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Roku has patented a way to show ads over anything you plug into your TV (arstechnica.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

230 comments fedilink hide all child comments

A patent application from the company spotted by Lowpass describes a system for displaying ads over any device connected over HDMI, a list that could include cable boxes, game consoles, DVD or Blu-ray players, PCs, or even other video streaming devices. Roku filed for the patent in August 2023 and it was published in November 2023, though it hasn't yet been granted.

The technology described would detect whether content was paused in multiple ways—if the video being displayed is static, if there's no audio being played, if a pause symbol is shown anywhere on screen, or if (on a TV with HDMI-CEC enabled) a pause signal has been received from some passthrough remote control. The system would analyze the paused image and use metadata "to identify one or more objects" in the video frame, transmit that identification information to a network, and receive and display a "relevant ad" over top of whatever the paused content is.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm waiting for Version 2.0 where they don't care about whether you're watching content or not and just randomly inject ads every 20 minutes.

[–] Croquette 15 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That's the endgame for sure. This first phase is to test the water and soften the blow when they will hijack the signal to show you ads.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Ever watch an extra wide screen film? That black bar above and below licensed content is the perfect place to inform you about exciting products and opportunities!

Did you know that your eyes only look at one spot at a time? Our customer optimizers are working hard to design a system to use AI to identify this spot in every frame, so that we can fill the rest of the screen with even more consumer opportunities! This applies to audio gaps too - we'll fill in those awkward silences with exclusive content!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

I hate you, so much right now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

And wait for them to find a way to inject ads into your sleep cycle a la Futurama! Did you know that on average, people spend one-third of their lives sleeping? This means that if someone sleeps eight hours a night, they will sleep for 229,961 hours in their lifetime, which is about one-third of their life. Think of all the missed opportunities to spend!