If developed successfully, the invention would be interesting for any television manufacturer interested in broadcasting advertising regardless of the use being given to the device.
The American manufacturer of smart televisions and players, Roku, has recently registered a patent that can enhance the broadcast of advertisements on a smart TV regardless of the streaming service or content being viewed. The idea is based on the use of the HDMI cable to detect moments of pause in the use of the TV, taking advantage of moments of inactivity to show spots on the screen.
That is to say, it would not be about randomly interrupting the vision, but rather detecting moments such as the user who pauses the playback for a few minutes to look at the mobile phone, eat something or go to the bathroom, and emitting advertisements at this moment instead of a screensaver.
By doing so from the HDMI cable, Roku would be able to do this no matter what platform the user uses, be it Netflix, HBO, or Prime TV, for example. The manufacturer, whose products are best known in the United States, created a screensaver that is now part of the brand’s identity. The brand began to see screensaver uptime as an opportunity to increase advertising revenue. In this context, he has already begun to rent this screen time to the McDonald’s company and the movie Barbie.
Thus, Roku has identified the potential value of this feature, so it is now looking for how to ensure that this advertising screensaver can be incorporated into the television even if the user is using other devices, such as an Xbox, PlayStation, or CD or Blu player. -ray. It should also work even if the user uses third-party applications such as Disney+ or Spotify.
Safeguard advertising profits of more than one billion
Despite being a smart TV manufacturer, the American company’s hardware profits were non-existent last year. In reality, it lost about $40 million in 2023 with this activity. By contrast, that same year they earned about $1.6 billion from their advertising and services business. In this context, the business decision to boost its advertising sales can be better understood.
The ideas proposed in the patent to give this new use to the HDMI cable are, for example, comparing the frames on the screen to detect pauses, using the HDMI audio feed to detect moments of silence, or using the HDMI CEC protocol to guess when the user stops playing content.
In addition, it is within the objective to be able to know what device the user is using on television. Using this information, Roku could send you ads related to your interests based on whether you’re using, for example, a Nintendo Switch. So far, Roku can only broadcast ads to users using Roku’s own interface built into the TV, but they cannot interfere if the user uses the TV only to play consoles or only in conjunction with a DVD player. The invention would overcome this barrier.
The HDMI cable is one of the most used when it comes to connecting devices to televisions and viewing content in high definition.
