US 6,286,140 B1 · System and method for measuring and storing information pertaining to television viewer or user behavior

Abstract

A system for monitoring television viewer behavior, which comprises a signal receiving device, wherein said signal receiving device further comprises a monitoring device, for monitoring an occurrence of an event, wherein the event comprises a change of at least one of on/off status of said signal receiving device, a channel change, a volume change, a mute/unmute operation and a user interactive or non-interactive event or operation. The monitoring device generates a digital signal representative of at least one of on/off status of the signal receiving device, channel change, volume change, mute/unmute operation, and user interactive or non-interactive one of event and operation. The signal receiving device also comprises an event timing device for keeping a real-time record of event time occurrence and for generating a digital signal representative of event time occurrence. The signal receiving device also comprises a data latching device for one of latching and storing the digital signals generated by said monitoring device and said event timing device. The signal receiving device also comprises a database for storing the data latched or stored by said data latching device.

Claims28

Dependent claims

A system for uninterrupted and passive continuous monitoring and measuring viewer behavior of a plurality of television viewers and pattern data among viewer events and tuning alternatives in a plurality of viewing premises to provide information for direct correlation with concurrent detailed data of programming and broadcasting in order to analyze and ascertain the responses of the plurality of viewers to program and advertising content for the purpose of assessing the effectiveness of said programming and advertising content, wherein the results of said analysis can be made available to advertisers, said system comprising:

a plurality of signal receiving devices located in a plurality of viewing premises, wherein each said signal receiving device further comprises:
a viewer event and tuning alternative decision device, for uninterrupted and passive continuous monitoring, categorizing and storing the television viewer behavior and pattern data among viewer events and tuning alternatives on the continuous basis;
an event timing device for recording a realtime record of event from/to time occurrence and for generating a digital signal representative of event from/to time occurrence;
a data latching device for one of uninterrupted continuous latching and storing the digital signals for real-time timing data generated by said viewer event and tuning alternative decision device and said event timing device;
and
a database for storing the data one of latched and stored by said data latching device.

3 more elements

A system for uninterrupted and passive continuous measuring viewer behavior of a plurality of television viewers and pattern data among viewer events and tuning alternatives in a plurality of viewing premises on an uninterrupted continuous real-time basis to provide information for direct correlation with concurrent detailed data of programming and broadcasting in order to analyze and ascertain the responses of the plurality of viewers to program and advertising content for the purpose of assessing the effectiveness of said programming and advertising content, wherein the results of said analysis can be made available to advertisers, said system comprising:

a plurality of signal receiving devices located in a plurality of viewing premises for receiving television signals from a transmitter, wherein said plurality of signal receiving devices at least one of:
uninterruptedly and continuously categorizes and
stores the television viewer behavior and pattern data among the viewer event and tuning alternatives on the uninterrupted continuous timing basis in exercising control over a respective signal receiving device;
and
a central processing computer located remotely with respect to each of said signal receiving devices for processing data obtained from said plurality of signal receiving devices to generate output data that is indicative of and reflects viewer behavior in direct correlation with concurrent detailed data of programming and broadcasting.

2 more elements

A method for uninterrupted and passive continuous measuring viewer behavior of a plurality of television viewers and pattern data among viewer events and tuning alternatives obtained from a plurality of viewing premises to provide information for direct correlation with concurrent detailed data of programming and broadcasting in order to analyze and ascertain the responses of the plurality of viewers to program and advertising content for the purpose of assessing the effectiveness of said programming and advertising content, wherein the results of said analysis can be made available to advertisers, said method comprising the steps of:

obtaining viewer event/tuning alternative decisions from a plurality of viewing premises on a passive and uninterrupted continuous basis, and categorizing and storing the television viewer behavior and pattern data for viewer events and tuning alternatives on the passive and uninterrupted continuous basis comprising at least one of:
on/off data of a signal receiving device, channel change data, volume change data, mute/unmute data, on-line activity data and a user for one of:
interactive and non-interactive event status data and interactive and non-interactive operation data;
generating a first digital signal representative of timing data of at least one of:
on/off data of the signal receiving device, channel change data, volume change data, mute/unmute data, on-line activity data and a user for one of:
interactive and non-interactive event status data and operation data;
and
generating a second digital signal representative of the time of occurrence of said timing data of at least one of:
on/off data of the signal receiving device, channel change data, volume change data, mute/unmute data, on-line activity data and a user for one of:
interactive and non-interactive event status data and interactive and non-interactive operation data;
and
time-stamping said first digital signal with said second digital signal to generate a third digital signal;
and
storing said third digital signal to provide information for direct correlation with concurrent detailed data of programming and broadcasting.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and method for measuring and storing information pertaining to television viewer or user behavior

Life of this patent

System and method for measuring and storing information pertaining to television viewer or user behavior

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims28