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Roku could soon have some new tech up its sleeve to help it stand out in the connected TV landscape.
After inking partnerships with iSpot and The Trade Desk and bringing cars to Roku City for brands to advertise on earlier this year, the company has received a Notice of Allowance from the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on a new ad-tech patent application. A Notice of Allowance is generally the last step before the USPTO issues a patent.
The application in question is for “HDMI customized ad insertion.” According to the filing, which was first reported on by the tech and entertainment newsletter Lowpass, the tech would be able to, through a display device’s HDMI connection to a media device, pick up when any kind of content is paused on a media device and proceed to display an ad.
The tech is also able to detect the context and the content of the media that has been paused and display customized ads in some instances, per the filing.
If Roku wants the USPTO to issue the patent, it has three months from the Notice of Allowance to pay an Issue Fee, according to a document published by the agency. The issuance of a patent does not necessarily reflect Roku’s intent to use the tech in its products.
Roku declined to comment on the record.
Shane Hunter, a patent attorney and partner at Sunstein LLP who reviewed the filing at Marketing Brew’s request, said it appears that the patent application was revised in response to concerns that the USPTO patent examiner raised, with Roku making changes to the application to make it patentable.
If the company does go ahead and pay the fee, the patent will likely be issued soon after, usually within two or three weeks, Hunter said.
Press pause: Pause ads, which show up when users pause a show or movie on a streaming service, are all the rage right now in the streaming world as companies look for creative ways to increase ad loads. During this year’s upfronts, Amazon introduced pause ads for Prime Video. Max introduced pause ads in 2022, while Peacock did so when it debuted in 2020. Hulu, the earliest adopter of the tech in the streaming world, began testing pause ads in 2018.
And yes, Netflix is currently testing pause ads, too.