Television proximity sensor

• US 20050125820A1
• Filed: 01/18/2005
• Published: 06/09/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nielsen Company (US), LLC
• Original Assignee: Nielsen Media Research, Inc. (Nielsen Holdings plc)
• Inventors: Nelson, Daniel J., Peiffer, John C., Srinivasan, Venugopal
• Granted Patent: US 7,343,615 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/32 Arrangements for monitoring conditions of receiving stations, e.g. malfunction or breakdown of receiving stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/52 of users
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/56 Arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition covered by groups H04H60/29-H04H60/54

Abstract

Systems and methods for determining whether a television is on and in near proximity are provided. An example system includes a sensor, an analog-to-digital converter, and a digital signal processor. The digital signal processor processes a set of digital audio samples detected by the sensor to determine if the sensor is in near proximity to a television in an on state

Claims

1. A television proximity sensor system, comprising:

an audio sensor disposed in a same room as a television, and configured to detect a predetermined audio signal emitted by the television when the television is on;

an analog-to-digital converter in communication with the audio sensor, and configured to convert the detected audio signal into a set of digital audio samples; and

a digital signal processor in communication with the analog-to-digital converter, and configured to process the set of digital audio samples to determine (i) that the television is turned on, and (ii) that the television is turned off.