Audience measurement system incorporating a mobile handset
First Claim
1. An audience measurement system for a receiver, comprising:
- monitoring equipment associated with the receiver and connected to a transmitter;
a mobile unit having a transceiver which receives program data from the transmitter and an audience member interface which prompts an audience member to enter personal data and receives data from the audience member; and
a base unit having a transceiver which receives the program and personal data from the mobile unit and a memory which stores the program and personal data, wherein the base unit further receives information from the data collection central facility.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An audience measurement system for a receiver comprises monitoring equipment, such as a decoder, ON/OFF detector and transmitter, coupled to the receiver. The decoder reads program codes embedded in a program received by the receiver. The system also comprises a base unit and a mobile unit, such as a telephone handset. The handset receives the program codes transmitted from the decoder and prompts (via a visual display or audio tone) an audience member to enter personal data (i.e. who the audience member is) via a keypad or voice input. The program data (from the decoder) and personal data (input by the audience member) is provided to the base unit, where it is time stamped and stored. The base unit includes telephone circuitry to transmit the stored data to a data collection central facility via a public switched telephone network. If no program codes are found or if the monitoring equipment is eliminated, the mobile unit prompts the audience member to enter program data that may be selected from a previously downloaded program schedule.
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Citations
67 Claims
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1. An audience measurement system for a receiver, comprising:
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monitoring equipment associated with the receiver and connected to a transmitter;
a mobile unit having a transceiver which receives program data from the transmitter and an audience member interface which prompts an audience member to enter personal data and receives data from the audience member; and
a base unit having a transceiver which receives the program and personal data from the mobile unit and a memory which stores the program and personal data, wherein the base unit further receives information from the data collection central facility. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A method comprising the following steps:
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a) determining whether a receiver is on;
b) if the receiver is on, determining whether a program identification datum is available for extraction from the program;
c) if a program identification datum is available for extraction from the program, extracting the program identification datum and prompting the user to enter an identification of the user; and
,d) if a program identification datum is not available for extraction from the program, displaying currently available programs to which a receiver may be tuned, prompting a user to select, from the currently available programs, a program to which the receiver is tuned, and prompting the user to enter an identification of the user. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
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35. A method comprising the following steps:
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a) displaying a first time period;
b) determining whether data to be entered corresponds to the first time period;
c) if the data to be entered corresponds to the first time period, displaying programs tunable by a receiver during the first time period and prompting a user to enter a program identification corresponding to at least one of the displayed programs tunable by the receiver during the first time period; and
,d) if the data to be entered does not correspond to the first time period, displaying a second time period, displaying programs tunable by a receiver during the second time period, and prompting a user to enter a program identification corresponding to at least one of the displayed programs tunable by the receiver during the second time period. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. An audience measurement system for a receiver comprising:
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monitoring equipment associated with the receiver and connected to a transmitter;
a mobile unit having a transceiver which receives program data from the transmitter and an audience member interface which prompts an audience member to enter personal data and receives data from the audience member, wherein the audience member interface prompts the audience member to enter program data if no program data is received from the monitoring apparatus; and
,a base unit having a transceiver which receives the program and personal data from the mobile unit and a memory which stores the program and personal data. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. An audience measurement system for a receiver comprising:
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monitoring equipment associated with the receiver and connected to a transmitter;
a mobile unit having a transceiver which receives program data from the transmitter and an audience member interface which prompts an audience member to enter personal data and receives data from the audience member; and
,a base unit having a transceiver which receives the program and personal data from the mobile unit and a memory which stores the program and personal data, wherein the base unit further receives information from a remote data collection central facility. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61)
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62. A method comprising:
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remotely receiving at a mobile unit program data from a program receiver that provides program material to an audience member;
prompting via the mobile unit the audience member to enter personal data into the mobile unit;
prompting via the-mobile unit the audience member to enter program data if no program data is received from the program receiver; and
,transferring the program and personal data to a remote data collection facility. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65, 66, 67)
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Specification