It’s called product placement: actors eat and drink what an advertiser has paid to get on screen in, say, a soap or a drama. But Intellocity of Denver (WO 03/012744) wants to make it easier to place products even after a show has been made.
In its scheme, a TV set-top box downloads a list of advertisers. Programmes are broadcast with blank spots in the picture, on actor’s T-shirts, drink cans and pizza boxes. Each blank spot is invisibly flagged so it can grab a logo from a list of advertisers, and superimpose it on the screen.
