Loading patent…

Back to results

US 2016/0080789 A1Published application

Television audience measurement method and apparatus

AssigneeIspot.Tv, Inc.

InventorsSean MULLER, Scott HAPPELL, Ewan GODLEY

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Download PDF Find prior artPrior art Similar

Abstract Drawings Claims Description

Abstract

Television transmissions are received at multiple locations across a large area. Advertisements are identified, harvested and tagged from within in the television transmissions. The advertisements are made into smaller representations (“fingerprinted”) and are assigned identifiers and media plans are determined for the advertisements. Smart TVs use the advertisement representations to identify advertisements in television content received by the smart TVs. The smart TVs report the advertisement identifiers and identifiers of shows in the television content received by the smart TVs. The television content and advertisements as rendered by the smart TVs are categorized as live, timeshifted, on-demand, over-the-top, and the like. The advertisements are categorized as occurring in national or regional ad slots. The data from the smart TVs is used to determine ad impressions, gross rating points, and target rating points.

Claims23

Dependent claims

Claim 1A method of measuring an audience for advertisements executed on a computer · 344 words1 dependent Claim 2(canceled) · 1 wordNo dependents Claim 3(canceled) · 1 wordNo dependents Claim 5(canceled) · 1 wordNo dependents Claim 6A method of measuring an audience for advertisements executed on a computer · 383 wordsNo dependents Claim 7A method of measuring an audience for advertisements executed on a computer · 432 wordsNo dependents Claim 8(canceled) · 1 wordNo dependents Claim 9A method of measuring an audience for advertisements executed on a computer · 342 wordsNo dependents Claim 10A method of measuring an audience for advertisements executed on a computer · 343 wordsNo dependents Claim 11A method of measuring an audience for advertisements executed on a computer · 365 words2 dependent Claim 12(canceled) · 1 wordNo dependents Claim 15The method according to claim 19 · 26 words2 dependent Claim 18The method according to claim 19 · 60 wordsNo dependents Claim 19A method of measuring an audience for advertisements executed on a computer · 168 words6 dependent Claim 22(canceled) · 1 wordNo dependents Claim 23(canceled) · 1 wordNo dependents

A method of measuring an audience for advertisements executed on a computer comprising a memory, which method comprises the following steps:

determining a media plan for a first advertisement by a method comprising:
for more than one network call sign in more than one TV distribution medium, analyzing content associated with each network call sign to identify new as well as previously identified advertisements in the content and to extract representations of identified advertisements;
assigning advertisement identifiers to advertisements in the content;
accessing program schedules for the network call signs, which program schedules comprise start and end times of shows transmitted by the call signs in the content;
determining a number of times and the time when the advertisement identifiers occurred in the shows in the content;
determining the media plan as comprising a subset of shows in which the first advertisement occurred in the program schedule;
receiving a set of viewing data from and related to a set of smart TVs, the set of viewing data comprising smart TV identifiers and, with respect to content rendered by the smart TVs, show identifiers, and advertisement identifiers;
categorizing whether the content rendered by the smart TVs was at least one of live, timeshifted, on-demand, and over-the-top;
categorizing insertion instances of the first advertisement in the content rendered by the smart TVs as being at least one of national, regional, and dynamic;
and
for the first advertisement, determining ad impression volume according to the media plan, the set of viewing data, and the categorizations;
comparing the media plan for each advertisement across at least two time zones and at least two TV distribution media and, if the advertisement occurs at the same temporal location in the same show across the time zones and TV distribution media, then categorizing the temporal location in the same show as a national advertisement slot and, if the advertisement does not occur at the same temporal location in the same show across the time zones and operators, then categorizing the temporal location in the same show as a non-national advertisement slot.

9 more elements

(canceled)

(canceled)

(canceled)

A method of measuring an audience for advertisements executed on a computer comprising a memory, which method comprises the following steps:

determining a media plan for a first advertisement by a method comprising:
for more than one network call sign in more than one TV distribution medium, analyzing content associated with each network call sign to identify new as well as previously identified advertisements in the content and to extract representations of identified advertisements;
assigning advertisement identifiers to advertisements in the content;
accessing program schedules for the network call signs, which program schedules comprise start and end times of shows transmitted by the call signs in the content;
determining a number of times and the time when the advertisement identifiers occurred in the shows in the content;
determining the media plan as comprising a subset of shows in which the first advertisement occurred in the program schedule;
receiving a set of viewing data from and related to a set of smart TVs, the set of viewing data comprising smart TV identifiers and, with respect to content rendered by the smart TVs, show identifiers, and advertisement identifiers;
categorizing whether the content rendered by the smart TVs was at least one of live, timeshifted, on-demand, and over-the-top;
categorizing insertion instances of the first advertisement in the content rendered by the smart TVs as being at least one of national, regional, and dynamic;
for the first advertisement, determining ad impression volume according to the media plan, the set of viewing data, and the categorizations;
wherein analyzing content associated with each network call sign to identify new as well as previously identified advertisements in the content comprises determining if the content matches an already identified advertisement or if the content meets criteria for an advertisement and, if the content is determined to match an already identified advertisement or meets criteria for being an advertisement, then recording data regarding the content, which data comprises at least one of the advertisement identifier, the time when the content was rendered, the start and stop time of the advertisement, a representation of the advertisement, a market area within which the smart TV which rendered the advertisement was present, an operator who transmitted the content, an ad slot in which the advertisement occurred, and an estimated amount of spending on the advertisement.

8 more elements

A method of measuring an audience for advertisements executed on a computer comprising a memory, which method comprises the following steps:

determining a media plan for a first advertisement by a method comprising:
for more than one network call sign in more than one TV distribution medium, analyzing content associated with each network call sign to identify new as well as previously identified advertisements in the content and to extract representations of identified advertisements;
assigning advertisement identifiers to advertisements in the content;
accessing program schedules for the network call signs, which program schedules comprise start and end times of shows transmitted by the call signs in the content;
determining a number of times and the time when the advertisement identifiers occurred in the shows in the content;
determining the media plan as comprising a subset of shows in which the first advertisement occurred in the program schedule;
receiving a set of viewing data from and related to a set of smart TVs, the set of viewing data comprising smart TV identifiers and, with respect to content rendered by the smart TVs, show identifiers, and advertisement identifiers;
categorizing whether the content rendered by the smart TVs was at least one of live, timeshifted, on-demand, and over-the-top;
categorizing insertion instances of the first advertisement in the content rendered by the smart TVs as being at least one of national, regional, and dynamic;
and
for the first advertisement, determining ad impression volume according to the media plan, the set of viewing data, and the categorizations;
wherein analyzing content associated with each network call sign to identify new advertisements in the content comprises determining if a portion of the content comprises at least one of a scene change relative to a preceding portion, if the portion of the content is preceded by a blank or black portion, if the portion of the content has a change in volume relative to a preceding portion, if the portion of the content no longer has an area of scrolling text which was present in a preceding portion, if the portion of the content no longer has a network logo which was present in a preceding portion, if a characteristic amount of time has passed since the beginning of a show in which the portion of the content occurs or since a previous advertisement in the show in which the portion of the content occurs, if an advertisement occurs before, after, or before and after the portion of the content, and whether the portion of the content occurs in multiple instances in the content associated with each network call sign.

9 more elements

(canceled)

A method of measuring an audience for advertisements executed on a computer comprising a memory, which method comprises the following steps:

determining a media plan for a first advertisement;
by a method comprising:
for more than one network call sign in more than one TV distribution medium, analyzing content associated with each network call sign to identify new as well as previously identified advertisements in the content and to extract representations of identified advertisements;
assigning advertisement identifiers to advertisements in the content;
accessing program schedules for the network call signs, which program schedules comprise start and end times of shows transmitted by the call signs in the content;
determining a number of times and the time when the advertisement identifiers occurred in the shows in the content;
determining the media plan as comprising a subset of shows in which the first advertisement occurred in the program schedule;
receiving a set of viewing data from and related to a set of smart TVs, the set of viewing data comprising smart TV identifiers and, with respect to content rendered by the smart TVs, show identifiers, and advertisement identifiers;
categorizing whether the content rendered by the smart TVs was at least one of live, timeshifted, on-demand, and over-the-top;
categorizing insertion instances of the first advertisement in the content rendered by the smart TVs as being at least one of national, regional, and dynamic;
for the first advertisement, determining ad impression volume according to the media plan, the set of viewing data, and the categorizations;
transmitting to smart TVs representations of advertisement content and the advertisement identifiers, representations of show content and show identifiers, and receiving from the smart TVs information relating to the identification by the smart TVs of advertisements in content streams rendered by the smart TVs, which information comprises a subset of the advertisement identifiers and show identifiers sent to the smart TVs;
categorizing the content rendered by the smart TVs, wherein the content rendered by the smart TVs is categorized as live when it tracks a media plan without a time shifting.

10 more elements

A method of measuring an audience for advertisements executed on a computer comprising a memory, which method comprises the following steps:

determining a media plan for a first advertisement;
by a method comprising:
for more than one network call sign in more than one TV distribution medium, analyzing content associated with each network call sign to identify new as well as previously identified advertisements in the content and to extract representations of identified advertisements;
assigning advertisement identifiers to advertisements in the content;
accessing program schedules for the network call signs, which program schedules comprise start and end times of shows transmitted by the call signs in the content;
determining a number of times and the time when the advertisement identifiers occurred in the shows in the content;
determining the media plan as comprising a subset of shows in which the first advertisement occurred in the program schedule;
receiving a set of viewing data from and related to a set of smart TVs, the set of viewing data comprising smart TV identifiers and, with respect to content rendered by the smart TVs, show identifiers, and advertisement identifiers;
categorizing whether the content rendered by the smart TVs was at least one of live, timeshifted, on-demand, and over-the-top;
categorizing insertion instances of the first advertisement in the content rendered by the smart TVs as being at least one of national, regional, and dynamic;
for the first advertisement, determining ad impression volume according to the media plan, the set of viewing data, and the categorizations;
transmitting to smart TVs representations of advertisement content and the advertisement identifiers, representations of show content and show identifiers, and receiving from the smart TVs information relating to the identification by the smart TVs of advertisements in content streams rendered by the smart TVs, which information comprises a subset of the advertisement identifiers and show identifiers sent to the smart TVs;
categorizing the content rendered by the smart TVs, wherein the content rendered by the smart TVs is categorized as time shifted when it tracks a media plan with a time shifting.

10 more elements

A method of measuring an audience for advertisements executed on a computer comprising a memory, which method comprises the following steps:

determining a media plan for a first advertisement;
by a method comprising:
for more than one network call sign in more than one TV distribution medium, analyzing content associated with each network call sign to identify new as well as previously identified advertisements in the content and to extract representations of identified advertisements;
assigning advertisement identifiers to advertisements in the content;
accessing program schedules for the network call signs, which program schedules comprise start and end times of shows transmitted by the call signs in the content;
determining a number of times and the time when the advertisement identifiers occurred in the shows in the content;
determining the media plan as comprising a subset of shows in which the first advertisement occurred in the program schedule;
receiving a set of viewing data from and related to a set of smart TVs, the set of viewing data comprising smart TV identifiers and, with respect to content rendered by the smart TVs, show identifiers, and advertisement identifiers;
categorizing whether the content rendered by the smart TVs was at least one of live, timeshifted, on-demand, and over-the-top;
categorizing insertion instances of the first advertisement in the content rendered by the smart TVs as being at least one of national, regional, and dynamic;
for the first advertisement, determining ad impression volume according to the media plan, the set of viewing data, and the categorizations;
transmitting to smart TVs representations of advertisement content and the advertisement identifiers, representations of show content and show identifiers, and receiving from the smart TVs information relating to the identification by the smart TVs of advertisements in content streams rendered by the smart TVs, which information comprises a subset of the advertisement identifiers and show identifiers sent to the smart TVs;
and
categorizing the source of the content rendered by the smart TVs by determining that the content does not track a media plan, but that a show in the content is known, and measuring characteristics of the advertisements in the content, and assigning a source of the content according to the measured characteristics.

11 more elements

(canceled)

The method according to claim 19, further comprising accessing smart TV demographics and census data and calibrating the smart TV demographics relative to the census data.

The method according to claim 19, wherein the set of viewing data further comprises a designated market area, an IP address for a smart TV in the set of smart TVs, a timestamp for an initial receipt of the first advertisement, a timestamp for a concluding receipt of the first advertisement, a network call sign, and a show schedule ID.

A method of measuring an audience for advertisements executed on a computer comprising a memory, which method comprises the following steps:

determining a media plan for a first advertisement;
receiving a set of viewing data from and related to a set of smart TVs, the set of viewing data comprising smart TV identifiers and, with respect to content rendered by the smart TVs, show identifiers, and advertisement identifiers;
categorizing whether the content rendered by the smart TVs was at least one of live, timeshifted, on-demand, and over-the-top;
categorizing insertion instances of the first advertisement in the content rendered by the smart TVs as being at least one of national, regional, and dynamic;
for the first advertisement, determining ad impression volume according to the media plan, the set of viewing data, and the categorizations;
wherein determining ad impression volume comprises dividing the number of reporting smart TVs by the number of tracked TVs and multiplying the result thereof by a number of television households in a designated market area.

3 more elements

(canceled)

(canceled)

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 14/489,359Filed 17 Sep 2014
Published: 17 Mar 2016
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification16 codes

H04N 21/44218
Monitoring of end-user related data: detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the…
G06Q 30/0251
Advertisements: targeted advertisements
G06Q 30/0276
Advertisements: advertisement creation
H04N 21/252
Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies: processing of multiple end-users' preferences…

Family

US 9,402,111 B2Related patent
US 2016/0080789 A1This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.

Timeline

Citations

Open elsewhere

USPTO full text and PDF
Patent Center file history
USPTO assignment records
Espacenet
Google Patents