Methods and apparatus to encode and decode audio for shopper location and advertisement presentation tracking
AssigneeThe Nielsen Company (US), LLC
InventorsVenugopal Srinivasan, Alexander Pavlovich Topchy, Arun Ramaswamy
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus to encode and decode audio for shopper location and advertisement presentation tracking are disclosed. A method for tracking a shopper includes receiving a first audio signal at a first location with a decoder attached to a shopping implement, determining a first code encoded in the first audio signal, receiving a second audio signal at a second location with the decoder, determining a second code encoded in the first audio signal, and transmitting the first code and the second code to a data retrieval device.
Claims23
A method for tracking a shopper, the method comprising:
- determining a first code and a second code encoded in a first audio signal received at a first location with a decoder attached to a shopping implement, the first code being encoded with a code flag indicating that the first code was encoded at a second location separate from the first location;
- determining a third code encoded in a second audio signal received at a third location with the decoder;
- and
- transmitting the first code, the second code, and the third code to a data retrieval device.
A system for tracking a shopper, the system comprising:
- a decoder attached to a shopping implement to:
- determine a first code and a second code encoded in a first audio signal received at a first location, the first code being encoded with a code flag indicating that the first code was encoded at a second location separate from the first location,
- determine a third code encoded in a second audio signal received at a third location, and
- transmit the first code, the second code, and the third code to a data retrieval device, the data retrieval device to store the first code, the second code, and the third code.
A tangible machine readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a decoder to track a shopper associated with a shopping implement by at least:
- determining a first code and a second code encoded in a first audio signal received at a first location, the first code being encoded with a code flag indicating that the first code was encoded at a second location separate from the first location;
- determining a third code encoded in a second audio signal received at a third location;
- and
- transmitting the first code, the second code, and the third code to a data retrieval device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.