Systems and methods for dealing with online activity based on delivery of a television advertisement

Patent No. US10321198 (titled "Systems and methods for dealing with online activity based on delivery of a television advertisement") on Nov 25, 2013. The application was issued on Jun 11, 2019.

’198 is related to the field of cross-media advertising and user behavior tracking. Specifically, it addresses the technical challenge of linking a user’s television viewing habits with their online browsing activity to enable targeted advertising. In traditional systems, these two environments are siloed because they utilize different hardware and network protocols, making it difficult for advertisers to provide a cohesive experience across multiple screens without relying on invasive tracking methods.

The underlying idea behind ’198 is to bridge the gap between a television set-top box and an online interface device by establishing a non-private association between their respective network identifiers. By recognizing that these devices often share a common network origin or are serviced by the same provider, the system can link a set-top box identifier to an online access identifier. This allows the system to trigger specific online actions—such as serving a follow-up ad or logging conversion data—based on a user’s interaction with a television commercial, even when device addresses are dynamically assigned.

The claims of ’198 focus on a computer-implemented method and system that receives a notification signifying that a specific television advertisement was presented on a set-top box. Upon receiving this notification, the system automatically triggers a subsequent action directed at a user’s online interface device, such as a computer or smartphone. Crucially, the independent claims require that the association between the set-top box and the online device is established without using personally identifiable information (PII), relying instead on technical identifiers like IP addresses or device tags.

In practice, the invention works by monitoring user behavior at the set-top box, such as viewing a full ad or interacting with an on-screen prompt. This event generates a notification containing a unique identifier for the box. The system then consults a database or a shared network log to find the corresponding online access identifier currently assigned to that same household or user. Because the system can track these associations in real-time, it can deliver a relevant banner ad to the user’s laptop immediately after they finish watching a related commercial on their television.

This approach differentiates itself from prior art by solving the problem of dynamic IP reassignment in a cross-media context. While older systems might lose track of a user when their ISP changes their IP address, this invention uses a persistent user profile or a provider-level association to maintain the link between devices. By focusing on the technical handshake between the set-top box and the ad server, the invention enables sophisticated behavioral targeting across different media platforms while maintaining user anonymity through the use of pseudonyms and non-PII data structures.

How does this patent fit in bigger picture?

Technical Landscape

In the late 2000s when ’198 was filed, digital media consumption was characterized by a sharp technical divide between television broadcast infrastructures and internet-based delivery systems. At a time when television services were typically implemented using dedicated set-top boxes (STBs) on closed provider networks and online access was managed by independent internet service providers, these two domains operated as distinct silos with separate addressing schemes. When systems commonly relied on dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) to assign temporary IP addresses to modems and STBs, the transient nature of these identifiers made the persistent technical correlation of a single user’s activity across different hardware platforms non-trivial. Consequently, hardware and software constraints of the era generally limited behavioral tracking to a single device or medium, as there was no standardized architectural framework to bridge real-time television interaction data with web-based advertisement delivery systems.

Prosecution Position

The disclosed invention represents a meaningful technical advancement through the architectural integration of television interaction monitoring and online advertisement delivery. By establishing an electronic association between a set-top box identifier and an online access identifier, the system overcomes the technical constraint of cross-platform fragmentation. This integration enables a novel capability: the automatic direction of targeted online content or the tracking of web activity based specifically on observed behavioral data—such as commands or interactions—captured during the presentation of a television advertisement. The structural solution utilizes a database to link these disparate identifiers and their associated timestamps, achieving a technical effect where dynamic network addresses can be reconciled to maintain a continuous user profile. This shift from medium-specific silos to a cross-media feedback loop allows for the synchronization of advertising logic across technically heterogeneous networks.

Claims

This patent contains a total of 33 claims, with claims 1, 18, and 26 serving as the independent claims. The independent claims focus on a computer-implemented method, system, and non-transitory computer-readable medium for coordinating online activity with television viewership by receiving notifications of advertisements presented via a set-top box and automatically triggering specific actions on a corresponding online user interface device without utilizing personally identifiable information. The dependent claims serve to further refine these processes by specifying the types of actions taken, such as delivering targeted online advertisements or recording user activity, and by detailing the technical mechanisms for associating devices, including the use of IP addresses, cookies, tags, and database linking.

Key Claim Terms New

Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.

Term (Source)	Support for Specification	Interpretation
Notification (Claim 1, Claim 18, Claim 26)	Specific user profile information related to a first set-top box identifier is derived at least in part from observed user behavior related to at least one television advertisement delivered to a set-top box corresponding, at the time of the observed user behavior, to the first set-top box identifier. The profile can include, e.g., a profile identifier or profile name, a username, or a login ID; the profile can be referenced by or included in a cookie or tag placed on a user's STB or online user interface device. The IP address can be provided by the profile provider itself or might be obtained by the CAS when a user engages in any online or television activity or provides an item of demographic information and is redirected by a profile provider to the CAS.	An electronic signal or data transmission that indicates a specific television advertisement was presented and includes the identifier of the set-top box where the presentation occurred.
Online user interface device (Claim 1, Claim 18, Claim 26)	Online user interface device—any user interface device used to access a remote network such as the Internet, including but not limited to a cell phone or mobile handset, a personal digital assistant (PDA), or a networked computer (desktop, workstation, notebook, laptop, or other). An online user interface device and an online access device can be, and sometimes are, combined into a single unit (e.g., a computer with a built-in Ethernet adapter, wireless adapter, or modem).	Any hardware used by a user to access the Internet, distinct from the television set-top box, such as a computer, smartphone, or tablet.
Online user interface device identifier (Claim 1, Claim 18, Claim 26)	Each online access device typically is identified on the Internet by an Internet Protocol address (i.e., an IP address). Although IP addresses are referred to herein for enabling data transmitted via the Internet to reach its intended destination, that terminology is intended to encompass any functionally equivalent online access device identifier employed to route such transmitted data to its intended destination through the Internet or through any future successor network. In some implementations, the first online access identifier includes an online access IP address... a cookie or tag subsequently placed on the online user interface device can act as the online access identifier, instead of or in addition to the online access IP address.	A technical identifier, such as an IP address, tag, or cookie, that uniquely identifies a device used to access a remote network at a specific point in time.
Personally identifiable information (Claim 1, Claim 18, Claim 26)	Personally Identifiable Information (PII)—information that can be used to identify a specific person, including but not limited to: name, Social Security number (SSN), date of birth, street address, email address, static IP address (if any), phone number (home, work, wireless), financial account numbers (bank accounts, credit accounts, or any other financial data), driver's license number, vehicle registration number, vehicle license number, facial photographs, fingerprints, handwriting or signature, or any other information that can assist in identifying a specific person.	Data that can be used to identify a specific individual person, such as a name, Social Security number, or street address.
Set-top box identifier (Claim 1, Claim 18, Claim 26)	Each STB typically is assigned an identifier of some sort by the corresponding TVP, e.g., to enable the TVP to direct specific signals or programming to a specific STB, to identify the source of requests, commands, queries, or responses received from a particular STB, or for other purposes. In some instances such an STB identifier might be known only to the corresponding TVP and not available for outside communication. If the STB is connected to the Internet as a signal source... the STB identifier can include an STB IP address (i.e., an Internet Protocol address). In some instances the STB identifier is static, while in other instances (particularly those involving an STB IP address) the STB identifier is dynamic and can change from time to time.	A unique code or address assigned to a device that connects a television to a signal source, used to identify the source of requests or to direct specific signals to that device.

Litigation Cases New

US Latest litigation cases involving this patent.

Case Number	Filing Date	Title
3:25-cv-05721	Jul 8, 2025	Tiktok Inc V. Almondnet, Inc.

Patent Family

File Wrapper

The dossier documents provide a comprehensive record of the patent's prosecution history - including filings, correspondence, and decisions made by patent offices - and are crucial for understanding the patent's legal journey and any challenges it may have faced during examination.

Get instant alerts for new documents

US10321198

Application Number: US14089645A
Filing Date: Nov 25, 2013
Publication Date: Jun 11, 2019
External Links: Slate, USPTO , Google Patents

IP Verse