Communication system and method with demographically or psychographically defined audiences

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A system for selective transmission of a message to subscribers of a cable television service, comprising:

a cable network,

a head end transmitting system connected to said cable network,

a plurality of cable decoders, one for each of the subscribers, connected to said cable network,

means at said head end transmitting system for storing demographic/psychographic information about the subscribers and transmitting the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber to the one of said plurality of cable decoders for that subscriber, free of input by the subscribers,

means at each one of said plurality of cable decoders for storing the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber,

means at said head end transmitting system for transmitting a demographic/psychographic profile for desired recipients of the message and for transmitting the message,

means at each one of said plurality of cable decoders for comparing the demographic/psychographic profile with the demographic/psychographic information stored at that one of said plurality of cable decoders and for enabling that one of said plurality of cable decoders to provide the message to that one of the subscribers corresponding to that one of said plurality of cable decoders when the transmitted demographic/psychographic profile matches the stored demographic/psychographic information.

2. The system for selective transmission of the message to subscribers of the cable television service of claim 1 in which said means for comparing and enabling in which said means for comparing and enabling is configured to enable that one of said plurality of cable decoders to provide the message by changing a channel to which that of one of said plurality of cable decoders is tuned.

3. The system of claim 2 in which said means for comparing and enabling is further configured to return said cable decoder to the channel to which that of one of said plurality of cable decoders was turned prior to operation of said means for comparing and enabling at a conclusion of the message.

4. The system of claim 3 in which said cable decoder is configured so that a later command from either a viewer's channel selection or said means for comparing and enabling overrides a previous channel selection.

5. The system of claim 1 additionally comprising means at said head end transmitting system for providing alternative messages for the selective transmission.

6. The system of claim 5 in which said means for providing alternative messages is configured to provide the alternative messages on different channels.

7. The system of claim 6 in which said means for comparing and enabling is configured to provide the alternative messages on different channels through an alternative channel map based on the demographic/phychographic information.

8. The system for selective transmission of a message to subscribers of a cable television service of claim 1 in which said plurality of cable decoders each include a display and each of said plurality of cable decoders is configured to provide the message to said display.

9. The system for selective transmission of the message to subscribers of the cable television service of claim 6 in which said means for providing alternative messages is configured so that said cable decoder for a particular subscriber is repeatedly tuned to one of multiple different channels arranged in a circular pattern until said cable decoder for said particular subscriber.

10. A method for selective transmission of a message to subscribers of a cable television service, the service including a cable network, a head end transmitting system connected to the cable network, and a plurality of cable decoders, one for each of the subscribers, connected to the cable network, the method comprising:

storing at said head end transmitting system demographic/psychographic information about the subscribers,

transmitting from said head end transmitting system the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber to the one of the plurality of cable decoders for that subscriber, free of input by the subscribers,

storing the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber at the one of the plurality of cable decodes for that subscriber, transmitting from said head end transmitting system a demographic/psychographic profile for desired recipients of the message,

transmitting the message,

comparing the demographic/psychographic profile with the demographic/psychographic information stored at that one of the plurality of cable decoders, and

enabling that one of the plurality of cable decoders to provide the message to that one of the subscribers corresponding to that one of the plurality of cable decoders when the transmitted demographic/psychographic profile matches the stored demographic/psychographic information.

11. The method of claim 10 in which that one of the plurality of cable decoders is enabled to provide the message by changing a channel to which that one of the plurality of cable decoders is tuned.

12. The method of claim 11 in which the cable decoder is returned to the channel to which that one of the plurality of cable decoders was tuned prior to changing the channel.

13. The method of claim 12 in which a later command from a viewer's channel selection or the comparing overrides a previous channel selection.

14. The method of claim 10 in which alternative messages are provided for the selective transmission.

15. The method of claim 14 in which the alternative messages are provided on different channels.

16. The method of claim 15 in which the alternative messages are provided on different channels through an alternative channel map based on the demographic/psychographic information.

17. The method of claim 10 in which the plurality of cable decoders each include a display and each of the plurality of cable decoders provides the message to the display.

18. The method of claim 15 in which said cable decoder for a particular subscriber is repeatedly tuned to one of multiple different channels arranged in a circular pattern until said cable decoder for said particular subscriber is tuned to a channel that is transmitting a message targeted for said particular subscriber.

19. A system for selective transmission of a message to subscribers of a television service, comprising:

a network,

a head end transmitting system coupled to said network,

a plurality of decoders, one for each of the subscribers, coupled to said network,

means at said head end transmitting system for storing demographic/psychographic information about the subscribers and transmitting the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber to the one of said plurality of decoders for that subscriber, free of input by the subscribers,

means at each one of said plurality of decoders for storing the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber,

means at said head end transmitting system for transmitting a demographic/psychographic profile for desired recipients of the message and for transmitting the message,

means at each one of said plurality of decoders for comparing the demographic/psychographic profile with the demographic/psychographic information stored at that one of said plurality of decoders and for enabling that one of said plurality of decoders to provide the message to that one of the subscribers corresponding to that one of said plurality of decoders when the transmitted demographic/psychographic profile matches the stored demographic/psychographic information.

20. A system for selective transmission of a message to subscribers of a cable television service, comprising:

a cable network,

a head end transmitting system connected to said cable network,

a plurality of cable decoders, one for each of the subscribers, connected to said cable network,

means at said head end transmitting system for storing demographic/psychographic information about the subscribers and transmitting the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber to the one of said plurality of cable decoders for that subscriber, free of input by the subscribers, said means for storing and transmitting the demographic/psychographic information being operated to transmit the demographic/psychographic information as program tags,

means at each one of said plurality of cable decoders for storing the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber,

means at said head end transmitting system for transmitting the demographic/psychographic profile for desired recipients of the message and for transmitting the message, said means for transmitting being operated to transmit the demographic/psychographic profile as a program tag with the message,

means at each one of said plurality of cable decoders for comparing the demographic/psychographic profile with the demographic/psychographic information stored at that one of said plurality of cable decoders and for enabling that one of said plurality of cable decoders to provide the message to that one of the subscribers corresponding to that one of said plurality of cable decoders when the transmitted demographic/psychographic profile matches the stored demographic/psychographic information.

21. A system for selective transmission of a message to subscribers of a cable television service, comprising:

a cable network,

a head end transmitting system connected to said cable network,

a plurality of cable decoders, one for each of the subscribers, connected to said cable network, means at said head end transmitting system for storing demographic/psychographic information about the subscribers and transmitting the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber to the one of said plurality of cable decoders for that subscriber, free of input by the subscribers,

means at each one of said plurality of cable decoders for storing the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber,

means at said head end transmitting system for transmitting a demographic/psychographic profile for desired recipients of the message and for transmitting the message,

means at each one of said plurality of cable decoders for comparing the demographic/psychographic profile with the demographic/psychographic information stored at that one of said plurality of cable decoders and for enabling that one of said plurality of cable decoders to provide the message to that one of the subscribers corresponding to that one of said plurality of cable decoders when the transmitted demographic/psychographic profile matches the stored demographic/psychographic information, and

means at said head end transmitting system for providing alternative messages for selective transmission and operated to provide the alternative messages on different channels, said means for comparing and enabling being operated to provide the alternative messages on different channels through cascading barker channels.

22. A system for selective transmission of a message to subscribers of a cable television service, comprising:

a cable network,

a head end transmitting system connected to said cable network,

a plurality of cable decoders, one for each of the subscribers, connected to said cable network,

means at said head end transmitting system for storing demographic/psychographic information about the subscribers and transmitting the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber to the one of said plurality of cable decoders for that subscriber, free of input by the subscribers,

means at each one of said plurality of cable decoders for storing the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber,

means at said head end transmitting system for transmitting a demographic/psychographic profile for desired recipients of the message and for transmitting the message,

means at each one of said plurality of cable decoders for comparing the demographic/psychographic profile with the demographic/psychographic information stored at that one of said plurality of cable decoders and for enabling that one of said plurality of cable decoders to provide the message to that one of the subscribers corresponding to that one of said plurality of cable decoders when the transmitted demographic/psychographic profile matches the stored demographic/psychographic information,

means at said head end transmitting system for providing alternative messages for selective transmission and operated to provide the alternative messages on different channels, said means for comparing and enabling being operated to provide the alternative messages on different channels through overlapping pay- per-view events.

23. A system for selective transmission of a message to subscribers of a cable television service, comprising:

a cable network,

a head end transmitting system connected to said cable network and to a master database and a network video source, said master database including means for storing a demographic/psychographic audience database comprising audience demographic/psychographic information, free of input by the subscriber, and means, connected to said means for storing said demographic/psychographic audience database, for selectively transmitting the demographic/psychographic information for the subscribers from said audience database to said head end transmitting system, and said network video source includes means for transmitting alternative messages for the selective transmission to said head end transmitting system,

a plurality of cable decoders, one for each of the subscribers, connected to said cable network,

means at said head end transmitting system for storing the demographic/psychographic information about the subscribers and transmitting the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber to the one of said plurality of cable decoders for that subscriber, free of input by the subscribers,

means at each one of said plurality of cable decoders for storing the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber,

means at said head end transmitting system for transmitting a demographic/psychographic profile for desired recipients of the message and for transmitting the message,

means at each one of said plurality of cable decoders for comparing the demographic/psychographic profile with the demographic/psychographic information stored at that one of said plurality of cable decoders and for enabling that one of said plurality of cable decoders to provide the message to that one of the subscribers corresponding to that one of said plurality of cable decoders when the transmitted demographic/psychographic profile matches the stored demographic/psychographic information.

24. A method for selective transmission of a message to subscribers of a cable television service, the service including a cable network, a head end transmitting system connected to the cable network, and a plurality of cable decoders, one for each of the subscribers, connected to the cable network, the method comprising:

storing at said head end transmitting system demographic/psychographic information about the subscribers,

transmitting from said head end transmitting system the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber to the one of the plurality of cable decoders for that subscriber, free of input by the subscribers, the demographic/psychographic information being transmitted as a first program tag,

storing the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber at the one of the plurality of cable decoders for that subscriber,

transmitting from said head end transmitting system a demographic/psychographic profile together with the message as a second program tag for desired recipients of the message subsequently to transmitting the demographic/psychographic information, comparing the demographic/psychographic profile with the demographic/psychographic information stored at that one of the plurality of cable decoders, and

enabling that one of the plurality of cable decoders to provide the message to that one of the subscribers corresponding to that one of the plurality of cable decoders when the transmitted demographic/psychographic profile matches the stored demographic/psychographic information.

25. A method for selective transmission of a message to subscribers of a cable television service, the service including a cable network, a head end transmitting system connected to the cable network, and a plurality of cable decoders, one for each of the subscribers, connected to the cable network, the method comprising:

storing from said head end transmitting system demographic/psychographic information about the subscribers,

transmitting from said head end transmitting system the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber to the one of the plurality of cable decoders for that subscriber, free of input by the subscribers,

storing the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber at the one of the plurality of cable decoders for that subscriber,

transmitting from said head end transmitting system a demographic/psychographic profile for desired recipients of the message, transmitting the message,

comparing the demographic/psychographic profile with the demographic/psychographic information stored at that one of the plurality of cable decoders, and

enabling that one of the plurality of cable decoders to provide the message to that one of the subscribers corresponding to that one of the plurality of cable decoders when the transmitted demographic/psychographic profile matches the stored demographic/psychographic information, and

providing alternative messages for selective transmission, where the alternative messages are provided on different channels through cascading barker channels.

26. A method for selective transmission of a message to subscribers of a cable television service, the service including a cable network, a head end transmitting system connected to the cable network, and a plurality of cable decoders, one for each of the subscribers, connected to the cable network, the method comprising:

storing at said head end transmitting system demographic/psychographic information about the subscribers,

transmitting from said head end transmitting system the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber to the one of the plurality of cable decoders for that subscriber, free of input by the subscribers,

storing the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber at the one of the plurality of cable decoders for that subscriber,

transmitting from said head end transmitting system a demographic/psychographic profile for desired recipients of the message,

transmitting the message,

comparing the demographic/psychographic profile with the demographic/psychographic information stored at that one of the plurality of cable decoders, and

enabling that one of the plurality of cable decoders to provide the message to that one of the subscribers corresponding to that one of the plurality of cable decoders when the transmitted demographic/psychographic profile matches the stored demographic/psychographic information, and

providing alternative messages for the selective transmission, where the alternative messages are provided on different channels through overlapping pay-per-view events.

27. A system for selective transmission of a message to subscribers of a cable television service, comprising:

a cable network,

a head end transmitting system connected to said cable network and operating under control of a system clock,

a plurality of cable decoders, one for each of the subscribers, connected to said cable network,

means at said head end transmitting system for storing demographic/psychographic information about the subscribers and transmitting the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber to the one of said plurality of cable decoders for that subscriber, free of input by the subscribers,

means at each one of said plurality of cable decoders for storing the demographic/psychographic information for each subscriber,

means at said head end transmitting system for transmitting a demographic/psychographic profile for desired recipients of the message and for transmitting the message, said means for transmitting being responsive to said system clock to define duration of pay-per-view events and to define a shortened duration of the pay-per-view events by updating said system clock after initiation of a pay-per-view event,

means at each one of said plurality of cable decoders for comparing the demographic/psychographic profile with the demographic/psychographic information stored at that one of said plurality of cable decoders and for enabling that one of said plurality of cable decoders to provide the message to that one of the subscribers corresponding to that one of said plurality of cable decoders when the transmitted demographic/psychographic profile matches the stored demographic/psychographic information, and

means at said head end transmitting system for providing alternative messages for selective transmission and operated to provide the alternative messages on different channels, said means for comparing and enabling being operated to provide the alternative messages on different channels through overlapping pay-per-view events.

28. The method of claim 26 in which the head end transmitting means operates under control of a system clock, duration of the pay-per-view events is defined with the system clock and a shortened duration of the pay-per-view events is defined by updating the system clock after initiation of a pay-per-view event.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to communication systems, and in particular, communications systems capable of targeting a demographically or psychographically defined audience.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Although television has historically been a broadcast technology (meaning programs and commercials are designed for `mass appeal` without segmentation by demographic or psychographic factors), a number of techniques have evolved for targeting select audiences.

Advertisers start with the profile of the target customer for their product or service. Market research companies routinely audit television show audiences (via phone survey, mail, etc.) to characterize the demographic and psychographic profile of viewers. Advertisers use this information to pick programs with large numbers of viewers most like the target customer. Naturally, this information also helps the advertiser shape the content of the advertisement so as to appeal to the tastes of the target audience.

Targeting advertising by television program has a fundamental problem, however. Audiences are heterogeneous, making it impossible for advertisers to get the appropriate message efficiently to only the target audience. With conventional television, it is impossible to split the audience into finer groups, targeting each with a different commercial message. This is a universally useful capability, as will be shown in Objects and Advantages.

With the advent of cable television systems, new methods were developed to target programming, driven by the need to control viewing of pay-per-view programs. The addressable converter was developed (see prior art, for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,475,123, 4,625,235, 4,638,359, 4,716,410). These addressable systems assign each household's set-top addressable converter a unique address. In response to a viewer's order for a pay channel or pay-per-view event, an address and authorization command is sent to that viewer's converter. A disadvantage of using this approach for targeting advertising is immediately obvious: pay-per-view addressability is not transparent to the viewer who must first order the program and then tune it in at the broadcast time.

In addition, this approach of transmitting a list of authorized addresses is inefficient for targeting advertising by household based on psychographic and demographic data. The viewers of each pay-per-view event change in a way not predictable by knowledge of the household's demographics and psychographics. Hence, a complete list of authorized addresses must be transmitted. By contrast, targeted advertising will often utilize the same demographic/psychographic parameters. Thus, transmission requirements can be reduced by storing each household's demographic and psychographic data at the set-top and only transmitting the selection profiles defining the target audience.

The most elementary type of targeting involves the use of split cable system as detailed in U.S. Pat. No. #3,366,731, issued Jan. 30, 1968 to Edward Wallerstein for Television Distribution System Permitting Program Substitution for Selected Viewers. A split cable system is constructed with two cables originating from a single transmitting source. One advertisement is inserted on one cable and another advertisement on the other cable. The limitation of this approach is that it can only be applied to split cable systems, and does not allow arbitrary selection of target audiences.

A further refinement of television targeting technology is shown in U.S. Pat. 3,639,686, issued Feb. 1, 1972 to Harold R. Walker and Ira Kamen for Television Receiver Cut-In Device. This system uses an auxiliary television signal which contains both a video channel and control information. The auxiliary television signal is broadcast throughout a broadcast area with a particular control signal identifying the class of viewers to be reached by the auxiliary television signal. Each television receiver has a special decoder to decode and interpret the control signals. The decoder switches to the special signal when it receives a particular address signal identifying the decoder as in the class to which the signals are to be transmitted. The limitation of this approach is that the information contained in the receivers is static-once the receivers have been programmed with information and installed in a viewer's house it cannot be updated. Thus, Walker's targeting cannot be varied at the will of advertisers/market researchers.

Two approaches to the static nature of Walker's targeting have been advanced in the prior art. U.S. Pat No. 4,602,279 Freeman, M. J. "Method For Providing Targeted Profile Interactive CATV Displays" assignor to ACTV, Inc. Port Washington, N.Y. details a system that relies on viewer input of demographic data. The system utilizes the excess bandwidth of the cable system to transmit multiple commercials. A selection profile (what class of viewer) is transmitted from the head-end (in the vertical blanking interval). However, the actual demographic data is acquired interactively from the viewer (e.g. the tv displays questions like "Are you a cat lover?, How old are you?, What car do you drive?" and the set-top stores the answers). The answers are compared with the selection profile to determine the proper channel selection. While innovative in design, the system requires input from the user to form the demographic database. This interactivity is likely to annoy users--and there is no guarantee that viewers would respond. Further, advertisers could not be guaranteed that their commercial was being viewed by a household watching a particular channel. In addition, this is a capability that is not present in the installed base of conventional addressable set-top converters.

The other approach is to bypass the local storage of any demographic data, and instead just transmit a list of receiver addresses belonging to a certain class, followed by a control signal transmission (e.g. if class 1, then switch to channel 10). U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,974 issued May 25, 1982 to Ned W. Cogswell, Gerald J. Eskin and Andrew Wright, Jr. for Cable Television With Controlled Signal Substitution takes this approach.

Three pieces of information are transmitted to the home: normal television channel, the substitute channel used for transmitting the substitute commercial, and the list of household addresses to respond to the substitution. To overcome the burdens of real-time transmissions, the data is split into two pieces and transmitted separately. Prior to the commercial, an event number and the list of households to be effected by each substitution is transmitted and stored. The households can be considered as members of an `event set`. This step requires large amounts of data to be transmitted. The specifics of a given substitution (event number, normal television channel, the substitute channel used for transmitting the substitute commercial) are transmitted immediately prior to the commercial break, and processed in real-time at each household. Thus, real-time targeting of commercials can occur. In addition, unlike Freeman's invention, advertisers can control which households receive a given commercial advertisement.

The system also includes a method for gathering demographic/psychographic information-scanner purchase statistics collected from specially wired stores in the viewing area.

This approach suffers from a number of limitations, however. First, changing the selection profile (which households are selected) requires a retransmission of the event set. This may not be possible in the change is made close to when commercial broadcast occurs. Second, it is inefficient. Cogswell's approach must transmit a list of household addresses for each different selection profile utilized. Since most selection profiles will be comprised of different `slices` of a fairly small set of demographic/psychographic parameters (e.g. name, address, zip, age, occupation, household income, . . . ), great redundancy in data transmission exists in Cogswell's approach. Third, a powerful computer in the head-end is needed to sort demographic/psychographic data and generate the lists of households which will receive a given advertisement. Lastly, Cogswell's approach relies to a large extent on information volunteered by and collected directly from panelists. Problems with this approach include: the logistical headache and expense of gathering information from large numbers of viewers and invalid data (incomplete/incorrect information provided by viewers). This is again a special system, not compatible with the installed base of set-tops.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention combines communications and computer technology to download often used demographic/psychographic information about each household from the cable head-end to the set-top converter. Once stored at the set-top, this information is compared to the selection profile and used to determine which channel to switch to in real-time. Demographic/psychographic data changes relatively infrequently--and is easily updated to reflect new behaviors or supplemented through the addition of new parameters.

This approach removes the limitations of the prior art. First, the selection profile can be dynamically varied from the head-end up until transmission time (immediately prior to commercial broadcast). Second, transmission requirements are reduced. Instead of a complete list of authorized addresses being transmitted, only a selection profile is typically transmitted. This reduces transmission since targeted advertising will often utilize the same demographic/psychographic parameters. Thus, transmission requirements can be reduced by storing each household's demographic and psychographic data at the set-top and only transmitting the selection profiles. Thirdly, the decision of which houses are to be included in a selection profile is downloaded to and processed by each household's receiver. Thus, head-end computer requirements are minimized, instead utilizing the processing power already resident in each microprocessor-based household receiver. Fourthly, a well-defined audience can be guaranteed to advertisers. Lastly, no infrastructure problem exists with creating the segmentation information--it already exists. Among the sources: more than 15,000 mailing lists already utilized in direct mail and magazine advertising.

Objects and Advantages

Media buyers have long desired improved addressability (targeting a desired audience with minimal waste) and accountability (measuring the response with actual purchasing behavior so as to allow optimization of ads) for their advertisements.

This capability already exists in direct mail and even magazine publishing. For example, print technology now allows the content of magazine advertisements to be customized on a subscriber-by-subscriber basis, using demographic/psychographic information compiled on the reader. Similarly, direct mail marketeers can choose from more than 15,000 mailing lists to target audiences. These mailing lists are produced by professional data gathering/manufacturing companies such as Dun and Bradstreet, and are compiled from prior mail-order purchase records, or magazine circulation data. Tracking sales resulting from direct response marketing ads improves accountability.

Mysteriously, while magazine publishers and direct mail providers are making great strides in improving the effectiveness of their medium, television advertising has advanced little if at all.

The major shortcomings of tv advertising: 1) television advertising is not accountable-advertisers have little idea whether their advertising is effective 2) television advertising is not addressable (tv is a `broadcast` technology-all viewers of a channel get the same programming regardless of how good a `prospect` they are). Both shortcomings must be corrected if advertisers are to avert wasting most of the nearly $25 billion spent on US television advertising annually.

ADVANTAGES OF ADDRESSABILITY

Alvin Toffler, author of The Third Wave concluded, "The mass market has split into ever-multiplying, ever-changing sets of mini-markets that demand a continually expanding range of options, models, types, sizes, colors, and customizations."

John Naisbitt in his book Megatrends echoes Toffler's views adding "Advertisers are forced to direct products to perhaps a million clusters of people who are themselves far more individualistic and have a wide range of choices in today's world. The multiple-option society is a new ballgame, and advertisers know that they must win consumers market by market . . . "

The advantages of addressable television advertising extend to broadcasters, advertisers, video distributors, and viewers:

Advertisers

The benefits of addressability extend to virtually any advertiser. For example:

Manufacturers of Mass-Market Items: These marketeers could target the message a given household receives based on brand usage. For example, consumer goods companies like Procter and Gamble, Colgate,etc. could segment viewers into loyal brand users, competitive brand users and non-brand users--directing a different advertising message to each. Until the present invention, this was impossible to perform with television advertising.

Manufacturers of Specialty Goods/Services: Many businesses produce goods/services targeted at too small a market for conventional tv broadcast advertising to be cost-effective. Examples might include semiconductor companies that wish to direct advertising to computer design engineers (it would also be possible to purchase blocks of time to run a tutorial on new chips for a fraction of the cost of teaching nationwide seminars). A manufacturer of personal computers could target computer magazine subscribers, corporate MIS employees, or others with a predisposition to the product. Firms that specialize in providing credit cards to those with poor credit histories might only send their ads to those who recently declared bankruptcy and skip well-to-do viewers. A manufacturer of arthritis drugs might target only those over 65 and users of prescription pain-killing medications. By making previously indivisible advertising time divisible, addressability allows advertisers of specialty goods to target only the desired audience, the remainder of the audience can be sold to another advertiser. Until the present invention, this has been impossible to accomplish.

Local Small Businesses: Addressability opens television advertising to small businesses. For example, a dry cleaner probably can't currently use television advertising cost-effectively. Most of his business comes from the neighborhood around his store, and much of the large audience delivered by a commercial on a local television station is wasted. But if the dry cleaner could select only those users who live around