance with the
present invention will also receive box office data from the exhibitor on a per-showing basis.
Bringing the box office data together with the log data, the system of the present invention may
calculate detailed exposure rates. The exposure rates may, in-turn, be used to bill the content
provider based on the number of moviegoers reached. The exposure rates may also be used by
the advertiser in cost/benefit analysis of this form of advertising, and may further be used by the
advertiser to refine their target audience. An extension of the present invention may also perform
the cost benefit analysis by correlating this data with advertiser sales data. ,CLAIMS:We Claim
(1) A system, apparatus and method transformation of different types of advertisement
content in multiple format comprises of plurality of means to secure access to
advertisement portal by multiple registered DSA, comprising of secured, catalogued,
multiple multimedia advertisement content and associated meta data, social messages
data comprising of high quality, secured (encode & encrypted) electronic content in
video format, superior audio fidelity and plurality of playlist schedule sets of governing
rules by which to be screened said data is mapped via leased line/VPN to an enterprise
application to real time schedule of cinemas screened in universally geographically
distinct theaters and is wirelessly transmitted to any network of digital cinema
projection system, thereby further chronicling box office sales and frequency and
duration of said advertisement content for MIS and billing purpose.
(2) A System, as in claim 1 having means and authentication mechanism to precisely deliver
in specific theaters appropriately scheduled digital media package (DCP) content
comprising of collection of files which contain one or more features presenting movie
trailer, advertisement and announcement compliant with as digital cinema initiative
(DCI) specifications where in the DCP has following components
(a) Picture file (MXF format) – digital images of e.g. advertisement in JPEG/MPEG-2
file format with frame rates
(b) Sound Files (MX format) – multiple language sound files corresponding to above
digital images
(c) An Asset Map file (XML format) – comprises of list of all files in DCP
(d) Composition Playlist file (XML format) – comprises of file that defines playback
order of picture and sound
(e) Package list file (XML format) – it comprise of hash obtained by hashing the files in
DCP to enable verification of proper receipt (ingestion) of DCP at the movie
theater.
(f) Volume Index file (XML format) it provides mechanism to identify different parts of
DCP carried by different storage mechanism usually hard disk drives
(3) System as in claims 1 and 2 wherein advertisements are delivered directly via satellite to
the theatres and stored onto the servers for playback.
(4) System as in claim 1, 2 and 3 where in the delivery of content is secure and is
simultaneousto several theatres in real time.
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(5) System as in claims1 to4 havingmeans to execute any last minute content change in real
time thereby facilitating social harmony.
(6) System as in claims 1 and2 having means and authentication to display secured, encoded
and encrypted advertisement content in video format specifically to be played only in digital
cinema theater.
(7) System as in claims 1 and 2 where in provision of parallel bottom or sideways tickler
capable to introduce silent miniscule advertisements to synchronized with real time physical
appearance of relevant content is possible.
(8) System is resource conserving, accountable, transparent, an efficient &integrated solution
thereby creating plurality of geographically spread digital theaters as a novel medium to
automatically screen classified advertisement in audio, stationary, slide, animated, format
tailored with type of viewer and choice of location of screen, schedule and frequency of
screening and corresponding MIS and billing mechanism.