Method and apparatus for determining audience viewing habits by jamming a control signal and identifying the viewers command
First Claim
1. Apparatus for monitoring and controlling a remotely controlled receiver to determine the particular channel of a plurality of channels to which the remotely controlled receiver is tuned, comprising:
- means for receiving a predetermined control signal representing a viewer command transmitted from a remote control unit to said remotely controlled receiver,means responsive to said receiving means for interfering with the transmission of said predetermined control signal to said remotely controlled receiver,means responsive to said receiving means for identifying the viewer command represented by said predetermined control signal,means responsive to said identifying means for storing a representation of the identified viewer command, andmeans responsive to said identifying means for controlling the operation of said remotely controlled receiver.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for determining the channel of a plurality of predetermined channels to which a remotely controlled receiver is tuned. A viewer transmitter device includes a keyboard for receiving viewer entered selections and a remote transmitter which transmits infrared, ultrasonic, radio frequency or other radiated control signals for each of the viewer selections. A receiver device in a channel detection system receives a signal in the selected transmission medium, and immediately signals a jamming device to broadcast interference which precludes the remotely controlled receiver from identifying and acting upon the transmitted control signal. The receiver device applies the received signal to a processor device that performs a stored program to determine if the received signal corresponds to a transmitted control signal from the viewer transmitter device and, if so, to identify the channel to which the monitored receiver is to be tuned. An associated memory device is used for storing the identified channel reception data. The processor device identifies the user selection and either applies a corresponding control signal to a second transmitter device which transmits a control signal of sufficient strength to overcome the interference, or instructs the jammming device to cease the broadcasting of interfering signals. In either case, the remotely controlled receiver will now receive and implement the viewer selection. The processor device will periodically broadcast a command to the remotely controlled receiver containing the last identified channel data to ensure that a viewer does not manually adjust the channel being viewed.
198 Citations
28 Claims
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1. Apparatus for monitoring and controlling a remotely controlled receiver to determine the particular channel of a plurality of channels to which the remotely controlled receiver is tuned, comprising:
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means for receiving a predetermined control signal representing a viewer command transmitted from a remote control unit to said remotely controlled receiver, means responsive to said receiving means for interfering with the transmission of said predetermined control signal to said remotely controlled receiver, means responsive to said receiving means for identifying the viewer command represented by said predetermined control signal, means responsive to said identifying means for storing a representation of the identified viewer command, and means responsive to said identifying means for controlling the operation of said remotely controlled receiver. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for determining the channel of a plurality of channels to which a remotely controlled receiver is tuned, comprising the steps of:
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monitoring a transmission medium for signals, detecting a signal transmitted in said medium, interfering with the transmission of said signal in said transmission medium determining whether said signal corresponds to any one of a plurality of predetermined, information containing, allowable signals, preserving the information content of said predetermined allowable signal, and controlling said remotely controlled receiver in accordance with the information content of said predetermined allowable signal. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A system for monitoring a remotely controlled television tuner to determine the channel to which the remotely controlled television tuner is tuned, comprising:
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a remote control viewer transmitter including a viewer selection keyboard which generates and transmits a predetermined remote control signal dependent on viewer keyboard selections; a television; a television tuner for selecting the television display; a first remotely controlled receiver which receives the predetermined remote control signal containing the viewer selection, and forwards the viewer selection to the television tuner; a channel detection apparatus for monitoring the channel to which the television tuner is tuned, including a second remote control receiver which receives the predetermined remote control signal, an interference generating device, responsive to the second remote control receiver, which generates and transmits signals which interfere with the transmission of the predetermined remote control signal to the first remotely controlled receiver, a processing device for receiving the predetermined remote control signal from the second remote control receiver, analyzing the predetermined remote control signal to determine the viewer selection, storing said viewer selection, and determining an allowable remote control signal, a second remote control transmitter, responsive to the processing device, for transmitting the allowable remote control signal to the first remotely controlled receiver, with sufficient power to overpower the interfering signals transmitted by the interfering device. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28)
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Specification