FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods for promoting increased brand awareness and enabling a viewer consuming media content to engage in increased brand interaction and in particular to applications for promoting increased brand awareness and enabling a viewer consuming media content to engage in increased brand interaction via computing devices.

The invention has been developed primarily for use in methods and systems for providing a means for broadcasters and/or business providers to promote increased brand awareness and enabling a viewer consuming media content to engage in increased brand interaction between a consuming media content and the media program being viewed, in particular via computing devices connected to a network which is also committed to a media receiver adapted to receive and deliver the media content to the viewer and will be described hereinafter with reference to this application. However, it will be appreciated that the invention is not limited to this particular field of use.

BACKGROUND

Any discussion of the background art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such background art is prior art nor that such background art is widely known or forms part of the common general knowledge in the field in Australia or worldwide.

All references, including any patents or patent applications, cited in this specification are hereby incorporated by reference. No admission is made that any reference constitutes prior art. The discussion of the references states what their authors assert, and the applicants reserve the right to challenge the accuracy and pertinence of the cited documents. It will be clearly understood that, although a number of prior art publications are referred to herein, this reference does not constitute an admission that any of these documents forms part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or in any other country.

Declining TV and music company revenues is causing great concerns for traditional media companies. Piracy is practically impossible to prevent, and the addition of streaming media, online content and recorded programs is rendering advertising less relevant and lucrative. The traditional model for both industries is in urgent need of change yet no solution is presented itself to either industry.

Additionally, modem advertising is largely an attempt to cause the viewer to engage with the product being advertised—usually online—the primary function of most advertising models involves a ‘search for X term’ or ‘log onto Y website’. Commonly social media penetration is becoming more relevant in live TV, for example: the Q and A television program broadcast by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) network; or late-night talk show hosts, for example Jimmy Fallon, encouraging weekly themes for their viewers to engage with the program content for example via Facebook™ by interactions with the talk-show's profile page or Twitter™ via tweet hashtags for the viewers to use.

There is also currently little flow on benefit for a broadcaster with respect to advertising broadcast through their infrastructure. This is especially the case when a secondary product associated with an advertisement inspires a later purchase from a viewer. For example, where a viewer is motivated to purchase a red bikini initially seen in a Coca-Cola advertisement worn by a model, or a pair of shoes worn by a music personality in a music video clip. The actual purchase by the viewer results in no commercial gain for the point of inspiration broadcaster or content creator.

SUMMARY

There is provided a method for brand promotion comprising the steps of:receiving a media broadcast signal comprising a media signal and a unique promotion code with a media receiver;reading said unique promotion code from said media broadcast signal;broadcasting said promotion code using a communication network associated with the media receiver;receiving the promotion code with a computing device;correlating the promotion code with a promotion database;receiving social link data from the promotion database;wherein the computing device is adapted to provide user engagement with the social link data.

There is provided a method for brand promotion comprising the steps of:receiving a broadcast signal comprising a unique promotion code with a computing device;reading said unique promotion code from said broadcast signal;correlating said unique promotion code with a promotion database;receiving social link data from said promotion database;wherein said computing device is adapted to provide user engagement with the social link data.

Said broadcast signal is a local broadcast signal.

The local broadcast signal is associated with a local network.

Said local network is a local wireless network.

The media broadcast signal comprises a television broadcast signal; and the media receiver comprises a tuner module adapted to receive said television broadcast signal.

The media receiver comprises a processing module adapted to extract said unique promotion code from within said media broadcast signal.

Said media receiver comprises a wireless networking broadcast module adapted to connect said media receiver to a network.

Said networking broadcast module is adapted to broadcast a networking signal via a local network, said networking signal comprising a setting in relation to the local network, said setting being unique to said media receiver.

Said networking broadcast module is further adapted to broadcast a broadcast signal to said local network, said broadcast signal comprising said unique promotion code.

Said processing module is adapted to combine said promotion code and said setting to form a modified setting in relation to the local network; andsaid broadcast module is adapted to broadcast a networking signal comprising said modified setting via said local network.

Said computing device comprises a network receiver module adapted to receive and interpret said broadcast signal.

Said computing device comprises a processor adapted to:interpret said broadcast signal in order to extract said unique promotion code from said modified setting in relation to the local network;query a lookup database to correlate said unique promotion code with promotion data.

Said database comprises said promotion data.

Said computing device is further adapted to receive said promotion data from said database.

Said promotion data comprises social link data.

The promotion code is uniquely associated with the media program at the time of creation of the media program.

The promotion code comprises a plurality of promotion code segments, wherein at least one promotion code segment is unchangeable.

The promotion code comprises a plurality of promotion code segments, wherein at least one promotion code segment is permanently encoded in metadata associated with the media program.

The promotion code comprises an editable promotion code segment adapted to be edited to comprise a broadcaster promotion code uniquely associated with a media broadcaster.

A media broadcaster is adapted to broadcast the media signal and the associated promotion code, andwherein the broadcaster is further adapted to simultaneously broadcast a further broadcast signal comprising a broadcaster promotion code uniquely associated with the broadcaster.

A processing module of said media receiver is adapted to combine the promotion code and the broadcaster promotion code to form a modified setting in relation to the local network for broadcast via said local network by said networking broadcast module.

The setting or the modified setting comprises a Service Set Identifier (SSM) associated with the media receiver, wherein the media receiver acts as an access point in a wireless local area network that operates under an IEEE 802.11 architecture.

The setting or the modified setting comprises an identifier that identifies the media receiver, wherein the media receiver acts as a network element in a zero configuration network that operates under one of zero configuration protocols including Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), Alljoyn, Bonjour.

There is provide a computer program product having a computer readable medium having a computer program recorded therein for brand promotion, said computer program product comprising:computer program code means for receiving a media broadcast signal comprising a media signal and a unique promotion code with a media receiver computer program code means for reading said unique promotion code from said media broadcast signal;computer program code means for broadcasting said promotion code using a communication network associated with the media receiver,

There is provided a computer program for brand promotion, said program comprising:code for receiving a media broadcast signal comprising a media signal and a unique promotion code with a media receivercode for reading said unique promotion code from said media broadcast signal; andcode for broadcasting said promotion code using a communication network associated with the media receiver.

There is provided a computer program element comprising computer program code means to make a computer or network connected device execute a procedure to enable brand promotion as described above.

There is provided a computer readable medium, having a program recorded thereon, where the program is configured to make a computer execute a procedure to enable brand promotion as described above.

There is provide a method of providing a modified setting in relation to a local network for a network-enabled media receiver, said network-enabled media receiver comprising a tuner module adapted to receive a media broadcast signal, the method comprising the steps of:receiving said media broadcast signal comprising a media signal and a promotion code with the network-enabled media receiver;reading said promotion code from said media broadcast signal; andmodifying a setting in relation to the local network in accordance with said promotion code to provide the modified setting in relation to the local network.

Said promotion code is uniquely associated with said media broadcast signal.

Said network-enabled media receiver comprises a processing module adapted to extract said promotion code from within said media broadcast signal.

Said modified setting in relation to the local network comprises a modified device identifier, wherein the modified device identifier comprises said promotion code either appended or prepended to said setting.

Said modified device identifier comprise a delimiter character intermediate an existing device identifier and said promotion code.

The modified device identifier comprises a Service Set Identifier (SSID) associated with the network-enabled media receiver, wherein the network-enabled media receiver acts as an access point in the local network that operates under an IEEE 802.11 architecture.

The modified device identifier comprises an identifier that identifies the network-enabled media receiver, wherein the network-enabled media receiver acts as a network element in the local network being a zero configuration network that operates under one of zero configuration protocols including Universal Plug and Play (UPnP), Alljoyn, Bonjour.

There is provided a computer program product having a computer readable medium having a computer program recorded therein for providing a modified setting in relation to a local network for a network-enabled media receiver, said computer program product comprising:computer program code means for receiving a media broadcast signal comprising a media signal and a promotion code with said media receiver;computer program code means for reading said promotion code from said media broadcast signal; andcomputer program code means for modifying a setting in relation to the local network in accordance with said promotion code.

There is provide a computer program for providing a modified setting for a network-enabled media receiver, said program comprising:code for receiving a media broadcast signal comprising a media signal and a promotion code with said media receiver;code for reading said promotion code from said media broadcast signal; andcode for modifying a setting in relation to the local network in accordance with said promotion code.

There is provided a computer program element comprising computer program code means to make a computer or network connected device execute a procedure to provide a modified setting for a network-enabled media receiver as described above.

There is provided a computer readable medium, having a program recorded thereon, where the program is configured to make a computer execute a procedure to provide a modified setting in relation to a local network for a network-enabled media receiver as described above.

There is provided a method for enabling social engagement with a media broadcast comprising the steps of:providing a mobile computing device comprising a network connection module, said mobile computing device adapted to connect to a local network and to receive a modified setting in relation to the local network;wherein said mobile computing device comprises a mobile processor adapted to identify a promotion code within said modified setting.

Said mobile processor is adapted to poll a database and to retrieve promotion data associated with said promotion code.

Said mobile computing device is adapted to make said promotion data available to a user of said mobile computing device for utilisation in connection with a social media network.

Said processor is adapted to monitor said modified setting and to extract the promotion code from said modified setting.

Said mobile computing device is adapted to monitor said modified setting in real-time or near-real-time and to update said promotion code in accordance with changes in the modified setting.

There is provided a computer program for enabling social engagement with a media broadcast, said program comprising:code for receiving a media broadcast signal comprising a media signal and a promotion code with said media receivercode for reading said promotion code from said media broadcast signal; andcode for modifying an existing setting in relation to a local network in accordance with said promotion code.

There is provided a computer program product having a computer readable medium having a computer program recorded therein for enabling social engagement with a media broadcast, said computer program product comprising:computer program code means for receiving a setting in relation to a local network;computer program code means for polling a database and to retrieve promotion data associated with said promotion code; andcomputer program code means for making said promotion data available to a user of said mobile computing device for utilisation in connection with a social media network.

There is provided a computer program element comprising computer program code means to make a computer or network connected device execute a procedure to enable social engagement with a media broadcast as described above.

There is provided a computer readable medium, having a program recorded thereon, where the program is configured to make a computer execute a procedure to enable social engagement with a media broadcast as described above.

There is provided a modified device identifier associated with a media device comprising:a first unique device identifier portion associated with said media device; anda second device identifier portion comprising a promotion code extracted from a media broadcast signal received by a tuner module associated with said media device, said promotion code being unique to said media broadcast signal.

Other aspects of invention are also envisioned as described in the Detailed Description section of the present specification below.

