Tracking viewing behavior of a home entertainment system

• US 6,704,929 B1
• Filed: 08/18/1999
• Issued: 03/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: WebTV Networks Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Zigmond, Daniel J., Park, Timothy F., Ozer, Stuart, Killianey, Michael A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, John
• Assistant Examiner(s): BELIVEAU, SCOTT E
• Application Number:
  US09/376,632
• Time in Patent Office: 1,665 Days
• Field of Search: 725/20, 725/14, 725/39, 725/109, 725/110, 725/132, 725/134, 725/46, 725/34, 725/16, 725/13
• US Class Current: 725/13
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/31 Arrangements for monitoring the use made of the broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/39 for identifying broadcast space-time use of Electronic Programme Guides H04H60/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/0887 for the transmission of programme or channel identifying signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing and tracking viewing behavior of home entertainment systems. A viewer event such as tuning to a selected television channel, occurs at a home entertainment system. The event is coupled with information describing the programming viewed on the home entertainment system and is stored locally. The information describing the programming is obtained from an electronic program guide. Subsequent viewer events are also coupled with information describing the programming viewed and stored locally. The resulting viewing behavior that is stored locally is transmitted to a remote clearinghouse for storage. The remote site receives a great diversity specific information from a plurality of home entertainment systems, which represents and describes, in any desired degree of specificity, the programming that the public is viewing, the origin of the programming, and the way in which the programming is being viewed.

Claims

1. In a home entertainment system comprising a television screen, a data storage medium, and a tuner, a method of compiling viewer behavior information at the home entertainment system in order to conserve processing resources at a central clearinghouse that tracks viewer behavior information for a plurality of home entertainment systems, the method comprising the acts of:

detecting at the home entertainment system, an event which serves as an instructional input relative to programming being displayed at the home entertainment system;

in response to the detected event, retrieving from the electronic program guide program related information that is specifically associated with the programming being displayed during the event, and such that the central clearinghouse need not retrieve and process similar information when desired viewing behavior information is later transmitted to the central clearinghouse, thereby conserving processing resources at the central clearinghouse;

storing at the home entertainment system, data which corresponds to the desired viewing behavior information, including at least the event coupled with the program related information corresponding to the event that was retrieved from the electronic program guide; and

transmitting the stored data from the home entertainment system to the central clearinghouse, including the event coupled with the program related information corresponding to the event.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the stored data includes information specific to a channel used to view the programming being displayed at the home entertainment system.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the stored data includes information describing the programming carried by a channel used to view the programming being displayed at the home entertainment system.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the stored data includes a date and time of the programming being displayed at the home entertainment system.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the stored data includes an identifier associated with the home entertainment system.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the stored data includes information associated with a mode of the home entertainment system used to view the programming being displayed at the home entertainment system.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the stored data includes information associated with a supplier of a channel used to view the programming being displayed at the home entertainment system.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the event is in response to the act of tuning to a channel.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the programming being displayed at the home entertainment system comprises first programming and subsequent second programming, and wherein the event comprises the end of the first programming and the beginning of the second programming.

10. A computer program product for use in a home entertainment system that comprises a television screen, a tuner, a data storage medium, and a processor, the computer program product implementing a method of compiling viewer behavior information at the home entertainment system in order to conserve processing resources at a central clearinghouse that tracks viewer behavior information for a plurality of home entertainment systems, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed at the home entertainment system, cause the home entertainment system to perform the method, including;

detecting at the home entertainment system, an event which serves as an instructional input relative to programming being displayed at the home entertainment system;

in response to the detected event, retrieving from the electronic program guide program related information that is specifically associated with the programming being displayed during the event, and such that the central clearinghouse need not retrieve and process similar information when desired viewing behavior information is later transmitted to the central clearinghouse, thereby conserving processing resources at the central clearinghouse;

storing at the home entertainment system, data which corresponds to the desired viewing behavior information, including at least the event coupled with the program related information corresponding to the event that was retrieved from the electronic program guide; and

transmitting the stored data to the central clearinghouse, including the event coupled with the program related information corresponding to the event.

11. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the event comprises tuning to a channel in response to user input.

12. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the stored data includes information specific to a channel used to view the programming being displayed at the home entertainment system.

13. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the stored data includes information describing the programming being displayed at the home entertainment system.

14. A computer readable medium as recited in claim 10, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed further include in the stored data a date and time of the programming the programming being displayed at the home entertainment system.

15. In a computer system having a data storage device, the computer system being communicatively connected via a communications network with a plurality of home entertainment systems, a method for compiling viewer behavior data identifying programming viewed on the plurality of home entertainment systems that conserves computing resources at the computer system, the method comprising:

performing for each of the plurality of home entertainment systems, the acts of;

establishing communication with a particular one of the plurality of home entertainment systems;

configuring the particular home entertainment system to compile desired viewing behavior data to be transmitted to the computer system, wherein at least a portion of the desired viewing behavior information is to be retrieved from an electronic program guide stored at the particular home entertainment system so that the computer system need not retrieve and process similar information when the desired viewing behavior information is later received from the particular home entertainment system; and

receiving from the particular home entertainment system viewer behavior data for programming that was displayed on the television screen associated with the particular home entertainment system, the viewer behavior data having been generated at the particular home entertainment system based on at least;

a specific event which serves as an instructional input relative to programming displayed at the particular home entertainment system;

a channel tuned by a tuner at the particular home entertainment system; and

based on the configuration of the particular home entertainment system, data retrieved from the electronic program guide at the particular home entertainment system,

such that the received viewer behavior data includes at least the specific event coupled with the data retrieved from the electronic program guide and that corresponds to the programming that was being displayed at the home entertainment system during the specific event.

16. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the viewer behavior data received at the computer system includes information that identifies the programming viewed on the particular home entertainment system.

17. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the viewer behavior data received at the computer system includes an identifier associated with the particular one of the plurality home entertainment systems.

18. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the viewer behavior data received at the computer system includes a date and time of the programming displayed on the television screen associated with the particular home entertainment system.

19. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the act of establishing communication comprises the use of the Internet.

20. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the act of establishing communication comprises direct dial communication over a telephone line.

21. For a computer system having a data storage device, the computer system being communicatively connected via a communications network with a plurality of home entertainment systems, a computer program product comprising one or more computer readable media carrying computer executable instructions that implement a method for compiling viewer behavior data identifying, programming viewed on the plurality of home entertainment systems that conserves computing resources at the computer system, the method comprising:

performing for each of the plurality of home entertainment systems, the acts of;

establishing communication with a particular one of the plurality of home entertainment systems;

configuring the particular home entertainment system to compile desired viewing behavior data to be transmitted to the computer system, wherein at least a portion of the desired viewing behavior information is to be retrieved from an electronic program guide stored at the particular home entertainment system so that the computer system need not retrieve and process similar information when the desired viewing behavior information is later received from the particular home entertainment system; and

receiving from the particular home entertainment system viewer behavior data for programming that was displayed on the television screen associated with the particular home entertainment system, the viewer behavior data having been generated, at the particular home entertainment system based on at least;

an a specific event which serves as an instructional input relative to programming displayed at the particular home entertainment system;

a channel tuned by a tuner at the particular home entertainment system; and

based on the configuration of the particular home entertainment system, data retrieved from the electronic program guide at the particular home entertainment system,

such that the received viewer behavior data includes at least the specific event coupled with the data retrieved from the electronic program guide and that corresponds to the programming that was being displayed at the home entertainment system during the specific event.

22. A computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein the viewer behavior data received at the computer system includes information that identifies the programming viewed on the particular home entertainment system.

23. A computer Program product as recited in claim 21, wherein the viewer behavior data received at the computer system includes an identifier associated with the particular one of the plurality home entertainment systems.

24. A computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein the viewer behavior data received at the computer system includes a date and time of the programming displayed on the television screen associated with the particular home entertainment system.

25. A computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein the act of establishing communication comprises the use of the Internet.

26. A computer program product as recited in claim 21, wherein the act of establishing communication comprises direct dial communication over a telephone line.