Seamless system and method for identifying, recording and storing user navigational information for interactive television

• US 20020152460A1
• Filed: 05/08/2001
• Published: 10/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Hughes Electronics Corporation (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Hughes Electronics Corporation (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Soloff, Steven
• Application Number:
  US09/851,689
• Publication Number:
  US 20020152460A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 40/90 specially adapted for satellite broadcast receiving
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/40 for identifying broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/51 of receiving stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/64 for providing detail information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25841 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; arrangements for identifying locations of receiving stations in broadcast systems H04H60/51; location of the user terminal in data switching networks H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/812 involving advertisement data advertising per se G06Q30/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8455 involving pointers to the content, e.g. pointers to the I-frames of the video stream
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/165 Centralised control of user terminal subsequent to an upstream request signal H04N7/17345; Registering at central by two-way working H04N7/17309

Abstract

A system and method that tracks, compiles and stores satellite television user navigational information, without the user being made aware that any data manipulation is taking place. The invention allows advertisers of products or services on satellite television channels to receive compiled television viewer navigational information such as the time of day, the amount of time a user spends viewing a particular advertisement, or “scene” and the location of the viewer. The invention, adaptable for a traditional satellite-communications network (10), includes a series of computer-readable instructions stored at a satellite user'"'"'s IRD (35), which can be downloaded to allow for navigational tracking. The identity of the scene being viewed, the time of day of that particular viewing, and the length of time spent viewing the scene is logged, temporarily stored in RAM, and its contents flushed to non-volatile memory at predetermined intervals. Periodically, the navigational log information can then be transmitted to a remote site (55), where it can be processed and converted to statistical records to provide valuable marketing information for the provider.

Claims

1. A system for identifying and processing satellite based television usage and navigational data comprising:

means for generating promotional scenes, said scenes to be included in traditional satellite broadcasts;

means for displaying said scenes on a viewing device located at a user location;

means for determining when a user transitions from a first scene to a subsequent scene;

means for identifying and recording the scene being viewed by the user and the time of day and duration of said viewing at the time of said user transition, thereby creating a navigational log record; and

means for storing said navigational log record in a memory storage device.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for determining the geographical location of the user viewing said scene.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said means for storing said navigational log record includes means for temporarily storing said log record in a temporary memory storage device and means for transmitting the contents of said temporary memory storage device to a permanent memory storage device.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein said permanent memory storage device is comprised of FLASH memory.

5. The system of claim 4 further comprising means for periodically transmitting said navigational log record stored in said permanent memory storage device to a remote processing location.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said transmitting means is a modem.

7. The system of claim 5 wherein said transmitting means is traditional wireless data transfer means.

8. The system of claim 3 wherein said means for temporarily storing said navigational log record includes means for determining if a scene'"'"'s navigational log record has already been recorded, means for determining if the capacity of said permanent memory device has been reached, and means for reallocating, if necessary, an array of stored scene information to create space for an additional navigational log record.

9. The system of claim 3 wherein said means for transmitting the contents of said temporary memory storage device occurs at a predetermined time.

10. The system of claim 3 wherein said means for transmitting the contents of said temporary memory storage device includes means for opening an index and database file in said permanent memory storage device, means for determining a next available write location in said database file, and means for writing each entry in said navigational log record into said database file.

11. The system of claim 9 further comprising means for recording the latest recorded navigational log record into said database file even when the storage capacity of said permanent memory storage device has been attained.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of determining the geographical location of the user viewing said scene.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein said step of storing said navigational log record includes temporarily storing said log record in a temporary memory storage device and transmitting the contents of said temporary memory storage device to a permanent memory storage device.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said permanent memory storage device is comprised of FLASH memory.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of periodically transmitting said navigational log record stored in said permanent memory storage device to a remote processing location.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of transmitting said navigational log record to said remote processing center is via a modem.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of transmitting said navigational log record to said remote processing center is via traditional wireless data transfer means.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the step of temporarily storing said navigational log record includes determining if a scene'"'"'s navigational log record has already been recorded, determining if the capacity of said permanent memory device has been reached, and reallocating an array of stored scene information to create space for an additional navigational log record.

20. The method of claim 14 wherein the step of transmitting the contents of said temporary memory storage device occurs at a predetermined time.

21. The method of claim 14 wherein the step of transmitting the contents of said temporary storage device includes opening an index and database file in said permanent memory storage device, determining a next available write location in said database file, and writing each entry in said navigational log record into said database file.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising the step of recording the latest recorded navigational log record into said database file even when the storage capacity of said permanent memory storage device has been attained.

24. The satellite-based communications network of claim 23 further comprising means for periodically transmitting said stored navigational log record to a remote processing location.

26. The method of claim 25 further comprising the step of determining the geographical location of the user viewing said scene.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein said step of storing said navigational log record includes temporarily storing said log record in a temporary memory storage device and transmitting the contents of said temporary memory storage device to a permanent memory storage device.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein said permanent memory storage device is comprised of FLASH memory.

29. The method of claim 27 further comprising the step of periodically transmitting said navigational log record stored in said permanent memory storage device to a remote processing location.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the step of transmitting said navigational log record to said remote processing center is via a modem.

31. The method of claim 29 wherein the step of transmitting said navigational log record to said remote processing center is via traditional wireless data transfer means.

32. The method of claim 27 wherein the step of temporarily storing said navigational log record includes determining if a scene'"'"'s navigational log record has already been recorded, determining if the capacity of said permanent memory device has been reached, and reallocating an array of stored scene information to create space for an additional navigational log record.

33. The method of claim 27 wherein the step of transmitting the contents of said temporary memory storage device occurs at a predetermined time.

34. The method of claim 27 wherein the step of transmitting the contents of said temporary storage device includes opening an index and database file in said permanent memory storage device, determining a next available write location in said database file, and writing each entry in said navigational log record into said database file.

35. The method of claim 34 further comprising the step of recording the latest recorded navigational log record into said database file even when the storage capacity of said permanent memory storage device has been attained.

12. A method for identifying and processing satellite based television usage and navigational data, said method comprising the steps of:

generating promotional scenes, said scenes to be included in traditional satellite broadcasts;

displaying said scenes on a viewing device located at a user location;

determining when a user transitions from a first scene to a subsequent scene;

identifying the scene being viewed by the user and the time of day and duration of said viewing at the time of said user transition, thereby creating a navigational log record; and

storing said navigational log record in a memory storage device.

23. A satellite-based communications network for identifying and processing satellite based television usage and navigational data comprising:

a broadcast center for broadcasting information;

one or more communication satellites for receiving said broadcast information;

user receiving means situated within said satellite'"'"'s coverage area to receive said broadcast information;

a viewing device connected to said user receiving means;

video image selection means for providing a user with a means of transitioning from one scene to a subsequent scene, wherein said video image comprises said broadcast information; and

means for compiling user navigational data, wherein said navigational data includes the identification of the scene being viewed, the time the user is viewing said scene, the length of time of said viewing, and the location of the user viewing said scene.

25. A computer program stored in a computer readable medium, embodying instructions to perform a method of tracking satellite-based television usage characteristics, said method comprising the steps of:

determining when a user transitions from a first scene being displayed on a user'"'"'s viewing device to a subsequent scene displayed upon said viewing device, wherein said scenes comprise information included in traditional satellite television broadcasts;

identifying the scene being viewed by the user and the time of day and duration of said viewing at the time of said user transition, thereby creating a navigational log record; and

storing said navigational log record in a memory storage device.