ESTIMATING DEMOGRAPHIC STATISTICS OF MEDIA VIEWERSHIP VIA CONTEXT AWARE MOBILE DEVICES

• US 20130273941A1
• Filed: 04/12/2012
• Published: 10/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Grokop, Leonard Henry
• Granted Patent: US 9,516,360 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2187 Live feed
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/24 Monitoring of processes or resources, e.g. monitoring of server load, available bandwidth, upstream requests monitoring of server performance or load G06F11/34; arrangements for observation, testing or troubleshooting for broadcast or for distribution combined with broadcast H04H20/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25883 being end-user demographical data, e.g. age, family status or address arrangements for identifying locations of users in broadcast systems H04H60/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/41407 embedded in a portable device, e.g. video client on a mobile phone, PDA, laptop constructional details of equipment or arrangements specially adapted for portable computer application G06F1/1626; arrangements specially adapted for mobile receivers in broadcast systems H04H20/57
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42202 environmental sensors, e.g. for detecting temperature, luminosity, pressure, earthquakes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42203 sound input device, e.g. microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/466 Learning process for intelligent management, e.g. learning user preferences for recommending movies services using the results of monitoring in broadcast systems H04H60/61
• 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: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A method of generating demographic statistics related to an event includes using sensor data acquired at a mobile device to estimate a value for a category of a demographic model of a user of the mobile device; using sensor data acquired at the mobile device to detect an occurrence of the event in which the user of the mobile device participates; and associating the estimated value for the category of the demographic model of the user of the mobile device with the event.

Claims

1. A method of generating demographic statistics related to an event, the method comprising:

using sensor data acquired at a mobile device to estimate a value for a category of a demographic model of a user of the mobile device;

using sensor data acquired at the mobile device to detect an occurrence of the event in which the user of the mobile device participates; and

associating the estimated value for the category of the demographic model of the user of the mobile device with the event.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the event comprises consuming a media program.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the media program is a television program.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the event comprises attending or participating in a live gathering of participants.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the event comprises being present at a geographic location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the occurrence of the event is detected using sensor data from one or more of a microphone, a GPS receiver, an accelerometer, a light sensor, a magnetometer, a gyroscope, a proximity sensor, a camera, a barometric pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, a capacitive touch sensor, a Wi-Fi detector, and a Bluetooth™

detector.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of estimation of the value and detection of the occurrence of the event also uses user content data including usage information from one or more of email content, calendar content, SMS text message content, social networks, and a contact list.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the demographic model includes one or more of the following categories:

age, gender, race, location, occupation, income, activity level, commute information, height, languages spoken, locations visited, and environments encountered.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein using sensor data to estimate the value for the category of the demographic model of the user of the mobile device further comprises assigning a confidence measure to the estimated value for the category.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating an estimate of a value for a category of the demographic model based at least in part on detecting the occurrence of the event.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed at a server in communication with the mobile device.

12. A system for generating demographic statistics related to an event, the system comprising:

a mobile device configured to;

collect sensor data available at the mobile device;

use at least some of the sensor data to estimate a value for a category of a demographic model of a user of the mobile device;

transmit the estimated value for the category of the demographic model of the user to a server;

use at least some of the sensor data to detect an occurrence of the event in which the user of the mobile device participates; and

transmit information about the occurrence of the event to the server; and

the server configured to;

receive the estimated value for the category of the demographic model of the user from the mobile device;

receive the information about the occurrence of the event from the mobile device; and

associate the estimated value for the category of the demographic model of the user, with the event, using the information about the occurrence of the event.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the event comprises consuming a media program.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the media program is a television program.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the event comprises attending or participating in a live gathering of participants.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the event comprises being present at a geographic location.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the mobile device is configured to collect the sensor data as sensor data from one or more of a microphone, a GPS receiver, an accelerometer, a light sensor, a magnetometer, a gyroscope, a proximity sensor, a camera, a barometric pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, a capacitive touch sensor, a Wi-Fi detector, and a Bluetooth™

detector.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein

the mobile device is further configured to collect user content data including usage information from one or more of email content, calendar content, SMS text message content, social networks, and a contact list;

and

at least one of estimation of the value and detection of the occurrence of the event also uses the user content data.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the demographic model includes one or more of the following categories:

age, gender, race, location, occupation, income, activity level, commute information, height, languages spoken, locations visited, and environments encountered.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the mobile device is further configured to assign a confidence measure to the estimated value for the category.

21. The system of claim 12, wherein the mobile device is further configured to update an estimate of a value for a category of the demographic model based at least in part on detecting the occurrence of the event.

22. A mobile device comprising:

one or more sensors configured to collect sensor data;

a processor communicatively coupled to the one or more sensors and configured to use at least some of the sensor data collected to estimate a value for a category of a demographic model of a user of the mobile device, and to use at least some of the sensor data to detect an occurrence of an event in which the user of the mobile device participates; and

a transceiver communicatively coupled to the processor and configured to transmit the estimated value for the category of the demographic model of the user, and to transmit information about the occurrence of the event.

23. The mobile device of claim 22, wherein

the processor is further configured to process at least some of the sensor data to generate features associated with the event;

the transceiver is further configured to transmit the features associated with the event, and to receive information about a plurality of possible pre-determined target events; and

the processor is configured to detect the occurrence of the event in which the user of the mobile device participates by comparing the features associated with the event with the information about the plurality of possible pre-determined target events.

24. The mobile device of claim 23, wherein

the event comprises consuming a media program;

the one or more sensors include a microphone; and

the features associated with the event are generated as features of an audio waveform of the media program collected using the microphone.

25. The mobile device of claim 22, wherein collecting the sensor data, estimating the value for the category, or detecting the occurrence of the event occurs periodically, sporadically, or opportunistically.

26. The mobile device of claim 22, wherein the one or more sensors include one or more of a microphone, a GPS receiver, an accelerometer, a light sensor, a magnetometer, a gyroscope, a proximity sensor, a camera, a barometric pressure sensor, a temperature sensor, a capacitive touch sensor, a Wi-Fi detector, and a Bluetooth™

detector.

27. The mobile device of claim 22, further comprising one or more applications configured to provide user content data including usage information about the user of the mobile device for use in at least one of estimating the value and detecting the occurrence of the event.

28. A server for utilizing a data network to generate demographic statistics related to an event, the server comprising:

a communication interface communicatively coupled with the data network and configured to receive, from a mobile device, an estimated value for a category of a demographic model of a user of the mobile device, and to receive, from the mobile device, features associated with the event in which the user of the mobile device participates; and

a processor communicatively coupled with the communication interface and configured to detect an occurrence of the event by comparing the features associated with the event with information about a plurality of pre-determined target events, and to associate the estimated value for the category of the demographic model of the user of the mobile device with the event,

wherein the value for the category of the demographic model of the user of the mobile device was estimated using sensor data available at the mobile device, and

wherein the features associated with the event were generated by processing sensor data available at the mobile device.

29. The server of claim 28, further comprising a storage medium communicatively coupled with the processor and configured to store the information about the plurality of pre-determined target events.

30. The server of claim 28, wherein the processor is further configured to associate with the event estimated values for categories of demographic models of users of other mobile devices who participate in the event.

31. The server of claim 28, wherein

the communication interface is further configured to receive information about the occurrence of the event from the mobile device;

and

the processor is configured to use the information about the occurrence of the event to associate the estimated value for the category of the demographic model of the user of the mobile device with the event.

32. The server of claim 28, wherein the communication interface is further configured to transmit the information about the plurality of pre-determined target events to the mobile device to assist the mobile device in detecting the occurrence of the event.

33. A computer program product residing on a non-transitory processor-readable medium and comprising processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor to:

access an estimated value for a category of a demographic model of a user of a mobile device;

access features associated with an event in which the user of the mobile device participates;

retrieve from storage information about a plurality of pre-determined target events;

detect an occurrence of the event by comparing the features associated with the event with the information about the plurality of pre-determined target events; and

associate the estimated value for the category of the demographic model of the user of the mobile device with the event,

wherein the value for the category of the demographic model of the user of the mobile device was estimated using sensor data available at the mobile device, and

wherein the features associated with the event were generated by processing sensor data available at the mobile device.

34. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the processor-readable instructions are further configured to cause the processor to associate with the event estimated values for categories of demographic models of users of other mobile devices who participate in the event.

35. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the processor-readable instructions are further configured to cause the processor to access information about the occurrence of the event from the mobile device, the information about the occurrence of the event used to associate the estimated value with the event.

36. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the processor-readable instructions are further configured to cause the processor to provide to the mobile device the information about the plurality of pre-determined target events to assist the mobile device in detecting the occurrence of the event.

37. An apparatus for generating demographic statistics related to an event, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving an estimated value for a category of a demographic model of a user of a mobile device, and for receiving features associated with the event in which the user of the mobile device participates; and

means for processing to detect an occurrence of the event by comparing the features associated with the event with information about a plurality of pre-determined target events, and to associate the estimated value for the category of the demographic model of the user of the mobile device with the event,

wherein the value for the category of the demographic model of the user of the mobile device was estimated using sensor data available at the mobile device, and

wherein the features associated with the event were generated by processing sensor data available at the mobile device.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, further comprising means for storing the information about the plurality of pre-determined target events.

39. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the means for processing are further to associate with the event estimated values for categories of demographic models of users of other mobile devices who participate in the event.

40. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein

the means for receiving are further for receiving information about the occurrence of the event from the mobile device;

and

the means for processing are further to use the information about the occurrence of the event to associate the estimated value with the event.

41. The apparatus of claim 37, further comprising means for transmitting the information about the plurality of pre-determined target events to the mobile device to assist the mobile device in detecting the occurrence of the event.