WO2008016232A1

WO2008016232A1 - Intermediating service system for online digital cinema advertisement

Info

Publication number: WO2008016232A1
Application number: PCT/KR2007/003590
Authority: WO
Inventors: Euy Jin Hwang
Original assignee: Dongyoung Itech Co Ltd
Current assignee: Dongyoung Itech Co Ltd
Priority date: 2006-07-31
Filing date: 2007-07-26
Publication date: 2008-02-07
Anticipated expiration: 2009-01-31
Also published as: KR100835981B1; KR20080011551A

Abstract

and is adapted to provide intermediating service for digital cinema advertisements. The theater advertisement intermediating service provider (100) includes an advertisement editing tool (140) for creating a digital cinema advertisement from a TV advertisement. A content server (110) manages storage and output of a digital cinema advertisement file. A database (120) stores various types of information including the digital cinema advertisement file. A management server (130) performs various types of communication with the movie theater, performs various types of communication with the management PC of the advertiser or advertising agency, and manages the database.

Description

[DESCRIPTION]

[Invention Title]

INTERMEDIATING SERVICE SYSTEM FOR ONLINE DIGITAL CINEMA ADVERTISEMENT

[Technical Field]

The present invention relates, in general, to an intermediating service system for online digital cinema advertisements, and, more particularly, to an intermediating service system for online digital cinema advertisements, which receives a TV advertisement, converts the TV advertisement into a digital cinema advertisement to be shown in movie theaters, distributes the digital cinema advertisement online to respective movie theaters, receives various types of screening data from the movie theaters so as to accurately determine the advertising effects, and feeds the screening data back to advertisers.

[Background Art]

Recently, with the rapid development of communication and semiconductor technologies, an epoch-defining change has taken place in movie screening systems. That is, a projection method has changed from an analog film projection method to a digital film projection method (hereinafter referred to as 'digital cinema' ). Digital cinema is characterized in that it enables the realization of higher video quality and higher audio quality than a conventional film projection method, and avoids the degradation (wear) of video quality and audio quality, thus enabling a movie to be repeatedly shown an infinite number of times, and in that there is no difference between original moving picture data and copies thereof, and any moving picture format, including a movie format, can be shown, regardless of the kind of content (for example, sports broadcasting, play performance, etc.).

Such characteristics are described below from the standpoint of the audience, film producing companies/film distributing agencies, and movie theaters. First, from the standpoint of the audience, there is an advantage in that the audience can watch a movie while enjoying video quality clearer than that of film and enjoying excellent audio quality having more than 8 channels, thus seeming wider than 5.1 channel audio, and can enjoy video that suffers from no video quality degradation, no graininess, no noise, etc. Further, from the standpoint of film producing companies/film distributing agencies, there are advantages in that production costs and post-production costs are reduced, in that film print costs are greatly reduced, and in that there is no need to store film and it is easy to flexibly convert data between different media formats. From the standpoint of movie theaters, there are advantages in that factors providing advantages over the competition can be secured owing to the provision of high video quality and high audio quality, and in that personal expenses are reduced. Consequently, digital cinema provides synergistic effects because of the increase in the efficiency of the overall movie industry and the decrease in costs.

Meanwhile, many advertisements have been created to increase the profile of businesses or to advertise commodities or services (hereinafter referred to as 'advertising' ). Since TV is widely used as an advertising medium, advertisements are typically created with the aim of being broadcast on TV. However, in the case of TV advertisements, since most advertisements are created at a lower middle grade, having an aspect ratio of 3/4 and a resolution of 720*486 or 640*480 (hereinafter referred to as 'Standard Definition (SD)¹), they are not suitable for the digital cinema standard, which supports a High Denfinition(HD) grade, having an aspect ratio of 9/16 and a resolution of 1080*1920, or a 2K grade, having an aspect ratio of 1:1.35 and a resolution of 1080(1536)*2048. Accordingly, such TV advertisements cannot be shown in a digital cinema theater without change, and the video quality thereof is inferior. Moreover, in the case of TV, since a 2-channel speaker is adopted, advertisements have also been created in a 2-channel audio format. When such an advertisement is shown in a theater that has a 5.1 channel or higher speaker system, without change, only two-channel sound, having low sound quality, is played, thus preventing the advertisement from making a favorable impression on viewers.

In consideration of this problem, a system for creating TV advertisements as multimedia files for digital cinema advertisements was filed in 2006 by the present applicant, and was disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 24765 and Korean Patent Registration No. 594995 (hereinafter referred to as a 'prior patent' ). However, in the above patent, there are several problems in that, since a created multimedia file must be shifted to and stored in a large-capacity portable storage device and must be transferred offline to respective movie theaters in order to show the multimedia file in a plurality of movie theaters, a lot of time and significant human resources are required, and in that, since each movie theater side must shift the multimedia file, received through the above process and stored in the portable storage device, to its own database, store the multimedia file in the database, and then show the multimedia file, this procedure not only requires a lot of time, but also is very complicated. Moreover, there is a problem in that, during a procedure for transferring the portable storage device, a risk of damaging advertisement files still exists, and an advertiser or an advertising agency cannot receive various types of information about advertising effects as feedback data in real time, and thus it is impossible to effectively respond to the results of advertising.

[Disclosure]

[Technical Problem]

Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide an intermediating service system for online digital cinema advertisements, and, more particularly, to an intermediating service system for online digital cinema advertisements, which receives a TV advertisement, converts the TV advertisement into a digital cinema advertisement to be shown in movie theaters, distributes the digital cinema advertisement online to respective movie theaters, receives various types of screening data from the movie theaters so as to accurately obtain advertising effects, and feeds the screening data back to an advertiser.

[Technical Solution] In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides an intermediating service system for online digital cinema advertisements, in which a theater advertisement intermediating service provider is connected online to a movie theater provided with a digital content projector for playing a digital movie file and a digital cinema advertisement file and for projecting the digital movie file and digital cinema advertisement file on a screen, and to a management Personal Computer (PC) of an advertiser or an advertising agency, which requested a theater advertisement, and is adapted to provide intermediating service for digital cinema advertisements, wherein the theater advertisement intermediating service provider comprises an advertisement editing tool for creating a digital cinema advertisement from a TV advertisement requested to be shown in a movie theater; a content server for managing storage and output of a digital cinema advertisement file edited by the advertisement editing tool; a database for storing various types of information including the digital cinema advertisement file! and a management server for performing various types of communication, including on-line transmission of the digital cinema advertisement, with the movie theater, for performing various types of communication, including on-line transmission of data about advertisement screening details, with the management PC of the advertiser or advertising agency, and for managing the database.

In the above construction, the movie theater may comprise a screening room server for managing and controlling screening of movie files and digital cinema advertisement files in one or more screening rooms! a plurality of digital content projectors installed in respective screening rooms and configured to play movie files and digital cinema advertisement files to be shown and project the movie files and the digital cinema advertisement files on screens in response to a command from the screening room server; a database for storing various types of information about movie screening; a management server for receiving an advertisement file to be shown while communicating with the theater advertisement intermediating service provider online, transmitting various types of screening details to the theater advertisement intermediating service provider, and managing the database! and at least one box office terminal for tallying ticket sales details of an entire movie theater and each screening room for each day, and transmitting tallied results to the management server.

Moreover, the database of the theater advertisement intermediating service provider may comprise an advertisement file Database (DB) for storing various types of digital cinema advertisement files, an advertiser DB for storing various types of information related to the advertiser or the advertising agency, a screening schedule DB for storing various types of information about a theater and each screening room thereof, in which various advertisements are to be shown, and screening schedule of the advertisements, and a screening detail DB for storing information about actual screening details of each screening room, which has been received from the movie theater.

In addition, the database of the movie theater may comprise a movie file DB for storing various types of movie files to be shown in respective screening rooms, an advertisement file DB for storing advertisement files to be shown in respective screening rooms, a screening schedule DB for storing various types of information, including types of movies and advertisements, which are to be shown in respective screening rooms, and times at and for which the movies and advertisements are to be shown, and a screening detail DB for storing information about actual times at and for which the movies and advertisements are shown, types of actual screening rooms in which the movies and advertisements are shown, a maximum number of viewers in the movie theater, percentage of seats occupied in each individual screening room, and a percentage of seats occupied in each day/each time band. [Advantageous Effects]

According to the above-described intermediating service system for online digital cinema advertisements of the present invention, a digital cinema advertisement file created in response to a request from an advertiser or an advertising agency is distributed to respective movie theaters online, thus reducing time and manpower, which is required to transfer an advertisement file to respective movie theaters offline in the prior art. Moreover, from the standpoint of movie theaters, various inconveniences, which occurred during a procedure for receiving a digital cinema advertisement file offline in the prior art, can be removed, and from the standpoint of an advertiser or an advertising agency, various types of information about advertising effects can be received as feedback data in real time, thus enabling the advertiser or advertising agency to effectively respond to the results of advertising. [Description of Drawings]

FIG. 1 is a network configuration view of an intermediating service system for online digital cinema advertisements according to the present invention; and

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the intermediating service system for online digital cinema advertisements according to the present invention.

***Description of reference characters of important parts *** 100: theater advertisement intermediating service provider 110: content server

120: database 121: advertisement file DB

122: advertiser DB 123: screening schedule DB 124: screening detail DB 125: payment DB 130: management server 140: advertisement editing tool 200: movie theater 210: screening room server 212a, 212b, 212c: DLP 220: database 222: movie file DB 224: advertisement file DB 226: screening schedule DB 228: screening detail DB 230: management server 240: box office terminal 300: advertiser management PC 310: advertising agency management PC [Best Mode]

Hereinafter, an intermediating service system for online digital cinema advertisements according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. Before a detailed description thereof is given, the traditional practice for showing advertisements in movie theaters is described in detail. A current TV advertisement is typically and basically created as a 15 second-product, and, occasionally, a 30-second product, having a length twice that of the 15- second product, may be created according to the circumstances. However, in the case of movie theater advertisements, 30 seconds is typically used as a basic unit. Accordingly, in order to show a TV advertisement, created as a 15-second product, in a movie theater, the TV advertisement is typically successively shown twice. Further, an advertisement screening period, provided during an intermission before a designated movie is shown, is set within a range having a maximum of 10 minutes. A total of 20 advertisements can be shown on the basis of 10 minutes. Meanwhile, recently, movie theaters have been trending toward a movie theater complex (multiplex) equipped with a plurality of screening rooms. In the prior art, a movie theater owner retains the right to show advertisements in each screening room, but here, he or she entrusts the management of each screening room to an advertisement intermediary due to the difficulty of management thereof, in such a way to lease the screening room to the advertisement intermediary over the long term, for example, about 5 or 10 years, or to be allotted advertising revenue. Further, the advertisement intermediary receives orders for theater advertisements so as to be able to guarantee a minimum number of exposures of a given advertisement for each leased screening room to each advertiser, or each advertising agency, which receives a request for advertisements from the advertiser.

FIG. 1 is a network configuration view of an intermediating service system for online digital cinema advertisements according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the network configuration of the intermediating service system for online digital cinema advertisements according to the present invention is implemented so that the above-described advertisement intermediary (hereinafter referred to as a 'theater advertisement intermediating service provider' ) 100 is connected to a movie theater 200 through a universal communication network, such as the Internet 10, or a separate dedicated communication network, and is also connected to the management PCs 300 and 310 of an advertiser and an advertising agency.

In the above configuration, the theater advertisement intermediating service provider 100 may include an advertisement editing tool 140 for creating a digital cinema advertisement from a TV advertisement requested to be shown in a movie theater, a content server 110 for managing the storage and output of a digital cinema advertisement file, which is edited by the advertisement editing tool 140, a database 120 for storing various types of information including the digital cinema advertisement file created by the advertisement editing tool 140, and a management server 130 for managing the database 120 while performing various types of communication related to the intermediation of online digital cinema advertisements between the movie theater 200 and the advertiser or advertising agency management PC 300 or 310. The database 120 may include an advertisement file DB 121 for storing various types of digital cinema advertisement files, an advertiser DB 122 for storing various types of information related to advertisers or advertising agencies, for example, the name of each advertiser or advertising agency, which requested the intermediation of advertisements, the types of advertisements, the times at and for which advertisements are shown, a screening room in which each advertisement is to be shown, a period during which the advertisement is to be shown, etc., a screening schedule DB 123 for storing information about theaters and screening rooms in which various types of advertisements are to be shown, screening schedules for the advertisements, etc., a screening detail DB 124 for storing information about actual screening details for each screening room, received from the movie theater 200, that is, a screening room, screening date, the maximum number of viewers in the movie theater, the percentage of seats occupied in a corresponding screening room, and the percentage of seats occupied in each day/each time band, and a payment DB 125 for storing information about the payment of various types of costs attributable to the intermediation of advertisements between the advertiser or advertising agency management PC 300 or 310 and the movie theater 200. Since the advertisement file DB 121 has a relatively large capacity, it can be separately managed using a dedicated large-capacity storage device, for example, a Storage Area Network (SAN).

Meanwhile, the advertisement editing tool 140 may include dedicated hardware devices, for example, various types of multimedia source playback devices for respectively playing various types of media, in which the original of TV advertisements is stored, for example, magnetic recording tapes, such as a 6 mm tape, a High Density (HD) tape, a digi-beta tape, or an analog-beta tape, a digitizing device for digitally capturing the analog multimedia content played by the multimedia source playback devices, and converting the captured analog multimedia content into a corresponding digital multimedia file, a large-capacity storage medium for storing various intermediate products generated during a procedure for creating an ultimate digital cinema advertisement file, an up-conversion device for up-converting the video file, digitized by the digitizing device, according to the digital cinema standard, that is, performing conversion on the number of frames in the video file to meet the digital cinema standard, for example, conversion from SD grade into HD grade or 2K grade together with conversion from 3Ofps into 24fps (full-up conversion), a signal insertion device, used to insert various types of signals, for example, synchronization signals (Sync) for synchronizing video content and audio content, which are to be played together, with each other, various types of time codes, and a 1 KHz signal, which is a reference signal required for Dolby encoding, a digital restoration device for eliminating the deterioration of video quality, such as graininess, impurities, scratches, and interlacing, which occurred during the up-conversion procedure, that is, a procedure for converting (extending) a low resolution image into a high resolution image, a color correction device for enhancing the perceived color of a digitally restored image using a primary or secondary perceived color enhancement function for digitally restored images, a multi-channel conversion device for separating a digital audio file into multiple channel audio files, and performing various types of correction operations, such as sequencing, sound effect insertion, or tone correction, a multi-track recording device for recording together the multi^¬ channel audio files, generated by the multi-channel conversion device, according to the predetermined format, for example, aiff or wave format, thus generating an integrated digital audio file, a synchronization device for synchronizing the digital video file generated by the color correction device, with the digital audio file generated by the multi-track recording device, a mastering device for ultimately mastering the digital video file and the digital audio file, which have passed through the synchronization device, in the format of JPEG 2000 encoding, which is the standard of the Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), thus creating a single completed master digital multimedia file. The operation of the above devices is disclosed in detail in the prior patent, and thus a detailed description thereof is omitted in the present specification

Meanwhile, on the basis of a multiplex, the movie theater 200 may include a screening room server 210 for managing and controlling the screening of movie files and digital cinema advertisement files in respective screening rooms, a plurality of digital content projectors (Digital Lighting Processing [DLP] projectors) 212a, 212b, ^••■, 212c installed in respective screening rooms and adapted to play and project movie files and digital cinema advertisement files, which are to be shown in response to the command from the screening room server 210, on screens, a database 220 for storing various types of information related to the screening of movies, a management server 230 for receiving the advertisement files to be shown from the theater advertisement intermediating service provider 100 online while communicating with the theater advertisement intermediating service provider 100, for transmitting various types of screening details to the theater advertisement intermediating service provider 100, and for managing the database 220 in addition to the above functions, and at least one box office terminal 240 for tallying ticket sales details for the entire movie theater and each screening room thereof for each day, and transmitting the tallied results to the management server 230.

In the above construction, the database 220 may include a movie file DB 222 for storing various movie files to be shown in respective screening rooms, an advertisement file DB 224 for storing various advertisement files to be shown in respective screening rooms, a screening schedule DB 226 for storing information about the types of movies and advertisements to be shown in respective screening rooms, and times at and for which the movies and advertisements are to be shown, and a screening detail DB 228 for storing information about the actual times at and for which movies and advertisements are shown, the types of actual screening rooms in which the movies and advertisements are shown, the maximum number of viewers in the movie theater, the percentage of seats occupied in each individual screening room, and the percentage of seats occupied in each day/each time band. Of course, since movie files have a digital cinema content format and thus have a large size, they can be separately managed, with the movie files stored in a SAN or the like. Further, the advertisement files may also be separately managed, with the advertisement files stored in a SAN or the like, similar to the movie files.

Meanwhile, the management server 230 acquires information about screening details from the screening room server 210 or each box office terminal 240, suitably classifies and processes the screening detail information, and stores the classified and processed screening details in the screening detail DB 226.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the intermediating service system for online digital cinema advertisements according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, in order for an advertiser or an advertising agency to show a TV advertisement as a digital cinema advertisement in a given movie theater, the advertiser or advertising agency must provide a previously created TV advertisement to the theater advertisement intermediating service provider 100 at step SlO. Such a TV advertisement can be provided, for example, by post or by personal delivery, with the TV advertisement recorded on a tape. Meanwhile, during this procedure, a movie theater or each screening room, in which the advertisement is to be shown, the type of movie, which will be shown together with the advertisement, advertising costs, etc. can be determined online or offline. The advertising costs can be determined, for example, in association with the number of viewers to which the corresponding advertisement is exposed.

Meanwhile, the content server 110 of the theater advertisement intermediating service provider 100 creates a theater advertisement, that is, a digital cinema advertisement, from the TV advertisement received at step SlO, through the above-described advertisement editing tool 140 at step S12, stores the digital cinema advertisement in the advertisement file DB 121, and transmits the created digital cinema advertisement file online to the management server 230 of the corresponding movie theater 200 through the management server 130 at step S14. Then, the movie theater 200 stores the received digital cinema advertisement in the advertisement file DB 224 through the management server 230, and shows the digital cinema advertisement through the DLP 212a, 212b or 212c according to the screening schedule during the intermission of a given movie by means of the screening room server 210 at step S16.

Next, the management server 230 of the movie theater 200 receives information about the screening details of each digital cinema advertisement, that is, the screening room in which the digital cinema advertisement is shown, the type of movie shown in association with the digital cinema advertisement, the time at and for which the movie is shown, and the time at and for which the advertisement is shown, from the screening room server 210, and stores in the screening detail DB 228 information about the maximum number of viewers in the movie theater, and the number of viewers in each screening room in each screening, which are acquired by the box office terminal 240, and information about the percentage of seats occupied in each screening room and the percentage of seats occupied in each day/each time band, which are processed or calculated through the acquired information, at step S18. Next, the management server 230 of the movie theater 200 transmits the information about the screening details and the number of viewers, stored in this way, to the theater advertisement intermediating service provider 100 at predetermined periods, for example, at designated time points every day, at step S20. The management server 130 of the theater advertisement intermediating service provider 100 transmits the received information to the advertiser or advertising agency management PC 300 or 310, which requested the corresponding advertisement, while storing the received information in its own screening detail DB 124, at step S22. The manager of the advertiser or advertising agency, which requested the advertisement, can ascertain the advertising effects in real time. Moreover, the advertiser or advertising agency can take actions, such as by paying different costs for requesting advertisements to be shown, or by changing the screening room in which advertisements are shown, or the time at and for which advertisements are shown, on the basis of the advertising effects.

Claims

[CLAIMS] [Claim 1]

An intermediating service system for online digital cinema advertisements, in which a theater advertisement intermediating service provider is connected online to a movie theater provided with a digital content projector for playing a digital movie file and a digital cinema advertisement file and for projecting the digital movie file and digital cinema advertisement file on a screen, and to a management Personal Computer (PC) of an advertiser or an advertising agency, which requested a theater advertisement, and is adapted to provide intermediating service for digital cinema advertisements, wherein: the theater advertisement intermediating service provider comprises: an advertisement editing tool for creating a digital cinema advertisement from a TV advertisement requested to be shown in a movie theater; a content server for managing storage and output of a digital cinema advertisement file edited by the advertisement editing tool; a database for storing various types of information including the digital cinema advertisement file; and a management server for performing various types of communication, including on-line transmission of the digital cinema advertisement, with the movie theater, for performing various types of communication, including on^¬ line transmission of data about advertisement screening details, with the management PC of the advertiser or advertising agency, and for managing the database. [Claim 2]

The intermediating service system according to claim 1, wherein the movie theater comprises: a screening room server for managing and controlling screening of movie files and digital cinema advertisement files in one or more screening rooms; a plurality of digital content projectors installed in respective screening rooms and configured to play movie files and digital cinema advertisement files to be shown and project the movie files and the digital cinema advertisement files on screens in response to a command from the screening room server; a database for storing various types of information about movie screening; a management server for receiving an advertisement file to be shown while communicating with the theater advertisement intermediating service provider online, transmitting various types of screening details to the theater advertisement intermediating service provider, and managing the database; and at least one box office terminal for tallying ticket sales details of an entire movie theater and each screening room for each day, and transmitting tallied results to the management server. [Claim 3]

The intermediating service system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the database of the theater advertisement intermediating service provider comprises an advertisement file DB for storing various types of digital cinema advertisement files, an advertiser Database (DB) for storing various types of information related to the advertiser or the advertising agency, a screening schedule DB for storing various types of information about a theater and each screening room thereof, in which various advertisements are to be shown, and screening schedule of the advertisements, and a screening detail DB for storing information about actual screening details of each screening room, which has been received from the movie theater. [Claim 4]

The intermediating service system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the database of the movie theater comprises a movie file DB for storing various types of movie files to be shown in respective screening rooms, an advertisement file DB for storing advertisement files to be shown in respective screening rooms, a screening schedule DB for storing various types of information, including types of movies and advertisements, which are to be shown in respective screening rooms, and times at and for which the movies and advertisements are to be shown, and a screening detail DB for storing information about actual times at and for which the movies and advertisements are shown, types of actual screening rooms in which the movies and advertisements are shown, a maximum number of viewers in the movie theater, percentage of seats occupied in each individual screening room, and a percentage of seats occupied in each day/each time band.