Event invalidation method

• US 20030149649A1
• Filed: 09/12/2002
• Published: 08/07/2003
• 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 7,236,941 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 invalidating set-top box events, comprising the steps of:

monitoring set-top box events;

storing such events in an array;

calculating trends in such events;

invalidating set-top box events which deviate in a statistically significant manner from observed set-top box event trends, or which match previously defined invalid set-top box events;

placing such invalidated set-top box events in an array; and

calculating trends in such invalidated set-top box events such that some long-term trends may be revalidated, and to identify new set-top box event categories to be ignored.