Method and apparatus for gathering programs watched data

An apparatus that gathers programs watched data, comprising:

• a plurality of terminals connected to corresponding televisions and to a television program delivery system, each of the terminals including a memory that stores program access information;
• a receiver coupled to the plurality of terminals, the receiver receiving the program access information, wherein the program access information is stored as programs watched data in a programs watched matrices;
• a plurality of databases, wherein each of the plurality of databases receives information from programs watched matrices, the information including a terminal address, a group identifier, and program counts, the databases including one or more of viewer profile, account billing, program scheduling and advertisement scheduling databases;
• means for creating terminal group information indicating group assignments for the terminals using the programs watched matrices, wherein the means for creating terminal group information further comprises indicating group assignments for the terminals by correlating programs watched counts stored in the programs watched matrices with categories of data, wherein the data categories include demographic data, and wherein the data categories are available for providing programming to the terminals;
• and
• means for transmitting the terminal group information to the terminals in a control information stream.

An apparatus that gathers programs watched data, comprising:

• a plurality of terminals connected to corresponding televisions and to a television program delivery system, each of the terminals including a memory that stores program access information;
• a receiver coupled to the plurality of terminals, the receiver receiving the program access information, wherein the program access information is stored as programs watched data in a programs watched matrix,
• a controller in the television program delivery system, the controller coupled to the plurality of terminals, the controller adapted to issue a message directing each of the terminals to provide the program access information, wherein the message is a polling request message sent over one of a cable television cable and a telephone line, and wherein a response message is returned over one of the cable television cable and the telephone line, and wherein the program access information is provided in the response message, the response message comprising:
• a leading flag;
• an address field including an address of the terminal;
• a subscriber region designation that includes a geographical region in which the terminal is located;
• a terminal identifier that uniquely identifies the terminal;
• an information field that includes a command to provide the program access information;
• and
• a trailing flag;
• means for creating terminal group information indicating group assignments for the terminals using the programs watched matrix, wherein the means for creating terminal group information further comprises indicating group assignments for the terminals by correlating programs watched counts stored in the programs watched matrix with categories of data, wherein the data categories include demographic data, and wherein the data categories are available for providing programming to the terminals;
• and
• means for transmitting the terminal group information to the terminals in a control information stream.

A system that gathers programs watched data in a broadcast television delivery system, comprising:

• means for gathering programs watched data from one or more set top terminals in a broadcast television delivery system;
• a database that stores the gathered programs watched data;
• means for accessing the stored programs watched data;
• means for counting the accessed programs watched data to determine programs watched counts corresponding to a frequency of programs watched by the one or more set top terminals in the broadcast television delivery system, wherein the programs watched counts are arranged in at least one programs watched matrix;
• means for creating set top terminal group information indicating a group assignment for a set top terminal by correlating the programs watched counts with categories of data, wherein the data categories comprise demographic data, and wherein the data categories are available for providing programming to the set top terminal;
• and
• means for transmitting the set top terminal group information to the set top terminal in a control information stream that instructs the set top terminal in selecting the programming.

An apparatus for use in a cable television program delivery system, the cable television delivery system coupled to one or more set top terminals, the one or more set top terminals capable of generating programs watched data, the apparatus comprising:

• means for gathering programs watched data for a set top terminal;
• means for storing the gathered programs watched data in at least one database;
• means for accessing the stored programs watched data;
• and
• means for counting the accessed programs watched data to determine a frequency of programs watched by the set top terminal, wherein the programs watched counts are arranged by program category and time;
• means for creating terminal group information indicating group assignments for the terminal by correlating the programs watched counts with categories of data, wherein the data categories comprise demographic data, and wherein the data categories are available for providing programming to the terminal;
• and
• means for transmitting the terminal group information to the terminal in a control information stream.

A method for gathering programs watched information, comprising:

• gathering programs watched data for set top terminals in a broadcast television program delivery system;
• storing the gathered programs watched data in a database;
• accessing the store programs watched data;
• counting the accessed programs watched data to determine a frequency of programs watched by the set top terminals, wherein programs watched counts are arranged in a programs watched matrix;
• creating a terminal group information indicating group assignments for the terminals by correlating the programs watched counts with categories of data, wherein the data categories comprise demographic data, and wherein the data categories are available for providing programming to the terminals;
• and
• transmitting the terminal group information to the terminals in a control information stream.

A processor in a cable television program delivery system, the delivery system providing programming to subscriber terminals, comprising:

• means for gathering programs watched data for the terminals;
• a database that stores the gathered programs watched data;
• means for accessing the stored programs watched data;
• means for counting the accessed programs watched data to determine a frequency of programs watched at the terminals, wherein programs watched counts are arranged in a programs watched matrix;
• means for creating terminal group information indicating group assignments for the terminals by correlating the programs watched counts with categories of data, wherein the data categories comprise demographic data, and wherein the data categories are available for providing programming to the terminals;
• and
• means for transmitting the terminal group information to the terminals in a control information stream that instructs the terminals in selecting the programming, wherein the processor polls the terminals to direct the terminals to provide the programs watched data.

A method for accumulating data in a cable television delivery system from a plurality of set top terminals in a cable television delivery system, comprising:

• gathering programs watched data for the plurality of set top terminals;
• storing the gathered programs watched data in a database;
• accessing the stored programs watched data;
• counting the accessed programs watched data to determine a frequency of programs watched at the plurality of set top terminals, wherein programs watched counts are arranged in a programs watched matrix;
• and
• creating terminal group information indicating group assignments for the plurality of terminals by correlating the programs watched count with categories of data, wherein the data categories comprise demographic data, and wherein the data categories are available for providing programming to the plurality of terminals;
• and
• transmitting the terminal group information to the plurality of terminals in a control information stream.