Television and market research data collection system and method
First Claim
1. In a system for collecting data with respect to cooperating television viewers or panelists, including a central location and a plurality of remote units at a plurality of panelist locations, a remote unit for connection to a television broadcast receiver comprising:
- receiving means for receiving a television broadcast signal;
a viewer control means includinga channel selector coupled to said means for receiving a television broadcast signal;
a data collection unit for coupling said receiving means to the television broadcast receiver, said data collection unit including a microprocessor and memory means for storing programming information for said microprocessor and for storing data;
said viewer control means being monitored by said microprocessor which stores data representing the state of said viewer control means in said memory means;
an optical reader associated with said data collection unit and for use by a panelist to scan data, said data being stored in said memory means under control of said microprocessor;
means for coupling said data collection unit to the switched telephone network; and
means for periodically establishing telephone communication between said data collection unit and the central location, whereby data stored in said memory means is transferred under control of said microprocessor to the central location.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A data gathering system includes a plurality of remote units which are controlled from a central location. Each of the remote units is attached to a television receiver which is generally but not necessarily attached to a cable system. Each of the remote units functions to determine which of several TV modes is in use as well as to store TV channel selector data and data from an optical input device. All this data is stored for later transmission by each of the remote units to a central data collecting point. A video message for a TV viewer, such as a survey, may be transmitted from the central location and stored at the remote units, for later display on the TV receiver associated with the remote units. Substitution of alternate programming information may also be achieved by the central control point on selected of the remote units.
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Citations
27 Claims
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1. In a system for collecting data with respect to cooperating television viewers or panelists, including a central location and a plurality of remote units at a plurality of panelist locations, a remote unit for connection to a television broadcast receiver comprising:
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receiving means for receiving a television broadcast signal; a viewer control means including a channel selector coupled to said means for receiving a television broadcast signal; a data collection unit for coupling said receiving means to the television broadcast receiver, said data collection unit including a microprocessor and memory means for storing programming information for said microprocessor and for storing data; said viewer control means being monitored by said microprocessor which stores data representing the state of said viewer control means in said memory means; an optical reader associated with said data collection unit and for use by a panelist to scan data, said data being stored in said memory means under control of said microprocessor; means for coupling said data collection unit to the switched telephone network; and means for periodically establishing telephone communication between said data collection unit and the central location, whereby data stored in said memory means is transferred under control of said microprocessor to the central location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system for collecting data with respect to cooperating television viewers or panelists comprising a central computer facility and a plurality of remote units at a respective plurality of panelist locations, each of said remote units including:
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receiving means for receiving a television broadcast signal; a viewer control means including at least a channel selector coupled to said means for receiving a television broadcast signal; a data collection unit for coupling said receiving means to a television broadcast receiver, said data collection unit including a microprocessor and memory means for storing programming information for said microprocessor and for storing data; said viewer control means being monitored by said microprocessor which stores data in said memory means representing changes in said viewer control means; an optical reader associated with said data collection unit and for use by a panelist to scan data, said data being stored in said memory means under control of said microprocessor; means for coupling said data collection unit to the switched telephone network; and means for periodically establishing telephone communication between each of the respective data collection units and said central computer facility, whereby data stored in said memory means is transferred under control of said microprocessor to said central computer facility. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A method of collecting data from a plurality of cooperating panelists at a plurality of remote locations comprising the steps of:
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providing at each remote location receiving means for receiving a television broadcasting signal for use with an associated television broadcast receiver; providing at each remote location a viewer control means coupled to the receiving means including at least a channel selector; providing at each remote location an optical reader for use by a panelist to scan data; monitoring the viewer control means and storing data indicative of changes therein; and periodically establishing telephone communications between a central location and each of the remote locations for transferring stored data with respect to the viewer control means and data optically scanned by a panelist to the central location. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27)
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Specification