Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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Firma BCI-Rundfunkberatung ST-HeJ96240
Gm~H ~ Co. Handels XG
tRadio consultanc!~ C~ra~Y]
,~
DSSCRI PTION
Tha presen~c invention is ba~ed o~ a method and
an associated sy~tem for the transmitter-specific
registration of listener-end data of a specific
listener of a ~ransmitter amo~g a nu~ber of listener~.
In t}le field ~f tparticular) eales promotion o~
products through ad~ertising there is a g~ea~ deal of
interest in registering and evalu~ting the reactions o~
the ta~get group by ~n adYertisement (that is to sa~
1~ th~ listeners of a -~pecific radio programme, ~or
example~. Usually, random surveys are carried ou~ a~d a
li~ited g~oup of people are questioned about speci~ic
subj ects related to t~e advertisements. In this
con~ext, 't is of particular interest ~het~er t~e
person questioned ~inds an ad~ertisement appealing and
persuasive and ~he~her ~his results, under cer~ain
circums~ances, in a purch~sing transaction,
~ fter a seri~s of random surveys of
relatively small and limited group of people has been
evaluated, s~atistical me~hods can ~e used to arrive at
conclusions regarding the ap~eal and e~fectiveness of
advertisemcnts for customer~ and consumers as a ~hole
and, if appropriate, the advertisement for promotin~
the sales of the respective p~oduc~ can be ~dapted to
30 the ~iches and requirernents, which have become clear
during the surYey, of ~he t~rget group.
The described con~entional ~erhod for
questio.~ling viewer~ is subject ~o a con~iderable degree
of unrellability and lack of prognostic cla~ity owing
~o the use of sta~ ical methods. The reaction of the
listener and potenti~l consumer can only be documented,
and cannot ~e influenced. In addition, it is nol
possible ~o influ~nce or maintain the a~tention of the
listener during the transmission of the advertiseme~t.
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US ~ 926 255 discloses a method and a sys~em in
which a television subscriber can enter a ~eaction to a
television station by ~eans of a keypad. The responso
which has been entered is ~hen compared With a stored,
"correct" response by means of a comparison circui~
located at the subscriber' 3 pre~uses. Given appropriate
correspondence, ~his 1~ respectively stored at the
subscsiber' s premises or pr~nted out on a corresponding
certi~icate.
~he inve~tion is bas~d on the object of
providing a method and a system uith ~hich t~e
behaviour of the speclfic listener can be regis~ered
and documented over the short ~erm and, especially,
also over the long term, ant at the same ~ime the
number o~ lis~eners and the listening frequency can be
increased.
The object is achieved in term~ of ~he method
by ~eans of the characterizing features of Patent
Claim 1. Advantageou~ e~bodiments of the method are
implamented by means of S~bclaims 2 - 8. ~ith regard ~o
the system, the o~ject is achie~ed ~y m~ans o~ the
charac~erizing par~ of Patent Claim 9 ~i~h ad~antageous
embodiments in Claims 10 and 11.
In contrast to the prior axl, in ~he lnven~ion
the direc~ comparison of the data ~hich is ente~ed with
the desired ~alues and the interroga~ion of th~
liste~er-end credit account - both by means of the
tran~mit~er - the actual state of thG lis~ener's
re~ction can ~e ~gistered accurately ~oth over short
and relativoly long pe~iods of ~ime
With the method a~cording to t~e invention,
~irstly a transmitter is provided which broadcasts,
~ncrypted ~ransmis-~ion mess~ges in addition ~o th~
transmitted station, to a group of listene~s. The
~ransmi~ter may be a radio ~rancmutter or a television
t ransmi t ter.
The encryption o~ the tra~smission messageS
co~sists, for example, in ~roadcasting codewords o~
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sound patterns which are ln clea~ contrast to the rest
of the s~ation' s ichedule
The ~ransmitter is the~ connected via a data
link to a series of listener-end da~a entry units ~or
example PCs~, which can be used to register the
~perating states of these data entry units.
By means o~ entry comm~nds, thQ r2spective
listener can change ~he operating ~tates of his da~a
entry unit. These changes are registered by a data
processing network which is connected bor~ to the
listener's dara entry unit and to the t~ansmi~ter.
The listen4r-end tata entry unit can ~e
connected to a group of further li~eners of any
de~ired size and can exchange data ~y means o~ ~uch a
data proCe-~sing unit.
If the encrypted transmission messages which
the trcnsmitter broadcasts ~possibly at quite specific
times) and which are received by the li~tener the~
consist ln the broadcasting of specific code~ords ~7hich
are entered into the listener-end data entry unit
irNnediately after the broadcas~, the ~istener-end data
entry unit is switched into anothRr Operating st~e by
the listener entering the appropriate codeword at the
appropriate tim~.
If it is then determined that the data ent~red
by the listener corresponds to the codeword broadcast
by the transmitter, the opera~ing ~tate which has been
bro~ght abo~t on the basis of the entry command~ which
ha~e been entered is classified as "correct". The data
processing net~ork determines ~hat the li~tener has
detected the encrypted transmis~ion mesqage and has
ini~iated corresponding entry c~m~ands ~it~ a resulting
chan~e in the operatins st~te of the listener-end data
entry unit.
In t~is ~ay, t~e ~thod according ~o the
in~ention is capable of regis~erlng and documenting the
reception by the listener of an encrypted transmission
message by ~eans o~ the respec~i~e operating s~ates of
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the llstener-end tata entry unit Y~ich ha~e been
brought ~out ~y the l~st~ner
If the l~stener has react~d "correctly", and
has accepted and processed the trans~ltted encry~ted
message a~d conve~ted it into corresponding entry
comm~nds at ~he listener-end data entry unit, the
-des~red objecti~e is achie~ed and the trans~ission
message ~as been actively percei~ed by the lis~ener.
By means of the method according to the
inventio~, the indi~idual list~ner can then be
"rewarded" by mean~ of "credits" to an info~mation unit
(~or ~X~rle by ti~e ~nit5 in the ~orm of ''listen~r
minutes~) in the memory ~hich has ~een set up in the
listener-end data entry unit. It i5 there~ore possible
1~ to set up a "credit acc~unt" w~ich is credited a~ a
~unctior~ of the operating ~tates of the listener--
specl~ic data entry unit. The listener can be
"rewarded" for listening actively over a long period of
time if he is givenr for example, such ~ "credi~
2~ accoun~ balance" (~or example 1~ the form of collec~ed
"listening mlnute~") or is allowed to take part in a
lotcery, for example.
0~ course, the "credit accoun~ balance" of the
memory of the listener-end data ~ntry unit can als~ be
interrogated by means of the data processing necwork,
simp}y to p~ovide an over~i~w of the period uhich the
listener spends on a particula~ transmission m~ssage,
and this serve~ as an important aid for the
registra~ion of the li~ener's rcaction uith re~pect ~o
specific transmus~ion massage~.
In contrast to the prior art, direct on-linc
access to the individual listene~ is thue possible.
Complex surveys of individuala using i mprecise
sta~is~ical methods and subject to prognostic
uncer~ainty can thus be avoided.
The extent to which the respective encrypted
tr~nsmiscion messages are well r~cei~ed can be
discerned directly from the operating stat~ of the
llstener-end da~a entry units, and ~his level of
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reception can thus be ~mproved and optimize~ ~y
changing the encrypted transmission ~essage~ and
registering ~he operating states o~ the d~ta enlry
units again. f~
S ~epending on the operating states of the
respective da~a entry units, Ihe data processing
~et~ork, uhich is ar~anged ~etween the listener-end
data e~ry unit and l~e transmitter, can bring aboue a
fur~her connection of the re3pective listener-end data
entry url~t to listeners who are also connected t~ a
data network.
In order to implemen~ the method according lo
the invention it is necesYary for ~he respecllve
listener to activate the data entry unit assigned to
hi~. This can be t~ne by en~ering keywords or by
in3erting an enco~ed lden~ification ca~d. Only ~hen is
~he respective listener-end dzta entry unit c~nnec~ed
to the centr21 d~a processing ~etwo~k and thus also
conn~cte~ to ~he transmitter. Idcntification car~s
which are in~egrated into commerc~211y a~ailable credit
cards or ~uro-cheque cards are also suitable for
activation using identifica~ion cards.
In addition, such an iden~fication card may be
provided wit~ a storage mediu~ into which, for example,
data of the memory which is integrated ~nto ~he
listener-end data entsy u~it are input, ~h~s ena~ling,
for ~xa~nple, the "credit accoun~ balance'' to be
recorded dire~tly on the listener's ~.denti~ication
card
Interrog~tion of such an identificalion c~rd,
pro~ided with a storao,~. medium~ in an external da~a
ur-it permirs the memory informat~o~ ~h~e
iden~i~ication card to ba evaluated ~c ~ ct~ o~
the location of the listener-end data entry unit.
Th~ ~ystem according ;o the invention provide~
no~. only a transmitter but also a d~ta processing
ne~worlc Which is connect&d to listener-~nd data entry~
~nits for interroga~ing th~ operating states, and also
has, and is capable of making, connections Lo ~urther
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listeners ~f an ~external) data net~ork. The oper~ting
states of the lis~ener-end data entry units~are ch~nged
by means of the entry cQmm~n~s ~hich are entered into
the lisrener-end. data entry unit by the listener a~ a
S function of the encrypte~ transml3~ion in~ormation, it
being possible to register these changes by
interrogation using the data processing network.
The tata ent~y unit can then be designed, on
the one hand, as a ~ixad data entry -~tation (~or
example PC) or, on the other hand, as a mobile entry
unit, ~hich is realized, for example, in m~ niaturized
form and can contlnuou~ly be carried around by the
listener.
~artlcL~l~rly interesting embodimant~ emerge if
such mobile ~ntry units are carried by the lis~ener on
his person and entry co~nds c~n b~ inpu~ a~ any
desired location at which a tr~nsmission message is
~eceiYed ~for example in ~aiting rooms or in a taxi).
A mo~ile entry element which has thus be~n
"fed" uith entry com~nds can then ~e connected, for
example, to a listener-end, flxed data entry st~lion
for in~errogation of the data~ a~d operat~ng sta~es can
~e interrogated using the da~a processing ne~work.
A further embodi~ent conslsts in the mobile
entry elemen~ haYi~g direct radlo contact with tbe data
processing net~ork, and the entry command-~ of ~he
~obile entry element and the resulting operati~g s~ate3
being interrogat~d directly by .the data processing
ne twork .
The method and system are explain~d in more
detail with reference to exempla~y en~odiments in ,he
figures or the dra~i~g, in which:
Fig. 1 shows a system with fixed data entry unit,
and
~ig. 2 shows a system ~i~h mobile ent~y elements.
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Fig. 1 s~o~s a ~ran~mutter 1 which ls c~nnected
to a data proc~ssing net~ork 5 via a d~ta link 3. The
data processing net~ork 5 is connected to a fixed,
listener-end data entry unit 4 and ~co a serles of
5 f ~xther listeners T - T~. Further listener-end da ~a
entry u~its 4 ' and 4'' can be connected, either in an
activa'ced st~e ~r (as illustrated in Fig. 1) in a
deacti~ated state, to the data processing network 5 and
successively c~nnected intoo the circuit and~or
slm~ltane~usly interrogated by means of the da~a
processing network 5.
The listener 2 perceives a transmission m~ssage
7 of the transmitter a~d in r~sponse uses entry
commands to place the data entry unit 4, which has been
assigned to h~, in differ~nt operating states ~hich
are interrog.ated by th~ data proces~ing net~ork 5
If the ent~y commands ente~ed by the llslen~r 2
correspond to encrypted information in the transmissio.
~essage 7, the data processing netuork 5 detects this
s~ate of correspondence and feeds, in~o a memory 6
which i~ inteqrated into the data entry unit 4, an ite~
o~ in~ormation ~hich symbolizes, ~or ~xample, the
"credi~ acc~unt balance" o~ the listener 2. Dependirg
on the reaction of the listener 2 to ~he ~r~nsmission
message 7, the listener 2 can place the data entry ~nit
4 mo~e ~ten into operating sta~es which are detected
as being "correct", as a result of Yhich the listener 2
is "rewarded" by crediting th~ information unlt accour.
in the memory 6.
~he data processing network 5 aLso ser~es ~o
make a direct connecti~n in order to exchange data wlt~
t~e listeners Tl - T~
While Fig. 1 shows fixed data ontry stations 4,
4' and 4" ~for example PCs), uhich are connected ~o the
data proce~sing net~or~ 5 ~ia a cable link, in the
exemplary embodiment according to Fig 2 mobile entry
units 8, 8' and 8" are illustrated, uhich .units 8, 8'
and 8" are connected ~o the da~a processing network a
by broadcasting radio mess~ges 9 and can also b~
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interrogated and adrn~nistered by thQ la~ter ~in
principle similarly to a fixed datar ent~y unit 4 ) .
Such mobile entry elemen~s 8, 8 ' and 8" can be
carried by the llstene~ 2 or~ his person without
5 di f f iculty .
