Techniques for rendering advertisements with rich media

Abstract

In one embodiment, an advertisement is matched to subject matter in a portion of rich media content, such as a digital video, Flash™ animation, etc. For example, during the playing of rich media content, it may be determined by audio recognition techniques that the content's subject matter matches or correlates with an advertisement. Rendering preferences associated with the advertisement are then determined. The rendering preferences may be used to determine how the advertisement should be rendered (i.e., displayed in association with the content). The advertisement is then served to a device. The advertisement is served such that it can be rendered relative to a time that the portion of media is being displayed on the device.

We claim: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for correlating advertisements to rich media content, comprising:
 a recognition engine implemented in at least one of a memory or a processing device, the recognition engine configured to determine a concept associated with a segment from a plurality of segments of an item of rich media content based on at least one keyword in the segment, the concept associated with the segment being different than the at least one keyword; and   a correlation engine operatively coupled to the recognition engine, the correlation engine configured to select an advertisement from a plurality of advertisements to associate with the segment based at least in part on, at least one of, a probability of a concept match between the concept associated with the segment and a concept of the advertisement, a concentration of one or more concept matches between the concept associated with the segment and the concept of the advertisement, or a first position within the segment of a first concept match between the concept associated with the segment and the concept of the advertisement relative to a second position within the segment of a second concept match between the concept associated with the segment and the concept of the advertisement,   the correlation engine configured to send a signal associated with the advertisement to a device such that the device renders the advertisement in conjunction with presenting the segment.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the correlation engine is configured to select the advertisement from the plurality of advertisements based at least in part on, at least one of, whether the advertisement has previously been selected when displayed to a user, a price for placement of the advertisement, a geographic area where the rich media content will be displayed on the device, or a demographic classification of the user of the device. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the correlation engine is configured to select the advertisement based in part on an occurrence of an anti-concept associated with the rich media content. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the advertisement includes a graphical image, the correlation engine configured to send the signal such that the device renders the advertisement within the rich media content. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the correlation engine is configured to select the advertisement based in part on an occurrence of an anti-keyword within the rich media content.