Roku wants to take over TVs with ads while content is paused claims patent

A Roku patent hints that the company is looking for ways to take over an HDMI signal to force-feed you with more ads.

A Roku patent document states that Roku plans to monitor TVs’ HDMI ports to track pauses in content and games. When content is paused, the Roku patent claims that it will intercept the signal to show you targeted advertisements.

So, if you were streaming a movie or a show using your streaming box or playing a game on your PS5 and pausing to grab a coffee, Roku sees this as an opportunity to shove you with ads based on what content was being displayed on your TV.

The company also wants to make sure that the ads are only shown while the content is paused and not while you’re in the middle of a game or a movie.

To ensure this, the patent proposes to grab frames from the feed directly. So, if the frame on the screen is displayed for a set duration, it sends a signal that the user has paused the display or content in some fashion.

To further weed out chances of interrupting your gameplay or frozen screen, “Roku’s engineers propose to also monitor the audio feed for extended moments of silence.”

Once it has been identified that the user is on a break, Roku wants to analyze the metadata of content you were watching using the HDMI signal audio feed to inject relevant ads.

So, if you were streaming and enjoying a cooking show or a review of a hotel, there’s a chance you’ll see ads suggesting places to eat, or locations for your next vacation.

But, bear in mind that this is still a patent, and like many of them, there is no guarantee that the brand will implement it. You might want to consider alternatives to Roku if you are worried about the patent’s implications.