Polling system and method using nondedicated telephone lines
First Claim
1. A data collecting system comprising a plurality of receiving stations, each receiving station including:
- a tuner connected to an antenna;
memory means for temporarily storing data supplied from an apparatus being used when said tuner receives a marker signal;
timing means for performing a timing operation when said marker signal is received;
means for variably setting a timing period of said timing means;
means for automatically effecting a telephone call after said timing period set by said setting means has elapsed, said means for automatically effecting a telephone call including an automatic transmitter in each receiving station and means for causing a i-th automatic telephone transmitter at a corresponding i-th one of said plurality of receiving stations to commence a telephone call, in accordance with said timing period, at an i-th time beginning a predetermined period before an (i-1)th automatic telephone transmitter at a corresponding (i-1)th one of said plurality of receiving stations terminates data transmission to a central station and releases a telephone circuit, whereby a call signal from said i-th one of said automatic telephone transmitters arrives at said central station immediately after said (i-1)th automatic telephone transmitter releases said telephone circuit;
means for setting a telephone number of said central station to be called by said means for automatically effecting a telephone call;
an encoder for encoding data stored by said memory means; and
means for sending out said data to said central station through a telephone circuit.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An audience data rating collecting system and method which are capable of collecting television audience rating data automatically within a short period of time. A broadcasting station transmits over the air a marker signal. The marker signal is received by terminal units associated with selected subscribers'"'"' television receivers. Upon reception of the market signal, and after waiting a period of time necessary for other terminal units within the system to transmit their data back to the station, each terminal unit automatically dials a predetermined telephone number at the broadcasting station. Once the broadcasting station has had time to automatically answer, data from that terminal unit representative of the channel then being viewed is transmitted over the telephone circuit to the broadcasting station. After all terminal units have called in, the results are tabulated.
117 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A data collecting system comprising a plurality of receiving stations, each receiving station including:
- a tuner connected to an antenna;
memory means for temporarily storing data supplied from an apparatus being used when said tuner receives a marker signal;
timing means for performing a timing operation when said marker signal is received;
means for variably setting a timing period of said timing means;
means for automatically effecting a telephone call after said timing period set by said setting means has elapsed, said means for automatically effecting a telephone call including an automatic transmitter in each receiving station and means for causing a i-th automatic telephone transmitter at a corresponding i-th one of said plurality of receiving stations to commence a telephone call, in accordance with said timing period, at an i-th time beginning a predetermined period before an (i-1)th automatic telephone transmitter at a corresponding (i-1)th one of said plurality of receiving stations terminates data transmission to a central station and releases a telephone circuit, whereby a call signal from said i-th one of said automatic telephone transmitters arrives at said central station immediately after said (i-1)th automatic telephone transmitter releases said telephone circuit;
means for setting a telephone number of said central station to be called by said means for automatically effecting a telephone call;
an encoder for encoding data stored by said memory means; and
means for sending out said data to said central station through a telephone circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
- a tuner connected to an antenna;
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9. A method of collecting data from a plurality of terminal units, comprising the steps of:
- providing a single automatic telephone receiver, at a central station, and a plurality of automatic telephone transmitters in a telephone circuit, each of said automatic telephone transmitters including means for storing data;
simultaneously transmitting a marker signal at a first time to all of said automatic telephone transmitters over a broadcasting channel;
transmitting via said telephone circuit the data stored in each of said terminal units to said single automatic telephone receiver in a predetermined sequence, each of said automatic telephone transmitters transmitting data to said single automatic telephone receiver at a respective delay time after said first time and thereafter releasing said telephone circuit, with an i-th one of said automatic telephone transmitters starting a calling operation a predetermined period before an (i-1)th one of said automatic telephone transmitters has released said telephone circuit, such that data from said i-th one of said automatic telephone transmitters arrives at said single automatic telephone receiver immediately after said (i-1)th one of said automatic telephone transmitters has released said telephone circuit. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
- providing a single automatic telephone receiver, at a central station, and a plurality of automatic telephone transmitters in a telephone circuit, each of said automatic telephone transmitters including means for storing data;
Specification