Abstract: Methods and systems for the mass customization of Digital Television broadcasts through the broadcasting of commercials in the form of software applications. Ad-applications are injected into various sub-streams of the transport stream and received in a dormant state by the client-side set-top box. When a commercial is to be shown, a broadcaster broadcasts a generic time-stamped trigger to a dispatching application that performs a keyword matching algorithm to decide which ad-application among those received at the receiver is to be executed. The dispatching application uses the results of the latter comparison to decide which specific dormant ad-application to route to; it then converts the generic trigger into a chosen-ad trigger that is routed to the chosen ad-application. Upon receipt of the chosen-ad trigger, the chosen ad-application executes, thereby displaying an ad customized to the individual viewer's interests.

Abstract: Methods and systems for the mass customization of Digital Television broadcasts through the broadcasting of commercials in the form of software applications. Ad-applications are injected into various sub-streams of the transport stream and received in a dormant state by the client-side set-top box. When a commercial is to be shown, a broadcaster broadcasts a generic time-stamped trigger to a dispatching application that performs a keyword matching algorithm to decide which ad-application among those received at the receiver is to be executed. The dispatching application uses the results of the latter comparison to decide which specific dormant ad-application to route to; it then converts the generic trigger into a chosen-ad trigger that is routed to the chosen ad-application. Upon receipt of the chosen-ad trigger, the chosen ad-application executes, thereby displaying an ad customized to the individual viewer's interests.

Abstract: A method and system for the mass customization of Digital Television broadcasts that involves the broadcasting of synchronized sub-streams. Each sub-stream is divided into segments of equal length and marked by time-stamped tags. The sub-streams include keywords describing the video content, and the sub-stream keywords are compared with viewer keywords at the client-side set-top box to derive a match score. The set-top box then switches to the sub-stream having the best match score. Thus, the client-side set-top box can automatically select commercials that best fit the personal interests of each viewer, resulting in better targeted commercials and simultaneously benefitting the viewer and advertiser.