System and method for using user's audio environment to select advertising

Abstract

A method and system is provided for capturing audio related information and selecting advertising based on the information.

1 . A method of selecting content for display during a game comprising: 
 storing sound received at a game console;    analyzing the sound to determine a characteristic associated with the game user;    selecting content for rendering to the user based on the characteristic.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the sound comprise speech.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the characteristic is the user's gender.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the characteristic is the user's age.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 2  wherein the characteristic is whether the user has reached puberty.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the step of storing sound comprises receiving sounds at a microphone of the game console and storing the sound in a memory of the game console.  
   
   
       7 . A game console comprising: 
 a microphone;    a processor;    a memory storing advertisements and instructions, the instructions comprising: storing sounds received at the microphone; identifying a characteristic of the sounds; selecting an advertisement for display based on the characteristic; and rendering the advertisement.    
   
   
       8 . The game console of  claim 7  further comprising a modem, and wherein the instructions further comprise transmitting the stored sound outside of the console for analysis and receiving the identified characteristic.  
   
   
       9 . The game console of  claim 7  wherein the characteristic is the user's gender detected in the sound.  
   
   
       10 . The game console of  claim 9  wherein the advertisements comprise male-oriented advertisement and female oriented-advertisements, and the advertisements are selected based on the user's gender detected in the sound.  
   
   
       11 . The game console of  claim 7  wherein the characteristic is the user's age.  
   
   
       12 . A method comprising 
 receiving sound at a microphone;    storing the sound in a memory;    analyzing the sound to determine the characteristics of a user based on the sounds;    selecting an advertisement from a plurality of advertisements based on the characteristics, wherein the plurality of advertisements are based on different characteristics; and    rendering the selected advertisement.    
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising displaying characteristic-neutral content to the user before and after rendering the advertisement, wherein characteristic-neutral comprises content that was not selected based on the characteristics determined from the sounds.  
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 13  further comprising displaying characteristic-neutral content to the user while rendering the advertisement.  
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 13  wherein the characteristic-neutral content comprises an interactive game.  
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the sound comprises speech and the characteristic comprises the speaker's gender.  
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the sound comprises speech and the characteristic comprises the speaker's age.  
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the sound comprises music and the characteristic comprises a user's music preferences.  
   
   
       19 . A method of selecting advertising comprising: 
 receiving sounds transmitted over a network from a computer;    analyzing the sounds to determine characteristics associated with the environment surrounding the computer;    selecting an advertisement based on the characteristics;    transmitting the advertisement to the computer.    
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 19  wherein the computer is a game console.  
   
   
       21 . A method comprising 
 receiving sound at a microphone;    storing the sound in a memory;    analyzing the sound to determine the characteristics of a user or a user's environment based on the sounds.