Telephonic communications – Telephone line or system combined with diverse electrical... – Polling
Reexamination Certificate
1998-12-07
2001-11-27
Chan, Wing F. (Department: 2743)
Telephonic communications
Telephone line or system combined with diverse electrical...
Polling
C379S092020, C455S002010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06324266
ABSTRACT:
This invention relates primarily to opinion-gathering systems of the kind installed in conference centres and the like. The invention also has application to other fields, such as market research, proficiency examinations, building access control, and tourist guides.
Electronic voting is used to collect instant opinion from audiences at various events e.g. marketing or personnel events, television studio audiences, and in politics. Apparatus operated by the audience is used to deliver instant opinion on questions posed either by text projected on a screen or by a human compere. Voting is achieved by pressing a keypad. The votes are transmitted to a processor, which causes the results of the opinion survey to be generated from these votes.
At present, the equipment used for electronic audience participation and the other applications mentioned above is based on specialised terminals. For convenience these are usually ‘cordless’ devices using polled infra-red pulse communications. The audience is surrounded by infra-red base stations all linked to a computer which controls the system, and generates text and graphics for display of the results.
A question is posed by a human presenter or displayed as text on the screen. The audience members vote by pressing keys on their terminals and their percentage participation is displayed on the screen in real time. When all the votes have been made, the operator of the system disables the communications and enables the generation of a graphics screen, to display statistical data relating to the votes cast, e.g. as bar graphs. At the end of the session various printed reports can be generated.
The specialist Infra-Red equipment can interfere with the use of other infra-red equipment in operation at the same time, such as a remotely controlled slide projector. Moreover, the handsets are specialised for this application, making them relatively expensive. Furthermore, only the audience in the chamber (or other specially-equipped areas) can participate.
It is also known to provide audience participation facilities, usually for remote audiences such as television viewers, newspaper readers, etc. in which the audience is invited to telephone one of a series of numbers, according to their voting preference. Call-logging technology allows the number of calls made to each number to be measured, thereby measuring the votes cast. An example of such a system, known as “OPRA” (Opinion Poll Registration Application) is described by M Boomer in the
British Telecommunications Engineering Journal,
Vol 11, page 35 (April 1992). However, in such systems there is no control over who votes, and in particular multiple voting by the same person is difficult to prevent—although “Calling Line Identity” (CLI) facilities can nowadays be used to limit the number of calls to be accepted from any one telephone line. Moreover, many potential applications require a series of questions to be answered, but provision of sufficient telephone numbers to cater for each possible answer to each question would be difficult.
According to the invention there is provided a data collection system comprising
a data processing system for receiving data and generating statistical information relating to the data;
a plurality of data entry means, each for receiving data input from a user and transmitting the data to the data processing system;
and transmission means for transmitting data from the means (
1
) to the data processing system;
characterised in that the data entry means are telephone handsets, and that the data processing system has associated interface means for identifying the individual telephone handsets from which each data item is received, such that individual data items transmitted from the same handset can be related to each other by the processing system.
In a second aspect, there is provided a method of generating statistical information relating to data received from a plurality of data entry means, comprising the steps of:
transmitting signals from each data entry means to a data processing system by way of an interface means;
processing the data so received to generate statistical information relating to the totality of data received from the means;
characterised in that the data entry means are telephone handsets, and that the interface means identifies the individual telephone handsets from which each data item is received, such that individual data items transmitted from the same handset can be related to each other by the processing system.
The processing system may have means for transmitting audio or visual information to the handsets. The data collection system may generate an output for transmission using Internet protocols.
Preferably, the transmission means comprises a telephone switching system, and the interface means is arranged such that it will only accept telephone calls from telephone handsets associated with the switching means.
The telephone switching system and at least part of the data processing system may communicate with each other by means of the public telephone network, the telephone switching system having number translation means for conversion of short codes transmitted from the individual handsets into full telephone numbers for transmission over the public telephone network to the data processing system.
If the telephone calls are made through a private exchange, the interface means may be arranged to only accept telephone calls from handsets associated with the private exchange. Preferably the private exchange is a wireless (radio) exchange (WPBX), for use with “cordless” radio telephones. The use of standard radio equipment means that there is no infra-red interference with remote control equipment.
If the data entry handset communicates by means of a cordless connection, using a network of radio base stations, the location of the user apparatus can be identified by reference to the base station currently in radio communication with the user apparatus. The information generated may be processed according to the identified locations of the handsets.
If the processing system operates in conjunction with a private exchange, the specialised call-handling can be carried out without the need to modify the public switched network. This may be a “virtual” private exchange system, which is embedded in the public exchange and provides specialised facilities for a defined subset of telephone lines forming the private network. It should also be noted that the various elements, in particular the call handling switch (whether a conventional private exchange or a virtual system embedded in a public network) and the data processing system, need not be physically associated, but may communicate through any suitable data link. This allows several systems, based on different private exchanges, to share use of the same processing unit.
The telephone handsets may be standard telephones, or they may be units making use of standard cordless telephone components (which are manufactured in volume and are therefore cheap) but having more limited functionality than standard telephones (thereby making them less attractive to pilferers). They may, for example, have one or more keys non-operable, limiting their use to functions supported by the functioning keys. They may be arranged only to transmit keyed (DTMF) signals, and not conventional voice or data. Some simple applications of the invention may make use of simple handsets, arranged to only have the capability to transmit signals, and not receive. However, if a terminal is provided with two-way call facilities, personalised speech or audio streams can be provided to each participant. For example, voting instructions or results could be made available in several languages, the required language being selected for each handset according to its Calling Line Identity. This provision also allows the system to be interactive, for example by generating supplementary questions, selected according to the answer given to the first question. Other applications, such as examinations, may also make use of this two
British Telecommunications public limited company
Chan Wing F.
Nixon & Vanderhye P.C.
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