TV Advertisements Download Management

Abstract

Systems and methods of presenting advertisements in a digital home communication terminal are disclosed. One such method comprises receiving electronic advertisement information (EAI) describing a plurality of advertisements. The method further comprises storing the received EAI. The method further comprises receiving the plurality of advertisements, and storing only a portion of the advertisements in accordance with user advertisement preferences. The method further comprises accessing the stored EAI to provide at least one of the stored advertisements in accordance with the user advertisement preferences.

1 . A method of presenting advertisements in a digital home communication terminal, the method comprising:
 receiving electronic advertisement information (EAI) describing a plurality of advertisements;   storing the received EAI;   receiving the plurality of advertisements;   storing only a portion of the advertisements in accordance with user advertisement preferences.   accessing the stored EAI to provide at least one of the stored advertisements in accordance with the user advertisement preferences.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the receiving comprises:
 receiving a file containing one of the advertisements.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the receiving comprises:
 receiving the advertisements through a broadcast carousel.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the storing comprises:
 storing the received EAI on a local storage device.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the advertisements include: graphical information, textual information, audio data, video data, or a combination thereof, overlaid on a displayed video picture; video data displayed in a full-screen format; and video data displayed in a downscaled video window. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the storing comprises:
 storing the received EAI as a plurality of advertisement records.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein each of the advertisement records is associated with an advertisement and includes a time descriptor specifying when viewing of the advertisement is permitted. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the time descriptor specifies a start date and an expiration date. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein each of the advertisement records is associated with an advertisement and includes a program descriptor specifying a program category, during which viewing of the advertisement is permitted. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein each of the advertisement records includes an advertisement category. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the electronic advertisement information includes information associated with advertisements but not the advertisements. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the advertisements are received separately from the electronic advertisement information. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the receiving comprises:
 receiving the EAI as private data in a transport stream.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the receiving comprises:
 receiving the EAI through an out-of-band channel.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the receiving comprises:
 receiving updates to the EAI periodically from a broadcast file system (BFS).