Telecommunications – Audience survey or program distribution use accounting
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-30
2002-10-15
Bost, Dwayne (Department: 2681)
Telecommunications
Audience survey or program distribution use accounting
C725S014000, C725S024000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06466765
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for making a radio listener rating survey and, more particularly, to a portable radio listening status recorder.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Radio listener rating surveys have generally been made on radios placed in subjects homes. In recent years, however, there have been more occasions of listening to radios not only at home but also in a car, in a train, at a coffee shop, at a campsite, and anywhere else. Hence, whether at home or not, and whether the radio to which a person is listening to is his or other person's radio, the importance of a survey on the radio listening status is rising.
A typical method for surveying the radio listening status is what is called a diary-type method. With this method, a rating company distributes questionnaires through researchers to subjects, asking them to conduct the survey. The subjects write down in the questionnaires by writing materials the names of radio stations to which they listened during the survey period, and the listening start and stop dates and times. After the expiration of the survey period the questionnaires are collected through the researchers to the rating company. The rating company statistically processes the radio listening statuses of the subjects to compute the listener ratings for each radio station.
On the other hand, there have been proposed several technologies for mechanically detecting the listening status on a specific radio. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Gazette No. 327017/95 describes a technology by which of the station to which the car radio is tuned is specified by comparing sounds from the loudspeaker of the car radio and sounds from a beforehand prepared reference radio while tuning the reference radio to channels one after another, the name of the thus specified station being recorded in a memory. Such a technology is useful for conducting a survey on the listening status of a specific radio, but it cannot be applied to the survey on the radio listening status of unspecific radios for which the present invention is intended.
With the current state of the art, the survey on the radio listening status of unspecific radios to which subjects listen to as mentioned above rely on the dairy-type method. However, the existing diary-type survey method has such problems as mentioned below.
First, since the data on the radio listening status of the subjects is written down in questionnaires, all the pieces of data entered in the questionnaires need to be read out therefrom and electronified—this consumes much labor in the process of adding up the results of the questionnaire.
Another problem is that when the subject has no watch, he cannot accurately record the listening start and stop dates and times to the minute.
Another problem is that an error in the written radio listening status cannot immediately be corrected unless the user carries an eraser or the like.
Another problem is that even if there is a subject who leaves the questionnaire on a desk at one corner thereof and enters the whole listening status during the survey period in the questionnaire while recalling his memory just before the end of the survey period, the rating company cannot learn such a fact. No problem arises when the recorded listening status is correct, but in many cases, the record relying solely on the subject's memory is not correct. Such incorrect listening status data by the subject concerned must be excluded from the statistic processing and, if not excluded, its weight is reduced, and some other measures are needed,
Another problem is that alterations in recorded data by a researcher during the collection of questionnaires could not be detected on the part of the rating company.
Still another problem is that in a situation where the subject cannot take a look at the display panel of a radio receiver as in the case where he is listening to a radio in a taxi or at a coffee shop or the like, it is necessary for the subject to determine the radio station from the contents of the program he is listening to and the radio program column of a newspaper or the like, and hence the tuned station cannot be specified immediately and accurately.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first object of the present invention is to provide a portable radio listening status recorder which enables the subject to record radio listening status data in electronic form.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a portable radio listening status recorder which enables the subject to accurately enter the listening start and stop dates and times even if he does not carries a watch with him.
A third object of the present invention is to provide a portable radio listening status recorder which enables the subject to immediately correct his erroneously entered radio listening status data.
A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a portable radio listening status recorder which is equipped with a function of automatically recording data which can be used as a measure for estimating the credibility of recorded radio listening status data.
A fifth object of the present invention is to provide a portable radio listening status recorder which enables a rating company to recognize alterations made by a researcher in recorded data.
A sixth object of the present invention is to provide a portable radio listening status recorder which protects recorded data from alterations by a researcher.
A seventh object of the present invention is to provide a portable radio listening status recorder which enables the subject to specify his tuned station immediately and accurately.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable recorder which is carried by the subject for making a survey on the radio listening status which comprises a display unit, an input unit and a processor, and wherein the processor comprises: a data memory; data entry support means for supporting the subject in his newly entering of radio listening status data containing items of at least the listening start date and time, the name of a tuned station, the place of listening and the listening stop date and time via the input unit; and data recording means for recording in the data memory the radio listening status data containing values of the items entered with the support of the data entry support means and finally determined by the subject.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, the recorder further comprises data readout means for reading out the data from the data memory for output to an external terminal.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, the data entry support means displays an input value candidate on the display unit on each input of each item and changes the input value candidate to the next candidate in response to instructions from the input unit.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the data entry support means displays the current date and time as an input value candidate at the time of entering the listening start date and time and then sequentially changes the current date and time to the next candidate in response to instructions from the input unit and, at the time of entering the name of the tuned station, displays as an input value candidate the same tuned station name as contained in immediately previously recorded radio listening status data and then sequentially changes the tuned station to those contained in a list of preselected stations in response to instructions from the input unit.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the data entry support means displays the current date and time as an input value candidate at the times of entering the listening start date and time and the listening stop date and time then sequentially changes said current date and time to the next candidate in response to instructions from the input unit and, at the times of entering the name of the tuned station and the place of listening, displays as inpu
Asakura Tatuo
Tanaka Hiroshi
Bost Dwayne
Contee Joy K.
K.K. Video Research
Sughrue & Mion, PLLC
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