Method and apparatus for generating and collecting viewing statistics for remote terminals in a cable television system
First Claim
1. In a bi-directional cable television system comprising a system manager for controlling a plurality of remote terminals over a cable television signal distribution system, a method of generating and collecting viewing statistics including at least data representing the channel being viewed at one or more remote terminals, the viewing statistics generating and collecting method comprising the steps of:
- (a) transmitting from the system manager to one or more remote terminals data representing record times consisting of specific times at which each remote terminal is to store viewing statistics data,(b) storing said record times in one of a plurality of record time storage locations at each remote terminal,(c) comparing the contents of each of said record time storage locations to the real time generated from a clock located at each said remote terminal,(d) generating viewing statistics data, and(e) storing viewing statistics data at each said remote terminal in a channel storage location, if the contents of said record time storage location matches said real time.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for generating and collecting viewing statistics in a cable television system is provided. For example, data relating to television channels being viewed at remote terminals may be generated by each remote terminal and then collected by a system manager. A system manager transmits one or more record times downstream to one or more remote terminals indicating a future point in time at which the terminal is to record the viewing statistics. The remote terminals store the one or more record times in memory and when the record time matches the current real time, the remote terminals store in memory the viewing statistics. Thereafter, in response to a polling signal from the system manager, the set top terminals transmit the previously recorded viewing statistics along with a time code corresponding to the time at which the viewing statistics were recorded upstream to the system manager, and the system manager processes this information accordingly. In one embodiment, the viewing statistics are generated from status information within each remote terminal. In another embodiment, the viewing statistics are generated from user inputs to each remote terminal. In one embodiment, several collection slots exist in each remote terminal for receiving and maintaining more than one record time at a time. In another embodiment, the system manager transmits record times and polling signals for each particular collection slot independently from and at different times than the other collection slots.
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Citations
34 Claims
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1. In a bi-directional cable television system comprising a system manager for controlling a plurality of remote terminals over a cable television signal distribution system, a method of generating and collecting viewing statistics including at least data representing the channel being viewed at one or more remote terminals, the viewing statistics generating and collecting method comprising the steps of:
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(a) transmitting from the system manager to one or more remote terminals data representing record times consisting of specific times at which each remote terminal is to store viewing statistics data, (b) storing said record times in one of a plurality of record time storage locations at each remote terminal, (c) comparing the contents of each of said record time storage locations to the real time generated from a clock located at each said remote terminal, (d) generating viewing statistics data, and (e) storing viewing statistics data at each said remote terminal in a channel storage location, if the contents of said record time storage location matches said real time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A channel monitoring apparatus for monitoring remote terminal channel viewing information in a bi-directional cable television system, the channel monitoring apparatus comprising:
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(a) a system manager for initiating a programming function to program a remote terminal to record channel viewing information at a specific record time, and (b) transmission means for transmitting to one or more remote terminals record times relating to the specific time at which the remote terminal is to store viewing statistics data representing at least the channel being viewed. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A remote terminal channel recording and transmitting apparatus for use in a bi-directional cable television system, the remote terminal channel recording and transmitting apparatus comprising:
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(a) receiving means for receiving one or more record times relating to specific times at which the remote terminal is to store an identification of the channel which is then being viewed, (b) a plurality of record time storage location means for storing said one or more record times, (c) comparing means for comparing the contents of said record time storage location means to the time generating from a real time clock located at said remote terminal, (d) generating means for generating viewing statistics data corresponding to the channel being viewed, and (e) one or more channel storage location means for storing the viewing statistics data at said remote terminal, if the contents of said record time storage location means matches the time from said real time clock. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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Specification