Manipulating and analyzing data using a computer system having a database mining engine resides in memory
First Claim
1. A computer system for manipulating and analyzing data, the system comprising:
- a CPU;
a memory coupled to the CPU;
a database residing in the memory, the database comprising a plurality of person-by-person records which describe a series of choices and decisions made by an identified sample audience in relation to a media vehicle, and wherein the database comprises a plurality of portions, with each of the plurality of portions including person-by-person records corresponding to a different time period and wherein the each of the plurality of portions includes a viewing index that indexes the person-by-person records for the corresponding time period;
a database mining engine residing in the memory, the database mining engine utilizing the plurality of viewing indices to selectively retrieve data from the database; and
a graphical user interface residing in the memory and being executed by the CPU, wherein the user interface accesses the person-by-person records in the database via the database mining engine.
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Accused Products
Abstract
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a method and apparatus for quickly and easily retrieving, manipulating and analyzing large quantities of computer-based data relevant to television-viewing consumers is disclosed. The most preferred embodiment of the present invention is a computer-based decision support system that includes three main components: a data conversion mechanism; a database mining engine (DME) in conjunction with a customized database; and a customized user interface that provides access to the various features associated with the system. In addition, the various preferred embodiments of the present invention are available for use with any standard personal computer, making the system available to a much larger group of decision-making executives than ever before possible. The user interface, in conjunction with the DME, provides a unique and innovative way to store, retrieve and manipulate data.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A computer system for manipulating and analyzing data, the system comprising:
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a CPU; a memory coupled to the CPU; a database residing in the memory, the database comprising a plurality of person-by-person records which describe a series of choices and decisions made by an identified sample audience in relation to a media vehicle, and wherein the database comprises a plurality of portions, with each of the plurality of portions including person-by-person records corresponding to a different time period and wherein the each of the plurality of portions includes a viewing index that indexes the person-by-person records for the corresponding time period; a database mining engine residing in the memory, the database mining engine utilizing the plurality of viewing indices to selectively retrieve data from the database; and a graphical user interface residing in the memory and being executed by the CPU, wherein the user interface accesses the person-by-person records in the database via the database mining engine. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A computer system for manipulating and analyzing a plurality of media-related person-by-person data files, the system comprising:
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a CPU; a memory coupled to the CPU; a database residing in the memory, the database containing the plurality of person-by-person data files, the plurality of person-by-person data files containing data which has been converted from data supplied by A. C. Nielsen, and wherein the database comprises a plurality of portions, with each of the plurality of portions including person-by-person records corresponding to a different time period and wherein the each of the plurality of portions includes a viewing index that indexes the person-by-person records for the corresponding time period, wherein each of the plurality of viewing indices includes a plurality of cells, wherein each of the plurality of cells corresponds to a person in the database and wherein each of the plurality of cells includes a catalog index that indicates the location into the person-by-person records for the corresponding person; a database mining engine residing in the memory, the database mining engine utilizing the plurality of viewing indices to selectively retrieve data from the database; a data conversion mechanism residing in the memory, the data conversion mechanism comprising a mechanism for converting data from A. C. Neilson format to a memory image representation of the plurality of television viewing records; and a graphical user interface residing in the memory and being executed by the CPU, wherein the graphical user interface accesses the plurality of person-by-person data files via the database mining engine. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. A program product comprising:
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an audience database comprising a plurality of person-by-person records which describe a series of choices and decisions made by an identified sample audience in relation to a media vehicle, and wherein the database comprises a plurality of portions, with each of the plurality of portions including person-by-person records corresponding to a different time period and wherein the each of the plurality of portions includes a viewing index that indexes the person-by-person records for the corresponding time period; a database mining engine accessible through a graphical user interface wherein the database mining engine accesses a plurality of media-related person-by-person data records and provides at least one response containing information selected from a subset of the plurality of media-related person-by-person data records; and signal bearing media bearing the audience database and database mining engine. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A computer implemented method for converting data from a first format to a second data format, the method comprising the steps of:
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inputting a data file into a computer system from a source; reading a plurality of person-by-person media-related data records, each record comprising at least one data element, from the data file; processing the plurality of person-by-person media-related data records by converting each of the at least one data elements to sequence of bits, where each of the sequence of bits corresponds to a data element possibility, wherein one of the sequence of bits is set to indicate which of the data possibilities the at least one data element includes, and wherein the selected data can be selectively retrieving using a boolean operation with a boolean filter, wherein the boolean filter includes a sequence of bits with at least one bit set to select at least one of the data possibilities in the at least one data element; writing the processed person-by-person media-related data records to a file. - View Dependent Claims (24)
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25. A computer-implemented method of filtering a database containing person-by-person media-related records, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a plurality of fields in each of the person-by-person media related records, each of the plurality of fields including a sequence of bits, where each bit represents one of a plurality of data possibilities; using a graphical user interface to identify a first desired demographic characteristic; using a graphical user interface to identify a second desired demographic characteristic; and using a plurality of bit masks to select a subset of the person-by-person media-related records according to the first and second desired demographic characteristic, each of the bit masks comprising a sequence of bits corresponding to the sequence of bits in one of the plurality of fields, and wherein one or more bits corresponding to the first and second desired demographic characteristic are set to select a subset of the person-by person media related records. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27)
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- 28. A method of filtering a database containing media-related person-by-person records, the method comprising the step of using at least one bit mask to select a subset of the media-related person-by-person records, wherein the bit mask represents a desired demographic characteristic in a sequence of bits with each of the sequence of bits representing one subset of the desired demographic characteristic.
Specification