Delivery Forecast Computing Apparatus for Display and Streaming Video Advertising

Abstract

A computer-driven apparatus coupled to a network receives data from metadata sources and consumers' display devices. From the sources, the apparatus collects metadata concerning characteristics of a given item of host video and a proposed class of advertisements for web delivery proximate or embedded in the given item. The apparatus continually monitors actual delivery of the given item by receiving transmissions from consumers' display devices. The apparatus develops initial forecasting inputs based on historical data from similar host videos, and then adjusts the forecasting inputs based on the actual deliveries. These forecasting inputs are used to compute an interim supply of advertising opportunities associated with the given item, which is reduced by relevant factors to provide a net available supply forecast. The apparatus provides a human-readable display of information including the net available supply forecast.

1 - 16 . (canceled) 
     
     
         17 . A method for calculating a number of advertisement opportunities forecasted to be available for displaying advertisements by a device comprising:
 receiving machine-readable messages transmitted by the device displaying an instance of a video during a first time interval, wherein the machine-readable message includes a time corresponding to a portion of the video displayed; and   aggregating as a forecasting input the advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in an instance of the video to be displayed during a second time interval, wherein the advertising opportunities available for displaying advertisements are within the time upon beginning display of the video during the second time interval.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17  wherein display by the device of an advertisement in an advertising opportunity proximate or embedded in the video triggers transmission of the message, and wherein the time corresponds to a portion of the video displayed through display of the advertisement. 
     
     
         19 . A method for calculating the number of advertising opportunities forecasted to be available for displaying advertisements of a proposed class of advertisements comprising a computer performing the steps of:
 receiving as a first input a predetermined profile of a number of instances of a video displayed by devices during a first time interval that precedes a second time interval;   receiving as a second input a predetermined profile of a number of advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in an instance of the video to be displayed during the second time interval, the profile including, for each advertising opportunity, a duration of the video from the beginning of the video to the display of an advertisement in the advertisement opportunity;   receiving as a third input machine-readable messages transmitted by a device displaying an instance of the video during the first time interval, wherein the machine-readable message includes an identification of the video and a duration of the portion of the video displayed;   aggregating a portion of the advertising opportunities received as the second input, wherein the portion includes the opportunities within the received duration of the video displayed from the third input; and   computing as a supply forecast for the second time interval the number of instances from the first input multiplied by the number of advertising opportunities from the second input reduced by the difference between the supply forecast and the aggregated portion.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  wherein display by the device of an advertisement in an advertising opportunity proximate or embedded in the video triggers transmission of the message. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 receiving the machine-readable messages transmitted during the second time interval;   adjusting the first input according to the number of instances of the video displayed by devices during the second time interval;   adjusting the second input according to the number of advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in an instance of the video displayed during the second time interval;   adjusting the third input according to the duration of the portion of the video displayed during the second time interval;   aggregating a portion of the advertising opportunities received as the second input, wherein the portion includes the opportunities within the received duration of the video displayed from the third input; and   re-computing as the supply forecast for the second time interval the number of instances from the adjusted first input multiplied by the number of advertising opportunities from the adjusted second input reduced by the difference between the supply forecast and the aggregated portion.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the proposed class of advertisements includes a duration for an advertisement, and comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities in the supply forecast of insufficient duration to fit the duration of an advertisement in the proposed class. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 19 , comprising the added steps of: (a) receiving commitments to place advertisements in the advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in instances of the video during a second time interval, (b) aggregating the commitments, and (c) reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of commitments. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the video includes a permissible content rating and the proposed class of advertisements includes a content rating for an advertisement, and comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of content ratings for advertisements in the proposed class that are not within the permissible content rating of the video. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 19 , comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities that do not have an associated legal right to display advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein advertisements in the proposed class includes a time window for display of the advertisement, and comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities not within the time window. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the video includes distribution points and advertisements in the proposed class of advertisements includes adistribution point, and comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in instances of the video to be displayed at distribution points that are not within the distribution point for advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in the video have one or more constraints including a machine-readable encoding format, blacklisting, content rating, prohibition as to pre-rolls, and comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities having a constraint that does not allow display of the advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 19 , further comprising: before receiving the first input, selecting the predetermined profile of the first input from multiple profiles wherein an identified type of the selected predetermined profile matches an indentified type of the video. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising:
 receiving the machine-readable messages transmitted during the second time interval;   adjusting the first input according to the number of instances of the video displayed by devices during the second time interval;   adjusting the second input according to the number of advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in an instance of the video displayed during the second time interval;   adjusting the third input according to the duration of the portion of the video displayed during the second time interval;   aggregating a portion of the advertising opportunities received as the second input, wherein the portion includes the opportunities within the received duration of the video displayed from the third input; and   re-computing as the supply forecast for the second time interval the number of instances from the adjusted first input multiplied by the number of advertising opportunities from the adjusted second input reduced by the difference between the supply forecast and the aggregated portion.   
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the proposed class of advertisements includes a duration for an advertisement, and comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities in the supply forecast of insufficient duration to fit the duration of an advertisement in the proposed class. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 20 , comprising the added steps of: (a) receiving commitments to place advertisements in the advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in instances of the video during a second time interval, (b) aggregating the commitments, and (c) reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of commitments. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the video includes a permissible content rating and the proposed class of advertisements includes a content rating for an advertisement, and comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of content ratings for advertisements in the proposed class that are not within the permissible content rating of the video. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 20 , comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities that do not have an associated legal right to display advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein advertisements in the proposed class includes a time window for display of the advertisement, and comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities not within the time window. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the video includes distribution points and advertisements in the proposed class of advertisements includes adistribution point, and comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in instances of the video to be displayed at distribution points that are not within the distribution point for advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in the video have one or more constraints including a machine-readable encoding format, blacklisting, content rating, prohibition as to pre-rolls, and comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities having a constraint that does not allow display of the advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 20 , further comprising: before receiving the first input, selecting the predetermined profile of the first input from multiple profiles wherein an identified type of the selected predetermined profile matches an indentified type of the video. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 30 , wherein the proposed class of advertisements includes a duration for an advertisement, and comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities in the supply forecast of insufficient duration to fit the duration of an advertisement in the proposed class. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 39 , comprising the added steps of: (a) receiving commitments to place advertisements in the advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in instances of the video during a second time interval, (b) aggregating the commitments, and (c) reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of commitments. 
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 40 , wherein the video includes a permissible content rating and the proposed class of advertisements includes a content rating for an advertisement, and comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of content ratings for advertisements in the proposed class that are not within the permissible content rating of the video. 
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 41 , comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities that do not have an associated legal right to display advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 42 , wherein advertisements in the proposed class includes a time window for display of the advertisement, and comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities not within the time window. 
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 43 , wherein the video includes distribution points and advertisements in the proposed class of advertisements includes a distribution point, and comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in instances of the video to be displayed at distribution points that are not within the distribution point for advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         45 . The method of  claim 44 , wherein the advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in the video have one or more constraints including a machine-readable encoding format, blacklisting, content rating, prohibition as to pre-rolls, and comprising the added step of reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities having a constraint that does not allow display of the advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 45 , further comprising: before receiving the first input, selecting the predetermined profile of the first input from multiple profiles wherein an identified type of the selected predetermined profile matches an identified type of the video. 
     
     
         47 . A system for calculating a number of advertisement opportunities forecasted to be available for displaying advertisements by a device comprising:
 A computer having at least a storage device, an input/output, and a processor;   the storage device configured to receive through the input/output machine-readable messages transmitted by the device displaying an instance of a video during a first time interval, wherein the machine-readable message includes a time corresponding to a portion of the video displayed; and   the processor configured to aggregate as a forecasting input the advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in an instance of the video to be displayed during a second time interval, wherein the advertising opportunities available for displaying advertisements are within the time upon beginning display of the video during the second time interval.   
     
     
         48 . The system of  claim 47  wherein display by the device of an advertisement in an advertising opportunity proximate or embedded in the video triggers transmission of the message, and wherein the time corresponds to a portion of the video displayed through display of the advertisement. 
     
     
         49 . A system for calculating the number of advertising opportunities forecasted to be available for displaying advertisements of a proposed class of advertisements comprising:
 a computer having at least a storage device, an input/output, and a processor;   the computer configured to receive as a first input a predetermined profile of a number of instances of a video displayed by devices during a first time interval that precedes a second time interval;   the computer configured to receive as a second input a predetermined profile of a number of advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in an instance of the video to be displayed during the second time interval, the profile including, for each advertising opportunity, a duration of the video from the beginning of the video to the display of an advertisement in the advertisement opportunity;   the computer configured to receive as a third input machine-readable messages transmitted by a device displaying an instance of the video during the first time interval, wherein the machine-readable message includes an identification of the video and a duration of the portion of the video displayed;   the computer configured to aggregate a portion of the advertising opportunities received as the second input, wherein the portion includes the opportunities within the received duration of the video displayed from the third input; and   the computer configured to compute as a supply forecast for the second time interval the number of instances from the first input multiplied by the number of advertising opportunities from the second input reduced by the difference between the supply forecast and the aggregated portion.   
     
     
         50 . The system of  claim 49  wherein display by the device of an advertisement in an advertising opportunity proximate or embedded in the video triggers transmission of the message. 
     
     
         51 . The system of  claim 49 , further comprising:
 the computer configured to receive the machine-readable messages transmitted during the second time interval;   the computer configured to adjust the first input according to the number of instances of the video displayed by devices during the second time interval;   the computer configured to adjust the second input according to the number of advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in an instance of the video displayed during the second time interval;   the computer configured to adjust the third input according to the duration of the portion of the video displayed during the second time interval;   the computer configured to aggregate a portion of the advertising opportunities received as the second input, wherein the portion includes the opportunities within the received duration of the video displayed from the third input; and   the computer configured to re-compute as the supply forecast for the second time interval the number of instances from the adjusted first input multiplied by the number of advertising opportunities from the adjusted second input reduced by the difference between the supply forecast and the aggregated portion.   
     
     
         52 . The system of  claim 49 , wherein the proposed class of advertisements includes a duration for an advertisement, and the computer is configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities in the supply forecast of insufficient duration to fit the duration of an advertisement in the proposed class. 
     
     
         53 . The system of  claim 49 , comprising the computer configured to perform the added steps of: (a) receiving commitments to place advertisements in the advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in instances of the video during a second time interval, (b) aggregating the commitments, and (c) reducing the supply forecast by the aggregate of commitments. 
     
     
         54 . The system of  claim 49 , wherein the video includes a permissible content rating and the proposed class of advertisements includes a content rating for an advertisement, and comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of content ratings for advertisements in the proposed class that are not within the permissible content rating of the video. 
     
     
         55 . The system of  claim 49 , comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities that do not have an associated legal right to display advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         56 . The system of  claim 49 , wherein advertisements in the proposed class includes a time window for display of the advertisement, and comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities not within the time window. 
     
     
         57 . The system of  claim 49 , wherein the video includes distribution points and advertisements in the proposed class of advertisements includes a distribution point, and comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in instances of the video to be displayed at distribution points that are not within the distribution point for advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         58 . The system of  claim 49 , wherein the advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in the video have one or more constraints including a machine-readable encoding format, blacklisting, content rating, prohibition as to pre-rolls, and comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities having a constraint that does not allow display of the advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         59 . The system of  claim 49 , further comprising: before receiving the first input, the computer configured to select the predetermined profile of the first input from multiple profiles wherein an identified type of the selected predetermined profile matches an indentified type of the video. 
     
     
         60 . The system of  claim 50 , further comprising:
 the computer configured to receive the machine-readable messages transmitted during the second time interval;   the computer configured to adjust the first input according to the number of instances of the video displayed by devices during the second time interval;   the computer configured to adjust the second input according to the number of advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in an instance of the video displayed during the second time interval;   the computer configured to adjust the third input according to the duration of the portion of the video displayed during the second time interval;   the computer configured to aggregate a portion of the advertising opportunities received as the second input, wherein the portion includes the opportunities within the received duration of the video displayed from the third input; and   the computer configured to re-compute as the supply forecast for the second time interval the number of instances from the adjusted first input multiplied by the number of advertising opportunities from the adjusted second input reduced by the difference between the supply forecast and the aggregated portion.   
     
     
         61 . The system of  claim 50 , wherein the proposed class of advertisements includes a duration for an advertisement, and comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities in the supply forecast of insufficient duration to fit the duration of an advertisement in the proposed class. 
     
     
         62 . The system of  claim 50 , comprising the computer configured to: (a) receive commitments to place advertisements in the advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in instances of the video during a second time interval, (b) aggregate the commitments, and (c) reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of commitments. 
     
     
         63 . The system of  claim 50 , wherein the video includes a permissible content rating and the proposed class of advertisements includes a content rating for an advertisement, and comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of content ratings for advertisements in the proposed class that are not within the permissible content rating of the video. 
     
     
         64 . The system of  claim 50 , comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities that do not have an associated legal right to display advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         65 . The system of  claim 50 , wherein advertisements in the proposed class includes a time window for display of the advertisement, and comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities not within the time window. 
     
     
         66 . The system of  claim 50 , wherein the video includes distribution points and advertisements in the proposed class of advertisements includes a distribution point, and comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in instances of the video to be displayed at distribution points that are not within the distribution point for advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         67 . The system of  claim 50 , wherein the advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in the video have one or more constraints including a machine-readable encoding format, blacklisting, content rating, prohibition as to pre-rolls, and comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities having a constraint that does not allow display of the advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         68 . The system of  claim 50 , further comprising: before receiving the first input, the computer configured to select the predetermined profile of the first input from multiple profiles wherein an identified type of the selected predetermined profile matches an indentified type of the video. 
     
     
         69 . The system of  claim 50 , wherein the proposed class of advertisements includes a duration for an advertisement, and comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities in the supply forecast of insufficient duration to fit the duration of an advertisement in the proposed class. 
     
     
         70 . The system of  claim 69 , comprising the computer configured to: (a) receive commitments to place advertisements in the advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in instances of the video during a second time interval, (b) aggregate the commitments, and (c) reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of commitments. 
     
     
         71 . The system of  claim 70 , wherein the video includes a permissible content rating and the proposed class of advertisements includes a content rating for an advertisement, and comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of content ratings for advertisements in the proposed class that are not within the permissible content rating of the video. 
     
     
         72 . The system of  claim 71 , comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities that do not have an associated legal right to display advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         73 . The system of  claim 72 , wherein advertisements in the proposed class includes a time window for display of the advertisement, and comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities not within the time window. 
     
     
         74 . The system of  claim 73 , wherein the video includes distribution points and advertisements in the proposed class of advertisements includes a distribution point, and comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in instances of the video to be displayed at distribution points that are not within the distribution point for advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         75 . The system of  claim 74 , wherein the advertising opportunities proximate or embedded in the video have one or more constraints including a machine-readable encoding format, blacklisting, content rating, prohibition as to pre-rolls, and comprising the computer configured to reduce the supply forecast by the aggregate of advertising opportunities having a constraint that does not allow display of the advertisements in the proposed class. 
     
     
         76 . The system of  claim 75 , further comprising: before receiving the first input, the computer configured to select the predetermined profile of the first input from multiple profiles wherein an identified type of the selected predetermined profile matches an indentified type of the video.