Interactive purchasing of products displayed in video

Abstract

Methods and the systems for providing an interactive, program based product introduction experience are described. In one example, video content may be captured, enriched with product data, and provided on-demand to interactive user devices. Users viewing the content may be presented with supplemental information or resources allowing those users to obtain more information about objects appearing in the video, or purchase products that may be a sociopathic with those objects. The objects appearing in the video may be passively up hearing, rather than explicitly introduced or offered for sale as part of the original video content. However, the supplemental information allows such users to discover and/or purchase new products through interactivity with the video content.

1 . A system for generating and providing on-demand interactive content to an audience, the system comprising:
 a content server including a processor and a memory, the memory hosting a content database, a product database, and an advertising database, the memory further storing instructions which, when executed, cause the content server to:
 receive video content, the video content including a talk show having a plurality of scenes, each of the scenes including a host, one or more guests, and a plurality of objects; 
 ingest the video content into the content database; 
 process the video content to automatically identify an object of the plurality of objects as associated with a product having an associated product record in the product database; 
 define one or more content enrichment actions to be performed during playback of the content, the one or more content enrichment actions including generating an overlay providing product details of the product based on information about the product in the product database, the overlay being displayed in association with the content during playback of a portion of the content during which the object appears; 
 an application server communicatively connected to the content server and configured to execute instructions which cause the application server to perform: 
 receive a request from an interactive user device for playback of the video content; 
 in response to the request, obtaining content, product information, and advertisement information from the content server; and 
 generate a content feed to the interactive user device, wherein the content feed allows interaction with the content feed during playback of the video content based on the one or more content enrichment actions. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one content enrichment action includes presenting to a user an option to purchase the product associated with the object from a retailer. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the retailer comprises an online retailer. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one content enrichment action includes presenting to the user a link to the product associated with the object, the link being to an online retail website. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of objects each is associated with at least one of a product and an advertisement. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the product details are included in product information and the overlay comprises a tag displayed in association with the object, the overlay being defined within content enrichment data that is generated during processing of the video content and which defines the one or more content enrichment actions. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the content server is further configured to define one or more advertisements to be displayed in association with the content during playback of at least a portion of the content. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one interactive user device communicatively connected to the content server and the application server, the at least one interactive user device having software thereon capable of playback of the content feed. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the content feed comprises enriched video content. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one interactive user device is selected from the group of devices consisting of: a television, a set-top box, a phone, a tablet, and a portable computing system. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the at least one interactive user device comprises a touch screen device, and wherein, in response to user selection of a tag associated with an object displayed during playback of the video content and displayed as one of the one or more content enrichment actions, the user is presented with an option to purchase the product associated with the object. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein, in response to user selection of the tag, an automated purchase request is transmitted from at least one of the interactive user device, the application server, and the content server to an e-commerce server. 
     
     
         13 . A method of creating interactive retail-focused video content, the method comprising:
 capturing video content of a talk show having a plurality of scenes, each of the scenes including a host, one or more guests, and a plurality of objects;   ingesting the video content into a content database;   processing the video content to automatically identify an object of the plurality of objects as associated with a product having an associated product record in a product database;   defining one or more content enrichment actions to be performed during playback of the content, the one or more content enrichment actions including generating an overlay providing product details of the product based on information about the product in the product database, the overlay being displayed in association with the content during playback of a portion of the content during which the object appears;   defining an advertisement to be displayed in association with the content during playback of at least a portion of the content;   upon receipt of a request for the video content, providing the video content, the one or more content enrichment actions, and the advertisement for playback.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the advertisement is associated with a second object of the plurality of objects, and is displayed during playback of a portion of the content during which the second object is displayed. 
     
     
         15 . A method of providing interactive retail-focused video content for playback, the method comprising:
 receiving, from an application executing on a consumer computing device, a request for interactive video content, the request identifying specified video content, the specified video content comprising a talk show having a plurality of scenes, each of the scenes including a host, one or more guests, and a plurality of objects;   retrieving the specified video content as well as product data, advertising data, and one or more enrichment actions to be performed during playback of the specified video content;   providing interactive video content to the consumer computing device, the interactive video content comprising the specified video content and executing the one or more enrichment actions during playback of the content, the one or more enrichment actions including one or more of:
 displaying an option to purchase a product corresponding to an object of the plurality of objects while the object is displayed during playback of the specified video content; 
 displaying an advertisement associated with an object of the plurality of objects while the object is displayed during playback of the specified video content; and 
 displaying an advertisement associated with a topic of conversation while the topic of conversation is addressed during the talk show as an overlay on a portion of the specified video content.