Alcatel Lucent Files Contextual Advertising Patent For TV Over IPTV

This should be particular interest to Media companies - Telecom major Alcatel-Lucent has filed for a patent in India, for contextual advertising on IPTV networks. Since advertising will be delivered to the screen over the broadband network, it gives them the opportunity of contextualizing ads based on location, personal TV viewing habits etc. The ads will probably be stored on the Personal Video Recorder (PVR) or Set Top Box (STB), and delivered during specific TV spots, based on selection.

Examples of what their service can do
– Delivery of context specific ads on television channels during the “ad insert period”, based on selection of a bunch of advertisements.
– Location based advertising, for specific Distribution Areas, also based on demographic information and/or proximity to advertiser.

The idea is to provide better targeting on Television - provide ads to consumers closer to the advertisers place of business, as well as target neighbourhoods where the psychographics favour the advertisers services - thus allowing an advertiser wants to advertise to and only pay for advertising that reaches subscribers who are likely potential customers.

Challenges: Television spots normally range from 15 seconds to 90 seconds, with 30 seconds being the usual length. One challenge for the service will be to maintain a standard length of an ad break (say 3-5 minutes), and yet ensure that the dynamically placed ads all total up to the same length of the ad break. The bigger challenge, however, is selling the concept to media planners and channels. 

Company: Alcatel Lucent 
Patent Number (International): PCT/US2006/062081
Filing Date (India): 17th June 2008 (Details)
Download: PDF

Sony Ericsson Files Cross Platform Online Gaming Patent In India

Sony Ericsson has filed a rather interesting patent in India: for “a method and an apparatus” that allows gamers to switch between devices, without losing their place in the game. Essentially, this is an invention that makes the game platform agnostic. The player can pause the game, and switch from, say, a console to a mobile device, and similarly switch from the mobile device to the console.

Given that much of mobile gaming is still centred around single player casual games, I think the games will have to be pretty basic for this to work. Something on the lines of street figher, bounce, or perhaps even a racing game. It’ll work best for turn-based games like Chess, since the games will be hosted on an online network, so the bandwidth will have to be pretty spectacular. Perhaps this is one of the applications planned for 3G.

More on the patent filing here.

Google Files For Local Search And Mapping Patent In India

Google has filed for a patent in India, for a map based local search application. This appears to essentially be a patent for Google Local on Mobile, a service launched in 2005, and subsequently renamed/replaced by Google Maps for mobile.

The patent was filed in India on June 6th 2008, and you may view the details of the original patent at WIPO (here), or download the patent document (PDF) here. Using the application, users can zoom in into a map, and be provided with local business search results, directions for a travel route. Interestingly, the maps service can also include a click to call facility.

Not yet in the list above is Navteq which Nokia had acquired for $8.1 billion last year. Once Navteq becomes a part of the Ovi platform, I think it will emerge as a serious challenge for the likes of Google Maps and MapMyIndia. At the same time, from the operators side, we’ve heard some interesting things about Reliance’s yet-to-be-launched BIG Maps service.

PatentWatch: Yahoo Files For Behavioral Targeting Patent In India

In May 2008, Yahoo filed for a behavioural targeting patent in India. According to the filing, the advertisements delivered to a particular user are selected based the users short-term and long-term behaviour, which is determined from information collected on the users online activities and linked to specific interest categories. “A first long-term score, models awareness with respect to a given category. A second long-term score and the short-term score are response-oriented scores that model the user’s interest in making a response with respect to a given category, such as by purchasing a product or service within the category.”

Technology aside, behavioural targeting is used to make advertisements to relevant to users, and this often has an impact on the click-throughs. Greater relevancy is what Google also pitches - both in terms of search results, as well as advertising.

View the patent filing here.

PatentWatch: Google Files For India Patent For Detecting Copyright Content

On the 12th of June this year, Google filed for a patent in India for “Detecting Repeating Content In Broadcast Media”. The reason for filing this patent is not known, but we think it’s significant:

Google has been in trouble in India over copyright content being published on YouTube - particularly TV shows and Bollywood films that users upload. Often, users upload an entire Bollywood film in 10-15 parts. The “Safe Harbor” argument, which is applicable via the Digital Millenium Copyright Act isn’t applicable in India, and Google has even asked the Indian telecom regulator TRAI for immunity for platforms.

In the past, legal notices have been sent to Google by media companies like STAR TV (News Corp), Sony Entertainment Television and Saregama. Bollywood Music major T-Series has even taken them to court. I’ve attended a couple of these court sessions, during one of which Google had asked T-Series to give them “5000 of their copyrights” (i.e. copyrighted content), so YouTube can compare and remove the content.

So how does the technology work? Essentially, Google generates a database of audio statistics from content and compares it with stored data to determine whether the content has been stored in their database or not. If the content is detected in the stored data, it is identified as “repeating content”.

View the patent details here.

Related:
– Google Faces More Legal Issues In India; Pushes For Immunity For Platforms
– ContentSutra: YouTube And T-Series Given Time To Settle Copyright Infringement Dispute
– ContentSutra: T-Series Obtains Restraining Order Against Google And YouTube From Delhi High Court

PatentWatch: Mobile TV Receiving Device From Samsung Electronics

On the 25th of February this year, Samsung Electronics filed for a patent in India, for an accessory that allows the receipt of Mobile TV information, via DMB (Digital Media Broadcasting). As a Mobile TV standard, DMB competes with the DVB-H standard, which has been backed by Nokia, and is being trialed by Doordarshan and Nokia in Delhi (around the Minto Road area, I’m told).

According to the filing, the patent is for the device which converts the received DMB data format into a multimedia format that can be reproduced by a typical mobile device. We found this interesting because the propagation of mobile TV handsets are an issue in India: for example, I can’t try out the Doordarshan terrestrial broadcast via DVB-H using my Nokia N95, and will need a Nokia N92.

Also keep in mind that Mobile TV is a digital terrestrial broadcast service, and not necessarily a Cellular phone service - the broadcast can be received by any device - whether a TV in a bus or a car, or a mobile handset. A receiving accessory that can be plugged into a mobile phone, or even a laptop, will greatly increase the potential user base.

Details of the patent filing here.

Related:
- Mobile TV Co Devas Multimedia To Sell 17 Pc Stake For $75 Million To Deutsche Telekom
- TRAI Recommends Infrastructure Sharing, Separate Licenses For Terrestrial And Satellite Mobile TV (ContentSutra)
- When Mobile And TV Combine (ContentSutra)

PatentWatch: Nokia-File Sharing; BT-Computer Telephony System; A CRBT Advertising Patent

Nokia, which has the largest handset marketshare in India, has filed a patent for a “networking solution which allows a user group to share multimedia contents during a group communication” reports the Economic Times. The patent includes data calls (Voice over Internet Protocol), audio and video calls, messaging and emails, and enables real time sharing of data. More here. I wonder if this has something to do with the launch of Ovi in India. Does anyone know what exactly is holding up the launch of Ovi? Do leave a message, or contact us.

British Telecom has also filed a patent application for a computer telephony system, which enables more secure calls through the Internet - “invention provides a method of securely registering an association between a computer terminal and a selected one of a plurality of communications terminals in a computer telephony system.” [via Business Standard]

A search for more details on these patents led us to search the poorly developed Patent office website: www.patentoffice.nic.in . We couldn’t locate the specific Nokia patent, but we did come across some other very interesting patent filings, which should give you some sense of future technology trends with business implications.

We’ll cover a new patent every alternate day starting next Monday - mostly sticking to patents that have been filed in 2008. We start today, with one on Mobile Advertising:
Rajender Kumar Nangia is trying to patent “a method for advertising a commercial using mobile telephony by providing advertising method using the caller tone and ring tone (audio / video) of a mobile phone to offer an advertisement to a terminal user by outputting a multimedia-advertising message instead of the ring signal and displaying any motion clip on the screen and a system for carrying out the said method.”

The service involves the installation of an application on a Mobile Handset, and will require a data connection (GPRS/3G) for downloading a clip that will be played for the person who is calling.

Hmm…where have I heard of this one before? A couple of months ago, One97 Communications had launched a “Video Ringtone” application called Vringo, which was a little different - you could download a clip, and play it for other Vringo users who call you up. Limited, in its reach, because both users needed to be registered for Vringo, but monetization could have been via video advertising, once the application was installed. This is different from the application mentioned above, which plays the video (advertisement) for the person who is calling.

More patents soon.