#TheWeeklyRoundUp - 13.09.24

Ford Seeks Patent for Tech That Listens to Driver Conversations to Serve Ads (Digital Music News)

Ford Motor Company is seeking a patent for tech that would allow it to listen to vehicle occupant conversations to serve targeted ads.

Ford is seeking a patent for technology that would allow it to serve in-car advertising by listening to conversations among occupants in the vehicle, in addition to analyzing the car’s historical location and other data. The patent application was published in late August, and Ford initially filed it in February.

Labeled “in-vehicle advertisement presentation,” the tech would determine where a car is located, how fast it’s going, what type of road the car is driving on, and whether it’s currently in traffic. Further, it will predict routes, speeds, and destinations to customize ads to occupants.

"The controller may monitor user dialogue to detect when individuals are in a conversation,” the patent application reads. “The conversations can be parsed for keywords or phrases that may indicate where the occupants are traveling to.”

The system could also pull data from “audio signals within the vehicle and/or historical data, selecting a number of the advertisements to present to the user during the trip.” Monitoring dialogue between vehicle occupants, the ad controller system can determine when to present audio versus visual ads, providing ads to drivers as they travel “through a human-machine interface (HMI) of the vehicle.”

“Such systems and methods provide maximum opportunity for ad-based monetization,” reads the application. “These systems and methods may use knowledge of vehicle destination prediction to provide more relevant advertisements, for example, if a user is going grocery shopping, merchandise purchasing, etc.”

The technology would be mostly software based, with no new hardware required, the application says. Notably, the patent application does not specify or even describe how the collected data would be protected. But Ford has been quick to defend the application.

“Submitting patent applications is a normal part of any strong business as the process protects new ideas and helps us build a robust portfolio of intellectual property,” said a statement from a Ford spokesperson.

“The ideas described within a patent application should not be viewed as an indication of our business or product plans,” they added, concluding the company will “always put the customer first in the decision-making behind the development and marketing of new products and services.”

Ford also filed a patent back in July proposing technology that would enable vehicles to monitor the speed of nearby cars, photograph them, and send the information to police. That idea sparked criticism from privacy advocates, and the application is still pending review by the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Another Ford patent application filed last October received a wave of backlash for its proposed system that would commandeer vehicles whose owners were late to pay, enabling the cars to “repossess themselves.”

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Audius Strikes Global Licensing Deal With Kobalt (Music Business Worldwide)

San Francisco-based blockchain-powered music platform Audius, which says it has 6 million monthly users, has signed a global licensing deal with music publisher Kobalt.

The deal gives Kobalt-signed songwriters access to Audius’ decentralized marketplace, providing them with a potential new revenue stream, the companies said in a statement on Tuesday (September 10).

Audius’ blockchain-powered marketplace offers music fans a way to engage with their favorite artists and support them via US dollar payments and its own crypto token, $AUDIO.