METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR MONITORING VIDEO GAMES

• US 20070006275A1
• Filed: 08/17/2006
• Published: 01/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nielsen Company (US), LLC
• Original Assignee: Nielsen Company (US), LLC
• Inventors: Ramaswamy, Arun, Wright, David, Lawrence, Bradley
• Granted Patent: US 8,863,218 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/133
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/25 Output arrangements for video game devices
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/95 Storage media specially adapted for storing game information, e.g. video game cartridges
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/206 Game information storage, e.g. cartridges, CD ROM's, DVD's, smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/535 for monitoring, e.g. of user parameters, terminal parameters, application parameters, network parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44204 Monitoring of content usage, e.g. the number of times a movie has been viewed, copied or the amount which has been watched monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; protecting generic digital content where the protection is independent of the precise nature of the content G06F21/10; arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services in broadcast systems H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4781 Games
• 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 21/8358 involving watermark protecting executable software by watermarking G06F21/16; image watermarking in general G06T1/0021; watermarks inserted in still images for transmission purposes H04N1/32144; inserting watermarks during video coding H04N19/467

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for monitoring video games are disclosed. An example method disclosed herein comprises monitoring game content corresponding to a game medium played by a game console, processing the game content to determine a set of metering data, and cross-referencing the set of metering data with a set of reference data corresponding to a set of known games.

Claims

1. A method to monitor exposure to video game content, the method comprising:

determining a set of measurement data corresponding to a set of video game content sources comprising a composite video game content presentation; and

reporting exposure to the composite video game content presentation based on the set of measurement data.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the measurement data comprises an ancillary code included with at least one of the set of video game content sources.

7. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the measurement data comprises a signature corresponding to at least one of the set of video game content sources.

11. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the measurement data comprises information determined by a digital bus analyzer coupled to a video game console used to present the video game content.

12. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the measurement data comprises information determined by a software meter executing in a video game console used to present the video game content.

13. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the measurement data comprises a memory signature based on a sequence of memory accesses of a video game medium.

16. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the measurement data comprises control information transferred between a video game console and a game controller coupled with the video game console.

17. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the measurement data comprises network access information associated with a video game console.

3-6. -6. (canceled)

8-10. -10. (canceled)

14-15. -15. (canceled)

18-28. -28. (canceled)

29. A method to encode video game content sources for use in a composite video game content presentation, the method comprising:

determining a first ancillary code to associate with a first video game content source;

determining a second ancillary code to associate with a second video game content source; and

encoding the first ancillary code and the second ancillary code such that the first ancillary code may be decoded after the first video game content source, the first ancillary code, the second video game content source and the second ancillary code are combined to comprise the composite video game content presentation.

30. A method as defined in claim 29 further comprising encoding the first ancillary code and the second ancillary code such that the second ancillary code may be decoded after the first video game content source, the first ancillary code, the second video game content source and the second ancillary code are combined to comprise the composite video game content presentation.

31. A method as defined in claim 29 wherein the first video game content source is stored on a video game medium.

32. A method as defined in claim 31 wherein the encoded first ancillary code is stored on the video game medium.

33. A method as defined in claim 31 wherein the first ancillary code is generated during game play to prepare the composite video game content presentation.

34-36. -36. (canceled)

37. A method to combine measurements of a composite video game content presentation to generate ratings information, the method comprising:

determining an identity of a video game corresponding to the composite video game content presentation;

determining measurement data corresponding to active game play; and

generating ratings information based on the video game identity and the measurement data.

39. A method as defined in claim 37 wherein determining the identity of the video game comprises determining whether a video game medium is present in a video game console.

41. A method as defined in claim 39 wherein determining the identity of the video game comprises determining game medium identification information associated with the game medium.

42. A method as defined in claim 41 wherein the game medium identification information is based on at least one of a barcode or a radio frequency identification tag coupled to the game medium.

43. A method as defined in claim 41 wherein the game medium identification information is based on a game medium visual signature associated with the game medium.

46. A method as defined in claim 41 wherein the game medium identification information is determined from a series of memory accesses of the game medium performed during an initialization of the video game console.

47. A method as defined in claim 37 wherein the measurement data corresponds to control information transferred between a video game console and a game controller coupled with the video game console.

49. A method as defined in claim 37 wherein the measurement data corresponds to game status information associated with game content cached to prepare the composite video game content presentation.

50. A method as defined in claim 37 wherein the measurement data corresponds to at least on of a number or identities of local users participating in a video game associated with the active game play.

54. A method as defined in claim 37 wherein the measurement data comprises at least one of time intervals associated with active game play or a duration of active game play.

38. (canceled)

40. (canceled)

44-45. -45. (canceled)

48. (canceled)

51-53. -53. (canceled)

55-65. -65. (canceled)

66. A video game monitor comprising:

an input to receive input data corresponding to a set of video game content sources comprising a composite video game content presentation;

a processor configured to determine a set of measurement data based on the input data; and

an output to report exposure to the composite video game content presentation based on the set of measurement data.

67. A video game monitor as defined in claim 66 wherein the input corresponds to an interface with a video came console.

68. A video game monitor as defined in claim 67 wherein the interface is configured to communicate with a software meter executing in the video game console.

69. A video game monitor as defined in claim 67 wherein the interface is configured to communicate with a digital bus of the video game console.

70. A video game monitor as defined in claim 67 wherein the interface is configured to communicate with a game controller coupled to the video game console.

71. A video game monitor as defined in claim 67 wherein the interface is configured to communicate with a networking interface of the video game console.

74. A video game monitor as defined in claim 66 wherein the input is configured to interface with at least one of an audio output or a video output of a video game console.

75. A video game monitor as defined in claim 66 wherein the input corresponds to an interface to a sensor.

86. A video game monitor as defined in claim 66 wherein the processor comprises a code detector to detect an ancillary code included in the input data and associated with at least one of the set of video game content sources.

88. A video game monitor as defined in claim 66 wherein the processor comprises a signature generator to generate a signature based on the input data and associated with at least one of the set of video game content sources.

92. A video game monitor as defined in claim 66 wherein the input data comprises digital bus data corresponding to a video game console and the processor comprises a bus analyzer to process the digital bus data to determine video game content measurement data.

96. A video game monitor as defined in claim 66 wherein the input data comprises metering data determined by a software meter configured to execute in a video game console and the processor is configured to process the metering data to determine video game content measurement data.

72-73. -73. (canceled)

76-85. -85. (canceled)

87. (canceled)

89-91. -91. (canceled)

93-95. -95. (canceled)

97-109. -109. (canceled)