Interactive video distribution systems – Use surveying or monitoring – By passively monitoring receiver operation
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-09
2003-05-20
Faile, Andrew (Department: 2611)
Interactive video distribution systems
Use surveying or monitoring
By passively monitoring receiver operation
C725S018000, C348S731000, C348S563000, C345S034000, C455S154100, C455S154200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06567978
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a device for monitoring usage of audiovisual equipment. In particular, the present invention relates to a device for interfacing with set-top converter boxes to determine a channel being watched by a television viewer.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Determining a number of viewers watching a particular television program is of great importance to television networks, stations, programmers and advertisers. Information regarding the number of viewers is used to determine market share and the ratings of particular programs. This information is additionally used to determine advertising rates, which in turn affects the revenue generated by the television networks and stations.
There are numerous systems known in the art that attempt to monitor the viewing habit of television watchers. Early attempts at monitoring were fairly simple and unsophisticated, and generally required viewers to maintain a diary of programs watched. As the viewers began and finished watching a particular channel or program, they entered a start and end time in to the diary. The viewers periodically mailed the diaries to a central collection location, which then processed the diaries. The disadvantages of such a system are many, including: failure to enter information into the diaries, inaccurate entries into the diaries, and delays in processing. Further, as the number of channels provided to households has increased dramatically, it has become increasingly difficult for viewers to accurately track their viewing habits.
Later attempts have become more sophisticated and efficient by automating portions of the data collection process and the determination of the channel currently being viewed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,685, to Roberts et al., discloses a television monitoring system having a channel detection unit, a people monitoring unit, a transmission unit, and a receiving unit. The channel detection unit detects ultra or very high frequency radiation emitted from a television tuner to determine if the channel being tuned is one of the channels which have been preset into the detection unit. The detection is performed by a pickup probe that inductively couples the signal emitted from the local oscillator of the television receiver. The people monitor unit is a powered handset that includes buttons assigned to each of the individuals who will be viewing the television set. The viewer depresses his or her assigned button to indicate he or she has started to watch the television. The viewing data is stored and transmitted by the transmission unit over household wiring to the receiving unit. The receiving unit sends the collected information to a central computer via a telephone connection. While this system speeds the data transmission process to the central computer as compared to mailing diaries to a processing center, there are several disadvantages in this system. For example, those of skill in the art will recognize that the location of the pick-up probe will greatly affect the sensitivity and accuracy of the channel detection unit. Further, as each viewer must manually depress a button on the people monitor, it is subject to the same inaccuracies of the diary method noted above, i.e., the failure of viewers to record the television channels actually watched.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,079, to Tuner et al., describes networked conventional audio and visual equipment that communicate via telephone lines with a remote central computer. The viewer provides channel selection commands or other programming commands to a microprocessor through an infrared remote control. A VCR tuner and TV tuner within the system provide audio and video signals for the conventional television monitor or television receiver. An AM and FM radio tuner may also be included, tunable by the microprocessor. In the Tuner et al. system, the video and/or audio signals from each tuner, video tape player, and disc players are coupled to the input side of an audio switch and a video switch. The switches are microprocessor controlled so that the audio and video program from any source may be coupled to any output or display device at the viewing location. The system includes a motion detector to determine the presence of viewers and provides for communication with a remote computer to monitor use of each networked audiovisual unit. While this system provides for monitoring and logging of each networked audiovisual unit, the Tuner et al. system is designed to control a large home-entertainment system, rather than a small-scale solution to monitoring viewers' habits. In particular, the Turner et al. system is indicated to cost a few hundred dollars, and would fail to provide a solution to television networks and advertisers who are interested in obtaining accurate viewing statistics by deploying systems to a relatively large number of viewers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,552, to Allison, III, et al., describes a system that collects television channel tuning data that transmits the data to a central site in a transparent manner to the occupants of the household. The system is designed having a hub and spoke architecture, where the hub unit communicates with metering devices attached to television receivers and/or cable television converters. The meters are periodically polled by the hub, which then collects the data acquired by each meter. The hub communicates with a host computer via standard telephone lines. The Allison, III, et al. system particularly describes the central hub device and gathering data before transmitting it to the central site. However, the Allison, III et al. system fails to provide an improved metering unit by contemplating the use of known channel meters.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,951, to Welsh, discloses a system for monitoring and recording data related to television program viewing habits that includes a plurality of remote program monitor units that automatically report such data to a central computer via a conventional telephone network. The monitor unit reads a character string that is decoded from the demodulated television signal received by the unit. The character string is compared to a string table stored within the unit to determine the content being viewed by the television watcher. If there is a match, an event code and a time are stored in the unit for reporting to the central computer. However, for the system to operate, the character string must be encoded into the received television signal, otherwise there will be no match with the string table stored in memory. Further, the string table must be kept current for the system to provide accurate results.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,970, to Kiefl, describes a system for monitoring and collecting data on the viewing habits of television viewers that includes a portable personal data collection device that is separate from the television or set-top converter. The personal data collection devices includes a detector for providing a station identifier identifying the particular broadcast signal being received by the receiver, a clock for providing a signal representing time, a memory for storing data, and a cellular telephone module for communicating with a central location. The cellular telephone module periodically transmits stored data within the device to the central location. The viewer may enter channel information directly into the device, or the device may include a detector for detecting a channel selection signal from a television remote control to change the station identifier stored in memory. While this is an improvement over diaries, this system requires a personal data collection device for each individual watching a particular television set. Further, because the device is physically separate from the television set, the data collected may not be accurate as viewers may either fail to enter channel information or the device may not detect an infrared transmission from the television remote control.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,282, to Mostafa, et al., discloses a tuning/monitoring module for monitoring use of a vid
ADcom Information Services Inc.
Faile Andrew
Huynh Son P.
Woodcock & Washburn LLP
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