Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~2~3~
T~L~VI~I~N A~D ~AR~ET RE5~ARC~
~TA ~OI.LECTIO~ SYSTE~ AND ~IEl~OD
B~RGR~D OF TEE I~VENTION
The present invention relates to data
storage and transmission systems and more
particularly relates to monitoring systems for
accumulating data at remote loca~ions and
transmitting the data to a central location. More
particularly, ~he presen~ invention relates to a
10 data collection system and method for collecting at
remote panelist locations data relative to
television viewin~ habit~ and preferences as well as
product purch~ses and prefer2nces of a plurality of
panelists, and transmitting the collected data to a
15 central location. In accordance with one embodiment
of the prPsent invention, a data collection system
is provided in which individual television receivers
may be controlled from a central location to display
~ubstitute programming.
The prior art i5 replete with various
systems and arrangements for monitoring viewins
habits of television viewers. ~he earliest such
~ys~ems merely collected data on si~e for eventual
manual collection as to the television channels
25 viewed and the times of viewing for various panels
of viewers in order to determine market share and
ratings oE various television programs. Later,
~ystems came into being for use with cable
television systems with two way communications over
30 the cable system between the head end thereof ~nd
various cable 3ubscribers. In Quch a system ~he
television sets are typically interrogated
periodically from this central location over the
~za~7 ;35
cable, with the channel selection and time
~nformation being qent ~ack to the central location
and logged for s~ati~tical ompilation. 5uch
systems have also been used in the past in so-called
S pay television systems in which billing information
is ~ent over the cable system to a central loca~ion
from the various subscribers to the pay television
system. The pri~r art also includes such systems in
which a memory means is provided at the remote
10 location, i.e. at the television receiver, for
accumulating data as to the channel being viewed and
time. Th~ accumulated data is then periodically
transmitted over conventional telephone line5 from
the remote locations to the central location, by
15 telephone calls initiated by either the remote
stations or the central location.
Systems for remotely accumula~ing data
reqarding the habits of television viewers and their
qualitative reaction to material ha~e today become
20 important ~rom the standpoint of market research.
For example, the effectiveness o~ television
commercials can be monitored by correlating viewing
of those commercials with subsequent purchase
decisions made ~y panelists whose viewin~ habits are
2S being monitored. One manner of achieving this which
has been utilized in the past is to have the
cooperatin~ panelists keep a diary as to purchase of
products. The purchase information recorded in
~ese diaries is then correlated with the
30 commercials viewed by those cooperating panelists.
In an alternative arrangement disclosed in the prior
art, in areas where universal product code au~oma~ed
check-outs are available, such as grocery store~ and
the like, a panelist makes his or her purchasec and
3S at the check-out counter presents a card coded with
73~i
a unique scanner panelist identiication similar to
the univer~al product code symbol on the products
purchased. The store's compu~er can au~omat;cally
retain such purchase data for subsequent trans~er to
5 a market research company computer data base for
correlation with the data regarding the various
panelists viewing of commercials. Such arrangements
of course require cooperation of stores within the
area of the panelist locations, and are therefore
10 more suited for limited geographic groupings of
panelists in a single locale or city, and are not
readily applicable ~o a national assemblage of
panelists extending across an entire country.
In market research rela~ing to commercials
15 and their e~fectiveness, it also is sometimes
important ~o evaluate the effectiveness of
al~ernative forms of a commercial. One way of
achieving this in the context of a cable television
sy~tem is to split the subscribers or panelists into
20 two or more groups, and then show the alternative
forms of commercials to the respective groups of
panelists. Correlation of product purchase
information regarding those panelists with the forms
of the commercials they viewed can then be used to
25 as~ess the effectiveness of the various alternative
forms of the commercial. The prior art also
includes examples of systems wherein certain
portions of a viewing audience can be selected on a
dynamic basis and furnished with substitute
30 programming. Such a system is disclosed, for
example, in U.S. Patent No. 3,639,686 to Walker et
al. In accordance with that system, an auxiliary
t~levision signal is broadcast which contain~ not
only substitute programming, i.e. video signal
35 information, but also control information such as
s
pulse code information for remotely selecting
panelists wnich are to receive the 3ubstitute
programming. Digital address information i~
provided for e~ch of the paneli ts, and ~he portion
5 of the panelists which are to receive the substitute
programming are selected by the pulse code
information. The Walker et al patent notes that in
selecting the panelists which are to receive the
substitute progr~mming, the number of categories
10 available is dependent on the number of digital
information bits tha~ are incorporated in the
system. A later United States Patent No. 4,331,974
to Cogswell et al also disclo~es an arran~ement for
selecting portions of a viewing audience on a
15 dynamic basis and furnishing those portions with
substitute programming.
~ he present invention relates to an
improved system and method which is of particular
utility in market research type applications, but
20 which is not limited thereto.
OBJE~TS AND S~MMARY OP T~E INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to
provide a system and method for collectin~ at remote
panelists locations data relative to ~hose
25 panelists, and transmitting the collected data to a
central location.
It is another object of the present
invention to provide such a data collection system
for collecting data relative to panelists t~levisiGn
30 viewing habits and preferences as well as market
research data regarding panelists product purcha~s
and preferences.
It is another object of the present
invention to provide such a system and method in
w~ich the remote locations are provided with ~e~ory
for storing collected data, with collected data
5 being periodically transmitted to a central location
over non-dedicated telephone lines.
It is still another object of the present
invention, in accordance with one embodiment, to
provide such a system and method in which substitute
10 programming can be provided to selected of the
panelists.
Briefly, in accordance with one embodiment
of the invention, a remote data collection unit is
provided at each of a plurality of panelist
15 locations. The remote unit is adapted to be coupled
to one or more television receivers at each panelist
location, or to one or more cable television
converters in the context of a cable television
system. The data collection unit includes a memory
20 and means for monitoring and storing information
regarding which of a plurality of television m~des
are in use, as well as viewer identification data.
~eans are provided to monitor and store events
concerning television viewing, ~uch as channel
25 changes or the like. Further, the data collection
unit includes means for optically scanning bar codes
and the like and storing information regarding
~ame. Such bar codes and the like can be
representative of product purchase information or
30 panelist responses to market research surveys and
the like. In one embodiment, telephone communica-
tion is periodically established between a central
location and each of the remote units, and the
contents of each data collection unit memory are
35 transmitted to the central location. Alternatively,
~2~7 ;35i
a portable memory device can be taken to the loca-
tion of each data collection unit to transfer the
memory content thereof to a tape ~r disc or other
storage device. In accordance with one embodiment
5 of the invention, du~ing telephone communicat-on
between the central location and a remote unit,
questionnaires can be downloaded from the central
location to the memory of a remote data collection
unit~ Such questionnaires can be clisplayed on a
10 television receiver coupled to the remote data
collection unit, with means provided for a viewex or
panelist registering answers to questions in the
questionnaire, and the memory of the remote data
collection unit storing the answers to the questions
15 for transmission to the central location at the next
telephone communication therewith.
In accordance with one aspect of the
invention, a viewer control is associated with each
remote data collection unit. The viewer control
20 includes a television channel selector, which can be
utilized not only in a normal mode for selecting
channels but also to place the unit in a channel
lock or a non-channel lock position. ~hen the data
collection unit is in the channel lock position, the
25 television set ~ssociated therewith stays tuned to
whatever channel was previously selected, but
subsequent changes in the channel selector are
~tored in the data collection unit memory. This
feature is useful for recording data relating to
viewer response, individual viewer identification,
responses to questionnaires and the like~
In accordance with one embodiment of the
invention, substitute programming information ~ay be
supplied to each of the panelist locations, as by
35 transmission over an otherwise unused channel in a
~2~7~
cable system. Control information is also
txansmitted along with the substitute programming,
with the control information being utilized to
select on a dynamic basis portions of the panelis~s
5 for receipt of substitute programming. The groups
of panelists which are to receive the substitute
programming information can be selected on a
demographic bases or the like.
Other objects, advantages, and features of
10 the preBent invention will appear from the detailed
description of the preferred embodiments thereof,
taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
~RIEF DESCRIPTION OF T~E DRAWI~GS
Fiqure 1 is a block diagram illustrating an
overall system in accordance with the principles of
this invention.
Figure 2 is a block diagram illus~rating
signal flow in accordance with the present
20 invention,
Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating
modification of a cable converter in accordance with
the present invention.
Figure 4 illustrates the mode switches and
data wand of a data collection unit in a~cordance
with the present invention.
Figure 5 is a detailed block diagram of a
data collection unit in accordance with the present
invention.
7~
Figure S i5 a block diagram of the
telephone block in~erface and master/slave coupling
in accordance wi~h one ~mbodiment of the inven~ionO
Figure 7 is a logic flow diagram of the
5 main loop of a data collection uni~ in accordance
with the present invention.
Figure 8 is another logic flow diagram or
converter control in accordance with one embodiment
of the present invention.
Figure 9 i5 a logic flow diagram of another
subroutine in accordance with the present invention.
Figure 10 is a logic flow diagram for the
data LED control subroutine of one embodiment of the
present invention.
Pigure 11 is a logic flow diayram of a
subroutine also relating to converter control.
Figure 12 is a logic flow diagram related
to storing optically scanned data from a bar code
reader in accordance with one embodiment of the
20 present invention.
Figure 13 is a logic flow diagram rela~ing
to control of a time window for telephone
communications in accordance wi~h one embodiment of
the present invention.
Figure 14 is a logic flow diagram relating
to the survey function of one embodiment of the
present invention.
Figure 15 is a logic flow diagram for a
communication subroutine in accordance with one
embodiment of the present invention.
Figure 16 is a block diagram relatiny to an
5 aspect of the invention in which viewer identifi-
cation prompts are overlayed on the television
screen.
Figure 17 is a block diagram of an alter-
nate embodiment of the present invention in which a
10 portable data collection device is used to retreive
data from data collection units instead of telephone
links.
D~TAIL~D D~SCRIPTION OF T~E PREF~RRED E~BDDIME~TS
The present invention relates to a data
15 ~athering system which includes a plurality of
remote units which are controlled from a central
location. Each of the remote units is attached to a
television receiver which is generally but not
necessarily attached to a cable system. Each of the
20 remote units ~unctions to determine which of ~everal
TV modes i9 in use a~ well as to store TV channel
selector data and data from an optical input device.
~11 this data i~ ~tored for later transmission by
each o~ the remote units to a central data
25 collecting point. In accordance with some
embodiments o~ the invention, a video message for a
TV viewer can be transmitted from the central
location and stored at the remote units, for later
display on the TV set associated with the remote
30 units. ~urther embodiment of the inYention allow
'7~3~
for substitution of alternate programminy infor-
mation by the central control point on selected of
the remote units.
Referring to Figure 1, there is shown a
5 block diagram of the overall system. In accordance
with the embodiment shown in Figure 1, the sys~em is
illustrated in the con~ext of a cable TV system; the
inv~ntion is not necessarily limited thereto,
however. In Figure 1 signals on normal television
10 channels are received by head end antennas 11
associated with a CATV head end control system 12.
The signals from the normal television channels can
be mixed with videotape or film sources from
auxiliary sources 13 and 14. In accordance with the
15 invention, a control source 16 is also provided for
transmitting digital data from and under the control
of a microcomputer 170 These will be discussed in
more detail later.
All of these various signals are mixed in
the CATV head end 12 and transmitted over a cable
system, generally indicated by reference numeral 18.
Figure 1 illustrates one of the remote
units of this system of this inventiont although it
should be understood that a plurality of such remote
~5 units are provided, suitably situa~ed in homes of
panelists or the like who have agreed to serve on
panels. As shown in Figure 1, a cable converter 19
and a data collection unit 21 as provided in
accordance with the present invention are both
30 coupled to the cable system 18. A normal television
receiver 22 is coupled to the cable converter 19~
There is al50 interconnection for passage of control
signals both ways between the data collection unit
21 and the cable converter 19. This is explained in
3~ ~ore detail later.
3~;
11
In accordance with ~he invention, the data
collect~on unit ~1 contains a memoryt and stores
data as to which of a plurality of TV modes are in
use, which TV channel is being viewed, as well ~s
5 input from a suitable optical scanning device, which
will be discussed in more detail la~er. In
accordance with some embodiments of the present
invention, other data can be collected by the data
collection unit, such as viewer quali~ative rating
10 of programs and responses to survey questionnaires
and the like.
The data collection unit 21 is
interconnected to a telephone block 22, through
which incoming and outgoing telephone calls are
lS coupled to the panelist's home ~ith suitable wiring
and the like interconnecting telephone receivers 23
in the panelist's home.
A central data collection point is provided
for the system in accordance with this invention,
which need not be the same central locat;on as the
CATV head end 12. The central location is indicated
in Figure 1 by the central computer 24. The central
location can include an appropriate computer with
modems and the like for making connection over the
25 swieched telephone network 25 to each of the remote
locations. This is illustrated in Figure 1 by the
connection between the switched telephone network 25
and the ~elephone block 22 for the particular remote
location shown in Figure 1. Periodically, the
30 ceneral computer 24 "dial~-up" each of the remote
locations, establishes appropriate telephone
communications with each of the data collection
units 21, and the data stored in each of the data
collection units 21 is transmitted via the switched
35 telephone network 25 to the central computer 24.
3~
12
While in telephone comm~nication, in addition to
extracting the stored data from the data collection
unit 21, the central computer 24 can al50 download
via the telephone lines data into each of the data
5 collection units 21, as discussed in more detail
hereafter. ~lso as discussed in more detail
hereafter, in accordance with one as~ect and
embodiment of the invention, appropriate
interconnections are provided in the telephone block
10 ~2 so that when a telephone call comes in from the
central computer 240 the call is routed to the data
collection unit 21, and does not activate the
telephone receivers 23 in the panelist~s l~ome.
~eferring now to Figure 2, there i5 shown
15 an additional block diagram illustrating ~ignal
paths between the data collection unit 21, the cable
converter 19, and a television receiver 22~
Referring to Figure 2, the data collection unit 21
includes an electronics portion 26 and a switching
portion 27. The switching portion 27 consists of a
number of switches, five in the embodiment ~hown in
Figure 2, for selecting which of a v~riety of TV
modes are to be utilized. Thus, for example in the
embodiment shown in Figure 2 the inputs to the
25 switching portion 27 are the normal TV signal from a
cable or antenna~ along with an interconnection to a
computer, i.e. home computer, a VCR, and a game.
Depression of one of the five pushbuttons in the
switching portion by a viewer or panelist selects
30 one or the other of these TV modes. A TV mode
~ignal corresponding to and indicative of one o~
these TV modes is stored in the data collect;on unit
electronics section 26. As was briefly discu~sed in
connection with the block diagram of Figure 1, in
35 accordance with one embodiment of the invention text
13
information, such as survey questionnaires and the
like, can be downloaded from a central location over
the telephone lines and stored in the data
collection unit electronics 26. Selection of a
5 "survey" function by the panelists, actuates this TV
mode and video text information is coupled through
the corresponding switch in the switching portion 27
and coupled over RF signal line 28 to the input of
~he cable converter 19. The output of the cable
10 converter 19 is of course suitably connected to the
television receiver 22.
In accordance with the present invention,
control inormation is coupled both ways between the
cable converter 19 and the data collection unit
15 26. In fact, in accordance with the present
invention, and as described more fully hereinafter,
it is the data collection unit electronics 26 which
controls the television program material displayed
on the television receiver 22, rather than the cable
converter 19.
Referring to Figure 3, there is shown a
typical example of the way in which cable converters
are modified in accordance with the present
invention ~or application of the present invention
~s thareto. Cable converters typically include a
microprocesso2 section illustrated in Figure 3 by
reerence numeral 29 and a tuning section
illus~rated in Figure 3 by reference numeral 31. For
example, in an exemplary arrangement, a ribbon cable is
30 normally supplied connecting the microprocessor board 29
to the tuning section 31. Typically, the micro-
processor section controls a digital display and
television receiver commands are received from a
front panel on the cable converter, or a remote
73~
1~
control as well know in the art. The microprocessor
section sends commands to the tuning section via the
ribbon cable normally connecting the two. In
accordance with the present invention, the ribbon
5 cable from the microprocessor board or section i5
interrupted and is connected to the data collection
unit 21. The commands and the like from the
microprocessor section 29 are interpreted by the
data collection unit 21, which then in turn controls
10 selection of a channel by the tuning section or
board 31. As discussed more fully hereaft2r, the
data collection unit 21 will normally cause the
tuning section 31 to select and display whatever
channel was indicated in the command information
15 from the microprocessor section 29. ~owever, when
the present invention is in a substitute programming
function, the data collection unit 21 will or can
substitute programming, i.e. select a channel for
display other than the channel indicated by the
20 commands from the microprocessor board 29, for
display at the television receiver. Also, the
interconnection between the data collection unit 21
and the cable converter enables the data collection
unit 21 to store information as to the channel being
25 viewed and at what times, etc.
Turning now to Fiyure 4, there is shown a
representa~ion of the physical appearance of the
data collection unit 21 in accordance with the
present invention~ The uni~ is preferably
3n dimensioned such that a cable converter, such as the
Teknika 6401 converter will sit right on top o the
data collection unit. As illustrated in Figur~ 4,
five TV mode selector switches are provided in the
form of pushbutton switches. These correspond to
35 TV, game, computer, VCR, and survey. As mentioned
7~5i
previously, in accordance with one aspect of the
invention survey questionnaires and the like can be
downloaded ~rom the central location over the
telephone lines to memory in the data collection
5 unit. Selection of the survey pushbutton swit~h in
the data collection unit will then cause the survey
questionnaire to be displayed on the television
screen a~ the viewer's or panelist's convenience,
for recording of answers to the questionnaire by the
10 panelists. The manner in which these responses to
the questionnaires are registered and stored is
discussed hereinafter. ~owever, as illustrated in
Figure 4, a ligh~ emittinq diode 32 is provided on
the front panel of the data collection unit in o
15 association with the ~urvey pushbutton. When survey
questionnaires are contained in the memory of the
data collection unit and have not been responded ~o
by the panelists, the light emitting diode 32 is lit
in a ~anner discussed hereafter, so as to inform the
20 panelists that there is an unanswered
questionnaire. An additional data light emitting
diode 33 is provided on the front panel of the data
collection unit and provides urther communication
with a panelist, as discussed in detail hereafter.
Also shown in Figure 4 is a receptacle 34
provided in the front panel of the data collection
unit. The receptacle 34 is adapted to receive a
data wand 35, and an additional light emtting diode
36 is provided on the front panel of the data
30 collection unit for displaying indications relative
to the data wand. The data wand 35 is an optical
scanning device which contains its own internal
memory. The data wand 35 can be used for sc~nning
bar codes, such as the UPC codes ~ound on products,
35 and storing information relative to those bar
16
codes. The data stored within the data wand 35 can
be periodically transmitted to memory within the
data collection unit, by inserting the data wand 35
into the receptacle 34~
A suitable example of an optical scanninq
device 35 for recording bar codes is that manu
factured ~y MSI Corporation and sold under the
trademark "DATA ~AND." The MSI da~a wand is
available with an R5-232C-type standard interface,
10 which is incorporated into the data collection unit
21 in accordance with the present invention. This
interface allows connection to the computer and
memory provided in the data collection unit, as
discussed more fully hereafter.
Referring now to Figure 5, there is shown a
functional block diagram of a data collection unit
in accordance with the present invention. The heart
of the data collection unit is a microprocessor 37
and suitable programming for the microprocessor is
20 contained in a ROM 38. Details of the programming
are discu3sed hereafter. A RAM 39 is also provided
~or storing event information such as channel
selection, TV mode selection, data read by the
optical scanner 35 and the like. A clock 40 is also
provided to run the microprocessor 37, with the
clock 40 also functioning to maintain a time of day
indication for recording times in connection with
events in the RAM 39. The RAM 39 typically is
provided with 32k bytes storage. Also typically, 8k
30 bytes of ROM is provided.
The data collection unit contains a ~erial
line driver 41, which is appropriately sel~cted to
be one of those available which has a programmable
baud rate. This serial line driver 41 is connected
35 via a multiplexer 42 to a variety of interfaces.
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17
First, a wand interface 43 is provided for acceptin~
data from the optical scanner 35O As discu~ed
previously, the wand interface provided with the MSI
data wand has a s~an~ard RS~232 output at a 1200
S baud rate. Ano~her input to the multiplexer 42 is a
modem 44 contained within the da~a collec~ion
unit. The modem 44 is a Bell 202 compatible, half
duplex modem with an au~o ~nswer capability. This
modem 44 is coupled to the telephone block interface
10 22, which is described in more detail hereafter.
The data transfer rate via the modem 44 is also 1200
baud.
The data collection unit also contains a
receive only interface, shown as simplex receiver 45
15 in Figure 5 which receives an input from the cable
system. This simplex channel uses an FM carrier on
the cable and originates as a broadcast ~rom the
CATV head end. As more fully discussed hereafter in
connection with a discussion of the substitute
20 proqramming aspect of this invention, certain
control information is transmitted to the remote
data collection units via this cable simplex
channel. The transmission speed of this channel in
accordance wi~h one embodiment is 9600 baud.
~5 A master/slave communication block 46 is
shown in Figure 5 as coupled to the telephone block
intexface 22. This master~slave communication block
is only applicable where a plurality of television
sets are provided in one panelist's home. The
30 specific functioning of the master/slave
relationship is described hereafter in connection
with Figure 6.
A parallel interface 47 is provided Eor
providing the interface between the data collection
35 unit and the cable converter. Thus the inputs and
~2~
outputs of this parallel interace are from ~he
microprocessor in the cable converter and to the
~uning section of th~ cable converter (see ~igure
3).
A parallel interface 48 is also provided
for decoding the mode or function selec~ switches
provided on ~he front panel of the data collection
unit (see Figure 4) and for controlling the three
light emitting diodes 32, 33 and 36 on the front
10 panel of the data collection unit.
A video interface 49 is provided for
providing video output information to the television
receiver through the cable converter to display
~urvey questionnaires and the like on the television
15 receiver when the survey mode is selected. As
mentioned previously, in accordanc~ with one aspect
of this invention survey questionnaires can be
downloaded over the telephone lines from the central
location to the remote units while they are in
20 telephone communication. The survey questionnaires
aFe stored in RAM 39 and light emitting diode 32 is
lit on the front panel of the da~a collection unit
to inform the panelists that there is an unanswered
questionnaire. When the panelist selects the survey
25 function, the video interface 49 produces a
composite video signal for display on the ~elevision
receiver to display the questions in the
questionnaire.
A battery 50 is also shown in the
functional block diagram of Figure 5. Although
normal power connection for powering the data
collection units is via the normal household power
supply, a battery backup can be provided to en~ure
that the data collection unit remains powered up
during any temporary power outages at the panelist's
19
home, so as not to lose current time of day
information in the clock 40 or any of the data
stored in ~he RAM 39.
All of the circuitry functionally
5 illustrated in the block diagram of Figure 5, with
the exception of the master slave ommunications 96
and the telephone block interface 22, can be any
appropriate integrated circuits or the like which
are available on the market for the functions
10 indicated.
An important aspec~ of the data collection
unit in accordance with the presen~ invention is its
interface to the cable converter. Specifically, it
is the data collection unit itself which controls
15 the tuning of the cable converter. The viewer or
panelist appears to control the cable converter
normally, but the signals are actually intercepted
by the data collection unit and it is the data
collection unit that commands the tuning of the
~0 converter, as has been described above in connection
with Figures 2 and 3. During most television viewing
activity, the data collection unit will command the
~uner to select the same channel that the viewer has
selected. ~owever, when in func~ions which are
25 described as "Channel-~ock" and during "Dynamic
Allocation", the data collection unit will select
channels other than the one being displayed.
Channel Lock is a data collection unit
unction in which the cable converter remains locked
34 on one channel regardless of the activity orcurring
with the converter control and the channel number
being digitally displayed on the cable converter.
Channel Lock is entered by selecting an unoccupied
converter channel, such as channel 35. When the
3sdata collection unit decodes channel 35, it will
freeze the converter on the channel previously
selected and illuminate ligh~ emit~ing diode 33 sn
the front panel of the data collection unit S~ee
Figure 4~. The viewer or panelist can now u~e the
S converter control to display any channel numbe~ on
the converter without changing the channel being
viewed. The data collection unit will collect
events, as in the normal viewing mode, including
storing the ~ubse~uent channels selec~ed during the
10 Channel Lock condition as events. Each time the
data collection unit collects events the light
emitting diode 33 will be blinked off, corresponding
to an indication that an event has been captured by
the data collection unit. This Channel Lock feature
15 is useful from a number of standpoints. For
example, when in a Channel Lock condition the viewer
could select various channels for entry as events
with the various channel numbers ~elected
correspondin~ to the viewers qualitative reaction to
20 programming. As another example, a particular
channel number could be entered while in the Channel
~ock condition which corresponds to the identifica-
tion of particular individuals who are viewing the
program within the household. ~ particular
25 embodiment of identifying viewers is described
hereafter in connection with Figure 16. Likewise,
selection of channel numbers while in a Channel Lock
condition is useful in connection with responding to
survey questionnaires and the like, which is
~0 described more fully laterO A key feature of the
present invention is that entry of such qualitative
viewer reaction data and the like i8 achieved while
being abl~ to use the normal channel selector
associated with the cable converter, rather than any
35 kind of separate key pad or other data entry
73~i
21
device. The "Channel-Lock" condition is exited by
sPlecting an unoccupied converter channel, such as
36, at which time ~he light emitting diode 33 iB
extinguished and normal tuning of the converter is
5 resumed.
As has been previously described, the
select switches or mode switches provided on the
front panel of the data collection unit ~see Fi~ure
4) allows the viewer to select one of a number of
1~ alternate signal sources. For example, these
possible alternative signal sources are TV (either
cable or air~, VCR, game, computer and survey. The
switches as shown in Figure 2 ~elect one of the
signal sources and route it to the input of the
15 cable conver~er. ~he data collection unit monitors
~he switch selection and controls the converter
tuning accordingly. If TV viewing is 3electedp
then normal converter operation is enabled. If one
of the other four sources are selected, the data
20 collection unit will record an event and tune the
converter to the appropriate channel to tune the
signals which are selected. For example, the game
and VCR output may be on channel 3, while the
computer output is on channel lOo These are
25 specific parameters that can be adjusted with
respect to any particular installation.
Dynamic allocation i5 a term used to
describe the concept of blind or invisible channel
substitution. As described earlier, United States
30 Patent No. 3,639,686 to Walker et al relates to such
a dynamic allocation or substitute programming kind
of ~ystem. In accordance with one embodiment of the
present invention, a substitute programming
arrangement in accordance with the principles of the
35 Walker et al patent is incorporated. Basically, the
~2~ 1~735i
dynamic allocation process i5 one in which one or
more channels in selected households are substi~uted
with another test channel by the data collection
unit.
The materials substituted usually are
commercials, for purposes of market research with
respect to the efficacy of commercials. In
practice, a set of subs~itute commercial cut-ins are
scheduled each day. For example, each cut-in can be
10 assigned a two digit number. For each cut-in, a
channel remap table is loaded into the data
collection unit. The remap tables are simple and
consist, for example, of one or more channel numbers
and the channel they are to be remapped to. At any
15 given time, the memory in the data collection unit
can hold a number of such remap tables. In
accordance with one embodiment of the invention, the
remap tables are downloaded over the cable channel
and received by the simplex receiver 45 (Figure 5).
Each data collection unit has an
identification number. There can either be unique
identification numbers ~or each data collection unit
corresponding to each panelist location, or
panelists can be grouped in accordance with
25 demographic considerations and assigned a common
identification number. Identifica~ion numbers for
each data control unit can be downloaded to the unit
from the central location during telephone
communications be~ween same.
Since the messages transmitted on the
simplex channel over the cable are received by all
data collection units, they must be addressed to
particular data collection units or ~roups of data
collection units and be appropriately formatted with
35 message delimiters and the data collection unit
3~
23
iden~ificatiQn numbers~ As discussed above, the
dynamic alloca~ion remap tables are downloaded over
~he cable channel and received by the simple~
receiver 45 a~ each of the data collection units.
These remap ~ables are s~ored in RAM 39. A remap
table is enabled, during the cut-in, by continually
transmitting the cut-in number down the cable to the
simplex communica~ion channel~ Whenever a data
collection unit receives a cut-in number, the
10 particular remap table is enabled for some
predetermined time, i.e. 0~5 seconds. When the
remap table is enabled for a particular data
collection unit, the data collection unit
automatically provides substitute programming a~
15 indic~ted by the remap table to the television
receiver of the panelist. This alternate
programming is transmitted from the cable head and
do~n channels normally not used for entertainment.
This dynamic allocation feature facili~ates
20 market research. By displaying alternate forms of a
coMmercial to different groups of panelists, and
correlating tha~ display both with the demographic
data concerning the panelists and the product
purchases by the panelists, the efficacy of the
25 commercials can be evaluated.
In accordance with one embodiment of the
present invention correlation of panelist viewing
activity as to commercials and the like with product
purchases made by the panelist has been greatly
30 facilitated. The earliest market research
techniques relied upon a panelist filling out a
purchase diary or the like with this information
then being manually collected by the market re~earch
organization for correlation with viewing activity
35 of that particular panelist. Systems have been
~2~3~;
2~
proposed in which viewing activity of a paneli3t iB
correlated with product purchase informati~n with
respect to that panelist by monitoring at stores
within a limited geographic area surrounding the
5 panelists the product purchase information with
respect to that panelist. Specifically, each
panelist has an identification card presented at a
grocery store at the like which uses check out
coun~ers having the facility for optically reading
10 universal produc~ codes on products. When the
panelist makes purchases, the identification of that
panelist is seanned into the computer at the store,
along wi~h ~he product purchase information with
respect to that panelist. This information is
15 either coupled from the store' 5 computers to the
market research organization, or collected at a
later time from the stores by the market research
organization.
For certain market research activities, it
20 might be desirable to have a national group of
panelists, spread acro~s the geographic extent of
the United States or whatever other country that is
the subject ~f the market research. For such an
arrangement, it would not really be feasible for the
25 market research organization to have arrangements
with and be tied into the computers of stores spread
~11 across the country. Therefore, in accordance
with one aspect of the present invention, collection
o~ information regarding product purchases by a
30 panelist has been greatly facil;tated.
As described in connection with Figure 4,
the data collection unit in accordance with this one
aspect is equipped with an optical scanner, one
suitable example of which is a product known as the
35 ~SI data wand. ~his is a hand held device that
contains an internal memory and can be used f~r
scanning bar codes, ~uch as universal product codes,
con~ained on products purchased by a panelist.
Thus, in accordance wi~h this one aspect of ~he
5 present invention, product purchase information with
respect to a particular panelist is easily collected
by the panelist simply scanning the data wand over
the universal product codes on the products
purchased by the panelist. The MSI data wand has an
10 internal memory which can store approximately 4,000
diqits. This memory is of a sufficient extent to
store the product code and a price for about 300
items, which should be adequate for recording the
daily purchases for a household. After scanning
15 products with the data wand, the data wand can be
inserted into the receptacle in the front panel of
the data collection unit and the memory contents of
the data wand transferred to memory within the data
colleotion unit. As explained previously, the MSI
20 data wand can be obtained with an RS-232 interface
for this purpose, which interface is incorporated
within the data collection unit. The procedure for
transferring the data wand information into the data
collection unit is as follows. The panelist turns
25 on the cable converter, enters the channel lock
condition, and then selects an unu~ed channel, such
as 34, which is programmed to instruct the data
collection unit to monitor the interface with the
data wand. The panelist then scans the data wand
30 over a special code that is provided with the data
wand which instructs the data wand to transmit data.
The data wand is then inserted into the holder or
receptacle within the data collection unit. After
~he data has been received and verified by the data
35 collection unit, the light emitting diode 36 (see
7;3~
26
Figure 4) provided on the front panel of the data
collection unit will blink off and on for fiv2
seconds, so as to inform the panelist that the
operation has been successfully completed. Then,
5 the panelist extracts the wand ~rom the data
collection unit, clears the wand memory in
accordance with features provided in the data wand,
and reinserts the data wand into the data collection
unit for storage in the receptacle~
Subsequently, when telephone communication
is established between the central location and the
individual data collection units t the various
panelists homes, the stored product purchase
information with respect to the various panelists is
15 transferred from memory of the data collection unit
to the central location. This greatly facilitates
collection of such product purchase data with
respect to individual panelists, and correspondingly
facilitates correlation thereof with viewing
20 activity oP those panelist~. Using such an
arranyement, a nationwide yroup of panelists
scattered over a wi~e geographic area i~ practical.
As has been previously mentioned, when a
particular data collection unit is in contact with
the central location, a survey guestionnaire or the
like may be downloaded over the telephone lines into
memory of the data collection unit. Whenever the
data collection unit contains an unanswered
questionnaire, the data collection unit will
30 illuminate the survey light emitting diode 32 on the
front panel of the data collection unit so as to
inform a panelist that the data collection unit
contains a survey which has not been answered.
Anytime that this light emitting diode 32 is
35 illuminated, the panelist may elect to turn on the
27
television and depress the survey select mode select
switch on the front panel of the data collec~ion
unit. The data collection uni~ will detect
depression of the survey select switch, illuminate
5 the da~a light emitting diode 33, tune the cable
converter to the appropriate channel, and output the
first question to the television through the video
interface 49 (Figure s). The converter is
automatisally placed in a channel lock condition at
1~ thi~ time by the data collection unit. The viewer
can thus use the converter control or channel
selector to enter channel numbers to answer whatever
questions are presented in the questionnaire. For
example, a questionnaire might ask a question and
15 give five possible responses~ with a number ~eside
each of the possible responses. The panelist enters
a channel number corresponding to the number
adjacent the answer the panelist is giving to the
question. When all the questions have been answered
by the panelist, the data light emitting diode 33 on
the front panel of the data collection unit will be
extinquished. When the panelist then depresses
another mode select switch, the survey light
emitting diode 3~ will also be extinguished.
As has been described previously, the
trans~er of data from the remote data collection
units to the central location is achieved in one
embodiment by telephone communications over the
switched telephone network between the central
30location in each o~ the various remote units. ~lso,
situations arise in which there is more than o~e
television receiver within a single panelist'~ home,
and qome means is necessary to collect viewer data
and the like with respect to each of the television
3Ssets, and store and communicate that data to the
12~1~35
28
central location at an appropriate time. Referring
now to Figure 6, there is shown one embodiment of
the invention which illustrates the manner of
effecting telephone communications from a remote
5 location or panelist's home to the central location,
and also the situation in which there is more than
one television receiver in a single panelist's home
which have to be monitored.
Referring now to Figure 6, there i~
10 illustrated a telephone block generally indicated by
reference numeral 55. At each building or house
there is a point at which telephone service enters
the building which is referred to as the telephone
"block." This block includes terminals for the
15 telephone lines 56 and 57 and may also contain
several other devices to protect telephone line
service, such as lightening arresters and voltage
limiters (not shown). Typically, the telephone
block also contains a low voltage transformer
20 indicated by reference numeral 58 which is used to
supply lighting power to the telephone. In
accordance with standard color coding, the telephone
lines 56 and 57 are respectively green and red and
extend to a number of telephone jacks, two of which
25 59 and 60 are illustrated in Figure 6. Two signal
lines 61 and 62 from the low voltage transformer 58
also extend to the various telephone jacks and are
color coded yellow and black, respectively.
In accordance with the present invention, a
30 telephone block interface 22 is provided at the
point of the telephone block within a building.
This telephone block 22 is interfaced to the
telephone lines 56 and 57 as well as the low voltage
power lines 51 and 62. Low voltage from the
35 transformer 68 is used to supply power via a power
7~5;
29
supply 63 to a tone detector 54. This tone detec~or
~4 is a low energy detector u~ed to detect the
presence of a control tone, for example a 15Dg~z
signal which can be imposed on the low voltage lines
5 61 and 62, in a manner discussed hereafter. Thus
the tone detector 64 is connected to the power lines
61 and 62 via coupling capacitors 65 and 66. The
tone detector 54 is coupled to and controls a relay
67 which is actuated between the position shown in
10 Figure 6, wherein the telephone lines 56 and 57 are
not interrupted, to a position where the telephone
lines 56 and 57 are coupled through a load resistor
68 and capacitors 69 and 70.
In Figure 6 there is shown a master data
15 collection unit 71 which is typically connected to a
television receiver 72. Provided as part of the
master data collection unit 71 is a modem 73, which
as discussed previously can be a standard kind of
modemr such as an auto-answer Bell 202 modem. This
is a 1200 ~aud, half~duplex device. The modem 73 in
accordance with this invention is also connected to
a telephone jack, for connection to the telephone
lines 56 and 57.
A tone generator-encoder 74 is coupled to
the master data collection unit 71 and through a
resistor 75 to one of the power lines 61 and 52.
Similarly, a tone decoder 76 i5 also coupled through
a load resi~tor 77 to one of the signal lines 61 and
62 and throu~h an amplifier 7a to the master data
collection unit 71.
In operation, the master data collection
unit 71 will enable the modem 73 for a limited
period of time or ~Iwindow~ each day. Typically, a
call-in window of a two hour duration will be opened
once per day at a time when the telephone system i5
normally not in use, i.e. ~-S a,m, in the morning.
During this time window, the master data collection
unit 71 will answer each incoming telephone eall,
and quickly determine if the call originate~ ~rom
5 the central location. The manner in which thi~ i5
done is as follows.
During ~he call in window, a ring signal
occurring at the telephone block 55 is a siqnal of
about 45 volts at 25Hz. This is impressed across
10 the telephone signal lines 56 and 57, and would
normally cause telephone sets connected to the
telephone service to ring. ~owever, the master data
collection unit 71 samples the first half cycle of
any incoming signal during the call in window for
15 voltage and pulse duration. If the microprocessor
within the master data collection unit 71 determine~
the signal is a ring signal, the tone generator
encoder 74 is caused by the data collection unit 71
to impress a 150KHz tone on the low voltage lines 61
and 62. In response to this tone, the tone detector
64 actuates the relay 67. With the relay 67
actuated, the remainder of the ring Qignal is
absorbed by the load resistor 68. Since load
resistor 68 is sufficiently low in value to indicate
25 to the telephone system that a connect has been
made, there will be no further rings..
The modem 73 is a standard telephone modem
well known to those skilled in the art. This modem
is caused by the microprocessor within the master
data collection unit 71 to send a two to four second
tone, such as a 380Hz side tone, back to the callin~
source via the telephone lines 56 and 57 and the
coupling capacitors 69 and 70. If the calling
source is in fact the computer at the central
35 location, the computer at the central location will
735i
31
respond with an answering tone, and two way
computer-to-computer conversation will be
established. If, on the other hand, there is no
answering tone from the source of the telephone
5 call, indicative that the calling party is nvt the
central location computer, the data collection unit
71 removes the 150KHz carrier tone on the low
voltage leads Sl and 62, causing a disconnect.
If the call coming in during the call in
10 window is in fact not the central computer, but a
normal telephone caller, ~he ~elephone caller would
hear the side tone and the disconnect, and a dial
tone would be returned. If such a call comes in and
a disconnect oecurs, the data collection unit 71 is
15 programmed to disable the tone generator encoder 74
for a predetermined period of time, such as twenty
minutes. Thus, any calls coming in durin~ this next
predetermined time period of twenty minutes or the
like would cause normal telephone ringing. The
20 caller, having been disconnected, would then be able
to dial his call again, this time with success.
Inasmuch as the se~uence of events occurs outside of
normal telephone usage hours, it is not believed
that such a sequence of events represent any serious
impairment to normal telephone usage.
If it is determined that the calling source
is the central ~omputer, so that computer-to-
computer communication is established, upon
establishment of that communication the central
30 computer, under appropriate programming, calls on
the master data collection unit for the information
stored during the day. Upon receiviny this
information, the central location may cause ~ new
program to be loaded into the data collection unit
35 71 memory, such as a questionnaire or the like as
:~2~ ~73~
32
discussed previously. If the master data collection
unit 71 is the only data collection unit to be
communicated with by the centra] location, the
central computer upon completion of receiving the
S stored in~rmation and loading any new program
information into the mas~er data collection unit 71
simply disconnec~s, and all circuits return to
normal.
Referrinq to Figure 6, one embodiment of
10 the invention is also illustrated in which ~here are
multiple television receivers within a single
panelist' 5 home which must be monitored. As
illustrated in Figure 6, two additional telPvision
receivers 81 and 83 might exist in a panelist's
15 home, and slave data collection units ~0 and R2 are
associated therewith as illustrated in Figure 6.
These slave data collection units 80 and 82 are
coupled to the low voltage lines 61 and 62. Thus,
the slave data collection units can be connected to
20 any of the various telephone jacks within the
panelist's house, and coupling ~o the master data
collection unit and the other circuitry iQ by means
of the existing telephone wiring within the
household. In accordance with one embodiment of the
~5 invention, all signals received from the centr21
location via the modem 73 are sent first to the
master data collection unit 71, then echoed via the
tone generator 74 to the signal lines 61 and 62 so
that the slave data collection units 80 an~ 8
30 receive the incoming data. Tone ~enerator 74
generates a multiplicity of tones to keep the relay
67 closed, plus an additional variable fre~uency
tone representing the data beinq transmittcd. These
tones ranqe, for example, from a lSOK~z to 350K~z
35 and are impressed as carrier currents on the signal
~2~
33
lines 61 and 62. Each of the slave data collection
units contains a microproce~sor and would require a
tone generator and tone decoder similar ~o the tone
generator 74 and tone decoder 76, but would not
5 require any separate modem. Each of the slave data
coll~ction units receives ~he identical data to the
master data collection unit 71. By addressing ~he
data stream~ the slave data collection units can be
caused to act independently. When a slave data
1~ collection unit is ~alled upon to respond, so as to
transmit data stored in ~he slave data collection
units the carrier current signal impressed on the
low volta~e lines 61 and 62 reverses direction, the
tone decoder 76 receives the signal from the slave
15 data collection unit, decodes it into standard data
which ls then echoed by the master data collection
unit 71 through the modem 73 to the central
location.
In the manner described above~ each of the
20 data collection units, which are coupled together
via the exi~ting telephone wiring in a panelist 1 9
home, receives all o the incoming information from
the central location, and can be caused to respond
independently to transmit data stored in each of the
~5 data collection units back to ~he ~elephone lines to
the central location. Of course, other variations
are possible. For example, at a preset programmed
time programmed into the microproces~or of the
master data collection unit 71, the master data
30 collection unit can poll each of the slave data
collection units by carrier current over the low
voltage telephone wiring 61 and 62 to collect the
available data at each of the slave data collection
units, addressing each of these slave data
35 collection units seriatum by code as necessary.
~2~ ~7~
34
Thus, all of the data from all of the various data
collection uni~s within a panelist~s home would be
stored in ~he master data collection unit. ~hen,
upon contact of the master data collection unit 71
with the central location, the central location
would obtain the data by simply contacting the
master data collection unit. Similarly, the central
location would load the master data collection unit
with any new programs, such as questionnaires and
10 ~he like, which are to be stored in memory at the
various data collection units. Then, when the
central location disconnected the telephone
connection with the master data collectivn unit 71,
the master data collection unit can then relay the
15 new programs to the slave data collection units,
addressing each by code as necessary.
Thus, in accordance with the above
described arrangement and as illustrated in Figure
6, a plurality of data collection units can be
20 provided within a single panelist's home associated
with a respective different plurality of television
receivers, for monitoring each of the television
receivers in the same fashion as a single data
collection unit is provided to monitor one single
~5 television receiver. ~lthough the various slave
data collection units have been shown as coupled to
the master data collection unit through the existing
telephone wiring in a panelist's home, it should be
clear that exis~ing power wiring within a panelist's
30 home can al50 be used for the same function. That
is, carrier ~ignals can be impressed upon the power
wiring within a panelist's home for transferring
data to and from Yarious slave data collection units
to the master data collection unit. Of course, as a
35 further alternative, dedicated wiring could be
installed in a panelist's home for connectlng the
variQus slave data collection units to the ma~ter
dat~ collection unit.
Turning no~ to Figure 7, there is ~hown a
5 logic flow diagram for the software controlling the
m~in loop (ML) of the microprocessor within the data
control unit. ~he first decision block is as to
whether or not there is a cut-in message present. It
will be recalled as discussed previously ~hat remap
10 tables for aehieving dynamic allocation or
substitu~e programming are ~tored in the memory o
the data collection units and are enabled by
transmission of a cut-in num~er down the cable. If
there is a cut-in message present, ~he cut-in
15 activation event is logged, and all flags in the
system are cleared. If there is no cut-in message
present, then the logic flow is to the next decision
block as to whether or not the channel lock is on.
If the channel lock is on, the next decision block
20 is to whether or not a data wand start condition
exists. If a data wand start condition exists, the
logic flow is jump subroutine (JSR) to data wand
read module. The no conditions to the decision
block for the channel lock on and data wand start
~S lead to a decision block as to whether or not
connection to central site is established. If it
i~, the next block is a jump subroutine (J~R) to
col~munication module. If connection to central cite
~s not established, then ~he next decision block is
to whether or not the clock is advanced to the nex~
second. If it is not advanced to the next second,
the logic flow is back to the upper portion of the
main loop (ML). If the clock i~ advanced to ~he
next second, the next decision block is to ~hether
35 or not the converter is on. If the converter is on,
~2~
36
the logic flow progresses to a main loop 1 tMLl)o
If the converter is not on, the next decision block
is to whether or not the conver~er was on. If i~
was not, the logic ~low is back ~hrough the main
5 10QP ML. I~ the converter was on, then the next
decision block is to log an off event, and turn off
the data light emitting diode (light emitting diode
33 in Figure 4). The timing of the lower portion of
~he logic flow diagram indicated in Figure 7 i,e. as
10 to whether the converter is on, is executed once per
second in accordance with the programming. Vther
aspects of subroutines, such as the converter
control subroutine discussed hereafter, are
interrupt driven and operate asynchronously to the
15 ~ottom portion of the ML loop in Pigure 7.
Components of the data collection unit system which
are interrupt driven pass flags and values to this
main loop ML for logging and dispatching.
Turning now to Figure 8, there is shown the
20 logic flow diagram for the main loop 1 (MLl)~ This
loop is entered when the logic flow in Figure 7 has
a yes decision as to whether or not the converter is
on. The first decision block in the loop MLl is to
whether or not the converter was off. If the
conver~er was off, an on event is logged, and the
blink flag is set (which as discussed later causes
the data light emitting diode to blink). If there
i5 a no decision to the logic block as to whether
the converter was off, the logic flow is to the
30 decision block as to whether or not there is a
change in the select switches. If there is, an
event is logged and the logic flow passes to a
decision block as to whether or not a non-TV
position i5 selected. If the decision is yes, the
35 appropriate output channel is ~et on the converter
37
for whatever position is selected, i.e. computer,
VCR, etc. The next decision block is to whether or
not the select ~witches are in the survey
position. If so, there is a jump subroutine (JSR)
5 to the survey module. Nex~, there is a jump
subroutine to data LED control, and following that a
jump subroutine to test converter channel.
Following that~ there is a jump subroutine to window
control. This window control refers to whether or
10 not the time window permitting call in f rom the
central location to the remote unit i5 open or
closed. As previously discussed, advantageously a
two hour window may be employed at a time when it i5
not expected that the telephone in the panelist's
lS home will be in use, i.e. early in the morning
hours.
Ref2rring now ~o Figure 9, there is shown
the main subroutine for clock housekeeping and
converter control. The subroutine illustrated in
20 logic flow diagram form in Figure 9 is interrupt
driven with the rate thereof set as a system
parameter. In accordance with one embodiment of the
invention, the interrupt rate is nominally set for
0.1 second. The flags and values set in the
subroutine illustrated in Figure 9 are monitored by
the main loop illustrated in Figure 7. Referring
now specifically to the subroutine illustrated in
Figure 9, the ~irst decision block is ~o whether or
not the converter is on. If the converter is on,
the ~elect switches are read and the converter
channel is read. The next decision block is as ~o
whether or not the channel lock is on. If the
channel lock is not on, the next decision blo~k is
whether or not the TV is selected. If the TV is
35 selected, the next decision block is whether or not
38
the channel has been changed. If the channel has
been changed, then the subroutine commands the
converter ~o tune to the new channel.
The bottom portion of the logic flow
5 diagram of Figure 9 relates to clock housekeepin~0
The first decision block is whether or not there ls
an increment in ~he second of day. If there is, the
subroutine executes an incremen~ to ~he seconds of
day value. The next decision block is as to whether
10 or no~ there is a day overflow, If there is, the
subroutine resets the cecond of d~y and sets a
midnight flag, indicative that a day has passed~
The block labeled RTl is an exit from this
subroutine. ~s indicated, the subroutine is
15 interrupt driven at a rate system parameter, which
in accordance with one embodiment is nominally set
for 0.1 second.
Turning now to Figure 10, there is
illustrated a logic flow diagram for the data LED
20 control module, referring to the data light emitting
diode provided on the front panel of the data
collection unit. This is the data LED control block
illustrated in Figure 8. In the subroutine of
Figure 10, the firs~ decision block is as to whether
25 or not the channel lock is on. If it is, the data
LED is turned on. The next decision block is ~s to
whether or not the blink flag is set. If it is, ~he
data LED is toggled on and off. The next decision
block i3 whether or not the current time i~ gre~ter
30 than the blink time. If it is not, there is an exit
from the subroutine (RTS). If it is, the blink flag
is ~et if the channel lock is off and the next blink
time is calculated. The subroutine then loops back
to reenter the decision block as to whether or not
3S the current time i~ greater than the blink time.
~J'~73~i
39
Turniny now to Fi~ure 11, there is
illustrated in logic flow diagram form the
~ubroutine relating to the test converter channel
module referred to in Fiqure 8. In ~igure 11, the
5 first decision block is as to whether or not khe
channel has changed. If i~ has, an event is
logged. Next decision block is as ~o whether or not
the channel lock is on. If it is, the data LED i~
10 turned off (which will appear as a blink when the
LED is turned on later) and there is an exit from
the subroutine i.e. a re~urn to start. If 9 on the
other hand the channel lock is not on, the next
decision block is as to whether or not this i~ a
15 channel lock entry, i.e. has a channel been selected
that corresponds to entering channel lock. If it
does, the channel lock is set on, the data LED is
turned on, and the blink flag is turned off and
there is a return to start. If, on the other hand,
20 this is not a channel lock entry, the next decision
block is as to whether or not the channel entered is
a channel lock exit. ~f it is, the channel lock is
cleared and the data LED is turned off. If it is
not a channel lock exit, there is a return to start
25 for the subroutine.
Turning now to Figure 12, there is shown a
logic flow diagram for the data wand read module.
The first step in ~he logic flow is to initialize
memory pointers, 50 that the data read in from the
30 data wand is placed in the proper portion of the
memory of the data collection unit. The next step
in the logic flow is to connect the universal
asynchronous receiver transmitter to the data ~and
interface. Characters are then read out one by one
35 from the data wand interface and stored in memory~
~o
Figure 13 illustrates the logic flow for
the window control module. As illustrated, the only
decisions are whether or not it is time to open the
window or close the window so as to permit
5 es~ablishing telephone communications between the
data collection unit and the central location.
Referring now to Figure 14, there is shown
a logic flow diagram for the survey module the first
step in the subroutine is to retrieve the respondent
10 i.d. In connection with the survey function, it is
useful to have dif~erent members of a panelist's
household separately answer the questions in a
survey. For this purpose, each of the members of
the household are assigned an i.d. number. When the
15 survey select switch is selected to enter the survey
mode, the channel lock ~ondition of the converter is
automatically entered and the converter is tuned to
the appropriate channel to display the survey
questions. The first question presented is to ask
~o the person answering the survey to enter his or her
i.d. number, which is simply a preassigned channel
number which the respondent enters. The next
decision block is with respect to whether or not
there is an exit code in the information coming ~rom
25 the survey data storage in memory. If there is, the
subroutine is exited. The next decision block if
there is no exit code is as to whether or not there
are que3tions to ask. If there are, various
pointers with respect to memory location and the
30 like are initialized and the next question in the
~urvey data is displayed. The respondent re~ponds
to the question by entering a channel number that
corresponds to one of a plurality of possible
answers to the question. This response is retrieved
35 and stored in memory. The next decision block i5 to
~1
whether or not there are any questions remaining for
~his i.d~, i.e. whether or no~ this particular
member of ~he household has fur~her question~ which
need to be answered. If there are, the next
5 question is displayed, the response retrieved and
stored, and so on. If there are no questions
remaining for this particular respondent, a
"questions finished" message is displayed. The next
decision block is to whether or not there are
10 questions remaining for any i.d., that is, whether
or not there are further survey questions for any
other members of the panelist's household. If there
are not any further questions xemaining for any
i.d., the survey light emitting diode is
15 extinguished. As previously discussed, this survey
light emitting diode on the front face of the data
collection unit is illuminated whenever there are
any unanswered survey questions in memory.
Turning now to Figure 15, there i5
20 illu5trated a logic flow diagram with respect to the
communicàtion module. ~he ~irst step in the
subrou~ine is a fetch command, whi~h is simply a
receipt of a character stream. The character stream
is decoded, and the command dispatch step involves
referencing the place in the memory corresponding to
the decoded command, and execution of the relevant
further commands stored at tha~ location in
memory. The final decision block in ~his subroutine
is as ~o whether or not there is a bye command That
30 is, at the end of the character stream an en~ry
signaling that it is the end of the character ~tream
is inserted, and this decision block decides whe~her
or not the communication is ended.
Polling the data ollection units from a
35 central location using telephone lines and modems
7~
~2
may not always be the best technique for retrieving
stored data from the memories of the data collection
units. For example, ~here are markets where the
incidence of private household telephones is
5 small. ~s another example, ~here may be some
applications in which assembled and analyzed market
research data is not needed until a fairly long time
interval a~ter the raw data is collected. ~or these
kinds of applications~ a different e~bodiment of the
10 present invention has been developed which uses a
portable data collector for collecting data from the
data collection unitO
This alternate embodiment i5 illustrated in
block diagram form in Figure 17. The system as
15 shown in Figure 17 is somewhat similar to the system
shown in Figure 1, and like system components in the
two drawings are identified by the same reference
numerals. The data collection unit 21' shown in
Figure 17 can be almost the same data collection
20 unit 21 as referred to previously, with the
difference that the modem is eliminated from the
data collection unit and an external electrical
connector (reference numeral 100 in Figure 17) is
instead provided. Also, in the system shown in
2S Figure 17 the telephone block and switched telephone
network are not utilized: that is, there are no
telephone connections. Instead of daily transfers of
data from the RAM memory of the data collection
units to a central computer via telephone, data
3~ simply accumulates in the ~AM. Periodically, such
as once every week or every two weeks, a "meter
reader" visits each panelist household with a
protable~data collector 101. The portable data
collector is simply a digital data recorder
35 including a microprocessor with associated operating
43
ROM and RAM and storage medium, such as magnetic
cassette tape or disc~ The ROM holds all the
executable code required ~o enable the device to
communicate with the data collection units and the
RAM is used to buffer data extracted from the data
5 collection units~ Such devices are commercially
available, and one suitable device is available from
Pegasus Data Systems of Middlesex, ~ew Jersey and
identified as Buffered Digital Data Recorder Model
PDI-BF. That particular device utilizes a magnetic
10 cassette tape. In operation, the portable data
collector is simply connected ~o the external
electrical connector 100 o~ the data collec~ion unit
2~'~ The microprocessor in the portable data
collector is suitably programmed to input ~he
15 appropriate si~nals and commands to the data
collection unit for transfer of the data stored
therein to the portable data collector. These are
simply the same commands as would be given the data
collection unit by a central computer over telephone
20 lines in the earlier described embodiment and, for
example, would include commands of retrieve da~a
collection unit status, retrieve event data, clear
data collection unit data area, reset data
collection unit clock (if required), and resume
25 normal data collection unit activity.
The portable data collection unit is used
to play back the recorded data from the data
collection units to the central computer 24 a~
illustrated in Fi~ure 17. The data collection unit
30 serial numbers, which are written onto the t~pe or
disc of the portable data collector along with the
data, permit the central computer to identify which
particular panelist household corresponds to each
3~
44
block of data recorded in the portable data
collection unit.
Instead of a digital data recorder as
referred to above, the portable data recorder may be
5 a suitable programmed minicomputer or the like, wi~h
data extracted from the data collection unit wri~ten
onto a floppy disc.
One of the advantageous features of the
remote data collection units in accordance with the
10 present invention is the ability to collect data
defining the composition of the television viewing
audience in each panelist household. As explained
previously, one way of ach;eving this in the present
invention is to use the channel selector ~o cause
lS the cable converter or tuner to enter a channel-lock
condition. When in the channel-lock condition, the
data collection unit disables normal channel tuning
80 that the channel selec~or can be used to enter
numbers which are stored in the data collection unit
20 memory. Each member of the panelist household is
assigned a viewer identification number. These
viewer identification numbers are entered into the
data collection uni~ via the channel selec~or to
indicate which members of the panelist household are
25 in the room. While viewers are allowed to enter
viewer identification numbers at any time, in an
e~ort to remind viewers to enter the viewer
identification numbers, the data collection unit
will periodically issue a prompt.
In one ver~ion of a data collection unit/ a
viewer identification prompt is implemented u~ing
the light emittiDg diode 33 labeled "data." When
viewer identifications are required, the data
collection units flashes the light emitting diode on
35 and off at a rate of once per second. When viewers
73~;
~s
see the flashing light emitting diode 33~ they are
expected to enter rhannel-lo~k and enter their
viewer identifications via the channel sel2c~0r.
Entering channel-lock causes light emi~ting diode 33
5 to stop flashing and be illuminated continuou~ly.
Each time a viewer identification number is en~ered,
the light emitting diode 33 will blink off for half
a second to indicate to ~he viewer that the
identification number has been accepted by the data
10 collection unit. When all the viewer identificati~n
numbers have been entered, the channel-lock mode is
exited, and light emitting diode 33 is ex~inguished.
In accordance with another embodiment of
the present invention, viewer identification data is
15 obtained in a somewhat different manner. As has
been previousiy explained , in accordance with one
embodiment of the present invention the data
collection unit includes hardware and programming
which permits presentation of text and graphics on
20 the television receiver to which it is connected.
This arrangement can be used to implement the Survey
function of the data collection unit. In accordance
with one arrangement of the present invention, and
referring to Figure 16, a technique is implemented
25 to have the viewer identification prompt appear on
the television screen itself, no matter what channel
is selected.
In Figure 16 a video generator 91 is
provided which communicates with and reads the
30 contents of a RAM 92 and produces a video output.
The RAM 92 can be part of ~he R~M 39 illustrated in
Figure 5 and the video generator 91 can be part of
the video interface 49 illustrated in Pigure 5. In
both the Survey mode and the viewer identification
35 sequence, the contents of the video data stored in
~6
RAM 92 are read as lines of ~ bit ~SCII charactersO
The output of video generator 91 is passed through
an RF modulator 93 which i3~ in effect, a small TV
transmitter that sends a picture displaying the
characters stored in the RAM 92. The carrier
5 frequency for this signal is ixed to be identical
to that of the output of the cable converter, which
is usually channel 3.
In accordance with the embodiment of the
present invention which uses a cable converter, the
10 cable converter converts all incoming television
signals to a single output channel, for example,
channel 3. A small receiver 94 is used to
demodulate this RF signal and extract the vertical
sync pulse. ~his pulse is fed into a synchronizer
15 circuit 96, which starts the RF modulator 93 and
video generator 91. The R~ signal from RF modulator
93 is presented to a switch 97. The ~witch 97 is a
suitable electronic switch or high speed switching
of an RF signal. This switch selects the RF signal
20 from either the cable converter or the RF modulator
93 and directs the selected signal to the teievision
receiver.
Switch 97 is controlled by a switch control
circuit 98. This switch control circuit 98 detects
25 the border that appears around the area on the
television screen where the text is written. The
signal level change that occurs at the left edge of
a screen of text is a trigger causing the switch
control circuit 98 to set the switch 97 to select
30 the output of RF modulator 93. The switch control
circuit can also detect the transfer of a byte of
data in which all the bits are set (i.e. hexadecimal
FF) from the RAM 92 to the video generator 91. The
detection of a data byte with all bits set causes
~,a~35
~7
the switch control circuit 9~ to reset switch 97 to
select the converter output.
The text can appear anywhere on ~he
television screen. Each line of tex~ i5 di~played
5 until the end of the line or until a byte con~aining
hexadecimal FF is read from the RAM 92. If a text
line is not to be displayed, the byte corresponding
to the first character of tha~ line is set to
hexadecimal FF. Full lines or por~ions of lines can
lQ be switched. The overall effect is that of lines of
characters being displayed over the picture from the
cable converter.
The microprocessor ~ontrols this d;splay
via the RAM 32 and an overlay enable line 99. The
15 microprocessor first loads RAM 92 with the
characters to be displayed and bytes of hexadecimal
F~ to de~ine areas of the screen that are to remain
unaffected. When the microprocessor sets the
overlay enable line 99, the text is displayed over
20 the normal picture. The overlayed text is removed
when the microprocessor clears the overlay enable
line.
In accordance with a particular embodiment
of the present inYe~tion, the viewer identification,
25 prompting 5ignal takes the form of two flashing
~ymbols Isuch as **) in the upper left portion of
the television screen. When the data collection
uni~ requests viewer identifications, the two
~ymbols (**) appear on the ~creen and blink
30 continuously back and forth between two colors at a
rate of once per second. These symbols continue to
flash until a viewer causes the data collection unit
to enter the channel-lock mode. When the data
collection unit enters channel-lock, the symbols
3~
48
stop flashing and the overlay on the television
screen is the following:
*~ 2 ~ 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 71 72
PRESENCE OF GUE5T ML ~M
Each of the numbers 2 to 18 corresponds to
a valid viewer identification for a member of the
panelist household. The purpose of the special
identification numbers 71 and 72 is explained
hereafter.
Each time a viewer identification number is
entered, the corresponding number in the di~play
shown above is inverted in color to indicate to the
person entering the data that the data collection
unit has accepted that input. Should a number that
15 is already inverted on the display be entered, that
number on the display reverts to its normal color.
Thus, multiple entries of the same number will cause
the number on the display to toggle back and forth
between normal ~olor and inverted color~ This
20 allows the per50n entering the data to change a
particular viewer identification entry should that
be required.
The special viewer identification numbers
71 and 72 are used to indicate the presence of male
2s and ~emale guests, respectively. If a 71 is entered
as a viewer identification number, the following
three line display appears as ~n overlay on the
television screen:
- ML GUEST COUNT ~Y AGE 2-6:
7~ 12-17: 18-24: 25-34:
35-4g: 50-54: 554:
~9
This is a request for the number of male
guests in each of the age categories that ar~
present in the room. In accordance with a preferred
embodiment of the present invention the channel
5 ~elector includes ~ scan up and scan down control
ordinarily used to scan ~elevision programming.
When in ~e viewer identification mode, this scan
control can be used to position or move a cursor on
the television screen to "jump" among the various
10 categories displayed in response to entry of the
.special viewer identifications numbers. Entry of a
number through the channel selector while the cursor
is positioned at one of the categories is an
indication of the number of guests in the specified
15 age categories presented in the room.
In a similar manner, entry of the viewer
identification number 72 produces an overlay on the
television screen with corresponding age categories
and directed to female ~uests present in the room.
2~ When the composition of the complete viewing
audience has been specified, the person entering
data can exit from the channel-lock condition and
the display overlay is removed from the screen~
Upon subsequent entries into the
~5 channel-lock condition, the text overlays on the
television ~creen are presented with the audience
composition information displayed as it was defined
~he previous time that viewer identification data
was entered. If the audience has not changed, this
can be signified by merely entering and exiting
channel-lock. If the audience has changed, the
channel selector and ~can control can be u ed to
change any entries that are no longer connected.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment
35 of the invention, the viewer identification prompt
73~
is first issued when the television set is turned
on. The viewer identification prompt is al50
presented whenever a 30 minute period passes ~i~h no
viewer identification data being entered. In this
S manner, a comple~e account of audience compo3ition
is recorded by the da~a collection unit on a current
basis for the programming being viewed on the
television set.
Although the present invention has been
10 described and illustrated with respect to preferred
and exemplary embodiments thereof, it should be
clear that various modifications are within the
~kill of those in this art, without departing from
the true spirit and scope of the invention.
