US 5,446,919 · Granted 1995-08-29

The 1995 Patent That Invented Targeted TV Ads You Actually Match

Imagine a TV system that knows your age, interests, and habits—and automatically shows you ads meant just for you instead of blasting the same commercial to everyone. This 1995 patent describes the plumbing: a database of viewer info, a smart decoder box, and a system that compares who you are to which ads should play for you.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The claim covers a system where a central database stores demographic and psychographic information about viewers, and decoder boxes in each person's home receive selection commands that match viewer profiles to specific media messages. What's protected here is the method of transmitting multiple messages alongside profile-matching instructions, letting the decoder automatically pick which content each viewer sees based on their stored personal characteristics.

Why it matters

This patent sketches out the core idea behind targeted advertising decades before social media and streaming made it commonplace. It's an early blueprint for the ad-targeting infrastructure that became essential to cable TV, digital platforms, and modern marketing. The patent doesn't create the category—mass media existed long before—but it does lock down the specific technical approach of storing viewer data centrally and using it to filter which messages reach which eyes.

Real-world use

When you watch cable TV on a box that remembers your age and zip code, and different households in the same time slot see different ads, you're seeing a descendant of this patent's core idea in action.

Original USPTO abstract

A communication system capable of targeting a demographically or psychographically defined audience. A master database (20) is maintained, containing demographic and psychographic information about each audience member. This information is transmitted and stored in a channel selection/decoder (100) unit associated with each audience member's receiver. Multiple media messages are transmitted to each audience member. Accompanying the transmission is a selection profile command, which details the demographic/psychographic profile of audience members that are to receive each media message. The channel selector/decoder (100) unit associated with each member's receiver compares the selection profile with the demographic/psychographic information about the audience member and selects the appropriate media message for that audience member.

Patent details

Publication number: US 5,446,919
Filing date: 1991-10-09
Grant date: 1995-08-29
Assignee: Wilkins; Jeff K.
Inventor(s): WILKINS; JEFF K.
CPC class: H04H60/14

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