Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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VIEWER IDENTIFICATION APPARATUS FOR USE
IN A BROADCAST AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT
Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the measure-
ment of broadcast audiences, and more particularly to the
measurement of television broadcast audiences.
Background of the Invention
It is customary in the field of broadcast audi-
ence research to employ a measurement apparatus with each
broadcast receiver within each of a plurality of statis-
tically selected locations in order to determine tuning
data. This tuning data, for example, may be the identity
of the channel to which the broadcast receiver is tuned
whenever the broadcast receiver is on.
It is further customary to provide a manual
input device that can be used by those viewers who are
actually viewing the program corresponding to the tuned
broadcast signal in order to indicate their identities to
the measurement apparatus. This manual input is fre-
quently provided in the form of a Peoplemeter which not
only allows each viewer to manually enter a viewer iden-
tification but also provides a visual status indicator
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for showing which of the viewers have indicated that they
are currently in the viewing audience. For example, this
visual status indicator may comprise a plurality of se-
lectively illuminated light emitting diodes disposed on a
box placed adjacent to a television display and within
the field of view of the viewers.
The manual input device alternatively may be a
battery-powered remote control that includes a keypad and
an infra-red pulse transmitter which permit a viewer to
manually enter the viewer's identity and to transmit that
identity by way of infra-red pulses to the measurement
apparatus or other data collector. The measurement appa-
ratus or other data collector also provides a visual
status indication as discussed above. Such a remote
control is disclosed by Kiewit in U.S. Patent No.
4,876,736. Still other alternative devices which collect
manually entered viewer identification data and which use
the television display to indicate the currently recorded
audience status are known.
The tuning data from the measurement apparatus
and the viewer identities from the manual input device
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are commonly time stamped with the times of each tuning
event and/or of each change in audience composition. The
time stamped tuning and viewer records are then stored in
a store and forward unit within the statistically
selected location for subsequent forwarding to a data
collection central office, such as on a daily or other
basis.
Known manual input devices which reside on or
near monitored broadcast receivers may adversely impact
the willingness of viewers to be members of a
statistically selected viewing panel for audience
measurement purposes because such input devices are large
and intrusive and because such input devices make the
membership of the viewers in the panel obvious to
visitors.
Also, known manual input devices provide for
visual confirmation by displaying entered data on the
screen of a television or a set top box. Because this
data in the case of visitors includes demographic data
(such as age), visitors may be reluctant to use the
manual input device which would require sharing entered
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the data that they enter with other persons in the
viewing area.
The present invention solves one or more of the
above noted problems.
Summary of the Invention
In accordance with one aspect of the present
invention, a system comprises an input device and an
apparatus. The input device has a transmitter and a
display, is remote from a broadcast receiving appliance,
and is operable by a person to input an identification.
The transmitter is arranged to transmit the
identification. The apparatus is located adjacent the
broadcast receiving appliance and has a receiver arranged
to receive the identification. The display is arranged
to display the identification in response to a message
from the apparatus indicating that the apparatus received
the identification. The apparatus has a transmitter
arranged to transmit the message in response to receiving
the identification.
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In accordance with another aspect of the
present invention, a remote control device for use in
connection with a broadcast receiving and tuning
appliance comprises a manual data entry device, a
transmitter, a display, a memory, and a microprocessor.
The manual data entry device is operable by a user of the
broadcast receiving and tuning appliance to generate a
tuning output and a person's identification output. The
transmitter is arranged to transmit the tuning output to
the broadcast receiving and tuning appliance. The memory
stores a set of prompting rules which, when executed, are
arranged to prompt the user of the broadcast receiving
and tuning appliance. The microprocessor, which is
controlled by a program stored in the memory, controls
the display to display a representation of the person's
identification output and executes the prompting rules.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the
present invention, an audience measurement system, which
collects tuning and persons data at a viewing location
remote from a monitored television having an ON state and
an OFF state, comprises an input device and a measurement
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apparatus. The input device is located at the viewing
location and includes a manual data input device, an
input device transmitter, an input device receiver, and a
display. The measurement apparatus is adjacent to the
monitored television and includes a microprocessor, a
sensor, a measurement apparatus receiver, and a
measurement apparatus transmitter. The manual data input
device is operable by a person to input an
identification. The input device transmitter is arranged
to transmit the identification. The input device
receiver is arranged to receive a message. The display
is arranged to display a representation of the
identification in response to the input device receiver
receiving the message. The microprocessor is controlled
by a program stored in a memory. The sensor is arranged
to determine when the monitored television is in the ON
state. The measurement apparatus receiver is arranged to
receive the identification from the input device. The
measurement apparatus transmitter is arranged to transmit
an acknowledgment of receipt of the identification in
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response to execution of the program by the microprocessor.
In accordance with still another aspect of the
present invention, an audience measurement system, which
collects data at a viewing location associated with a
tuner located within a statistically selected premises,
comprises a network, a central office coupled to the
network, a remote control tuning device, and a
communication device. The remote control tuning device
includes a memory, a microprocessor controlled by a
program stored in the memory, a manual input device, a
transmitter, and a set of prompting rules. The manual
input device is selectively operable by a user of the
tuner at a location remote from the tuner and is arranged
to output a tuning command and a persons datum to the
microprocessor. The microprocessor is arranged to store
the tuning command, the persons datum, and a time stamp
in the memory. The transmitter is controlled by the
microprocessor and is arranged to transmit the tuning
command to the tuner. The set of prompting rules is
stored in the memory and is used by the program to
determine when to prompt the user to enter the persons
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datum. The communication device is coupled to the
network and is arranged to communicate the tuning event,
the persons datum, and the time stamp to the central
office
In accordance with a further aspect of the
present invention, a method is provided to collect the
identity of a person using a monitored broadcast receiver
in a statistically selected premises. The monitored
broadcast receiver has a transceiver adjacent thereto,
and the monitored broadcast receiver is controlled by a
signal from a remote control having a manual tuning input
device and a manual persons datum input device. The
method comprises the following steps: a) transmitting a
persons datum from the remote control in response to the
person using the manual persons datum input device; b)
receiving the persons datum at the transceiver; c)
storing the persons datum in a memory operatively
associated with the transceiver; d) transmuting an
acknowledgment message from the transceiver; e)
receiving the acknowledgment message at the remote
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control; and, f) displaying, on a display portion of the
remote control, a representation of the persons datum.
In accordance with yet a further aspect of the
present invention, a method is provided to collect the
identity of a person using a tuner located in a
statistically selected premises. The tuner is controlled
by a signal from a remote control having a manual input
device, a display, and a microprocessor operating under
the control of a stored program. The method comprises
the following steps: a) receiving a manual input
provided by the person; b) displaying, on the display, a
representation of the input if the input is an identity
datum; c) storing the input with a corresponding time
stamp; and, d) communicating the input and corresponding
time stamp to a central office.
In accordance with a still further aspect of
the present invention, a remote control for remotely
controlling a tuner comprises a display, a manual input
device, and a controller. The controller is coupled to
the display and the manual input device, and the
controller is arranged to accept an input from the manual
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input device indicating an identification of a member of
an audience of the tuner and to control the display to
display the identification.
Brief Description of the Drawings
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:
Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an audience
measurement system in accordance with the present
invention;
Figure 2 is an elevational view of a portable
remote control device which is in accordance with the
present invention and which may be used with the audience
measurement system of Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram of the
circuitry of the portable remote control devise of Figure
2;
Figure 4 is a software state diagram showing
the operation of a first embodiment of the portable
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remote control device of Figure 2 and of a measurement
apparatus of the audience measurement system shown in
Figure 1;
Figure 5 is a software state diagram showing
the operation of a second embodiment the portable remote
control device of Figure 2; and,
Figure 6 is a schematic block diagram of the
measurement apparatus of the audience measurement system
shown in Figure 1.
Detailed Description of the Invention
As shown in Figure 1, an audience measurement
system 10 is provided at a statistically selected
location 12 in which known viewers are members of a
broadcast audience. The audience measurement system 10
includes a portable remote control device 14 which
controls a television receiver 16. For example, the
portable remote control device 14 can be used from a
remote viewing position 18 in order to change the
channel, volume level, and so on of the television
receiver 16. The audience measurement system 10 is
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arranged to log data on audience membership (hereinafter
"persons data" or "persons status data"). The audience
measurement system 10 may be arranged to also log tuning
data regarding the programs and/or channels to which the
television receiver 16 is tuned. Periodically, the
logged data is transmitted to a data collection central
office 20 over a network 22. The network 22 may be a
public switched telephone network, as is conventional
practice in the audience measurement art.
In a first embodiment of the present invention,
the portable remote control device 14 is slaved to a
measurement apparatus 24 which is installed adjacent to
the television receiver 16. The measurement apparatus 24
both records tuning and persons data and controls the
portable remote control device 14 in order to display
viewer status (present/not present). In a second
embodiment of the present invention, the portable remote
control device 14 not only functions as a potable remote
control device for the television receiver 16, but is
also arranged to act as an electronic diary by storing
tuning and persons data. As will be discussed at greater
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length hereinafter, the tuning and persons data
accumulated according to either embodiment can be
communicated to the data collection central office 20 by
a variety of techniques known to those skilled in the
art.
The audience measurement system 10 includes a
data storage and forwarding unit 26 which collects the
tuning and persons data from the measurement apparatus 24
and which stores the tuning and persons data until a
scheduled forwarding time when the tuning and persons
data are forwarded to the data collection central office
20. The data storage and forwarding unit 26 may also
store and forward tuning and persons data collected from
a measurement apparatus associated with each of the other
television receivers (not shown) located in the
statistically selected location 12.
When the portable remote control device 14 is
slaved to the measurement apparatus 24 according to the
first embodiment of the present invention, the portable
remote control device 14 may be configured as a half
duplex or full duplex transceiver of encoded infra-red
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pulse streams so that it can communicate with a
transceiver 32 of the measurement apparatus 24 in a
bidirectional communication arrangement. According to
the second embodiment, the portable remote control device
14 may be configured as a simplex transmitter which
transmits an encoded stream of near infra-red pulses 30
unidirectionally to a photosensor receiver coupled to the
tuner of the television receiver 16.
The measurement apparatus 24 can comprise logic
and a memory so that the current tuning and persons
status can be determined by the measurement apparatus 24
based upon inputs from the portable remote control device
14 and then communicated to the data storage and
forwarding unit 26. Alternatively or additionally, the
measurement apparatus 24 may receive a signal replica
from a signal detector 34. For example, this signal
detector 34 may be in the form of a video signal source
detector such as that disclosed by Chan, in issued U.S.
Patent Application Serial No. 08/654,309. This video
signal source detector may be positioned as taught in the
Chan application to acquire a replica of a video signal
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from an input to a CRT of the television receiver 16.
Alternatively or additionally, the signal detector 34 may
be in the form of a microphone which acquires a replica
of an audio output from a speaker of the television
receiver 16. Accordingly, the signal detector 34 is
arranged to non-intrusively acquire from the television
receiver 16 a replica of the video and/or audio signal
processed by the television receiver 16.
The signal replica acquired by the signal
detector 34 can then be processed by the measurement
apparatus 24 according to a variety of tuning measurement
methodologies. For example, (i) an ancillary video
and/or audio code identifying the tuned television
program or channel can be read from the signal replica,
if present, (ii) video and/or audio feature signatures
characteristic of the tuned television program can be
extracted from the signal replica and compared to
reference signatures in order to identify the program or
channel, or (iii) the signal replica can be correlated
with a contemporary reference signal obtained by a
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reference scanning tuner controlled by the measurement
apparatus 24 in order to identify the program or channel.
As a further alternative, the signal detector
34 may be arranged to detect the local oscillator
frequency of the television receiver 16. This local
oscillator frequency indicates the channel to which the
television receiver 16 is tuned, as is known in the
audience measurement art.
Moreover, whether or not the signal detector 34
is employed, the measurement apparatus 24 may receive an
ON/OFF input from an ON/OFF sensor 36. The ON/OFF sensor
36, for example, may be an inductive sensor which, as is
well known, determines that the television receiver 16 is
on by detecting the horizontal retrace frequency of the
CRT of the television receiver 16. However, such an
inductive sensor is practical, for the most part, only if
the television receiver 16 uses a CRT display.
Accordingly, the ON/OFF sensor 36 may have a
photodetector probe 38 positioned in relation to the
screen display of the television receiver 16 so that
changing light levels or the amount of light emanating
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from the screen display can be used to indicate when the
television receiver 16 is on or off. The ON/OFF sensor
36 of this latter type can be used to determine the
status of any video display.
The portable remote control device 14 may have
a user interface as shown in Figure 2. This user
interface includes a keypad 40 and a display 42 which
allow viewers to remotely control the television receiver
16 and to input data regarding the viewers' identities.
The keypad 40 includes buttons 40a to allow a viewer to
enter channel numbers, to change channels up and down, to
increase and decrease volume, to mute the television
receiver 16, and to turn the television receiver 16 on
and off. The buttons 40a may include other buttons as
well. For example, an appliance select button or buttons
such as TV/VCR (not shown) may also be provided. The
keypad 40 also includes buttons 40b which permit viewers
to identify themselves when they are in the viewing
audience.
The display 42, for example, may be a panel
capable of displaying eight lines of characters divided
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into two columns with up to twenty characters per line.
The buttons 40b are provided along the sides of the
display 42. When a new viewer begins viewing of the
television receiver 16, that new viewer (or any other
viewer) simply presses a corresponding one of the buttons
40b in order to enter the new viewer's identification
into the audience measurement system 10. The new
viewer's name appears on the display 42 as feedback
acknowledging that the new viewer has pressed an
identification button and that the audience measurement
system 10 has received the identification. The names of
all other viewers currently in the audience of the
television receiver 16 are also displayed. When a viewer
ends a viewing session, the viewer again presses the
corresponding one of the buttons 40b which removes the
viewer's name from the display 42.
Alternatively, the names of all viewers at the
statistically selected location 12 may be continuously
displayed whenever the television receiver 16 is in use
whether or not the viewers are in the audience in order
to continually remind the viewers which buttons 40b are
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associated with which viewers. In this case, a tone
and/or other audible signal, or another visible indicator
such as a mark displayed in the display 42 next to a
viewer's identification, may be provided as feedback
acknowledging that a viewer has pressed an identification
button 40b to record that the viewer has either entered
or left the viewing area.
The user interface may also include an alpha
keypad (not shown) so that the viewers' names and
appropriate demographic information may be associated
with corresponding ones of the buttons 40b and may be
stored in a memory of the portable remote control device
14, in a memory of the measurement apparatus 24, and/or
in a memory of the data storage and forwarding unit 26.
Accordingly, when a viewer presses an identification
button, the time and date of the press, the appropriate
identification, and the appropriate demographic
information may be stored with the corresponding tuning
data for future transmission to the data collection
central office 20. On the other hand, the viewers'
identification and demographic information could be
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stored at the data collection central office 20 so that
the portable remote control device 14, the measurement
apparatus 24, and/or the data storage and forwarding unit
26 need only store the corresponding tuning data and the
time and date that each identification button is pressed
for future transmission to the data collection central
office 20. In this latter case, the data collection
central office 20 makes the association between presses
of the buttons 40b and the corresponding identifications
and demographic information stored at the data collection
central office 20.
Instead of providing the user interface of the
portable remote control device 14 with an alpha keypad as
described above, the portable remote control device 14
may have a port for receiving a connection to a data
entry device carrier by an installer. In this case,
during installation of the audience measurement system
10, the installer plugs the data entry device- into the
corresponding port of the portable remote control device
14 and enters the appropriate identification and/or
appropriate demographic information into the memory of
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the portable remote control device 14 so that each viewer
is linked to one of the identification buttons 40b.
In controlling the television receiver 16, the
portable remote control device 14 preferably operates in
the manner of a conventional universal remote control
capable of controlling two or more tuner appliances, such
as a television receiver, a VCR, and/or a cable
converter. Such a universal remote control
conventionally uses several different code sets so that
it can operate in multiple viewer-selected modes. One or
more of these modes can be used to transmit a tuning or
other command (e.g., a fast forward command sent to a
VCR) to the currently active tuner (e.g., the tuner of
television receiver 16 or of a set-top cable converter or
of a VCR) controlling the video display of the television
receiver 16. In addition, in the first embodiment of the
present invention as mentioned above, one of the modes of
the portable remote control device 14 is also used to
transmit a persons datum to the measurement apparatus 24.
Optionally, the keypad 40 of the portable
remote control device 14 may also include buttons which
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may be pressed to enter the gender and age of the viewers
and an OK button which may function as an enter button.
The gender and age buttons are particularly useful in
providing information about guests who are also in the
viewing audience. Age may be entered through the use of
up and down buttons as shown in Figure 2. Alternatively,
age may be entered through the use of the buttons 40a.
An electronic processor 50 housed within the
portable remote control device 14 is shown in Figure 3
and includes a microprocessor 52 suitably connected to
the keypad 40, the display 42, a ROM 54, a RAM 56, and a
transceiver 58. The microprocessor 52 operates under
control of a program stored in the ROM 54. The input of
the viewer from the keypad 40 is interpreted and is
reformatted by the microprocessor 52 as an output that is
sent to the RAM 56, to the display 42, or to the
transceiver 58, depending on the program that the
microprocessor 52 is running. When the portable remote
control device 14 is operated according to the first
embodiment of the invention, the RAM 56 is used primarily
for short term data buffering. However, when the
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portable remote control device 14 is operated according
to the second embodiment of the invention (as an
electronic diary), the RAM 56 may be required to store
several days' worth of data. Hence, the RAM 56 must be
significantly larger in the second embodiment than in the
first embodiment.
Additionally, when the portable remote control
device 14 is used according to the second embodiment as
an electronic diary, the electronic processor 50 is
provided with an interface 60 for use in uploading data
stored in the RAM 56 to the data collection central
office 20 as described below. In this embodiment, the
portable remote control device 14 is preferably
configured with a half duplex or full duplex transceiver,
and the RAM 56 is of sufficient size to store as many
changes in tuning or audience composition as are expected
to occur during a viewing measurement period, which is
commonly a day or a week. The data stored iri the RAM 56
can be communicated to the data collection central office
20, for example, by plugging the portable remote control
device 14 into a docking station 62 (Figure 1) which may
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be similar to those used to communicate data between two
computers or between a computer and a network server, and
which is connected to the data storage and forwarding
unit 26. Accordingly, the data stored in the RAM 56 can
be uploaded to the data storage and forwarding unit 26 by
use of the interface 60 and the docking station 62, and
the data stored in the data storage and forwarding unit
26 can be subsequently uploaded to the data collection
central office 20 over the network 22.
Alternatively, the data stored in the RAM 56
can be physically transported (such as by mail) to the
central office, or the data stored in the RAM 56 can be
transmitted by way of the transceiver 58 to the
transceiver 32, then to the data storage and forwarding
unit 26, and finally to the data collection central
office 20 over the network 22.
When the portable remote control device 14 is
operated according to the first embodiment, a program
represented by the state diagram of Figure 4 may be
executed by the microprocessor 52 and by the measurement
apparatus 24. In a state 70 of the portable remote
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control device 14, each press of a key on the keypad 40
results in a corresponding signal being transmitted by
the transceiver 58 to the measurement apparatus 24. In a
state 72, the measurement apparatus 24 decodes the
signals it receives from the portable remote control
device 14. Also in the state 72, the measurement
apparatus 24 compares each newly received message with
earlier data in order to determine if a change in
audience composition or in tuning has occurred.
If a change in audience composition has
occurred, the measurement apparatus 24 transmits an
acknowledgment message back to the portable remote
control device 14 and enters a state 74. In response to
the acknowledgment message, the portable remote control
device 14 transitions to a state 76. In the state 74,
the measurement apparatus 24 causes the persons data to
be stored in the RAM 56 along with a time stamp and the
current tuning status of the appliance (such-as the
television receiver 16, a VCR, or a cable converter)
being controlled. In the state 76, the portable remote
control device 14 causes the name or other identification
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indication of the new viewer to be displayed on the
display 42. If the acknowledgment message from the
measurement apparatus 24 is not received by the portable
remote control device 14 within an appropriate amount of
time, the portable remote control device 14 returns to
the state 70 where it prompts the viewer by a suitable
display on the display 42 to re-enter the current
audience status. Alternatively, this prompting message
may instead be an audible prompt (such as a beep or a
series of beeps) or other type of visual prompt (such as
a flashing light emitting diode).
If a change in tuning has occurred, the
measurement apparatus 24 enters the state 74. In the
state 74, the measurement apparatus 24 causes the tuning
data to be stored in its RAM along with a time stamp and
the current persons data.
If the measurement apparatus 24 receives a
message from the portable remote control devise 14
indicating a change in audience composition, but
determines from the earlier data that, in fact, no change
in audience composition has occurred, the measurement
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apparatus 24 transmits a suitable error message back to
the portable remote control device 14 for display on the
display 42.
When the portable remote control device 14 is
operated according to the second embodiment, a program
represented by the state diagram of Figure 5 may be
executed by the microprocessor 52. In a state 80, each
keypad input is analyzed in order to determine if the
input is a change in audience status or a tuning command.
If there has been a change in audience status, the
current audience status is displayed by the display 42,
and the current audience status is also stored along with
a time stamp and the current tuning status in the RAM 56.
Each tuning command is transmitted to the tuner of the
appliance under control (such as the tuner of the
television receiver 16, a VCR, or a cable converter) and
is stored in the RAM 56.
Also, a set of prompting rules 82 is
appropriately invoked in order to determine if and when
the viewer is to be prompted to input current audience
status data. Too frequent prompting (e. g., after each
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one of a series of channel changes that occur in short
interval) can lead to reduced cooperation. Conversely,
never reminding the viewer to enter audience status data
can encourage the viewer to ignore entering such data.
Hence, the prompting rules 82 are based on parameters,
such as the elapsed time since a channel change or the
elapsed time since audience status data were last
entered, that seek to optimize cooperation and accuracy.
According to an exemplary set of prompting
rules, a prompt lasting for a first period of time (such
as forty-five seconds) may be given whenever the
television receiver 16 is turned on, after a time lapse
(such as forty-seven minutes) from the last press of a
key on the portable remote control device 14, and/or
whenever key entries are incomplete. Also, a prompt
lasting for a second period of time (such as seventy-five
seconds) may be given after a time lapse (such as forty-
two minutes) from the last press of a key on the portable
remote control device 14 if one or more persons are
logged in, and/or periodically (such as once every ten
minutes) after the last press of a key on the portable
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remote control device 14 if no persons are logged in.
The prompts described above may be differentiated such as
by color depending upon the event which triggers the
prompt.
Other events may also be used to trigger
prompts. Such other events include, for example, a
channel change when no viewer is logged in, the passage
of a predetermined number of days when a particular
household member has not logged in, the passage of a
predetermined number of days when a short term visitor
has not logged in, no log ins when the television
receiver 16 is turned on, no log ins of particular
household members (such as children) when the television
receiver 16 is tuned to particular programs (such as
children's programming, and the like.
An electronic processor 90 of the measurement
apparatus 24 is shown in Figure 6 and includes a
microprocessor 92 suitably connected to the transceiver
32, the signal detector 34, a ROM 94, a RAM 96, and an
interface 98. The transceiver 32, controlled by the
microprocessor 92 executing a program stored in the ROM
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94, is used to receive tuning status and persons status
data from the portable remote control device 14. The
tuning status data, along with the current audience
status data and a time stamp, are saved in the RAM 96.
Optionally or alternatively, the measurement apparatus 24
may also respond to the signal detector 34, as discussed
above, in order to identify the displayed program from
codes, signatures, or correlations, or to determine the
tuned channel such as by detecting the local oscillator
frequency of the television receiver l6. This
information can be stored in the RAM 96. The measurement
apparatus 24 additionally may be arranged to determine
the ON/OFF status of the television receiver 16 from the
ON/OFF sensor 36 in order to prompt the viewer to
indicate audience status by use of the portable remote
control device 14 in accordance with a set of prompting
rules. As discussed above, the measurement apparatus 24
transmits the tuning and audience status data-to the data
storage and forwarding unit 26 by means of the interface
98.
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The portable remote control device 14 is
preferably constrained to display audience status data
that is the same as the audience status data currently
stored in the measurement apparatus 24. This constraint
implies that the measurement apparatus 24 and the
portable remote control device 14 communicate by way of a
duplex or half-duplex link, rather than by using a
simplex scheme which is common in television remote
controls. Any of several known communication protocols
may be used to assure that the displayed audience status
data and the stored audience status data match. For
example, the measurement apparatus 24 could transmit a
fixed acknowledgment message to the portable remote
control device 14 each time a new persons status datum is
received, and the portable remote control device 14 would
then display the current persons status only if it
receives the acknowledgment message within a
predetermined interval after transmitting the-persons
status datum. Otherwise, the portable remote control
device 14 would prompt re-transmission of the persons
status datum. Alternatively, the persons status data
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transmitted by the portable remote control device 14
could be re-transmitted by the measurement apparatus 24
back to the portable remote control device 14 as the
acknowledgment message.
Thus, the present invention as described above
provides a display of the current audience status on a
portable remote control device which may be disposed at
or near a viewing location from which a broadcast
audience member views television programming. Displaying
the audience status on a small, viewer-proximate,
display, instead of displaying that information on a
separate display adjacent a television receiver, allows a
broadcast audience research company to use smaller, less
obtrusive equipment. Moreover, viewing of the display 42
is limited for the most part to the field of view of the
person entering data into the measurement system and,
thus, does not attract the attention of visitors to the
statistically selected location 12.
Certain modifications of the present invention
have been discussed above. Other modifications will
occur to those practicing in the art of the present
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invention. For example, the measurement apparatus 24 has
been described above as essentially a smart terminal.
However, the measurement apparatus 24 may instead be
configured as a dumb terminal of a local host computer
which is disposed elsewhere in the statistically selected
location 12 and which collects the tuning and persons
data.
Also, it is noted that the portable remote
control device 14 may function in several different modes
as described above. However, each of these modes may use
a separate corresponding remote control each having
substantially the same external appearance and user
interface as the portable remote control device 14 shown
in Figure 2.
Furthermore, the present invention as described
above relies on the use of certain infrared transceivers.
However, it will be appreciated that other signaling
modes, such as ultrasonic or spread-spectrum radio, could
instead be employed.
In addition, the present invention as described
above relies on the use of transceivers. Instead, a
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separate receiver and transmitter could be used in place
of each transceiver.
Moreover, when the portable remote control
device 14 is used in accordance with the second
embodiment, it may be assumed that all tuning is done
with the portable remote control device 14. In this
case, the portable remote control device 14 would store
all tuning and persons status inputs from the keypad 40
in the RAM 56 for subsequent communication to the data
collection central office 20, such that the signal
detector 34 and even the measurement apparatus 24 need
not be used or provided. Indeed, the data storage and
forwarding unit 26 can also be eliminated if the portable
remote control device 14 is arranged to transmit tuning
and audience status data directly to the data collection
central office 20. To facilitate such data transmission,
the portable remote control device 14 can be provided
with the interface 60 or a cellular telephone or other
communication apparatus.
However, it must be recognized that tuning can
be effected instead by use of controls on the appliance
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itself or by use of a remote control that was provided as
original equipment with the appliance. Therefore, the
signal detector 34 is preferably included in the audience
measurement system 10. Alternatively, the measurement
apparatus 24 could be programmed to occasionally repeat
the tuning command most recently received from the
portable remote control device 14 in order to force the
viewer to thereby re-tune the appliance by use of the
portable remote control device 14 to the channel selected
by a means other than the portable remote control device
14.
Also, as describe above, the portable remote
control device 14 according to the first embodiment of
the invention transmits tuning commands which are
received by both the controlled tuner and by the
measurement apparatus 24. The controlled tuner responds
by effecting the tuning indicated by the tuning command,
and the measurement apparatus 24 responds by-recording
the tuning event. Instead, in accordance with the
teachings of U.S. Patent No. 4,876,736, the portable
remote control device 14 may be arranged to transmit
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tuning commands using codes recognized by the measurement
apparatus 24 but not by the controlled tuner. Thus, the
measurement apparatus 24 records the tuning event,
converts the code into a form recognized by the
controlled tuner, and passes the converted tuning command
on to the controlled tuner.
Furthermore, iconic symbols, which may in the
form of buttons, may be used to indicate the significance
of the various buttons of the portable remote control
device 14 to the users, particularly children and
illiterate users.
In addition, the display 42 is shown in Figure
as a screen arranged to display characters of a viewer's
identification. Instead, the display may be a light
emitting device such as an LED which is assigned to the
member of the audience and which emits light to indicate
the presence of the member in the audience.
Alternatively, the display may be first and second light
devices where the first light emitting device emits light
to indicate the presence of the viewer in the audience,
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and where the second light emitting device emits light to
indicate the absence of the viewer from the audience.
Moreover, there is a potential problem if
multiple portable remote control devices 14 for multiple
corresponding televisions are used in the same household.
If portable remote control devices are accidentally (or
intentionally) exchanged by household members, and these
portable remote control devices archive the viewing (and
even tuning) information for later downloading, then the
tuning may be mis-attributed to the wrong television. A
solution to this problem would be to associate a unique
ID code to each television location that authorizes the
portable remote control device to work only at that
location.
Also, a different portable remote control
device 14 could be assigned to each person in the
household (with additional portable remote control
devices provided to visitors). Each person would then
carry that person's portable remote control device within
the household. In this case, it is preferable if the
portable remote control device 14 were a universal
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television controller intended to operate multiple tuners
such as every television in the household.
Furthermore, the portable remote control device
14 can be provided with multiple levels of prompts. For
example, at the lowest level, the screen back-light could
be flashed for 10 seconds and provides a suitable display
such as "Update the audience or confirm with OK". If the
audience responds appropriately, the portable remote
control device 14 resumes normal operation. If the
audience does not respond appropriately, the portable
remote control device 14 waits for a first predetermined
amount of time (e. g. 20 seconds), then the portable
remote control device 14 again flashes the screen back-
light for 10 seconds and provides the display requesting
the audience to update or confirm as before. This prompt
may be repeated for up to C1 cycles. After C1 cycles
have passed without appropriate audience response, the
portable remote control device 14 flashes the- screen
back-light for 20 seconds at a higher flash rate and
displays "Update the audience or confirm with OK". If
the audience responds appropriately, the portable remote
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control device 14 resumes normal operation. If the
audience does not respond appropriately, the portable
remote control device 14 waits mode for a second
predetermined amount of time (e. g. 30 seconds), then
prompts, waits, and so on for up to C2 cycles. If the
audience does not respond appropriately within the C2
cycles, the portable remote control device 14 flashes the
screen back-light at a still higher flash rate for 20
seconds and displays "Update the audience or confirm with
OK." If audience responds appropriately, the portable
remote control device 14 resumes normal operation. If
audience does not respond appropriately, the portable
remote control device 14 waits for a third predetermined
amount of time (e. g. 60 seconds), then the portable
remote control device 14 prompts, waits, and so on for up
to C3 cycles. After C3 cycles have passed without
appropriate audience response, the portable remote
control device 14 enters a rest phase with the normal
screen display "Update the audience or confirm with OK"
remains.
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In addition, it is desirable for viewers to
update audience composition without prompting as changes
in audience composition occur. Prompting serves mainly
as a fail-safe, when sufficient time has elapsed without
any unprompted change or confirmation of viewing status.
Therefore, the portable remote control device 14 may be
provided with a timer that is reset by any data or status
confirmation entry and that initiates two distinct
prompts - a "soft" self-terminating prompt that serves as
an anticipatory cue prior to a "hard" prompt that
continues until a response is registered. The hard
prompt serves both as a mild negative reinforcement for
the audience having failed to operate the portable remote
control device 14 proactively, and as a fail-safe to
obtain confirmation or audience change information in the
absence of proactive data entry. The soft prompt serves
to train audience members to anticipate and ultimately
prevent the appearance of prompts - and thus to report
audience change information closer to the time it
actually occurs.
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As an additional contingency, the interval
between prompts could be lengthened or shortened in order
to reinforce timely entry of audience changes. This
adjustment to the length of the prompting interval could
be based on the data entry performance of viewers. For
example, if a viewer typically waits until a prompt
appears before reporting an earlier audience change, then
the data record will show an improbably high proportion
of reported audience changes coinciding with the
appearance of the prompt. If this pattern of performance
is observed, the prompting software may shorten the
interval between prompts. Shortening the interval
between prompts will reduce any possible lags between the
occurrence and reporting of audience changes, as well as
to provide a mild negative reinforcement for respondents
who fail to report audience changes as they occur.
Alternatively, it is possible that viewers will
report audience changes when they occur and that the
intervals between prompts are shorter than the interval
during which no audience change actually occurs. The
only way that a viewer in this situation may prevent the
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prompt from occurring would be to periodically press the
OK button just to reset the prompt timer, even though the
currently indicated audience status has not changed.
Many viewers in this situation might allow the prompt to
come on, at which point they would not change the
audience entry, but merely press the OK button to
indicate that the audience has not changed. Since no
data error has occurred, if this pattern of performance
is observed (repeated confirmations that no audience
change has occurred in response to prompts), it may be
that the prompting interval is more frequent than
required for this viewer. In this instance, the
prompting software may lengthen the interval between
prompts to provide a positive reinforcement. Indeed,
different prompting intervals could be set for various
viewers on the same people meter, depending on their
previous performance.
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
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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.
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