DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT

• US 20100228677A1
• Filed: 09/22/2009
• Published: 09/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nielsen Company (US) LLC (RR Donnelley & Sons Company)
• Original Assignee: Nielsen Company (US) LLC (RR Donnelley & Sons Company)
• Inventors: Houston, John
• Granted Patent: US 8,818,901 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/310
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/105 Arrangements for software license management or administration, e.g. for managing licenses at corporate level
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/10 Usage protection of distributed data files
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/18 Licensing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/00 Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism healthcare informatics G16H
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/14 Arrangements for conditional access to broadcast information or to broadcast-related services
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/31 Arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/442 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. detecting the failure of a recording device, monitoring the downstream bandwidth, the number of times a movie has been viewed, the storage space available from the internal hard disk arrangements for monitoring broadcast services or broadcast-related services H04H60/29; arrangements for identifying or recognising characteristics with a direct linkage to broadcast information H04H60/35; monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; monitoring in wireless networks H04W24/00
• 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 21/4627 Rights management associated to the content security in data switching network management H04L41/28; security management or policies for network security H04L63/20; access security in wireless networks H04W12/08
• 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 21/835 Generation of protective data, e.g. certificates protecting software against unauthorised usage in a vending or licensing environment G06F21/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/8355 involving usage data, e.g. number of copies or viewings allowed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/173 with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal

Abstract

Digital rights management systems and methods for audience measurement are disclosed. An example method to monitor a media content presentation disclosed herein comprises configuring a media handler to present the media content presentation, automatically processing a measurement rights agreement with a digital rights manager to determine whether the measurement rights agreement authorizes monitoring of the media content presentation, when the digital rights manager determines that monitoring of the media content presentation is authorized, configuring the media handler to obtain measurement information corresponding to the media content presentation, and when the digital rights manager determines that monitoring of the media content presentation is not authorized, configuring the media handler to prevent measurement information corresponding to the media content presentation from being obtained, but not preventing the media handler from being configured to present the media content presentation.

Claims

1. A method to monitor a media content presentation comprising:

configuring a media handler to present the media content presentation;

automatically processing a measurement rights agreement with a digital rights manager to determine whether the measurement rights agreement authorizes monitoring of the media content presentation;

when the digital rights manager determines that monitoring of the media content presentation is authorized, configuring the media handler to obtain measurement information corresponding to the media content presentation; and

when the digital rights manager determines that monitoring of the media content presentation is not authorized, configuring the media handler to prevent measurement information corresponding to the media content presentation from being obtained, but not preventing the media handler from being configured to present the media content presentation.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether the measurements rights agreement is stored locally relative to the digital rights manager; and

when the measurement rights agreement is determined to not be stored locally, retrieving the measurement rights agreement from a license server associated with a media measurement entity.

3. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising retrieving the measurement rights agreement in response to at least one of:

(1) invocation of the digital rights manager, (2) invocation of the media handler, or (3) selection of the media content for presentation by the media handler.

4. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

identifying an audience member associated with the media handler;

receiving acceptance from the audience member of one or more terms of the measurement rights agreement; and

storing the measurement rights agreement on a license server associated with a media measurement entity.

5. A method as defined in claim 4 wherein receiving the acceptance from the audience member comprises receiving a copy of the measurement rights agreement that has been electronically signed by the audience member.

6. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising determining whether at least one of:

(1) a time interval associated with renewal of the measurement rights agreement has expired, (2) an audience member associated with the measurement rights agreement has been removed from an audience measurement panel, (3) the digital rights manager has been altered, (4) the media handler has been altered, or (5) a media measurement entity is required to revoke the measurement rights agreement.

7. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising disabling the media handler from obtaining the measurement information in response to revocation of the measurement rights agreement.

8. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether an audience member has opted out of an audience measurement panel; and

disabling the media handler from obtaining the measurement information when the audience member has opted out of the audience measurement panel.

9. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising initializing the media handler to disable obtaining of the measurement information during the presentation of the media content.

10. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising associating at least one of the digital rights manager or the media handler with a whitelist, wherein the whitelist includes at least one of:

(1) a name associated with a media measurement entity, (2) a digital signature for authenticating the media measurement entity, or (3) an address of a license server associated with the media measurement entity, wherein the license server is configured to access the measurement rights agreement.

11. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein automatically processing the measurement rights agreement comprises:

determining whether the measurement rights agreement is authentic based on a digital signature of a media measurement entity associated with the measurement rights agreement; and

evaluating one or more rules included in the measurement rights agreement to determine any restrictions on the measurement information to be obtained by the media handler.

12. A method as defined in claim 11 further comprising disabling the media handler from obtaining the measurement information when the measurement rights agreement is not authentic.

13. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the measurement rights agreement includes one or more rules indicating whether monitoring of media content consumption is authorized and specifying any restrictions on the measurement information to be obtained by the media handler.

14. A method as defined in claim 13 wherein the one or more rules included in the measurement rights agreement are included based on a selection by an audience member associated with the media handler.

15. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the measurement information obtained by the media handler comprises:

first measurement information obtained by capturing embedded information included in the media content; and

second measurement information obtained by capturing user commands input to the media handler.

16. An article of manufacture storing machine readable instructions which, when executed, cause a machine to:

automatically process a measurement rights agreement with a digital rights manager to determine whether the measurement rights agreement authorizes monitoring of media content presented by a media handler, the measurement rights agreement being obtained from a media measurement entity that did not provide the media handler;

enable the media handler to obtain measurement information corresponding to a presentation of the media content by the media handler when the digital rights manager determines that monitoring of the media content presented by the media handler is authorized; and

prevent the media handler from obtaining the measurement information corresponding to the presentation of the media content, but not prevent the media handler from presenting the media content, when the digital rights manager determines that monitoring of the media content presented by the media handler is not authorized.

17. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 16 wherein, to process the measurement rights agreement, the machine readable instructions cause the machine to:

determine whether the measurement rights agreement is authentic based on a digital signature of a media measurement entity associated with the measurement rights agreement; and

evaluate one or more rules included in the measurement rights agreement to determine any restrictions on the measurement information to be obtained by the media handler.

18. An article of manufacture as defined in claim 16 wherein the machine readable instructions, when executed, further cause the machine to initialize the media handler to disable obtaining of the measurement information during the presentation of the media content.

19. An audience measurement meter comprising:

a media handler configurable to process media content for presentation and to obtain measurement information corresponding to a presentation of the media content;

a digital rights manager to determine whether to configure the media handler to obtain the measurement information based on a measurement rights agreement, the digital rights manager to enable the media handler to obtain the measurement information when the digital rights manager determines that the measurement rights agreement authorizes monitoring of the media content presentation, the digital rights manager to prevent the media handler from obtaining the measurement information, but to not prevent the media handler from being configured to process the media content for presentation, when the digital rights manager determines that the measurement rights agreement does not authorize monitoring of the media content presentation; and

a memory configured to store measurement information obtained by the media handler.

20. An audience measurement meter as defined in claim 19 further comprising a measurement rights agreement interpreter to prepare the measurement rights agreement by exchanging data between an audience member associated with the media processor and a media measurement entity.

21. An audience measurement meter as defined in claim 19 wherein the digital rights manager comprises:

a measurement rights agreement verifier to determine whether the measurement rights agreement is valid; and

a measurement activator to process the measurement rights agreement and, in response to a determination by the measurement rights agreement verifier that the measurement rights agreement is valid, the measurement activator to determine whether to at least one of;

(1) configure the media handler to obtain the measurement information or (2) place a restriction on the measurement information to be obtained by the media handler.

22. An audience measurement meter as defined in claim 19 wherein the digital rights manager comprises a measurement rights agreement revoker to determine whether to revoke the measurement rights agreement.

23. An audience measurement meter as defined in claim 19 wherein the media handler and the digital rights manager are included in the media processor.

24. An audience measurement meter as defined in claim 19 wherein the digital rights manager is configured to retrieve the measurement rights agreement from a license server separate from the audience measurement meter.

25. An audience measurement meter as defined in claim 24 wherein the license server is located at a media measurement entity separate from an entity providing the media handler or the media content.

26. A method to enable monitoring of media content presented by a media handler, the method comprising:

obtaining a measurement rights agreement from a media measurement entity separate from a source of the media content or the media handler;

obtaining acceptance of the measurement rights agreement by an audience member associated with the media handler; and

storing an electronic version of the accepted measurement rights agreement;

processing the accepted measurement rights agreement with a digital rights manager associated with the media handler to determine whether to enable monitoring of the media content presented by the media handler, but not processing the accepted measurement rights agreement to determine whether to present the media content; and

processing a rights agreement separate from the accepted measurement rights agreement to determine whether the media handler is authorized to present the media content.

27. A method as defined in claim 26 further comprising presenting an interface for the audience member to select whether to at least one of modify or include a term in the measurement rights agreement prior to obtaining acceptance of the measurement rights agreement.

28. A method as defined in claim 26 wherein obtaining acceptance of the measurement rights agreement comprises receiving an electronic signature from the audience member.