COMMERCIAL REPLACEMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS USING SYNCHRONIZED AND BUFFERED TV PROGRAM AND COMMERCIAL REPLACEMENT STREAMS

摘要

A television program stream that includes television programs and at least oneoriginal commercial, and a commercial replacement stream that includes atleast onereplacement commercial, are received simultaneously such that a respectivereplacement commercial is approximately synchronized in time with a respectiveoriginal commercial. The television program stream and/or the commercialreplacement stream is buffered to substantially synchronize a respectivereplacementcommercial with a respective original commercial. Selective switching isperformedbetween the television program steam and the commercial replacement stream, toprovide a television program output that includes the television programs andthe atleast one replacement commercial instead of the at least one originalcommercial.Accordingly, commercial replacement may be provided in set top boxes withouttheneed for mass storage devices to store the replacement commercials. Regionaland/ornational commercials may thereby be replaced by local commercials in TVmarketsand for multiple regional and/or national channels.