Market data acquisition system

• US 20030105694A1
• 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 7,197,472 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 market data acquisition system, comprising:

a means for retrieving event and embedded content data from a plurality of set-top boxes;

a means for retrieving content attributes from a content attribute database;

a means for correlating retrieved set-top box event data with content attributes to produce data indicating which content was experienced through the plurality of set-top boxes;

a means for retrieving demographic information from a demographic information database; and

a means for correlating demographic information to data indicating which content was experienced through the plurality of set-top boxes to produce, in response to a query, data indicating content experienced by a demographic group or set of demographic groups.

2. The market data acquisition system of claim 1, in which said state-change data collection means collects data from said set-top boxes without access to set-top box specific personal or demographic information, thereby providing a layer of privacy to set-top box assignees.

3. The market data acquisition system of claim 2, in which set-top box specific demographic or other personal data may be collected when requested or with approval given by a set-top box assignee, governmental agency, or other such authority.

4. The market data acquisition system of claim 3, in which a list of set-top box identification numbers and zip codes or other geographic identifiers corresponding to set-top box installation points is provided to the present invention for each set-top box.

5. The market data acquisition system of claim 1, in which said content attribute database is maintained as part of the system.

6. The market data acquisition system of claim 1, in which said content presentation system is maintained external to the present invention.

7. The market data acquisition system of claim 1, in which said demographic information database is maintained.

8. The market data acquisition system of claim 1, in which said demographic information database is maintained externally.

9. The market data acquisition system of claim 1, in which said queries are entered through a graphical, command-line, or natural language interface.

10. The market data acquisition system of claim 9, in which said queries can result in the generation reports for any time segment or set of time segments with high precision.

11. The market data acquisition system of claim 9, in which said queries result in the generation of reports generated individual content or for a set of content.

12. The market data acquisition system of claim 9, in which said queries result in generation of said reports for persons fitting a demographic specification, persons fitting a demographic category, or persons fitting sets of demographic specifications and demographic categories.

13. The market data acquisition system of claim 9, in which said queries result in reports generated for specific behaviors.

14. The market data acquisition system of claim 9, in which said queries include one or more highly-specific times, demographic specifications, viewer behaviors, and content descriptions.

15. The market data acquisition system of claim 9, in which said results are presented in a graphical manner, such as through a pie chart or bar graph.

16. The market data acquisition system of claim 9, in which said results are presented as a spreadsheet or other grid.

17. The market data acquisition system of claim 9, in which said results are presented as natural language.

18. The market data acquisition system of claim 1, in which said content information is obtained from a source external to the present invention.

19. The market data acquisition system of claim 1, in which said content information is embedded in content as it is presented to a set-top box.