System and method for creation and management of advertising inventory using metadata

Abstract

The invention is directed to a system and method for the creation and management of advertising inventory utilizing associated metadata. The system generally includes a media streaming system that is used with a video player in connection with the playback of at least one audio/video work. The media streaming system includes a media distribution system that supplies metadata associated with the audio/video work to the video player. The metadata has a hierarchical taxonomy that defines a plurality of attributes associated with one or more objects present in the audio/video work. The system also includes an ad inventory engine that determines available ad inventory based on the metadata and matches the available inventory with advertisement data based on the hierarchical taxonomy.

1 . A media streaming system useful with a video player in connection with the playback of at least one audio/video work, the system comprising:
 a media distribution system that supplies metadata associated with the audio/video work to the video player, wherein the metadata has a hierarchical taxonomy that defines a plurality of attributes associated with one or more objects in the audio/video work; and   an ad inventory engine that determines available ad inventory based on the metadata and matches the available inventory with advertisement data based on the hierarchical taxonomy.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the media distribution system and the ad inventory engine is at least partially remote from the video player. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the metadata includes at least one temporal attribute associated with the object present in the audio/video work. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the metadata includes at least one spatial attribute associated with the object present in the audio/video work. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1  comprising a communication channel coupled between the media distribution system and the video player, wherein the communication channel is selected from the group consisting of satellite communication, radio communication, wired communication, infrared communication, coaxial cable communication, WIFI communication, WiMAX communication, LAN communication, WAN communication, telephonic communication, DSL communication, and Ethernet communication. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the hierarchical taxonomy comprises at least three categories of breadth and at least three levels of depth thereby defining attributes of objects contained in the audio/visual work. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the metadata is automatically associated with objects contained in the audio/visual work. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the automatic association occurs remotely or locally from the video player. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the automatic association occurs via object recognition software, wherein the object recognition software is employed as part of a crawler that reviews the audio/visual works. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the metadata is manually associated with objects contained in the audio/visual work. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the manual association occurs remotely or locally from the video player. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1  wherein at least one of the media distribution system and the ad inventory engine are disposed on a computer readable media. 
     
     
         13 . A method comprising:
 distributing metadata associated with an audio/video work to a video player, wherein the metadata has a hierarchical taxonomy that defines a plurality of attributes associated with one or more objects present in the audio/video work;   determining available ad inventory based on the metadata; and   matching the available ad inventory with advertisement data based on the hierarchical taxonomy.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the metadata includes at least one temporal attribute associated with the object present in the audio/video work. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the metadata includes at least one spatial attribute associated with the object present in the audio/video work. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the hierarchical taxonomy comprises at least three categories of breadth and at least three levels of depth thereby defining attributes of objects contained in the audio/visual work. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein at least a portion of the metadata is automatically associated with objects contained in the audio/visual work. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the automatic association occurs remotely or locally from the video player. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the automatic association occurs via object recognition software. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein at least a portion of the metadata is manually associated with objects contained in the audio/visual work.