LOGGING OF RADIO LISTENING AND INTERACTIVITY

• US 20070283008A1
• Filed: 05/29/2007
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ZING Systems, Inc. (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Bucher, Timothy, Sullivan, Timothy T.
• Granted Patent: US 7,653,341 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/33 Arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/40 for identifying broadcast time
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/43 for identifying broadcast channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/51 of receiving stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/64 for providing detail information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34

Abstract

A system for collecting, evaluating and using usage activity includes one or more media devices and a network with a ratings service. A media device includes a logging service for logging usage activity when media content is accessed and played, shared, deleted and/or stored. When a connection to the network is present, the usage activity is transmitted to the ratings service. The ratings service evaluates the usage activity and prepares a usage report, which can be transmitted to one or more content providers and/or can be used to refine programming content and/or influence advertising decisions. A content provider can collect votes by sending a list of possible song choices to media devices and receiving vote data collected by logging services on the media devices. The vote data is evaluated and a vote report is prepared that can be used to refine programming content and/or to influence advertising decisions.

Claims

1. A method for logging usage activity on a media device, the media device configured to communicate with a computer network, the method comprising:

accessing media content with a media device that has access to a network;

performing a usage activity on the media content with the media device;

logging the usage activity at the media device, wherein the media device is configured to log the usage activity automatically and without user intervention;

detecting a network connection to the network; and

transmitting the usage activity via the network connection to a ratings service, wherein the ratings service receives usage activity from a plurality of media devices and uses the usage activity to rate media content accessed by the media devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting the network from which the media content can be accessed.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein accessing media content comprises:

connecting to the network from which the media content can be accessed;

selecting the media content; and

receiving the media content from the network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the media content is accessed from storage on the media device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the network connection includes one or more of a wired network connection and a wireless network connection.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein performing usage activity on the media content comprises one or more of:

selecting the media content for playback;

selecting the media content for storage on the media device; and

sharing the content.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the usage activity in storage of the media device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the usage activity transmitted via the network connection includes one or more of:

a device ID corresponding to the media device;

a user ID corresponding to a user of the media device;

a network ID;

a time stamp;

a type of activity including streaming, downloading or playing of media content;

metadata relating to a particular media content;

geographic location; and

user demographics.

9. In a ratings service within a network, a method for collecting usage data from one or more media devices, the method comprising:

receiving, at a ratings service, usage data relating to media content accessed on one or more media devices;

evaluating the usage data to determine usage patterns;

preparing a usage report based on the evaluated usage data; and

performing one or more of;

sending the report to a media content provider; and

using the report for a business purpose.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein evaluating the usage data to determine usage patterns includes one or more of:

anonymizing usage data from one or more media devices; and

aggregating usage data from a plurality of media devices.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the usage patterns include one or more of popularity of particular media content, and popular times of day for user use.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the usage report is prepared according to one or more categorizations provided to the ratings service by the media content provider.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein using the report for a business purpose comprises using the report to:

refine programming content provided by the ratings service to the one or more media devices, influence advertising rates charged by the ratings service;

award promotional content to one or more users associated with the one or more media devices; and

any combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein using the report to influence advertising rates charged by the ratings service comprises using the report to negotiate advertising rates with an advertiser, including increasing rates for times and regions where the report indicates that users of the one or more media devices are more active, decreasing rates for times and regions where the report indicates that users of the one or more media devices are less active, or both.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the usage data comprises one or more of:

device identifiers corresponding to the one or more media devices;

user identifiers corresponding to users of the one or more media devices;

network identifiers corresponding to particular networks from which media content is accessed on the one or more media devices;

time stamps relating to when media content is accessed on the one or more media devices;

user activity, including channels accessed by the one or more media devices, amounts of time the channels are accessed by the one or more media devices, volume changes, and particular media content played by the one or more media devices;

metadata associated with the media content accessed on the one or more media devices;

geographic locations of the one or more media devices when the media content is accessed; and

user demographics corresponding to the users of the one or more media devices.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein user demographics for a corresponding media device are collected from one or more of:

an application on the corresponding media device; and

a service billing system associated with the corresponding media device.

17. In a content provider within a network, a method of logging votes for a plurality of possible media content choices, the method comprising:

transmitting, from a content provider, a list of possible media content choices to a plurality of media devices, each of the media devices being configured to present the list of possible media content choices to a user of the media device and capture vote data from the user, the vote data indicating a user preference for at least one of the possible media content choices;

receiving vote data from one or more of the media devices;

evaluating the vote data;

preparing a vote report based on the evaluated vote data; and

using the vote report to;

refine media content made available by the content provider to the plurality of media devices, scale advertising rates charged by the content provider, or both.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein refining media content made available by the content provider to the plurality of media devices comprises one or more of:

playing a top rated media content choice from the list of possible media content choices; and

playing all media content choices from the list of possible media content choices in order from least preferred to most preferred as indicated by the vote report.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the list of possible media content choices comprises a list of possible song choices.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein evaluating the vote data comprises aggregating the vote data received from the one or more media devices.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the scaling of advertising rates charged by the content provider is based on how many media devices the vote data is received from.