Method and apparatus for sending/receiving VOD streaming service providing client-favored advertisement

Abstract

An apparatus and a method of sending/receiving video on demand (VOD) streaming service according to providing client-favored advertisement. A VOD server and a VOD client terminal tie the VOD streaming service to client advertisement selection interactions, such as advertisement receipt selections, advertisement selection attributes (e.g., type, mode, etc.). The VOD server comprises a service controller providing to clients multimedia contents and specific advertisement contents selected by the clients to receive and a data storing unit storing the multimedia contents, the advertisement contents, and the client data.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A video on demand (VOD) server, which provides a VOD streaming service, the VOD server comprising: 
 a service controller providing multimedia contents to a client according to client controlled receipt of advertisement contents.    
     
     
         2 . The VOD server of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 a data storage storing the multimedia contents, the advertisement contents, and client data, and wherein the service controller comprises: 
 a web service engine managing client access specifics;  
 a search engine retrieving multimedia contents and advertisement contents requested by the client from the data storage through the web service engine;  
 a media streaming engine transferring the requested contents retrieved by the search engine to the client; and  
 a session management engine managing sessions during which the client accesses the VOD server according to the client controlled receipt of the advertisements.  
   
     
     
         3 . The VOD server of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 a data storage storing a client profile database;    an advertisement contents database storing the advertisement contents; and    a multimedia contents database storing the multimedia contents.    
     
     
         4 . A client terminal, which receives multimedia contents and advertisement contents from a video on demand (VOD) server, the client terminal comprising: 
 a web browser accessing the VOD server and requesting desired multimedia contents and advertisement contents; and    a session manager managing multimedia contents reproduction sessions according to client controlled receipt of the advertisement contents via the web browser.    
     
     
         5 . A method of providing a video on demand (VOD) streaming service which provides client-favored advertisement contents by using a VOD server enabling a client advertisement selection interaction, the method comprising: 
 receiving a request for specific multimedia contents from the client and providing the requested multimedia contents to the client;    checking a time or amount of the multimedia contents provided to stop the provision of the multimedia contents to the client when the time or the amount exceeds a predetermined value;    providing advertisement contents requested by the client as the client-favored advertisement contents, if the provision of the multimedia contents to the client is stopped; and    restarting the providing of the multimedia contents requested by the client in response to an advertisement contents stop request from the client.    
     
     
         6 . A method of receiving a video on demand (VOD) streaming service in a client terminal, the method comprising: 
 allowing a client to request receipt of multimedia contents, and requesting a VOD server for the selected multimedia contents;    reproducing the requested multimedia contents provided from the VOD server;    allowing the client to request receipt of specific advertisement contents from the VOD server after a predetermined amount of time and/or reproduction of the multimedia contents;    receiving the client requested specific advertisement contents and reproducing the received client requested specific advertisement contents; and    restarting the reproducing of the multimedia contents from the VOD server when an advertisement contents stop request is received from the client.    
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the request to receive the advertisement contents further comprises providing an advertisement selection image through the client terminal to allow the client to request the receipt of the specific advertisement contents.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the advertisement contents stop command is selectable only after a predetermined amount of time from a start of the reproducing of the client requested specific advertisement contents.  
     
     
         9 . A method, comprising: 
 providing on demand contents to a client via a network in exchange for providing client controlled advertisements to the client.    
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the client controls the advertisements by requesting receipt of the advertisements according to categories and/or selecting advertisement attributes.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the on demand contents is a movie and the client receives and/or views the movie in exchange of receiving and/or viewing the client controlled advertisements.  
     
     
         12 . A system, comprising: 
 a programmed client computer processing a user contents request and managing a user-controlled advertising session to the user; and    a programmed server computer in communication with the client computer and providing to the client computer the requested contents in response to and/or in exchange of providing user requested advertisements to the user during the user-controlled advertising session.    
     
     
         13 . A method of providing a video on demand (VOD) streaming service according to user-favored advertisement contents, comprising: 
 receiving a real-time transport streaming protocol (RTSP) play movie command from a;    transmitting the movie as real-time transport protocol (RTP) data;    checking a time or amount of the movie transmitted to stop the transmitting when the time or the amount exceeds a predetermined value;    providing an RTSP pause movie command to pause the movie transmission;    establishing a hyper text transfer protocol (HTTP) user controlled advertisement session;    receiving an RTSP play advertisement request from the user;    transmitting the user requested advertisements as RTP data and/or RTSP data;    checking a time or amount of the user requested advertisements transmitted to allow the user to stop the transmitting when the time or the amount exceed a predetermined value;    receiving an RTSP stop advertisement command to tear down the HTTP session and stop the user requested advertisement transmission;    receiving another RTSP play movie message; and    continuing the transmitting of the movie as the RTP data.