Media management and tracking

Abstract

A system for deploying advertisements, including a portable music player including a database of audio advertisements and playback rules therefor, wherein playback rules are used to govern when to play advertisements, an ad updater for periodically receiving advertisements and playback rules, and an ad scheduler for scheduling playback of advertisements in accordance with their playback rules, a host device including a database of audio advertisements and playback rules therefor, an ad provisioner for transferring ads and playback rules to the portable music player, an ad updater for receiving advertisements and playback rules from time to time, and an advertising server including a database of information about advertisers and their advertising campaigns, and for storing audio advertisements, distribution rules therefor and playback rules therefor, an ad provisioner for transferring ads and playback rules to the host device, and a web interface for receiving advertisements and playback rules for an advertising campaign.

1 - 26 . (canceled) 
     
     
         27 . A system for deploying advertisements on portable music players, comprising:
 a portable music player, comprising:
 a database of audio advertisements and playback rules therefor, wherein playback rules are used to govern when to play advertisements; 
 an ad updater for periodically receiving advertisements and playback rules; and 
 an ad scheduler for scheduling playback of advertisements in accordance with their playback rules; 
 a host device that is periodically communicatively coupled with said portable music player, comprising:
 a database of audio advertisements and playback rules therefor; 
 an ad provisioner for transferring ads and playback rules to said portable music player, when said portable music player is communicatively coupled with the host device; 
 an ad updater for receiving advertisements and playback rules from time to time; and 
 an advertising server that is communicatively coupled with said host device, comprising: 
 a database of information about advertisers and their advertising campaigns, and for storing audio advertisements, distribution rules therefor and playback rules therefor; 
 an ad provisioner for transferring ads and playback rules to said host device; and 
 a web interface for receiving advertisements and playback rules for an advertising campaign, from an advertiser's computer. 
 
   
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 27  wherein said advertising server further comprises a tracking interface for providing to the advertiser's computer tracking information about deployment of advertisements in said portable music player. 
     
     
         29 . A portable music player, comprising:
 a database of audio advertisements and playback rules therefor, wherein the playback rules are used to govern when to play the advertisements, and wherein each one of the playback rules comprises a condition and an advertisement, or a condition and a plurality of advertisements;   an ad updater for receiving advertisements and playback rules related to an advertising campaign;   an ad scheduler for periodically evaluating the playback rule conditions, and for scheduling playback of the advertisements in accordance with the playback rules; and   a tracking engine for maintaining a history of advertisements played, and for periodically uploading the history to a server computer and clearing the history thereafter.   
     
     
         30 . The portable music player of  claim 29  wherein at least one playback rule associates an advertisement with a song stored in said portable music player. 
     
     
         31 . The portable music player of  claim 29  wherein at least one playback rule is an expiration event for an advertisement. 
     
     
         32 . The portable music player of  claim 29  wherein at least one playback rule assigns frequencies of playback to a plurality of advertisement. 
     
     
         33 . The portable music player of  claim 29  wherein playback rules comprise priorities, the priorities being used to discriminate which of a plurality of playback rules to use when the conditions of the plurality of playback rules are simultaneously satisfied. 
     
     
         34 . A method for deploying advertisements within portable music players, comprising:
 uploading a plurality of audio advertisements and a plurality of playback rules to a server computer, the plurality of advertisements and the plurality of playback rules being designated for deployment in a plurality of portable music players, wherein playback rules are used to govern when to play advertisements;   transmitting the plurality of advertisements and the plurality of playback rules to a host device into which at least one of the plurality of portable music players is periodically docked:   transmitting at least one advertisement and at least one playback rule from the host device to each of at least one portable music players, when such portable music player is docked in the host device;   periodically evaluating at least one playback rule, in each of the plurality of portable music players; and   playing at least one advertisement according to said periodically evaluating, in each of the plurality of portable music players.   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34  wherein at least one playback rule associates an advertisement with a song stored in a portable music player. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 34  wherein at least one playback rule defines an expiration event for an advertisement. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 34  wherein at least one playback rule assigns frequencies of playback to plurality of advertisements. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 34  wherein playback rules include priorities, and wherein said periodically evaluating uses the priorities to discriminate which of a plurality of playback rules to use when the plurality of playback rules are simultaneously obeyed.