AUDIENCE MEASUREMENT APPARATUS, SYSTEM AND PROCESS

• US 20130232517A1
• Filed: 03/01/2013
• Published: 09/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: IBOPE Pesquisa De Midia E Participações Ltda. (Nielsen Holdings plc)
• Original Assignee: IBOPE Pesquisa De Midia E Participações Ltda. (Nielsen Holdings plc)
• Inventors: Reis dos Santos, Alex
• Application Number:
  US13/782,227
• Publication Number:
  US 20130232517A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/43 for identifying broadcast channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/48 for recognising items expressed in broadcast information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44213 Monitoring of end-user related data arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33

Abstract

The present invention relates to an audience measurement apparatus (100) associable to a TV set (200) provided with a screen (4) that displays at least one piece of OSD (on screen display) information referring to the tuned channel, characterized by comprising at least one camera (1) configured to record at least one image (8) of at least a part of the areas of the screen (4) of the TV set (200), where the piece of OSD information is displayed and means to process the image (8) and detect the tuned channel.

Besides the audience measurement apparatus (100), this specification also disclosed a process and system for audience measurement.

Claims

1. An audience measurement apparatus (100) associable to a TV set (200) provided with a screen (4) that displays at least one piece of OSD (on screen display) information referring to the tuned channel, characterized by comprising at least one camera (1) configured to record at least one image (8) of at least a part of the screen (4) area of the TV set (200), where the OSD (on screen display) information is displayed and means for processing the image (8) and detecting the tuned channel.

2. An apparatus (100) according to claim 1, characterized by being provided with computational capacity and at least one software capable of interpreting the images (8) obtained by the camera (1) and sending the data resulting from the interpretation of these images (8) to a data collecting central.

3. An apparatus (100) according to claim 1, characterized by comprising an external projection (2) consisting of first portion (2a) arranged on the bottom surface of the apparatus (100) and second portion (2b) suspended in the environment outside the TV set (200), the external projection (2) being configured to provide visual access of a camera (1) installed under its bottom face to at least a part of the area comprised by the screen (4) of the TV set (200).

4. An apparatus (100) according to claim 3, charaterized in that the second portion (2b) of the external projection (2) defines an inclination at an acute angle (α

) with respect to the plane comprised by the first portion (2a) of the external projection (2), this inclination projecting toward the screen (4).

5. An apparatus (100) according to claim 3, characterized in that the first portion (2a) of the external projection (2) is associated to the apparatus (10) by means of screws (5) capable of displacing through oblong bores (6) with respect to the external projection (2), the sets of screws (5) and oblong bores (6) being capable of providing mobility between the external projection (2) and the apparatus (100).

6. An apparatus (100) according to claim 3, characterized in that the camera (1) is arranges on the front face of the apparatus (100), the apparatus (100) being configured to be positioned in front of the screen (4) of the TV set (200), with its front facing the screen (4).

7. An apparatus (100) according to claim 1, characterized by comprising two cameras (1) that capture images, the images of the two cameras (1) being integrated thank to the computational processing, generating a single image.

8. An audience measurement system, characterized by comprising an audience measurement apparatus (100) as defined in claim 1, associated to at least one TV set (200), the apparatus (100) having computational capacity, at least one software and at least one connection to any means for transmission of the audience information.

9. An audience measurement process that uses at least one audience measurement apparatus (100) provided with at least one camera (1) as defined in claim 1, characterized by comprising the following steps:

Step (i);

the computational process of the apparatus (100) detects when a TV viewer turns on the TV set (200) or changes channel;

Step (ii);

the camera (1) captures an image (8) displayed on at least a part of the screen (4) of the TV set (200);

Step (iii);

the apparatus (100) times a specific period of time to determine whether the channel related to the image is effectively being watched by the TV viewer or if it only corresponds to an intermediate channel; and

Step (iv);

the apparatus (100) processes the image (8) identifying to which channel it belongs.

10. A process according to claim 9, characterized by further comprising a step (v) in which the apparatus (100) sends information on the tuned channel to the recipient.