METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MEASURING AND RANKING AN "ENGAGEMENT" RESPONSE TO AUDIOVISUAL OR INTERACTIVE MEDIA, PRODUCTS, OR ACTIVITIES USING PHYSIOLOGICAL SIGNALS

• US 20080221400A1
• Filed: 08/28/2007
• Published: 09/11/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nielsen Consumer LLC (Nielsen Holdings plc)
• Original Assignee: Nielsen Company (US) LLC (RR Donnelley & Sons Company)
• Inventors: Lee, Michael J., Lee, Hans C., Hong, Timmie T., Williams, William H., Fettiplace, Michael R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,764,652 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/301
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/024 Detecting, measuring or recording pulse rate or heart rate A61B5/0205, A61B5/021 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/16 Devices for psychotechnics using teaching or educational appliances G09B1/00 - G09B7/00; Testing reaction times ; Devices for evaluating the psychological state
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/369 Electroencephalography [EEG] devices for psychotechnics A61B5/16
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7257 using Fourier transforms
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/70 relating to mental therapies, e.g. psychological therapy or autogenous training
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44218 Detecting physical presence or behaviour of the user, e.g. using sensors to detect if the user is leaving the room or changes his face expression during a TV program methods or arrangements for recognising human body or animal bodies or body parts G06V40/10; methods or arrangements for acquiring or recognising human faces, facial parts, facial sketches, facial expressions G06V40/16; methods or arrangements for recognising movements or behaviour G06V40/20; arrangements for identifying users in broadcast systems H04H60/45

Abstract

A system and method for calculating an engagement value by quantifying an amount that a user is acting without thinking considering brainwaves and a heart rate can be used to compare media based on an individual or a group of individuals. Events of the media can be contrasted and compared by the engagement value as well. Statistical measurements may be taken to improve media.

Claims

1. A method for sensing an individual'"'"'s immersion in an experience for rating a media comprising:

stimulating an individual with a media containing an event;

sampling a first signal from a brain of the individual substantially concurrently while stimulating the individual with the media;

sampling a second signal from a heart of the individual substantially concurrently while sampling the first signal from the brain;

decomposing the first signal and the second signal into a frequency domain; and

calculating an engagement value using one or more frequencies from the first signal and a frequency from the second signal defining an amount the individual is acting without thinking in response to stimulation of the event for comparison with a reference value thereby rating the media based on the difference between the engagement value and the reference value of the media.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein only one frequency from the first signal is selected from alpha and theta, and the only one frequency from the first signal along with the frequency from the second signal are used to calculate the engagement value.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the engagement value is associated with the event in the media.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the second signal is sampled via a photoplethysmograph attached to a head of the individual.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein multiple engagement values from multiple individuals associated with an even in the media are aggregated to form an engagement response to the event.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein multiple engagement values from multiple individuals associated with the event in the media are aggregated to form an engagement response to the event.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein multiple engagement values from multiple individuals are included in a summated response vector identifying the number of persons that responded with engagement to the media.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein decomposing is accomplished using a Fast Fourier transform or a wavelet analysis.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein wavelet analysis is accomplished using a wavelet selected from a Mexican hat wavelet a morlet wavelet, a daubechies wavelet, a beta wavelet, and a coiflet wavelet.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising calculating a derivative of the engagement value to show a change in engagement over time.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the formula used is [heart rate/50]−

[(theta−

alpha) /(theta+alpha)].

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the length of each heart beat is monitored.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the engagement value is calculated by contrasting a heart rate from the first signal with the product of a formula selected from θ

−

α

, θ

, θ

/α

, Δ

/α

,β

/α

, and total EEG power/α

, wherein α

, β

, Δ

, &

θ

are each found in the first signal.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the engagement value is calculated by contrasting a length of a heart beat with the product of a formula selected from α

, α

/θ

, α

/θ

, α

/ β

, α

/Δ

, α

/total EEG power, and (α

−

θ

)/(α

+θ

), wherein α

, β

,Δ

, &

θ

are each found in the first signal.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the unit of data is created by stimulation using a media selected from television, video game, audiovisual advertisement, board game, card game, live action event, print advertisement, and web advertisement.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the engagement value corresponds to a point in time, and the engagement value is aligned to the media by correlating the engagement value with an event occurring at the point in time by identifying an event of the media which occurred substantially concurrently.

17. A method for rating media based on the amount that an individual is engaged comprising:

calculating an engagement value of the individual for an event of a media;

comparing the engagement value with a reference value to determine a difference between the amount that the individual was engaged with the media and the reference value of the media; and

saving a result from comparing as a measure defining a rating of the event of the media.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the reference value is supplied by a developer of the media.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the reference value is an average value of numerous previously calculated engagement values of other individuals.

20. The method of claim 17 wherein the engagement value is calculated using a single frequency selected from alpha or theta, the single frequency is contrasted with a heart rate of the individual.

21. The method of claim 17 wherein the engagement value is calculated by contrasting a length of a heart beat with a product of a formula selected from α

, α

/ θ

, α

/θ

, α

/β

, α

/Δ

, α

/total EEG power, and (α

−

θ

)/(α

+θ

).

22. The method of claim 17 wherein the first media is selected from television, video game, audiovisual advertisement, board game, card game, live action event, print advertisement, and web advertisement.

23. A program for sensing an engagement response for use in rating media embodied in a computer readable medium that when executed causes a system to:

stimulate an individual with a media containing an event;

sample a first signal from a brain of the individual substantially concurrently while stimulating the individual with the media;

sample a second signal from a heart of the individual substantially concurrently while sampling the first signal from the brain;

decompose the first signal and the second signal into the frequency domain; and

calculate an engagement value using one or more frequencies from the first signal and a frequency from the second signal defining an amount the individual is acting without thinking in response to stimulation of the event for comparison with a reference value thereby rating the media based on the difference between the engagement value and the reference value of the media.

24. The program of claim 23 wherein only one frequency is selected from alpha and theta and only the one frequency is used to calculate the engagement value by contrasting the one frequency with the signal from the heart of the individual.

25. The program of claim 23 wherein the engagement value is calculated by contrasting a length of a heart beat with the product of a formula selected from α

, α

/θ

, α

/θ

, α

/ β

, α

/Δ

, α

/total EEG power, and (α

−

θ

)/(α

+θ

), wherein α

, β

, Δ

, &

θ

are each found in the first signal.

26. The program of claim 23 wherein the signal is decomposed using a fast Fourier transform or a wavelet analysis.

27. The program of claim 23 wherein the unit of data is created by stimulation using a media selected from television, video game, audiovisual advertisement, board game, card game, live action event, print advertisement, and web advertisement.

28. The program of claim 23 wherein the signal is aligned relative to the media to create a first aligned engagement value corresponding to a first event in time which can be compared with a second aligned engagement value corresponding to a second event in time.

29. A system for sensing an engagement response fro use in rating media comprising:

one or more sensors operable to sample a first signal from an individual;

a processing component connected to the one or more sensors operable to;

sample a first signal from a brain of the individual substantially concurrently while stimulating the individual with the media;

sample a second signal from a heart of the individual substantially concurrently while sampling the first signal from the brain;

decompose the first signal and the second signal into the frequency domain; and

calculate an engagement value using the one or more frequencies from the first signal and a frequency from the second signal defining an amount the individual is acting without thinking in response to stimulation of the event for comparison with a reference value thereby rating the media based on the difference between the engagement value and the reference value of the media.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein the one or more sensors are included in an integrated sensor headset operable to measure a signal from the individual stimulated by the media.

31. A system for sensing an engagement response for use in rating media comprising:

means for sampling a first signal from a brain of the individual substantially concurrently while stimulating the individual with the media;

means for sampling a second signal from a heart of the individual substantially concurrently while sampling the first signal from the brain;

means for decomposing the first signal and the second signal into the frequency domain; and

means for calculating an engagement value using the one or more frequencies from the first signal and a frequency from the second signal defining an amount the individual is acting without thinking in response to stimulation of the event for comparison with a reference value thereby rating the media based on the difference between the engagement value and the reference value of the media.