Status monitoring apparatus for car radio
First Claim
1. An apparatus for monitoring the status of use of a car radio, said apparatus being mounted on a mobile vehicle adjacently to said car radio capable of being tuned one by one to a group of radio stations located in geographical districts including a target district to be covered by radio audience survey based on said status of use, said apparatus comprising:
- a first means for detecting the state in which said vehicle is occupied at least by a driver and for measuring the length of time in which said car radio could be turned ON;
a second means for inputting data identifying said driver and other individuals expected to use said vehicle;
a third means for detecting the ON and OFF states of said car radio, thereby measuring the length of time in which said car radio was in the ON state;
a fourth means for identifying a radio station to which said car radio is tuned;
a fifth means for storing measurement data including data supplied from said first, second, third and fourth means;
a sixth means for periodically transmitting said measurement data to a survey center through a radio link; and
a seventh means for supplying power to all of said first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth means separately from a storage battery mounted on said vehicle for energizing engine starter thereof.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A monitoring apparatus for the use status of a car radio is disclosed. In addition to the function of identifying a radio station to which the car radio is tuned at any given time, the present apparatus is capable of identifying the individual actually in the driver'"'"'s seat listening to that radio station, and of measuring the idle time during which the car radio could have been turned ON but actually was not. Also, the present apparatus has a rechargeable battery dedicated thereto, thereby to avoid overloading the vehicle-mounted storage battery used also for engine starter. Moreover, the present apparatus comprises a device for generating an excessive discharge alarm signal when the excessively discharged state of the rechargeable battery is detected. Furthermore, the present apparatus employs the radio station identification based on the detection of local oscillation frequency picked up at the tuner portion, which is in one to one correspondence with a radio station broadcast frequency.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. An apparatus for monitoring the status of use of a car radio, said apparatus being mounted on a mobile vehicle adjacently to said car radio capable of being tuned one by one to a group of radio stations located in geographical districts including a target district to be covered by radio audience survey based on said status of use, said apparatus comprising:
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a first means for detecting the state in which said vehicle is occupied at least by a driver and for measuring the length of time in which said car radio could be turned ON; a second means for inputting data identifying said driver and other individuals expected to use said vehicle; a third means for detecting the ON and OFF states of said car radio, thereby measuring the length of time in which said car radio was in the ON state; a fourth means for identifying a radio station to which said car radio is tuned; a fifth means for storing measurement data including data supplied from said first, second, third and fourth means; a sixth means for periodically transmitting said measurement data to a survey center through a radio link; and a seventh means for supplying power to all of said first, second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth means separately from a storage battery mounted on said vehicle for energizing engine starter thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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Specification