Dynamic operator identification system and methods

• US 20030105693A1
• Filed: 09/12/2002
• Published: 06/05/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/13/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Erinmedia
• Inventors: Vinson, Michael J., Foster, Frank S. IV, Conkwright, G. Colby
• Granted Patent: US 7,302,419 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0204 Market segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0242 Determining effectiveness of advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing

Abstract

A system and method for using inverse mathematical principles in the analysis of compatible datasets so that correlations and trends within and between said datasets can be uncovered. The present invention is tailored to the analysis of datasets that are extremely large; result from passive, privacy-secure, or anonymous, data collection; and are relatively unbiased. Correlations and trends uncovered by such analysis can be further examined by data mining and prediction portions of the present invention, which uncover and make use of interrelated rules that determine data structures. An embodiment directed toward analysis of television viewership and marketing data that does this while still respecting privacy concerns is disclosed. In a preferred embodiment, a satellite, internet, cable, or other content provider can provide a viewer with a set-top box which may be specially instrumented to allow monitoring, recording, and transmission of set-top box events. While the analysis of television viewership and marketing data is presently preferred, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the system and method herein can be employed to other data collection and data analysis scenarios. Other contemplated embodiments include, but are not limited to, privacy-secure actuarial analysis, radio and Internet market data collection, and even consumer behavioral predictions for advanced marketing techniques.

Claims

1. A method of dynamically determining the demographic identity of an individual operating a set-top box, comprising the steps of:

monitoring set-top box events for a plurality of set-top boxes;

correlating set-top box events with demographic characteristics;

applying IDM calculation techniques to determine probabilities for demographic characteristic and set-top box event dataset correlations;

ascribing demographic characteristic probabilities to each set-top box over time based on observed set-top box events and their relationship to such IDM probabilities;

evaluating such ascribed demographic characteristic probabilities over time through statistical analysis;

fitting probabilities ascribed to demographic characteristics to statistically determine the most likely set of constant dataset possibilities for each set-top box; and

,

fitting set-top box possibility sets to IDM probability sets for a set-top box event.

2. The method for determining the demographic identities of individuals in a home, business, or other location containing a set-top box according to the method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

storing said demographic identities in an array over time; and

applying statistical analyses to said array to determine predominant demographic identities for a given set-top box.

3. A privacy-compliant data collection and data correlation system comprising:

a means of collecting individual-specific behavior data without knowing individual-specific demographic information pertaining to the individual about whom such data is collected;

a means of accessing demographic data for the region in which the individual resides; and

a means of correlating such individual-specific data with such demographic data to determine the demographic identity of each individual about whom data is collected.

4. The privacy-compliant data collection and data correlation system of claim 3, wherein said individual-specific behavior data collection means is comprised of a set-top box.