U.S. patent application number 09/949938 was filed with the patent office on 2002-01-24 for audience measurement system for digital television.
This patent application is currently assigned to Nielsen Media Research, Inc.. Invention is credited to Feininger, William A., Kempter, Paul C., Lu, Daozheng.
Application Number | 20020010919 09/949938 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 22132516 |
Filed Date | 2002-01-24 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020010919 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Lu, Daozheng ; et
al. |
January 24, 2002 |
Audience measurement system for digital television
Abstract
A television audience measurement system measures viewing of a
television program viewed on digital television located in a
statistically selected site by (i) retrieving an audience
measurement data packet from a television set in order to identify
the television program, (ii) detecting an audio code embedded in
the television program in order to identify the television program,
(iii) extracting an audio signature from the television program in
order to identify the television program, (iv) identifying the
television program through use of a software agent, and (v)
selecting at least one of the retrieving means, the detecting
means, the extracting means, and the software agent in order to
identify the television program.
Inventors: |
Lu, Daozheng; (Dunedin,
FL) ; Kempter, Paul C.; (Palm Harbor, FL) ;
Feininger, William A.; (Palm Habor, FL) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MARSHALL, O'TOOLE, GERSTEIN, MURRAY & BORUN
6300 SEARS TOWER
233 SOUTH WACKER DRIVE
CHICAGO
IL
60606-6402
US
|
Assignee: |
Nielsen Media Research,
Inc.
|
Family ID: |
22132516 |
Appl. No.: |
09/949938 |
Filed: |
September 12, 2001 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
09949938 |
Sep 12, 2001 |
|
|
|
09076517 |
May 12, 1998 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
725/18 ;
348/E7.063; 725/14 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04H 60/45 20130101;
H04N 21/44224 20200801; H04N 21/658 20130101; H04H 60/39 20130101;
H04H 2201/90 20130101; H04H 60/82 20130101; H04N 21/4392 20130101;
H04H 60/37 20130101; H04N 21/812 20130101; H04H 60/58 20130101;
H04N 7/165 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
725/18 ;
725/14 |
International
Class: |
H04N 007/16 |
Claims
We claim:
1. A television audience measurement system for identifying a
viewer selected television program from among a plurality of
television programs simultaneously broadcast in a broadcast
channel, the television audience measurement system comprising: a
channel detector that detects the broadcast channel in which the
plurality of television programs is broadcast; and, a comparitor
that sequentially compares an audio component of the plurality of
television programs broadcast in the detected broadcast channel
with an audio signal of the viewer selected television program so
as to identify the viewer selected televi sion program.
2. The television audience measurement system of claim 1 wherein
the audio signal is detected by a microphone disposed adjacent a
television display.
3. The television audience measurement system of claim 1 wherein
the audio signal is detected by an intrusive connection into
equipment related to television viewing.
4. The television audience measurement system of claim 1 further
comprising a program identification datum detector that detects,
from the viewer selected television program, a program
identification datum indicative of an identity of the viewer
selected television program.
5. The television audience measurement system of claim 4 wherein
the program identification datum detector comprises a software
agent resident in equipment related to television viewing.
6. The television audience measurement system of claim 5 wherein
the software agent is arranged to search for the program
identification datum.
7. The television audience measurement system of claim 4 wherein
the audio signal is detected by a microphone disposed adjacent a
television display.
8. The television audience measurement system of claim 4 wherein
the audio signal is detected by an intrusive connection int o
equipment related to television viewing.
9. The television audience measurement system of claim 4 wherein
the comparitor is arranged to sequentially compare the audio
component of the plurality of television programs broadcast in the
detected broadcast channel with the audio signal of the viewer
selected television program so as to identify the viewer selected
television program if the program identification datum detector is
unable to detect a program identification datum indicative of an
identity of the viewer selected television program.
10. The television audience measurement system of claim 1 further
comprising a software agent arranged to detect, from the viewer
selected television program, a data element indicative of an
identity of the viewer selected television program.
11. The television audience measurement system of claim 10 where in
the software agent is arranged to search for a program
identification datum indicative of an identity of the viewer
selected television program.
12. The television audience measurement system of claim 4 wherein
the comparitor is arranged to sequentially compare the audio
component of the plurality of television programs broadcast in the
detected broadcast channel with the audio signal of the viewer
selected television program so as to identify the viewer selected
television program if the program identification datum detector is
unable to detect a program identification datum indicative of an
identity of the viewer selected television program.
13. A television audience measurement system for digital television
equipment, wherein the digital television equipment is disposed in
a statistically selected location, the television audience
measurement system comprising: a software agent adapted to read,
from a data packet contained in digital television programming, a
datum identifying a television program, wherein the software agent
is stored in memory associated with the digital television
equipment; an interface and communication apparatus adapted to
transmit the identification datum to a remotely located central
office.
14. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the digital television equipment comprises a receiver having a
tuner, a microprocessor, memory, an operating system, and a video
display unit.
15. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the digital television equipment is a set top box providing an
analog television signal to an analog receiver.
16. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the digital television equipment comprises a set top box providing
a digital television signal to a digital receiver.
17. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the digital television equipment comprises a set top box and a
monitor.
18. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the digital television equipment comprises a personal computer
provid ed with a television receiver.
19. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the digital television equipment includes a VCR.
20. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the digital television equipment includes a digital versatile disk
player.
21. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 further
comprising a person identification apparatus.
22. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the identification datum is a program identification code of a
television program.
23. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the identification datum comprises a program name.
24. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the identification datum comprises an address of an Internet
page.
25. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the identification datum comprises an identification code of an
Internet page.
26. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the identification datum comprises a banner of material viewed by
an audience.
27. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the identification datum comprises a signature extracted from a
television program viewed on the digital television equipment.
28. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the software agent is arranged to detect window activities
conducted by an audience.
29. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the interface and communication apparatus includes a serial
port.
30. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the interface and communication apparatus includes a parallel
port.
31. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the interface and communication apparatus includes a universal
serial bus.
32. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the interface and communication apparatus includes a firewire.
33. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the interface and communication apparatus is arranged to send the
identification datum to an Internet service provider via the
Internet.
34. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the interface and communication apparatus includes an intermediate
data collector.
35. The television audience measurement system of claim 34 wherein
the intermediate data collector includes a store and forward
device, and wherein the store and forward device is arranged to
send the identification datum to the central office via a telephone
line.
36. The television audience measurement system of claim 34 wherein
the intermediate data collector is an Internet service
provider.
37. The television audience measurement system of claim 34 wherein
the intermediate data collector is a data collection facility
located in the central office.
38. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the software agent is a software agent downloaded to the memory
associated with the digital television equipment.
39. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the software agent is a plug in software agent of the digital
television equipment.
40. The television audience measurement system of claim 13 wherein
the software agent is a floppy disk software agent of the digital
television equipment.
41. A television audience measurement system for identifying a
viewer selected television program from among a plurality of
television programs broadcast as a time division multiplexed
sequence of data packets in a broadcast channel, the viewer
selected television program being displayed on a television display
in a statistically selected location, the television audience
measurement system comprising: receiving means for receiving the
time division multiplexed sequence of data packets in the broadcast
channel; acquiring means for acquiring an audio portion of the
viewer selected television program; recovering means for recovering
audio components respectively corresponding to the television
programs contained in the sequence of data packets; and, comparing
means for comparing the audio components to the audio portion in
order to determine the viewer selected television program.
42. The television audience measurement system of claim 41 wherein
the acquiring means comprises a sensor arranged to acquire a
representation of a speaker signal from a speaker associated with
the television display.
43. The television audience measurement system of claim 41 wherein
the acquiring means comprises a connection to audio processing
circuitry associated with the television display.
44. The television audience measurement system of claim 41 wherein
the receiving means comprises; an intermediate frequency probe
arranged to acquire an intermediate frequency signal from a viewer
controlled tuner associated with the television display; and,
demodulating means for demodulating the intermediate frequency
signal in order to receive the data packets.
45. The television audience measurement system of claim 41 wherein
the receiving means comprises: a local oscillator frequency probe
arranged to pick up a local oscillator frequency signal from the
television display; means for identifying the broadcast channel
from the local oscillator signal; wherein the recovering means
recovers the audio components from television programs contained in
the identified broadcast channel; and, wherein the comparing means
compares the audio components to the representation of the speaker
signal in order to determine the viewer selected television
program.
46. The television audience measurement system of claim 41 wherein
the receiving means comprises a scanning receiver arranged to scan
each of a plurality of broadcast channels and to receive a
corresponding plurality of time division multiplexed television
programs from each of the plurality of broadcast channels.
47. The television audience measurement system of claim 41 further
comprising identifying means for identifying persons in an audience
of the viewer selected television program.
48. A television audience measurement system for measuring viewing
of a television program viewed on digital television located in a
statistically selected site comprising: detecting means for
detecting an audio code embedded in the television program in order
to identify the television program; extracting means for extracting
an audio signature from the television program in order to identify
the television program; a software agent arranged to identify the
television program; and, selecting means for selecting at least one
of the detecting means, the extracting means, and the software
agent in order to identify the television program.
49. The television audience measurement system of claim 48 further
comprising retrieving means for retrieving an audience measurement
data packet from a television set in order to identify the
television program, wherein the selecting means selects at least
one of the retrieving means, the detecting means, the extracting
means, and the software agent in order to identify the television
program.
50. A method of identifying a television program selected by a
viewer from a set of television programs broadcast as multiplexed
data packets in a viewer selected broadcast channel, the viewer
selected television program being displayed on a display portion of
an apparatus tuned to the viewer selected broadcast channel, the
method comprising the steps of: a) determining the viewer selected
broadcast channel; b) acquiring an audio portion of the viewer
selected television program; c) selecting an audio component
associated with one of the set of television programs broadcast in
the viewer selected broadcast channel; d) comparing the audio
portion with the audio component in order to determine whether the
audio portion and the audio component match; e) if the audio
portion and the audio component match, storing a tuning record from
at least one of the audio portion and the audio component; and, f)
if the audio portion and the audio component do not match,
repeating steps (c) through (f) until either a match is found or
the set of television programs is exhausted.
51. The method of claim 50 wherein step a) comprises the step of
determining the viewer selected broadcast channel by use of a
channel detector associated with the apparatus.
52. The method of claim 51 wherein step b) comprises the step of
acquiring the audio portion of the viewer selected television
program by use of an audio probe adjacent the apparatus.
53. The method of claim 52 wherein step c) comprises the step of
selecting the audio component by use of a digital tuner that is not
a portion of the apparatus.
54. The method of claim 50 wherein step b) comprises the step of
acquiring the audio portion of the viewer selected television
program by use of an audio probe adjacent the apparatus.
55. The method of claim 54 wherein step c) comprises the step of
selecting the audio component by use of a digital tuner that is not
a portion of the apparatus.
56. The method of claim 50 wherein step c) comprises the step of
selecting the audio component by use of a digital tuner that is not
a portion of the apparatus.
57. A method of identifying a viewer selected television program
from among a plurality of time overlapped television programs
broadcast in a viewer selected broadcast channel, wherein the
viewer selected television program is displayed in a first window
of a multi-window television display, wherein a file is also
broadcast in the viewer selected channel so as to be time
overlapped with the viewer selected television program, wherein the
viewer selected television program and the data file contain
respective labels, wherein material from the file is displayed in a
second window of the multi-window display, and wherein the method
comprises the steps of: a) reading, from the file, the respective
file label and an identifying datum; b) finding the television
program label associated with the respective file label; and, c)
storing a time-stamped record comprising the identifying datum.
58. The method of claim 57 wherein the file is a data file.
59. The method of claim 57 wherein the file is an image file.
60. The method of claim 57 wherein the file is logically related to
the viewer selected television program, wherein the television
program label and the file label are indicative of the logical
relation, and wherein step comprises the step of finding, from the
logical relation, the television program label associated with the
respective data file label.
61. A software agent stored in memory associated with digital
television equipment, wherein the software agent is arranged to
acquire television audience measurement data relative to the
digital television equipment, the software agent comprising: first
logging means for logging a television program identification datum
identifying a television program selected for viewing on the
digital television equipment; second logging means for logging an
identification datum associated with data corresponding to the
television program selected for viewing on the digital television
equipment; and, third logging means for logging an Internet
identification datum associated with an Internet task of the
digital television equipment.
62. An apparatus for identifying a viewer selected television
program from among a plurality of time overlapped television
programs broadcast in a viewer selected broadcast channel and
received by digital television program reception equipment, wherein
the digital television program reception equipment has a data port,
the apparatus comprising: reading means connected to the data port
for reading program identifying data from among data provided on
the data port; and, storing means for storing the program
identifying data.
63. The apparatus of claim 62 wherein the digital television
program reception equipment is a digital converter.
64. The apparatus of claim 62 wherein the digital television
program reception equipment is a personal computer.
65. The apparatus of claim 62 wherein the digital television
program reception equipment is a digital television set.
66. An apparatus for identifying a viewer selected television
program from among a plurality of time overlapped television
programs broadcast in a viewer selected broadcast channel and
received by digital television program reception equipment, wherein
the digital television program reception equipment has a data port,
the apparatus comprising: reading means connected to the data port
for reading program identifying data from among data provided on
the data port; and, communicating means for communicating the
program identifying data to a remote point.
67. The apparatus of claim 66 wherein the digital television
program reception equipment is a digital converter.
68. The apparatus of claim 66 wherein the digital television
program reception equipment is a personal computer.
69. The apparatus of claim 66 wherein the digital television
program reception equipment is a digital television set.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0001] The present invention relates to the measurement of
audiences of digitally broadcast television programming and to the
measurement of usage of other information services provided to the
audiences.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] Of the many approaches to measuring the usage of electronic
entertainment equipment (commonly called "tuning" data), one
approach involves the addition of an identifying code to a radio or
television program, the distribution of the identifying code with
the program throughout the relevant broadcasting system, and the
detection and interpretation of the identifying code when the
broadcast signal is viewed or heard in a statistically selected
monitoring site. An example of a system which implements this type
of measurement approach may be found in the following patents: U.S.
Pat. No. 5,481,294 to Thomas et al., who describe, inter alia,
identifying codes added to the vertical blanking interval of an
NTSC television broadcast; U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,739 to Dougherty,
who is particularly concerned with the addition of an identifying
code to a low energy portion of the audio spectrum of an NTSC
signal; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,377 to Moses, who teaches an audio
encoding arrangement using signal masking to decrease the
perceptibility of the identifying code. The disclosures of U.S.
Pat. No. 5,481,294, U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,739, and U.S. Pat. No.
5,404,377 are herein incorporated by reference.
[0003] Another approach to measuring usage of electronic
entertainment equipment involves the extraction of a characteristic
feature signature (or characteristic feature signature set) from
the programming selected for viewing, and the storing of a
time-stamped signature (or signature set) in a memory for
subsequent transmission to a central data collection office where
the signature (or signature set) is compared with corresponding
reference signatures collected by the central office from known
broadcasting sources. This approach is taught by Lert and Lu in
U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,466. The teaching of U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,466 is
herein incorporated by reference.
[0004] Yet another approach to the measurement of the usage of
electronic entertainment equipment has been that of comparing the
viewed signal (or some component or artifact thereof) with all the
signals available to a sampled house-hold at the time the
measurement is made. A review of apparatus and methods useful for
this measurement approach is found in the teachings of Thomas et
al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,629,739 and of Lu et al. in U.S. Pat. No.
5,594,934. The teachings in U.S. Pat. No. 5,594,934 and in U.S.
Pat. No. 5,629,739 are herein incorporated by reference.
[0005] Wheeler, et al., in U.S. application Ser. No. 08/786,270,
filed on Jan., 22, 1997, teach a video signal source detection
arrangement which determines the source of a video and/or audio
signal being displayed by a television receiver. The arrangement
implements a variety of tuning measurement approaches. For example,
it can be used to read an identifying ancillary code transmitted
with television programming, to obtain characteristic feature
signatures from television programming, or to obtain a signal that
is matched with a contemporary reference signal obtained by a
television tuner controlled by measurement equipment. The
disclosure of the aforementioned U.S. application Ser. No.
08/786,270 is herein incorporated by reference.
[0006] Chan, in U.S. application Ser. No. 08/654,309, filed on May
28, 1996, teaches a sensor arrangement for non-intrusively
obtaining a representation of video and synchronization signals
from a television receiver. The disclosure of the aforementioned
U.S. application Ser. No, 08/654,309 is herein incorporated by
reference.
[0007] Changes in the methods of measuring the reception of
television or radio programming are required because of a planned
change-over from analog to digital broadcasting. In the U.S., the
change-over is scheduled to be phased in by the year 2006, as
documented in the Federal Communication Commission's Mass Media
Docket 87-268, with particular reference to the Fifth Report and
Order, FCC 97-116, Apr. 3, 1997 and to the Sixth Report and Order,
FCC 97-115, Apr. 3, 1997. Some of the changes, and their respective
impacts on approaches used for measuring analog broadcasts, include
the following: (1) digital broadcast techniques do not use a
vertical blanking interval and, therefore, the program tracking and
identifying codes that are written in the vertical blanking
interval of analog broadcast signals will not be transmitted; (2)
multiple signal formats and associated multiple display formats
having, among other features, differing height-to-width ratios and
different resolutions are allowed, so that existing video signal
correlation methods used with analog broadcasts may essentially be
disabled because these methods depend on having the same pictorial
feature appear at corresponding places on the measured and
reference displays; (3) a broadcaster can transmit as many as six
programs (arrayed as a sequence of data packets, where each data
packet is labeled as to which of the programs' data is carried
therein) within an assigned 6 MHZ frequency band by trading off
pictorial resolution for an increase in the number of programs so
that (i) digital signal compression methods used to decrease the
spectrum space required by a program destroy program identifying
codes embedded in an original, high-resolution, program master, and
(ii) determining which channel has been tuned by a receiver does
not uniquely identify a program being viewed if more than one
program is being transmitted in that channel; and, (4) data other
than television broadcasting may be co-transmitted in the same
channel and, in some cases, it is expected that the other data will
be related in some manner to the co-transmitted programming so that
a viewer can interact with the TV programming (e.g., to obtain a
program guide or detailed information on an advertised product, to
automatically switch to a desired program, or to take part in an
audience-participation program).
[0008] It may be noted that, although projected digital signal
compression and transmission methods destroy the types of video
codes used in, and suggested for, the prior-generation analog
broadcasting approaches, it is expected that less change will be
encountered with respect to audio codes. That is, because the audio
component of a television broadcast comprises much less information
than does the video, there is much less to be gained by applying
signal compression methods to audio. Nonetheless, it is expected
that various audio compression methods may be employed. These
methods include those defined by the Dolby AC-3 or the European
MUSICAN standards, or those defined by some yet-to-be-defined
standard operable within the relatively open and flexible MPEG
arrangement. Although the coding approaches taught in the
aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,377 are known to survive the
Dolby AC-3 and MUSICAN compression methods, compression methods
other than Dolby AC-3 and MUSICAN may destroy these codes.
Moreover, although the change in technology may obviate the use of
some of the codes, such as those described above, other codes
(e.g., digital data packet codes telling a receiving site which of
several interleaved programs is associated with a given data
packet) are expected to be broadcast both with television
programming and with any co-transmitted data that are related to,
and intended to be used in conjunction with, one or more of the
programs.
[0009] In addition to changes in transmission equipment and
signals, considerable changes are expected in reception equipment.
Notable among these are both the use of set top signal converters
(generally referred to as set top boxes) allowing a digital
broadcast to be viewed on an analog receiver, and a projected
convergence of television receivers and computers. In the short
term, for example, it is expected that digital receivers,
configured as plug-in boards for personal computers, will be used
to enable the display of digital television signals on the
computers.
[0010] Another traditional measurement reflected in television
audience reporting has been the determination of who actually
viewed the program that was received by the equipment being
monitored in a statistically selected monitoring site. A related
measurement of interest is the identification of users of on-line
services, such as on-line services provided over the Internet.
Also, it is clear that measuring the members of an audience in a
statistically selected monitoring site who are interactively using
a television and/or accessing the Internet, and the information
delivery apparatus used to deliver information to the members, will
continue to be important.
[0011] By far the most commonly used approach in making these
measurements is that of interrogation, wherein the viewer and/or
Internet user is asked to identify himself or herself as a member
of the television audience or as an Internet user. In connection
with television viewing, this inquiry is usually done by means of
an electronic prompting and data input device (commonly referred to
as a Peoplemeter) associated with a monitored receiver in a
statistically selected monitoring site. The member identification
may also include age, sex, and other demographic data. It is common
to store both the demographic data and the tuning data associated
with each monitored receiver in the statistically selected
monitoring site in store-and-forward equipment located within the
monitoring site and to subsequently forward these data to a central
office computer via a direct call over the public switched
telephone network , or via the Internet, on a daily basis.
[0012] Of particular interest in this area is the teaching of an
audience interrogation arrangement disclosed by McKenna et al., in
U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,904. According to this arrangement, a prompting
message is displayed on a television screen overlaid on viewer
selected programming by mixing the prompting message with the video
signal being sent to the display. However, McKenna et al. do not
teach a "tiling" arrangement where the prompting message is
displayed on a portion of a display separated from the portion of
the display devoted to television picture.
[0013] Many arrangements have been proposed in the computer arts
for reliably identifying a user so that only selected individuals
can secure access to some of the data on a computer or computer
system. The most common of such arrangements is that of requiring
the user to enter both his or her claimed identity along with a
password. Other arrangements have included the use of various
biometric techniques, such as image or voice recognition devices.
Additionally, it is well known in the audience measurement arts to
use computer-based image recognition in order to identify members
of a viewing audience. Notable among teachings in this area is that
by Lu in U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,000. The teaching of this patent is
herein incorporated by reference.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0014] According to one aspect of the present invention, a
television audience measurement system identifies a viewer selected
television program from among a plurality of television programs
simultaneously broadcast in a broadcast channel. The television
audience measurement system comprises a channel detector and a
comparitor. The channel detector detects the broadcast channel in
which the plurality of television programs is broadcast. The
comparitor sequentially compares an audio component of the
plurality of television programs broadcast in the detected
broadcast channel with an audio signal of the viewer selected
television program so as to identify the viewer selected television
program.
[0015] According to another aspect of the present invention, a
television audience measurement system is provided for digital
television equipment that is disposed in a statistically selected
location. The television audience measurement system comprises a
software agent and an interface and communication apparatus. The
software agent is adapted to read, from a data packet contained in
digital television programming, a datum identifying a television
program, and the software agent is stored in memory associated with
the digital television equipment. The interface and communication
apparatus is adapted to transmit the identification datum to a
remotely located central office.
[0016] According to still another aspect of the present invention,
a television audience measurement system identifies a viewer
selected television program from among a plurality of television
programs broadcast as a time division multiplexed sequence of data
packets in a broadcast channel. The viewer selected television
program is displayed on a television display in a statistically
selected location. The television audience measurement system
comprises receiving means, acquiring means, recovering means, and
comparing means. The receiving means receives the time division
multiplexed sequence of data packets in the broadcast channel. The
acquiring means acquires an audio portion of the viewer selected
television program. The recovering means recovers audio components
respectively corresponding to the television programs contained in
the sequence of data packets. The comparing means compares the
audio components to the audio portion in order to determine the
viewer selected television program.
[0017] According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a
television audience measurement system measures viewing of a
television program viewed on digital television located in a
statistically selected site and comprises detecting means,
extracting means, a software agent, and selecting means. The
detecting means detects an audio code embedded in the television
program in order to identify the of the audio portion and the audio
component; and, f) if the audio portion and the audio component do
not match, selecting a different one of the television programs
from the set of television programs and repeating steps (c) through
(f) until either a match is found or the set of television programs
is exhausted.
[0018] According to a still further aspect of the present
invention, a method is provided to identify a viewer selected
television program from among a plurality of time overlapped
television programs broadcast in a viewer selected broadcast
channel. The viewer selected television program is displayed in a
first window of a multi-window television display. A data file,
logically related to the viewer selected television program, is
also broadcast in the viewer selected channel so as to be time
overlapped with the viewer selected television program. The viewer
selected television program and the data file contain respective
labels indicative of the logical relation. Data from the data file
is displayed in a second window of the multi-window display. The
method comprises the following steps: a) reading, from the data
file, the respective data file label and an identifying datum; b)
finding, from the logical relation, the television program label
associated with the respective data file label; and, c) storing a
time-stamped record comprising the identifying datum.
[0019] According to yet a further aspect of the present invention,
a software agent is stored in memory associated with digital
television equipment. The software agent is arranged to acquire
television audience measurement data relative to the digital
television equipment. The software agent comprises first, second,
and third logging means. The first logging means logs a television
program identification datum identifying a television program
selected for viewing on the digital television equipment. The
second logging means logs a co-transmitted identification datum
associated with data co-transmitted with the television program
selected for viewing on the digital television equipment. The third
logging means logs an Internet identification datum associated with
an Internet task of the digital television equipment.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
[0020] These and other features and advantages of the present
invention will become more apparent from a detailed consideration
of the invention when taken in conjunction with the drawings in
which:
[0021] FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram depicting typical
digital television broadcasting and reception equipment;
[0022] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram depicting an audio-based
tuning measurement system which is usable with either digital or
analog broadcasting and which is in accordance with a first
embodiment of the present invention;
[0023] FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram depicting a tuning
measurement system which employs a software agent resident in some
of the monitored receiving equipment and which is in accordance
with a second embodiment of the present invention;
[0024] FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram depicting the use of
digital source detection in accordance with a third embodiment of
the present invention;
[0025] FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram depicting the use of
digital source detection in accordance with a fourth embodiment of
the present invention;
[0026] FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram depicting the use of
data ports on various television viewing equipment in order to
measure television related data in accordance with a fifth
embodiment of the present invention; and,
[0027] FIG. 7 is a flow chart depicting the operation of a software
agent of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0028] A typical digital television broadcasting environment, which
is planned during a transition period in which both digital and
analog programs are transmitted, may comprise some combination of
the elements depicted in FIG. 1. Network programming, and other
non-local programming, is provided to a local television station 10
from a broadcast station over a communication medium 12, such as a
satellite, or terrestrial digital transmission lines, or the like.
Local programming is also provided to the local television station
10 from some mixture of high definition television (HDTV) cameras
14 (which may employ a variety of formats), standard definition
digital video cameras 16 (which may employ a variey of resolutions
and aspect ratios), and analog sources comprising both analog video
cameras 18 (e.g., those compatible with the prior generation NTSC
broadcast standard), and cinema film sources 20 that have
historically been converted to the NTSC standard by means of well
known telecine 22.
[0029] The signals from the analog video cameras 18 and from the
cinema film sources 20 are input to an A/D converter 24 having an
appropriate digital output. The outputs from the A/D converter 24,
from the communication medium 12, from the high definition
television (HDTV) cameras 14, and/or from the standard definition
digital video cameras 16 are provided to a switching and routing
apparatus 26. The switching and routing apparatus 26 passes
selected ones of the signals provided to it through digital
compression equipment 28 prior to being broadcast from the
station's transmitter 30. The station's transmitter 30 may also
include an antenna, a satellite dish, a cable modem, or the
like.
[0030] In addition, a cable headend 31 (which is shown as a single
cable provider but which may represent a plurality of cable
providers) receives signals over the air, from satellite
distribution, or the like, and distributes the signals (with or
without reformatting) by way of regular cables, optical fibers,
microwaves, or the like.
[0031] The digital transmission from the local television station
10 and/or from the cable headend 31 may be directly received and
displayed in a statistically selected monitoring site 32 by a
digital television set 34. The digital transmission also may be
directly received and converted by a digital converter 36 (commonly
configured as a set top box or STB) into an analog output (e.g., in
the NTSC format) for use by an analog television set 38 purchased
by a viewer prior to the change-over to digital programming. The
digital transmission further may be directly received and displayed
by a personal computer 40 that has a digital receiver 42 providing
a baseband video output signal that the personal computer 40 can
show in one of the windows 44 defined on its display unit 46. The
digital receiver 42, for example, could be a plug in board of the
personal computer 40 or integrated on the motherboard. The personal
computer also may have speakers 47, a keyboard 48, and a mouse 50
or other pointing device known in the art.
[0032] Moreover, the digital transmission may be directly received
and converted by a digital converter 52 to a form useable by a
digital television set 54. For example, the digital converter 52
may be used for pay-per-view television programming,
video-on-demand television programming, satellite programs, and/or
other services provided to the statistically selected monitoring
site 32. The digital transmission also may be directly received and
converted by a digital converter 56 to a form useable by a simple
monitor 58. In either of these two cases, the digital television
viewing can be measured by means of metering technologies similar
to the set top box and an analog television configuration described
below.
[0033] In addition to the direct reception of the digital
transmission by apparatus dedicated solely to that purpose (e.g.,
the digital television set 34 and/or the personal computer 40), it
is expected that a variety of yet-to-be-defined consumer electronic
apparatuses will be configured that incorporate at least some of
the features of both a digital or analog television receiver and a
home computer.
[0034] A first embodiment 60 of the present invention, which
measures tuning to digital television programming received in a
statistically selected monitoring site 62, is depicted
schematically in FIG. 2. The first embodiment 60 measures such
tuning by detecting program identification codes and/or extracting
signatures from the audio portion of the television signal to which
a receiver is tuned. This audio portion is detected by a detector
64 in the case of a digital television set 66, and by a detector 68
in the case of an analog television set 70. The detector 64 may
detect the audio portion of a program to which the digital
television set 66 is tuned by non-intrusively detecting the sound
provided by a speaker 72 of the digital television set 66 (in which
case the detector 64 may be a microphone) or by intrusively
detecting the audio signal from a direct connection to the speaker,
the audio output terminals, or the audio processing circuitry of
the digital television set 66. Similarly, the detector 68 may
detect the audio portion of a program to which the analog
television set 70 is tuned by non-intrusively detecting the sound
provided by a speaker 74 of the digital television set 66 or by
intrusively detecting the audio signal from a direct connection to
the speaker, the audio output terminals, or the audio processing
circuitry of the analog television set 70. The analog television
receiver 70 is provided with a digital converter 76, which may be
similar to the digital converter 36 of FIG. 1.
[0035] The audio portion of a television program may also be
detected by a detector 78 when the television program is played by
a personal computer 80 on a monitor 82 and speakers 84. The
detector 78 may detect the audio portion of a program to which the
personal computer 80 is tuned by non-intrusively detecting the
sound provided by the speakers 84 or by intrusively detecting the
audio signal from a direct connection to the speaker, the audio
output terminals, or the audio processing circuitry of the personal
computer 80.
[0036] As has been taught by Thomas et al., in U.S. Pat. No.
5,629,739, a representation of the audio portion picked up by the
detector 64 can be analyzed by a site unit (SU) 86 and/or a home
unit (HU) 88 (which may be provided with data storage and
forwarding unit capability) within the statistically selected
monitoring site 62 in order to determine if the audio portion from
the digital television set 66 contains television program
identification codes. Alternatively, the representation of the
audio portion picked up by the detector 64 can be analyzed at a
remotely located data collection central office 90 in order to
determine if the audio portion from the digital television set 66
contains such television program identification codes. The remotely
located data collection central office 90 is schematically depicted
as a computer based data collection central office that
interchanges data with the home unit 88 over a communication
network 92, such as a public switched telephone network, the
Internet, or the like.
[0037] Similarly, a representation of the audio portion picked up
by the detector 68 can be analyzed by a site unit 94 and/or the
home unit 88 in order to determine if the audio portion from the
analog television set 70 contains television program-identifying
codes, and a representation of the audio portion picked up by the
detector 78 can be analyzed by a site unit 96 and/or the home unit
88 in order to determine if the audio portion from the personal
computer 80 contains television program-identifying codes.
Alternatively, the representation of the audio portions picked up
by the detectors 68 and 78 can be analyzed at the remotely located
data collection central office 90 in order to determine if the
audio portions from the analog television set 70 and the personal
computer 80 contain television program identification codes.
[0038] Moreover, a person identifier 98 may be provided in order to
identify the persons watching television programming on the digital
television set 66. The person identifier 98 may be video camera, an
IR camera, or the like. When such equipment is available in the
statistically selected monitoring site 62, the site unit 86 may
employ known head location and face recognition software (e.g., as
taught by Lu in U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,000) for the identification of
the viewing persons and for the collection of other demographic
data. Similarly, person identifiers may be provided in order to
identify the persons watching television programming on the analog
television set 70 and on the personal computer 80.
[0039] Instead of analyzing the representations of the audio
portions picked up by the detectors 64, 68, and 78 in order to
determine if the audio portions from the corresponding digital
television set 66, analog television set 70, and personal computer
80 contain television program-identifying codes, characteristic
signatures can be extracted from these representations for
subsequent comparison, either in the statistically selected
monitoring site 62 or in the central office 90, with previously
collected reference signatures in order to identify the television
programs to which the digital television set 66, the analog
television set 70, and the personal computer 80 are tuned.
[0040] Programs played by VCRs on the digital television set 66, on
the analog television set 70, and on the personal computer 80 can
be identified using either the code or the signature technique.
Thus, if the programs being played carry program identification
codes that are preserved through the process of recording and
replay in the case of time shifted viewing, or that are recorded in
the programs stored on tapes to be rented or sold, the program
identification codes can be detected at the time that the programs
are played so that the audiences of the programs may be measured.
However, if the programs being played are non-encoded programs, or
if the program identification codes are lost (e.g., during the
recording process), then the embodiments of the present invention
described herein can determine the programs being viewed, when the
tapes are played, by extracting characteristic signatures from
these programs and by matching the extracted signatures to
reference signatures stored in a reference signature database. In
this case, searching can be optimized by the use of well known
hashing techniques.
[0041] Although the present invention may use either the code
technique or the signature technique in order to measure audiences
of programs played on digital television equipment, the present
invention may use both of these two techniques so that one of the
techniques backs up the other in the event that the one technique
is unable to identify a viewer selected television program. For
example, signatures are extracted and matched in order to identify
a viewer selected television program only if identifying codes
cannot be detected. As a further alternative, the present invention
may use both of these two techniques simultaneously. Demographic
data may also be collected in connection with the present
invention.
[0042] It may be noted that, although the first embodiment 60
measures the great majority of the overall audience, it is not
arranged to measure interactive features (e.g., co-transmitted
advertising detail) that are expected to be part of the digital
broadcasting environment. Therefore, an important feature of the
following embodiment is that it measures interactive features.
[0043] Accordingly, a second embodiment 100 of the present
invention is provided as shown in FIG. 3. The second embodiment 100
measures tuning to digital television programming in connection
with a statistically selected monitoring site 102. As will be
apparent from the discussion below, this second embodiment 100 may
include some or all of the features of the first embodiment 60, as
well as the new features described below in connection with the
second embodiment 100.
[0044] According to this second embodiment 100, tuning data, and
possibly demographic data, are collected from digital television
reception equipment that includes processing equipment preferably
having adequate non-volatile or battery-backed memory available so
that an algorithm, hereinafter referred to as a software agent, can
be stored thereon. The digital television reception equipment of
the second embodiment 100 may include (i) a personal computer 104
which may be similar to the personal computer 40 of FIG. 1, (ii) a
digital converter 106 which may be similar to the digital converter
36 of FIG. 1, (iii) an analog television set 108 operating in
response to the digital converter 106, and (v) a digital television
set 110.
[0045] One or more software agents of the second embodiment 100, as
disclosed in greater detail hereinafter, monitor operating tasks in
order to create time-stamped records containing tuning and/or other
data regarding operation of the particular pieces of equipment in
which the software agents are resident. Such monitored operating
tasks may be, for example, messages passed from a remote or other
control operated by a user to a tuner or other program selector in
order to select a television program being broadcast in a channel,
messages passed from a controller of processing equipment to a
tuner in order to select a television program being broadcast in a
channel, or the like. Although software agents are expected to be
able to effectively eavesdrop on data traffic passing though their
hosts' data ports, the use of software agents would not fully
measure tuning at viewing sites unless each item of television
equipment at those sites has a respective software agent within it
so that a complete set of operating tasks can be captured.
[0046] Accordingly, a software agent 112 is included in the digital
converter 106. The software agent 112 monitors operating tasks in
order to create time-stamped records containing tuning and/or other
data regarding operation of the digital converter 106 in which the
software agent 112 is resident. Thus, the software agent 112
detects, for example, a message relating to selection of a
television program being broadcast in a selected channel. From this
detected message, the identity of the selected television program
may be determined. The software agent 112 is also arranged to
eavesdrop on data traffic passing though its host's input/output
data port 114, and to communicate over the input/output data port
114. Accordingly, programs to which the analog television set 108
is tuned may be detected through use of the software agent 112. The
software agent 112 may be downloaded over a communication medium
116 to the digital converter 106 by use of the input/output data
port 114. Alternatively, the software agent 112 may be a plug in,
may be resident on a floppy disk, or the like.
[0047] Similarly, a software agent 118 is included in the digital
television set 110. The software agent 118 monitors operating tasks
associated with the digital television set 110 in order to create
time-stamped records containing tuning and/or other data regarding
operation of the digital television set 110 in which the software
agent 118 is resident. The software agent 118 is also arranged to
cooperate with its host's input/output data port 120. A software
agent 122 is included in the personal computer 104. The software
agent 122 monitors operating tasks associated with the personal
computer 104 in order to create time-stamped records containing
tuning and/or other data regarding operation of the personal
computer 104 in which the software agent 122 is resident. The
software agent 122 is also arranged to cooperate with its host's
input/output data port 124.
[0048] Moreover, a person identifier 126 may be provided in order
to identify the persons watching television programming on the
personal computer 104. As in the case of the person identifier 98,
the person identifier 126 may be video camera, an IR camera, or the
like, and may be provided with any or all of the viewing equipment
shown in FIG. 4.
[0049] The software agents 112, 118, and 122 may be
telecommunication enabled so that television audience data from all
the viewing sites in the statistically selected monitoring site 102
can be communicated, via the Internet, a public telephone system,
or the like, to a locally located or remotely located intermediate
data collector 128 and then to a remotely located central office
130 through a communication channel 170. The intermediate data
collector 128 can be flexibly located either at the same
statistically selected monitoring site 102, or at a remotely
located site 166, or at the central office 130. For this purpose,
the input/output data ports 114, 120, and 124 may be serial ports,
parallel ports, universal serial buses (USB), fire-wires (according
to IEEE 1394), or the like. The data transfer may, for example, be
structured as a background task and take the form of a sequence of
data packets, each of which is e-mailed or otherwise communicated
to the remotely located intermediate data collector 128 during
pauses in a user's on line sessions or at any other time. The
intermediate data collector 128, for example, may be a computerized
data collector or an Internet service provider. Alternatively, the
intermediate data collector 128 may be a home unit, in which case,
the intermediate data collector 128 may be located within the
statistically selected monitoring site 102 and may itself be
arranged to communicate tuning and demographic data via e-mail or
other communication to the central office 130.
[0050] The software agent 122 additionally may monitor the personal
computer 104 for interactive uses such as Internet usage (e.g.,
through logging of Universal Resource Locators, URLs), application
software usage, and television viewing supported by the personal
computer 104. Similarly, to the extent that the digital converter
106 and the digital television set 110 are web-enabled, the
software agents 114 and 118 may monitor interactive uses such as
Internet usage (e.g., through logging of URLs) and application
software usage, as well as television viewing.
[0051] Because not all equipment that is encountered by a research
firm doing television audience research, at least during the early
part of the digital television broadcasting era, will be compatible
with the software agent approach discussed above, the second
embodiment 100 of the measurement system of the present invention
may be arranged to include many or all of the features found in the
first embodiment 60.
[0052] As described above, the first embodiment 60 measures the
great majority of the overall audience by detecting the programs to
which receivers are tuned by detecting program identification codes
embedded in the programs, and/or by extracting signatures of the
programs being viewed and by comparing the extracted signatures to
reference signatures. Moreover, the second embodiment 100 measures
not only the overall audience, but also interactive features
provided with the programming. The embodiments described below are
specifically arranged to measure, in an efficient manner, the
digital television viewing data where multiple television programs
are present in a common digital transmission channel (e.g., of 6
MHZ), particularly where a digital television set does not have an
accessible operating system with which a software agent can reside.
The first embodiment 60 is also useful where there is no I/O
interface on the television set so that there is no easy way to
read data from the television set.
[0053] FIG. 4 depicts a third embodiment 200 of the invention in
which a statistically selected monitoring site 202, during the
transition period when both analog and digital broadcasting occur,
includes, for example, a first viewing site 204, a second viewing
site 206, and a third viewing site 208. The first viewing site 204
includes a digital converter 210 connected to an analog television
set 212. The audio portion of a program to which the analog
television set 212 is tuned is detected by a detector 214. The
detector 214 may detect this audio portion by non-intrusively
detecting the sound provided by a speaker 216 of the analog
television set 212 or by intrusively detecting the audio signal
from a direct connection to the analog television set 212.
[0054] A probe 218 is provided to detect the intermediate frequency
signal of the digital converter 210. A signal processor 220
demodulates the detected intermediate frequency signal to the
baseband bit stream contained in the detected intermediate
frequency signal, and then demultiplexes the baseband bit stream to
recover the audio portion of the baseband bit stream.
[0055] A comparitor 222 may be arranged to first determine whether
there is a program identification code in the audio detected by the
detector 214. If there is a program identification code in the
audio detected by the detector 214, this program identification
code identifies the program to which the analog television set 212
is tuned and is, therefore, logged. If there is no program
identification code in the audio detected by the detector 214, the
comparitor 222 then scans the audio portion of the baseband bit
stream provided by the signal processor 220 in order to detect the
audio in a first program contained in the intermediate frequency
signal detected by the probe 218. The comparitor 222 compares this
audio to the audio data from the detector 214. If there is a match,
the program to which the digital converter 210 is tuned is known
from the information provided by the signal processor 220. If there
is no match, the comparitor 222 then scans the audio portion of the
baseband bit stream provided by the signal processor 220 in order
to detect the audio in a second program contained in the
intermediate frequency signal detected by the probe 218, and so on
until the comparitor 222 detects a match. Once a match is found,
the major and minor channel numbers of the matched channel are
known, and the corresponding program identifying ancillary code can
be read from the corresponding data packet.
[0056] The second viewing site 206 includes a digital television
set 224. The audio portion of a program to which the digital
television set 224 is tuned is detected by a detector 226. The
detector 226 detects this audio portion by non-intrusively
detecting the sound provided by a speaker 228 of the digital
television set 224 or by intrusively detecting the audio signal
from a direct connection to the digital television set 224.
[0057] A probe 230 is provided to detect the intermediate frequency
signal of the digital television set 224. A signal processor 232
operates similarly to the signal processor 220 in order to provide
the audio portion of the baseband bit stream in the intermediate
frequency signal detected by the probe 230. A comparitor 234
operates similarly to the comparitor 222 in order to first
determine whether there is a program identification code in the
audio detected by the detector 226 and, if there is not, to scan
the audio portion of the baseband bit stream provided by the signal
processor 232 until a match is found.
[0058] The third viewing site 208 includes a personal computer 236.
The audio portion of a program to which the personal computer 236
is tuned is detected by a detector 238. The detector 238 detects
this audio portion by non-intrusively detecting the sound provided
by speakers 240 of the personal computer 236 or by intrusively
detecting the audio signal from a direct connection to the personal
computer 236.
[0059] A probe 242 is provided to detect the intermediate frequency
signal of the personal computer 236. A signal processor 244
operates similarly to the signal processor 220 in order to provide
the audio portion of the baseband bit stream in the intermediate
frequency signal detected by the probe 242. A comparitor 246
operates similarly to the comparitor 222 in order to first
determine whether there is a program identification code in the
audio detected by the detector 238 and, if there is not, to scan
the audio portion of the baseband bit stream provided by the signal
processor 244 until a match is found.
[0060] The comparitors 222, 234, and 246 provide their program
identification codes from the audio or from the data packet, and/or
match information to a home unit 248, which may be provided with
data storage and forwarding unit capability, within the
statistically selected monitoring site 202. A remotely located data
collection central office 250 is schematically depicted as a
computer based data collection central office that interchanges
data with the home unit 248 over a communication network 252, such
as a public switched telephone network, the Internet, or the like.
Moreover, a person identifier 254 may be provided in order to
identify the persons watching television programming on the digital
television set 224. As in the case of the person identifier 98, the
person identifier 254 may be video camera, an IR camera, or the
like, and may be provided for any or all of the viewing equipment
shown in FIG. 4.
[0061] Alternatively, instead of using intermediate frequency
probes for the probes 218, 230, and 242, local oscillator probes
may be used. A local oscillator probe may be employed to initially
identify the channel tuned by its associated television receiver,
which offers a significant speed advantage in the measurement. That
is, because channel detection apparatus normally operates much
faster than does audio signal comparison apparatus, the program
determination process can be carried out in a hierarchical fashion
in which the broadcast channel is first determined from the local
oscillator signal by the signal processors 220, 232, and 244
(assuming that a program identification code is not first
detected). Then, the comparitors 222, 234, and 246 sequentially
tune to the programs co-transmitted in the detected broadcast
channel and compare the audio portion of the tuned program to the
audio data from detectors 214, 226, and 238 in order to identify
the program in the broadcast channel. In this way, the comparitors
222, 234, and 246 are not required to sequentially tune through all
of the programs in all of the available channels in order to
determine the tuned program.
[0062] A still further alternative is provided by a fourth
embodiment 300 of the invention shown in FIG. 5. The fourth
embodiment 300 is used in a statistically selected monitoring site
302 having a first viewing site 304, a second viewing site 306, and
a third viewing site 308. The first viewing site 304 includes a
digital converter 310 connected to an analog television set 312.
The audio portion of a program to which the analog television set
312 is tuned is detected by a detector 314. The detector 314 may
detect this audio portion by non-intrusively detecting the sound
provided by a speaker 316 of the analog television set 312 or by
intrusively detecting the audio signal from a direct connection to
the audio processing circuitry of the analog television set
312.
[0063] A scanning receiver 318 is arranged to sequentially tune to
each of the programs carried in each broadcast channel to which the
digital converter 310 may be tuned, and to provide an audio portion
of each such program to a comparitor 320. The comparitor 320 may be
arranged to first determine whether there is a program
identification code in the audio detected by the detector 314. If
there is a program identification code in the audio detected by the
detector 314, this program identification code is logged because it
identifies the program to which the analog television set 312 is
tuned. If there is no program identification code in the audio
detected by the detector 314, the comparitor 320 then compares the
audio portion of a first program provided by the scanning receiver
318 to the audio data from the detector 314. If there is a match,
the program to which the digital converter 310 is tuned is known
from the information provided by the scanning receiver 318. Once a
match is found, the major and minor channel numbers of the matched
channel are known, and the corresponding program identifying
ancillary code can be read from the corresponding data packet.
[0064] If there is no match, the comparitor 320 compares the audio
portion of a second program provided by the scanning receiver 318
to the audio data from the detector 314, and so on until the
comparitor 320 detects a match. A demographic input 322 may be used
to provide demographic data to the comparitor 320 which couples
this demographic data, and time, with the program to which the
digital converter 310 is tuned as a tuning record. The demographic
input 322, for example, may be the well know Peoplemeter with which
people currently identify themselves manually when they are viewing
a program displayed on a television set.
[0065] The second viewing site 306 includes a digital television
set 324. The audio portion of a program to which the digital
television set 324 is tuned is detected by a detector 326. The
detector 326 detects this audio portion by non-intrusively
detecting the sound provided by a speaker 328 of the digital
television set 324 or by intrusively detecting the audio signal
from a direct connection to the digital television set 324.
[0066] A scanning receiver 330 is arranged to sequentially tune to
each of the programs carried in each broadcast channel to which the
digital television set 324 may be tuned, and to provide an audio
portion of each such program to a comparitor 332. The comparitor
332 may be arranged to first determine whether there is a program
identification code in the audio detected by the detector 326. If
there is a program identification code in the audio detected by the
detector 326, this program identification code is logged because it
identifies the program to which the digital television set 324 is
tuned. If there is no program identification code in the audio
detected by the detector 326, the comparitor 332 then compares the
audio portion of a first program provided by the scanning receiver
330 to the audio data from the detector 326. If there is a match,
the program to which the digital television set 324 is tuned is
known from the information provided by the scanning receiver 330.
If there is no match, the comparitor 332 compares the audio portion
of a second program provided by the scanning receiver 330 to the
audio data from the detector 326, and so on until the comparitor
332 detects a match.
[0067] Moreover, a person identifier 334 may be provided in order
to identify the persons watching television programming on the
digital television set 224. As in the case of the person identifier
98, the person identifier 254 may be video camera, an IR camera, or
the like, and may be provided for any or all of the viewing
equipment shown in FIG. 4. The comparitor 332 couples the
identities of the persons watching the digital television set 324,
and time, with the program to which the digital television set 324
is tuned as a tuning record.
[0068] The third viewing site 308 includes a personal computer 336.
The audio portion of a program to which the personal computer 336
is tuned is detected by a detector 338. The detector 338 detects
this audio portion by non-intrusively detecting the sound provided
by speakers 340 of the personal computer 336 or by intrusively
detecting the audio signal from a direct connection to the personal
computer 336.
[0069] A scanning receiver 342 is arranged to sequentially tune to
each of the programs carried in each broadcast channel to which the
personal computer 336 may be tuned, and to provide an audio portion
of each such program to a comparitor 344. The comparitor 344 may be
arranged to first determine whether there is a program
identification code in the audio detected by the detector 338. If
there is a program identification code in the audio detected by the
detector 338, this program identification code is logged because it
identifies the program to which the personal computer 336 is tuned.
If there is no program identification code in the audio detected by
the detector 338, the comparitor 344 then compares the audio
portion of a first program provided by the scanning receiver 342 to
the audio data from the detector 338. If there is a match, the
program to which the personal computer 336 is tuned is known from
the major and minor channel numbers indicated by the match. If
there is no match, the comparitor 344 compares the audio portion of
a second program provided by the scanning receiver 342 to the audio
data from the detector 338, and so on until the comparitor 344
detects a match. The comparitor 344 couples time with the program
to which the personal computer 336 is tuned as a tuning record.
[0070] The comparitors 222, 234, and 246 provide their tuning
records to a home unit 346, which may be provided with data storage
and forwarding unit capability, within the statistically selected
monitoring site 302. A remotely located data collection central
office 348 is schematically depicted as a computer based data
collection central office that interchanges data with the home unit
346 over a communication network 350, such as a public switched
telephone network, the Internet, or the like.
[0071] It is likely that many, if not all, digital television sets,
digital converters, and like digital equipment will have data ports
that will provide output viewer-selected program information for
use in consumer devices connected to the data ports. In connection
with digital televisions, a data port is likely to provide, for
example, the full major channel ATSC bitstream and information on
virtual channels that may include analog or digital major channel
selection, program (minor channel) selection, physical source (TV,
VCR, DVD, etc.) identification, and the like. In connection with
digital converters (i.e., set top boxes), a data port is likely to
provide, for example, the full ATSC bitstream and information on
virtual channels that may include analog or digital major channel
selection, program (minor channel) selection, vertical blanking
interval data reinserted on the correct line and field of analog
signals, and the like.
[0072] Accordingly, a fifth embodiment 400 of the present invention
is provided as shown in FIG. 6. The fifth embodiment 400 measures
tuning to digital television programming in connection with a
statistically selected monitoring site 402. The fifth embodiment
400 may include some or all of the features of the previously
described embodiments.
[0073] The fifth embodiment 400 permits tuning data, and possibly
demographic data, to be collected from digital television reception
equipment that includes (i) a personal computer 404, (ii) a digital
converter 406, (iii) an analog television set 408 operating in
response to the digital converter 406, and (v) a digital television
set 410.
[0074] The digital converter 406 has a data port 412. A site unit
414 reads and stores the full ATSC bitstream, the analog or digital
major channel selection, the program selection, vertical blanking
interval data, and/or the like data available at the data port 412
in order to determine the program selected for viewing on the
analog television set 408 as well as any other desired and
available information. Moreover, the site unit 414 may be arranged
to collect demographic data related to the viewers in the audience
of the program selected for viewing on the analog television set
408. For example, the site unit 414 may collect demographic data
from a person identifier, a Peoplemeter, or the like, as discussed
above. All such data may be uploaded over a communication medium
416, which may be a wire, a power line, and IR link, an RF modem,
or the like.
[0075] Similarly, the digital television set 410 has a data port
418. A site unit 420 reads and stores the full major channel ATSC
bitstream, the major channel selection, the program selection,
physical source identification, and the like data available at the
data port 418 in order to determine the program selected for
viewing on the digital television set 410 as well as any other
desired and available information. Moreover, the site unit 420 may
be arranged to collect demographic data related to the viewers in
the audience of the program selected for viewing on the digital
television set 408. For example, the site unit 420 may collect
demographic data from a person identifier, a Peoplemeter, or the
like, as discussed above. All such data may be uploaded over a
communication medium 421.
[0076] Also, the personal computer 404 has a data port 422. A site
unit 424 reads and stores the full major channel ATSC bitstream,
the major channel selection, the program selection, and the like
data available at the data port 422 in order to determine the
program selected for viewing on the personal computer 404 as well
as any other desired and available information. Moreover, a person
identifier 426 may be provided in order to identify the persons
watching television programming on the personal computer 404. As in
the case of the person identifier 98, the person identifier 426 may
be video camera, an IR camera, or the like, and may be provided
with any or all of the viewing equipment shown in FIG. 6. All
program and demographic data may be uploaded over a communication
medium 427.
[0077] The site units 414, 420, and 424 may be telecommunication
enabled so that television audience data from all the viewing sites
in the statistically selected monitoring site 402 can be
communicated, via the Internet, a public telephone system, or the
like, to a locally located or remotely located intermediate data
collector 428 and then to a remotely located central office 430
through a communication channel 470. The intermediate data
collector 428 can be flexibly located either at the same
statistically selected monitoring site 402, or at a remotely
located site 466, or at the central office 430. For this purpose,
the site units 414, 420, and 424 may be provided with serial ports,
parallel ports, universal serial buses (USB), fire-wires (according
to IEEE 2394), or the like. The intermediate data collector 428,
for example, may be a computerized data collector or an Internet
service provider. Alternatively, the intermediate data collector
428 may be a home unit, in which case, the intermediate data
collector 428 may be located within the statistically selected
monitoring site 402 and may itself be arranged to communicate
tuning and demographic data via e-mail or other communication to
the central office 430.
[0078] A software agent 500 is shown in FIG. 7. The software agent
500 can be used for any of the software agents 112, 118, and 122.
As shown at a block 502 of the software agent 500, the software
agent 500 copies the current operating task. If the current
operating task uses a packet of television programming as
determined at a block 504, the software agent 500 at a block 506
determines whether the data packet has a decodable packet label
including a decodable program identification code, name, or other
indicia. This program identification data packet is expected to be
a feature of digital television programming, particularly if
multiple programs are packed simultaneously as minor channels in a
broadcast channel in a digital broadcasting environment, and is
expected to identify the program tuned by the monitored
television.
[0079] If the data packet does not have a decodable packet label,
the software agent 500 at a block 508 causes the ON state of the
monitored viewing equipment to be logged, provided that this ON
state is a new status for the monitored viewing equipment and the
monitored viewing equipment is ON. The balance of the measurement
system (e.g., the audio signal methods employed by any of the other
embodiments 60, 200, and 300 described above) is relied on in order
to identify the tuning. Program flow then returns to the block 502
to await the next operating task.
[0080] On the other hand, if the data packet does have a decodable
packet label, the software agent 500 determines at a block 510
whether the packet label from the data packet of the current
operating task is the same as the packet label previously
determined by the software agent 500. If so, there is no need to
store the packet label unless it is merely indicative of continued
viewing to an already identified television program. Accordingly,
program flow returns to the block 502 to await the next operating
task. However, if the packet label from the data packet of the
current operating system task is not the same as the packet label
previously determined at the block 506, the software agent 500 at a
block 512 logs the identification of the television program as
contained in the program label and also logs the time. Program flow
then returns to the block 502 to await the next operating task.
[0081] If the current operating task does not use a packet of
television programming as determined at a block 504, the software
agent 500 at a block 514 determines whether the current operating
task is a command to other monitored equipment (e.g., a command to
the digital television receiver 110 to tune a different channel and
to select a particular one of the N programs being broadcast in
that channel). If the current operating task is a command to other
monitored equipment, the software agent 500 at a block 516 logs as
much detail as is available (e.g., the command itself, the identity
of the issuer of the command, and the identity of the recipient of
the command) in memory, and program flow returns to the block
502.
[0082] If the current operating task is not a command to other
monitored equipment, the software agent 500 at a block 518
determines if co-transmitted data (i.e., data that is related to
one of the television programs being broadcast in a channel and
that is transmitted during the same time interval as the program)
has been selected by a viewer. Co-transmitted data may comprise a
guide to other available television programming, catalog-like
details on products being advertised on the co-transmitted program,
and the like. Some of these proposed uses of co-transmitted data
will be configured so that one can infer what program is being
viewed from a URL or other label that logically links the
co-transmitted data to the television program. Accordingly, the
software agent 500 at a block 520 searches the header portion of a
task for such URL or other label, and logs such URL or other label
that is found. Thereafter, program flow returns to the block
502.
[0083] If co-transmitted data has not been selected by a viewer,
the software agent 500 at a block 522 determines if the user of the
equipment has directed his or her browser, or other communication
software, to access an internet page (assuming that the monitored
viewing equipment being monitored is configured so that it has
access to the Internet or other on-line service). If the user of
the equipment has directed his or her browser, or other
communication software, to access an internet page, the software
agent 500 at a block 524 searches for a URL or other label, and
logs such URL or other label that is found. Thereafter, program
flow returns to the block 502. If the user of the equipment has not
directed his or her browser, or other communication software, to
access an internet page, program flow returns to the block 502.
[0084] As an example of the use of a software agent as describe
above, consider the case of a person in a statistically selected
monitoring site who is viewing a digital television program and who
sees an interesting product being advertised. It is expected that
the person will have the capability to request more data on that
product by means of a simple mouse-click operation. This data, for
example, will either be a subset of the data providing the
displayed advertisement, or will be co-transmitted subsequently in
the signal of the television program that the person has selected
for viewing. This data would then be displayed in a separate window
on the multi-windowed display being used for television viewing. An
additional set of data could then be obtained by clicking on a
hypertext link element of the initially displayed data. This action
would result in downloading the desired additional data over the
Internet. A software agent installed in this viewing equipment
could thus log not only what program was being viewed, but could
also supply additional marketing research data on the consumer's
use of in-program advertising.
[0085] In addition to providing a device for monitoring tuning
activity, the software agent of the present invention can be used
to collect demographic data relative to the monitored viewing. In a
manual approach to the collection of demographic data, the software
agent could generate a status and prompting display in one window
of the viewing equipment requiring a viewer or user to input the
appropriate demographic data. This status and prompting display
window could have an appearance similar to that provided by the
peoplemeter hardware widely used in contemporary audience
measurements and that displays a status reminder light for each
occupant of a statistically selected monitoring site. However, in
the comparable windowed display arrangement, the name of each
occupant could be shown along with a status indicator.
[0086] If the software agent is used with a personal computer that
can receive digital television programming, a variety of more
nearly automatic and less intrusive approaches (from the television
viewer's perspective) could be used to collect persons data and
update a tiled status display. For example, it is well known to
identify an individual user of a manual input device (such as a
keyboard or a mouse) of a computer by the characteristic rates of
data entry and pauses between data entries. In a television
audience measurement, in which the occupant population to be
monitored is very small, measurements of this sort should be
expected to be highly accurate. Moreover, an increasing number of
personal computers have video cameras associated with them, so that
the user of the computer can engage in video conferences by
telephone. When such equipment is available in a statistically
selected monitoring site, a software agent comprising known head
location and face recognition software (e.g., as taught by Lu in
U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,000) can be employed for the identification
persons and the collection of demographic data.
[0087] Certain modifications of the present invention have been
discussed above. Other modifications will occur to those practicing
in the art of the present invention. For example, the software
agents 112, 118, and 122, as described above, monitor operating
tasks. The operating tasks may be operating system events of the
operating systems used by the equipment in which the software agent
is resident. Indeed, the software agents 112, 118, and 122 may
monitor any function of the monitored equipment as long as the
desired data is collected.
[0088] Also, a statistically selected monitoring site according to
each of the embodiments of the invention, as described above,
includes certain viewing equipment as well as certain monitoring
equipment. However, it should be understood that a statistically
selected monitoring site according to the present invention may
include any combination of the equipment incorporated in the
embodiments described above, as well as other and/or different
equipment.
[0089] Moreover, the software agent 500 described above can be
generic so that it can be used with any piece of equipment with
which it is compatible, or it may be specialized for each
particular apparatus in which it is used. Also, the software agent
500 may be arranged to detect the all window activities conducted
by an audience.
[0090] Furthermore, although not shown in FIGS. 2-5, the digital
television reception equipment of the embodiments shown therein may
further include auxiliary digital television equipment such as a
VCR, a digital video disk player, a video game, or other
entertainment systems.
[0091] Additionally, as described above, program identification
codes are detected in order to identify television programs.
However, television programs may be identified by any indicia such
as program names. Moreover, an internet page may be identified by
its address or by an identification code or name or label or, in
the case of an advertisement on the Internet, by its banner.
Therefore, any indicia from which a television program or content
associated with a television program may be identified is referred
to herein generically as an identification datum.
[0092] Moreover, the home units 248 and/or 346 may be referred to
herein an intermediate data collectors.
[0093] Accordingly, the description of the present invention is to
be construed as illustrative only and is for the purpose of
teaching those skilled in the art the best mode of carrying out the
invention. The details may be varied substantially without
departing from the spirit of the invention, and the exclusive use
of all modifications which are within the scope of the appended
claims is reserved.
* * * * *